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Ticker: Mortgage rates retreat from highs; Unemployment applications climb

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate eased back from a seven-month high this week, a welcome change for homebuyers navigating high borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan fell to 6.71% from 6.79% last week. A year ago, the rate averaged 5.23%.The pullback follows three straight weekly increases, which pushed up the average rate to its highest level since early November, when it climbed to 7.08%.The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with those refinancing their homes, also fell this week, slipping to 6.07% from 6.18% last week. A year ago, it averaged 4.38%, Freddie Mac said.“While elevated rates and other affordability challenges remain, inventory continues to be the biggest obstacle for prospective homebuyers,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.Unemployment applications climbThe number of Americ...

Chelsea, Everett and Revere win federal grants to improve bus traffic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

Millions in federal cash has been awarded to upgrade traffic signals so that buses are given priority when moving through Chelsea, Everett and Revere.The U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration announced an MBTA project in those cities totaling $2.96 million under a grant program created through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.“Your zip code shouldn’t determine whether you have access to safe, affordable transportation,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said with the announcement.The project, which will complete design work next year and begin construction in 2025, will add technology to signal arrays that identify and allow buses to move more quickly through traffic, improving commute times for mass transit users and making transportation times more predictable.According to the MBTA, the communities covered by the grant are some the most desperate for easy bus connection to the transit systems’ other modes of travel, like th...

Elevated walkway collapses in Texas beach city, injuring dozens

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas (AP) — Nearly two dozen teenagers from a summer camp were injured when an elevated walkway collapsed Thursday in a beachside city in Texas, with five flown to the hospital by helicopter.None of the injuries were expected to be life-threatening, Brazoria County officials said. The cause of the walkway collapse in Surfside Beach, a small city on the Gulf of Mexico, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of downtown Houston, was under investigation.Surfside Beach Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Justin Mills said his department responded to an emergency call at 12:34 p.m. and set up landing areas for the medical helicopters. Sharon Trower, public information officer for Brazoria County, said all of the victims were between 14 and 18 years old and from the Bayou City Fellowship summer camp. Six were taken to hospitals by ambulance, and about 10 more were taken to hospitals by private vehicles, Trower said. Aerial video from TV station KTRK showed the walkway...

DeSantis recruiters eyed Catholic church for migrant flights that bishop calls ‘reprehensible’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recruiters set their sights on Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the Texas border city of El Paso in search of asylum-seekers they could take from its bustling migrant shelter to California’s capital on taxpayer-funded private jets.Intentionally or not, envoys for Florida’s Catholic governor and Republican presidential candidate infused an element of his own religion into his latest move on immigration, which has drawn sharp criticism from El Paso’s Catholic bishop.“Without going into the details of the politics of it, it does seem clear that they were being used not out concern for the migrants but in an effort to make a political point,” Bishop Mark Seitz told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Seitz said many migrants arriving in the U.S. don’t know the geography, including how far cities and states are from one another, and are just anxious to move on.“If you’re seeking to help a person who needs to get ...

Attorney: Ownership of Nashville shooter’s writing will go to students’ parents

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ownership of the writings of a shooter who killed six people at a Nashville school earlier this year will be transferred to the families of students at the school, an attorney representing the shooter’s parents announced Thursday. The development is the latest twist in the increasingly complex legal battle over the release of Audrey Hale’s writings and other documents in the police investigation. Supporters of the parents hope that the transfer of ownership will strengthen the families’ argument that they have standing to intervene and stop the release of Hale’s writings.Hale, then 28, opened fire at the school on March 27, before being shot to death by officers. Hale was a former student at the school and it is thought that Hale’s writings might reveal a motive for the attack.Late last month, Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles ruled that the Covenant School parents have a right to intervene against the groups seeking the release of th...

S&P/TSX composite ticks lower Thursday, U.S. stock markets move higher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index ticked lower Thursday amid broad-based weakness, while U.S. markets moved higher, led by the technology sector. “It’s definitely a quieter market today,” said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments. The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate Wednesday to 4.75 per cent after several months of holding it, in the latest move by the central bank to fight inflation. “I think a lot of people are just digesting the moves we got yesterday,” Taylor said.The S&P/TSX composite index was down 40.99 points at 19,942.70.In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 168.59 points at 33,833.61. The S&P 500 index was up 26.41 points at 4,293.93, while the Nasdaq composite was up 133.63 points at 13,238.52.Markets in the U.S. are anticipating inflation data in the U.S. next week followed by the Federal Reserve’s own rate announcement, said Taylor. At this point, markets seem to expect a pause from the Fed next week, s...

Demand for air purifiers on the rise as smoky conditions persist from wildfires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

TORONTO — The spread of smoke from wildfires across Canada in recent weeks has prompted an uptick in demand for air purifiers, as manufacturers and distributors say it appears Canadians are increasingly looking for ways to keep the air in their homes or workplaces clean.Pollutants from wildfires in Ontario and Quebec have coloured skies grey and orange in cities such as Toronto and Ottawa this week, while wildfires in Alberta set a spring record last month and led to a state of emergency that has since been lifted.Nick Coleman, dealer-owner at Leitrim Home Hardware Building Centre in Ottawa, said customers have been purchasing purifiers as well as furnace filters for additional air quality control.“Air purifiers have been flying off the shelves,” he said in an email. “Customers are requesting purifiers for all room sizes, specifically ones with high HEPA filtration.” Mario Angeloni, director at Reliance Home Comfort, said the air quality of a sealed house is typically th...

Stock market today: Bulls run again on Wall Street as S&P 500 climbs 20% above October low

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose just enough Thursday for Wall Street to barrel into a new bull market as the S&P 500 keeps rallying off its low from last autumn.The index rose 0.6% to carry it 20% above a bottom hit in October. That means Wall Street’s main measure of health has climbed out of a painful bear market, which saw it drop 25.4% over roughly nine months.The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 168 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, led the market with a 1% rise. That’s been the norm so far this bull run, as chip maker Nvidia and a handful of other big tech stocks have been responsible for the lion’s share of Wall Street’s gains.Declaring the end of a bear market may seem arbitrary, but it offers a useful marker for investors. It also provides a reminder that investors able to hold on through downturns have nearly always made back all their losses in S&P 500 index funds eventually.Even though it was driven by so many superlatives — the worst inflatio...

New Mexico rolls out education campaign for recreational marijuana use

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — After more than a year of recreational marijuana sales, New Mexico is rolling out its first campaign to educate people about responsible use.The first batch of billboards is now going up around the state while TV, radio, print and digital advertisements will be running through the month of June. The media buy is worth $400,000. The state Cannabis Control Division confirmed Wednesday that it started working on the campaign last year, but the contract for the work was finalized only recently. An Albuquerque-based marketing company won the contract following a competitive bidding process.The “Yes & Know” campaign is built around the phrase “Yes — cannabis is legal. Know — the rules.” “We recognize the need for education in this new cannabis industry. This campaign opens the conversation for responsible storage and safe cannabis consumption,” said Linda Trujillo, who heads the state Regulation and Licensing Department, which oversees the cannabis division.Ne...

GM CEO Mary Barra to discuss EV charging with Tesla CEO Elon Musk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:44 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are scheduled to discuss the future of electric vehicle charging on Twitter Spaces on Thursday afternoon.It wasn’t clear exactly what Barra and Musk plan to announce. But their discussion comes days after Ford CEO Jim Farley joined Musk to announce that Ford’s electric vehicles would gain access to much of Tesla’s EV-charging network, the largest in the nation.Farley also said Ford would switch to Tesla’s charging network connector rather than to a different one that is used by the rest of the industry.The Associated Press