Ed Kalecki

in a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent.

Crews have found the bodies of eight backcountry skiers that are searching for one more who is still missing after an avalanche in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, making it the deadliest U.S.

avalanche in nearly half a century.

Authorities have told the families the mission has moved from rescue to recovery.

Six others from the same group of skiers were rescued Tuesday.

They were on a three-day trek in northern California's Sierra Nevada

as a monster winter storm pummeled the West Coast.

Billionaire retail tycoon Leslie Wexner told a U.S.

House panel Wednesday that he visited disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's private Caribbean island but said he wasn't aware of Epstein's sex trafficking operation at the time.

Wexner said he visited the island once with his wife and children for a few hours while the family was in the area on their boat.

This according to an opening statement Wexner made

and a deposition to congressional investigators that was provided to Bloomberg News by his attorney.

The House Oversight Committee has been investigating what role Epstein's broad network of connections may have played in facilitating his enterprise or delaying criminal prosecution.

This is California Democrat Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.

And Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett.

Oil gained as traders weighed whether talks between the U.S.

and Iran will be enough to avert conflict, following a report that American military intervention could come sooner than expected.

Brent crude briefly rose above $70, while West Texas Intermediate rose as much as 4.1 percent to trade near $65 a barrel after Axios reported that any U.S.

military operation would likely be a weeks-long campaign rather than the pinpoint operation that took place in Venezuela last month.

Israel's government is pushing for a scenario targeting regime change.