Things To Do In SW Florida

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage ended a three-week streak of increases, reflecting a pullback in long-term U.S. Treasury bond yields.

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The average long-term mortgage rate fell to 6.23% from 6.26% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Wednesday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.81%.

Just four weeks ago, the average rate was at 6.17%, its lowest level in more than a year.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week. The rate averaged 5.51%, down from 5.54% last week. A year ago, it was 6.10%, Freddie Mac said. read more

By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — With Thanksgiving and the formal launch of the holiday shopping season this week, Americans will again gather for Turkey Day meals before knocking off items on their Christmas gift lists.

Most big U.S. retailers are closed on Thanksgiving Day. However, many will open early the following day, Black Friday, the unofficial start of the holiday gift-buying season and the biggest shopping day of the year.

Here’s what is open and closed this Thanksgiving, along with a travel forecast from the experts at AAA auto club.

Government Buildings

Government offices, post offices, courts and schools are closed.

Banks and the stock market

U.S. stock markets and banks are closed Thursday; however, markets reopen on Friday for a shortened trading day, wrapping up at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Package Delivery

Standard FedEx and UPS pickup and delivery services will not be available on Thanksgiving, although some critical services will be offered at certain locations.

Retailers

Walmart will be closed on Thanksgiving but most stores will open at 6 a.m. local time on Black Friday. read more

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

U.S. stocks closed broadly higher Wednesday, extending Wall Street’s recent winning streak to a fourth straight day.

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The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% and the Nasdaq composite added 0.8%.

Solid gains for technology companies led the rally, although the gains were widespread, with most of the sectors in the benchmark S&P 500 index finishing higher. Gainers also outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

U.S. markets have a shortened trading week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, closing on Thursday and opening for shorter hours on Friday. read more

A federal judge ruled that OpenAI needs to turn over all its internal communications with lawyers about why it deleted two massive troves of pirated books from a notorious “shadow library” that the tech company is accused of using to train ChatGPT.

Manhattan Federal Court Magistrate Judge Ona Wang ruled Monday that the tech giant’s shifting reasons for deleting the data tanked any argument that those reasons could be protected by attorney-client privilege.

“OpenAI continues to assert that it did not willfully infringe Class Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works. A jury is entitled to know the basis for OpenAI’s purported good faith,” Wang wrote in her 28-page decision. “What matters is that OpenAI has put its state of mind at issue, and OpenAI may not selectively use attorney-client privilege to restrict Class Plaintiffs’ inquiry into evidence concerning OpenAI’s purported good faith in this way.”

The judge is overseeing a massive consolidated class-action lawsuit against Microsoft and  OpenAI, which includes the Daily News, affiliated newspapers at Tribune Publishing and MediaNews Group and other news outlets that are accusing the technology giant of copyright infringement. read more

By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is increasing the size of home loans that the government can guarantee against default as it takes into account rising housing prices.

Beginning next year, mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be able to acquire loans of up to $832,750 on single-family homes in most of the country, the agency said Tuesday.

The new conforming loan limit is a 3.3% increase from its 2025 level.

FHFA oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy home loans from banks and other lenders, guaranteeing them against default. The loans are then bundled into securities sold to investors.

But FHFA sets limits to the size of the loans that Fannie and Freddie can buy. Such loans are known as conforming loans, while mortgages above the conforming loan limit are known as jumbo loans.

FHFA adjusts the limits of a confirming loan annually to reflect changes in U.S. home values, which have been rising this year, albeit more slowly.

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