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Stock market today: Wall Street rallies again to erase more of April’s losses None - Stocks rallied for a second straight day on Wall Street to soften what’s been a rough April NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks rallied for a second straight day Tuesday to blunt the blow of what’s been a rough April. The S & P 500 climbed 1.2% and pulled further out of the hole created by a six-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 263 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.6%. A weaker-than-expected report on U.S. business activity helped support the market, which remains in an awkward phase. The hope on Wall Street is for the economy to avoid a severe recession, but not to stay so hot that it keeps upward pressure on inflation. The preliminary report from S & P Global released Tuesday seemed to hit that sweet spot. Treasury yields eased in the bond market, and stocks added to gains immediately after its release. A flood of earnings reports also dictated much of trading, highlighted by a slew of companies that topped analysts’ expectations. GE Aerospace flew 8.3% higher after it raised its profit forecast for the full year, in addition to beating expectations for first-quarter earnings. Kimberly-Clark gained 5.5% after the maker of Huggies, Kleenex and Kotex also raised its earnings forecast for the full year. General Motors revved up by 4.4% after citing sales of pickup trucks and other higher-profit vehicles. Danaher rose 7.2% after pointing to strength in its bioprocessing and molecular diagnostics businesses. They helped overshadow an 8.9% drop for Nucor after the steelmaker fell short of forecasts for both profit and revenue. MSCI, whose investment indexes guide much of the industry, fell 13.4% after reporting weaker revenue growth than expected. Invesco sank 6.4% after falling short of expectations for both earnings and revenue. JetBlue Airways lost 18.8% despite topping expectations for the latest quarter. Its forecasts for upcoming revenue came up short of what some analysts expected, and it said competition in Latin America could weigh on its results. All told, the S & P 500 rose 59.95 points to 5,070.55. The Dow gained 263.71 to 38,503.69, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 245.33 to 15,696.64. The market’s main event may have arrived after trading finished for the day. Tesla reported its results for the first three months of the year, becoming the first to do so among the “Magnificent Seven” stocks that accounted for most of last year’s gains for the S & P 500. Expectations are high for each of the “Mag 7” after they rocketed to big gains in 2023, and they’ll need to at least match them to justify their prices. Several had been leading the recent decline for the broader market, which saw the S & P 500 fall as much as 5.5% in April. “This underscores the importance of earnings in the next two weeks, which will be dominated by the Mag7, and the risk that disappointing results may accelerate the sell-off,” according to Barclays strategists led by Stefano Pascale and Anshul Gupta. With skeptics still calling the broad stock market too expensive, criticism would ease only if companies were to produce higher profits or if interest rates were to fall. The latter has been looking less likely. Top officials at the Federal Reserve warned last week they may need to keep interest rates high for a while in order to ensure inflation is heading down to their 2% target. That was a big letdown for financial markets, dousing hopes that had built after the Fed signaled earlier that three interest-rate cuts may come this year. Lower rates had appeared to be on the horizon after inflation cooled sharply last year. But a string of reports this year showing inflation has remained hotter than expected has raised worries about stalled progress. That’s why Tuesday’s report suggesting a slowdown in growth for overall business activity across the country was so welcomed. It could keep the door open for the Fed to cut interest rates the one or two times that many traders are currently forecasting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.59% to relieve the pressure on stocks broadly, particularly high-growth ones and those that pay high dividends. The 10-year yield had been at 4.64% just before the report’s release and at 4.61% late Monday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more on expectations for Fed action, had a similar drop. It fell to 4.92% from 4.97% late Monday. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe. They were mixed earlier in Asia. Stocks jumped 1.9% in Hong Kong but fell 0.7% in Shanghai. ___ AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
Stolen son: A hostage’s mom fights to bring her child home from Gaza None - Rachel Goldberg-Polin's son, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. In the six months since, she has become a vocal advocate in the effort to free the over 100 hostages that remain in Gaza — all while bearing the daily burden of pretending to be normal.April 5, 2024
Federal Trade Commission votes to ban most noncompete agreements None - The Federal Trade Commission has voted to ban almost all noncompete agreements between companies and their employees. The ban also applies to any existing noncompete agreements. Editor-in-Chief at Investopedia, Caleb Silver, breaks down what this means for employees and businesses. April 24, 2024
A blast near a ship off Yemen may mark a new attack by Houthi rebels after a recent lull None - A ship near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait has seen an explosion in the distance, marking what may be a new attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels through the crucial waterway for international trade A blast near a ship off Yemen may mark a new attack by Houthi rebels after a recent lull JERUSALEM -- A ship near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait saw an explosion in the distance Wednesday, marking what may be a new attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels through the crucial waterway for international trade. The explosion, reported by the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, comes after a relative lull from the Houthis after they launched dozens of attacks on shipping in the region over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the blast, but suspicion fell on the group as they've repeatedly targeted ships in the same area. It typically takes the Houthis several hours before acknowledging their assaults. The explosion happened some 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden. “The master of a merchant vessel reports an explosion in the water a distance form the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “Veseel and crew reported safe. Authorities are investigating." The private maritime security firm Ambrey separately reported the apparent attack. The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen and shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and firing off drones and missiles steadily in the last months. The Houthis have said they would continue their attacks until Israel ends its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage. The ships targeted by the Houthis largely have had little or no direct connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war. The rebels have also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted. The assaults on shipping have raised the profile of the Houthis, who are members of Islam’s minority Shiite Zaydi sect, which ruled Yemen for 1,000 years until 1962. The group seized Sanaa, Yemen's capital, in late 2014. A Saudi-led coalition has been battling the group in a stalemated conflict since 2015.
