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U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week as employers continue to retain workers despite resurgent inflation and elevated interest rates.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell by 7,000 to 213,000 for the week ending February 8, the Labor Department said Thursday. Analysts projected that 215,000 new applications would be filed.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered representative of layoffs.

The four-week average, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, inched down by 1,000 to 216,000.

Despite showing some signs of weakening during the past year, the labor market remains healthy with plentiful jobs and relatively few layoffs.

Last week, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added 143,000 jobs in January, significantly fewer than December’s 256,000 job gains. However, the unemployment rate ticked down to an even 4%, signaling a still very healthy labor market.

Late in January, the Federal Reserve left its benchmark lending rate alone after issuing three cuts late in 2024. Fed officials are closely monitoring inflation and the labor market for signs of a potentially weakening economy. They expect only two rate cuts this year, down from previous projections of four.

However, after Wednesday’s consumer prices report that showed inflation accelerated last month, many experts believe the Fed may not be moved to cut rates at all this year.

The consumer price index increased 3% in January from a year ago, up from a 3 1/2 year low of 2.4% in September. The new data shows that inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed’s 2% target for roughly the past six months after it fell steadily for about a year and a half.

Overall, while layoffs remain low by historical standards, a host of companies have announced job cuts already this year.

Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks and Facebook parent company Meta have all trimmed their workforces already in 2025.

Late in 2024, GM, Boeing, Cargill and Stellantis announced layoffs.

The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of February 1 fell to 1.85 million, a decrease of 36,000 from the previous week.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi said Thursday they are ending talks on business integration.

Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said the talks had changed focus from setting up a joint holding company to making Nissan into a subsidiary of Honda.

“The intent was to join forces to win in the global competition, but this was not going to realize Nissan's potential, so I could not accept it,” he told reporters. He said that Nissan was going to aim for a turnaround without Honda instead.

Honda Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe said in a separate news conference that Honda had suggested a stock swap to speed up decision-making.

“I am really disappointed,” Mibe told reporters. “I felt the potential was great, but I also knew actions that would bring pain were necessary to realize that."

The automakers agreed to end their agreement on considering a structure for a collaboration, a joint statement said. The decision was passed by board meetings at each of the companies.

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Corp. announced in December that they were going to hold talks to set up a joint holding company. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. had said it was considering joining that group.

From the start, the effort had analysts puzzled as to the advantages to any of the companies, as their model lineups and strengths overlap in an industry shaken by the arrival of powerful newcomers like Tesla and BYD, as well as the move to electrification.

Honda and Nissan initially said they were trying to finalize an agreement by June and set up the holding company by August.

The three automakers will continue to work together on electric vehicles and smart cars, such as autonomous driving, they said Thursday.

In recent weeks, Japanese media had various reports about the talks breaking down, citing unidentified sources. Some said Nissan balked at becoming a minor player in the partnership with Honda.

Mibe denied he knew or heard anything about the media speculation that Taiwan's Foxconn was considering taking a stake in Nissan.

Uchida also denied have held any official talks with Foxconn but stressed that various options will be considered as Nissan attempts a turnaround, promising a more detailed turnaround plan within a month.

Honda is in far better financial shape and was to take the lead in the joint executive team. Honda reported Thursday that its April-December 2024 profits declined 7% to 805 billion yen ($5 billion).

Nissan reported a loss for the July-September quarter as its vehicle sales sank, prompting it to slash 9,000 jobs. At that time, Uchida took a 50% pay cut to take responsibility for the results.

On Thursday, Nissan reported that its April-December profit crashed to 5.1 billion yen ($33 million) from 325 billion yen ($2.1 billion) last year, and projected losses of 80 billion yen ($519 million) for the full fiscal year through March.

When asked by reporters if he would resign to take responsibility for Nissan's results, Uchida expressed openness to departing but said it was the board's decision.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@yurikageyama

English cricket has generated around $650 million from the sale of stakes in franchises in The Hundred to big-business investors from India and the United States, including consortiums involving NFL great Tom Brady and Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly.

