BUSINESS

Most traders lose money — not because they lack skill, but because the human brain is poorly designed for probabilistic decision-making. AI is beginning to shift that statistic.

Fortnite is finally getting a collaboration with Game of Thrones which drops imminently. Here are the skins and release date.

Bruno Mars lands another hit from his latest album The Romantic as “God Was Showing Off” debuts on the U.K.’s Official Singles chart.

Global oil prices are back near their highest levels in nearly four years Thursday after Iran targeted energy production in the Gulf region.

Hedera (HBAR), down 2.9% from Wednesday, was also an underperformer.

Maybe the war in the Middle East will end soon. But it’s become very costly and getting costlier by the day at home and (obviously) in the combat zone. Crude oil prices were higher in early trading on March 19. So were prices at the gas pump, both in the United States and elsewhere. Prices of gasoline futures were up.And all these moves are weighing on stocks going into the day’s trading. They’re weighing on bonds. They’re weighing on mortgage rates. Oil bills are growingGasoline prices have risen steadily since the end of February. The gain is now a bit more than 30%, according to AAA data, which showed the U.S. average at $3.884 a gallon. The gain for the year is nearly 37%. Crude oil prices were higher early on Thursday, March 19. Light sweet crude, the benchmark U.S. oil, gained about 1% to reach $97.26 a barrel. Brent, the global benchmark, jumped 9.5% to a staggering $117.54 a barrel. (Yes, you read that right.)The odds are Brent will hit $120 a barrel, the highest level since the summer of 2022. The price of light sweet crude is up 69% this year. Brent is up 93%. Pay attention to Iran’s South Pars gas fieldThe catalyst for these latest price increases was Israel’s attack this week on Iran’s South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf and Iran’s response: to attack Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial area, causing fires and extensive damage. Here I offer a quick explainer.Qatar is involved because it owns the North Dome natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.That field adjoins Iran’s South Pars field. The two fields combined represent the largest natural gas field in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.

Smoke from a missile attack in Doha, United Arab EmiratesMahmud Hams/Getty Images

And Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of liquified natural gas, which is processed in the Ras Laffan industrial area. Except that it can’t ship any of the gas because the Strait of Hormuz, at the eastern end of the Persian Gulf, is effectively shut.The result? Wholesale LNG prices in Europe were up as much as 25% on March 19, the BBC reported. China and India are deeply concerned, since they were the biggest buyers of Qatar’s gas in 2025.In other words, the stakes are now getting high. For everyone.So high that President Donald Trump declared late Wednesday, March 18, that Israel wouldn’t attack South Pars again. Still, he promised to blow up the entirety of South Pars if Qatari gas is attacked again.So high that Iran published a list of energy sites in the Persian Gulf it might target, and Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, began evacuating several facilities.The global markets are rattledJapan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell nearly 1,900 points, or 3.4%, to 53,373. Germany’s Dax Index is down 2.3%. at 22,962. Britain’s FTSE 100 Index is off 2% at 10,114. India’s Sensex Index is off 3.3% at 74,207.The U.S. stock market doesn’t open until 9:30 a.m. EST, with index futures suggesting modest declines.More Oil and Gas:Gloom, Yes. Panic? That Could Be Around the Corner.The War Is Expanding, the Fed Is Clueless, and the Market Is CrackingMorgan Stanley has a stark warning for oil investorsBut U.S. stocks slumped badly on March 18, as much because the Federal Reserve didn’t cut its key federal funds rate at its March meeting. And, as Spencer Jakab at The Wall Street Journal noted, “Central banks can create money out of thin air, but they can’t make oil.”The S&P 500 Index is down 3.7% so far in March. The Dow Jones industrials have fallen 5.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite has dropped 2.3%.Here are four key points about U.S. markets.Gold and silver prices were off March 18 and off more in overnight trading. Gold was off 2% at $4,797. It’s down early 15% from its January high. Silver was off 6.8% to $72 an ounce and is now down nearly 41% since peaking at $121.785 in January. Rising oil prices are sucking the momentum away from metals.U.S. energy stocks were mixed on March 18. All of the Magnificent 7 stocks — Apple, Amazon, Google parent Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — are down for the year. All are down at least 10% from their 52-week highs. All of the major averages are down so far in 2026.Related: Bank of America resets Nvidia stock forecast after meeting with CFO

The proposed allocation represents a major share of Celo’s circulating supply and 16% of its maximum supply.

