America In Focus: mortgage rate rises while Wall Street looks to continue its winning ways (opens in new tab)

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in nearly nine months, driving up borrowing costs for homebuyers during what’s traditionally the housing market’s busiest time of the year. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has roiled energy markets, sending crude oil prices sharply higher — a key driver of inflation. Expectations of higher oil prices and worries about big and growing debts for the U.S. government and others have pushed up long-term bond yields...