Auctions held over the past two weeks drew bids that value the eight teams in The Hundred — a format similar to Twenty20 and launched in England only in 2021 — at more than $1.2 billion.

English cricket officials confirmed the huge figures for the first time on Thursday and set out how they want the money spent. The priority? Safeguarding the future of the domestic game that has lurched into financial strife in recent years.

“We’ve reached a seminal moment for cricket in England and Wales,” said Richard Thompson, chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The investors who secured stakes in the franchises range from Silicon Valley tech giants including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, to four Indian conglomerates already owning teams in the widely popular Indian Premier League.

Throw in the likes of Knighthead Capital Management, which includes Brady and already owns Birmingham City soccer club, and Cain International, a company co-funded by Boehly, and there's now a heavy dose of expertise in finance, technology and elite sport in a once-quaint sport that has been supercharged by money from around the world.

It was 17 years ago when Allen Stanford, a Texan businessman, flew into Lord's — the so-called “home of cricket” in northwest London — aboard a private helicopter filled with fake dollar notes in a publicity stunt for a remarkable deal he reached with the ECB: A five-match T20 series between England and superstars from the Caribbean worth $100 million.

The ECB were in raptures for a supposedly game-changing deal that quickly went wrong when Stanford was charged with — and later convicted of — fraud.

So, has the ECB learnt its lessons after hitting the jackpot again?

“This has probably been done in a different style — a bit more muted,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said on a video call. “We are very confident in the investor group we have got. ... We haven't been complacent.”

The ECB has done “extensive due diligence” and “all the checks to ensure it will be a different outcome" to the Stanford debacle, director of business operations Vikram Banerjee said.

The ECB seems open to that, yes.

“We'd be foolish not to listen to the amazing set of investors that have got great ideas,” Gould said. “We need to make sure we are a governing body that provides stability but also enables our investors and county clubs to drive forward.”

Gould made reference to the NFL taking games overseas and also the idea — floated around in 2008 but never adopted — of a 39th round of English Premier League games played abroad.

No, the ECB insists.

The governing body said it still owns The Hundred as a competition and felt it was important the “structure of the game is retained and owned by the ECB and our members (the counties).” That means the schedule, the formats and the governance of English cricket.

Expect, however, the new investors to make changes to their franchises when it comes to team names, colors and branding in The Hundred from 2026.

Changing the times when matches are played — to potentially suit Indian audiences, for example — is “not on the agenda,” Gould said, because securing strong attendances inside the stadiums is a priority.

Banerjee said there was no intention to turn the Hundred — a format where each team receives a maximum of 100 balls — into a T20 competition but could envisage the competition having a second tier if there is enough growth.

The ECB said the new investors have a “lock-in period” of five years before they can sell their shares to other parties.

The ECB said the deals, once finalized after an exclusivity period, will underpin “long-term financial sustainability” in the domestic game in England.

Proceeds from the sales will be split 19 ways — between the 18 long-established county teams in the English and Welsh domestic game as well as the Marylebone Cricket Club, which owns Lord’s and is regarded as the guardian of the laws of the game. The grassroots game is in line to receive around 50 million pounds ($62 million), the ECB said.

“Our three overarching principles as we look at what we want this investment to deliver should be strategic, ambitious and leaving a legacy,” Thompson said in an open letter. “We may not get this chance again for at least a generation, and cannot afford to waste this golden opportunity.”

Thompson spoke of the money heading to “three core investment areas”: Building reserves, revenue generation or debt reduction.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem.

Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Eggs Up Grill has 90 restaurants in nine southern states, up from 26 in 2018. Florida-based Another Broken Egg Café celebrated its 100th restaurant last year.

Fast-food chains are also adding more breakfast items. Starbucks, which launched egg bites in 2017, now has a breakfast menu with 12 separate items containing eggs. Wendy’s reintroduced breakfast in 2020 and offers 10 items with eggs.

