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Priya Raman

Priya Raman edits Business at Daybreak Wire. She came to journalism after years inside the numbers, and still reads filings, earnings calls and central-bank statements the way other people read novels. Priya's standard for a business story is simple: connect the figure to a person — what a rate decision does to a mortgage, what a merger means for a payroll. She is allergic to hype cycles in both directions, and insists that every number in her section appear exactly as the source published it.

A pay stub showing itemized paycheck deductions, illustrative of how imputed income appears on a paycheck.

Why Domestic Partner Health Coverage Becomes Taxable Income

The IRS doesn't recognize domestic partners as spouses, so employer-paid health coverage for a partner becomes taxable "imputed income" on your paycheck, unless the partner qualifies as your tax dependent.

Business  · 11 Jul 2026, 11:13  · Priya Raman
A ceramic piggy bank on a table, representing retirement savings and employer matching contributions.

What Is a 401(k) True-Up, and Why Did Your Match Jump?

If your 401(k) match fell short during the year, a true-up contribution, often paid the following February, is designed to make up the difference automatically.

Business  · 11 Jul 2026, 11:13  · Priya Raman
A residential Itron OpenWay smart electricity meter mounted on the exterior wall of a house.

What Is a Capacity Charge on Your Electric Bill?

One line on your utility statement pays for electricity that may never be generated. It is small, it is climbing, and it explains the grid better than kilowatt-hours do.

Business  · 9 Jul 2026, 06:07  · Priya Raman
A residential street of single-family homes.

Escrow Shortage: Why Your Mortgage Payment Went Up

A fixed-rate loan with a payment that keeps climbing sounds like a contradiction. The culprit is the escrow account, and you have more choices than the letter suggests.

Business  · 8 Jul 2026, 09:21  · Priya Raman
A panorama of American suburban single-family homes.

Why Your Escrow Comes Up Short Almost Every Year

Your monthly payment jumped again after an escrow analysis. The shortfall usually is not a mistake, it is built into how the account works. Here is the mechanism, and what you can do about it.

Business  · 8 Jul 2026, 05:42  · Priya Raman
A golden dollar sign symbol enclosed in a cage, illustrating a frozen tax refund.

Why Your 2026 Tax Refund Is Taking So Long

More than 830,000 taxpayers got a letter saying their refund is approved but on hold. Here's what's actually driving the delays, and how to get unstuck faster.

Business  · 7 Jul 2026, 06:36  · Priya Raman
Rows of servers inside a large data center, the kind of facility driving new electricity demand.

Why Your Electric Bill Keeps Climbing, and What Data Centers Have to Do With It

Household power rates are up sharply in data-center states like Ohio and Virginia. Here's the mechanism turning the AI boom into a line on your bill, and what actually moves the number.

Business  · 6 Jul 2026, 07:56  · Priya Raman
An easyJet aircraft. The airline's board has agreed in principle to Castlelake's fifth takeover proposal of £6.90 a share.

easyJet Accepts Castlelake's £6.90 Offer, Valuing the Airline at £5.2bn

The fifth offer in 23 days finally moved easyJet's board. What Castlelake gets for £5.2bn, and why the deal needs a 51 percent European wrapper.

Business  · 5 Jul 2026, 18:51  · Priya Raman
A person cools off in the water from an open fire hydrant during the July 2026 heat wave.

PJM Orders Emergency Power Cuts as Heat Strains the Grid

With 67 million people's power on the line, PJM leaned on paid demand cuts and data-center curtailments to keep the lights on through the heat.

Business  · 4 Jul 2026, 05:42  · Priya Raman
Aerial view of a data center's generators and cooling equipment in Ashburn, Virginia, the region at the center of the mid-Atlantic backup-power order.

Energy Dept Pulls Data Centers Off the Grid as Heat Wave Peaks

As a heat dome pushed demand toward a grid record, Washington ordered data centers off the public network and onto their own generators, freeing up power to keep home air conditioners running.

Business  · 3 Jul 2026, 05:26  · Priya Raman
A Giant Eagle supermarket in Pittsburgh, the family-owned chain Kroger has agreed to acquire.

Kroger to Buy Giant Eagle for $1.65 Billion in Grocery Push

Kroger will acquire family-owned Giant Eagle and its 197 supermarkets, its first big deal since the $25 billion Albertsons merger collapsed on antitrust grounds.

Business  · 2 Jul 2026, 04:19  · Priya Raman
The Nike swoosh logo displayed in the window of a Nike store in Manhattan.

Nike's Profit Jumps on a Tariff Refund as China Sales Fall 12%

Strip out a one-off tariff recovery and the quarter looks flatter than the headline profit suggests, with China still shrinking.

Business  · 1 Jul 2026, 04:13  · Priya Raman
A worker on a carbon-fibre production line in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, in June 2026.

China's Factory Activity Edges Back Into Growth as AI Lifts Exports

The June reading cleared the 50 line that separates growth from contraction, but the expansion leans almost entirely on demand tied to the global AI boom.

Business  · 30 Jun 2026, 06:25  · Priya Raman
A Comcast sign; the company plans to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a separate public company.

Comcast to Split in Two, Spinning Off NBCUniversal and Sky

The cable giant is cleaving its media empire from its pipes, betting two focused companies can do what one sprawling conglomerate could not.

Business  · 29 Jun 2026, 18:02  · Priya Raman
An oil tanker loads crude at an offshore Gulf terminal.

Oil Falls to Pre-War Lows as Hormuz Reopens, but the Truce Wobbles

Crude has round-tripped much of its wartime spike as Gulf shipping resumes, but the weekend's strikes show how fragile the relief is.

Business  · 28 Jun 2026, 07:44  · Priya Raman
A Saks Fifth Avenue storefront, part of the group now renamed Exemplar Luxury Group.

Saks Exits Bankruptcy as Exemplar, Shedding Stores and Debt

The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman exited Chapter 11 with a new name, $500 million in financing and a smaller footprint.

Business  · 27 Jun 2026, 09:25  · Priya Raman
An electronic board tracking South Korea's KOSPI index, which fell more than 8% on Friday, June 26, 2026.

Seoul market halts trading as Apple price hikes deepen AI selloff

A 20-minute trading halt in Seoul, Apple down 6% in New York, and a wobble under the AI trade that has carried Asian markets all year.

Business  · 26 Jun 2026, 09:22  · Priya Raman
The trading floor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where Japanese shares rose more than 2% on Thursday.

Micron Quadruples Revenue and Asia's Stock Markets Surge

Record results from Micron, built on a $100 billion order backlog, eased fears over the AI rally and sent Asian equities sharply higher on Thursday.

Business  · 25 Jun 2026, 08:40  · Priya Raman
Vessels seen off Musandam, Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz in June 2026.

Brent Slides Below $76 as Hormuz Reopens and Iranian Oil Returns

Brent crude fell to $75.79 on Wednesday, its lowest since the eve of the Iran war, as the Strait of Hormuz reopened and Iranian barrels flowed back to market.

Business  · 24 Jun 2026, 09:23  · Priya Raman
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as global equities sell off.

Chip Sell-Off Routs Global Markets as Kospi Sinks Nearly 10%

South Korea's market tripped a circuit breaker, Nasdaq futures slid about 3%, and the AI trade that powered a year of gains went into sharp reverse. Here is what actually moved, and what it touches.

Business  · 23 Jun 2026, 13:17  · Priya Raman