About this app
About Solitaire
The US Federal Reserve raised the effective federal funds rate by 0.25% to a range of 3.75%-4% on Wednesday, representing its first rate hike in three years as the economy grapples with sticky inflation, record-high energy prices and rising bond rates with no end in sight to the ongoing war with Iran that kicked off in February.
Investors began 2026 expecting multiple rate cuts, which tend to juice capital markets and spur dealmaking activity. But on 28 February things changed quickly after joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran largely curtailed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital Middle East waterway where some 20% of the world’s oil transited before the conflict began.
Several factors weighed heavily on the decision to raise rates. The average nationwide gas price now is $4.36 compared to $3.18 a year ago, per AAA, and the average diesel price of $6.31 is a record. Brent crude oil has crested over $100 per barrel compared to about $68 a year ago. Inflation was 3.4% in August, compared to 2.9% last year. And US 10-, 20- and 30-year Treasuries have reached their highest rates in decades.
What is Solitaire?
In his 2022 letter to shareholders, he criticized mobile trading apps that make day trading and speculative positioning effortless, accusing them of turning the stock market into a “gambling parlor.”
Two years later, Buffett again targeted the “gamblification” of financial markets in his annual shareholder letter.
“Markets now exhibit far more casino-like behavior than they did when I was young. The casino now resides in many homes and daily tempts the occupants,” Buffett wrote, noting that extreme volatility makes identifying sound, long-term investments vastly more difficult.
What is Solitaire?
There have been no further details about the lottery prize. The Pennsylvania Lottery only finds out that a winning ticket has been sold after the fact, but the lottery cannot tell whether the person buying the ticket actually realized that they had won.
On the upside, scratch-off tickets rarely go unclaimed, as most people tend to scratch the film very shortly after buying a ticket – instantly, or on the same or following day.
The Pittsburgh area has been producing big winners one after the next, including a $1-million ticket sold recently, as well as another seven-figure prize sold in Carnegie.
