Category: Tech

• Nationwide, the typical home has a monthly mortgage cost that’s about 25% more than rent, according to Redfin.
• However, buying is actually more affordable in Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Houston. 
• California’s Bay Area has the biggest premium on owning a home. 

In the US, it’s about 25% more expensive to buy a home than rent it, but in four metro areas ownership is cheaper, according to Redfin.

An analysis of single-family homes and townhouses found that estimated monthly mortgage costs are lower than monthly rental costs in Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Houston. 

In Detroit, the typical home is 24% less expensive to buy than rent — the largest percentage discount among the 50 most populous metros, Redfin said in a report Friday. The median mortgage payment for homebuyers there is $1,296, while the average estimated rent hovers at $1,697.

Philadelphia offers a 7% discount, and it’s followed by Cleveland (4% discount) and then Houston (1% discount).

Property values in these four locations have stagnated relative to the rest of the country, Taylor Marr, Redfin’s deputy chief economist, explained in the report. If Americans looking to buy a home can’t build equity, they have less incentive to pay a premium to own. 

Meanwhile, California’s Bay Area features the largest premium to homeownership in the US. It’s twice as expensive to own than buy in cities including San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. 

“Buying a home often makes more financial sense than renting if you can afford a down payment and monthly mortgage because you’re building equity,” Marr said. “When you own your home, your home pays you; when you rent, you and your home pay your landlord.”

Still, buying isn’t always the best option, as some people move often so renting makes more sense. Others simply don’t have enough money to make a down payment on a property, Marr noted, and that’s become increasingly common as mortgage rates climb and affordability drops.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage just topped 7% for the first time since March, Bankrate data showed Wednesday.

It’s worth noting, too, that while home values in Cleveland and Detroit haven’t climbed in the same way as pandemic boom-towns like Phoenix and Miami — where there are virtually zero homes that are cheaper to buy than rent — that means they also won’t see the same crashes, Redfin noted.

Redfin

“I wouldn’t encourage people to squeeze their budgets in order to buy a home when prices are falling and we’re teetering on a recession,” Marr said. “In the years leading up to the pandemic, it made sense for some homebuyers to break the rule that says not to spend more than 30% of your income on monthly housing costs, but these times are more risky, so it makes sense to be a little more conservative.”

Our experts answer readers’ credit card questions and write unbiased product reviews (here’s how we assess credit cards). In some cases, we receive a commission from our partners; however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.

The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card is a decent option for folks who want more control over how they earn rewards. 

Cardholders earn 3% cash back in one category of their choice (from a list of six), 2% back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, and 1% back on all other purchases. The 3% (choice category) and 2% (grocery/wholesale club) reward rates only apply up to the first $2,500 in combined purchases per quarter (then 1% cash back). 

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Review: Is It the Best Credit Card for You?

The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card allows cardholders to change their 3% cash back category once per calendar month, so if you plan ahead, you can customize your rate to match your highest spending category every month. For example, you can customize your rewards to earn 3% cash back on online shopping during the holidays, or on gas or travel when you take your next trip. 

There’s a generous welcome offer of $200 cash rewards bonus after you spend $1,000 on purchases within 90 days of account opening. In addition, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card is a good balance transfer credit card. It offers a 0% intro APR on purchases for the first 18 billing cycles and for any balance transfers made within the first 60 days of account opening (then a 17.49% – 27.49% Variable APR). This is a great deal for folks planning on paying off larger purchases over a longer period, or for those needing to consolidate credit card debt. 

Although the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card has a competitive welcome bonus offer and intro APR, there are plenty of other no-annual-fee credit cards like it on the market — and some have greater reward flexibility and higher category bonuses. The U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card, for example, earns 5% cash back (up to $2,000 each quarter, then 1%) in two categories of your choice, as well as 2% cash back at grocery stores, gas stations, EV charging stations, and restaurants. 

Another card to consider is the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card which earns 5% cash back on your highest eligible spending category (from a list) each billing cycle up to $500 (then 1%). Also, it offers a $200 cash back, fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening. 

Further, if you don’t want the hassle of customizing your rewards categories, or have roughly the same expenses each month, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card probably isn’t the best card for you. Instead, consider one of the best 2% cash back credit cards, which earn a strong rewards rate on all purchases.

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Cash Back

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards bonus

New Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card cardholders can earn $200 cash rewards bonus after you spend $1,000 on purchases within 90 days of account opening. That’s a respectable welcome offer for a no-annual-fee cash-back credit card, and is similar to offers on competing cards like the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card, U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card, or Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express.

