Things To Do In SW Florida

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese automakers Nissan Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. confirmed Wednesday that they are discussing closer collaboration but denied reports they have decided on a merger.

Nissan’s share price soared nearly 24% in Tokyo after reports citing unnamed sources said it might merge with Honda to form the world’s third-largest automaking group. Honda’s share price fell as much as 3%. Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is also part of the talks.

Trading in Nissan’s shares was suspended but then resumed after the companies jointly issued a statement saying they were “considering various possibilities for future collaboration, but no decisions have been made.”

An industry shakeup

The ascent of Chinese automakers is rattling the industry at a time when manufacturers are struggling to shift from fossil fuel-driven vehicles to electrics. Relatively inexpensive EVs from China’s BYD, Great Wall and Nio are eating into the market shares of U.S. and Japanese car companies in China and elsewhere. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday by a quarter-point — its third cut this year — but also signaled that it expects to reduce rates more slowly next year than it previously envisioned, largely because of still-elevated inflation.

The Fed’s 19 policymakers projected that they will cut their benchmark rate by a quarter-point just twice in 2025, down from their estimate in September of four rate cuts. Their new projections suggest that consumers may not enjoy much lower rates next year for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and other forms of borrowing.

Fed officials have underscored that they are slowing their rate reductions as their benchmark rate nears a level that policymakers refer to as “neutral” — the level that is thought to neither spur nor hinder the economy. Wednesday’s projections suggest that the policymakers may think they are not very far from that level. Their benchmark rate stands at 4.3% after Wednesday’s move, which followed a steep half-point reduction in September and a quarter-point cut last month. read more

Maffrey’s, says co-owner Jeff Starks, is dedicated to “good” goods.

Items from small American companies. Women- and minority-owned. Eco-friendly businesses. Socially-conscious businesses. Businesses that give back to their communities in some way. Businesses that make handcrafted products.

And just about everything you’ll find on the shelves in this small, but superabundantly inventoried boutique, boasts one or more of these traits. Most have great origin stories, too.

But some, like the small animal-shaped nightlights Stark put on the counter just last week, just belong there.

“You push the back of its head and the light comes on,” he says. “It’s a silly little item. Made in China. It has zero of our values but I bought 24 of them last week and now I have six left.”

There are some things, he says, that just make you smile.

“That, too, is a ‘good’ good. And sometimes, that’s enough.”

Starks and his husband, Matt Engel, not only opened Maffrey’s (a combination of their names, Matt and Jeffrey) during the pandemic. They expanded. Why? Because of alcohol. read more

Because SpaceX’s next crew rotation mission to the International Space Station will use a new Dragon spacecraft that won’t be ready by a previously planned February launch date, NASA announced Tuesday that it has opted to delay the launch now until no earlier than late March.

What that means is an even longer stay for the two NASA astronauts who flew up last June to the ISS aboard Boeing’s beleaguered Starliner spacecraft. They launched on the first crewed mission of Starliner on June 5 from Cape Canaveral atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V arriving to the ISS on day later for what was supposed to be as short as an eight-day stay.

Because of concerns with Starliner’s thrusters and helium leaks on its propulsion module, NASA elected to play it safe and keep Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board the ISS while sending Starliner home without a crew.

Their ride home is now set to be aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom, which flew up to the ISS and docked in September, but with only two crew on board instead of the normal four so that Williams and Wilmore would have a ride home. read more