Boeing posts a $355M loss, as plane maker tries to dig out from latest crisis None - Boeing posts a $355M loss, as plane maker tries to dig out from latest crisis Boeing said Wednesday that it lost $355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers. CEO David Calhoun said the company is in “a tough moment,” and its focus is on fixing its manufacturing issues, not the financial results. Company executives have been forced to talk more about safety and less about finances since a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January, leaving a gaping hole in the plane. The accident halted progress that Boeing seemed to be making while recovering from two deadly crashes of Max jets in 2018 and 2019. Those crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, which killed 346 people, are now back in the spotlight, too. About a half-dozen relatives of passengers who died in the second crash met with government officials Wednesday in Washington. They asked the officials to revive a criminal fraud charge against the company by determining that Boeing violated terms of a 2021 settlement. Boeing officials made no mention of the meeting, but talked repeatedly while discussing the quarterly earnings of a renewed focus on safety. “Although we report first-quarter financial results today, our focus remains on the sweeping actions we are taking following the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident,” Calhoun told employees in a memo Wednesday. He ticked off a series of actions the company is taking and reported “significant progress” in improving manufacturing quality, much of it by slowing down production, which means fewer planes for its airline customers. Calhoun told CNBC that closer inspections were resulting in 80% fewer flaws in the fuselages coming from key supplier Spirit AeroSystems. “Near term, yes, we are in a tough moment,” he wrote to employees. “Lower deliveries can be difficult for our customers and for our financials. But safety and quality must and will come above all else.” Calhoun, who will step down at the end of the year, said again he is fully confident the company will recover. Calhoun became CEO in early 2020 as Boeing struggled to recover from the Max crashes, which led regulators to ground the planes worldwide for nearly two years. The company thought it had sidestepped any risk of criminal prosecution when the Justice Department agreed not to try the company for fraud if it complied with U.S. anti-fraud laws for three years — a period that ended in January. Boeing has been reaching confidential settlements with the families of passengers who died, but the relatives of those killed in the Ethiopia crash are continuing to press the Justice Department to prosecute the company. On Wednesday, department officials told relatives that the agency was still considering the matter. It was an emotional meeting, according to Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Stumo died in the 2019 crash. “People are angry. People are shouting. People are starting to talk over other people,” said Milleron, who watched online from her home in Massachusetts while her husband attended in person. Relatives believe the Justice Department is “overlooking a mountain of evidence against Boeing. It's mystifying,” she said. According to Milleron, the head of the fraud section of the Justice Department’s criminal division, Glenn Leon, said his agency could extend its review beyond this summer, seek a trial against Boeing on the charge of defrauding regulators who approved the Max, or ask a judge to dismiss the charge. She said Leon made no commitments. The Justice Department declined to comment. A federal judge and an appeals court ruled last year that they had no power to overturn the Boeing settlement. Families of the crash victims hoped the government would reconsider prosecuting Boeing after the Jan. 5 door-plug blowout on the Alaska Airlines jetliner as the plane flew above Oregon. Investigators looking into the Alaska flight say bolts that help keep the door plug in place were missing after repair work at a Boeing factory. The FBI told passengers that they might be crime victims. Boeing stock has plunged by about one-third since the blowout. The Federal Aviation Administration has stepped up its oversight and given Boeing until late May to produce a plan to fix problems in manufacturing 737 Max jets. Airline customers are unhappy about not getting all the new planes that they had ordered because of delivery disruptions. The company said it paid $443 million in compensation to airlines for the grounding of Max 9 jets after the Alaska accident. Several former and one current manager have reported various problems in manufacturing of Boeing 737 and 787 jetliners. The most recent, a quality engineer, told Congress last week that Boeing is taking manufacturing shortcuts that could eventually cause 787 Dreamliners to break apart. Boeing pushed back aggressively against his claims. Boeing, however, has a couple things in its favor. Along with Airbus, Boeing forms one-half of a duopoly that dominates the manufacturing of large passenger planes. Both companies have yearslong backlogs of orders from airlines eager for new, more fuel-efficient planes. And Boeing is a major defense contractor for the Pentagon and governments around the world. Richard Aboulafia, a longtime industry analyst and consultant at AeroDynamic Advisory, said despite all the setbacks