The minimum spending requirement is attainable, too, requiring just $1,000 in spending over 90 days. Putting everyday purchases like gas, groceries, and dining on the card should make the bonus easy to achieve for most folks.

How to earn cash back with the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card

The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card has major appeal for folks looking to earn cash back on multiple spending categories. The biggest advantage is the 3% cash back on a spending category of your choosing.

You’ll also earn 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, and 1% back on all other purchases. But keep in mind that the 3% and 2% rates only apply to the first $2,500 in combined spending each quarter (then 1% cash back). So if you typically spend more than that in these categories, you might consider switching to a different no-annual-fee cash-back card with a higher limit.

And, if you’re a Bank of America Preferred Rewards member, you can earn up to 75% more cash back on purchases. This means that the 3% cash back on your chosen category could increase up to 5.25%, and the 2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs could go up to 3.5% (still capped at the first combined $2,500 spent). 

How to change reward category for the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card

If you want your rewards to change when your expenses change, you’ll have to remember to manually shift your rewards category through Bank of America Online Banking or its Mobile Banking App.

You can change your 3% category once per calendar month. If you don’t change it, it’ll stay with the previously selected category. And if you don’t set a category at all, it defaults to gas stations.

How to use cash back from the BoA Customized Cash Rewards card

You can redeem your rewards at any time as a statement credit, a direct deposit into a Bank of America account, or as elective credit with Merill. There’s a minimum redemption of $25 when you contribute to a Merill 529 account or want a check.

You are also able to set up automatic redemptions (starting at $25) to eligible Bank of America and Merrill accounts (not including 529s). 

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Benefits and Features

the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card doesn’t have many other benefits, but this is common with no-annual-fee credit cards.

Introductory 0% APR

The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card is competitive with some of the best 0% APR credit cards thanks to its generous introductory 0% APR offer. New cardholders qualify for a 0% intro APR on purchases for the first 18 billing cycles and for any balance transfers made within the first 60 days of account opening, followed by a 17.49% – 27.49% Variable APR.

That long intro period can give you the relief you need to pay down some debt without getting hit with huge interest charges, or finance a purchase you can’t pay off all at once. The balance transfer offer is particularly generous for a card that earns rewards; just be sure to weigh the pros and cons to figure out if a balance transfer is worth it for you.

$0 liability guarantee

If you lose your card or see suspicious transactions on your account, you can file a claim to avoid being held liable for unauthorized purchases and transactions. 

Overdraft protection

You can prevent declined purchases or returned checks by linking your Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card to your checking account. You won’t be charged an overdraft fee but other fees may still apply. 

Mobile wallet

You can add your Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card to your mobile device to use in stores, online, or in apps. Your actual card number won’t be stored on the device or shared with most merchants. 

Free FICO score 

Primary cardholders can access their FICO score for free through the Bank of America mobile app under the online account management page or on the mobile banking website. 

What credit score do you need for the BoA Customized Cash Rewards?

Most people who are approved for the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card have a credit score in the good or excellent range. That means a FICO score of at least 670.

Bank of America won’t just look at your credit score when looks at your application; it considers factors like income, history with the bank, number of other credit cards you have open, and other factors to decide whether or not to approve you.

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Annual Fee and Other Costs

The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card has a $0 annual fee. However, it charges other fees you should be aware of, including:

• Foreign transactions: 3% of the US dollar amount of each transaction made in a foreign currency; if you’re traveling abroad, pack one of the best credit cards with no foreign transaction fees instead
• Cash advances: Direct deposit and check cash advances – 3% of the amount of each transaction; ATM, over-the-counter, same-day online, and cash equivalent cash advances — 5% of the amount of each transaction
• Balance transfers: 3% of the amount of each transaction
• Late payments: Up to $40

If you carry a balance on the card after the intro APR period expires, be aware there’s a regular APR of 17.49% – 27.49% Variable. If at all possible, pay your balance in full every month, otherwise the interest you’re charged will negate any rewards you earn with the card.

