BofA hit with $1.3 billion mortgage penalty

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Bank of America (BAC) has been ordered to pay a nearly $1.3 billion penalty for mortgage fraud committed by Countrywide. The fraud happened years before BofA bought the struggling lender amid the financial crisis, saving it from collapsing under the weight of risky mortgages it had made.

The loans were made through a lending program it called the "High Speed Swim Lane." Some inside the company called it "The Hustle." It involved little, if any, income verification.

Countrywide then sold the mortgages to the government-backed lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A lawsuit brought by the government claimed the program was "intentionally designed to process loans at high speed and without quality checkpoints, and generated thousands of fraudulent and otherwise defective residential mortgage loans."

A jury last fall found Countrywide and former executive Rebecca Mairone liable. Mairone has been ordered to pay a $1 million penalty. Her attorney, Marc Mukasey, said in response that she is innocent and will "will fight on to clear her name."

Related: I've achieved the American Dream

The program was "a brazen fraud by the defendants, driven by a hunger for profits and oblivious to the harms thereby visited, not just on the immediate victims but on the financial system as a whole," wrote Judge Jed. S. Rakoff.

The penalties aren't intended to compensate victims but rather serve as a deterrent for wrongdoing, the judge said. He noted the whistleblower who alerted the government to the program may be eligible to receive a portion of the penalty. The case was the first tried under the whistleblower law. The office of U.S. Attorney Preet Baharara, which prosecuted the case, could not say if a payout would be made.

Baharara said in a statement the case demonstrated "that mortgage fraud cannot be viewed as simply another cost of doing business in the financial world."

Bank of America objected to the size of the penalty. Spokesman Lawrence Grayson said the company was reviewing a possible appeal.

Related: What economic rebound? 'I got left behind'

CNNMoney's James O'Toole and Ben Rooney contributed to this report.

First Published: July 30, 2014: 5:36 PM ET

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Kim Kardashian's game makes $700,000 a day

Hitting the hottest clubs with the virtual Kim Kardashian will make you a Hollywood A-lister in no time.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" from Glu Mobil lets you create an avatar that can work to achieve virtual A-list status. Your mission: Hob-nobbing with celebrities, going to a photo shoot and wearing expensive clothes.

The game is free to download, but players spend real money on things like virtual clothes, virtual hairstyles and energy boosts for their avatars. The more your avatar does, the faster you can move up the ranks from the E List to the A List -- the objective of the game.

If sales continue at their current rate, the game will gross $200 million in its first year, according to Doug Creutz, an analyst at Cowen and Company. That would put "Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" in the big leagues with smash-hit mobile games like Candy Crush.

Related: The 13 most WTF gadgets

Creutz estimates there are only about seven other apps in the world that are pulling in more money right now. And Kardashian's is one of the top five most downloaded apps in Apple's store.

"I don't even know what genre to call it, but people are taken with it," he said.

Shares of game maker Glu Mobil (GLUU) have soared more than 30% since the app launched in late June. Glu reported a 51% jump in sales for the second quarter late Wednesday, thanks to the Kardashian game as well as other hits such as Dino Hunter: Deadly Shores.

It's impossible to know if "Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" will maintain its current growth, Creutz said. Adding new characters and levels to the game -- hello Kourtney and Khloe! -- could keep more people playing longer.

The mobile game market is expanding rapidly. The trick is to get more people comfortable with spending money on purchases within games that they downloaded for free. Right now, less than 3% of gamers do so.

First Published: July 30, 2014: 5:17 PM ET

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Grieving parents drowning in $200,000 student loan debt receive relief

Lisa Mason (left) passed away 5 years ago, and her parents got hit with her six-figure student loan debt.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

After a CNNMoney story about the family's situation ran Tuesday, hundreds of readers reached out to offer words of encouragement -- and financial support -- to the family.

So far, people have donated more than $8,000 through the Masons' GoFundMe page.

"We've been totally blown away," said Mason. "It's so encouraging to realize there's a lot of good people out there."

His fund raising goal is set at $200,000, the amount he now owes the private student lenders. Mason says he was so desperate to help his daughter Lisa get a nursing degree that he co-signed the $100,000 in loans she took out -- never could he imagine that his daughter would pass away before the debts were paid off.

Related: Grieving parents hit with $200,000 in student loans

When Lisa died of liver failure at the age 27 all of her student loan bills were immediately sent to the Masons. On a pastor's salary, Mason couldn't afford to care for his daughter's three children and keep up with the payments. Now, as a result of interest and late penalties, the loans have since doubled to $200,000.

While federal loans are typically forgiven in situations like this, it's up to the private lenders to decide whether to offer relief to a struggling borrower.

One of Mason's lenders, Navient Corp., reached out to Mason after being contacted by CNNMoney and lowered the interest rate to 0% on three of his four loans and reduced the total amount owed to $27,000 from nearly $35,000.

Even better, Mason said a debt collection firm that had been trying to collect on another loan called him Wednesday to say they had seen the CNNMoney story and would like to forgive the entire loan balance of $15,000.

Earlier this year, Mason had considered filing for bankruptcy. But it is very difficult -- often impossible -- to get private student loan debt discharged in bankruptcy, and Mason's lawyer told him he had such a slim chance of being approved that the legal costs would only add to his debt load.

Mason has also started a petition on Change.org, urging President Obama to make it possible to discharge all types of student loan debt in bankruptcy. His petition has received more than 2,000 signatures so far.

Related: 1 in 3 U.S. adults have debt in collections

Other families who have lost a child and then become responsible for huge student loans have also created petitions on Change.org -- often aimed at getting their particular lender to offer some relief.

Angela Smith, a mother from Chesapeake, Va., filed a petition on Change.org several years ago asking private loan provider First Marblehead Corp. to forgive the $40,000 in student loans that her husband had co-signed for their son Donte, who was shot to death in 2008. The petition received more than 150,000 signatures from sympathizers but there was no action from the lenders.

There's been one other success story so far, however, where the brother of a deceased borrower petitioned a bank to stop going after his grieving father for payments, and the loan was forgiven.

For Mason, the rush of support he has received after getting his story out there is beginning to change his whole outlook.

"For the first time since our daughter's death, we have a little bit of hope," said Mason.

First Published: July 30, 2014: 7:25 PM ET

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ESPN suspends Stephen A. Smith after domestic abuse remarks

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The move came one day after Smith appeared on his ESPN2 talk show "First Take" and profusely apologized.

Smith's original remarks were shown on "First Take" last Friday. He was discussing the assault charge against Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was indicted in March for striking his then-girlfriend and dragging her out of an elevator, and the leniency shown by the National Football League, which suspended Rice for only two games.

He said that while men "have no business putting your hands on a woman," he had tried to tell women in his family, "Let's make sure we don't do anything to provoke wrong actions." He also referred to "elements of provocation" and implied that women should "do what we can to try to prevent the situation from happening."

During his apology on Monday morning, Smith acknowledged that "my words came across that it is somehow a woman's fault."

"This was not my intent. It is not what I was trying to say," he said. "Yet the failure to clearly articulate something different lies squarely on my shoulders."

Following the apology, Smith appeared as usual on Monday and Tuesday's telecasts, suggesting that ESPN would take no disciplinary steps. But on Tuesday afternoon, the network said that he "will not appear on 'First Take' or ESPN Radio for the next week. He will return to ESPN next Wednesday."

Related: ESPN's 3-D channel, and other ideas that never took off

In an internal memorandum, ESPN President John Skipper said, "We have been engaged in thoughtful discussion about appropriate next steps. Those conversations have involved a diverse group of women and men in our company."

He specifically credited ESPN's women's employee resource group, saying it had "added to the conversation and going forward, I know they will help us continue constructive discussion on this and related issues."

"Stephen has called what took place 'the most egregious mistake' of his career. I believe his apology was sincere and that he and we have learned from what we've collectively experienced," Skipper said in his memo.

"I'm confident we will all move forward with a greater sense of enlightenment and perspective as the lasting impact of these last few days," Skipper added. "I want to thank all those whose thoughts have contributed along the way."

First Published: July 29, 2014: 5:10 PM ET

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Amgen joins job-cut parade

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Amgen (AMGN) became the latest company to announce major layoffs, despite signs that the U.S. jobs picture is improving.

In its earnings presentation Tuesday, the biotechnology firm revealed it plans to eliminate 2,400 to 2,900 jobs, or about 12-15% of its workforce.

Last month, Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) said it would cut 18,000 jobs within the next year. That's the largest round of layoffs in the company's history.

Amgen's job cuts come despite a solid bounce in both revenue and profit.

The stock jumped 4% in after-hours trading.

Related: Beware of social media, biotech stocks

The big job cuts come at a time when the employment picture in corporate America seems to finally be improving. Many companies were reluctant to hire after laying off heavily in the wake of the recession, but there had been signs lately that the trend was easing.

Employers added 1.4 million jobs in the first half of the year for the strongest six months of job growth since 2006.

The July jobs report is due Friday, and economists surveyed by CNNMoney expect that 230,000 jobs were added last month.

And with an unemployment rate at 6.1%, the job market is now near what the Federal Reserve considers full employment.

First Published: July 29, 2014: 6:03 PM ET

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McDonald's may be liable for worker lawsuits

A government ruling could make McDonald's liable for labor lawsuits.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The National Labor Relations Board's top lawyer on Tuesday determined that McDonald's (MCD) is a "joint employer," along with thousands of independent franchise owners.

