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US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war - BBC

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Maria Popescu
ShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleArchie MitchellBusiness reporterGetty ImagesUS prices rose in April at their fastest rate since May 2023 as the impact of the war in Iran was increasingly felt by consumers. A jump in the cost of gasoline and groceries pushed the consumer price index (CPI), showing the rate prices rose by in the past 12 months, to 3.8%. It is the highest level since inflation hit 4% three years ago. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said almost half of the rise was driven by surging energy costs, while housing and food costs also contributed. The US-Israel war in Iran, and the resulting effective closure of the key Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, has led to a jump in oil prices and this has caused a surge in the price of gas in the US. The national average price for a gallon of unleaded is at its highest level since July 2022, at $4.50 (£3.33), according to data from the AAA motoring group. Trump: "I don't think about Americans' financial situation"The rise in April's inflation figure, from 3.3% in March, makes it increasingly unlikely the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year. Isaac Stell, investment manager at the Wealth Club, said the inflation increase even left possible interest rate hikes "firmly on the table". It comes days before US President Donald Trump's appointee Kevin Warsh is set to take over from Jerome Powell as chair of the US central bank. Stell said the incoming chair would enter the role with "little room for manoeuvre" and may be forced to take a more conservative approach. Trump had clashed with Powell over his reluctance to cut the central bank's interest rate, which the president hoped would spur on the US economy, and has made it clear he expects Warsh to push for cuts. It also poses a challenge for Trump and the Republicans ahead of November's midterm elections, after Trump's 2024 re-election campaign focused largely on his plans to cut inflation. Trump on Tuesday described the increase as "short-term" and said Americans would understand his priority, keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. He also said inflation was less than during his predecessor Joe Biden's term. The measure peaked at 9.1% under the Democratic president in June 2022. AJ Bell's head of financial analysis Danni Hewson said: "Americans are supremely sensitive to the price of gasoline. They also elected Donald Trump on the promise he would bring down prices. "With the mid-terms hurtling towards us the fact that the weekly shop is getting more expensive could once again be political kryptonite to the governing party, only this time that party has changed colour." Air fares and clothing also increased in the year to April, while the price of new cars fell slightly. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused the price of jet fuel to spike, with US airlines, who do not currently hedge their fuel costs, quickly passing on increases to customers. The average airfare rose by 20.7% in April, Tuesday's figures showed. April's inflation figure also marked the first time in three years that Americans' pay packets are no longer growing faster than prices are rising. While prices rose by 3.8% for the year to April, average paychecks grew by just 3.6%. US stock markets opened lower on the news with the S&P 500 falling 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.7%.
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Economie

My mom paid $200,000 to build an addition onto my home and moved in. It's paid off in unexpected ways. - Business Insider

"She will never go for that," I told my husband in 2023 when he suggested that my then-68-year-old mom sell the Hudson, New York, home she had lived in for 45 years and move an hour north to live with us.After my stepdad died in 2020, she seemed to have a new lease on life. After all, she had been his caretaker for 25 years.

Economie

Warren Buffett asked Tim Cook to take a bow in a surprise speech at Berkshire meeting - Business Insider

Warren Buffett trumpeted his Apple bet and invited outgoing CEO Tim Cook to take a bow during Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting on Saturday.Greg Abel, who succeeded Buffett as Berkshire's CEO at the start of this year, unexpectedly announced that the legendary investor and chairman would say a few words.Buffett — sitting in the front row and fully embracing his retired status by wearing a sweater instead of his usual suit — began by saying the transition to Abel's leadership had been "100% successful" with Berkshire's new boss "doing everything I did and then some" and "doing it better than I did."The business icon, 95, then recalled his decision to turn over 10% of Berkshire's resources to a person "not that well known at the time." He was referring to Berkshire's roughly $35 billion investment in Apple between 2016 and 2018, and the tech giant's CEO, Cook, who announced he would step down earlier in April.Business Insider's Theron Mohamed was watching from the press box of the CHI Health Center in Buffett's hometown of Omaha as the famous stockpicker spoke.Buffett drew chuckles from the crowd when he joked that Berkshire had turned over management of the money to Apple to make itself "look good," and that was its "preferred way of operating."He then underscored that Apple has turned that $35 billion, including dividends and both realized and unrealized appreciation, into $185 billion before tax."And I didn't have to do a damn thing," he quipped.Apple remains Berkshire's largest position, despite the company selling the majority of its stake over the past few years.Buffett then reflected on Apple celebrating its 50th anniversary in recent weeks. He said that Cook "succeeded a legend" when he took over as CEO from visionary cofounder Steve Jobs in late 2011, and that only a "very few percentage points of American investors had even heard" of the new boss."When we made our investment and turned over 10% of the resources of Berkshire, we were turning it over for Tim, and I say he's turned that into $185 billion or something pretax," Buffett added, joking that he "won't bother to compare his record to that."Cook has overseen a massive increase in Apple's market valuation during his nearly 15 years in charge, from around $350 billion to $4.1 trillion as of Friday's close.He's been widely credited with scaling Apple's manufacturing and distribution of hit products such as the iPhone, improving its global supply chain, and catering to China's mushrooming middle class."So I think it's appropriate if Tim would take a bow and our shareholders would say thanks to him," Buffett said.Cook, sitting a few rows behind Buffett in front of the stage, stood up to cheers and applause, waving and clasping his hands together to thank the crowd.Buffett has repeatedly heralded Apple as an incredible business and Cook as a world-class leader in recent years."Tim Cook has made Berkshire a lot more than I have made Berkshire," Buffett said at last year's meeting.

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