Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk.
Mortgage rates have climbed to their highest level of two thousand twenty six, delivering another blow to an already strained housing market. The move adds pressure to affordability at a moment when inventory remains tight and buyers are already stretched thin by elevated home prices across most major metros.
Turning to autonomous vehicles, Amazon's Zoox unit has issued a software recall after one of its unoccupied robotaxis drove directly into an active fire scene last month, navigating through heavy smoke without detecting the hazard. The incident raises pointed questions about sensor reliability and the readiness of robotaxi systems for real-world edge cases that training data may not have anticipated.
And in a story that sits squarely at the intersection of markets and politics, the White House teleprompter operator is on unpaid leave following allegations he used advance knowledge of presidential remarks to place bets on the prediction platform Kalshi. Kalshi's enforcement team has already contacted federal regulators, and the case is drawing fresh scrutiny to how prediction markets interact with privileged access to government information.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
