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Americans are paying for the war in Iran with every visit to the gas station, but some of the damage to the U.S. economy is being offset — for now anyway — by big tax refunds and an investment boom driven by artificial intelligence. According to a slew of economic data released Thursday, prices rose at the fastest pace in almost three years last month, U.S. economic growth is steady and layoffs fell last week. But an inflation gauge closely monitored by the Fed had its biggest gain in three years, driven by soaring gasoline prices.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits tumbled below 200,000 last week despite a number of economic headwinds including the war in Iran. U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 25 fell by 26,000 by to 189,000, down from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s well below the 214,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.  The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 18 fell to 1.79 million.

While Charles and Queen Camilla make their first state visit to the U.S. since he became king, they will also support The King’s Trust, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary with a gala in New York on Wednesday. The nonprofit is currently expanding in more than two dozen countries including the United States. The King’s Trust has supported young people launching their careers, reaching more than 1.3 million young Brits through its education and employment initiatives, creating countless success stories that include those of celebrated actor Idris Elba and noted fashion designer Ozwald Boateng.

CAIRO (AP) — In the heartland of Iran’s famed carpet-making industry, manufacturing has ground to a near halt. Dairies struggle to find packag…