In American English, the period or comma always falls inside the closing quotation mark, writes June Casagrande, while the placement of other marks depends on use.

The reader was correct that the word “equity” should not have been in quotation marks in the headline. Quote marks are used in headlines when a word or phrase is a direct quote from the article.

The second member of a pair of quotation marks should precede any other adjacent mark of punctuation, unless the other mark is part of the quoted matter: The word means `cart’, not `horse’.