How the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Compares

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards vs other BoA credit cards

*On the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card, earn 3% and 2% cash back on up to the first $2,500 spent in these categories combined each quarter, then 1% cash back

***Eligible Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card 3% categories are gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings

Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards vs other customizable cash-back credit cards

*On the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card, earn 3% and 2% cash back on up to the first $2,500 spent in these categories combined each quarter, then 1% cash back

***Eligible Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card 3% categories are gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings

****eligible 5% cash back categories on the Citi Custom Cash℠ Card are restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, and live entertainment

******5% cash back category choices on the U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card are prepaid air travel, hotel stays, and car reservations booked directly in the Rewards Center online portal, fast food, home utilities, TV, internet, and streaming services, department stores, electronic stores, cell phone providers, sporting goods stores, furniture stores, movie theaters, gyms and fitness centers, ground transportation, and select clothing stores

BoA Customized Cash Rewards Card Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Methodology: How we reviewed the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards

In our review process, we compared the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card to competing no-annual-fee cash back cards, especially those that allow you to customize your bonus categories. We evaluated a number of factors,  including:

• Ease of use — Is cash back from the card easy to earn and redeem, and is there more than one way to redeem your rewards? If there are spending caps, are they generous enough for the average customer?
• Earning potential — Are the card’s earning rates competitive in comparison to similar cards? Are the bonus categories aligned with typical consumer spending habits, or are they more niche?
• Benefits — While most no-annual-fee cash-back cards have few bells and whistles, does the card come with any benefits that similar cards lack? For example, travel protections, a long intro APR offer, or credits?

Here’s more about our methodology in Insider’s guide to how we rate credit cards.

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Junior Investing Reporter

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Marketing Compliance Manager

• JPMorgan warned Monday that stocks could see a dramatic sell-off if lawmakers can’t reach a debt ceiling deal. 
• As the so-called X-date nears, analysts at the bank sees a potential for a “violent” risk-off move in equities.
• Additionally, there’s potential for “Federal spending cuts across key Biden legislative priorities.”

The stock market could see a worse sell-off than it did in 2011 if Congressional leaders and President Joe Biden don’t resolve the debt-ceiling crisis, JPMorgan strategists led by Marko Kolanovic said in a note on Monday. 

So far, stock market moves have been relatively muted amid negotiations in Washington, and the Cboe Volatility Index — known as the stock market’s fear gauge — has stayed near post-pandemic lows. But the near-default of 12 years ago should serve as a cautionary tale, the firm said in a Monday note, when the S&P 500 crashed 17% in two weeks.

In that episode, the brinkmanship over the debt ceiling caused S&P Global to slash the US’s triple-A credit rating, downgrading the debt tied to the world’s largest economy to AA+ in August 2011.  

The JPMorgan strategists reiterated their base case remains that politicians ultimately reach an agreement that prevents a national default, but even that scenario drives “significantly higher market instability than appreciated by the market currently,” they said. 

Still, it’s possible that stocks in 2023 could fare worse than in 2011 due to the contrasting cyclical trends of each period. Today, monetary policy is in a tightening phase versus 2011’s easing, and the money supply now is collapsing rather than expanding. Additionally, valuations were much more attractive in 2011 compared to now. 

“A combination of a challenging political backdrop, sooner than expected early June x-date, lack of alternatives if Congress fails to act and sanguine equity positioning suggests an elevated risk of significant equity repricing if the x date is crossed without a debt ceiling resolution,” JPMorgan strategists wrote.

Aside from a “violent risk-off move in equities” that could come as a default nears, the analysts also warned of potential spending cuts across some of Biden’s legislative priorities, such as the Inflation Reduction Act or Chips and Science Act. 

“We recommend investors looking to hedge this potential risk to buy VIX call spreads and downside protection on small caps,” the strategists said. “With respect to government spending, we recommend paring down exposure to Green/Climate/EV beneficiaries and highlight Energy permitting reform sensitive companies as potential beneficiaries.”

• Ben Francis is a university dropout and former Pizza Hut delivery driver who founded Gymshark.
• He founded the sportswear label in 2012 and turned it into a billion-dollar company.
• The 30-year-old is up seven places to 184th on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.

A decade ago Ben Francis had dropped out of college and was working as a Pizza Hut delivery driver. He’s now worth £900 million, or $1.1 billion, putting him up seven places to 184th on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List.

After leaving Aston University in Birmingham, England, Francis cofounded the sportswear company Gymshark.

The 30-year-old has since grown the business into a billion-dollar company, while his own wealth has soared to three times that of singer Ed Sheeran.

Writing for The Sunday Times in 2022, Francis noted some of Gymshark’s major milestones, including achieving “unicorn” status in 2020, which is when a company hits a valuation of at least $1 billion, “with no prior funding.”

He said the company had also expanded into the US, where it now has more than 100 employees in its Denver office.

Gymshark was his seventh attempt at setting up a successful business, he wrote in The Sunday Times: “I just wanted a website that would transact.”

