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Stock market today: World markets are mostly lower after Israel strikes back at Hamas attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Crude oil prices surged and share prices were mostly lower on Monday after the Israeli government declared war following deadly attacks by Hamas from the Gaza Strip. U.S. futures declined. Oil prices fell back slightly after gaining more than $3 a barrel. Conflict in the Middle East often pushes oil prices higher given the risk of disruptions to supplies. “Disruptions or escalations in the region can have far-reaching implications for energy markets, global supply chains, and geopolitical dynamics,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.The fighting has not yet had any discernible impact on oil output, but geopolitical escalations in the Middle East typically lead to a “buy-first-ask-questions-later” response, he said. Oil prices had eased back from highs of the mid $90 range last month in recent days, falling sharply last week. Early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil was up $2.70 at $85.48 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantil...

The winner of the Nobel memorial economics prize is set to be announced in Sweden

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, the final prize of this year’s Nobels season, is set to be announced in Stockholm on Monday.The winner or winners unveiled by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences follow the awards in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace that were announced last week.The economics award was created in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank and is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Last year’s winners were former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip Dybvig for their research into bank failures that helped shape America’s aggressive response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis.Only two of the 92 economics laureates honored have been women.A week ago, Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine. The physics prize went Tuesday to French-Swedish physicist Anne L’Huillier, French scientist...

UK’s opposition Labour Party says if elected it will track down billions lost to COVID-19 fraud

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Britain’s main opposition Labour Party says that if it wins power, it will appoint a “COVID corruption commissioner” to try and recoup some of the billions lost to fraud and waste during the pandemic.Labour economy spokeswoman Rachel Reeves is due to outline the plan in a speech Monday at the party’s annual conference. She says the commissioner will bring together tax officials, fraud investigators and law enforcement officers will track down an estimated 7.2 billion pounds ($8.8 billion) in lost public money spent on grants and contracts related to COVID-19.Like many countries, the U.K. was forced to sidestep usual rules as it rushed to procure essential supplies and prop up people’s livelihoods during the coronavirus pandemic.Reeves told the BBC the Conservative government was “embarrassed” by the scale of the losses and “doing nothing to get that money back.”A multi-year public inquiry is examining Britain’s handling of the pandemic, which left mor...

Indian rescue copters are flying into region where flood washed out bridges and killed at least 52

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

GANGTOK, India (AP) — Air force helicopters were able to land Monday to rescue people in India’s Himalayan northeast after a 6-year-old hydroelectric dam cracked open last week in intense rain, flooding a valley with glacial lake water and washing away bridges and homes as thousands fled.Police said rescuers have found 52 bodies so far, and the search was continuing while around a 100 people are still missing. As weather conditions improved in Sikkim state, helicopters arrived in the worst-hit Mangan district to help some 3,000 stranded tourists.The design and placement of the Teesta 3 dam, the biggest hydroelectric dam in Sikkim state, were controversial from the time it was built. A 2019 report identified Lhonak Lake as “highly vulnerable” to flooding that could breach dams and cause extensive damage.It wasn’t clear what triggered the deadly flood that began early Wednesday, the latest to hit northeast India in a year of unusually heavy monsoon rains. Experts say possible co...

Finland submits request to modify recovery and resilience plan to add a REPowerEU chapter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

Finland has submitted a request to the Commission to modify its recovery and resilience plan to add a REPowerEU chapter to it.Finland's proposed REPowerEU chapter would add two new investments, one scaled-up investment and one new reform to the existing plan, thereby further boosting Finland's ambitious target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035. The investments will boost new technologies for renewable energy and hydrogen production, including offshore wind power in Åland, and the related R&D, whereas the new reform aims at streamlining and facilitating investment permit procedures related to renewable energy projects.Finland has requested to transfer part of its share of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR), amounting to €14.2 million, to its recovery and resilience plan. Together with its RRF and REPowerEU grants allocations (€1.8 billion and €113m, respectively), these additional funds make the submitted modified plan worth €1.95bn.The Commission has now up to two months t...