The ruling, if upheld, would mean that McDonald's could be held liable for labor violations at its more than 12,000 franchisee-owned restaurants.

"McDonald's can try to hide behind its franchisees, but today's determination by the NLRB shows there's no two ways about it: The Golden Arches is an employer, plain and simple," said Micah Wissinger in a statement issued by a public relations firm representing fast food workers. Wissinger is an attorney who brought the case on behalf of McDonald's workers in New York City.

In March, McDonald's workers filed seven class-action lawsuits in New York, California and Michigan over wage theft violations. The suits allege that McDonald's has forced employees to work off the clock, not paid them overtime and struck hours off their time cards.

Related: The real budgets of McDonald's workers

McDonald's has contended that franchisees operate as independent businesses and that therefore, it's not liable, but the N.L.R.B. ruling contradicts that claim. Other fast-food operators like Burger King could feel the repercussions.

The decision was hailed by low wage workers who have recently staged protests across the country seeking a $15 an hour wage.

"McDonald's clearly uses its vast powers to control franchisees in just about every way possible," Kendall Fells, organizing director of Fast Food Forward, said in a statement. "It's time the company put those same powers to work to do something about the fact that its workers are living in poverty."

The average fast food worker makes a little over $9 an hour.

Related: I work in fast food and I'm not a teenager

But a trade group representing the franchise lobby called the ruling a "seismic change" that could destroy jobs.

"Millions of jobs and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of independent franchise small businesses are now at risk due to the radical and unprecedented nature of this decision," Steve Caldeira , President & CEO of the International Franchise Association, said in a statement.

Caldeira added that franchise job growth and new business formation, which have outpaced non-franchise growth for the last five years, will undoubtedly come to a screeching halt if this decision is affirmed by the N.L.R.B.

McDonald's did not respond to a request for comment.

First Published: July 29, 2014: 7:16 PM ET

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Enter through the 'Poor Door': Income 'segregation' in N.Y.

This building on New York's Upper West Side will have a separate entrance for low-income residents.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The 33-story complex will have 219 expensive condos for sale and 55 to rent cheap to low-income tenants.

This building's approved "poor door" is new, but the issue isn't.

There are a number of similar buildings across the city that restrict some residents from fancy amenities -- think gyms, playrooms and rooftops.

The plans for the latest development at 40 Riverside on Manhattan's Riverside Drive were approved as part of the Inclusionary Housing Program, an effort to mitigate inequality by offering affordable housing in nice areas.

The program, enacted in 2009 under former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, gives developers tax breaks and more space in exchange for building affordable housing either in the building itself or close by.

Related: America's love/hate relationship with the rich

Until 2009, when you had moderate and affordable housing in the same complex, both projects had to be integrated. But the change allows developers to create a building within a building, with separate entrances, elevators and electrical wiring.

In theory, the Inclusionary Housing Program gives families who couldn't afford to live in the city an opportunity to live in good school districts and new buildings. But in practice, advocates say it's leading to a new kind of separate but equal.

"It's treating low- and moderate-income tenants like second-class citizens. It's de facto segregation," said Public Advocate Leitia James, who has filed a human rights complaint against developers who try to limit access to building amenities.

She said that she has seen a number of buildings exclude low-income tenants in different ways.

James filed a complaint on behalf of residents of Stonehenge Village, another complex on the Upper West side managed by Stonehenge Partners, which built a new gym that would only be available to market-rate tenants.

Stonehenge Partners did not respond to requests for comment.

Other developers have also come under fire for similar practices. Another Upper West Side building, the Windermere, allegedly kept affordable-housing residents away from the once-public roof and playroom, according to The New York Daily News.

The Windmere's management company Stellar Management did not respond to requests for comment.

Related: 10 most expensive cities

It's not a situation unique to Manhattan. Residents at Northside Piers in Brooklyn are separated into two separate buildings.

The buildings have completely separate entrances and rental residents are not permitted to use the amenities in condo buildings.

David von Spreckelsen, president of Toll Brothers City Living Division which developed Northside Piers, said the buildings operate on two completely different systems, not because of income level but because they keep owners and renters separate.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's office said while it's too late to do anything about 40 Riverside, since 6-stories were already built by the time he walked into City Hall, his administration is committed to changing the zoning code.

"The previous administration changed the law to enable this kind of development," said Wiley Norvell, City Hall spokesperson. "We fundamentally disagree with that approach...and want to make sure future affordable housing projects treat all families equitably."

40 Riverside's developer, Extell Development, did not return requests for comment.

First Published: July 28, 2014: 4:39 PM ET

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Grieving parents hit with $200,000 in student loans

Steve Mason and his wife Darnelle not only took in their daughter's three children when she passed away, they also inherited her $100,000 student loan bill.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

He and his wife Darnelle immediately took in Lisa's three children -- ages 4, 7 and 9 at the time -- even though they knew it would be a huge struggle to support them. Steve earns less than $75,000 per year as a pastor, while Darnelle earns even less as a director at the same church.

Then the student loan bills started coming.

Mason had co-signed on the $100,000 in private student loans that his daughter took out for nursing school, and the lenders wanted their money.

Unable to keep up with the monthly payments on top of all of the other mounting expenses, the $100,000 balance ballooned into $200,000 as a result of late penalties and interest rates of as high as 12%.

"It's just impossible on a pastor's salary raising three kids to pay $2,000 a month on loans," said Mason, who has been searching for a second job.

Related: Drowning in student loan debt

If these had been federal student loans, Mason could have had the loans discharged or at least received some sort of financial assistance. But since they are private loans, he has little to no recourse.

He called each lender to explain his situation and beg for help, and while they sympathized with him, they told him they weren't required to do anything.

And they're right: private lenders aren't bound by any federal requirements to help borrowers -- or co-signers -- facing financial hardship, even when it's a parent whose child has passed away, says Deanne Loonin, an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. Any loan forgiveness is up to the discretion of an individual lender.

Navient Corp., which manages several of Mason's loans, said it has reduced the balance and lowered interest rates and payments for Mason in the past, and provides relief to customers on a case-by-case basis.

Lisa Mason, left, with her mother, Darnelle, in 2007.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the Mason family on the loss of their daughter," the company said in a statement to CNNMoney. "We're reaching out to Mr. Mason to offer further assistance as appropriate."

After being contacted by CNNMoney, Mason said Navient lowered his interest rate to 0% on three of four loans and reduced the total amount owed to $27,000 from nearly $35,000.

American Education Services, which handles the bulk of Mason's other loans, said as a loan servicer it's in charge of collecting payments and doesn't make the rules about forgiveness. Mason would therefore need to contact the original lender, National Collegiate Trust, directly. He did this, and says the lender refused to provide him with any relief. NCT could not be reached for comment.

Mason has considered declaring bankruptcy, but student loans are the only type of debt that generally can't be discharged through bankruptcy.

"People with other debt from splurging -- they can discharge that," he said. "Student loans should really be the one type of debt they do discharge because it's done to further an education and career. But somehow getting [my daughter] an education has encumbered me for the rest of my life."

Related: Colleges with the best bang for your buck

Similar financial nightmares are haunting other grieving families.

Angela Smith, a mother from Chesapeake, Va., filed a petition on Change.org several years ago asking private loan provider First Marblehead Corp. to forgive the $40,000 in student loans that her husband had co-signed for their son Donte, who was shot to death in 2008.

"Shortly after Donte died, that's when the collection calls started. It was like a punch in the gut -- we didn't know what hit us," Smith wrote in the petition. "All of a sudden we not only had to deal with the police and attorneys investigating his murder, but we also had to deal with collectors constantly calling and reminding us of our son's death in the worst way."

The petition received more than 150,000 signatures from sympathizers but no action from the lenders. First Marblehead didn't respond to a request for comment, and Smith says the loan was recently sold to another company.

Related: Hungry, tired and stressed out

At least four other petitions from families in this situation have been started on Change.org. There's been one success story so far, where the brother of a deceased borrower petitioned a bank to stop going after his grieving father for payments, and the loan was forgiven.

Legislation aiming to help people in these situations, including recent bills that would allow student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy, have been introduced over the years but have yet to pass in Congress.

For now, the only option parents really have is to propose a payment plan with the lender or try to prove undue financial hardship to the courts in order to get the debts discharged in bankruptcy -- which is rarely approved, said Loonin. And for anyone not already in this terrible situation, be very wary of taking out private loans -- always try to get as much federal aid as possible first.

As he approaches 60, Mason's dreams of retirement have been shattered. He's done the math, and he will have dependent children living under his roof until he is almost 70 years old. He hasn't taken a vacation with his wife since his daughter died, and doesn't realistically see that happening for many years to come.

"We've pretty much gone through our retirement [funds] already -- we didn't have a lot saved to begin with and now any extra money goes to the kids, as it should, and then whatever we can pay on the loans, we do," said Mason. "At my stage of life, I should have a very different lifestyle than I do."

First Published: July 28, 2014: 6:08 PM ET

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Herbalife stock tumbles on earnings miss

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The controversial maker of diet shakes and supplements said it earned $1.55 per share in the second quarter, short of analysts' expectations of $1.57 per share. Herbalife also lowered its earnings targets for the rest of the year.

Herbalife (HLF) shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading.

