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  • Insurers propose 17% average rate increase for Pennie health plans in 2027

    Insurers propose 17% average rate increase for Pennie health plans in 2027

    Insurers are asking for double-digit increases to health plans sold on Pennsylvania’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, Pennie, in 2027.

    Insurers have requested an average increase of 17% for plans sold to individuals and families through Pennie. They are asking to raise the premium price of plans sold to small businesses by an average of 11.5%, according to rate requests released last week by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

    The proposed rates are not final. A public comment period is open through Aug. 22, and insurance administrators expect to release final rates this fall.

    Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael Humphreys said in a statement that the rates were “higher than we’d hoped.”

    New Jersey has not released 2027 rate requests for its ACA marketplace, Get Covered NJ.

    In their rate proposals, Pennsylvania insurers said they needed to charge more to account for the rising cost of medical services and prescription drugs, and a shift in who is buying health insurance and how sick they are. Insurers are required by law to spend 80% of the money they collect through premiums on healthcare for members.

    “Addressing rising healthcare costs requires a shared commitment across the healthcare system, and we will continue working with providers and other partners to help keep quality care within reach for the people we serve,” Independence Blue Cross, which has proposed a 14% average premium increase, said in a statement.

    The proposed increases for 2027 come on top of massive price hikes in ACA marketplaces this year, when a critical financial incentive program was eliminated. The cost of a Pennie health plan more than doubled for many in 2026 and 177,000 people have dropped coverage as a result.

    Advocates worry that another price increase will cause even more people to drop coverage, which could further raise costs.

    “If these proposed rates take effect, even more Pennsylvanians are likely to be priced out of coverage,” Antoinette Kraus, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, which helps people enroll in coverage, said in a statement.

    Rising costs and premium prices

    A major factor that affects the cost of insurance is who the plan will cover — how healthy or sick they are, and how much the plan will need to spend on their care.

    Healthy young adults who have few healthcare expenses typically help balance the higher cost of insuring older adults who may have multiple chronic conditions.

    But young adults — many buying insurance on their own for the first time — can be highly sensitive to cost. They have been among those dropping out of ACA plans at the greatest rates after Congress failed to renew a financial incentive program that ensured no one paid more than 8.5% of their income on insurance.

    About a third of adults who dropped out of Pennie health plans so far this year were under age 34, according to state data.

    “They’re the ones looking at the cost and saying, ‘Well I’m pretty healthy right now, I’m going to take the gamble,’” said Devon Trolley, Pennie’s executive director.

    People with ongoing medical needs are more likely to stick with their plan, despite cost increases.

    Pennie’s 2027 enrollment period will run Nov. 1 through Jan. 15.

    Lawmakers have not shown signs of bringing back the enhanced tax credits, which were introduced in 2021 and had been renewed annually since.

    Income-based tax credits that are part of the ACA are still available. People remain eligible for these tax credits if they earn up to 400% of the federal poverty level — about $62,600 a year for an individual or $128,600 for a family of four.

  • Workplaces look for cheaper AI as ‘tokenmaxxing’ fades as a corporate fad

    Workplaces look for cheaper AI as ‘tokenmaxxing’ fades as a corporate fad

    A corporate fad of “tokenmaxxing” on artificial intelligence technology is hitting its limits as workplaces throwing AI at everything are seeing the costs rise without a similar spike in productivity.

    What started as tech industry-fueled springtime hype over squeezing as much AI-generated work as possible out of products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude has shifted to a summertime backlash.

    “It’s very easy to create something you don’t need with AI,” said Vincent Gusdorf, head of AI analytics at Moody’s Ratings and author of a new report that recommends a more disciplined approach.

    “Tokenmaxxing” refers to maximizing usage of tokens — the building blocks of generative AI that correspond to small pieces of text that an AI system reads or writes. Each token is about three quarters of a word. And there’s typically a limit to how many you can use, with pricier versions of AI products offering higher caps.

    “As bills started to pile in, people realized that those new tools are quite expensive and you need to use them wisely,” Gusdorf said.

    Tech executives cast high AI usage as a badge of honor

    Just a few months ago, Silicon Valley executives were promoting high token consumption as a signal of high-performing employees. The stereotypical tokenmaxxer was staying up late — perhaps ignoring their significant other — while orchestrating an army of 24-hour AI agents performing work on their behalf.

    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in May he was “excited to see what will happen with tokenmaxxing startups, both for how they work internally and the products they can build.”

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said “if your $500K engineer isn’t burning $250K in tokens, something is wrong.” Facebook parent Meta had an internal competition rewarding token usage.

    The trend boosted revenue for leading AI large language model developers like Anthropic and OpenAI, but it fizzled as it became apparent it wasn’t necessarily the best strategy for everyone else.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has admitted that tokenmaxxing can be addictive but warned in a recent blog post that customers of those models are paying twice for AI, first in spending on tokens and second by feeding all their proprietary data to them. While promoting Microsoft’s own approach, Nadella’s comments were unusual in the way he raised doubts about the data protection assurances of leading AI providers.