So when Gymshark made its first profit of just £2, Francis said it felt like they’d “won the lottery.”

He and his cofounder, university friend Lewis Morgan, used everything they had to pay for a stand at the BodyPower Expo in 2013.

The pair were turning over about £300 a day at that time, Francis wrote. But after the expo, Gymshark was suddenly making sales of £30,000 in 30 minutes and he realized it could be something big.

The brand now has more than six million followers on Instagram.

 

Francis previously shared his morning routine with Insider, which includes waking up before 6 a.m. and “doing the same thing to the minute every day.”

The Gymshark cofounder also received an MBE, a British royal honour, earlier this year for his services to business.

Francis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• The Pentagon overvalued the cost of weapons sent to Ukraine by $3 billion, Reuters reported.
• Biden’s administration could now send more weapons without having to get budget approval from Congress.
• The error was caused by the Pentagon using replacement costs to value the arms.

The Pentagon overvalued the cost of weapons it sent to Ukraine by $3 billion, in a blunder that may allow the US to send further weaponry to the besieged country to help in its fight against Putin’s forces, Reuters reported.

Two senior defense officials told Reuters on Thursday that the error was due to the Pentagon valuing the weapons at their current replacement costs rather than their depreciated values.

One of the sources added that the figure could grow even higher as the investigation continues.

“We’ve discovered inconsistencies in how we value the equipment that we’ve given,” one official also told Reuters.

The accounting error could enable the Department of Defense to send more weapons to Ukraine without the Biden administration needing to get budget approval from Congress, Reuters reported.

The officials said that Congress was to be informed of the issue on Thursday.

Anastasia Vlasova for The Washington Post via Getty Images

US Senator Roger Wicker, the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Reuters that “the Department of Defense’s change in evaluating the costs of arms sent to Ukraine is a major mistake.”

“Its effect would be to underestimate future needs for our European allies. Our priority should be a Ukrainian victory over Putin. Unilaterally altering military aid calculations is an attempt at deception and undermines this goal,” he added.

According to the German research institute the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the US promised just over 71 billion euros, which is around $77 billion, in humanitarian, financial, and military aid to Ukraine between January 24, 2022, and February 24, 2023.

Of this, just over 43 billion euros, or around $46.5 billion, was for military support.

• Spirit Airlines apologized to a Puerto Rican family after refusing to let them fly, CBS News reported.
• The family was traveling to the US territory from LA, and their toddler did not have a passport.
• A passport is not required to travel between Puerto Rico and the US mainland. 

A Puerto Rican family traveling from Los Angeles to Puerto Rico was stopped from boarding a Spirit Airlines flight because the parents’ child did not have a US passport. An American passport, however, is not required to travel between the US territory and the US mainland. 

Late last month at Los Angeles International Airport, Marivi Roman Torres, her husband, and their two-year-old son reached the Spirit Airlines ticket counter after planning to visit family on the island, they were told they needed to show their passports.

Roman Torres said the agent told her that was an international flight. “I told her, ‘No, Puerto Rico is not another country. It is a US territory,’” she told CBS News. 

While she and her husband showed their passports anyway, they told the Spirit agent their toddler did not have one after she asked to see it.  

The employee then offered to either refund the flight or reschedule for when the family could acquire a passport for the young child.

Roman Torres asked, “Is there anyone else I can talk to? Can we call customer service together?” 

Calling the Spirit staff “completely inflexible,” the family subsequently bought JetBlue tickets at a higher price. A JetBlue airline employee told the family passports were not needed to travel to the island in the Caribbean, “I’m like, ‘I know!’” Roman Torres told CBS. 

After the incident, the airline said in a statement that they “sincerely apologized” for the inconvenience after CBS News contacted Spirit. The airline added they had refunded their tickets and provided travel vouchers for future flights. 

“Spirit has a long history of serving Puerto Rico. In this specific case, an agent at LAX who is new to the position misunderstood the identification requirements. We are providing the agent with additional coaching and reiterating proper procedure,” the statement said. 

Even so, Roman Torres said she would no longer book with the airline “My trust was broken there on something that should not have happened.”

US citizens can travel to several US territories without a passport

In a video news report posted on Twitter by CBS national correspondent David Begnaud — which has been viewed more than 800,000 times as of Friday — social media users heaped criticisms on the budget airline. 

“How does the airline agent and the supervisor not know that you don’t need a passport to travel to Puerto Rico? You learn that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the U.S.A. in the 3rd Grade,” one Twitter user wrote. 