The results come less than a week after activist investor Bill Ackman launched another assault on Herbalife, renewing his argument that the company is a pyramid scheme. Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund stands to gain at least $1 billion if Herbalife's stock price collapsed.

Herbalife sells diet shakes and other supplements worldwide through a vast network of independent distributors. Last week, Ackman gave a three-hour presentation accusing the company of exploiting the poor and immigrants.

He argues that Herbalife is a pyramid scheme because it makes more money by recruiting new distributors than it does selling products to consumers.

Herbalife has repeatedly denied that it operates as a pyramid scheme, saying its business model is no different from marketing at other companies that uses sales representatives, such as Avon (AVP). The company has said Ackman's attacks are baseless and that he is trying to manipulate Herbalife's stock price.

Related: Herbalife tanks after senator calls for probe

However, Herbalife disclosed in March that it is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission.

Until now, Herbalife had reported strong results for several quarters in a row. Carl Icahn, another high-profile activist investor, is the company's largest shareholder.

Herbalife executives will discuss the results on a conference call with analysts Tuesday morning.

First Published: July 28, 2014: 5:16 PM ET

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BuzzFeed fires viral politics editor for plagiarizing

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

BuzzFeed editor in chief Ben Smith said he and his colleagues had identified "41 instances of sentences or phrases copied, word for word, from other sites, many of them inappropriate sources in the first place," during a review of about 500 posts by Johnson.

"This pattern is not a minor slip," Smith wrote in a memorandum to BuzzFeed staff on Friday night. "This is a breach of faith with our readers; a violation of a basic rule of writing; and the reflection of an unserious attitude to our work that is wildly out of line with both our standards and our ambition."

Smith also published an editors' note that apologized to readers. He said corrections had been made to each of the 41 posts where plagiarism and attribution issues were found.

Many of the posts consisted of creative lists ("The 17 Best Swag Gifts Obama Has Received From Foreign Leaders") and regurgitated content from other sources ("FDR Had The Greatest Childhood Ever"). One image-heavy post, "The Story Of Egypt's Revolution In 'Jurassic Park' Gifs," plagiarized wording from Wikipedia; another, "7 Things Democrats Would Have Freaked Out About If Bush Had Done Them," copied phrasing from The Hill newspaper.

On Saturday morning, Johnson wrote on Twitter, "To the writers who were not properly attributed and anyone who ever read my byline, I am sincerely sorry." He then shared a link to Smith's editors note.

As websites grow up, their standards go up. And Smith, who was hired at the end of 2011 to turn the viral site into a bonafide news source, acknowledged as much in his editors' note.

"BuzzFeed started seven years ago as a laboratory for content," Smith wrote. "Our writers didn't have journalistic backgrounds and weren't held to traditional journalistic standards, because we weren't doing journalism. But that started changing a long time ago."

He cited the "high standards" of BuzzFeed's journalists and the "increasingly careful attribution" practices of "the people who produce our immensely popular entertainment."

For years, BuzzFeed has been scrutinized for its attribution practices, since some of its most popular material originates on Reddit and other social networks.

Partly thanks to its aggressive aggregation techniques, the venture capital-backed website has grown incredibly quickly; it now has 150 million unique visitors a month around the world. A story that emerges on Reddit one day can be picked up by BuzzFeed the next day and make it onto a network morning show or CNN the next.

Nowadays, though, BuzzFeed also breaks news stories on its own, and those exclusives live right alongside sponsored posts from advertisers and lists like "29 Essentials For Throwing The Perfect 'Harry Potter' Party."

The decision to dismiss Johnson is likely to trigger more scrutiny of the site's practices.

Accusations of plagiarism by Johnson first surfaced online on Wednesday. When Gawker wrote about several examples of copied language on Thursday, Smith called them "serious failures," but also expressed support for Johnson, calling him "one of the web's deeply original writers, as is clear from his body of work."

After Friday's more thorough review of Johnson's work by BuzzFeed editors, however, Smith said, "We had no choice other than letting him go."

Matthew Ingram, a GigaOm senior writer who closely follows digital journalism, commented on Twitter that BuzzFeed's apology felt "like a stake in the ground, showing they are serious about getting serious."

In Smith's more detailed memo to his staff on Friday night (which was provided by a BuzzFeed spokeswoman), he said BuzzFeed would change its orientation procedures for new employees to "make sure that the high standards of training that come with our fellowship program extend to everyone who arrives at BuzzFeed -- and particularly to those without a background in traditional journalism."

He concluded his memo by saying, "We have more responsibility now than ever now to keep raising our standards and our ambitions, and to continue getting better."

First Published: July 26, 2014: 1:02 PM ET

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There's no place like the economy

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The curtain is about to be pulled back to reveal some key economic data. Here's what you need to know.

It's the economy, stupid: Investors will have to wait until Friday for the main event of the week: the all-important July jobs report.

The key thing to watch is whether robust jobs growth is continuing into the second half of the year. In June, the government said 288,000 jobs were added, bringing the total number of jobs added in the first six months of 2014 to 1.4 million. That was the strongest six months for job growth since 2006.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rates stands at 6.1%, which isn't far off from what many economists consider full employment.

But before the jobs report, Wall Street will get a first read on second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) Wednesday morning. GDP is the most comprehensive gauge of how the economy is doing, and a majority of GDP comes from consumer spending.

Analysts mostly believe that the first quarter's 2.9% contraction was a blip due primarily to unusually harsh weather, but this week's GDP report should provide more clarity on how the economy is faring.

Related: Global economy still limping along — and you can blame the U.S.

Then there's the Federal Reserve. The central bank will release a statement outlining its latest monetary policies on Wednesday afternoon.

It's widely believed that the Fed will announce another $10 billion pullback in monthly bond purchases, but investors will be scrutinizing every word of the statement for clues as to when the Fed plans to raise interest rates.

Summertime earnings vibes: A slew of corporate earnings reports may also provide some hints about how the economy is doing.

Investors will pay close attention to earnings from UPS (UPS) on Tuesday. The shipping giant and FedEx (FDX) rival blamed its poor first quarter performance on that nasty winter weather, but market strategists are expecting the company's earnings picked up steam last quarter along with the economy.

Procter & Gamble (PG) earnings, also considered a good gauge of economic health because it owns big consumer brands like Tide, Gillette, Crest and Pampers, will come out Friday.

Related: Smart people buy generic brands

Momentum stocks will also be in focus when Linkedin (LNKD, Tech30) and Tesla (TSLA) report results after the closing bell on Thursday.

Tesla's stock is up 50% this year as investors continue to be excited about Elon Musk's electric car company.

Linkedin is a more complicated story. Shares of the social career network are down almost 20% in 2014, but jumped over 10% this week on news that it acquired ad marketing platform Bizo for $175 million. Strong earnings from Facebook (FB, Tech30)also helped.

Big oil earnings are also in the pipeline. Chevron (CVX) and Exxon (XOM) release earnings Thursday and Friday, respectively. While it's probably still too early to tell what, if any, effects the geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine and the Middle East are having on their finances, investors will be looking for guidance about their profits and oil prices.

First Published: July 27, 2014: 9:22 AM ET

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Scandal-ridden food processor issues recall

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Husi did not specify how much food it will recall but promised an internal investigation and new management of the Shanghai plant. The Saturday announcement also pledged cooperation with authorities, who ordered the facility closed and detained five people as part of their own inquires, state media reported.

The scandal began when Chinese television showed workers at Husi Shanghai handling expired and tainted meat with their bare hands. Workers could be seen processing meat that had fallen on the floor, for example.

It widened as the extent of the company's distribution came to light. Many well-known fast food chains use the plant to supply their Asian operations.

Related: China's incredible high-speed rail system

Most have ended their relationship with the company or stopped selling its products. Among them are Yum Brands (YUM) (owner of KFC and Pizza Hut), Burger King (BKW), Papa John's (PZZA) and Starbucks (SBUX).

McDonald's (MCD) said it will no longer do business with the Shanghai plant but will continue to buy Husi products from other facilities. The scandal forced McDonald's to pull food from its restaurants in China, Japan and Hong Kong.

--CNNMoney's Sophia Yan contributed to this report

First Published: July 27, 2014: 1:01 PM ET

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Math nerds are taking over Wall Street

Quant trader Elie Galam at the Panorama Partners' New York City office. He is not a Wolf of Wall Street.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But guess what? They are rapidly being replaced by "quants" -- soft-spoken super nerds armed with high-tech software to help them beat the market.

Elie Galam is one of them.

Every day, the 30-year old runs 35,000 different trading strategies through software he designed to find a handful of trading ideas with a high statistical probability of making him money.

"It's like seismic imaging," said the Parisian-born Galam, comparing his investing approach to the process used to find pockets of oil.

"I want to have a high degree of confidence that when I drill, I'm going to find oil."

So how did a Harvard math Ph.D dropout end up working on Wall Street?

Not your basic multiplication tables: From an early age, Galam was obsessed with math. After high school, he studied at the École Centrale Paris, a prestigious French engineering university. After that, came Harvard, where he enrolled in an applied mathematics doctoral program. Galam jokes that life at Harvard was like Matt Damon's character in the film Good Will Hunting.

Related: Graduate student loans are ballooning

In one class, he built a computer algorithm that successfully identified the writer of an article based on programmed characteristics such as style and voice. It was the kind of work that would lay the foundation for his career in finance.

