Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level in more than a month, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage declined to 6.47% from last week’s reading of 6.52%.
The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.81% a year ago.
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“Incoming data continues to reflect a resilient consumer, with retail sales improving and pending home sales strengthening, suggesting purchase demand is continuing to modestly improve,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 5.81% from last week’s reading of 5.84%.
Rates have been elevated of late as concerns over the Iran war weighed on markets. On June 17, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum of understanding while attending meetings in France, while Iran signed remotely. The temporary framework calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, limits on Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile and a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent agreement addressing Tehran’s nuclear program.
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The deal also includes provisions to ease economic pressure on Iran, including access to some frozen assets and the lifting of certain restrictions, while drawing criticism from some conservatives who argue the agreement offers too many concessions without requiring Iran to immediately dismantle its nuclear infrastructure.
“The previous weeks have been filled with constant back-and-forths, showing progress toward a resolution, only to be followed by heightened military action,” said Realtor.com senior economist Anthony Smith. “However, the latest rounds have proven more promising than previous periods of reprieve, as a tentative deal has now been drafted and now signed by President Trump.”
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Mortgage rates are affected by several factors, including the Federal Reserve and geopolitics. Though mortgage rates are not directly affected by the Fed’s interest rate decisions, they closely track the 10-year Treasury yield. The 10-year yield hovered around 4.45% as of Friday afternoon.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday announced that it will hold interest rates steady due to concerns about elevated inflation amid the war in Iran, as new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s tenure leading the central bank begins in earnest.
Fed policymakers voted 12-0 to leave the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at its current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. The move follows the central bank’s decision to hold rates steady in January, March and April following three successive 25-basis-point rate cuts in September, October and December to close out last year.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the central bank’s panel responsible for monetary policy moves, noted in its statement that inflation remains elevated above the central bank’s 2% goal, which it said was “in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy.”
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“Warsh used his first decision as chair to signal a broader regime change: the easing bias is gone, forward guidance has been shelved, and the committee’s statement was rewritten around a single, unhedged commitment to delivering price stability,” Smith said. “Markets responded with a jump in the 10-year Treasury and rising odds of a rate hike before year’s end. The logic of Warsh’s approach, earning credibility by following through rather than telegraphing, is sound and ultimately the path to lower long-term rates. But a market without clear guidance may demand a premium in the near term, which could keep mortgage rates from falling as quickly as the Iran ceasefire alone might suggest.”

M&M’s makers Mars will debut artificial dye-free candies in August in a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)-compliant move after facing pressure from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
But while the classic candy-maker was able to use natural sources like beets or turmeric to replicate colors like red and yellow, shades of blue have proven considerably more difficult and expensive to recreate naturally.
Mars has been replicating blue and brown’s artificial coloring using spirulina extract, a concentrated blue-green algae powder, but the substance is prohibitively expensive.
Turmeric, for example, is available in bulk from most wholesalers for prices in the $9-$11 per lb. range. Spirulina, by contrast, can be significantly more expensive. The raw supplement can cost up to $20 per lb. at similar wholesalers, while the concentrated form most often used for food dyes is often priced at over $100 per lb.
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Furthermore, spirulina’s viscous nature has caused clogging in M&M’s factory spray nozzles and created film build-ups in manufacturing equipment, creating a potential safety and health hazard, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The high costs associated with MAHA-ifying its products have driven Mars into a colorful dilemma, according to the Journal. Wanting to debut its altered product ahead of the company’s 85-year anniversary in August, Mars has spent millions in an effort to find alternatives.
Given the high costs of reproducing blue, Mars considered just rolling out a three-color mix of red, orange and yellow, but executives felt “the sunset vibes were too strong,” the Journal reported.
Anton Vincent, the leader of the company’s North American snacks division, told the Journal the replacement effort “was a daunting situation,” adding, “you’re messing with an 85-year-old icon.”
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Mars had originally announced a plan to offer artificial dye-free products in 2016, but reversed the decision after announcing customers didn’t seem to care.
But, thanks to a Kennedy-led push to pressure companies to ditch artificial materials, Mars again announced in 2025 they would be pivoting to natural dye options.
Kennedy Jr. has frequently criticized the use of artificial dyes in U.S. food products, calling them a key driver in numerous American health epidemics.
“When we look at these nine specific food dyes, the science shows a clear, undeniable link to behavioral disruptions in our kids and long-term cancer risks. We are systematically clearing them out,” he said in a 2025 press conference with West Virginia’s Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
West Virginia became the first to sign into law a total ban on statewide sales of major artificial dyes in 2025.
Kennedy Jr.’s HHS added Mars to a list of 27 corporations that have pledged to remove artificial food dyes from certain products in his office’s effort to eliminate petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply.