Boeing still has a powerful mix of products in high demand, technology and people. “Even if they are No. 2 and have major issues, they are still in a very strong market and an industry that has very high barriers to entry,” he said. And despite massive losses — about $24 billion in the last five years — the company is not at risk of failing, Aboulafia said. “This isn’t General Motors in 2008 or Lockheed in 1971,” Aboulafia said, referring to two iconic corporations that needed massive government bailouts or loan guarantees to survive. All of those factors help explain why 20 analysts in a FactSet survey rate Boeing shares as “Buy” or “Overweight” and only two have “Sell” ratings. (Five have “Hold” ratings.) Boeing said the first-quarter loss, excluding special items came to $1.13 per share, which was better than the loss of $1.63 per share that analysts had forecast, according to a FactSet survey. Revenue fell 7.5%, to $16.57 billion. Moody's downgraded Boeing's unsecured debt one notch to Baa3, the lowest investment-grade rating, citing the weak performance of the commercial-airplanes business. Boeing Co. shares closed down 3%. They have dropped 34% since the Alaska blowout.
Tennessee Volkswagen employees vote to join United Auto Workers union, boosting its drive to organize nonunion plants None - What witnesses said about Trump's handling of classified info while president
The bitcoin ‘halving’ is here. It limits the supply of new coins and is the fourth such event for the cryptocurrency None - The bitcoin ‘halving’ is here. It limits the supply of new coins and is the fourth such event for the cryptocurrency The bitcoin ‘halving’ is here. It limits the supply of new coins and is the fourth such event for the cryptocurrency
Biden administration finalizes rule to grant overtime for millions more salaried workers None - The Biden administration has finalized a new rule set to make millions of more salaried workers eligible for overtime pay in the U.S. The move marks the largest expansion in federal overtime eligibility in decades NEW YORK -- The Biden administration has finalized a new rule set to make millions of more salaried workers eligible for overtime pay in the U.S. The move marks the largest expansion in federal overtime eligibility seen in decades. Starting July 1, employers will be required pay overtime to salaried workers who make less than $43,888 a year in certain executive, administrative and professional roles, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That cap will then rise to $58,656 by the start of 2025. “Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay. That is unacceptable,” acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a prepared statement. She added that the administration was “following through on our promise to raise the bar.” Tuesday's news marks a significant jump from the current overtime eligibility threshold of $35,568, which was set under the Trump administration in 2019 — just three years after a more generous Obama-era effort was ultimately scuttled in court after facing pushback from some business leaders and Republican politicians. Under the federal law, nearly all hourly workers in the U.S. are entitled to overtime pay after 40 hours a week. But many salaried workers are exempt from that requirement — unless they earn below a certain level. The new rule also expands overtime eligibility for some highly-compensated workers. According to a Labor Department FAQ, the current $107,432 annual threshold for highly-compensated workers is set to increase to $132,964 on July 1 and $151,164 by the start of 2025. The Labor Department estimates that 4 million lower-paid salary workers who are exempt under current regulations will become eligible for overtime protections in the first year under the new rule. An additional 292,900 higher-compensated workers are also expected to get overtime entitlements. The July 1 increases update the current salary thresholds using methodology put in place under the Trump administration's 2019 regulation. The new rule's methodology takes effect Jan. 1, the Labor Department said, with salary thresholds set to update every three years based on the latest wage data. The Biden administration first announced plans for its new rule in late August, and submitted a proposal in September. The Labor Department said it “conducted extensive engagement with employers, workers, unions and other stakeholders” and considered more than 33,000 comments as it developed the final rule. Critics have argued that the new regulation could saddle companies with new costs and add to persistent labor challenges. In a statement, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican and chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said that employers "are staring down the barrel of billions in annual costs to comply with the rule" while calling the regulation “excessive and heavy-handed.” Meanwhile, advocates applauded the administration's rule — with some noting that such a move is overdue. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute says that the overtime threshold has not been updated properly for almost 50 years — leaving millions without such federal protections. "The rule is an important step toward correctly valuing one of the most precious resources workers have — their time,” EPI president Heidi Shierholz said Tuesday. “This rule is an essential milestone in creating a stronger, fairer economy.”
