As the Iran war surpasses the six-month mark, the conflict has now drained an estimated $100 billion from Americans’ wallets.

Brown University’s real-time tracker shows how much more Americans have spent on gasoline and diesel since the war began in late February compared with what they would have paid if the conflict had never begun.

That cost keeps climbing each day:

Not to mention, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline hit $4.14 heading into Labor Day weekend, according to AAA, the highest ever recorded for the holiday, and diesel recently reached a record $5.85 per gallon, surpassing the previous high set in 2022.

That still affects you even if you don’t buy it: Diesel powers the trucks, farms, construction equipment, and ships that produce and move goods throughout the economy. When fuel costs rise, those businesses often pass some of the added expense to consumers through higher prices on food, clothing, furniture and other everyday goods.

As energy costs soar due to a restricted flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the situation in one of the world’s most critical waterways doesn’t seem to be getting better anytime soon:

As the attacks continue… shipping companies, tanker owners, and insurers have to decide whether moving oil through the region is worth the risk. Even ships that are never attacked can become more expensive to operate if insurers demand higher premiums, crews require additional compensation, or vessels take longer routes to avoid danger.

Traffic has already dropped dramatically: An average of just 10 commercial vessels per day traveled through the strait over the past 10 days, the lowest level since May. Traffic fell to just two ships Saturday, and no very large crude carriers had exited the strait since Wednesday, according to the latest shipping data.

🌎 Why is this important? With Iran now targeting oil tankers and threatening more attacks on energy infrastructure, Americans could face an even broader squeeze at the pump, especially since the $100 billion price tag is more of a running total.

See what's changed, recent data, what we're watching next, and every other major story that affects you on our Watchlist.

Last month really threw economists a curveball. The US added a surprising 162,000 jobs in August, more than three times the number economists had expected.

Another big surprise was how well distributed the recovery was. Healthcare largely dominated new job growth this summer… but that wasn’t the case last month:

The other good news? The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, even as 683,000 Americans entered the labor force, an encouraging sign after nearly a million people had left the labor force in June and July.

The information sector (which includes tech jobs) moved pretty far in the opposite direction, losing over 23,000 jobs. That includes:

The loss of purchasing power is also still a concern: Inflation grew faster than workers’ pay, as annual wage growth slowed to 3.1% from 3.7% a year ago. That means workers’ pay increased, but not enough to keep up with rising prices, leaving Americans able to afford slightly less than before.

🌎 Why does this matter? The surprisingly strong jobs report suggests widespread layoffs and a hiring downturn aren’t around the corner. However, the rebound could also give the Fed more reason to keep interest rates elevated, potentially keeping mortgages, auto loans, and other borrowing costs high.

On the Watchlist: The Job Market · — Holding

Employment is one of the biggest clues to where the economy is headed. When people are working and earning steady paychecks, they tend to keep spending, and when hiring slows or layoffs pick up, consumers often pull back. That ripple effect can shape everything from inflation to business investment to the Fed’s next move on interest rates.

See the full outlook →

🪪 The FBI is investigating what could be one of the largest leaks of government-issued IDs in history. A dark web marketplace claimed to be selling tens of millions of US and Canadian driver’s licenses, along with other IDs, travel documents, and medical records. Officials warned the stolen data appeared to be updating in real time, and the source is still unknown. However, the marketplace disappeared shortly after the breach was reported. The stolen information could make it easier for criminals to impersonate victims, open fraudulent accounts, or commit other forms of identity theft.

🏥 Rising health care costs are starting to hit workplace benefits. Employers expect health benefit costs to jump 8.2% in 2027 (the biggest increase since 2003) and 59% plan to make cost-cutting changes to their health plans. Some major companies are already pulling back coverage, while others are considering higher deductibles and premiums. For those with employer-sponsored insurance, that could mean more money coming out of each paycheck and higher out-of-pocket costs when you actually need care. Track this topic ->

🛒 America’s groceries aren’t safe anymore, experts say. The FDA recently hit a record 19 simultaneous outbreak investigations, even though the overall number of recalls remains relatively steady. Food-safety advocates say staffing cuts across the FDA, CDC, and USDA have weakened the government’s ability to detect and respond to outbreaks. That could mean slower warnings when contaminated food reaches grocery stores.

