Smith Brain Trust

Are these the end of days for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Lawmakers are considering whether to close the chapter on conservatorship for the two government-sponsored enterprises, a move that could bring big changes to housing finance in the United States.

The Supreme Court is poised to take up an issue that states have wrestled with since before the earliest days of online retail sales. It's the issue of whether states may collect sales tax from out-of-state retailers. Sam Handwerger explains why it's a bigger deal than ever.

When CVS announced it would ban heavily retouched photographs from its marketing campaigns, suggesting those images set unrealistic beauty standards for the millions of women who shop in its stores, it wasn't just a good deed. It was also good business.

Can cryptocurrency save the struggling Eastman Kodak? "Kodak is clearly trying to ride this wave," the Smith School's Brent Goldfarb says. "But I am at a loss as to the problem this solves." He thinks the effort will slowly disappear.

What happens when the two key pieces of economic data suggest different paths for U.S. interest rates? That's the situation playing out now as the Federal Reserve maps its course. The Smith School's Robert J. Windle explains. 

2017 was a pretty happy year for stock investors, and the Smith School's David Kass says he expects 2018 to be rosy as well. He shares his top five picks: Berkshire Hathaway, Apple, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Kraft Heinz.

Aspiring leaders who want to unlock their potential should anticipate detours in their nonlinear rise to the top, commencement keynotes speaker Connie K. Weaver told graduates on Dec. 20, 2017. She drew lessons from her own career.

Many Bitcoin buyers can't explain their investment because they don't understand how cryptocurrency works. Smith School finance professor Joe Rinaldi and two students provide this primer to help reduce the confusion.

When the Smith School's Cliff Rossi was chief risk officer for Citigroup's Consumer Lending Division, few people understood the role. Things have changed since then. Rossi explains the evolution and what's next.

With three or four Fed rate hikes anticipated in 2018, mortgage rates will edge higher. But the borrowing environment will remain favorable, Smith School professor Clifford Rossi says. He takes a look at the housing market as we head into a new year.