WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. rose for the second week in a row to its highest level since mid-July, reflecting a recent jump in the bond yields that lenders use as a guide to price home loans. The rate rose to 6.85 percent last week from 6.72 [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — The decision to add fluoride to drinking water rests with state and local officials, and fights are cropping up nationwide. Communities in Florida, Texas, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming and elsewhere have debated the idea in recent months — the total number is in the dozens, with several deciding to stop adding it [...]
Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. Nordstrom shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, or about $4 billion in all, representing a 42 percent premium on the company’s stock [...]
LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Twisted equipment and snapped tree limbs still litter Chris Hopkins’ Georgia farm more than two months after Hurricane Helene made its deadly march across the South. An irrigation sprinkler system about 300 feet long lay overturned in a field, its steel pipes bent and welded joints broken. The mangled remains of [...]
The U.S. stock market gained more than 25 percent this year, a healthy showing by any measure. It doesn’t seem like it would be a market environment that’s conducive to tax-loss selling. Yet unless investors’ strategy is to buy only U.S. stocks, they may indeed have opportunities to realize tax losses in their portfolios, which [...]
American consumers are feeling less confident in December, a business research group says. The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index fell in December to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Analysts forecast a rise to a reading of 113.8. Consumers had been feeling increasingly confident in recent months, spending more in the run-up to [...]
For small businesses, the biggest change in the new year will be the arrival of a presumably more business-friendly administration in Washington. Yet there are other shifts owners should keep on their radar. Among them: changes to state-level overtime and minimum wage rules, the delayed federal FinCEN registration, taxes on payments from third-party providers such [...]
SEATAC, Wash. (AP) — Background music is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help lighten travelers’ moods. London’s Heathrow Airport built a stage to showcase emerging British performers for the first time this summer. The program was so successful the airport hopes to bring [...]
NEW YORK (AP) — The Container Store has filed for bankruptcy protection as the storage and organizational goods retailer with roots dating back to the 1970s grapples with mounting losses and cash flow shortages. The Texas company has faced increasing competition from retailers such as Target and Walmart at the same time that demand for [...]