Federally, his office has formally banned four petroleum-based artificial food dyes, revoking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization for brominated vegetable oil (BVO), Red Dye no. 3, Citrus Red No. 2 and Orange B.
Kennedy Jr. has also pushed hard to get companies to phase out six other specific dyes — Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3.
His office has cited animal studies that linked consumption of specific artifical dyes to cancer risks and long-term behavioral dysfunctions.
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The FDA cited the Delaney Clause, a provision requiring the institution to prohibit a chemical if it’s found to cause cancer in humans or animals, after banning Red Dye No. 3 in 2025. Numerous long-term animal studies found the chemical linked to cancer development in rats.
FOX Business contacted Mars and HHS for further comment.

It may soon get easier for older men to get ahold of testosterone therapy.
On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it is requesting updates to the prescribing information testosterone replacement therapy drugs, or TRT.
The department is hoping to roll back restrictions on access for older men — but not all experts are convinced there’s enough research to make such sweeping changes.
In 2015, the FDA slapped warning labels on testosterone medications, cautioning that they weren’t proven safe for low-T and might trigger heart attacks or strokes.
Now, HHS is reversing course. Citing new research that suggests the hormone is far less risky than once feared, officials dropped the cardiovascular warnings in 2025 and are now pushing to tone down alerts regarding prostate cancer and enlargement.
“During Men’s Health Month, we are putting science back at the center of men’s healthcare,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared in a press release. “By updating testosterone therapy labels to reflect current evidence, we are giving patients and physicians clearer information, supporting informed medical decisions, and improving care for millions of American men.”
What is TRT taken for?
TRT requires a prescription and is used to treat hypogonadism, when the testicles don’t produce enough sex hormones — mainly testosterone. It can help improve sex drive, boost performance, increase muscle, drop fat, and stabilize energy and mood.
Research suggests testosterone levels naturally start decreasing around age 35. Around 35% of men older than 45 have hypogonadism.
Excess body fat also lowers testosterone levels, and low testosterone makes it harder to lose weight. As many as 30-50% of men with obesity or type 2 diabetes have hypogonadism.
TRT and the heart
The 2015 warnings were prompted by potential heart risks — and, HHS said this week, “limited” evidence of benefits.
But the department said more recent research suggests heart risk may not be as big of a problem as feared, citing the 2023 TRAVERSE trial, which examined over 5,200 men with high risks of heart disease and symptoms of hypogonadism.
Researchers found that testosterone caused about the same number of major cardiac events — like heart attacks, strokes and death — as a placebo.
However, compared to the placebo group, those using TRT were more likely to have developed atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rate that can increase the risk for stroke and heart failure, and pulmonary embolism, a blood clot blocks blood flow to a lung artery.
“The cardiovascular effects of testosterone-replacement therapy in middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism have not been determined,” the authors concluded.
While some experts say testosterone is safe, others insist more research is needed.
But based on this study and “other available evidence” that the HHS doesn’t cite, the “FDA has concluded that the limitation of use is no longer warranted.”
“As our understanding of testosterone therapy continues to evolve, prescribing information should reflect the best available science,” said Brian J. Christine, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health. “This action helps ensure patients and healthcare providers have accurate, up-to-date information when considering treatment options.”
TRT and prostate health
Currently, labels on testosterone warn that men with prostate cancer, or even suspected prostate cancer, should not use it. Research shows that cancer can grow and multiply with TRT.
It also says it could increase the risk for developing prostate cancer.
The HHS is suggesting use only be limited for people with metastatic prostate cancer, or prostate cancer that spread to other parts of the body. Experts say that TRT does not increase the risk of developing prostate cancer in people who do not have it already.
“However, important uncertainties remain because prostate cancer can take years to develop,” the HHS said. “The proposed labeling continues to recommend that healthcare providers assess risk, screen patients before treatment and monitor patients during therapy.”
The FDA is also requesting updates to labeling information related to benign prostatic hyperplasia, or a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate.
Currently, the labels say TRT could make it worse. The FDA is asking to change labels to recommend “continued monitoring of patients with severe symptomatic disease during treatment.”
The FDA found that TRT doesn’t make symptoms worse for men with mild to moderate benign prostatic hyperplasia, but the TRT’s effects are more unclear for men with severe symptoms.

Following SpaceX’s IPO on June 12 — the biggest in history, which made Elon Musk a trillionaire — the stock price dipped just days later when the company announced the acquisition of AI coding agent Cursor.
The initial price was $135, and reached over $170 the same day, Mashable reported. By Tuesday, June 16, it hit a high above $225, according to Forbes, but some of those gains were lost by Wednesday.
