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US stocks hold near records on hopes of an agreement with Iran

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks meandered to a mixed finish on Wall Street Wednesday and remained close to their records, while oil prices held steady. The uncertain trading on Wall Street followed two days of big gains that gave the week and August a strong start. Several big technology companies slumped, though, ultimately weighing down the market. The S&P 500 fell 12.97 points, or 0.2%, to close at 7,723.55. The index spent most of the day higher after surging to a record on Tuesday. “The coiled spring investors have been waiting for has finally released, with the S&P 500 Index ...

First Niles nets $245K in second quarter

Staff report First Niles Financial Inc., the holding company for Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Niles, recorded net income of $245,000 for the three months ended June 30, compared to net income of $100,000 for the same period in 2025, an increase of $145,000, or 145%. For the six months ended June 30, First Niles recorded net income of $487,000, compared to net income of $187,000 for the same period in 2025, an increase of $300,000, or 160.4%. Primary earnings per share for the three and six months ended June 30 were $0.16 and $0.31, respectively, as compared to ...

US job openings slip to 7.4M, but labor market remains resilient

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings fell slightly in June, but the labor market continued to show resilience in the face of an economic shock from fighting in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Employers posted 7.36 million vacancies in June, down from 7.54 million in May, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The numbers were in line with economist expectations. Openings rose by 97,000 at warehouse, transportation and utility companies and 39,000 at federal government agencies. Openings dropped at wholesalers and manufacturers of nondurable goods. Layoffs were ...

Gas prices up 30 cents in Northeast Ohio

Staff report It’s been a cruel, cruel summer for motorists in Northeast Ohio with gas prices 30 cents higher than the previous week, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report on Monday. At $4.212 per gallon, regional pricing is within a dollar of the all-time record of $5.036 per gallon set on June 13, 2022, according to AAA. A year ago, the average for regular unleaded was $3.201. AAA reported the average price in Niles was $4.238 and $4.119 in Youngstown. On Monday afternoon, drivers using GasBuddy.com reported prices of $3.69 per gallon at Gateway Gas Mart and ...

Lessons in leadership workshop scheduled

Staff report To help organizations harness the strengths of a multigenerational workforce, Leadership Mahoning Valley will present “The Power of a Multigenerational Team”, an interactive workshop in its Lessons in Leadership series 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 14 at The Grand Resort, 9519 E. Market St., Howland. Presented by Kane Learning, the workshop will provide practical strategies for understanding the characteristics, communication styles, motivations, and perspectives of each generation in today’s workforce. Participants will learn how to bridge generational differences, ...

‘Skynet Day’

To be fair, James Cameron did warn us. Long before OpenAI broke out of its test corral and hacked into Hugging Face, before the internet and Sam Altman were even born, Cameron wrote a screenplay about an autonomous artificial intelligence system that triggers a nuclear apocalypse. That ...