‘Complete lack of remorse’: Weissman breaks down David Pecker’s testimony None - 'Not a lot happens' without Trump knowing about it: Defense says he had nothing to do with payment 08:36
David Pecker admits 'catch-and-kill' scheme was to help Trump in 2016 election None - NBC News' Lisa Rubin reports as David Pecker continues his testimony in the New York hush money trial against former President Trump. Prosecutors questioned him about his relationship with Trump and how he worked to "catch and kill" negative stories, including from Playboy playmate Karen McDougal.April 25, 2024
'Messy argument': Supreme Court considers historic presidential immunity claim None - The Supreme Court justices heard former President Trump's immunity case today and are weighing what an official act is versus a private one. NBC News' Ken Dilanian and former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance join Andrea Mitchell who is outside the courthouse to discuss.April 25, 2024
In Vietnam, farmers reduce methane emissions by changing how they grow rice None - Vietnam aims to transform its rice sector, making it more resilient to climate change while also reducing its emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide LONG AN, Vietnam -- There is one thing that distinguishes 60-year-old Vo Van Van’s rice fields from a mosaic of thousands of other emerald fields across Long An province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta: It isn’t entirely flooded. That and the giant drone, its wingspan similar to that of an eagle, chuffing high above as it rains organic fertilizer onto the knee-high rice seedlings billowing below. Using less water and using a drone to fertilize are new techniques that Van is trying and Vietnam hopes will help solve a paradox at the heart of growing rice: The finicky crop isn’t just vulnerable to climate change but also contributes uniquely to it. Rice must be grown separately from other crops and seedlings have to be individually planted in flooded fields; backbreaking, dirty work requiring a lot of labor and water that generates a lot of methane, a potent planet-warming gas that can trap more than 80-times more heat in the atmosphere in the short term than carbon dioxide. It's a problem unique to growing rice, as inundated fields stop oxygen from entering the soil, creating the conditions for methane-producing bacteria. Rice paddies contribute 8% of all human-made methane in the atmosphere, according to a 2023 Food and Agriculture Organization report. Vietnam is the world's third-largest rice exporter, and the staple importance to Vietnamese culture is palpable in the Mekong Delta. The fertile patchwork of green fields crisscrossed by silvery waterways has helped stave off famine since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Rice isn't just the mainstay of most meals, it is considered a gift from the gods and continues to be venerated. It is molded into noodles and sheets and fermented into wine. In busy markets, motorcyclists lug 10-kilogram (22-pound) bags to their homes. Barges haul mountains of the grain up and down the Mekong River. Rice kernels are then dried and hulled by machines before they're packed for sale in factories, lined from floor to ceiling with sacks of rice. Van has been working with one of Vietnam’s largest rice exporters, the Loc Troi Group, for the past two years and is using a different method of irrigation known as alternate wetting and drying, or AWD. This requires less water than traditional farming since his paddy fields aren’t continuously submerged. They also produce less methane. Using the drone to fertilize the crops saves on labor costs. With climate shocks pushing a migration to cities, Van said that it's harder to find people to work the farms. It also ensures precise amounts of fertilizers are applied. Too much fertilizer causes the soil to release Earth-warming nitrogen gases. Once crops are harvested, Van no longer burns the rice stubble — a major cause of air pollution in Vietnam and in its neighbors, as well as Thailand and India. Instead, it's collected by the Loc Troi Group for sale to other companies that use it as livestock feed and for growing straw mushrooms, a popular addition to stir-fries. Van benefits in various ways. His costs are down while his farm yield is the same. Using organic fertilizer enables him to sell to European markets where customers are willing to pay a premium for organic rice. Best of all, he has time to tend to his own garden. “I am growing jackfruit and coconut,” he said. Loc Troi Group CEO Nguyen Duy Thuan said that those methods enable farmers to use 40% less rice seed and 30% less water. Costs for pesticides, fertilizer and labor also are lower. Thuan said Loc Troi — which exports to more than 40 countries including in Europe, Africa, the United States and Japan — is working with farmers to expand acreage using its methods from the current 100 hectares to 300,000 hectares. That's a long way from Vietnam’s own target of growing “high quality, low