    Alex Karp, CEO of the software firm Palantir Technologies speaks during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20.Markus Schreiber

    Palantir CEO Alex Karp went further, telling CNBC earlier this month that something had gone “completely wrong.” He said he was channeling the voice of American businesses privately “livid” about paying so much for tokens that create no value.

    “The basic view among enterprises in this country is, ‘I’m going to chillax and waste my time with tokens. I’m going to get no value and they’re going to get my IP,” said, a Haverford College graduate with ties to the Philadelphia area.

    Workplaces look more for better ‘routing’ of their AI work

    Bain & Company management consultant Jue Wang said many of the big businesses her firm advises have been taking a closer look at returns on their AI investments.

    “The token cost for them has been doubling, almost every other month,” she said. “Let’s say $200 per developer per month. Multiply that by 20,000 developers, which is often what we’re dealing with at these companies, and that quickly gets you to a number that is not a line item that any general manager has planned for.”

    Sometimes that just means not using the AI equivalent of a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

    “Not everything needs a Claude Opus 4.6,” she said of one of Anthropic’s more capable models suited to software engineering or deep research. “And yet you see so many companies, so many users, default to using Opus for everything, including generating emails.”

    That’s led to a search for tools that do AI “model routing” — in which easier queries get automatically sent to cheaper and more efficient AI systems and more complex tasks go to more powerful models.

    Open-source AI models built in China offer less costly alternatives

    Software developer Hassan El Mghari said companies’ sticker shock over the “ridiculous amount of money” spent on subscriptions to AI products from leading U.S. companies has led many away from rewarding high usage.

    “It’s better to kind of just empower employees on how to use this stuff and let them use AI when and however much they need to,” said El Mghari, who leads developer experience at the startup Together AI, which supplies developers with a variety of “open-source” AI models.

    At the same time, those who favor racking up as many tokens as possible are having a field day with new open-source models from Chinese startups like Moonshot’s Kimi or Zhipu’s GLM, which nearly match the capabilities of top U.S. models at a fraction of the price.

    “There is some validity to the theory that this could push tokenmaxxing a little bit further,” said Raffi Krikorian, the chief technology officer at Mozilla. “But if we look at the industry overall, I think it’s realizing that tokenmaxxing is a dumb thing.”

    It’s similar, Krikorian said, to how software companies once considered how many lines of code a programmer wrote to be a good metric of productivity. That later fell out of favor.

    “I think tokenmaxxing is moving through the exact same pattern,” he said. “I think this is going to be an interesting blip that we’re all going to look back to laugh at in a year.”

  • Tower Health is laying off 160 workers at Pottstown Hospital while expanding emergency department, behavioral health

    Tower Health is laying off 160 workers at Pottstown Hospital while expanding emergency department, behavioral health

    Tower Health is eliminating 160 jobs at Pottstown Hospital as part of an effort to bring staffing at the Montgomery County facility in line with lower patient volumes, the Berks County nonprofit announced Tuesday. The cuts amount to 22% of the workforce at Pottstown.

    In addition to the job reductions — which are more than the 131 positions cut last year at Pottstown — Tower also plans “a multimillion-dollar investment” to expand the emergency department, enhance inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services, and update portions of the hospital, Tower said.

    “These changes are designed to strengthen the hospital’s ability to serve local residents for generations to come by preserving access to the services patients need most, investing in the areas of greatest community need, and ensuring Pottstown Hospital remains a strong, sustainable community hospital for the future,” Tower said in a statement.

    To expand behavioral health, Tower will convert some underused general-purpose hospital beds to inpatient behavioral health beds. The behavioral health total will rise to 52 from 28, an 86% increase. Pottstown has 213 licensed beds.

    Tower did not provide a timeline for the changes but said it plans to hire 38 people to staff the expanded emergency department and behavioral health unit, which will have a separate entrance for the sake of patients’ privacy when they seek mental health services.

    Another change at Pottstown involves the lease of an unspecified amount of space to Community Health & Dental Care, a federal health clinic that was formed in 2008 with funding from Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation.

    Unlike the restructuring Tower announced last fall at Pottstown, which included the closures of the combined intensive care/critical care unit, the Pottstown location of the McGlinn Cancer Institute, and the hospital’s endoscopy center, this round is not eliminating any services, Tower said.

    In the nine months that ended March 31, Pottstown has 5,104 inpatients, down 9.7% from the same period the year before. Most of that decline came in the first three months of this year, after Tower’s service cuts, according to data shared with bondholders.

    After last year’s layoffs, which included about 60 registered nurses represented by Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals, Pottstown employed about 700 people. Overall, Tower employs more than 10,000.

    The union said it still has 200 Pottstown nurses in its ranks. “We have been in touch with hospital management to better understand the context for and impact of the proposed layoffs and to push hard for solutions that protect both patient care and the dedicated nurses who serve the Pottstown community,” a union spokesperson said.

    Tower’s anchor is Reading Hospital in West Reading, Pa. In additional to Pottstown, it owns Phoenixville Hospital, plus St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in North Philadelphia in a 50-50 joint venture with Drexel University. Tower previously owned Brandywine, Jennersville, and Chestnut Hill Hospitals.

