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Jobless applications rise to 199,000

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years. U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending August 1 rose by 1,000 to 199,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 198,000. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market. Last week, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric, PCE, came in at 3.7% for June, ...

Ticker: Meta says AI model hacked another company

Meta on Thursday said that one of its artificial intelligence models accessed the internet on its own and hacked another company, the latest in a series of disclosures about AI models going rogue. In recent weeks OpenAI and Anthropic also have described instances of AI models going beyond humans’ instructions to access the web and find ways around other companies’ digital security. Meta said in a statement that a “misconfiguration” during cybersecurity testing by Irregular, an independent company hired by Meta, inadvertently allowed one of its models to access the internet. US ...

Electronic Arts closes $55B go-private sale

CHICAGO — Video game giant Electronic Arts officially has new owners. The California-based maker of popular titles like “Battlefield” and “The Sims” announced Tuesday that it closed the $55 billion sale of its business to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, investment firm ...

Briefcase: Colonial Courtyard honored

Tyrone Colonial Courtyard at Tyrone earned IntegraCare’s Gold Level Award for its prompt handling of residents’ callbell requests during the second quarter of 2026. When a resident needs assistance, whether it’s for routine help or an emergency, they can push a pendant they carry on them. During the quarter, Colonial Courtyard at Tyrone’s team responded in person to each call in an average of 1 minutes, 7 seconds to attain Gold Level status after previously earning Silver Level in seven consecutive quarters. To reach the Gold Level, an IntegraCare community needs an Average ...

Ticker: US stocks hold near records; oil slips

Stocks held close to their records on Wall Street, while oil prices were relatively steady. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% Wednesday from the all-time high it set a day earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.8%. SpaceX sank after increasing its spending on artificial intelligence. The Walt Disney Co. rose after reporting results that beat analysts’ forecasts, helped by “Toy Story 5.” Rising temperatures could delay more flights American Airlines recently offered compensation to customers who voluntarily gave up their seats after ...

Oil companies continue to post profits with Iran war

NEW YORK — Big oil companies continue to book massive profits as fighting in Iran disrupts energy markets and sends oil and gasoline prices sharply higher. Six of Europe’s largest oil companies posted combined first-quarter profits of $22 billion, more than 40% higher than last year. ...