The $60 billion deal between SpaceX and Anysphere, the startup behind Cursor, was announced on Tuesday. The next day, the price fell five percent, CNBC reported, and dropped another 3.75 percent on Thursday.
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The markets are closed today, June 19, with SpaceX’s current share price at $185 at the time of this writing. It’s dropped slightly today, but it’s still well above its IPO share price.
But how low will it go? Investor research firm Morningstar reported that SpaceX is wildly overvalued, with its fair value estimate at $62 a share, and a best-case scenario would price shares at $169. That would be lower than today’s price, but still higher than its IPO.
Not everyone believes SpaceX is overvalued, though. Investment bank Oppenheimer and Co. raised its projection for SpaceX stock from $190 to $250 following the acquisition disclosure. Analyst Timothy Horan said that SpaceX “owns every layer of the AI stack, giving it cost and quality advantages,” and that Cursor is a major component of that.
So it remains to be seen whether the stock will dip much lower — and unless it dips below $138, Musk remains a trillionaire.

As India searches for a homegrown contender in the global artificial intelligence race, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is positioning Reliance Industries as a national champion, rolling out AI services for phone calls, mobile apps, and connected homes.
At its annual shareholder meeting on Friday, the Mumbai-based conglomerate announced Jio Call Agent, an AI assistant that can join phone calls to transcribe conversations, generate summaries, and perform tasks such as booking cabs, ordering food, and making reservations. The service, which can be activated by saying “Hey Jio,” is expected to launch later this year for Jio’s more than 500 million users.
By embedding the service directly into its telecom network rather than offering it as a standalone app, Jio is betting AI assistance can become a native feature of phone calls. The approach could reduce consumers’ reliance on third-party call-assistant apps and give Reliance a powerful distribution advantage in an increasingly crowded AI market.
Reliance also unveiled an AI-powered version of its MyJio app that can perform tasks on behalf of users, from activating eSIMs to selecting roaming plans, through natural-language requests. The company further introduced TeleFrame, a home display that uses AI agents to proactively surface information and recommendations, such as weather alerts, schedules, and household reminders. The product appears to echo a broader industry push toward ambient AI assistants for the home, an area being explored by companies including Amazon and Google.
The announcements mark the next phase of Reliance’s AI ambitions as India seeks to build domestic capabilities in a field largely dominated by U.S. and Chinese technology companies. The push follows the launch of Reliance Intelligence last year, through which the conglomerate aims to develop AI infrastructure and services for consumers, businesses, and governments, including applications that support 22 Indian languages.
“India should not be a mere consumer of AI created elsewhere. It must become a creator, adopter, and a global leader in AI,” Ambani, 69, said.
Reliance has been ramping up its AI ambitions through partnerships with Google, Meta, and Nvidia. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to invest $110 billion in AI infrastructure as it seeks to establish itself as a major player in India’s emerging AI ecosystem.
At the shareholder meeting, Reliance also unveiled a suite of AI services for healthcare, education, agriculture, and small businesses. The products, branded JioHealthIQ, JioLearnIQ, JioKrishiIQ, and AI Vyapar, are designed to operate across multiple Indian languages and cater to local needs, the company said.
The shareholder meeting also brought a major development for investors awaiting Jio’s stock market debut. Ambani said Jio Platforms’ board had approved a draft prospectus for an initial public offering that would include a fresh issue of up to 270 million shares, according to a stock exchange filing.
The announcements also raise questions about how Reliance will handle user data as it expands AI services across phone calls, mobile apps, and connected homes. While the company said the services would operate with user consent, it did not answer questions about whether data generated through the products could be used to train AI models or shared with technology partners.
Reliance’s AI ambitions come as Indian companies remain heavily reliant on foreign AI models and cloud providers. Recent restrictions on access to some of Anthropic’s latest models have underscored that dependency, showing how decisions made overseas can affect startups and businesses building AI products in India — the kind of supply-chain risk that’s pushing Indian conglomerates toward building their own stack rather than renting someone else’s.
Last week, Reliance announced a collaboration with Meta to establish an AI data center in the western state of Gujarat, building on Meta’s earlier investment in Jio Platforms and a joint venture launched last year to develop AI solutions for enterprise customers in India and overseas markets.
Reliance is not alone in pursuing AI opportunities. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and rival Adani Group have also expanded their AI initiatives and partnerships with global players, including Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI, as India’s largest corporations race to secure a leading role in the country’s AI future.
Nonetheless, for Reliance, the stakes are particularly high; it’s preparing Jio for a long-awaited stock market debut and needs new growth drivers, with the conglomerate’s shares down about 17% this year.