    It closed Brandywine and Jennersville and sold Chestnut Hill to a group led by Temple University Health System.

    Tower recently announced that Jefferson Health, Nemours Children’s Health, and Temple University Health System are working on forming an alliance to support St. Chris clinically. Last week, Tower said that it had formed a clinical affiliation to expand advanced care in its markets.

  • Musk’s SpaceX tumbles back to Earth, dragging Tesla stock down with it

    Musk’s SpaceX tumbles back to Earth, dragging Tesla stock down with it

    It seemed to be only good news for Elon Musk and investors in companies he oversees.

    SpaceX had marked a record-setting IPO, Musk was the first trillionaire in history, and the rocket company vaulted to an all-time high of more than $225 per share.

    That was last month. Since then, their fortunes have shifted.

    Musk has shed hundreds of billions in wealth, demoting him from trillionaire status, and SpaceX’s stock price has been cut practically in half. The stock closed at $116.41 a share Tuesday in trading on Nasdaq. On top of that, electric vehicle maker Tesla has lost about 18% of its value over the past week, in part after falling short of its quarterly earnings expectations, as investor patience for its artificial intelligence and robotics bets has worn thin.

    Musk cheekily nodded at the situation in a post on X on Friday.

    “(Former) Trillionaire,” he wrote.

    But while the world’s richest person could become a trillionaire again with a few big up days in the market, the challenges for SpaceX are deeper. It’s a new era for a company that was once on a glide path, that seemingly could do no wrong on its way to a historic $75 billion initial public offering.

    For SpaceX, “one of the benefits of being private is that there wasn’t a market to weigh in on and evaluate business decisions,” said David Meier, senior investment analyst at the Motley Fool. “Being publicly traded means everything will be evaluated and information transmitted through market prices. So every SpaceX launch, every Starlink decision and every xAI decision will be scrutinized by the market,” he added, referring to the company’s satellite internet service and artificial intelligence arm.

    Case in point: After SpaceX aborted a launch because of engine issues this month, the company faced another problem — a plummeting stock. SpaceX’s IPO documents had touted its plans to establish a colony on Mars and put data centers in space.

    Then SpaceX was dealt its latest setback in propelling Starship off the ground. The company is trying to power its data center and exploration bets by using a roughly 400-foot rocket to carry out missions including taking humans back to the moon.

    But the program has been marred by reliability concerns and repeated explosions. While SpaceX has proved its ability to put satellites and even people into orbit, much of its success has been built off of earlier and less capable launch vehicles. The company ultimately conducted a successful flight test on Friday, after what it said were issues with four of the rocket’s engines during the aborted launch the prior week, but the questions about Starship’s overall viability remain.

    “The future of the company is riding on the ability to make Starship work. … They essentially have a very successful pickup truck that can move things across town,” said Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit focused on policy research in areas including defense and geopolitics. “What they’re trying to do is switch to a freight train and get the economies of scale [of] something of that magnitude.”

    Meier, the Motley Fool analyst, said the “sharp sell-off” has been surprising to him.

    “One possible explanation is that investors had the time to digest the financials and believe the valuation is too risky,” he said. In the lead-up to its stock debut, SpaceX disclosed it had a record of significant losses, including at least $13 billion since the beginning of 2023.

    Things have hardly been rosier on the other side of the Musk empire, at Tesla. Battling what he said was an illness on the company’s earnings call, Musk tempered expectations about Tesla’s performance, saying the electric vehicle company would be spending heavily to fuel its ambitions. Tesla reported a decline in profits compared with the same quarter a year earlier, despite 26% higher revenue than during the same period last year.

    As Tesla has shifted away from the auto business that propelled its meteoric growth — making it the world’s most valuable car company — investors have clamored to see results from its new direction: a pivot toward robotics and what the industry calls “physical AI,” driven by products such as its forthcoming Optimus humanoid robot. Musk delivered little news of significance on those bets, sending that company’s stock sinking as well.

    “We’re investing a lot in growing the core business and really preparing for the future,” Musk said. “This is a massive [capital expenditure] year, but I’m confident that all the things that we’re investing in will yield incredible returns.”

    “I’m a little under the weather here, a bit ill, so if I sound a little off … I’m a little bit ill today,” Musk said later on the call.

    Tesla’s declines and the larger consolidation of Musk’s empire have fueled speculation that it could be absorbed into SpaceX. Musk did little to quell that speculation on the call.

    “Obviously we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call, it’s got to be done with the appropriate process,” Musk said after citing increasing overlap between the two companies, before turning a question about a theoretical merger to the company’s general counsel.

    For SpaceX, meanwhile, there is little relief on the horizon, analysts said. Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said the company is feeling the strain of looming lockup expirations, where people who acquired shares at low prices are suddenly able to sell their stakes. Until that is resolved, he said, SpaceX is likely to continue facing challenges.

    “It’s like a crushing unknown,” he said. “Typically what happens is the stock keeps going down, down, down until the lockup [resolves].”