emission rice” on 1 million hectares of farmland, an area more than six times the size of London, by 2030. Vietnamese officials estimate that would reduce production costs by a fifth and increase farmers' profits by more than $600 million, according to the state media outlet Vietnam News. Vietnam recognized early on that it had to reconfigure its rice sector. It was the largest rice exporter, ahead of both India and Thailand, to sign a 2021 pledge to reduce methane emissions at the annual United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Each year, the industry suffers losses of over $400 million, according to recent research by Vietnam’s Water Resources Science Institute. This is worrying, not just for the country but for the world. The Mekong Delta, where 90% of Vietnam's exported rice is farmed, is one of the world's regions most vulnerable to climate change. A U.N. climate change report in 2022 warned of heavier flooding in the wet season and droughts in the dry season. Scores of dams built upstream in China and Laos have reduced the river's flow and the amount of sediment that it carries downriver to the sea. The sea level is rising and turning the river's lower reaches salty. And unsustainable levels of groundwater pumping and sand mining for construction have added to the problems. Changing centuries-old forms of rice farming is expensive, and even though methane is a more potent cause of global warming than carbon dioxide, it only receives 2% of climate financing, Ajay Banga, the World Bank's president, told the U.N. climate summit in Dubai last year. Combating methane emissions is the “one rare, clear area” where low-cost, effective and replicable solutions exist, Banga said. The World Bank is supporting Vietnam's efforts and has begun helping the Indonesian government to expand climate resilient farming as a part of more than a dozen projects to reduce methane worldwide. The hope is that more countries will follow, though there is no “one-size-fits-all,” said Lewis H. Ziska, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University. “The one commonality is that water is needed,” he said, adding that different methods of planting and irrigation can help manage water better. Growing more genetically diverse rice varieties would also help because some are more resilient to excess heat or require less water, while others might even emit less methane, he said. Nguyen Van Nhut, director of the rice export company Hoang Minh Nhat, said its suppliers are using varieties of rice that can thrive even when the water is briny and the heat is extreme. Now, the business is adapting to the unseasonal rains that make it harder to dry the rice, adding to risks from mold or insect damage. Typically, rice is dried in the sun immediately after harvest, but Nhut said his company has drying facilities in their packaging factory and also will install machinery to dry the grains closer to the fields. “We don’t know which month is the rainy season, like we did before,” he said. ___ The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Chipotle reverses protein policy, says workers can choose chicken once again None - Chipotle says its employees can choose chicken once again. Last week, the chain asked its U.S. and Canadian employees to temporarily select another protein for their work meals to preserve the company's supply of chicken. The directive applied to both corporate staff and restaurant employees. Newport Beach, California-based Chipotle has more than 114,000 workers in the U.S. and Canada. But Laurie Schalow, the Mexican chain’s chief corporate affairs and food safety officer, said Thursday that the directive has been rescinded and employees can return to ordering chicken with their meals. “We are not experiencing outages of chicken in our restaurants,” Schalow said in a statement. “Last week we temporarily asked employees to select non-chicken options for their employee meals to maintain supply for our guests based on our strong sales, but employees are now free to select chicken in their meals as normal.” Chipotle’s chicken al pastor, which is marinaded in morita peppers, ground achiote and pineapple, debuted in March 2023. It grew so popular that it soon made up 20% of all orders, Chipotle said. It was removed from the menu last August. During a conference call with investors Wednesday, Chipotle said its reintroduction of chicken al pastor in March as a limited-time offer drove strong traffic to its 3,371 U.S. stores and 66 international stores. Chipotle said its revenue rose 14% to $2.7 billion in the January-March period while its same-store sales – or sales at locations open at least a year – were up 7%. Brian Niccol, Chipotle’s chairman and CEO, said chicken al pastor was bringing in additional customers and encouraging regulars to come more often. Chipotle Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung said Thursday that the company plans to pull chicken al pastor off the menu again sometime in the third quarter of this year.
