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DOJ opens 3rd probe of GMU in 3 weeks

SUMMARY:

Updated July 18

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a new of George Mason University, it announced Thursday, marking the third federal probe of the Fairfax County university opened in July.

Like the two previously announced investigations, which were opened by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, the DOJ’s probe specifically targets George Mason President Gregory Washington. A letter from Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s civil rights division, says: “We have reason to believe that during Gregory Washington’s tenure as president of GMU, race and sex have been motivating factors in faculty hiring decisions to achieve ‘diversity’ goals.”

In other words, Washington “openly advocated for race- and sex-based hiring processes at GMU” that are biased against white and male faculty candidates and employees, the letter states, and the university “may be engaged in employment practices that discriminate against employees, job applicants and training program participants based on race and sex in violation of Title VII.” The letter was sent to George Mason Rector Charles “Cully” Stimson on Thursday, as well as Torridon attorney Mike Fragoso, who has been hired to represent George Mason. Typically, the state attorney general’s office represents state university officials.

On Friday, Washington sent an email to the university community addressing the new investigation. He writes that “because the Board of Visitors has opted to outsource the university’s engagement with federal agencies to the Torridon Law firm, university staff is not able to make direct contact with the DOJ in order to learn more about the complaint.

“Regardless, we will as always work in good faith to cooperate fully with the investigation, and are gathering requested information as required,” Washington writes. “We remain confident that facts and evidence show that George Mason does not engage in ‘illegal DEI,’ as the general accusation has been labeled.” 

The DOJ released the letter Thursday with a news release; Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the civil rights division, is the same official who sent letters in May and June to former President Jim Ryan that demanded U.Va. prove that it was dismantling its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Ryan resigned in June and left office July 11, citing the DOJ’s pressure and threats to federal funding for the university’s researchers and student aid recipients. According to multiple reports, another DOJ attorney, Gregory Brown, said Ryan needed to resign, or U.Va.’s federal funding would be pulled.

In the letter, Dhillon cites “internal emails” sent to George Mason faculty members in 2020, just as Washington had taken office. In July 2020, just weeks into his term, Washington wrote to a faculty listserv that he “intended to ‘develop’ a ‘renewal, promotion, and tenure process’ to benefit ‘faculty of color and women in their professional work.'” He also allegedly wrote that “he will ‘develop specific mechanisms in the promotion and tenure process that recognize the invisible and uncredited emotional labor that people of color expend to learn, teach, discover, and work on campus,'” the letter said.

Dhillon also writes that in November 2020, Washington said in a video town hall that he “will advance an agenda of ‘antiracism’ as president of GMU,” and in 2022, Washington celebrated the work of a university employee who “helped incorporate DE&I in curriculum, the hiring process & more” in an X post. She adds that she has authorized a full investigation by her office “to determine whether GMU is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination.”

Washington wrote in his email to the campus that “parts of the complaint are based on outdated digital posts,” and he explains in an eight-paragraph section titled “Historical context” that the atmosphere in 2020 was quite different from today.

Different atmosphere

His 2022 tweet and November 2020 town hall quote “occurred in the wake of several tragic events culminating in George Floyd’s murder. As part of addressing this national reckoning, we were examining ourselves, looking for ways to become better.” Also, he added, “being Virginia’s largest and most diverse public university meant government leaders and the public expected George Mason to play a meaningful part in creating structures and programming to address old biases and persistent inequalities in business operations.”

Washington further notes that then-Gov. Ralph Northam launched the ONE Virginia plan in March 2021 to “advance ‘inclusive excellence across state agencies,'” including public universities. “George Mason did as expected by state government,” the president wrote. Part of the state code of law still requires all state agencies to “establish and maintain a comprehensive diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan in coordination with” the governor’s office, Washington added. “This is current law in Virginia.”

He adds that under Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who took office in 2022, new GMU Board of Visitors members who voiced criticism of DEI efforts began to call for a scaling back of the university’s DEI initiatives in late 2023, even though the ONE Virginia plan had not yet been rolled back. By 2025, though, after two university committees’ one-year study, “the board instructed us to dismantle programs and reassign or eliminate staff, which we have done.”

Washington writes that despite the shifts in policy under different governors, “we have leaned on our institutional values and stayed true to our core ethos to remain a constant beacon of welcoming and inclusivity to everyone who seeks us out.” He added that “it is inaccurate to conclude that we created new university policies or procedures that discriminated against or excluded anyone.