    Swope, the senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the public scrutiny on SpaceX could, however, have benefits. He said a publicly traded SpaceX could be even more attentive to risks.

    “I think we all know there is a bit of showmanship to how SpaceX and Elon Musk do business,” he said. “If anything, I guess I could see maybe this will attenuate some of that showmanship a bit and it will be more cautious.”

  • The Small Business Administration is offering new grants and up to $10 million in financing

    The Small Business Administration is offering new grants and up to $10 million in financing

    Despite a significant reduction in its staffing, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has been sharply focused this year on reorganizing internally, going after COVID fraud, and — of high importance to many small businesses — providing more financial resources, particularly grants, guarantees, and loans.

    For example, the agency is offering new supply chain grants. Launched last week, these grants — a total of 20 for up to $500,000 each — are targeted at helping small businesses address supply chain constraints and increase production.

    Companies and nonprofits can apply if they are eligible in a variety of industries that deliver technical assistance, industry engagement, supplier development, or similar services so that small businesses can reshore more of their purchasing or manufacturing.

    The deadline for proposal submissions is Aug. 7.

    Increased loan availability to $10 million

    The SBA offers various loan and loan guarantee options, with its two most popular being the Section 7(a) and Section 504 programs. These programs can help fund equipment, property, and other capital costs — including the purchase of a business — through guaranteed loans made available by their network of qualified financial institutions.

    Each program allows a maximum of $5 million in financing, but this month the agency announced it will allow qualified borrowers to combine the programs to create a maximum $10 million in potential financing.

    Sherwood Robbins, who runs Seedcopa, a firm specializing in SBA financing that has offices in Exton and Wilmington, says he’s very optimistic about the program.

    “Just about any business or industry can benefit from this new way to combine the SBA 504 and SBA 7(a) loan programs,” he said. “When used correctly and for the right projects, small businesses now get access to larger loan limits across the two SBA loan programs for their growth and expansion.”

    Grocery and manufacturing guarantee loans

    In March, the SBA said that it was making a special effort to provide financing for small businesses that produce, process, distribute, and sell food by increasing the loan guarantee they offer to their member banks issuing loans for up to 90% from the current 75% level.

    That same month, the agency said that it would provide the same additional guarantees for small manufacturers to help them expand facilities, hire workers, and increase production.

    In addition, the SBA recently expanded its International Trade Loan eligibility to include small businesses across the food supply chain, including those in the agriculture, production, and logistics industries.

    “Being able to do 90% financing versus 80% or 75% financing lets businesses hold on to that critical cash so that they can invest in other parts of their business,” said Tom Pretty, head of SBA Lending at TD Bank, which has dozens of locations in the area. “Because of the SBA guarantee, a lender may be able to lend more aggressively against accounts receivable, inventory or other assets and provide a larger line to help a customer grow more quickly.”

    Manufacturing grants

    In May, the agency announced the availability of up to $50 million in grants to as many as 10 eligible applicant organizations. The grants could go toward training, technical assistance, and support “they need to grow, reshore critical supply chains, and help secure America’s position as a global manufacturing powerhouse for generations to come,” said SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler.

    Under this program, eligible U.S. small businesses in industries such as aerospace, industrial machinery and equipment, construction equipment, metal fabrication, and robotics would get access to free business courses, hands-on training, and one-on-one consulting. The deadline for this year’s program was June, but the program will likely be back, so watch for opportunities to apply.

    New working capital loans

    The agency announced last year that it would provide new working capital loans to eligible companies under its existing 7(a) program that could be used for financing receivables and other working capital needs beyond the program’s traditional objective of financing equipment and property.

    The working capital loans come at a higher interest rate than a traditional 7(a) loan but are still much lower than what most credit cards and private lenders charge. In February the agency announced that $150 million in credit was extended under the new program.

    Pretty advises his customers to use these loans when borrowing needs fluctuate or they are taking on large contracts where funding can help with payroll, inventory, and other costs.

    “Unlike a standard 7(a) term loan, the working-capital program revolves, so the business draws funds as needed and pays interest only on the amount being used,” he said. “It’s like having a credit-card limit without remaining fully borrowed all the time.”

    Your business may be eligible for these programs, so it’s important to discuss with people who are familiar with what would best for you. This can include an SBA banker, an expert from SCORE, or a local Small Business Development Center office.

    “When used correctly for the right projects, small businesses can really benefit by getting access to these programs for their growth and expansion,” Robbins said.

  • In Montco data center fight, local officials say a developer has ‘bullied’ them. He says that’s a ‘bold-faced lie.’

    In Montco data center fight, local officials say a developer has ‘bullied’ them. He says that’s a ‘bold-faced lie.’

    The debate over a proposed 2 million-square-foot AI data center in Plymouth Township near Conshohocken has become acrimonious, with local officials and the developer trading accusations of mistreatment.

    Plymouth Township Council Chair Lynne Viscio said Monday that the project’s developer, Brian O’Neill, had “bullied” and “intimidated” township officials in an attempt to gain approval to build the facility on the site of the shuttered Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill.