'The Street' was calling: Soon enough, Wall Street recruiters began knocking on Galam's door. Money, prestige and the chance to work on cutting edge quantitative finance systems all appealed to him. So he cut his Ph.D program short after one year and settled for a master's degree instead. At the age of 22, he accepted a job at Blue Mountain Capital, a credit trading hedge fund in New York.

When he got there, he surprisingly felt right at home.

"The firm had a lot of smart people, it wasn't a stereotypical Wolf of Wall Street firm," Galam said. "I wasn't the only quant guy there."

It's all about the data: After a few years, his entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, and Galam went into business with James Greenberg, a veteran Wall Street dealmaker. The duo went on to launch Panorama Partners in late 2011.

At the core of their strategy: a quantitative software program built from scratch by Galam that uses historical data and analysis to predict price movements in various assets.

"We get as much data as we can, we shock it, test it, do back tests, historical analysis," Galam explains. "That's where I come in, where the science comes in."

Related: The unglamorous life of hedge fund startups

But Greenberg insists that Galam isn't your average Wall Street quant, and that he possesses the rare combination of computer skills along with raw trading instinct.

"He has a rigid approach to math but he also has creativity," Greenberg says.

Quant invasion: Galam is constantly looking to grow his firm, and to do that he needs more quants that think like him. Potential hires don't need to know much about finance, but they should be top notch when it comes to applied mathematics. Complex brain teasers are standard interview questions.

Galam's employees often come from Russia, China, and his native France. He keeps in close contact with his old math professors in Paris, and calls them frequently to ask about promising talent in the classroom.

"Who's the best guy? I want him," is what he tells them.

First Published: July 26, 2014: 11:23 AM ET

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Would-be giant in online house hunting has brokers scared

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The rumored deal -- the companies won't confirm it -- sent the companies' stocks soaring Friday as the chatter gathered steam.

The companies don't charge for publishing these listings of homes for sale, but they do charge real estate agents fees to appear on their listing pages.

Should the two sites merge, they could have the leverage to charge more, said Steve Murray, editor at Real Trends a real estate communications and consulting company.

Already, some agent teams spend $20,000 a month with Zillow, Trulia, or both, said Murray.

For now, the agents are generally satisfied with the fees because the exposure generates so much business. Zillow and Trulia together attract 130 million visitors a month.

The ultimate fear: Zillow and Trulia could make brokers irrelevant.

Zillow, for instance, has its own home value algorithm called Zestimates. Trulia offers extensive rankings on crime, public transit and schools.

"Combined, [Zillow and Trulia] could further erode the leadership of the National Association of Realtors," said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a New York based appraisal firm.

Related: 10 mansions for under $1 million

Related: Best places for vacation home deals

First Published: July 25, 2014: 6:31 PM ET

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BuzzFeed fires viral politics editor for plagiarizing

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

BuzzFeed editor in chief Ben Smith said he and his colleagues had identified "41 instances of sentences or phrases copied, word for word, from other sites, many of them inappropriate sources in the first place," during a review of about 500 posts by Johnson.

"This pattern is not a minor slip," Smith wrote in a memorandum to BuzzFeed staff on Friday night. "This is a breach of faith with our readers; a violation of a basic rule of writing; and the reflection of an unserious attitude to our work that is wildly out of line with both our standards and our ambition."

Smith also published an editors' note that apologized to readers. He said corrections had been made to each of the 41 posts where plagiarism and attribution issues were found.

Many of the posts consisted of creative lists ("The 17 Best Swag Gifts Obama Has Received From Foreign Leaders") and regurgitated content from other sources ("FDR Had The Greatest Childhood Ever"). One image-heavy post, "The Story Of Egypt's Revolution In 'Jurassic Park' Gifs," plagiarized wording from Wikipedia; another, "7 Things Democrats Would Have Freaked Out About If Bush Had Done Them," copied phrasing from The Hill newspaper.

On Saturday morning, Johnson wrote on Twitter, "To the writers who were not properly attributed and anyone who ever read my byline, I am sincerely sorry." He then shared a link to Smith's editors note.

As websites grow up, their standards go up. And Smith, who was hired at the end of 2011 to turn the viral site into a bonafide news source, acknowledged as much in his editors' note.

"BuzzFeed started seven years ago as a laboratory for content," Smith wrote. "Our writers didn't have journalistic backgrounds and weren't held to traditional journalistic standards, because we weren't doing journalism. But that started changing a long time ago."

He cited the "high standards" of BuzzFeed's journalists and the "increasingly careful attribution" practices of "the people who produce our immensely popular entertainment."

For years, BuzzFeed has been scrutinized for its attribution practices, since some of its most popular material originates on Reddit and other social networks.

Partly thanks to its aggressive aggregation techniques, the venture capital-backed website has grown incredibly quickly; it now has 150 million unique visitors a month around the world. A story that emerges on Reddit one day can be picked up by BuzzFeed the next day and make it onto a network morning show or CNN the next.

Nowadays, though, BuzzFeed also breaks news stories on its own, and those exclusives live right alongside sponsored posts from advertisers and lists like "29 Essentials For Throwing The Perfect 'Harry Potter' Party."

The decision to dismiss Johnson is likely to trigger more scrutiny of the site's practices.

Accusations of plagiarism by Johnson first surfaced online on Wednesday. When Gawker wrote about several examples of copied language on Thursday, Smith called them "serious failures," but also expressed support for Johnson, calling him "one of the web's deeply original writers, as is clear from his body of work."

After Friday's more thorough review of Johnson's work by BuzzFeed editors, however, Smith said, "We had no choice other than letting him go."

Matthew Ingram, a GigaOm senior writer who closely follows digital journalism, commented on Twitter that BuzzFeed's apology felt "like a stake in the ground, showing they are serious about getting serious."

In Smith's more detailed memo to his staff on Friday night, he said BuzzFeed would change its orientation procedures for new employees to "make sure that the high standards of training that come with our fellowship program extend to everyone who arrives at BuzzFeed -- and particularly to those without a background in traditional journalism."

He concluded his memo by saying, "We have more responsibility now than ever now to keep raising our standards and our ambitions, and to continue getting better."

First Published: July 26, 2014: 1:02 PM ET

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Would-be giant in online house hunting has brokers scared

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The rumored deal -- the companies won't confirm it -- sent the companies' stocks soaring Friday as the chatter gathered steam.

The companies don't charge for publishing these listings of homes for sale, but they do charge real estate agents fees to appear on their listing pages.

Should the two sites merge, they could have the leverage to charge more, said Steve Murray, editor at Real Trends a real estate communications and consulting company.

Already, some agent teams spend $20,000 a month with Zillow, Trulia, or both, said Murray.

For now, the agents are generally satisfied with the fees because the exposure generates so much business. Zillow and Trulia together attract 130 million visitors a month.

The ultimate fear: Zillow and Trulia could make brokers irrelevant.

Zillow, for instance, has its own home value algorithm called Zestimates. Trulia offers extensive rankings on crime, public transit and schools.

"Combined, [Zillow and Trulia] could further erode the leadership of the National Association of Realtors," said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a New York based appraisal firm.

Related: 10 mansions for under $1 million

Related: Best places for vacation home deals

First Published: July 25, 2014: 6:31 PM ET

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Mary Poppins won't work for minimum wage

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But in a parody from Funny or Die, the Disney character (played by Kristin Bell) is quitting her job because that's all the Banks family will pay her.

She struggles to make ends meet while making $7.25, the federal minimum wage, pleading for a $3 raise.

"In every job that must be done, you must be paid in more than fun," she sings, a play on an original Mary Poppins song.

Related: LA hotel workers could get highest minimum wage in the U.S.

Plenty of people in the real world agree. 71% of people surveyed by CNNMoney favor an unspecified hike in the federal minimum wage. Meanwhile, 36% said it should be increased to $10.10 an hour, which is what Senate Democrats and President Obama have proposed.

A number of states and major cities aren't waiting for Congress to act and are passing minimum wage increases on their own. This year, five states and Washington D.C. passed legislation to gradually increase their wages to $10.10 or higher; other states passed smaller increases. In June, the Seattle city council approved an eventual increase to $15 an hour, making it the nation's highest so far.

But critics contend that a higher minimum wage will hurt jobs and consumers. A report released by the Congressional Budget Office in April said that a federal hike to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty, but also cut 500,000 jobs.

First Published: July 25, 2014: 4:32 PM ET

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Lyft gets the green light in New York City

Rideshare app Lyft, known for the pink mustaches on car grills, will launch in New York on Friday

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

After two weeks of sparring with New York City taxi regulators, rideshare app Lyft can start serving the five boroughs -- provided its drivers go through city licensing.

Lyft, known for the fuzzy pink mustaches on drivers' car grills, connects users with drivers, many of whom drive their own cars rather than a dispatcher's taxi. (The company said it will use smaller, dashboard mustaches in New York, as opposed to a big 'stache mounted on the front bumper.)

New York City's taxi regulator, the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), has said it has the right to regulate so-called rideshare apps like Lyft. The commission sought a temporary restraining order against the app as recently as July 11, when Lyft planned to launch in Brooklyn, because it had not secured licenses.

Related story: 24 hours with Lyft CEO Logan Green

Today's agreement suggests that the commission might be accepting technology with the potential to upend how it does business.