—David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) May 18, 2023

 

Those born in Puerto Rico are US citizens, although Puerto Ricans cannot vote in US presidential elections. Rights groups have urged for more equal protections for residents of Puerto Rico under the US Constitution.

US citizens can travel to several US territories beyond the 50 states without a passport, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, according to the US government.

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• Return on assets (ROA) is a key gauge of a company’s profitability.
• The ROA ratio measures a company’s net income relative to its total assets.
• A good ROA depends on the company and industry, but 5% or higher is considered good.

Return on assets (ROA) is a ratio that measures a company’s profitability relative to its total assets. It shows how well (or poorly) a company is using everything it owns — from machinery to vehicles and intellectual property — to earn money.

What does ROA mean?

ROA is one way to measure an individual company’s performance, by seeing if the ratio has been increasing or decreasing over time. A rising ROA indicates improving efficiency, while an ROA that is falling suggests a company might be spending too much on equipment and other assets relative to the profits it is earning from those investments.

Investors or managers can use ROA to assess the general health of the company to see how efficiently it’s being run and how competitive it is. Investors often use ROA in deciding whether to put money into a company and evaluate its potential for returns relative to others in the same industry.

“ROA is used by investors to see how a company’s profitability, relative to its assets, has changed over time and how it compares to its peers,” says Michelle Katzen, managing director at HCR Wealth Advisors. “The ROA is one indicator that expresses a company’s ability to generate money from its assets.”

Return on assets formula

The basic return on assets formula is to divide a company’s net income by its average total assets, and then multiply the result by 100 to convert the final figure into a percentage. For non-financial companies, the formula can be a bit different.

Rachel Mendelson/Insider

Let’s break it down:

• Net income: Revenue minus cost of goods sold minus expenses
• Average total assets: The total assets on a company’s balance sheet at the end of the current year plus the total assets at the end of the previous year, divided by two

While this formula is the most popular, it’s not the only one used to determine a company’s ROA. Katzen says for non-financial companies, it can be helpful to add back interest expenses because of the inconsistency that can come from debt and equity capital being segregated.

“The values can differ if the formula is changed,” says Adam Lynch, senior quantitative analyst at Schwab Equity Ratings. “Often these alternate versions vary the unit of time used in the calculation.”

ROA Example

Here’s an example of how to use data from Nike’s balance sheets to figure its ROA for fiscal 2021

• First, find Nike’s total assets at the end of fiscal 2021, which ended in May: $37.7 billion
• Next, find Nike’s total assets at the end of fiscal 2020: $31.3 billion
• Add those together and divide by two to get average assets: $34.5 billion
• Divide its 2021 net income ($5.7 billion) by average assets ($34.5 billion) and then multiply the result by 100, which gives you 16.5%

So putting it all together, your formula looks like this when you plug in all the values:

ROA = (5.7/34.5)*100 = 0.1652 or 16.5% 

What is a good ROA? 

A “good” ROA depends on the company, the time frame of the calculation, and a few other factors. “It’s all relative,” says Lynch. “Better than your competition is what I’d aim for. Generally, you would compare competitive companies or industries.”

As a benchmark, though, an ROA of 5% or better is generally considered to be acceptable.

“Generally speaking, an ROA of 5% or better is considered ‘good,’” Katzen says. “But it is important to consider a company’s ROA in the context of competitors in the same industry, the same sector and of similar size.”

ROA vs. ROE

ROA is one of two primary measures managers and investors use to analyze a company’s profitability level. The other is return on equity (ROE). Both provide a view of how effective a company is at using the money put into it to generate earnings.

The main difference between the two is that ROE tells investors how much income a company generates relative to each dollar of equity value. The formulas are similar. For ROE, the basic calculation is to divide net annual income by shareholders’ equity, or the claim shareholders have on a company’s assets, after its debts are paid.

“The main difference between ROA and ROE is the consideration of a company’s debt,” Katzen says. “When calculating ROE you subtract any liabilities the company has, utilizing net assets (or shareholders equity) instead of total assets.”

The bottom line

ROA is an important measure of a company’s return on investments. It shows how much profit is being generated relative to all of its assets. The higher the number, the greater the return.

For investors, ROA can be used in conjunction with other metrics (including ROE, which measures profit relative to equity value) to gain insight into a company’s efficiency. It can be used to assess an individual company’s performance over time or to evaluate it relative to similar companies in the same industry.

“The ROA is one indicator that expresses a company’s ability to generate money from its assets,” Katzen says. “Generally speaking, the higher the ROA, the more effective a company is at generating income for investors. The more income a company generates, the more likely the investment will appreciate.”

