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Average US long-term mortgage rate dips to 6.01%, lowest level in more than 3 years

Average US long-term mortgage rate dips to 6.01%, lowest level in more than 3 years

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By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate slipped this week to its lowest level in more than three years, but remains around 6% in the same narrow range it has been in this year.

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The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 6.01% from 6.09% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.85%.

The modest pullback brings the average rate to its lowest level since Sept. 8, 2022, when it was 5.89%. That was the last time the average rate was below 6%.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans. read more

Universal selling weeklong ticket deals that include Epic

Universal selling weeklong ticket deals that include Epic

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Universal Orlando has started selling a new weeklong ticket that includes park-to-park access and multiday visits to Epic Universe theme park.

Universal’s official website says buyers can “move freely” between Epic, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure and Volcano Bay water park. There are six-day and seven-day varieties, and the admissions must take place over eight and nine consecutive days, respectively. There’s also an option to exclude Volcano Bay.

The resort is promoting that the weeklong deal is for the “price of a 5-day ticket,” but the total varies day by day, and the lowest price is available only on select dates.  The first valid day of the ticket determines the overall price.

Universal’s site notes that the low end is $73.72 per day for ages 10 and up ($72.29 for ages 3-9).  The site shows that as available on Sept. 14, and that total would be $515.99 — the same as a five-day park-to-park pass starting on that date. But if July 2 is selected as the first day of the weeklong admission, the price is $686.99. read more

Tariffs paid by midsize US companies tripled last year, a JPMorganChase Institute study shows

Tariffs paid by midsize US companies tripled last year, a JPMorganChase Institute study shows

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By JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tariffs paid by midsize U.S. businesses tripled over the course of past year, new research tied to one of America’s leading banks showed on Thursday — more evidence that President Donald Trump ‘s push to charge higher taxes on imports is causing economic disruption.

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The additional taxes have meant that companies that employ a combined 48 million people in the U.S. — the kinds of businesses that Trump had promised to revive — have had to find ways to absorb the new expense, by passing it along to customers in the form of higher prices, employing fewer workers or accepting lower profits. read more

Millions of eligible filers didn’t use Free File

Millions of eligible filers didn’t use Free File

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Filing your income tax return can be, for many, a dreaded annual task. And paying to file unnecessarily can only add insult to injury. Still, many eligible filers fail to take advantage of a free federal tax filing program, potentially overspending on filing fees every year to do something that’s required by law.

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The Free File program — a partnership between the IRS and Free File Alliance — has been around for 23 years, plenty of time for the general public to be aware of its existence. Yet in 2024, the most recent year with available data, only 2% of federal returns were filed through Free File, even though 70% of filers qualified for the service, according to NerdWallet analysis of IRS data. read more

SpaceX launch tonight to feature rare booster landing in Bahamas

SpaceX launch tonight to feature rare booster landing in Bahamas

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It will be business as usual for SpaceX when it tries to send up a rocket from the Space Coast Thursday night, but not so much for when the rocket comes back down.

A Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-36 mission with 29 Starlink satellites is aiming for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:41 p.m. near the end of a four-hour launch window that runs through 9 p.m.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a better than 95% chance for good conditions at the launch site.

This will be the 26th flight of the first-stage booster, which will aim for a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic off the coast of the Bahamas.

It will only be the second booster landing off the island nation coming one year and one day since the first landing.

“There is the possibility that residents of and visitors to the Bahamas may hear one or more sonic booms during the landing, but what may be experienced will depend on weather and other conditions,” the company posted on its website. read more