Things To Do In SW Florida

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. climbed this week to its highest level since mid-February, a setback for home shoppers that threatens to slow sales further this spring homebuying season.

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The rate increased to 6.86% from 6.81% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.94%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose. The average rate ticked up to 6.01% from 5.92% last week. It’s down from 6.24% a year ago, Freddie Mac said. read more

The theme park capital of the world just got bigger as Epic Universe officially opened to the public at Universal Orlando early today.

Its first visitors passed through the entrance at 6:30 a.m. — some eager customers had circled the area since 2 a.m.

Eventually, there was a boisterous group countdown, followed by cheers, tears, cosplay and livestreaming. Initial Epic-goers went into speed-walking mode before literally skipping through the park’s signature Chronos portal into Orlando’s eighth theme park.

Within 30 minutes, all visitors who had queued up early had ventured into the park.

“It was fun coming in because they had all the team members lining either side of the Chronos [entrance] clapping and welcoming everybody,” said Molly McCormack of Orlando, who arrived in the Epic parking lot at 7:30 a.m.

“We walked straight through security, straight through to Chronos,” said McCormack, co-owner of Mammoth Club, a content company that specializes in theme parks and travel.

“There’s excitement in the air. Just now in the bar, people are toasting and cheers at each other,” she said. read more

By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Business Writer

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in April, as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged prospective homebuyers during what’s traditionally the busiest time of the year for the housing market.

Existing home sales dropped 0.5% last month, from March, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The sales decline marks the slowest sales pace for the month of April going back to 2009 in the wake of the U.S. housing crisis. March’s sales pace was also the slowest for that month going back to 2009.

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By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans filing unemployment claims last week fell slightly as businesses continue to retain employees despite growing economic uncertainty over U.S. trade policy.

Applications for jobless benefits fell by 2,000 to 227,000 for the week ending May 17, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s pretty close to the 230,000 new applications analysts forecast.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are seen as representative of U.S. layoffs and have mostly bounced around a historically healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 since COVID-19 ravaged the economy and wiped out millions of jobs five years ago.

Even though President Donald Trump has paused or dialed down many of his tariff threats, concerns remain about a global economic slowdown that could upend the U.S. labor market, which has been a pillar of the American economy for years.

The U.S. and China last week agreed to a 90-day pause in their trade war, giving financial markets a boost and at least temporarily relieving some of the anxiety over the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy. read more

By DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks drifted to a mixed close on Wall Street Thursday in what has been a rocky week so far because of worries coming out of the bond market about the U.S. government’s mounting debt.

Trading remained choppy throughout most of the day following Wednesday’s big slump for the S&P 500. That loss has put the benchmark index on track for its worst week in the last seven.

The S&P 500 slipped 2.60 points, or less than 0.1%, to close at 5,842.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.35 points, or less than 0.1%, to 41,859.09. The Nasdaq composite rose 53.09 points, or 0.3% to 18,925.73.

Technology stocks did most of the heavy lifting for the broader market. The majority of stocks within the S&P 500 lost ground, but gains for technology companies with outsized values offset those losses. Google’s parent Alphabet jumped 1.4% and Nvidia rose 0.8%.

The choppy trading this week and sharp decline for stocks on Wednesday follows several weeks of mostly gains that have brought the S&P 500 back within 5% of its all-time high. read more