The bank is considering to get rid of roughly 10% of its total workforce, as the bank is focused on “staff-related inflation.”

The company reported a $233.7 million digital asset impairment for 2025, reflecting the gap between purchase prices and lower market values.

Apple has hired thousands of people each year over the last decade or so as its businesses have continued to grow. From research and development to meeting customers at its retail stores, Apple’s employees are in demand. Apple also rewards its employees well, and some are compensated with stock awards that can exceed their base salary. Here’s how much Apple pays and who gets paid the most.Who are Apple’s highest-paid executives?Apple rewards its top executives handsomely for meeting the company’s internal targets, in the form of both cash and stock awards.Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO since 2011, is the company’s highest-paid executive. His annual base salary is $3 million, unchanged since 2016, but his total compensation is much higher. His 2025 target cash incentive plan — aimed to reward executives for delivering strong performance on annual financial goals — was set at 200% of his base salary, and that translated to $6 million. He had a target equity award value set at $50 million. Total compensation for the year was $74 million, according to Apple’s proxy statement. Kevan Parekh, Apple’s CFO and a senior vice president, had a 2025 salary of $891,519, but his total compensation was $22 million. Other senior vice presidents, Kate Adams (general counsel and secretary), Sabih Khan (chief operating officer), and Deirdre O’Brien (head of retail and people), had salaries of $1 million but received $27 million in total compensation. Related: How many employees does Apple have? A deeper look at the tech giant’s workforceWhat is Apple’s median compensation & CEO pay ratio?Apple uses a CEO pay ratio that compares its CEO’s compensation to that of the median among employees. In 2025, Cook’s total compensation was $74.29 million, compared to the median compensation of $139,483 for permanent full-time and part-time employees who didn’t work the full year. (Apple had more than 166,000 employees globally, according to its fiscal year 2025 annual report.) That put Apple’s CEO pay ratio at 533 to 1. By comparison, Nvidia’s ratio was smaller, at 166 to 1.Still, Apple’s median compensation is above the U.S. average annual salary of $62,608, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. How much do Apple’s engineers make?Apple’s engineers make up a significant portion of the company’s employees. Common positions include data engineer and software engineer, and many of these employees are based out of the company’s U.S. hubs in Austin, Texas, and Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple’s career page listed the base salary for an engineer with a few years’ experience at around $141,000 to $258,000. Still, pay depends on skills, qualifications, experience, and location. And incentives, such as meeting internal targets, could boost compensation beyond base salary.More on Apple:Where is Apple’s headquarters? A spaceship-like office with thousands of treesDoes Apple pay dividends? A history of rewarding shareholdersApple’s stock split history: Everything you need to knowHow much does an Apple retail employee earn?Apple operates 275 stores across the U.S., and that requires employing hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. Their front-facing work involves greeting customers and providing technical assistance. Apple doesn’t provide salary details for retail positions on its career website. Community specialists make about $64,000 to $116,000, while technical specialists are paid a bit more, at $56,000 to $123,000, according to jobs listing provider Glassdoor. Does Apple promote from within?If Apple’s executives are any guide, the company often promotes staff to higher positions, and that can lead to higher salaries and total compensation. Cook joined Apple in 1998 as executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations and received several promotions before becoming chief operating officer in 2005. After Steve Jobs’ death in 2011, Cook became CEO.Sabih Khan joined Apple in 1995 and held various roles before becoming chief operating officer in July 2025.Related: Who owns Apple? Institutional holdings & executives’ shares