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By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate edged up for the second week in a row, but remains just above its lowest level in more than three years.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.1% from 6.09% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.95%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week. That average rate inched up to 5.49% from 5.44% last week. A year ago, it was at 6.12%, Freddie Mac said.

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.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.24% at midday Thursday, just below where it was a week ago.

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The first holiday season of Epic Universe helped propel fourth-quarter theme-park revenue of Comcast, the company reported Thursday.

Revenue for October-December 2025 was $2.89 billion, an increase of 21.9% over the same period of 2024.  The numbers helped bring the Content & Experiences segment — including the company’s film studios and media businesses — up 21.9%.

“We’re really pleased with what we’re seeing from Epic, which continues to drive higher per-cap spending and attendance across the entirety of the resort while we are not yet operating at full run-rate capacity,” said Jason Armstrong, chief financial officer, in a conference call with market analysts after the earnings report was released. The theme park debuted in May.

“We have made meaningful progress expanding ride throughput, and we remain focused on scaling further over the next several quarters with higher attendance, stronger per-caps and additional operating leverage over time,” he said.

New Universal Studios coaster will be Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift read more

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst day for Microsoft in years is pulling the U.S. stock market away from its record heights on Thursday. Gold’s price, meanwhile, keeps ripping to more records in its astounding run as investors look for safer places to park their money.

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The S&P 500 sank 1% after flirting earlier in the morning with its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 174 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.8% lower.

Microsoft was the heaviest weight on the market by far, and it sank 11.5% even though the tech giant reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors honed in instead on how much Microsoft is spending on investments, whether growth in its Azure cloud business will slow and how long its push into artificial-intelligence will take to turn into big profits. read more

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.

January offers a fresh start for our finances — but it begins with a look back.

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Before setting goals or intentions for the new year, step back to reflect on what went right (and wrong) in 2025, suggests D’Andre Clayton, co-founder of Clayton Financial Solutions in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“Take out your credit card and bank statements, and really take a look at them,” he says. read more

By MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. applications for unemployment benefits inched down modestly last week, remaining at historically healthy levels despite recent high-profile layoff announcements.

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Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 24 fell by 1,000 to 209,000 from the previous week’s number which was revised upward by 10,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting 205,000 new applications.

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