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By ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The price of bitcoin topped $100,000 again early Friday as a pumped up cryptocurrency industry expects early action by Donald Trump when he’s sworn in as president next week.

Once a skeptic who said a few years ago that bitcoin “ seems like a scam,” Trump has embraced digital currencies with a convert’s zeal. He’s launched a new cryptocurrency venture and vowed on the campaign trail to take steps early in his presidency to make the U.S. into the “crypto capital” of the world.

His promises including creating a U.S. crypto stockpile, enacting industry-friendly regulation and event appointing a crypto “czar” for his administration.

“You’re going to be very happy with me,” Trump told crypto-enthusiasts at a bitcoin conference last summer.

Bitcoin is the world’s most popular cryptocurrency and was created in 2009 as a kind of electronic cash uncontrolled by banks or governments. It and newer forms of cryptocurrencies have moved from the financial fringes to the mainstream in wild fits and starts. read more

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — What’s shaking Wall Street seems so backwards.

Swings in the bond market recently sent the yield on the 10-year Treasury above 4.80% and its highest level since 2023. That’s injected nervousness into the U.S. stock market and knocked indexes off their records.

The bond market’s moves might seem strange given that the Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates three times starting in September. But it’s a reminder that markets care more about the future than the present. And the bond market is worried about potentially higher inflation ahead, along with a U.S. economy that may not need more help from easier interest rates. That’s hurting stock prices.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple is suspending an error-prone feature that used artificial intelligence to deliver bogus news alerts to some iPhone owners.

The decision was disclosed Thursday as part of a test version for the next software release, iOS 18.3. The beta version is only available to a relatively small group of iPhone users and developers, but the same features are usually released in an update available to all users several weeks after the testing begins.

In the beta update, Apple said it is disabling the AI-generated feature for news and entertainment while it tries to fix the issue causing the technology to fabricate information — a problem often described as “hallucinations” within the industry. Similar software updates for Apple’s iPad and Mac computers are also in a testing phase.

Even if it is just temporary, the suspension represents a blow to Apple’s efforts to bring AI to the iPhone and its other products. The push began in earnest last September with the debut of the iPhone 16, which is equipped with the computer chip needed for a technology the Cupertino, California, company calls “Apple Intelligence.” The premium iPhone 15 models from 2023 also contain the AI processor. read more

By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX suspects a fire may have caused its Starship to break apart during liftoff and send trails of flaming debris near the Caribbean.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk said preliminary indications are that leaking fuel built up pressure in the cavity above the engine firewall. The resulting fire would have doomed the spacecraft.

On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered SpaceX to investigate what went wrong. The FAA said there were no reports of injuries from Starship debris.

The 400-foot Starship — the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket — launched from the southern tip of Texas on a test flight early Thursday evening. The booster made it back to the pad for a catch by giant mechanical arms, only the second time in Starship history. But the engines on the still ascending spacecraft shut down one by one, and communication was lost 8 1/2 minutes into the flight.

NEW: INCREDIBLE views of Starship 7 breaking up over Turks and Caicos tonight read more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Capital One is continuing to experience a disruption to its service on Friday, with some customers frustrated that they are unable to see their deposits.

As of 8:04 a.m. Eastern, there were nearly 3,400 reports of outages, according to Downdetector. That’s up from around 2,100 reports early Thursday. Most of the complaints appeared to be coming from the eastern half of the U.S., but there are reports of problems as far west as Arizona and California.

The company said that 90% of the problems reported by customers related to deposits. Account balances made up 7% of reported problems, while online login comprised 3%.

Capital One said in a statement that the disruption, which has impacted the processing of some deposits, payments and transfers, began on Wednesday and is due to a technical issue with one of its service providers.

The company apologized for the inconvenience of the outage and said that it was working closely with the provider to resolve the matter. Capital One added that once systems are restored, it would process all deposits and other transactions that have been delayed. read more