Reviews website Yelp said 6,421 breakfast and brunch businesses opened in the United States last year, 23% more than in 2019.

In normal times, producers could meet the demand for all those eggs. But an ongoing bird flu outbreak, which so far has forced farms to slaughter more than 145 million chickens, turkeys and other birds, is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. In January, the average price of eggs in the U.S. hit a record $4.95 per dozen.

The percentage of eggs that go to U.S. restaurants versus other places, like grocery stores or food manufacturers, is not publicly available. U.S. Foods, a restaurant supplier, and Cal-Maine Foods, the largest U.S. producer of shell eggs, did not respond to The Associated Press' requests for comment.

But demand from restaurants is almost certainly growing. Foot traffic at U.S. restaurants has grown the most since 2019 for morning meals, 2019, according to market research firm Circana. Pre-lunchtime hours accounted for 21% of total restaurant visits in 2024.

Breakfast sandwiches are the most popular order during morning visits, Circana said, and 70% of the breakfast sandwiches on U.S. menus include eggs.

Eggs Up Grill CEO Ricky Richardson said breakfast restaurants took off after the COVID pandemic because people longed for comfort and connection. As inflation made food more expensive, customers saw breakfast and lunch as more affordable options for eating out, he said.

The growth in restaurant demand reverses a pattern that emerged during the pandemic, when consumers tried to stock up on eggs for home use but restaurants needed fewer of them, according to Brian Earnest, a lead economist for animal proteins at CoBank.

Changing preferences since then have caused further market strain. Americans are increasingly looking for protein with few added ingredients, and eggs fit that bill.

“Consumers think eggs are really fresh, so if you’re making something with eggs, you know it’s fresh,” Earnest said.

To address animal rights concerns, McDonald’s and some other companies have switched to 100% cage-free eggs, which limits the sources they will buy from. Ten states, including California and Colorado, have passed laws restricting egg sales to products from cage-free environments.

“It makes the market much more complicated than it was 20 years ago,” Earnest said.

The higher prices are hitting restaurants hard. Wholesale egg prices hit a national average of $7.34 per dozen last week, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That was 51% higher than at the beginning of the year. Wholesale costs may be higher than retail prices since grocers use eggs as a loss leader to get customers in the door.

Some chains, like Waffle House, have added a surcharge to help offset the cost of eggs. Others may turn to egg substitutes like tapioca starch for some recipes or cut egg dishes from the menu, said Phil Kafarakis, the president and CEO of the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association.

First Watch President and CEO Chris Tomasso said eggs are critical for the chain's brand and are found in the majority of its offerings, whether at the center of the plate or as an ingredient in batters. So far, he said, the company has been able to obtain the eggs it needs and isn't charging extra for them.

First Watch is also increasing portion sizes for non-egg items like meat and potatoes, Tomasso said.

Richardson, of Eggs Up Grill, said he recently met with franchisees to discuss adding a surcharge but they decided against it.

“Eggs have always been and will continue to be an important part of American diets,” Richardson said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation accelerated last month as the cost of groceries, gasoline and rents rose, a disappointment for families and businesses struggling with higher costs and likely underscoring the Federal Reserve’s resolve to delay further interest rate cuts.

The consumer price index increased 3% in January from a year ago, Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed, up from 2.9% the previous month. It has increased from a 3 1/2 year low of 2.4% in September.

The new data shows that inflation has remained stubbornly above the Fed's 2% target for roughly the past six months after it fell steadily for about a year and a half. Elevated prices turned into a major political hurdle for former President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump pledged to reduce prices on “Day 1" if elected, though most economists worry that his many proposed tariffs could at least temporarily increase costs.

The unexpected boost in inflation could dampen some of the business enthusiasm that arose after Trump's election on promises to reduce regulation and cut taxes. The Dow fell 400 points in mid-day trading Wednesday. Bond yields rose, a sign traders expect inflation and interest rates to remain high.

