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Oil prices jump following Iran attacks

NEW YORK — Oil prices jumped Monday following a weekend of attacks in the Middle East, while more losses for computer chip companies and other winners of the artificial-intelligence boom dragged stock markets lower. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 9.6% to $83.30 after the United States and Iran each said the Strait of Hormuz is under its control. Fighting in the region has kept oil tankers from using the strait to deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, which drives up fuel prices worldwide. The gains for oil prices accelerated ...

Ticker: Large AI buildout poses latest inflation threat

American consumers — and the Federal Reserve — are being hit with another high-cost headache. The gusher of investment in data centers — likely topping $700 billion this year — to power artificial intelligence has made memory chips, computer processors, and other equipment, as well as electricity more expensive, and economists expect it will continue to push up inflation at least through the end of this year. While it won’t be as large a spike as occurred in 2021-2023, when inflation peaked at 9.1%, massive AI spending is likely to keep prices rising more quickly than the ...

Workplace

New hires and promotions Diana L. McClure has been promoted by Keller Engineers, Inc. to the level of Associate. McClure serves as Director of the Business Development Division where she oversees the firm’s marketing, project proposals, client services, outreach initiatives, and the Business Development team. Drawing on her experience with government policy and planning, economic development, grant programs, proposals, and government contracting, she serves on the company’s leadership team which supports the firm’s growth and cultivates client relationships. She joined Keller ...

LIRA report: Home remodeling decline projected

Annual spending on improvements and maintenance to owner-occupied homes is projected to slow sharply in early 2027, according to the latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity from the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The new LIRA shows year-over-year growth in home renovation and repair spending of just 0.5 percent by the first quarter of 2027 — a pace that remains positive in nominal terms but is less than overall inflation. “Growth in remodeling permits and retail spending on building products has been flat recently, ...

Kia issues Telluride SUV recall

NEW YORK — Kia America has issued a new recall for nearly 463,000 of its Telluride SUVs, urging owners to again park their vehicles outside and away from buildings after several customers reported fires following previous repairs. The recall, announced this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, replaces a prior one Kia initiated in 2024. Certain Tellurides from the 2020-2024 model years are affected, with the NHTSA warning that the front power seat motor of these vehicles may overheat due to a stuck slide knob. That could result in a fire while the car is parked ...

Prices of existing US homes hit all-time high

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in June, but a key measure of home prices climbed to an all-time high, adding to affordability challenges for prospective homebuyers. Existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Sales rose 2.8% compared with June last year. The latest sales tally fell short of the roughly 4.21 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Home sales have been mostly hovering close to a 4-million annual pace going back to ...