Business News

Friday, October 18th
October 17, 2024
AP-Newswatch
October 17, 2024
Friday, October 18th
October 17, 2024
AP-Newswatch
October 17, 2024
Business News

AP-Summary Brief-Business

October 17, 2024

Average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the US rises to the highest level in 8 weeks

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. moved higher for the third week in a row and reached the highest level since late August. The rate rose to 6.44% from 6.32% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.63%. Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions. That can move the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.09% Thursday, up from 3.62% in mid-September.

US shoppers spent more at retailers last month in latest sign consumers are driving growth

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans stepped up their purchases at retailers last month as low unemployment, steady pay gains and rising stock and home values helped sustain their willingness to spend despite higher prices. Retail sales rose 0.4% from August to September, up from 0.1% the previous month and the third straight increase. Online retailers, restaurants, and grocery stores all reported higher sales. With the presidential election in its final weeks, Thursday’s figures provided the latest sign that household spending is fueling a steady economic expansion even while inflation has cooled.

Big Tech’s energy needs mean nuclear power is getting a fresh look from electricity providers

NEW YORK (AP) — Nuclear power is garnering renewed attention amid growing demand for power and cleaner energy. The power source has seen a resurgence as nations focus on reducing emissions in an effort to combat climate change. At the same time, the technology sector’s energy needs are growing in the form of data centers to power advances in artificial intelligence. Those factors have prompted companies and governments to look more closely at a power source that seemed unpopular because of its potential hazards only a few decades ago.

Supreme Court allows rule limiting pollution from coal-fired power plants to remain in effect

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has allowed a Biden administration rule aimed at limiting planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants to remain in place as legal challenges play out. The court on Wednesday rejected a push from Republican-led states and industry groups to block the Environmental Protection Agency rule. One conservative justice publicly dissented and two others said they expected the challengers to win eventually but the rule doesn’t need to be blocked now. The challengers argued the EPA overstepped and set unattainable standards. Environmental groups have said the standards are reasonable and within the agency’s legal responsibility to control harmful pollution.

Helene and Milton are both likely to be $50 billion disasters, joining ranks of most costly storms

Monstrous hurricanes Helene and Milton caused so much complex havoc that damages are still being added up, but experts in economics, insurance and risk say they are likely to be in the pantheon of super-costly $50 billion disasters. That would put them in the company of storms like Katrina, Sandy and Harvey. Making those costs even more painful is that most of that damage, particularly in Helene’s case, was not insured. Several experts say damages are skyrocketing because people are building in harm’s way, reconstruction costs are soaring faster than inflation and human-caused climate change is making storms stronger and wetter.

European Central Bank, seeing no signs of recession, cuts interest rates again

LONDON (AP) — The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, is not expecting the bloc to fall into recession as it cut borrowing costs once again after figures showed inflation across the bloc falling to its lowest level in more than three years and economic growth waning. The bank’s rate-setting council lowered its benchmark rate from 3.5% to 3.25% at a meeting in Llubljana, Slovenia, on Thursday, rather than its usual Frankfurt, Germany, headquarters. The rate cut is its third since June and shows optimism among rate-setters over the path of inflation. Inflation sank to 1.7% in September, the first time in three years it’s been below the ECB’s target rate of 2%.

US filings for jobless applications retreat back to recent ranges after big jump due to hurricanes

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week came back down to more recent ranges after a big jump the week before due to hurricanes in the Southeast. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims fell by by 19,000 to 241,000 for the week of Oct. 12. That’s well below the 262,000 analysts were expecting. Applications for jobless benefits are widely considered representative of U.S. layoffs in a given week. The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose by 9,000 to about 1.87 million for the week of Oct. 5.

Meta lays off staff at WhatsApp and Instagram to align with ‘strategic goals’

Meta says it has laid off some employees, including staff at WhatsApp And Instagram, to realign its resources with its “strategic goals.” A Meta spokesperson confirmed in a statement that some teams were making changes to align with their long-term goals and location strategy. The Verge, who first reported the layoffs, said cuts were made across teams that include messaging service WhatsApp and Instagram and Meta’s virtual reality technology unit Reality Labs.

Elevance makes a late cut to its 2024 forecast after seeing trouble in Medicaid

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Elevance Health surprised Wall Street with a rare, late-year guidance cut Thursday after a jump in Medicaid costs marred its third quarter. Shares of the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer tumbled after it joined rival UnitedHealth in noting that rates it receives for managing government-funded Medicaid programs weren’t high enough to deal with a rise in costs. Elevance dropped its forecast for 2024 adjusted earnings to approximately $33 per share after predicting at least $37.20 in July. Insurers typically act conservatively with forecasts this late in the year and focus on signaling to investors how the coming year will play out.

How a broke Argentine province is countering Milei’s deep austerity cuts

LA RIOJA, Argentina (AP) — After entering office last year, far-right President Milei swiftly imposed his fiscal shock therapy, slashing federal budget transfers to provinces. The cuts boiled over into a full-blown crisis in La Rioja, where the public payroll accounts for two-thirds of all registered workers and the central government’s redistributed taxes cover some 90% of the budget. Faced with a desperate squeeze for pesos, the populist governor of La Rioja began printing “chachos,” a new emergency tender help cover public worker salaries and spur the depressed economy. As Milei and his libertarian supporters tell it, La Rioja’s troubles capture everything that’s wrong with Argentina’s long-dominant Peronist movement that bequeathed his government an unmitigated economic disaster.