For its first CTV campaign, Jennifer Aniston’s DTC haircare brand LolaVie had a few non-negotiables. The campaign had to be simple. It had to demonstrate measurable impact. And it had to be full-funnel.

LolaVie used Roku Ads Manager to test and optimize creatives — reaching millions of potential customers at all stages of their purchase journeys. Roku Ads Manager helped the brand convey LolaVie’s playful voice while helping drive omnichannel sales across both ecommerce and retail touchpoints.

The campaign included an Action Ad overlay that let viewers shop directly from their TVs by clicking OK on their Roku remote. This guided them to the website to buy LolaVie products.

Discover how Roku Ads Manager helped LolaVie drive big sales and customer growth with self-serve TV ads.

The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Aniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.

Learn more.

Buying a home just became more expensive… again. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 6.71% this week, according to Freddie Mac, the highest average rate in 13 months.

Mortgage rates have been steadily moving in the wrong direction. Back in February, the average 30-year rate briefly dipped below 6% and has only climbed since.

While that may seem small… it makes a big difference. Take someone borrowing $400,000 on a 30-year fixed mortgage. At 6%, their monthly interest payment would be about $2,398. At the current rate, they would have to pay almost $2,200 more per year.

The housing market is already in a bad spot: Usually, buyers get a trade-off between higher rates and cheap housing prices, but in the current market, many are facing two sharp ends of the stick. Home prices surged to a record high this summer, keeping many buyers out of the market and leaving home sales near multi-decade lows.

🌎 Why should you care? The spike further squeezes homebuyers by increasing monthly payments and reducing how much house they can afford, forcing them to settle for cheaper homes, put more money down, move farther away, or postpone buying altogether.

Click below for new developments on the housing market, housing affordability, inflation, and more.

The world's population is undergoing a major reversal. For the first time in recorded history, people aged 65 and older now outnumber children aged 5 and under, according to a new US Census Bureau report.

The crossover happened sometime between 2020 and 2025, flabbergasting many experts who predicted it would occur much later.

The shift mainly comes down to the two long-running trends of people living longer and families having fewer children:

Does that mean the population is falling? No, at least not yet. The UN projects the global population will grow from around 8.2 billion to a peak of roughly 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s before falling slowly. However, that peak is now expected to arrive earlier and at a lower level than before.

Some countries are older than others: China, Japan, and Germany are already dealing with populations that have peaked, while fertility has fallen below replacement level in others like India. Over time, that can create worker shortages in everything from healthcare and construction to manufacturing and elder care.

See more on the consequences of a shrinking population here (via YouTube).

🌎 How does this affect you? Earth's rapidly aging population could leave fewer workers supporting a growing number of retirees, increasing pressure on Social Security, Medicare, healthcare, and the broader workforce. That could lead to more automation and worker shortages, and eventually force tougher decisions over taxes, retirement benefits, immigration, and also how Americans pay for an increasingly older population.

Track the latest updates on birth rates, family formation, education, and more with our “People” index.

> Gen Z appears to be getting priced out of Burning Man, with attendees in their 20s falling from more than 30% of the crowd in 2015 to just 10% in 2025.

> Gen Z may be the generation that finally kills the stick shift, with more than 33% saying they never learned to drive manual, compared with just 9% of baby boomers.

> After an Arizona town council election ended in a tie, the candidates drew cards from a deck to determine the winner, with the seat awarded to whoever selected the higher card.

> The psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms may protect against one of chemotherapy’s most painful side effects, with psilocybin preventing nerve damage in mice without weakening the cancer treatment.

> The BepiColombo spacecraft (see more) has finally begun its arrival at Mercury after an eight-year, 5-billion-mile journey, kicking off a months-long sequence before its two orbiters begin studying the planet next year.