America In Focus: Money pressures climb as mortgage rate tops 7%, bond yields rise

The economy, inflation and how those forces could impact the lives of Americans were front and center over the past week. Trips to the grocery store and gas station are more painful than they were last year, and rising costs are impacting the decisions of both households and businesses.

Here’s a snapshot of prominent economic data and news that occurred over the past week and what it potentially means for you.

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate rose this week above 7% for the first time since January 2025, the latest affordability setback for prospective homebuyers following a five-week run of rate increases.

The weekly average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan rose to 7.03% from 6.95% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.30%.

The average rate is now the highest it’s been since Jan. 16, 2025, when it was at 7.04%.

Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month to borrowers’ costs, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power. As rates rise, that can also lead prospective home shoppers to delay buying.

The Energy Department said Thursday that it will spend almost $2 billion to try to squeeze more electricity out of the nation’s aging and stressed power grid, as President Donald Trump’s administration steps up efforts to avoid blackouts amid skyrocketing energy demand spurred by artificial intelligence.

The money will go toward 31 projects across 26 states that are expected to produce more than 23 gigawatts of additional electricity capacity — enough to power 16 million homes. The projects will use new technologies such as sensors to measure real-time weather conditions to ensure safe transmission or direct power away from congested paths, the department said.

The upgrades could improve power reliability and lower electricity costs for about 100 million Americans, officials said.

The announcement comes amid warnings that AI’s voracious demand for power is threatening to overwhelm U.S. power supplies, as massive new data centers come online faster than new power plants can be built. It also comes as electricity bills rise faster than inflation in many parts of the U.S., blamed in some areas on demand from data centers.

Nearly everyone will feel the impact of what’s going on in the bond market, no matter how far away and abstract it may seem.

Bond yields have jumped to their highest levels in roughly two decades, and that affects anyone who borrows money. That includes discouraged people trying to keep up with high inflation, as well as businesses wanting to build data centers for artificial-intelligence technology.

High yields even affect people who don’t borrow money. For savers, it means they can earn more in interest by putting cash into bonds or a high-yield savings account. It could also knock down the value of the stocks in their 401(k) accounts.

Fewer people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, as U.S. jobless claims remain at historically low levels and most Americans enjoy job security.

The Labor Department said Thursday that 197,000 people applied for unemployment checks last week, the fewest since mid-July and down from a revised 198,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, fell to 202,250 last week from 204,000.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. So far this year, claims have mostly stayed below 220,000 — historically low.

Cooling oil and a sell-off in the bond market left Wall Street mixed this week.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged, but only after flipping between earlier gains and losses. It eased off a three-day losing streak to end the week, marred by big swings caused by rising yields in the bond market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up and the Nasdaq composite was lower.

The S&P 500 is near its all-time high set last month and on track to finish its first winning week in the last three.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at a news conference at a PPL Corp. facility to announce that the Energy Department will spend almost $2 billion to try to squeeze more electricity out of the nation's aging and stressed power grid, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2026, in Allentown, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has nominated a Justice Department official to an open seat on a key civil rights agency, signaling his administration's determination to forge ahead with efforts to dismantle diversity policies it claims discriminate against white workers and others.

The White House announced late Monday that it has tapped Matt Zandi to fill a seat previously held by Jocelyn Samuels, one of two Democratic commissioners fired by Trump before the end of their terms in an unprecedented move to seize control of the EEOC, a bipartisan agency created by Congress through the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Zandi currently serves as chief of staff for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, which saw the mass departure of career lawyers as it shifted to investigating employers and schools for what it considers unlawful diversity and transgender policies.

If confirmed, Zandi would serve a five-year term ending July 1, 2031.

Zandi's confirmation would further shift the balance of power at the EEOC to the right. Currently, there are two Republican commissioners — Andrea Lucas, who is the chair, and Brittany Panuccio — and one Democrat — Kalpana Kotagal, whose term expires next year.

Under Lucas, the EEOC has steadfastly enforced Trump's civil rights priorities, often in tight cooperation with the Department of Justice.

The Trump administration has yet to nominate anyone to fill a fifth seat, left open by the firing of Democrat Charlotte Burrows.

The impending Democratic takeover of the Senate majority in January raises the possibility that the EEOC won't have five commissioners for the remainder of Trump's term. Leading Democratic senators have vowed not to confirm any of Trump's nominees to the EEOC in protest of his firing of the Democratic commissioners, which they say stripped the agency of its historic independence and bipartisanship.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, criticized Zandi's nomination as further politicizing the EEOC, which enforces the country's employment anti-discrimination laws.

“For a bipartisan commission, the custom is to pair nominees from the two parties. This would be the third Republican commissioner in a row without a pairing, an overtly partisan decision of the administration,” Baldwin said Tuesday, speaking during a Senate committee hearing on the confirmation of Catherine Eschbach to be EEOC general counsel.

However, Trump's approach to the EEOC received a major vindication after the Supreme Court upheld his decision to fire the heads of several independent agencies, significantly expanding presidential power. The ruling prompted Samuels to drop a lawsuit challenging her dismissal from the EEOC.

Zandi and Eschbach are likely to be confirmed while Republicans control the Senate.

Senate Republicans have mostly praised Trump's approach to civil rights enforcement, and Lucas and Panuccio sailed through their confirmations despite unanimous opposition from Democrats.

“Under this administration, EEOC has sharpened its focus on even-handed enforcement of employment discrimination laws,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said during the hearing on Eschbach, whom he praised.

The EEOC had no comment. The Department of Justice and Zandi didn’t reply to a request for comment.

FILE - The emblem of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is displayed on a podium in Denver on Feb. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)