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By Karen Bennett, Bankrate.com

Saving money in the current economic environment likely feels overwhelming. And the data supports how much of a struggle it is — only 46% of U.S. adults have enough emergency savings to cover three months of expenses, according to Bankrate’s Emergency Savings Report. With 24% having no emergency savings at all, finding ways to cut expenses and build savings has become essential for financial security.

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The challenge isn’t just about earning more — it’s also about saving smarter. Even small changes to your spending habits can add up to significant savings over time. Whether you’re building your first emergency fund or trying to reach a specific savings goal, these proven strategies can help you keep more money in your pocket. read more

By MATT O’BRIEN, AP Technology Writer

Anthropic’s moral stand on U.S. military use of artificial intelligence is reshaping the competition between leading AI companies but also exposing a growing awareness that maybe chatbots just aren’t capable enough for acts of war.

Anthropic’s chatbot Claude, for the first time, outpaced rival ChatGPT in phone app downloads in the United States this week, a signal of growing interest from consumers siding with Anthropic in its standoff with the Pentagon, according to market research firm Sensor Tower.

The Trump administration on Friday ordered government agencies to stop using Claude and designated it a supply chain risk after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to bend his company’s ethical safeguards preventing the technology from being applied to autonomous weapons and domestic mass surveillance. Anthropic has said it will challenge the Pentagon in court once it receives formal notice of the penalties.

And while many military and human rights experts have applauded Amodei for standing up for ethical principles, some are also frustrated by years of AI industry marketing that persuaded the government to apply the technology to high-stakes tasks. read more

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Justice Department lawyer told jurors at a civil antitrust trial Tuesday that the concert industry is broken because Ticketmaster and its parent Live Nation Entertainment have monopolized the market, driving up prices for consumers, but the companies say the government’s wrong.

David Dahlquist, an attorney with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said in his opening statement that the United States and 39 states are counting on the Manhattan federal jury to end the monopoly and reward artists and consumers with a competitive marketplace that will leave them with more money.

“This case is about power, the power of a monopolist to control competition,” he said. “Today, the concert ticket industry is broken.”

David Marriott, arguing on behalf of the companies, disputed the government’s claims.

“We’ll let the numbers do the talking,” he said. “We do not have monopoly power.”

Judge Arun Subramanian has told jurors that evidence will be presented over the next six weeks before they’ll be left to decide whether Live Nation and Ticketmaster broke antitrust laws. read more

By KELVIN CHAN, AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Damage to three Amazon Web Services facilities in the Middle East from Iranian drone strikes highlights the rapid growth of data centers in the region, as well as the industry’s vulnerability to conflict.

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The company’s cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, said late Monday that two data centers in the United Arab Emirates were “directly struck” and another facility in Bahrain was also damaged after a drone landed nearby.

“These strikes have caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage,” AWS said in an update on its online dashboard. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil prices jumped Tuesday for the second straight day and gas prices moved higher in the United States, underscoring the threat of rising inflation posed by the Iran war.

Coming after nearly five years of elevated costs, even a modest pickup in prices could further sour many Americans on the economy and heighten the affordability concerns that have become a top political issue.

On Tuesday, U.S. oil prices rose more than 5% to $75.22 a barrel in afternoon trading. Gas prices jumped 11 cents to $3.11 a gallon on average nationwide, according to AAA.

A key issue, economists say, is how long the conflict lasts and whether shipping routes, such as the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is closed. About one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped through the Strait. Even a war of a few weeks might not push up inflation or weaken the economy very long. But should it last for a few months, inflation would likely worsen — perhaps topping 3% for the first time since early 2024. read more