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By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer sentiment increased in June for the first time in six months, the latest sign that Americans’ views of the economy have improved as inflation has stayed tame and the Trump administration has reached a truce in its trade fight with China.

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The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s closely watched consumer sentiment index, released Friday, jumped 16% from 52.2 to 60.5. The large increase followed steady drops that left the preliminary number last month at the second-lowest level in the nearly 75-year history of the survey. Consumer sentiment is still down 20% compared with December 2024. read more

By STAN CHOE, DAVID McHUGH and JIANG JUNZHE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices leaped, and stocks slumped Friday on worries that escalating violence following Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets could damage the flow of crude around the world, along with the global economy.

The S&P 500 sank 1.1% and wiped out what had been a modest gain for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 769 points, or 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.3%.

The strongest action was in the oil market, where the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 7.3% to $72.98. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 7% to $74.23 for a barrel.

Iran is one of the world’s major producers of oil, though sanctions by Western countries have limited its sales. If a wider war erupts, it could slow the flow of Iran’s oil to its customers and keep the price of crude and gasoline higher for everyone worldwide.

Beyond the oil coming from Iran, analysts also pointed to the potential for disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a relatively narrow waterway off Iran’s coast. Much of the world’s oil that’s been pulled from the ground moves through it on ships. read more

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI, KEN SWEET and JILL COLVIN

NEW YORK (AP) — A senior adviser to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign is joining Coinbase’s global advisory council, which already includes several former U.S. senators and President Donald Trump’s ex-campaign manager, as the cryptocurrency exchange broadens its political reach.

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David Plouffe, a top Democratic strategist best known as an architect of Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign, is the latest addition to the council, joining as the cryptocurrency industry plays an increasingly prominent role in shaping fast-moving legislation in Congress. read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Popular online services across the globe were disrupted Thursday due to ongoing issues at Google Cloud.

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  People on the move

Tens of thousands of users of Spotify, Discord and other platforms began noticing issues with their services early in the afternoon, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages.

Outage reports for music streamer Spotify in particular, peaked around 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time before dropping off, and some users began saying their access was restored.

Google’s Cloud status page said an incident with their systems affected clients in the U.S. and abroad. The company also posted that services are starting to recover after its engineers identified and began to mitigate the issue. read more

Investors’ condo purchasing has dropped to one of its lowest levels in the past 10 years — in a shift driven largely by their retreat from Florida, a new study shows.

The analysis, conducted by real estate brokerage firm Redfin, examined county-level home purchase records across 39 of the most populous U.S. metropolitan areas dating to 2000. Investors bought about 8,500 condos in the first quarter this year, down 3% year over year to the lowest level in 10 years. That is, with the exception of the second quarter of 2020, when “the start of the pandemic nearly ground the housing market to a halt,” Redfin said.

Contributing to the decrease has been Florida’s surging association fees and rising insurance costs “amid the increase in climate-driven natural disasters,” according to Redin. “Additionally, many of Florida’s condo buildings are oceanfront, making them particularly vulnerable to climate disasters.”

‘A safer bet for investors’

While condo purchases have dropped 3%, other purchases have been holding steady: Investors’ purchases of U.S. homes increased 2% year over year in the first quarter. read more