Happy Friday, MarketWatchers! Here are the top personal finance stories today.
Personal Finance
Why consumers may want to avoid eating romaine lettuce
An E. coli outbreak could be tied to romaine lettuce, but public health officials are hesitant to issue a public warning.
How I made $700 after missing my flight to Paris — and how you can get a similar deal
A little-known EU law gets travelers compensation.
The iPhone X got upstaged by Apple’s battery scandal
There’s been a lot of buzz over Apple, but it’s not all good.
Why NOT to buy $570 million Powerball or $450 million Mega Millions tickets
These reasons to avoid lottery fever have nothing to do with the impossible odds.
Americans are eating more red meat — why that’s good news
Meat prices vary wildly, but they’re still the most expensive item on the dinner table.
Iceland is hot, the U.S. is not — and other travel trends for 2018
Some destinations are being ‘\loved to death.’
What time is the $570 million Powerball drawing — and the $450 million one for Mega Millions?
Neither lottery has had a jackpot winner since October.
Should you spend $100 on a vodka from Grey Goose?
The brand has partnered with famed chef Alain Ducasse on its latest version.
New year, same confusing health insurance cards
Health insurance cards are supposed to help patients navigate the health care system. But most people don’t understand them.
‘Raw water’ competes with bottled water and soda — why you should avoid all three
It’s not purified and comes directly from the spring. And it doesn’t come cheap.
Elsewhere on MarketWatch
New Twitter statement on world-leader tweets makes clear Trump’s account isn’t going anywhere
President Trump will not have his Twitter account taken away — as some critics have demanded, particularly in response to Trump tweets about North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un — at least not by the social-media network, which put out a statement Friday on its specific treatment of world leaders’ accounts.
Harker urges Fed to be cautious before raising interest rates again
Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker said the central bank should move very cautiously in raising the cost of borrowing in the U.S. because there’s little sign the economy is about to overheat.
Trump asked why Medicare couldn’t just cover everybody: Wolff book
President Donald Trump asked his aides why the Medicare program couldn’t be dramatically expanded, according to Michael Wolff’s new book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
Economy seen on steady growth path despite ‘disappointing’ December jobs number
Early comments from economists on Friday’s December U.S. jobs report, showing 148,000 positions created in the month and the unemployment rate holding at 4.1%.
U.S. hiring slows at end of 2017 as job gains slacken to 148,000 in December
The U.S. economy added 148,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department said Friday.
The latest update to the Trump Scoreboard isn’t terrific
At least the president can continue to point to strong stock-market gains. While the December jobs report may be more noise than signal, the weaker-than-forecast showing puts two of the three metrics for the Trump Scoreboard looking not bad but not too wonderful.
Big-city murders drop — including modern-history lows in New York and L.A.
In New York, murders dropped to 290, a number not seen since 1951, police say, and killings in Los Angeles were at 281, staying below 300 for the eighth consecutive year, according to data from the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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