As part of the new agreement, Lyft drivers will meet a host of requirements. They'll submit to annual drug testing, attend a state-certified driving course every three years and get fingerprinted.

Around the country, regulators have shown skepticism -- and outright hostility -- to transportation apps like Uber and Lyft, which help users get taxis using their smartphones. They have laid down fines and court orders. Friday's agreement seemed to signal recognition in the highly regulated New York market that the apps are here to stay.

Commission chair Meera Joshi said in a statement that working with Lyft has helped regulators gain insight into the apps and how they serve passengers.

"As long as we ensure that public safety and consumer protection is at the forefront of these efforts, the city will benefit," said Joshi.

That's a far cry from the battle that Lyft's competitor Uber fought. It launched in New York in May 2011, according to its website, but it wrangled with the commission for two years before it was officially recognized.

First Published: July 25, 2014: 5:02 PM ET

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Amazon plunges 10% on big loss

Amazon's non-shipping efforts, like its first smartphone, aren't cheap.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Shares plunged 10% in extended trading Thursday after the tech giant reported a larger than expected loss. While sales rose 23%, the company recorded a loss of $126 million, which was even more than analysts had expected. It lost $7 million during the same quarter last year.

It's easy to see where Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) has been spending. It rolled out a number of new products and services this year, including Sunday delivery, its Fire TV media streaming device, and its first smartphone, the Fire Phone. It also recently announced an unlimited e-book subscription service for $9.99 per month.

Related: Amazon's innovative gadgets

While CEO Jeff Bezos has always been more concerned about the long-term growth than immediate profit, investors have supported his ways. The share price rose by 40% in 2012 and by more than 50% in 2013.

But Amazon stock was already down 10% this year before the company posted second-quarter earnings after Thursday's closing bell. It also landed in the middle of a heated fight with Hachette, taking criticism for delaying the delivery of some of the publisher's books.

It expects the same routine next quarter: a rise in sales but further losses.

First Published: July 24, 2014: 8:43 PM ET

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For sale: Town of Alladin, Wyo., for $1.5 million

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Located 80 miles northwest of Rapid City, SD, this 30-acre hamlet features a 126-year-old general store and post office, a bar and homes for the town's 15 full-time residents.

And the whole town can be yours for the bargain basement price of just $1.5 million.

At its peak, Aladdin was home to 200 people, most of whom worked at a nearby coal mine. In the years since the mine closed, the population has dwindled to just over a dozen people.

Related: Mansions for under $1 million

The town's owner, Judy Brengle, came into possession of the town 28 years ago when her husband bought it for her as a gift, says the couple's granddaughter Laramie Noyce.

Noyce has fond memories of her childhood in Aladdin and hopes if the town is sold, the new owners will keep it as is. "We grew up here. We don't want it to change."

Brengle said she's selling the town so she can focus on other pursuits."There are things we need to do on the ranch that we haven't," she told affiliate KEVN. "We have another store in South Dakota and we're busy going back and forth and we'd like more time to travel."

But she decided to forego investors' meetings, escrow, or an expensive real estate listing and advertise the sale in a much more low-key fashion...with a sign that hangs on the door of the century-old landmark general store.

Related: Million-dollar ranches for sale

The store opened in 1896 and served as a commissary for coal workers. In the years since it has also become the town's primary retailer post office, serving the full-time residents of Aladdin, as well as dozens of others who live nearby.

The post office and general store, as well a bar, the Brengle family's four-bedroom home and the property under the town's trailer park are all included in the $1.5 million price. And since there is no indoor plumbing or sewage system, an outhouse is also being thrown into the deal.

Brengle says she hasn't gotten any offers to buy the town yet, but when she does, she says she's not going anywhere. She plans to live in Aladdin as long as she can. "It's so quiet and a great place to raise kids. It's a wonderful place to live," she said.

First Published: July 24, 2014: 7:32 PM ET

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3 things that will drive your life insurance premiums through the roof

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But just how much does your age, gender or smoking habit cost you? InsuranceQuotes.com evaluated life insurance premiums for the top 25 carriers in the nation to find out.

Men pay an average of 38% more than women for the same coverage.

Here's one area where women have a financial edge. Men are at a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, various cancers and accidental injuries and that makes them more risky to insurers. The average life expectancy of an American man is also five years younger than a woman's, meaning an insurer is more likely to pay out on a man's policy than a woman's.

Smokers pay more than three times as much as non-smokers for the same policy.

Insurers can charge smokers three times as much as non-smokers, insuranceQuotes.com found.

Related: Stressful jobs that pay badly

A non-smoking 45-year-old woman, for example, pays $45 a month for a $500,000 term life policy. If she smokes, however, the premium shoots up to $167 a month. That's $1,462 more a year.

If you can kick the habit, however, you can save big. Tell your insurer that you've been smoke-free for two years and they will usually lower your premium to the rate for non-smokers, said Laura Adams, an analyst for insuranceQuotes.com.

"That's pretty generous," said Adams. "It's almost like you never smoked."

Related: Why you don't need to buy extra rental car insurance

But don't tell your insurer that if it's not true. If you do die of a smoking-related cause and your insurer finds out you never quit, they can deny the benefit entirely.

Get coverage young and save -- but only if you need it

Most people don't feel the need to buy life insurance until they have a child. And in general, that's a pretty good rule of thumb.

If you have children in your 20s or early 30s you could save significantly on premiums by opening a policy while you're young.

Premiums for 35 year olds cost about 27% more than those for a 25 year old.

"Term life [policies are] popular because they're relatively inexpensive and people don't need policies for their entire life," said Adams. Many parents buy 20-year term policies to see their children through their college years.

First Published: July 24, 2014: 7:58 PM ET

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Chinese homebuyers are flocking to these U.S. states

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

More than half of the $22 billion Chinese buyers spent on U.S. homes during the 12 months ended in March was spent in California, Washington and New York, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Top U.S. states for Chinese homebuyers

Chinese buyers are spending billions of dollars on homes in these states.

California	35%
Washington	9%
New York	7%
Pennsylvania	6%
Texas	6%
All other states	36%

Source: National Association of Realtors

The hottest markets: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New York and Seattle, according to Juwai.com, a Hong Kong-based website that connects Chinese buyers with U.S. properties.

California is particularly attractive because it's so close to the homeland, and its major cities have large Chinese-American populations and attractive climates and lifestyles, said Andrew Taylor, Juwai's co-CEO.

Related: Mansions for under $1 million

"Plus, it has a thriving tech industry that employs many Chinese," he said.

Leslie Appleton-Young, the chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, said there had always been a small cadre of real estate agents in California who work with international buyers, but the number has exploded over the past two or three years.

"The global real estate market is a reality," she said.

The influx of Chinese buyers has helped push home prices higher in places like San Francisco. That has forced less wealthy Chinese buyers to turn to nearby cities like Oakland and other less expensive areas, buoying those markets as well, said Appleton-Young.

In Seattle, tech jobs and universities are a big draw. Many Chinese parents are buying condos for their kids who are attending school there.

"They come to Washington State for work, for education or simply to invest," said Taylor.

Related: Best places for vacation home deals

In New York, Chinese buyers are spending millions on properties in Manhattan that they will never live in, according to Weimin Tan, a real estate agent who caters to Chinese real estate investors.

His clients spend between $1 million and $4 million and many treat the purchases solely as investments. "They use it as a hedge to diversify their holdings," said Tan.

Chinese buyers are also searching for homes for sale in Florida's resort areas, according to Juwai's Taylor.

In Miami, Chinese buyers go for newly built, high-end waterfront buildings, where they can easily find renters at attractive yields.

And growing in popularity among Chinese house hunters is Texas, particularly the cities of Austin and Houston, said Taylor. The state of Texas engages in nearly $10 billion worth of trade a year with China.

Surprisingly, the city of Plano, outside Dallas, has one of the highest percentage of Chinese residents in the nation, at 5.2%.

Related: Want to make money as a landlord? Try Detroit

But perhaps the most unexpected destination for Chinese real estate money to land in is Michigan.

Chinese buyers are keeping an eye on the revival of the auto industry and buying homes in manufacturing cities like Detroit, Saginaw and Flint, said Taylor. They're also purchasing homes in Ann Arbor and other college towns for their kids.

Most of the buying, however, is pure bottom-fishing with many buyers never even setting foot on their property or in the state, for that matter. In Detroit, news stories of homes being auctioned off at a starting bid of $1 has "set off an avalanche of interest and some purchases," said Taylor.

Related: Detroit to auction vacant homes online. Starting bid: $1,000

Chinese investors buy the properties cheap, have them refurbished and put back on the market as rentals.

According to NAR, nearly 40% of the Chinese buyers will live in their U.S. homes full-time. But nearly half the purchases made by Chinese nationals are strictly for investment with buyers not intending to live in them at all.

First Published: July 23, 2014: 4:51 PM ET

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Only 3 in 10 Twitter workers are women

Most workers at Twitter are white and male, according to statistics from the company released Wednesday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Overall, only 3 in 10 employees there are women and 59% of its workforce is white.

"We have a lot of work to do," the company said in a blog post.

The lack of diversity is even more apparent on the management team, where 79% is male and 72% is white. When it comes to Twitter's employees doing technology-specific work only 1 in 10 are women.