    O’Neill’s recent efforts have included a legal challenge to the township’s zoning ordinance. Viscio said it was filed after O’Neill “rejected” the township’s concerns and its proposed data-center “safeguards.”

    “This is a blatant attempt by the applicant to demand approval by throwing a tantrum,” Viscio said in a statement, which she delivered during a live streamed appearance by council members, later posted to the township’s website. “The township is not interested in entertaining such theatrics.”

    Reached by phone, O’Neill called the accusations “a bold-faced lie” that were part of a “misinformation campaign” against his planned data center. He said he had been “negotiating in good faith” with township attorneys for months and had agreed to “the majority” of the township’s conditions.

    “We are sympathetic to the fact that they are under tremendous political scrutiny from people outside the township, as well as residents inside the township, and that makes giving a landowner their property rights … challenging,” said O’Neill, a longtime developer in Conshohocken and on the Main Line.

    “However, I am a landowner, and I do have rights,” he added, “and it is their job to be impartial and fair in their analysis and response.”

    The closed Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill is seen last month outside Conshohocken.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Hyperscale data centers, such as the one O’Neill is proposing, house the energy-hungry technology that powers ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools.

    Several such facilities have been proposed in the Philadelphia region amid surging AI demand and a global boom in data-center development. Two are under construction — an Amazon data center in Falls Township, Bucks County, and a facility in Vineland, Cumberland County, that is set to power Microsoft’s AI tools.

    On the outskirts of Conshohocken, O’Neill and his team have spent nearly a year trying to get the green light for a data center at the 66-acre property along the Schuylkill. Last fall, they abruptly withdrew their original proposal due to legal issues. In May, they resubmitted the plans for a center that would span 10 existing buildings.

    The Plymouth Township site is less than a mile from downtown Conshohocken, near the Proving Grounds sports complex, Tee’s Golf Center, and dozens of homes in the township’s Connaughtown section.

    The closed Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill where Brian O’Neill wants to build a data center is shown in June.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    O’Neill has not said who would operate the center but has indicated it would be a tenant related to the life sciences.

    An initial zoning hearing board meeting on the resurrected Plymouth Township project was held last month. As of Monday, a more substantive hearing was scheduled for Aug. 6 and was set to include the presentation of evidence and testimony.

    The Plymouth Township project is one of six data centers that O’Neill is proposing in the area. Across the river in Upper Merion Township, where O’Neill’s MLP Ventures already has offices and labs, the developer has proposed a 4.6 million-square-foot data center campus spanning five properties.

    Inside the battle over King of Prussia’s 4.6 million square feet of proposed data centers
    The proposed data centers in Upper Merion and Plymouth TownshipsJohn Duchneskie

    After a tense Upper Merion Township Planning Commission meeting last week, officials there voted not to recommend approval of three of O’Neill’s five plans. A hearing on the other two Upper Merion plans is set for Aug. 12.

    After the planning commission reviews all the applications, the Upper Merion Township Board of Supervisors will ultimately decide whether to approve the projects.

    In both Upper Merion and Plymouth Townships, some residents have rallied against the plans, packing township meetings, signing online petitions, putting anti-data-center signs on their lawns, and organizing on social media. They have cited concerns about light, noise, and air pollution; water usage; and electricity costs.

    A yard sign protests the proposed Plymouth Township data center.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    On Monday, O’Neill reiterated that his Plymouth Township data center would make little noise, emit no light pollution, and operate on a closed-loop system that does not require outside water. He said it would generate its own power, not taxing the grid, and generate “billions of dollars in employment and economic development.”

    “I am shocked that [the township council] can in good conscience not promote my plan, let alone publicly oppose it,” given office vacancies in the area, O’Neill said. In the past, “our developments have helped to create the vibrant community that Conshohocken and Plymouth are today.”

    Viscio, the Plymouth Township Council chair, said that local officials wanted to ensure that O’Neill’s proposed data center improved residents’ quality of life — and that O’Neill’s efforts could prevent them from doing so.

    “We will not allow ourselves to be bullied or intimidated by any developer,” Viscio said. “We will not dismiss legitimate concerns raised by our residents.”

    She said the council would continue to oppose O’Neill’s application and his challenge to the zoning ordinance.

    On Monday afternoon, O’Neill called back a reporter with an additional message for Plymouth Township officials: “We’re always willing to make a deal if they want to sit down and talk.”

  • Stocks drift on Wall Street and crude oil prices drop as Mideast tensions cool

    Stocks drift on Wall Street and crude oil prices drop as Mideast tensions cool

    Stocks on Wall Street drifted to a mixed close Monday as oil prices fell after the U.S. and Iran paused their attacks while work resumed on restarting negotiations to end the war.

    The S&P 500 rose less than 0.1% after spending much of the day bouncing between small gains and losses. The benchmark index was coming off two weekly losses in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%, its fourth straight loss.

    The three major stock indexes are on pace to close out this month in the red. It would be the second straight monthly loss for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

    Oil prices reversed course from a week ago, when a sharp escalation in fighting between the U.S. and Iran worsened worries about global oil supplies. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 6.3% to settle at $85.87 a barrel for October delivery. Prices surged to over $100 a barrel last week before easing.

