The Standard & Poor’s 500 hits an all-time high.

Consumer optimism over hiring and income helps lift the reading to the second-highest level since 2008.

WHY CEOs ARE GETTING HUGE RAISES 1 They’re paid heavily in stock. Unlike most workers, chief executives receive much of their compensation in the form of company stock – a lot of it. The theory behind compensating CEOs this way is that it aligns the interests of senior management with those of shareholders, which would […]

WHY MANY OF US AREN’T GETTING A RAISE 1 Blame the robots. Millions of factory workers have lost their spots on assembly lines to machines. Offices need fewer secretaries and bookkeepers in the digital era. Robots and computers are displacing jobs that involve routine tasks, according to research by David Autor, an economist at Massachusetts […]

Companies often pay their leaders with stock, which pays off big when the markets surge.