Related: Despite Mayer, Yahoo leadership overwhelmingly male

The company posted the statistics Wednesday after Google (GOOGL, Tech30), Facebook (FB, Tech30) and Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30) released extremely similar reports over the past two months. Between 60% and 70% of the workforce at those companies are also male and more than half are white.

Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) employs about 2,700 employees, fewer than the other three companies.

Tech companies have closely guarded their employment data in the past. This flurry of diversity reports is a first from companies in Silicon Valley.

Findings show their workforces do not reflect of the nation's overall population, which is about 63% white, 17% Hispanic, 13% African American and 5% Asian, according the Census Bureau. And the Labor Department reports that women make up 49% of those with jobs.

First Published: July 23, 2014: 7:45 PM ET

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Macan - Porsche's physics-defying SUV

Santa Barbara, Calif. (CNNMoney)

While the larger Cayenne feels very similar to a sports sedan from behind the wheel, the Macan comes amazingly close to a sports car. I drove one through canyon roads from the Los Angeles area out to Willow Springs race track. On these tightly twisting, rising, falling two-lane roads the Macan was not just capable but genuinely silly fun.

The Macan, for now, comes in two basic flavors.

The Macan S has a 340 horsepower turbocharged V6 engine and a starting price around $51,000. The Macan Turbo (Yes, they both have turbos but only one gets to be called the "Turbo.") starts at about $73,000, a price that gets you a 400 horsepower turbocharged V6.

Neither one is cheap, especially for an SUV that's, frankly, rather short on backseat space. But these vehicles just about defy physics.

Gallery - Best-loved cars in America

The Macan is available with a choice of three different suspensions from an ordinary metal spring system to a fully adjustable air suspension system. The basic steel spring suspension felt amazingly good to me, even on the racetrack's curves. It certainly felt better than I'd ever expect an SUV to feel in a tight, fast turn that had me straining to stay in my seat.

The more expensive suspension systems let you adjust everything from firmness to ride height. The right height adjustment was handy during an off-road driving exercise.

Now, I've driven Jeeps and Land Rovers off-road through stuff that would make a Porsche Macan whimper just to think about it but, honestly, the Macan did better than I would have expected. It climbed steep, unpaved trails and rocked and rolled through ugly gullies. That means it's certainly capable of far more "off-roading" than any actual owner will ever do.

But what buyers will really want is the Macan's amazing performance on dry, paved roads. Either engine is powerful enough but the Turbo's performance is really striking. Porsche claims it can scramble from zero to 60 miles an hour in just 4.4 seconds. That's really quick for an SUV, but it feels even faster, especially with the Macan Turbo's engine roar.

Few SUVs will pin you in your seat the way this one can. The steering wheel provides wonderful feedback from the road. In tight curves -- particularly with the more expensive adjustable suspension -- the Macan defies centrifugal force without making you feel like you're driving a rock. It's an amazing display of what great suspension design can do.

Cool cars: Hot wheels and deals

The Macan isn't cheap nor is it especially practical. You might not want to tow your yacht with it, for instance. But it is the most fun you can have driving an SUV and a lot more fun than most cars. Sometimes, engineers can do amazing things.

First Published: July 23, 2014: 7:57 PM ET

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Get ready for craft beer with a Latin twist

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Among them is Juan Camilo, a 28 year old Dominican-American entrepreneur who two years ago turned his beer brewing hobby into a full-fledged business. He quit his job on Wall Street and, with a home-made recipe and a passion for beer, opened the Dyckman Beer Company, hailed as New York City's first Latino-owned brewery.

Camilo, who was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic but grew up in upper Manhattan and the Bronx, plans to produce a line of beer that captures the essence, culture and flavors of New York's Latino neighborhoods.

"I just started experimenting with and adding different fruits and food that I grew up drinking and eating," Camillo said.

Related: Cold beer battle heats up in Indiana

His first creation is a sweet honey and spicy citrus pilsner style lager that he calls "Dyckman Brew," named after a popular street bordering the now-trendy upper Manhattan neighborhoods of Inwood and Washington Heights.

Related: A sampling of beers being made with traditional Latin flavors

Other fruit-infused variations will follow in the coming months. A Belgian style ale will have hints of cherry and a passion fruit flavored Saison -- a pale ale - will debut in the fall.

"There's not too many beers out there in the country or even the world that incorporate those fruits but they are ingredients that really resonate with Latinos, especially from the Caribbean," he said. "That's our biggest differentiator from other beer companies."

Camilo is not alone. There is a small but growing trend of Latinos entering the beer brewing business designing recipes that incorporate traditional elements of Latin food and drink.

In 2011, the first Latin craft brewery opened in Chicago, and recently a group of Latino brewers have had a significant impact on the artisanal beer scene of southern California. At Pacific Plate Brewing Company, partners Stephen Kooshian, Jonathan Parada and Steven Cardenas use ingredients such as Mexican cinnamon, Madagascar bourbon vanilla and Ecuadorian cocoa.

Pacific Plate Brewing Company partners Stephen Kooshian, Jonathan Parada and Steven Cardenas infuse their craft beers with traditional Latin flavors.

And consumers have responded. Pacific Plate opened its taproom in 2013 and is already turning a profit. According to the Brewers Association, sales of craft beer were up 17% last year and Hispanics were a significant part of that uptick. About 38% of Hispanics told market research firm Mintel that they drink craft beer often.

"Good beer appeals to a large segment of the population, which of course includes Latinos," says Jason Gardea-Stinnett, co-founder of beersinparadise.com and co-owner of Oakland's Hopscotch Restaurant. "Given recent demographic shifts, Latinos aren't just one of the fastest growing segments on the consumer side, we've become an active and rapidly growing part of the business side as well."

And the brewers feel there's still room to grow. "The potential is huge," says Camilo, "We have huge buying power. We're growing in numbers year over year."

Related: Is craft beer really a good business bet?

Camilo's Dyckman Beer Company now supplies nearly 100 stores, bars and restaurants around New York City, and although he currently operates at a loss, he expects the company to grow 200% over the next year.

"Once you educate the consumer on craft beer, you know, where the beer comes from, the ingredients, the raw materials, they really, really enjoy it and are really, really loyal to it," he says.

Camilo's unique brews are bottled with a unique slogan: "Una vaina bien." It's an ode to his Dominican roots and to the people of uptown Manhattan.

"It means something delicious. Something amazing. Something that you want to taste and you know, it's a phrase that really resonates with people here," He said. "Everybody else might as well start learning it too."

First Published: July 22, 2014: 5:16 PM ET

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Dark Mail: Email that hides from the NSA

Ladar Levison, the guy behind Lavabit, is launching Dark Mail to encrypt emails so the NSA doesn't even know who's talking.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But there's one tool that could make it much more difficult for the NSA to spy on you. Meet Dark Mail, your personal black box for email.

Like Google's (GOOGL, Tech30) Gmail and other email services with robust security tools, Dark Mail encrypts email content, shielding it from government spies.

But Dark Mail takes the extra step of cloaking your email's metadata, which includes the subject line and the 'To' and 'From' fields. That way, spies can't easily identify who's sending emails.

Why is that important? Even if the NSA can't read the body of your message, knowing who you email can trigger extra government scrutiny.

The NSA uses email metadata collected on millions of Americans to select specific people for closer surveillance of emails and phone calls. To appreciate how quickly this can balloon, consider that for every one target, nine of their connections get spied on too.

The NSA's bulk collection of metadata reminds Dark Mail co-creator Ladar Levison of the guilt-by-association of the 1950's Communist-hunting McCarthy era.

"I think we lost the freedom of association, and we didn't realize it," Levison said. "The fear now is that if I email you, and you're under surveillance... I will, in turn, place myself under surveillance."

Related story: Snowden asks hackers to protect whistleblowers

Dark Mail is not NSA-proof. The government can still target a person and follow each email's trail. But to do that, the government would have to trace every stop along an email's path -- device, server, server and device.

Using Dark Mail is like mailing an envelope that, on the outside, is only addressed to and from post offices. Finding the actual sender and recipient is not an unsolvable mystery, but it creates some drag for the dragnet.

"Done right, this should make it technologically impossible to conduct mass surveillance," Levison said.

This isn't Levison's first attempt at building a highly private communication tool. He created a similar email service called Lavabit, but he closed it last year when FBI agents demanded he silently give up information about one particular Lavabit user: Edward Snowden.

Levison refused to give up the encryption keys that would let the feds secretly monitor Lavabit, choosing instead to shut it down. For fighting the FBI demand, he's now saddled with federal fines.

Dark Mail and Lavabit have one important difference: Unlike Lavabit, Levison doesn't hold the keys to Dark Mail -- each individual user does. Emails are encrypted on users' devices, protected by their passwords. That means even he can't read Dark Mail users' emails, and he would have nothing to turn over to the feds should they come asking.

Cybersecurity: How safe are you? -- a custom Flipboard magazine

Dark Mail won't be available for another six months. Levison is still developing it with Stephen Watt, a former Wall Street coder (now a convicted hacker who served time in prison). Levison said Dark Mail could work as an add-on with all major email services -- as long as they make slight tweaks to their code. Levison is trying to get Google, Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) Yahoo (YHOO, Tech30) and other email providers on board.

If users want to use Dark Mail as its own email sending program, Levison is developing an email client called "Volcano." From initial sketches Levison showed CNNMoney, Volcano won't look or feel too different from every other email service we use.