Average long-term US mortgage rate climbs for fourth straight week to highest level since November None - The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level since late November, another setback for home shoppers in what’s traditionally the housing market’s busiest time of the year LOS ANGELES -- The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level since late November, another setback for home shoppers in what's traditionally the housing market's busiest time of the year. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 7.17% from 7.1% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.43%. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week, lifting the average rate to 6.44% from 6.39% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.71%, Freddie Mac said. When mortgage rates rise, they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford at a time when the U.S. housing market remains constrained by relatively few homes for sale and rising home prices. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has now increased four weeks in a row. The latest uptick brings it to its highest level since November 30, when it was 7.22%. After climbing to a 23-year high of 7.79% in October, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage had remained below 7% since early December amid expectations that inflation would ease enough this year for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its short-term interest rate. Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Fed’s interest rate policy and the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. Home loan rates have been mostly drifting higher after a string of reports this year showing inflation remaining hotter than forecast, which has stoked doubts over how soon the Fed might decide to start lowering its benchmark interest rate. The uncertainty has pushed up bond yields. Top Fed officials themselves have said recently they could hold interest rates high for a while before getting full confidence inflation is heading down toward their target of 2%. The rise in mortgage rates in recent weeks is an unwelcome trend for home shoppers this spring homebuying season. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last month as homebuyers contended with elevated mortgage rates and rising prices. While easing mortgage rates helped push home sales higher in January and February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage remains well above 5.1%, where was just two years ago. That large gap between rates now and then has helped limit the number of previously occupied homes on the market because many homeowners who bought or refinanced more than two years ago are reluctant to sell and give up their fixed-rate mortgages below 3% or 4% — a trend real estate experts refer to as the “lock-in” effect. “The jump in mortgage rates has taken the wind out of the sails of the mortgage market," said Bob Broeksmit, CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. "Along with weaker affordability conditions, the lock-in effect continues to suppress existing inventory levels as many homeowners remain unwilling to sell their home to buy a new one at a higher price and mortgage rate.” Homebuilders have been able to mitigate the impact of elevated home loan borrowing costs this year by offering incentives, such as covering the cost to lower the mortgage rate homebuyers take on. That's helped spur sales of newly built single-family homes, which jumped 8.8% in March from a year earlier, according to the Commerce Department. “With rates staying higher for longer, many homebuyers are adjusting, as evidenced by this week’s report that sales of newly built homes saw the biggest increase since December 2022,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
Honda planning to expand its electric vehicle efforts in Canada, Toyota expands in Indiana None - Honda plans to invest $11 billion, with the help of joint venture partners, to build out its electric vehicle efforts in Canada as it prepares for future demand in North America for the automobiles Honda plans to invest $11 billion, with the help of joint venture partners, to build out its electric vehicle efforts in Canada as it prepares for future demand in North America for the automobiles. The company said Thursday that it has started evaluating the requirements to build an EV plant and a separate EV battery plant in Ontario. It already has two manufacturing plants there that have 4,200 employees. Honda expects to add at least 1,000 more workers for the two new facilities. The EV plant, once fully operational, will have a production capacity of 240,000 EVs per year and the battery plant will have a capacity of 36 GWh per year. There's also plans for a cathode active material and precursor processing plant through a joint venture partnership with POSCO Future M Co. and a separator plant through a joint venture partnership with Asahi Kasei Corp. Honda Motor Co. anticipates EV production will start in 2028. Last month Nissan and Honda announced that they would work together in developing electric vehicles and auto intelligence technology. The world’s automakers are rapidly shifting toward electric vehicles, focusing on batteries and motors instead of gas engines, as concerns grow about emissions and climate change. But Japanese automakers have fallen behind rivals such as Tesla of the U.S. and BYD of China in developing EVs, partly because they have historically been so successful with combustion engine vehicles. Elsewhere in the sector, Toyota announced Thursday that it will invest $1.4 billion in its Princeton, Indiana plant to produce a battery electric SUV. The move will create up to 340 jobs. The automaker recently announced that it would invest $1.3 billion to produce a separate battery electric SUV at its Kentucky facility.
Meta Platforms, O'Reilly Automotive fall; Chipotle, TransUnion rise, Thursday, 4/25/2024 None - Stocks that are trading heavily or have substantial price changes on Thursday: Meta Platforms, O’Reilly Automotive fall; Chipotle, TransUnion rise The Associated Press By The Associated Press NEW YORK -- Stocks that are trading heavily or have substantial price changes on Thursday: Meta Platforms Inc. (META), down $58.41 to $435.09. Facebook's parent company gave investors a disappointing revenue forecast. International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), down $17.81 to $166.29. The technology and consulting company is buying HashiCorp for about $6.4 billion. Teradyne Inc. (TER), up $6.91 to $107.61. The maker of wireless products and equipment to test semiconductors beat analysts' first-quarter earnings forecasts. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG), up $159.60 to $3,086.26. The Mexican food chain's first-quarter financial results beat Wall Street forecasts. O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY), down $35.74 to $1,056.96. The auto parts retailer reported disappointing first-quarter financial results. BHP Group Ltd. (BHP), down $1.79 to $57.45. The Australian mining company confirmed its offer to buy Anglo American. TransUnion (TRU), up $6.32 to $75.01. The credit reporting company raised its profit forecast for the year. Union Pacific Corp. (UNP), down $10.47 to $242.45. The railroad beat analysts' first-quarter earnings forecasts.