• Many drivers say long electric vehicle charge time is a barrier to them adopting the cars.
• Startup Ample says battery swapping could be faster than filling your car up with gas.
• See how Ample’s next-gen station could ‘charge’ your EV with a simple, automated swap. 

Battery swapping — taking an electric vehicle battery out of the car once it’s out of charge, and replacing it with a fully charged battery — isn’t a brand new concept, and has had a challenging journey over the past several years. But the idea of getting your electric car a full “charge” in just a matter of minutes has gotten swapping some more recent momentum.

Charging an electric car can take a while, depending on the type of charger a driver uses. In your own garage with a standard plug, or maybe at your office, it might take 8 hours. At faster plugs out in public, you might be waiting at least 20 minutes with a Level 3 charger, or maybe an hour or two with a Level 2.

Regardless, it’s no question that charging currently takes a little bit longer than fueling up a gas-powered car at a gas station. 

That’s where battery swapping could come into play, and startup Ample is eager to get automakers on board with the idea. It’d essentially mean a driver buys an electric vehicle but subscribes to the battery, Ample CEO Khaled Hassounah told Insider.

The upfront cost of a new EV (relatively high, on average) could be brought down if a buyer only has to pay for the vehicle itself, and not the pricey battery.

• US stocks dropped on Tuesday as the debt ceiling deadline quickly approaches with no deal yet to be had.
• President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were scheduled to continue their negotiations on Tuesday.
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that “time is running out” on a debt ceiling agreement.

US stocks fell on Tuesday as investors await any progress on a potential debt ceiling deal as the deadline of June 1 quickly approaches.

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were set to meet later today at 3 p.m. to further negotiations on a potential debt ceiling deal, and time is running out as Biden prepares to travel to Asia for a foreign policy trip.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that “time is running out” and that the debt ceiling showdown is already impacting Americans.

“Every single day that Congress does not act, we are experiencing increased economic costs that could slow down the US economy,” Yellen said in prepared remarks to a banking conference on Tuesday. “We are already seeing the impacts of brinksmanship: investors have become more reluctant to hold government debt that matures in early June.”

Also weighing on stocks on Tuesday were earnings results from Home Depot, which were mixed with analyst estimates and lighter-than-expected guidance as home improvement projects become smaller and smaller. 

Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET opening bell on Tuesday:

Here’s what else is happening this morning:

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 0.28% to $71.31 per barrel. Brent crude, oil’s international benchmark, rose 0.27% to $75.43.
• Gold fell 0.44% to $2,013.70 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped 4 basis points to 3.54%.
• Bitcoin dropped 0.35% to $27,081, while ether rose 0.15% to $1,819. 

• US stocks were mixed on Monday as traders digested the latest debt ceiling news. 
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she sees progress being made. 
• The S&P 500 was trying to notch a win after two straight losing sessions. 

US stocks were mixed on Monday as markets assessed reports suggesting some movement is being made in Washington on bridging the political gap needed to raise the $31 trillion debt ceiling and prevent the country from slamming into a debt default. 

The S&P 500 was hoping to notch its first gain after two losing sessions and following two back-to-back weekly declines. 

The Biden administration and Republican lawmakers are making progress in their negotiations over spending and raising the debt limit and the talks could lead to a deal, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Saturday, according to The Wall Street Journal. Yellen has warned of major damage to the economy if the US were to miss meeting its debt obligations.  

Meanwhile, unnamed sources told The Financial Times that issues in focus between negotiators had narrowed, suggesting a possible agreement was taking shape. Biden is expected to resume talks over the debt limit on Tuesday, according to multiple reports. 

Here’s where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Monday: 

“Over the short-term, the stock market is stuck until we reach a debt ceiling resolution and until we see more clarity from the regional banking sector, which are the two factors weighing on stocks right now. Markets are anxious for a debt ceiling solution and the markets are also hoping that the Fed pauses its rate hikes at the June meeting.

“We expect volatility as we move closer to the June 1 debt ceiling deadline and while we expect a deal to be reached at the 11th hour, we view any near-term pullbacks as buying opportunities,” 

Brad Bernstein, managing director at UBS Wealth Management, said in a Monday note.  

“Even with the headwinds facing the markets and the economy, we are closer to the beginning of the next bull market. We expect the Fed to cut interest rates by early next year, which historically has been a reliable indicator for the start of a bull market.”

Here’s what else is happening today:

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: