Things To Do In SW Florida

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just a few weeks ago, the path ahead for the Federal Reserve looked straightforward: With inflation cooling and the job market slowing, the Fed appeared on track to steadily cut interest rates.

In September, its officials predicted that they would reduce their benchmark rate four times next year, on top of three rate cuts this year.

Yet that outlook has swiftly changed. Several surprisingly strong economic reports, combined with President-elect Donald Trump’s policy proposals, have led to a decidedly more cautious tone from the Fed that could mean fewer cuts and higher interest rates than had been expected.

Fewer rate cuts would likely mean continued high mortgage rates and other borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. Auto loans would remain expensive. Small businesses would still face high loan rates.

In a speech last week in Dallas, Chair Jerome Powell made clear that the Fed isn’t necessarily inclined to cut rates each time it meets every six weeks. read more

SpaceX sent up another rocket Thursday to mark the 82nd launch of the year on the Space Coast.

A Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:07 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on the Starlink 6-66 mission carrying 24 of the internet satellites to low-Earth orbit.

Liftoff of Falcon 9! pic.twitter.com/GVfDn0PEAx

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 21, 2024

To date, SpaceX has flown up more than 7,300 Starlink satellites since the first operational mission in 2019, according to statistics maintained by astronomer Jonathan McDowell. Of those, just shy of 6,000 are still in a working orbit.

The first-stage booster is the latest to join the 20-launch club, and made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The record for booster reflight and landing is 23 so far.

SpaceX has flown 77 of the 82 launches from either Cape Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center this year, with United Launch Alliance having flown the other five. The total launches from all providers has already bested the Space Coast’s 2023’s taly by 10 with six weeks to go. read more

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer

U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade.

The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice calls for sweeping punishments that would include a sale of Google’s industry-leading Chrome web browser and impose restrictions to prevent Android from favoring its own search engine.

A sale of Chrome “will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet,” Justice Department lawyers argued in their filing.

Although regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android too, they asserted the judge should make it clear the company could still be required to divest its smartphone operating system if its oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct. read more

PORT CANAVERAL — More ships. Bigger ships. These are the driving forces for what is forecast to be a banner year for the world’s second-busiest cruise port — but finding a home for them is getting more difficult.

“We have ships in some of our terminals five and six days a week,” Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray said at the annual State of the Port address Wednesday. “Every Saturday through the winter season, we’ll have six ships. Every terminal will be full on Saturday.”

Murray highlighted the record numbers the port has seen because cruise lines have parked some of their biggest vessels in the last year there with more to come in 2025.

That includes Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas, the sister ship to Icon of the Seas. It will take over the title of world’s largest cruise ship when it arrives next summer, capable of carrying close to 10,000 people on board including crew and passengers.

Disney Cruise Line arrives to Port Canaveral with newest ship Disney Treasure

The port also recently welcomed Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship Disney Treasure for its North American debut, and will see Norwegian Cruise Line’s new Norwegian Aqua next spring. read more

Aggressive efforts to depopulate state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will leave the company with “well under” 1 million policies by the end of 2024 — the first time in years that the policy count has declined.

Fewer policies means less exposure and lower chances that nearly all of the state’s insurance customers will face assessments if a series of major hurricanes strike the state.

Jeremy Pope, the company’s chief administrative officer, shared the projection with members of the company’s Market Accountability Advisory Committee on Wednesday.

It would mark a steep reduction from the 1.24 million policies reported in September and the first time since 2021 that the company has finished a year with fewer than 1 million policies. The last time that Citizens ended the year with fewer policies than it started was 2018, when the count was reduced from 440,406 policies to 427,397.

The fourth quarter of 2024 “has proven to be a very strong and successful exchange of depopulation activity,” Pope said. read more