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Wall Street bets on better days ahead for US homebuilders

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Homebuilder stocks are on a tear as investors bet that a dearth of previously occupied homes on the market and moderating mortgage rates will boost builders’ prospects in the spring homebuying season. KB Home, PulteGroup and Tri Pointe Homes are among more than a dozen U.S. homebuilders whose stock price is up by more than 20% this year. One prominent exchange traded fund, the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF, is up nearly 10%. Meanwhile, the benchmark S&P 500 index is up about 7%.“We think homebuilding stocks may be looking ahead, perhaps crossing the valley from recession to potential recovery in (the second half of) 2023,” CFRA analyst Kenneth Leon wrote in a recent research note.Builders are coming off a lousy 2022 as mortgage rates skyrocketed to a two-decade high, sidelining many would-be homebuyers. The surge in borrowing costs after years of soaring home prices pulled the housing market into a deep slump. Sales of new U.S. homes fell about 17% last ...

Looking for last-minute Rockies home opener tickets? Here's how much it'll cost

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Are you considering heading downtown and attending the Colorado Rockies 2023 home opener but don't have tickets? Well, you are in luck, tickets are still available but they will cost you a pretty penny. The Rox kick off baseball season in the Mile High City against the Washington Nationals at 2:10 p.m. Thursday. Considering it is April in Colorado, the weather for the game will be chilly but mild. The Pinpoint Weather team is forecasting sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s.If you are ready to celebrate the return of America's favorite pastime, Ticketmaster still has tickets available, but they might be more than you're expecting. Everything you need to know for the Rockies home opener As of 7 a.m. Thursday, tickets behind home plate in sections 135 through 125 will cost you between $160-$200 each. If you want to be a little closer to the concessions like the rooftop bar, tickets are going for $90 in section 208. Now, if you want the cheapest seats available, T...

Changes on the Way Starting this Weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Enjoy the sunshine and warm weather while you can the rest of this work week because changes to our weather pattern arrive this weekend and especially next week as a front stalls near South Florida while meeting with deeper moisture levels and as weak storm systems ride these fronts.This Thursday, we’ll continue to see the sunshine along with fair weather clouds and some filtered sunshine due to upper clouds streaming in overhead. High temperatures will remain consistent and a few degrees above average, reaching the mid 80s at most locations. It will also stay breezy with sustained winds generally up to 10-20 mph out of the east.Friday will also be another nice day, featuring mostly sunny skies, a slightly lighter breeze and high temperatures once again into the mid 80s following wake-up temperatures quite warm and well above normal into the mid to upper 70s.Now by the weekend rain chances will begin to increase from the low, 10% chance that remains on Thursday and Friday. Exp...

Ukraine gives Russia two options: Leave Crimea peacefully or be ready for battle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

KYIV — Ukraine has not changed its plans for the return of territory occupied by Russia, including Crimea.“Ukraine will choose the way to bring Crimea back, using political and military means,” Tamila Tasheva, the Ukrainian president’s envoy on Crimea, told POLITICO.“To minimize Ukrainian military losses, minimize threats to civilians who live in occupied territories, as well as the destruction of civilian infrastructure, Ukraine plans to give Russia a choice on how to leave Crimea. If they don’t agree to leave voluntarily, Ukraine will continue to liberate its land by military means,” Tasheva added.Her comments come after Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of the president’s office, gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he said Ukraine might be ready to discuss the future of Crimea with Moscow if Kyiv succeeds in achieving its strategic goals on the battlefield.“We are ready to open [a] diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” Sybiha said in the ...