Congo questions Apple over knowledge of conflict minerals in its supply chain None - Congo’s government is questioning Apple about the tech company’s knowledge of “blood minerals” from a conflict zone in the African country that could be smuggled into supply chains CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Congo ’s government is questioning Apple about the tech company’s knowledge of “blood minerals” from a conflict zone in the African country that could be smuggled into its supply chains and is demanding answers within three weeks. A group of international lawyers representing Congo said Thursday that they sent letters to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and its French subsidiary this week, raising concerns about human rights violations involving the minerals extracted from mines in the country’s troubled east that might end up being used in the company’s products. They included a list of questions challenging Apple to show how it monitors its supply chains in a region where more than 100 armed rebel groups operate, some of whom have been accused of carrying out mass killings of civilians. Writing to Cook, the lawyers said “it has become clear to us that year after year, Apple has sold technology made with minerals sourced from a region whose population is being devastated by grave violations of human rights.” "The iPhones, Mac computers and accessories that Apple sells to its customers around the world rely on supply chains that are too opaque, and that are tainted by the blood of the Congolese people," the lawyers said. Eastern Congo is one of the most mineral-rich regions in the world but is also the site of a huge humanitarian disaster, with the armed groups fighting for years for control of the mines and the valuable minerals in them, and millions of people displaced and affected by the worsening violence. The situation has deteriorated badly in the last few months. Apple, which has a market value of around $2.6 trillion, has denied using minerals from mines and regions where human rights violations take place, saying it conducts business ethically and “responsibly” sources minerals in Congo and neighboring countries. The minerals it buys don't finance war or armed groups, it says. The lawyers for the Congo government said “those claims do not appear to be based on concrete, verifiable evidence.” The Congo government said it has suspicions that some of the tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold — known as the 3TG critical minerals — that Apple sources from suppliers is smuggled out of Congo to neighboring Rwanda and then infiltrated into the global supply chain. The 3TG minerals are key components in electronics. In response to a request for comment, Apple pointed to a section from a company filing on conflict minerals. “Based on our due diligence efforts, including analyzing the information provided by third-party audit programs, upstream traceability programs, and our suppliers, we found no reasonable basis for concluding that any of the smelters or refiners of 3TG determined to be in our supply chain as of December 31, 2023 directly or indirectly financed or benefited armed groups in the DRC or an adjoining country," the report said, using the abbreviation for Democratic Republic of the Congo. “In Congo, people have been dying for 30 years as a result of illegal mining,” Congo government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said. “We want clarification on the sources of supply for major technology companies, in particular Apple, to verify whether they are acquiring minerals produced in completely illegal conditions.” He said Rwanda “is presented” as the supplier for many of the minerals while having few reserves of its own. Congo has accused Rwanda of financing and directing the notorious armed rebel group M23 in eastern Congo to help extract minerals illegally. The United Nations also says M23 is backed by Rwanda. Rwanda denies that but tensions between the countries are flaring, while M23 and other groups are accused of regularly carrying out attacks that include the killing and raping of civilians, according to Human Rights Watch. The lawyers for the Congo government quoted a 2022 report by nonprofit group Global Witness that claimed Apple had previously applied “few meaningful mitigation measures” to avoid using smuggled minerals. The Congo government was now seeking “effective redress” against “end-users of blood minerals” across the world, the lawyers said. They asked Apple to respond to questions over its supply chain controls within three weeks and said they had compiled a report on “the laundering” of Congo's minerals by Rwanda and private entities that would be made public this month. They also would seek instructions from the Congo government as to what legal measures it is considering against Apple, the letter said. ___ AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan in London and AP writer Saleh Mwanamilongo in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.___ AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
