By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are jumping on Thursday following an encouraging report on inflation that could help the Federal Reserve keep cutting interest rates next year. A strong profit report from Micron Technology also helped AI stocks halt their sharp slides, at least for now.

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The S&P 500 rallied 1.4% and is on track for its best day in three weeks, coming off a four-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 411 points, or 0.9%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the strength for tech stocks had the Nasdaq composite up a market-leading 2%.

Some relief came from a report showing that inflation was less bad last month than economists expected. That could soothe nerves at the Fed, which is responsible for keeping inflation low and for keeping the job market strong.

Inflation is still higher than anyone would like, at 2.7% last month, but if it creeps closer to the Fed’s target of 2%, Fed officials could feel more free to cut interest rates to help a slowing job market. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they can boost the economy and prices for investments, even if they may also worsen inflation.

To be sure, some along Wall Street said Thursday’s inflation update may not move the needle much at the Fed given how noisy economic reports have been following the U.S. government’s earlier shutdown. Next month’s update on inflation could provide a better gauge of what’s actually happening. But a better-than-expected report on inflation is nevertheless better than the alternative.

Also helping to drive the U.S. stock market was Micron Technology, the seller of memory and storage for computers, which rallied 12.3% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said each of the company’s business units enjoyed stronger revenue and made more in profit off each $1 of that revenue.

Micron also gave encouraging forecasts for upcoming financial results, and Mehrotra credited its position as an “AI enabler,” among other things.

Billions of dollars are flowing into artificial-intelligence technology, which helped superstar stocks like Nvidia lead the market for years.

But questions are rising about whether those stock prices shot too high and whether customers will get a good-enough return on AI investments through bigger profits and productivity. Worries are also weighing on companies that are borrowing lots of money to pay for AI investments.

Oracle and Broadcom have been at the center of such worries recently, and their stock prices have been falling sharply since last week despite both reporting better profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected. On Thursday, Oracle rose 2.1%, and Broadcom added 0.3%.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s become Wall Street’s most influential because of its immense size, gained 2.7%.

Another winner was Trump Media & Technology Group, which jumped 34% to carve into some of its steep loss for the year so far, 69.3% coming into the day. The company, which began with President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform and then moved into cryptocurrencies and various other lines of business, is now moving into nuclear power.

It’s merging with TAE Technologies in an all-stock deal, and each company will own roughy half of the combined business. The companies said the deal would pair TMTG’s ability to raise significant money by attracting investors with TAE’s technology. They hope to get TAE’s nuclear-fusion reactors, which would create power in a similar way as the sun does, running commercially.

Cintas rose 0.9% after the provider of work uniforms and cleaning supplies reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, while also announcing a program to send up to $1 billion to shareholders by buying back its own stock.

Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, rose 0.9% even though its profit for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. Its growth in revenue topped forecasts, benefiting from both the opening of new restaurants and increased revenue at its older locations.

CarMax swung sharply between gains and losses and was most recently down 0.7%. The auto retailer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But it also said it may make less profit from each $1 of revenue in sales of used autos during the current quarter, as it tries to get more competitive in the market. It also plans to increase spending on marketing to drive customers to lots.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose 0.3% in London, 0.5% in France and 0.5% in Germany after the Bank of England cut its key interest rate and the European Central Bank kept its steady.

Asian indexes were mixed, with stocks falling 1.5% in South Korea but adding 0.2% in Shanghai.

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank following the encouraging report on U.S. inflation.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.11% from 4.16% late Wednesday.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN

NEW YORK (AP) — The last major meteor shower of the year, known as the Ursids, peaks soon, bringing glowing streaks to nighttime and early morning skies. Compared to other meteor showers, it’s more subdued, but experts say it’s still worth a glimpse.

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How to watch one of the year’s best meteor showers, the Geminids

Meteor showers happen when space rocks hit Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds and burn up, gaining fiery tails — the end of a “shooting star.” Random meteors are visible from Earth on any given clear night, but more predictable meteor showers happen yearly when Earth passes through streams of cosmic leftovers from comets or asteroids.

The Ursids peak Sunday night into Monday morning and will be visible until Dec. 26 from the Northern Hemisphere. Skygazers usually see five to 10 meteors per hour during the height and there’s a possibility for outbursts of up to 25 meteors per hour, according to the American Meteor Society.

How active a shower will appear from Earth depends on the amount of debris and the moon’s brightness, which can blot out glowing meteors. The Ursids feature less space debris than other showers like the Geminids, but the narrow crescent moon won’t be much of an obstacle when they peak.

No special equipment is needed to view a meteor shower. To see the Ursids, which hail from a comet called 8P/Tuttle, bundle up and get away from city lights.

“The darker your sky, the better the shower is going to be,” said astronomer Peter Brown with Western University in Canada.

The meteors can be seen over the whole sky, but all the streaks will seem to come from a central point near a constellation for which the shower is named. In this case, that’s the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper.

Once it gets dark, avoid bright lights from cellphones, which will make it harder for your eyes to adjust.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Tracing social media accounts and a phone number led police to arrest a 16-year-old in Eagan, who was charged Thursday with four counts of threats of violence with intent to terrorize.

Police and prosecutors say the teen’s social media posts that threatened shootings at high schools in Dakota County led eight high schools to close on Tuesday. They reopened on Wednesday.

Though firearms were seen in videos, Apple Valley Police Chief Nick Francis said they did not find weapons in a search of the teen’s family’s home and added “there is no belief that the suspect had access to weapons.”

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office charged him Thursday with four felonies.

When police took the teen into custody on Tuesday, he “initially stated that he did not make the posts” and eventually “said he made the posts because an unknown person had forced him to do it,” according to the juvenile petition’s probable cause statement.

“When asked to provide further details or an identity of this unknown person, (the teen) did not provide further information on this individual, and the tone and demeanor indicated this allegation was not true,” the probable cause statement continued. “… The allegation that another individual was involved in this incident is unfounded.”

The schools closed in Independent School District 196 Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Tuesday were Eastview, Eagan, Rosemount and Apple Valley high schools, along with the district’s two other high schools, Area Learning Center and School of Environmental Studies.

In neighboring Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191, Burnsville High School and Burnsville Alternative High School were closed Tuesday. The district dismissed all elementary and middle schools early that day.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage edged lower this week, staying relatively close to its low for the year.

The decline brings the average long-term mortgage rate to 6.21% from 6.22% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.72%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week. The rate averaged 5.47%, down from 5.54% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.92%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year yield was at 4.12% at midday Thursday, unchanged from a week ago.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has been mostly holding steady in recent weeks since it dropped to 6.17%, its lowest level in more than a year, on Oct. 30.

Mortgage rates began easing in July in anticipation of a series of Fed rate cuts, which began in September and continued this month. An encouraging report on inflation on Thursday could give the central bank cause to keep cutting interest rates next year.

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