    U.S. crude oil for September delivery fell 7.5% to settle at $82.61 a barrel.

    The war between the U.S. and Iran has sharply curtailed, and at a times halted, traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz. That has had a ripple effect throughout the world’s economy. Gasoline prices have surged and shipping costs for most goods are rising, with businesses typically passing those costs along to households.

    Markets closed higher in Europe and Asia.

    Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.65% from 4.69% late Friday.

    Technology companies were behind much of the shifts in the market, with gains and declines for a mix of big companies resulting in uncertain trading.

    Nvidia fell 5% and Micron Technology slumped 2.3%. At the same time, Microsoft rose 1.9% and Apple rose 1.2%. They are all among the most valuable companies in the world, and those huge valuations give them more influence over the direction of the broader market.

    The mix of gains and losses from a variety of those companies had more impact in pushing and pulling the market, even as the majority of companies in the S&P 500 gained ground.

    Communications company stocks were among the gainers Monday. Google parent Alphabet rose 2.1%, while Charter Communications jumped 6.7% and Comcast rose 2.3%.

    Credit card issuers and payment processors also notched gains. American Express climbed 2.8%, Capital One Financial added 2.1%, Visa rose 1.9%, and rival Mastercard gained 2.2%.

    In Asia, Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT soared in its debut in Shanghai. The company jumped to become China’s most valuable listed company with an estimated market capitalization of 3.3 trillion yuan (nearly $490 billion).

    All told, the S&P 500 added 1.20 points to 7,413.18. The Dow gained 262.83 points to 52,210.08, and the Nasdaq dropped 43.74 points to 24,932.08.

    Wall Street has a busy week ahead with several potentially mark-moving updates on the economy and company earnings. Reports are due out on consumer confidence Tuesday and inflation on Thursday.

    “This is a week with more than its fair share of potential surprises, good and bad,” said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

    The big focus will be on the Federal Reserve, which will give an update Wednesday on its interest rate policy. The central bank has been grappling with the impact from rising inflation because of the ongoing U.S. war with Iran. It also has to contend with a fresh round of U.S.-imposed tariffs globally, which could further worsen inflation.

    Wall Street anticipates a nearly 36% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates at its meeting this week. Higher rates can help cool inflation by making borrowing more expensive and slowing economic growth.

    The central bank has been holding rates steady throughout the year as it monitors inflation’s direction and impact, but Wall Street expects at least one rate hike by the end of the year.

    Stubbornly high inflation has been squeezing households and fuel costs have hit budgets and spending particularly hard. Gasoline costs are taking a bigger chunk out of household budgets, and that could mean tighter spending on other things like clothing and travel.

    Investors are monitoring the latest round of corporate earnings for signs of consumer stress along with whether the yearlong jump in stock values throughout Wall Street is justified by profits and forecasts for profit growth.

    Investors also have a heavy round of corporate earnings to review this week. Many of those reports could provide more clues into the health of different areas of the economy. Paint and coatings maker Sherwin-Williams, aircraft maker Boeing, and payments processor Visa will report their latest results on Tuesday.

    Starbucks and Chipotle will report results on Wednesday.

    Technology companies are being watched especially closely because their sharp gains throughout the year have been behind the Wall Street’s record run. Microsoft will report results Wednesday. Amazon, with its growing cloud services business and AI focus, will report results on Thursday, along with Apple.

  • New CEO of Philadelphia steel company dies suddenly

    New CEO of Philadelphia steel company dies suddenly

    Brian J. Malloy, chief executive officer of Philadelphia-based Carpenter Technology Corp., died “suddenly and unexpectedly” Friday, July 24, three weeks after he was promoted to run the company, which employs 4,500, Carpenter said in a statement. He was 59.

    Malloy made “significant contributions” to the growth of Carpenter, a 137-year-old, $3 billion-a-year company that makes stainless-steel alloys for aerospace, medical, military, and industrial uses at its plants in Berks County, Western Pennsylvania, and Alabama.

    “We are deeply saddened at Brian’s passing,” the company said.

    Tony Thene, Malloy’s predecessor as CEO and executive chairman, has stepped back in to replace Malloy.

    Malloy had been scheduled to report recent results to Carpenter’s investors and discuss its prospects in a conference call Thursday. The call will go ahead on schedule. Shares fell about 4% to around $580 in trading Monday on word of the new CEO’s death.

    The stock had been trading over $600, its highest ever, for the past month, on the expectation that Carpenter would profit on higher U.S. military spending and new space orders.

    Malloy studied engineering at Virginia Tech and held an MBA from the College of William and Mary, as well as certifications in AI from Northwestern University and digital transformation from MIT. He is listed on five patents.

    He joined Carpenter in 2015, heading a unit that includes titanium products and powdered metals. In 2023, he was named chief operating officer before succeeding Thene as CEO when Thene retired earlier this month.

