The world economy resisted battering by conflicts and inflation last year and is expected to grow a subdued 2.8% in 2025, the United Nations said Thursday.

In “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2025,” U.N. economists wrote that their positive prediction was driven by the strong although slowing growth forecast for China and the United States and by the robust performances anticipated for India and Indonesia. The European Union, Japan, and United Kingdom are expected to experience modest recovery, the report says.

“We are in a period of stable, subpar growth,” said Shantanu Mukherjee, chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Branch at the Economic Analysis and Policy Division at the U.N.’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

“This may sound a bit like what we were saying last year, but actually if you lift the hood and take a peek at the engine things are humming,” he said.

The report says the U.S. economy outperformed expectations last year thanks to consumer and public-sector spending, but growth is expected to slow from 2.8% to 1.9% this year.

The report points out that China sees its own strong growth slowing slightly from 4.9% in 2024 to 4.8% in 2025 due to lower consumption and property-sector weaknesses that are failing to make up for public investment and export strength. This is forcing the government to enact policies to lift property markets, fight local government debt and boost demand.

China’s “shrinking population and rising trade and technology tensions, if unaddressed, could undermine medium-term growth prospects,” the report reads.

The U.N. projected last January that 2024 global economic growth would be 2.4%. It said Thursday that the rate was estimated to have been higher, at 2.8%.

Both remain below the 3% rate that the world saw before the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.

European growth this year is projected to gradually pick up after a weaker than expected performance in 2024. Japan is poised to pick up from periods of near-recession and recession. India is expected to drive a strong outlook for South Asia, with regional growth projected at 5.7% in 2025 and 6% in 2026.

India’s 6.6% growth forecast for 2025 is backed by solid private consumption and investment growth, the report says.

— Associated Press

Mortgage rates at highest since July

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate ticked up again this week, remaining at its highest level since July.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate loan rate rose to 6.93% from 6.91% last week, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. It was at 6.66% a year ago. It has risen for four straight weeks.

The uptick in the cost of home loans reflects a rise in the bond yields that lenders use as a guide to price mortgages, specifically the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury.The government’s report on December home sales is due out later this month.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance, ticked up to 6.14%, up from 6.13% and also the highest since July. It was at 5.87% a year ago, Freddie Mac said.

N.Y. could limit hedge fund homebuying

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday said she will push for new laws to make it harder for hedge funds to purchase large numbers of single-family homes in the state.

In a statement, Hochul said she would propose legislation this year that would require a 75 day waiting period before large investment firms could place bids on new homes hitting the market and limit certain tax benefits when the firms purchase homes.

The plan comes as lawmakers elsewhere have also sought to address public concerns that hedge funds or other big investors are buying up single-family homes and shrinking the housing supply for individual buyers and families. Experts have blamed housing scarcity on several factors, including high mortgage rates and years of underbuilding of new homes.

Netflix sees success with first WWE event

The first episode of World Wrestling Entertainment’s “Monday Night RAW” on Netflix had 4.9 million views globally and averaged 2.6 million households in the U.S., according to VideoAmp.

Monday’s three-hour show from the Intuit Dome outside of Los Angeles kicked off WWE’s 10-year partnership with Netflix. The agreement, reached last January, is worth in excess of $5 billion with an option for Netflix to extend for an additional 10 years or opt out after five.

“RAW” averaged 1.2 million viewers last year on USA Network, according to Nielsen. Using Nielsen figures, it would be the highest-viewed episode since last year’s April 8 show, which was the night after WrestleMania, averaged 2.36 million in the U.S.

According to WWE, it was the most-viewed episode in five years.

The figures do not include the 92 countries or territories where Netflix doesn’t yet distribute WWE, which includes France, Germany, India, Italy and Japan.

Netflix — which has 282.3 million subscribers in more than 190 countries — is the exclusive home of “Raw” in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Latin America, with additional countries to be added over time.

— From news services