“We're really not making progress on inflation right now,” Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “This just extends the Fed's hold.”

Inflation often jumps in January as many companies raise their prices at the beginning of the year, though the government’s seasonal adjustment process is supposed to filter out those effects.

Yet House said inflation's stubbornness wasn't just a one-month blip. Consumers — particularly wealthier ones — are still spending at a robust pace, giving many companies less reason to hold down prices. And much of the decline in inflation in 2023 and early last year stemmed from supply-chain improvements, but that trend has mostly played out.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core consumer prices rose 3.3% in January compared with a year ago, up from 3.2% in December. Economists closely watch core prices because they can provide a better read of inflation's future path.

Inflation also worsened on a monthly basis, with prices jumping 0.5% in January from December, the largest increase since August 2023. Core prices climbed 0.4% last month, the most since March 2024.

Grocery prices climbed 0.5% just in January, pushed higher by a 15.2% surge in egg prices, the biggest monthly increase since June of 2015. Egg prices have soared 53% compared with a year ago.

An avian flu epidemic has forced egg producers to cull from their flocks about 40 million birds in December and January. Stores have imposed limits on egg purchases and restaurants have placed surcharges on egg dishes.

The cost of car insurance continues to rise, and picked up 2% just from December to January. Hotel prices rose 1.4% last month, while the cost of a gallon of gas moved up 1.8%.

Trump’s tariffs are making life more complicated for Phil Hannon, vice president of operations at Abt, a consumer electronics store in Glenview, Illinois. Roughly 60% of Abt’s sales are appliances, big and small. The rest are in consumer electronics like TVs and computers, and furniture.

Hannon expects to raise prices between 3% and 15% as soon as March to offset the impact of tariffs, including the steel and aluminum duties.

He’s received notices from vendors over the past two weeks warning about eventual price increases, though they’re not specific. To get ahead of the cost increases, Hannon has been locking in orders from suppliers for up to 90 days.

Hannon said that many customers are already asking about price increases and when the tariffs are coming. He started seeing a noticeable pickup of customers ordering products like washing machines this month to get ahead of the tariffs.

Separately, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee that the Fed “has made great progress” on inflation “but we're not quite there yet."

"Today's inflation print ... says the same thing," he added. As a result, the Fed wants to keep rates “restrictive for now," he said. At its current level, the Fed's key rate is restricting borrowing and spending by consumers and businesses, Powell has said.

With inflation down significantly from its 9.1% peak in June 2022, the Fed cut its rate to about 4.3% in its final three meetings last year. It raised its benchmark rate in 2022 and 2023 to a two-decade high of 5.3% to combat inflation.

The Fed’s rate typically influences other borrowing costs for everything from mortgages to credit cards.

Early Wednesday, Trump said on social media that interest rates should be lowered, “something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!!” Yet the tick up in consumer prices makes it less likely the Fed will cut rates anytime soon.

One sign of concern for economists is that goods prices, excluding food and energy, rose 0.3% in January from the previous month. Prices for cars, furniture, and appliances had been flat or falling after supply-chain kinks stemming from the pandemic were resolved. Yet now those prices have ticked up even before tariffs have been launched.

Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, which could push the cost of cars, appliances, and industrial machinery higher. He also said earlier this week he would impose “reciprocal tariffs” on countries that have high duties on U.S. goods.

“There’s just a stew of uncertainty that if it lasts and lingers over the next couple months, you could see business confidence come down,” Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise, said. That could reduce hiring and investment, he said.

On Tuesday, Powell acknowledged that higher tariffs could lift inflation and limit the central bank's ability to cut rates, calling it “a possible outcome.”

But he emphasized that it would depend on how many imports are hit with tariffs and for how long.

“In some cases it doesn’t reach the consumer much, and in some cases it does,” Powell said. “And it really does depend on facts that we we haven’t seen yet.”

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AP Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio contributed to this report from New York.