Things To Do In SW Florida

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rallied on Friday to close out their dreary February on a brighter note.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.6% to trim its loss for the month, enough to make it the worst only since December instead of since April. It had dropped in five of the prior six days after weaker-than-expected reports on the economy and worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs knocked the index off its all-time high set last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 601 points, or 1.4%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.6%.

Much of the recent damage had focused on the market’s biggest winners of recent years, whose momentum had seemed nearly impossible to stop at times. Stocks that flew in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology slumped sharply, for example. Bitcoin, meanwhile, dropped more than 20% from its record.

Many of those beaten-down areas of the market jumped Friday to recover some of their losses. Nvidia, which has become one of the market’s most influential stocks, rose 4% following its 8.5% tumble Thursday and was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500. Bitcoin bounced back above $84,000 after falling below $79,000 during the morning. read more

By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Egg producers blame the bird flu outbreak for driving prices to record highs, but critics believe giant companies are taking advantage of their market dominance to profit handsomely at the expense of budget-conscious egg buyers.

Advocacy groups, Democratic lawmakers and a Federal Trade Commission member are calling for a government investigation after egg prices spiked to a record average of $4.95 per dozen this month. The Trump administration did unveil a plan this week to combat bird flu, but how much that might ease egg prices — a key driver of inflation — remains to be seen.

“Donald Trump promised to lower food prices on ‘Day One’, but with egg prices skyrocketing out of control, he fired the workers charged with containing bird flu. Working families need relief now,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement.

What’s behind the record egg prices?

The industry, and most experts, squarely blame bird flu. More than 166 million birds have been slaughtered to contain the virus. Some 30 million egg layers have been wiped out just since January, significantly disrupting egg supplies. The Department of Agriculture’s longstanding policy has been to kill entire flocks anytime the virus is found on a farm. read more

LEVEL99, the new interactive gaming venue moving into Disney Springs, is built around mental and physical challenges, unique games, group efforts and artwork, the company’s CEO says.

“We’re not an escape room. We’re not DisneyQuest,” says Matthew DuPlessie, founder and chief executive officer of LEVEL99, which eventually will be in the two-story, 45,000-square-foot area once occupied by the NBA Experience attraction at Walt Disney World.

The format involves groups of two to six people taking on about 60 rooms containing challenges.

“It might be very physical, almost obstacle-course style, work with your friends in a very visceral, hands-on way,” DuPlessie says. “Or it might be a mental game,” such as solving a logic puzzle.

The challenges take between one and four minutes. The rooms may be repeated multiple times or the group can move on to another one.

“It’s a wild variety of challenge where you don’t know what to expect in the next one,” DuPlessie says.

“You might be in a ninja training dojo in one room and then move into a hall of mirrors art installation in a different room and then you’re up in outer space in the next room,” he says. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ongoing tariff threats from Washington and potentially sweeping government job cuts have darkened consumers’ mood and may be weighing on an otherwise mostly healthy economy.

Data released Friday showed that consumers slashed their spending by the most since February 2021, even as their incomes rose. On a positive note, inflation cooled, but President Donald Trump’s threats to impose large import taxes on Canada, Mexico, and China — the United States’ top trading partners — will likely push prices higher, economists say. Some companies are already planning to raise prices in response.

Americans cut their spending by 0.2% in January from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday, likely in part because of unseasonably cold weather. Yet the retreat may be hinting at more caution by consumers amid rising economic uncertainty.

“The roller coaster of news headlines emanating from Washington D.C. is likely going to push businesses to the sidelines for a time and even appears to be impacting consumers,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander, in an email. read more