CHARLES SCHWAB

Tens of millions of older Americans will see a modest increase in benefits in January when a new cost-of-living adjustment is added to Social Security payments.

Asian shares are mixed after Japan reported weaker than expected trade data for June, with imports falling nearly 13% from a year earlier.

After three years, the pandemic-era freeze on federal student loan payments will end in October.

– The world's richest person made the single-largest charitable contribution in 2020, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of top donations, a $10 billion gift that is intended to help fight climate change. Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, whose “real-time” worth Forbes magazine estimates at roughly $188 billion, used the contribution to launch his Bezos Earth Fund. According to the left-leaning Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies, from March 18 through Dec. 7, 2020, Bezos' wealth surged by 63%, from $113 billion to $184 billion. Bezos and the Zuckerbergs made up the next spots on last year's top 10 list, with $100 million donations — Bezos for Feeding America to aid food banks across the country and the Zuckerbergs to the same election security group. In February, the Chronicle will publish its list of the 50 biggest donors, which counts cumulative donations, not individual gifts.

In the span of just a few days last week, nearly every major online brokerage company eliminated commissions. StockTwits, a social networking firm for traders, launched its own no-fee online brokerage offering too. So as part of its Trade App online brokerage, users can post or "tradecast" their history of trades. Unlike its free stock trading platform, TradeStation will charge small commissions to trade bitcoin, ethereum, ripple/XRP and several other cryptocurrencies. Webull, another commission-free online trading platform, makes money from lending products, such as margin loans to customers who want to borrow money to buy more stocks, according to CEO Anthony Denier.

Charles Schwab fired the latest shot in the war over fees charged by online brokers, announcing that it plans to eliminate commissions for trading stocks, ETFs and options on its mobile and web platforms. NEW YORK - An all-out price war has hit the brokerage industry as both Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade have announced they will eliminate commissions for certain securities. Charles Schwab fired Tuesday's first shot in the war over fees charged by online brokers, announcing in the morning that it plans to eliminate commissions for trading stocks, ETFs and options on its mobile and web platforms. Investors will probably expect both discount brokers to counter the moves of Schwab and Interactive Brokers or risk losing market share. It said that as of Oct. 3, its US brokerage firm "will eliminate commissions for its online exchange-listed stock, ETF (domestic and Canadian), and option trades, moving from $6.95 to $0."