A Chinese ship remains the focus of the investigation into Baltic Sea gas pipeline damaged last year None - Authorities in Finland say a Chinese container ship remains the focus of an investigation into what caused damage last year to a Baltic Sea gas pipeline between NATO members Finland and Estonia A Chinese ship remains the focus of the investigation into Baltic Sea gas pipeline damaged last year HELSINKI -- A Chinese container ship remains the focus of an investigation into what caused the damage last year to a Baltic Sea gas pipeline between NATO members Finland and Estonia, Finnish authorities said Thursday. It has been more than six months since substantial, human-made damage that caused a major drop in pressure was first detected in the Balticconnector pipeline in Finnish economic waters on Oct. 8. Gas system operators in Finland and Estonia — Gasgrid Finland and Elering — were forced to shut it down, disconnecting a crucial link between the Nordic and Baltic gas markets for several months. The pipeline, which runs across the Gulf of Finland between the Finnish town of Inkoo and the Estonian port of Paldiski, was reopened this week after multimillion-euro repair work. The National Bureau of Investigation, a branch of the Finnish police, said Thursday that it still believes that an anchor of the Hong Kong-flagged cargo vessel Newnew Polar Bear ship, which was on its way to St. Petersburg, Russia, was dislodged and caused the damage detected in Balticconnector. The “investigation has progressed, and there has been cooperation with the Chinese authorities probing the case,” Detective Supt. Risto Lohi, NBI’s head of the investigation, told The Associated Press. “The main line of investigation has remained unchanged — the cargo ship Newnew Polar Bear and its anchor are considered to be related to the pipeline damage,” Lohi said. Finnish investigators haven't said whether they believe the damage allegedly caused by the Chinese vessel was done intentionally or whether it was caused by incompetent seafaring, as suggested by some experts. Finnish maritime authorities said at the time of the incident, they failed to establish radio contact with Newnew Polar Bear's captain despite several attempts. Last year, NBI said that an initial inquiry by investigators and experts found a trail of about 1½ to four meters (five to 13 feet) on the seabed that was seen to lead to the point of damage in the gas pipeline. That trail is believed to have been caused by the heavy six-ton anchor of Newnew Polar Bear, which was later retrieved from the seabed by the Finnish Navy. “We’re probably talking about months before final conclusions," pending further information from technical studies and data from NBI’s international partners, Lohi said. Sauli Niinistö, a former president of Finland, spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the Balticconnector case in a video call in January, but no details of the talks have been disclosed. Telecom cables connecting Finland and Estonia, as well as Sweden and Estonia, were also damaged at the same time as the Balticconnector pipeline. Finnish and Estonian authorities believe both incidents may be connected to the Chinese vessel. Janne Grönlund, senior vice president at Gasgrid Finland, said that Balticconnector was reopened for commercial operation early Monday after gas started flowing from Finland to Estonia. A smaller amount of gas was also flowing in the other direction. “I’m happy to say that everything has proceeded as planned" since the pipeline’s relaunch, he said. More than a dozen different organizations and companies were engaged in the repairs, which were completed in just over six months. Repairing such submarine infrastructure usually takes one to two years, Estonia’s Elering said. Grönlund said the total cost of the pipeline repair work, performed entirely by remote-controlled equipment at a depth of 60 meters (around 200 feet), is estimated at around 35 million euros ($38 million). It remains open as to who will pick up the bill. Last year, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo initiated discussions with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on getting financing from the European Union to repair the pipeline. The EU covered 75% of Balticconnector’s original construction cost of around 300 million euros. Following damage to the gas pipeline and data cables, NATO has stepped up its patrols of the Baltic Sea. The alliance has sent minehunters, maritime patrol aircraft, and drones to the region to secure the area and detect suspicious movement near its critical undersea infrastructure. Finland, an EU nation of 5.6 million that neighbors Russia, joined NATO in April 2023 after decades of military nonalignment.
Judge Luttig blasts SCOTUS for avoiding ‘key question’ at the heart of Trump immunity case None - Former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig joins Ali Velshi to discuss his takeaways from this week’s Supreme Court oral arguments on former President Donald Trump's presidential immunity claim, which many believe will lead to more delays in Trump’s federal criminal cases, and potentially impact the future of the presidency itself. "That this absurd argument is even being made before the Supreme Court is an embarrassment to the Constitution and to our country,” Judge Luttig says. Judge Luttig also criticizes the Supreme Court for avoiding the “straightforward, key question” about the case itself, and explains what decision he believes the justices are most likely to make.April 28, 2024
A look into the courtroom: jurors ‘march like silent soldiers reporting for duty’ past Trump None - A look into the courtroom: jurors ‘march like silent soldiers reporting for duty’ past Trump MSNBC contributor and “Old Goats” newsletter founder Jonathan Alter talks with Alex Witt about what it’s like being in the room for Donald Trump’s criminal trial.April 28, 2024