ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — There will be a new burled arch over the finish line to welcome mushers in next year’s Iditarod, a race official said days after the current arch crumbled into a wood pile.
That arch, which has been used since the 2000 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, collapsed in Nome on Saturday, likely from wood rot after being exposed to the salt water and cold air blowing off the Bering Strait into the western Alaska coastal community.
“The need for a new arch has been on our radar,” race spokesperson Shannon Noonan said in an email to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“Race Director Mark Nordman has been working with Nome Mayor John Handeland on the commission of the reconstruction of the new arch to ensure we have a new arch for Iditarod 2025,” she said.
The arch wasn’t always over the finish line, which had an inauspicious beginning. According to the Iditarod website, legend has it someone sprinkled Kool-Aid crystals across the ice for a finish line for the very first race in 1973. A year later, two men each held a paper plate with the words “The” on one and “End” on the other.
Musher Red “Fox” Olson felt the finish line needed something more permanent and spent about 500 hours constructing the arch that weighed 5,000 pounds. It was in place for the 1975 race.
Olson’s original arch was damaged in 1999 when it was being moved off Front Street, where the finish line lies a half block from the sea, after the race.
A new arch was built in time for the 2000 race, but weather took its toll over the years on it, as well. It required major work in 2013.
Noonan said the replacement arch used the posts from the original 1975 sign to keep it aloft. It’s not know what the condition of the support posts were after the collapse, and social media photos show one on the ground and the other still standing.
Handeland gathered pieces of the sign to safekeeping and encouraged people to return any wood pieces they might have taken as souvenirs.
The city plans to hang the second arch below the original in the city’s recreation center. Meanwhile, a city post on social media says people are out scouting for the perfect tree to be the third burled arch.
The Iditarod, the world’s most famous sled dog race, begins with a ceremonial start in Anchorage the first Saturday in March. The official start is the following day just north in the community of Willow, and the winner of the 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race reaches Nome about nine days later.
Musher Dallas Seavey won this year’s race, his record-breaking sixth victory. The race was marked by the deaths of three dogs during the competition.
FILE - Tourists pose under the famed burled arch, which serves as the finish line in the nearly thousand-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska, on Friday, March 7, 2014. Nome Mayor John Handeland said the arch collapsed Saturday, April 27, 2024, likely from wood rot. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
FILE - In this March 16, 2015, volunteers help raise the Iditarod finishers banner at the burled arch finish line in Nome, Alaska. Nome Mayor John Handeland said the arch collapsed Saturday, April 27, 2024, likely from wood rot. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are closing their best week in two months with a flourish on Friday.
The S&P 500 was 1.2% higher in midday trading and on track for its first winning week in the last three. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 447 points, or 1%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.7% higher.
SLB helped lead the market after the provider of services to oilfields delivered bigger profit and revenue for the end of 2024 than analysts expected. It jumped 7.6% after it also raised its dividend by 3.6% and said it’s returning $2.3 billion to its investors by buying back its own stock.
The most forceful pushes upward came from Big Tech stocks. All the companies in what’s come to be known as the “Magnificent Seven” rose: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Tesla. Because they’re so massive in size, their movements carry more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes than other stocks.
The Magnificent Seven have been under pressure recently because of criticism their stock prices may have shot too high after leading the market for so many years. Such worries gained momentum after Treasury yields jumped in the bond market in recent weeks. Higher yields hurt prices for all kinds of investments, and they weigh particularly on those seen as the most expensive.
But stocks broadly got a lift this week from an encouraging report on inflation, which raised hopes that the Federal Reserve may deliver more cuts to interest rates this year. More such cuts, which began in September, would ease the brakes off the economy and boost prices for investments, though they could also give inflation more fuel.
Wall Street has been lurching down and up in recent weeks as economic reports have forced traders to revamp their expectations about what the Fed will do with rates. Lower worries about inflation have sent Treasury yields down and stocks up, while worsening worries about inflation have triggered the opposite reaction.
Treasury yields eased sharply this past week, and the 10-year Treasury yield edged down further on Friday. It’s at 4.61% from 4.62% late Thursday and from 4.76% a week ago.
Still, even with this week’s better-than-expected readout on inflation, some on Wall Street remain skeptical about the chances for more cuts. With the U.S. economy in solid overall shape, “you shouldn't fix what's not broken," Bank of America economists Claudio Irigoyen and Antonio Gabriel said in a BofA Global Research report.
They also pointed to the uncertainties created by “Trumponomics 2.0." Policies pushed by President-elect Donald Trump could help push up inflation, or at least expectations for it, including widespread tariffs and tax cuts for an economy that's already still growing.
Prices for all kinds of investments from stocks to cryptocurrencies have swung up and down since an initial burst after Election Day amid the uncertainty. On one hand are hopes for stronger profits for companies and greater acceptance of crypto. On the other are worries about a potentially swelling U.S. government deficit and upward pressure on inflation.
Banks are still seen as some of the biggest beneficiaries from a second Trump administration. Besides a potentially stronger economy, which would help boost profits for lending, investors expect another Trump term to mean less regulation on banks.
Truist Financial rose 4.5% Friday after joining the list of banks to report better profits for the end of 2024 than analysts expected. The company said its average deposits rose 1.5% during the quarter, and it followed bigger-than-expected profit reports from large rivals like Wells Fargo, Citigroup and others.
Other smaller, regional banks reported mixed results on Friday. Regions Financial fell 1.3%.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services dropped 6.9% for the biggest loss in the S&P 500 after falling short of analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. Higher equipment and insurance-related costs helped drag on its results.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rallied in Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.
Chinese indexes rose modestly after authorities said the world’s second-largest economy grew at a 5% annual pace last year, hitting the government’s target but slowing from the year before. Economists are forecasting a further slowing of growth this year and beyond, and Trump’s threats to raise U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods have added to Beijing’s challenges as it faces a raft of moves by Washington to limit access to advanced technology, such as computer chips used in artificial intelligence.
Stocks rose 0.3% in Hong Kong and 0.2% in Shanghai.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% as Nintendo sank 4.3% following the unveiling of its newest console. The company promised more details about the Switch 2 in April and said it will be released this year.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
A person runs in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
An electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm is seen though a truck window Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)