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The price of bitcoin continued its monthslong slide Thursday, falling another 11% to $67,000, its lowest level in 15 months.

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The original cryptocurrency, pitched as “digital gold,” has lost 46% of its value since Oct. 6, when it hit a record high of $126,210.50, according to crypto trading platform Coinbase. As of 10:30 a.m. EST Thursday, its price had dipped to $67,245.

After the election of President Donald Trump in November of 2024, Bitcoin prices chugged higher for the better part of a year, in part due to investors’ expectations of a more crypto-friendly administration in Washington. read more

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate barely budged this week, staying close to 6% as the spring home-buying season nears.

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The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate edged up to 6.11%, essentially flat compared to last week when it was 6.1%, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.89%.

This is the latest increase since the average rate eased three weeks ago to 6.06%, its lowest level in more than three years.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also ticked up this week. That average rate inched up to 5.5% from 5.49% last week. A year ago, it was at 6.05%, Freddie Mac said. read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Sharp drops for big technology companies are yanking the U.S. stock market lower on Thursday, while prices for bitcoin, silver and gold weaken. Yields are also sinking in the bond market following discouraging news on the U.S. job market.

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The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and is heading toward its sixth loss in the seven days since it set an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 338 points, or 0.7%, as of 1:04 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.

Alphabet was one of the heaviest weights on the market and dropped 2.7%, even though the parent company of Google, YouTube and other businesses reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on how much Alphabet is spending on artificial-intelligence technology and questioned whether it will all prove worth it. read more

By Kimberly Palmer, NerdWallet

A Redditor recently asked how to recover after their parents did a number on their credit score.

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The original poster shared that while on break from college, they discovered a letter from a collection agency addressed to them. It referenced an unfamiliar unpaid account.

They soon learned their parents had taken out multiple credit cards in their name without permission to help cover household expenses. Their parents had allegedly charged thousands of dollars in debt, left it unpaid, and now the collections agencies were calling. read more

By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week but remains in the same historically low range of the past few years.

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Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 31 rose by 22,000 to 231,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s significantly more than the 211,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast.

Applications for unemployment benefits are seen as representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. read more