Four-bedroom home sells in San Ramon for $2 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

3033 Oakham Drive – Google Street ViewA spacious house located in the 3000 block of Oakham Drive in San Ramon has new owners. The 2,670-square-foot property, built in 1976, was sold on Sept. 11, 2023. The $1,950,000 purchase price works out to $730 per square foot. This two-story house presents a roomy floor plan, featuring four bedrooms and three baths. In addition, the home includes an attached three-car garage, offering generous space for vehicles and storage requirements.Additional houses have recently been sold nearby:In August 2023, a 1,886-square-foot home on Montevideo Drive in San Ramon sold for $1,550,000, a price per square foot of $822. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 2,750-square-foot home on the 3000 block of Oakham Drive in San Ramon sold in September 2023, for $2,220,000, a price per square foot of $807. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On Salem Court, San Ramon, in November 2022, a 2,391-square-foot home was sold for $1,700,000, a price per square f...

Senior Taliban officials visit villages struck by earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A senior Taliban delegation was visiting western Afghanistan’s Herat province on Monday in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people over the weekend and flattened entire villages, a statement said. Saturday’s magnitude 6.3 quake hit a densely populated area in Herat and was followed by strong aftershocks in what was one of the deadliest temblors to strike the country in two decades. The Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdul Ghani Baradar, and his team will visit the quake-affected region on Monday to deliver “immediate relief assistance” and ensure “equitable and accurate distribution of aid,” according to a statement from the capital, Kabul. The quake also trapped hundreds and people have been digging with their bare hands and shovels to pull victims — both dead and alive — from under the rubble. Authorities said Monday they were still waiting for an update on the latest casualties form Herat.The U.S. ...

This Week in Business: Delta earnings, consumer and producer prices

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

Inflation insightThe Labor Department on Wednesday releases producer price data for September.The producer price index measures inflation at the wholesale level, before businesses pass costs along to consumers. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.7% in August, the biggest increase in more than a year. Economists forecast that growth slowed to 0.3% in September.Producer price index, monthly percent change, seasonally adjusted:March: -0.4April: 0.2May: -0.3June: -0.1July: 0.4Aug.: 0.7Sept. (est.): 0.3Source: FactSetDelta Air LinesDelta reports its third-quarter financial results before the bell on Thursday.Analysts expect the Atlanta-based airline made profit of $1.96 per share on $14.6 billion in sales. In the same period a year ago, Delta earned $1.51 per share on $12.8 billion in sales. Like other airlines, rising fuel costs spurred Delta last month to lower its profit outlook in the quarter to a range between $1.85 and $2.05 per share, down from the previous guidance of $2.20...

High stakes for homeowners facing choice between fixed- or variable-rate mortgage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

OTTAWA — Deciding between a fixed- or variable-rate mortgage has always been a challenging choice for borrowers looking to buy a home or renew a loan, but with interest rates sitting at levels not seen in decades, the stakes are especially high.Variable-rate mortgages fell out of favour as Bank of Canada interest rate hikes sent the cost of loans linked to the big banks’ prime rates soaring, but the cost of fixed-rate mortgages have also climbed from their pandemic lows.Frank Napolitano, co-founder and mortgage agent at Mortgage Brokers Ottawa, said he’s still seeing some borrowers opt for a variable rate, even noting that a recent client who was struggling with a variable-rate mortgage chose to stick with it after consolidating some other debt and extending the amortization period.“He’s decided he’s going to go variable only because he believes that the rates are now probably at the peak and the payment that’s been set up for him at 25 years is s...

Average First Freeze Dates; Potentially impressive rainfall totals later this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:32:31 GMT

There is the potential for some impressive rainfall totals through next Sunday evening.  Both the European and the GFS models forecast totals that top more than 2.5".  The GFS is likely too high, but strange things can happen, and we will have watch out for the potential for flooding if several bands of rain set up shop over the same areas.  Check out the graphic below from the Weather Prediction Center.  You get into the bright red and that's 3" of rain.  We aren't married to any of the numbers from the two computer models, but they show that it could get very wet.Autumnal "Harvest Sunsets"This time of year, we can get some stunning sunsets. The graphic explains why sunsets are reddish. Basically, the light must travel through more of the earth's atmosphere.  Shorter wavelength colors, like blue, are scattered away from our eyes, leaving the longer wavelength colors, like red and orange. Then you get into harvest time, there's an abundant amount of dust the farmers put into the air...