Bizarre Wars: German army goes full Darth Vader at space command launch

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

BERLIN — Well thought out, this was not.Germany’s army has embraced the dark side with the launch of its military space command, featuring characters straight out of the evil Galactic Empire seen in the iconic Star Wars film series.Rather than swashbuckling Jedi knights wielding plastic lightsabers, the German army this week opened its new space command headquarters with military top brass surrounded by Darth Vader and a cast of cosplay stormtroopers. The Star Wars franchise partly based its evil, authoritarian Galactic Empire, presided over by Darth Vader, on aspects of the ideology underpinning the Nazi party in 1930s and 40s Germany.The €40 million space command building — which does not resemble the spherical Death Star of the films — includes 122 offices, with two rooms allowing constant space surveillance monitoring systems and a backup power and air conditioning unit, the German army said.The command will share the drab office complex with Germany’s aerospace resea...

Lithuanian president calls joining the Communist Party a youthful error

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said late Wednesday his decision to join the Communist Party in 1988, shortly before the country became independent, was a “mistake of [his] youth.”“Immediately after my studies, I faced the temptation to join the [Communist] Party in the name of greater opportunities to pursue a career as a scientist,” Nausėda said in a statement, according to Baltic newswire BNS, describing himself as “an ambitious and stupidly stubborn young man.”“I dedicated myself to the life of a scientist-economist and tried to erase the mistake of my youth with my later life, my professional activities and my service to the Lithuanian state,” the president added.Although Nausėda did not say when or if he had eventually canceled his membership, he claimed to have had a “short and gray career” in the party and said on Thursday: “I was a bad member and I think that at some stage I could have been expelled for ...

EU cancels entrance exam after switch to online testing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

For the first time ever, the EU’s hiring agency canceled a recruitment examination that took place late last year due to technical problems related to being conducted online.The move came after the agency recently announced plans to permanently replace in-person exams with virtual testing.After almost 200 candidates reported problems with the remote testing system in the last round, the bloc’s European Personnel Selection Office, or EPSO, last week canceled the results and postponed the test to an unspecified date in the “near future.”The personnel office cited “technical dysfunctions and data protection concerns’’ as the main reasons for canceling the online entry exam, which was held on November 25.The shift to remote proctoring had been met by strong resistance from candidates, who complained that the U.S.-based testing contractor Prometric was problematic, as reported by POLITICO in February. EPSO, for its part, argued that the shift would make the process more eco-friendly and ...

Poll: Mass. Voters Want Tax Relief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

A sizable majority of Massachusetts voters would prefer for Beacon Hill to deploy its budget surplus toward reducing taxes rather than increasing overall spending, according to a new poll.Three-quarters of the voters surveyed by polling and political advocacy firm Priorities for Progress picked tax cuts as their preferred use of excess tax revenues, while 25 percent said they would rather see the money go toward expanding state programs.The results of the poll, shared with the News Service, indicate sizable support for tax relief as the House prepares to roll out and debate its response to Gov. Maura Healey’s nearly $1 billion tax relief and reform proposal.Overall, pollsters found overwhelming support for Healey’s proposal, which would create a new $600-per-dependent tax credit for parents and caregivers, expand breaks for renters and seniors, triple the estate tax threshold to $3 million and slash the short-term capital gains tax rate from 12 percent to 5 per...

Cat jumps on imam during Ramadan prayers at Algerian mosque

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

A cat interrupted Ramadan services at a mosque in Algeria when it jumped on top of an imam leading a prayer.The imam kept his cool and continued with the prayer unbothered. The animal wandered through the mosque as people cited the verses.

3 Tennessee Democrats face removal from office in Thursday vote after gun control protest on state House floor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

(CNN) — The Tennessee House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on removing from office three Democratic lawmakers who protested on the chamber floor with a bullhorn to call for gun reform following last month’s school shooting in Nashville — and now are accused of breaking House rules.Three resolutions filed by GOP lawmakers Monday seek to expel Reps. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville, Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, each of whom has already been removed from their committee assignments following last week’s demonstrations.The three lawmakers led a protest on the House floor last Thursday, CNN affiliate WSMV reported, using a bullhorn as demonstrators at the state Capitol called on lawmakers to take action to prevent further gun violence after three 9-year-olds and three adults were killed in a mass shooting on March 27 at The Covenant School, a private Christian school.“It’s morally insane...