    Part of the Carpenter Technology complex in Reading. The Philadelphia-based specialty steelmaker also has operations in western Pennsylvania and Alabama, and a finishing plant in China.Greater Reading Chamber Alliance

    Before joining Carpenter, Malloy was an executive at Berwyn-based Ametek and for Alcoa.

    Carpenter moved its headquarters to Philadelphia from Spring Township near Reading, the year after Malloy joined the company, one of several upstate Pennsylvania companies that moved to Philadelphia in hopes of attracting management and technical talent.

  • How to keep your home safe without an expensive security system | Expert opinion

    How to keep your home safe without an expensive security system | Expert opinion

    Do you have good dead bolts on all your doors? Strong latches on your windows? Are you diligent about keeping doors and windows locked? Have a barky dog?

    If you can answer “yes” to the first three questions, you’re way ahead when it comes to home security (and get extra credit for the dog). Despite what thriller movies might suggest, most burglars enter homes by simply opening unlocked doors or windows — or pushing and kicking locked ones until they open.

    Very few pick locks or circumvent alarm systems. Intruders prefer empty homes, visual obscurity, silence, easy entry, and quick exits. So your primary objective when planning home security is to beef up your locks and latches and maintain good security habits.

    You can also DIY your own system by using home security components controlled by a smartphone app or similar interface. Dozens of companies now sell security system components that can easily connect to smart home hubs.

    All this competition and choice means lower prices. You don’t have to pay a home-security service $750 to $3,000 for a professionally installed system plus $1,500 or more each year for monitoring. Instead, for $400 or less, you can assemble a basic DIY system and then pay as little as $200 per year to have it monitored — or nothing at all if you monitor it yourself.

    Keep in mind that many people get annoyed by the alerts that self-monitoring requires and end up turning them off or not replacing batteries if they run out. If this will be you, don’t waste your money on the tech.

    Here are some simple steps to secure your home.

    1. Secure the perimeter. Make your doors and windows as difficult to penetrate as possible. Although intruders prefer unlocked doors and windows, many can quickly and almost silently pry open locked ones. Some break a pane of glass so they can reach in and unlock the window or door.

    Double-hung windows, for example, can be secured by screwing together the two frames.

    Solid-wood doors are much sturdier than hollow ones. Many homeowners in high-crime neighborhoods install metal bar doors.

    2. Get a security audit. Most police departments provide free advice and will send someone to evaluate your home for weaknesses.

    3. Lose lousy locks. Key-in-the knob locks are inadequate. Install good deadbolt locks on all your exterior doors. The locks on sliding glass doors are notoriously flimsy — many doors can be lifted right off their tracks. Numerous how-to videos online can show you how to make yours more secure, or you can pay a locksmith to install reinforcements.

    4. Keep valuables out of sight. Place articles of value out of the view of your front door or front windows. Stash cash and expensive jewelry in unlikely places — for example, in a large envelope or among many paper files. Select containers no one will accidentally discard.

    5. Rent a safe-deposit box. A box may be inconvenient, but it provides a level of security against theft and fire that cannot be duplicated at home for less than several thousand dollars.

    6. Keep your landscaping in check. Doors and windows hidden by garages, bushes, fences, and trees are attractive targets for intruders who prefer to invade unseen.

    7. Light it up. Many burglars will flee if they activate an outdoor light connected to a motion detector.

    8. Keep track of your keys. An AirTag key chain is a good idea if you’re forgetful.

    In addition to improving your home’s physical security:

    • Evaluate your insurance. Consider adding replacement-cost coverage to your homeowners insurance policy for your personal property. If burglars clean out your home, this coverage could save you thousands of dollars. If you own expensive jewelry and other similar items, consider taking out additional policies.
    • Get to know your neighbors. Neighborhood watch groups are one of the most effective ways to protect all the homes in your neighborhood. At the very least, get to know your neighbors and share information on your not-at-home schedules and vacation plans, so everyone can look out for suspicious activities.
    • Keep up appearances. Because most burglars strike when no one is home, make sure your house always appears occupied. Leaving on lights and a TV helps. If you go on vacation, work with neighbors or friends to prevent mail from piling up and to keep your yard maintained.

    Still want a professionally installed system?

    If you decide to go pro, you’ll want a company that ensures your system is effective, convenient, and unobtrusive; minimizes false alarms; and controls costs.

    Have several companies come to your home to propose systems and quote prices. When Checkbook’s undercover shoppers collected proposals from companies for a specific alarm system and three years of monitoring, they were quoted prices ranging from $2,200 to $4,200.

    Read the contract before you sign. Some companies make it very difficult for customers to switch monitoring services by refusing to provide programming codes or to reset systems to their default modes. Choose a company willing to contractually agree to provide you with programming codes.

    Discuss payment terms. The more you can pay after the job is complete, the better.

    Delaware Valley Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help consumers get the best service and lowest prices. It is supported by consumers and takes no money from the service providers it evaluates. Until Sept. 5, readers can access Checkbook’s home-security ratings and advice free at Checkbook.org/Inquirer/home-security.

  • Your next job interview could be with an AI bot

    Your next job interview could be with an AI bot

    Have you applied for a new job? If you’ve been shortlisted, get ready to be interviewed by artificial intelligence.