First Published: July 22, 2014: 7:31 PM ET

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Gun maker relocates fearing stricter state laws

The gun manufacturer said that is "very worried" about keeping a factory in Maryland.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The gun manufacturer said Tuesday that it is "very worried" about keeping a factory in Maryland.

While proposed gun laws that would have closed most of Beretta's operations failed to pass the state's legislature last year, the company is worried that even tougher legislation could be successfully pushed through in the future, said spokesman Jeff Reh.

Beretta makes approximately 1,500 weapons each day. The company produces a wide range of firearms from hunting rifles to pistols.

While it will keep administrative offices in its facility in Accokeek, Md., all manufacturing capabilities will be relocated to a new plant in Gallatin, Tenn. in 2015. The move leaves 90 jobs in Maryland, but shifts 160 jobs to the new facility, Reh said. The new plant will hire around 300 people in the next five years.

Related: AK-47s become hot commodity after U.S. sanctions

Originally, Beretta intended to use the new Tennessee location to only manufacture new products.

"We have decided that it is more prudent from the point of view of our future welfare to move the Maryland production lines in their entirety to the new Tennessee facility," said general manager Jeff Cooper in a statement.

Fear that new legislation could make it more difficult to purchase guns has driven up overall sales in recent years, as shooters stockpile weapons. But enthusiasts seem less worried in 2014. Sales have dropped 7.6% through the end of June, according to CRT Research.

A spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat and proponent of the tighter laws, said he is "disappointed with this decision" but stands by the legislation.

First Published: July 22, 2014: 7:39 PM ET

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$24 billion tobacco verdict: One down, 5,130 to go

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RAI) -- maker of the Camel, Kool and Pall Mall brands -- still has about 5,130 cases to fight. They're the remnants of a Florida class action lawsuit from the 1990s that was dismantled but allowed to move forward as individual cases.

Plaintiff Cynthia Robinson argued that Reynolds failed to warn her husband, Michael Johnson, of the risks of smoking when he began at age 13. He died of lung cancer at age 36 in 1996.

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Nearly seventy such cases against the company have been tried, according to documents the company filed this spring with federal regulators. Reynolds has been ordered to pay victims $232 million, but most cases are tied up in appeal, so the company has only paid about $83 million so far.

The $23.6 billion award due to Robinson consists entirely of punitive damages, which are designed to punish companies for gross misbehavior. The jury also awarded Robinson $16 million in standard damages, such as lost wages and healthcare costs.

Reynolds has said it will appeal the multi-billion decision and believes it unconstitutional. At the very least, a judge could sharply reduce the dollar amount of the award.

Even if other verdicts against Reynolds aren't quite so humongous, the amounts could start to add up quickly. The company also faces lawsuits unrelated to that Florida class action.

Related: States call on pharmacies to stop selling tobacco

Juries in the remaining cases will likely continue to award damages for lost wages and similar costs, said Celene Humphries, a partner at Brannock & Humphries who was not involved in the Robinson case but has represented other alleged victims. But she said it's unlikely that any will award such outsized punitive damages.

About half of the tobacco cases that have gone to trial have resulted a significant award for the victim. The other half found the tobacco manufacturers were not at fault, ended in a mistrial or an award of less than $50,000.

First Published: July 21, 2014: 5:52 PM ET

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Netflix passes 50 million subscribers

Netflix recently premiered the second season of its hit series Orange Is The New Black.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The streaming video service said Monday that it now boasts over 50 million members in 40 countries, including 36 million in the United States. That compares with 56 million U.S. households that had premium cable subscriptions of some kind as of July, according to Nielsen.

Netflix (NFLX, Tech30) growth slowed a bit in the second quarter, with the company adding just 570,000 U.S. streaming subscribers. That compares with 630,000 in the same quarter a year ago and 2.25 million in the first quarter.

In May, Netflix raised subscription prices for new members by $1, though the company said this change had "minimal impact on membership growth."

Netflix is continuing its push into original programming with shows like Orange Is The New Black, which launched its second season in early June, and Hemlock Grove, which premiered earlier this month. The fourth and final season of The Killing is due August 1. Netflix shows garnered 31 Emmy nominations this past year.

The company said it currently has a number of new shows in production, including Marvel's Daredevil, a partnership with Marvel Television. There's also Sense8, a new show from Matrix directors the Wachowski brothers, and an unnamed thriller from the creators of Damages featuring Kyle Chandler and Sissy Spacek.

Netflix turned heads last month with its announcement that it will produce a talk show featuring comedienne Chelsea Handler, a departure from the less topical, scripted content on which the company has focused so far. Speaking to analysts Monday afternoon, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos this decision was driven in part by a change in viewing habits among talk show fans.

"They're not watching them at 11:30 -- they're watching them days, weeks, sometimes months later online," Sarandos said. "What we're hoping to do with Chelsea and her team is create a show that's built closer to the way people are going to watch it."

Related: Netflix partner says Verizon slows traffic

Netflix's revenue has been growing steadily in recent quarters, cracking $1 billion for the first time last year and hitting $1.3 billion in the second quarter. That was in line with analyst estimates, and the stock rose slightly in after-hours trading Monday.

Moving forward, Netflix is looking to strengthen its European presence, launching this September in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

"There's nothing really different about our international businesses [such] that we can't achieve U.S.-like margins or better," Netflix chief financial officer David Wells said.

And for those of you who prefer doing your movie-watching online and but your shopping in person, Netflix announced that it will begin selling gift cards in retail stores later this year.

First Published: July 21, 2014: 4:49 PM ET

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Israeli tech talent tapped to fight in Gaza

Vaknin (center) with his army unit in 2009; Vaknin with Ido Aharoni, Consul General of Israel in New York

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Lior Vaknin, 27, is no exception. He served as a special forces paratrooper in the Israeli army from 2006 to 2009, and then ran a startup in Israel. But seven months ago, he moved to New York and launched Israeli Startups NYC, a Meetup initiative designed to unite the Israeli and New York startup communities.

Those from his squad, now reservists in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), await notice that they might soon join the fight in Gaza. Vaknin said many are "upset" they haven't been notified. Though far away, Vaknin has never felt more like a soldier.

On Monday, Vaknin learned that an active member of his old unit had been killed.

"Its difficult to be outside of Israel, to see what's going on and not be there," said Vaknin.

To date, 65,000 IDF reservists have been called up to serve in the ground offensive in Gaza.

But Israeli techies who've launched businesses in the U.S. don't feel lucky they aren't in Israel -- they feel a sense of remorse.

Related: Israeli startups flock to New York

"There's almost guilt that you're actually here and not there," said Eyal Bino.

Bino formerly served as part of Israel's esteemed Unit 8200, the technology intelligence unit of the IDF, akin to the NSA. He moved to New York twelve years ago and runs Worldwide Investor Network, an accelerator platform that helps foreign tech startups find mentors and funding in New York.

Guy Katsovich is the program manager of 8200 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Support, a startup accelerator in Tel Aviv for Israeli army alumni.

He said "a lot Israeli entrepreneurs" have been called by the Israeli army to serve.

CNNMoney contacted several tech entrepreneurs who are part of the 65,000 reservists; they declined to talk due to security concerns.

According to Katsovich, for many, the latest call to service is just business as usual.

"Israelis are used to [living] their life in a reality of environmental uncertainty," said Katsovich. "It makes the challenges of dealing with uncertainty while leading a startup much more easy to deal with."

Lior Prosor, who runs Elevator Fund, a VC fund for early-stage Israeli startups, agrees.

"People do [return on reserve] and also run a business. It's not something they can't handle," said Prosor.

In fact, Elevator Fund partnered with Tel Aviv-based startup Zoliro to launch ISupportIsrael.org just two days ago, even though several of Zoliro's employees have been drafted to Gaza.

The crowdfunding site collects money for basic grocery packages to support Israeli families who have been impacted by the rockets from Gaza. It's collected more than $17,000 in the last two days.

Bino said that if the war continues, the Israeli startup community could take a financial hit.

"If it's going to be an extended war, it could potentially impact investors investing in Israeli startups [who are] afraid of investing in companies where there's a warzone," said Bino.

First Published: July 21, 2014: 7:19 PM ET

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What really happened with NBC and Ayman Mohyeldin

Journalist Ayman Mohyeldin.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

His exit from Gaza had caused an uproar among his fans and fellow correspondents, some of whom wondered if Mohyeldin, the network's only Arab-American correspondent in the region, was being censored by the network. Ultimately, the public backlash played a role in the network's decision to reinstate him, according to interviews with NBC News employees.

Until now, little has been reported about the circumstances of Mohyeldin's exit from Gaza. Among some NBC employees, concerns still linger about whether Mohyeldin was singled out for his empathetic stories about Palestinians in Gaza. But the interviews strongly suggest that this was a situation caused by network news infighting and bureaucracy.

Said one of the employees, "Everyone's looking for a conspiracy and missing the real story, which is a news division making mistakes through ratings nervousness."

The employees spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing they'd face disciplinary action if they were named. They spoke independently and had similar accounts of what happened in Gaza, in London (where NBC's international coverage is organized) and New York (where the news division is headquartered).

Mohyeldin had already been in Gaza for about two weeks when, on Wednesday, July 16, Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel arrived in nearby Tel Aviv. Engel, the network's biggest overseas star, became the lead reporter in the region -- a common television news practice.

