Alex Ossola

Oil prices have stabilized, with Brent Crude, the global benchmark, unchanged today at around $81 a barrel.

All three indexes gained today, with the Nasdaq leading and closing up 1.3%.

Plus, the conflict in the Middle East has sparked inflation worries, driving up U.S.

borrowing costs.

Treasury yields have been falling for several weeks, but gains over the past few days have pushed the yield on the 10-year Treasury note as high as 4.1%, disappointing many businesses and consumers who were hoping for lower borrowing costs.

More Americans are digging into their retirement savings because of financial emergencies.

Vanguard says that last year, a record 6 percent of workers in 401k plans pulled out money via a hardship withdrawal.

That's up from 4.8 percent in 2024.

People take out money in hardship withdrawals for different reasons.

In 2025, the top ones were to avoid foreclosure and eviction and to pay medical expenses.

The median amount taken out was $1,900.

Vanguard's analysis is just another data point showing a divergent economy.

Most people are doing well and saving more for retirement, but some are going through financial stress.

And for them, retirement accounts are an increasingly important source of emergency funds, even if taking out the money comes with penalties.

And finally, do you find corporate speak to be sometimes needlessly vague?

The business world today has a tendency to rely on buzzwords.

But to people who hear them, and to a lot of Wall Street Journal readers, it seems, that lingo can be unclear or cringeworthy or downright silly.

Bill Power, who edits the journal Stylebook, told us about the jargon that Wall Street Journal readers love to hate.

Bill says that there are different reasons people fall back on jargon.

And that's what's news for this Wednesday afternoon.