    Deluged by a flood of AI-generated job applications from easy-apply job boards, recruiters are turning to AI to cope. Companies are using chatbots to interview candidates, typically at the screening stage, through phone calls, text messaging, or video chats with onscreen avatars.

    Recruiters have been using AI-powered hiring tools for years to assess job applicants, and their use has been expanding in step with technology advances.

    Many people find AI job interviews unsettling, though the trend seems here to stay. According to recent research by hiring platform Greenhouse, more jobseekers are reporting they’ve faced AI job interviews. But many applicants have walked away from the hiring process because of it, which could be a sign that they’re either creeped out, or they could be fraudulent or were not serious candidates, depending on who you ask.

    Here’s what to expect from an AI job interview and how to do your best:

    Do your homework

    Whatever the interview format, the fundamentals still apply, said Amanda Augustine, a career coach at Careerminds, which helps companies support laid-off workers with resume writing and job search services.

    Ahead of the interview, review the job description, research the organization, and understand what it’s looking for.

    “The more prepared you are, the easier it will be to tailor your responses, even when you’re interacting with AI instead of a person,” she advised.

    Get used to the format

    If you’ve never done an AI job interview before, the first time could be unnerving or unsettling.

    I did a demo AI interview set up by Netherlands-based TestGorilla, one of numerous platforms providing recruitment tools for companies. First came two sets of questions, one that tested problem-solving skills and another gauging work experience. Then I faced an AI-generated female face.

    “My goal is to learn more about you and the experiences, skills, and competencies that you might bring to this role,” it said, adding that I should plan to spend about two minutes to answer each of three questions.

    Unlike a human interview, there was no warm-up chit-chat, no chance to build a rapport. There was no point in smiling or trying to break the ice.

    Experts say the best way to get over that is preparation.

    “You need to practice out loud,” said Priya Rathod, workplace trends editor at online job board Indeed. “And when I say practice out loud, I mean, say the actual answers out loud,” because the chatbot needs to record what you’re saying, she said.

    Also keep in mind you’re providing information about yourself to a machine, not having a conversation.

    “You have to be particularly descriptive and a very clear communicator in your language so that they can pick up on things that a regular interviewer might pick up through your facial expressions and tone,” Rathod said.

    An AI interviewer “cares less about my tone and more about what it is that I’m saying,” she added.

    Use an online interview simulator to prep — there are many available. They can record your answers and provide instant feedback on your content, delivery, or pacing. They’ll also help you get used to speaking into a camera, manage time limits, and give your answers in a structured way without the natural back-and-forth of a live conversation, Augustine said.

    Get ready for behavioral questions

    For my demo interview, the AI grilled me for a communications professional role.

    One question it asked was how I use AI in my “workflow,” including examples of both success and failure. When I replied that I saved lots of time with an AI transcription tool for interviews and other recordings, it summarized my answer and then asked me if I wanted to add anything else. I wasn’t sure whether I had answered satisfactorily.

    I scored “below average” on this question, according to TestGorilla’s assessment, which said I provided “no concrete metric” such as minutes saved. “The improvement claim is therefore vague,” it said.

    AI interviewers are asking these “behavioral questions” because they want candidates to provide examples of how they handled specific work situations, complete with numbers and metrics, Rathod said.

    “Those are the kinds of questions that AI relies heavily on. And the trap that we see a lot of people falling into is giving really vague answers,” she said.

    Candidates should still rely on tried and tested tactics like the STAR method — short for situation, task, action, result.

    So be prepared to talk about a specific work situation and the task assigned to you, the action that you took, and the result, Rathod said.

    “You want to use numbers as much as possible. Even if you’re not in a revenue driving role, there are ways in which you can say (how) you influenced something or impacted something within a group,” she said.

    Setup still matters

    Don’t neglect the physical setup of your desk and computer — it’s still important even if the video-based interview is with AI, and not a person.

    Test your audio and video in advance. Make sure the lighting is bright enough and is on your face. Raise your laptop to eye level so that you’re not looking down at the camera.

    “Small adjustments, such as using a stack of books or a ring light, can make a noticeable difference in how polished and professional you present,” Augustine said.

    Don’t be tempted to use AI shortcuts

    Jobseekers might be tempted to use AI to help come up with answers. After all, they’re so easy to use and if you’re not talking to a human, no one will be able to tell, right?

    “That’s a big no-no because it’s pretty obvious” to both the AI interviewing tool and anyone who might review the recording, said Rathod. Using AI for your answers “can sometimes immediately disqualify you.”

    If you’re having difficulty answering, you can always ask it to clarify or repeat the question.

    The question might even be designed to figure out if you’re using AI to cheat. TestGorilla’s head of marketing, Mehak Chowdhary, said it sometimes poses simple questions worded in a very convoluted way.

    “We do that intentionally to understand whether you are running an AI alongside, because the AI will then try and optimize for the length of the question,” she said. “But if you know your skill set, you will understand what’s being asked.

    “And we strongly recommend candidates put the AI devices aside. This is a test of your capability.”