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Mohyeldin understood that the "NBC Nightly News" might only make time for one report from the region on Wednesday night, and that it would likely be Engel's. But then he witnessed an Israeli strike on a Gaza City beach. Four children were killed in full view of reporters. Mohyeldin and his crew began filming, and he alerted his bosses to the potential for a "Nightly News" story about what he'd just seen.

In New York on Wednesday afternoon, NBC News President Deborah Turness became personally involved: wanting "Nightly News" to consider using Mohyeldin that night, she asked him to send in a script and prepare a TV package.

When she screened the package, however, the sources said Turness was disappointed in his "tracking," the television term for a reporter's narration of a package. Instead of asking him to narrate it again, or appear live on "Nightly News" to tell the story in his own words, Turness said the script would be given to Engel instead.

NBC poached Mohyeldin in 2011 from Al Jazeera English, where he'd been widely praised for his live reports from the Middle East. "But network news is all about scripting and storytelling," one of the employees said, and some managers had doubts about Mohyeldin's skills.

According to another employee, though, a story had never before been taken away from Mohyeldin for "tracking" reasons, so it raised eyebrows.

Hours later, Engel read parts of Mohyeldin's script on "Nightly News." One of the employees called it "completely unethical" to "take a story that somebody reported and give it to another reporter who's not even on the ground."

Other employees said there wasn't time for a major re-write.

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Did this decision demonstrate unfairness on the part of NBC, or more mundane internal politicking? Engel is one of NBC's most recognizable correspondents, after all, and "Nightly News" is locked in a battle with ABC's "World News" for No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings.

"The producers are so paranoid about the ratings, they'll do anything to stick with the faces viewers know and trust -- so that would be Richard over Ayman," said one of the employees. "Plus, there is no tolerance if a story is fed in and doesn't live up to expectations."

Mohyeldin repeatedly appeared on NBC's cable news channel, MSNBC, to share what he'd witnessed along the beach. After those reports and "Nightly News," he was told that Engel was coming to Gaza, so he had to leave. This was the biggest head-scratcher of all, and a big part of the reason for the subsequent uproar.

Mohyeldin knew the Gaza story better than any other correspondent -- so why not keep him there while adding Engel? That's what Mohyeldin proposed to the executive in charge of international newsgathering, David Verdi -- but Verdi cited unspecified security reasons. "The decision is final," Verdi told him, according to a person told of the conversation immediately afterward.

Mohyeldin departed for Tel Aviv on Thursday morning. His absence from Wednesday's "Nightly News" was noticed by colleagues and was written up by the industry blog TVNewser. Soon "let Ayman report" and "free Ayman" hashtags were showing up on Twitter and NBC was being accused of pro-Israel bias by sidelining Mohyeldin.

NBC declined to comment throughout Thursday and Friday, which fed the speculation about what had happened. To date there is no evidence that Turness's bosses at NBC or its parent company, Comcast (CCV), intervened in Mohyeldin's reporting or singled him out because of his background.

Behind the scenes, the network tried to convince Mohyeldin to sign off on a statement that, he thought, whitewashed the situation. Later on Friday, NBC management directly apologized to him and reassigned him to Gaza.

In a statement on Friday night, NBC credited Mohyeldin for "extraordinary reporting throughout the escalation of the conflict in Gaza."

"As with any news team in conflict zones, deployments are constantly reassessed," the network said. "We've carefully considered our deployment decisions and we will be sending Ayman back to Gaza over the weekend. We look forward to his contributions in the coming days."

The network did not explain the reversal, but the statement came close to acknowledging that it had made a mistake by pulling him out of Gaza.

"Thank you to everyone's support over the past few days," Mohyeldin wrote on Facebook. He called himself "proud of NBC's continued commitment to cover the Palestinian side of the story."

NBC's critics weren't fully satisfied. "So basically NBC is saying 'We thought we'd get away with this but we realized we were wrong,'" Yousef Munayyer, the executive director of The Palestine Center, wrote on Twitter. "Just shows you the power of social media."

First Published: July 20, 2014: 3:24 PM ET

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Wall Street reform law only half done

Percentage of the 398 required rules that have been finalized.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

While regulators have sped up the pace of finalizing the complex batch of regulations required by Dodd-Frank, there's clearly a lot more work ahead.

According to law firm Davis Polk, 208 (52%) of the 398 total rulemaking requirements have been met so far. It's an improvement from 2012, when just 31% of the Dodd-Frank rules were in force, but still lacking.

Missed deadlines: "Progress will ultimately be measured based on whether we have implemented rules that create a strong and effective regulatory framework and stand the test of time under intense scrutiny in rapidly changing financial markets," SEC chair Mary Jo White said in a statement last week.

In the past year, regulators have made progress in a number of areas, including limiting in-house trading activities through the Volcker Rule, reforming the market for complex financial instruments called swaps, cutting back on the reliance for credit ratings firms and creating new rules for municipal advisers.

But it's clear regulators are not exactly moving at lightning speed, at least compared with the timeline set forth by Congress when Dodd-Frank was ushered into law in 2010.

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Out of 280 rulemaking deadlines that have passed, 127 (45%) of them have been missed by regulators, Davis Polk said. That's probably not a track record that your boss would appreciate.

Regulators have fallen behind in a number of key areas that were at the heart of the financial crisis, including asset-backed securities, credit ratings firms, derivatives and mortgage reforms. America is also still awaiting rules tied to consumer protection and the orderly wind-down of financial institutions (think: what to do in case of another Lehman Brothers).

What's the holdup? It's difficult to overhaul the world's largest financial system. That task was made even more complicated by the fact that Congress left many of the tough decisions up to the regulators, since they have more knowledge.

"The burdens that Congress put on regulators through Dodd-Frank are incredibly complex. It's really the largest change to the financial sector's regulation since the Great Depression. So it's going to take a long time," said Gabriel Rosenberg, an associate in Davis Polk's financial institutions group.

Related: 6 events that spooked the markets in 2014

After writing the rules, regulators must give the public a chance to comment on the proposals. Those comments, often from lobbyists representing the financial industry, may result in changes to the proposed rules, which sometimes get watered down.

According to OpenSecrets.org, securities and investment firms such as Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) spent $98 million on lobbying in 2013.

Related: Obama wants more financial reform

"I'd rather the agencies take more time, get more comment and get it right than get it done fast," said Ernie Patrikis, former general counsel at the New York Fed and now a banking partner at White & Case.

"What's the rush? Banks are healing. The economy is healing. We're not going to face a crisis, touch wood, for a little while," he said.

While there has been talk that Dodd-Frank creates extra regulatory uncertainty for the big banks at the center of the new rules, Patrikis doesn't think so.

"If things come in a more orderly way, it's easier to implement," he said.

First Published: July 20, 2014: 6:16 PM ET

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Millennials say no to marriage

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Today's young adults are on track have the lowest rates of marriage by age 40 compared to any previous generation. If the current pace continues, more than 30% of Millennial women will remain unmarried by age 40, nearly twice the share of their Gen X counterparts, according to a recent Urban Institute report.

And that could have serious economic repercussions for both the Millennials and the nation as a whole.

There are several reasons behind the plunge. The importance of marriage has been diminishing for years. More Americans are living together without getting married, and some are raising families ... just without the gold bands, said Neil Howe, an economist and author of several books about Millennials.

Also, marriage used to be the starting point for young adults. They got hitched early and built a life together, Howe said. Now, many people feel they have to be more established, especially financially, before they walk down the aisle.

"The shift is the shift in the role of marriage in one's life," he said.

Related: Enough with Millennials. Here's what Gen X thinks

Marriage rates fell even more drastically during the Great Recession, when young adults had a tough time landing their first jobs and other Americans found themselves collecting unemployment checks.

Just how many Millennials tie the knot by the time they hit 40 depends on whether marriage rates return to their pre-recession levels or not. Only 69.3% of women will marry if the post-recession rate continues, while 76.8% will if the rate returns to pre-downturn levels. For men, the rates come in at 65% and 72.6%, respectively.

Regardless, it will be fewer than Gen Xers. Some 82% of Gen X women and 76.6% of Gen X men were married by 40.

Underlying these numbers, however, are major divisions by race and educational attainment. Hispanic and black Millennials, as well as those without college degrees, are expected to see greater declines in their marriage rates.

White Millennials will see a small drop.

College grads could remain steady if rates return or decline slightly if they don't. That runs contrary to the current narrative that Millennials are putting off marriage because of high student loan debts and unemployment rates, as well as the increased propensity to live with their parents, said Steven Martin, senior research associate at the Urban Institute and the report's co-author.

He found, however, that college graduates marry later so they are better able to ride out poor economic times just after they finish school. And staying single while young gives them more opportunity to establish a financial base since they can focus on their careers.

But the explosion in singles has its downsides. Married couples are often better off financially, which means they can spend more.

"The evidence shows that getting married increases wealth and income," said Pamela Smock, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan.

Single Americans may be less likely to buy homes or trade up to accommodate growing families, while single parents may be more likely to qualify for government safety net programs.

And the growing schism in marriage rates could exacerbate income inequality in this country, dividing society into still mostly married "haves" and increasingly single "have nots."

First Published: July 20, 2014: 6:46 PM ET

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