Things To Do In SW Florida

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are tumbling Monday as worries about President Donald Trump’s trade war and his criticism of the Federal Reserve cause investors to pull further from the United States.

The S&P 500 was 3.1% lower in another wipeout, and the index at the center of many 401(k) accounts is more than 16% below its record set two months ago.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,138 points, or 2.9%, as of 1:21 p.m. Eastern time. Tesla and other Big Tech stocks had some of the sharpest losses, which dragged the Nasdaq composite down a market-leading 3.4%.

Perhaps more worryingly, the value of the U.S. dollar also sank as a retreat continues from U.S. markets. It’s an unusual move because the dollar has historically strengthened during past episodes of nervousness. But this time around, it’s policies directly from Washington that are causing the fear and potentially weakening the dollar’s reputation as a pillar of the global economy. read more

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As Big Tech kicks off its quarterly earnings season this week, the industry’s bellwether companies have been thrust into a cauldron of uncertainty and turmoil that they didn’t anticipate when Donald Trump re-entered the White House nearly 100 days ago.

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Since President Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, Big Tech stocks have been on a see-sawing ride that has eviscerated trillions of dollars in shareholder wealth amid an onslaught of tariffs and other potentially detrimental actions. read more

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, Associated Press Technology Writer

Instagram is beginning to test the use of artificial intelligence to determine if kids are lying about their ages on the app, parent company Meta Platforms said on Monday.

Meta has been using AI to determine people’s ages for some time, the company said, but photo and video-sharing app will now “proactively” look for teen accounts it suspects belong to teenagers even if they entered an inaccurate birthdate when they signed up.

If it is determined that a user is misrepresenting their age, the account will automatically become a teen account, which has more restrictions than an adult account. Teen accounts are private by default. Private messages are restricted so teens can only receive them from people they follow or are already connected to. “Sensitive content,” such as videos of people fighting or those promoting cosmetic procedures, will be limited, Meta said. Teens will also get notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes and a “sleep mode” will be enabled that turns off notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. read more

An early Monday morning launch was the first of two on the Space Coast with planned booster landings that could bring sonic booms to Central Florida.

First up was a Falcon 9 on the CRS-32 resupply mission to the International Space Station that launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 4:15 a.m.

The first-stage booster made its third flight with a recovery landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1.

CRS-32 sent a cargo Dragon spacecraft with about 6,700 pounds of supplies to the ISS. That includes a demonstration of refined maneuvers for free-floating robots, an enhanced air quality monitoring system that could be used for missions to the moon and Mars, and two atomic clocks. This is the fifth flight of the Dragon spacecraft. It will dock with the ISS after a 28-hour flight targeting 8:20 a.m. Tuesday. It won’t undock until May.

Next up for launches will be a Falcon 9 on the rideshare mission for multiple customers Bandwagon-3, set to lift off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:48 p.m. with a backup on April 22 at 8:26 p.m. read more

By Jennifer Bradley Franklin, Bankrate.com

In broad terms, mortgage acceleration or an accelerator loan is any program that “helps homeowners pay off their mortgage balances much earlier, resulting in significant interest savings over the life of the loan and reducing the payment duration by several years,” says Robert Bullara, owner of Fine Realty International in Austin, Texas.

“With mortgage accelerator programs, you pay a little extra each month toward your mortgage’s principal,” says Bullara.

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Keep in mind: A mortgage acceleration program isn’t the same as an acceleration clause in your loan contract — more on that below. read more