“Being under such federal investigations is not familiar territory to George Mason, and I understand how this can be upsetting and distractive to so many who work or study here,” he concludes. “As we work through this, it is my hope that we will be granted due process to explain in detail much of what I have highlighted above.”

Outside assistance

Eric Sell, an acting deputy assistant attorney general who joined the DOJ as counsel in April, has been assigned to the investigation, Dhillon writes. According to Sell’s LinkedIn page, he is a 2021 graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law and previously was associate litigation counsel for the Center for American Liberty, a conservative nonprofit Dhillon helped found in 2018.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on July 10 launched a probe investigating whether GMU has favored employees of underrepresented races in hiring and promotions, with similar allegations as the DOJ letter lays out. On July 1, the same DOE office opened a separate Title VI investigation into allegations that George Mason failed to protect Jewish students and faculty from antisemitism after the war in Gaza prompted campus protests around the country starting in October 2023.

James Finkelstein, a professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason, said Thursday that the third investigation “raises the stakes considerably for the university. The Commonwealth of Virginia doesn’t appear to be mounting a vigorous defense for the university,” which he speculates led to the board’s hiring of Torridon Law to represent them in this matter.

Fragoso, the attorney included in the DOJ’s letter to Stimson, is not registered to practice law in Virginia, according to the Virginia State Bar’s directory. Finkelstein, who co-wrote an op-ed in Washington’s defense, noted that Torridon Law was founded by Bill Barr, who served as U.S. attorney general during Trump’s first term, and Fragoso was chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who recently stepped down as the Senate Republican leader.

“It is what it looks like,” Finkelstein said. “It’s another example of the using pressure tactics to try to remove another president of a public university, just as they did at U.Va. It’s serious.”

A spokesperson for George Mason did not respond immediately for a request for comment Thursday night, but last week, the university noted that it “does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic national origin (including shared ancestry and/or ethnic characteristics), sex, disability, military status (including veteran status), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, pregnancy status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.” 

Carilion taps new chief nursing officer

Carilion Clinic announced several new changes this week.

The -based promoted Michelle Franklin has to . She is replacing Tami Frost, who will depart Carilion later this summer.

Franklin was most recently a Carilion vice responsible for women’s, children’s, nursing support and interpreter services. She began her career as a nursing assistant in 1990 and later progressed to roles in clinical and operational leadership, spanning over 30 years in both hospital and ambulatory areas. She previously served as co-interim chief nursing officer, overseeing the Nursing Center of Excellence and nursing at Carilion Medical Center and ambulatory practices. She has a master’s degree in nursing from Walden University.

Meanwhile, in June, Carilion appointed Dr. Andrew C. Herman as chair of its pediatrics department. Herman comes from Atrium Health in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he worked as vice president and chief medical officer for Levine Children’s Hospital and Jeff Gordon Children’s Center. He replaced interim chair Dr. Christopher Pierce, who retired from Carilion in May.

Herman has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Indiana University, earned a medical degree from Saint Louis University, and completed his pediatrics residency and neonatology fellowship at the .

Also, Carilion appointed Dr. Tristi Metcalf to chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department. She joined Carilion in April, replacing interim chair Dr. Isaiah Johnson, who remains a physician at Carilion.

Metcalf, a nationally recognized speaker on pelvic health and gynecology, comes from Cleveland Clinic, where she worked since 2021 as OB/GYN and Women’s Institute chief. She previously served as OB/GYN department chair at Houston Methodist Hospital.

She attended Lewis & Clark College and earned a medical degree from the Mayo Clinic Medical School. Metcalf completed residency at Texas A&M Health Sciences Center, Scott and White Hospital and fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She served in the U.S. Air Force for over a decade, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Carilion has more than 13,000 employees serving nearly 1 million patients through hospitals, outpatient specialty centers and primary care practices in an area spanning 20 counties, including the Roanoke and New River valleys.

SES completes $3.1B Intelsat purchase

Luxembourg-based announced Thursday that it has completed its $3.1 billion of -based services provider .

Intelsat previously stated that its , , would stay on at until the close of the transaction, but would not remain with the combined company. The combined SES is headquartered in Luxembourg, although the company will still have a “significant presence” in the U.S, with its North American main office located in McLean.

SES says the acquisition creates a “strengthened global satellite operator” with an expanded fleet of 120 satellites across two orbits. The company now has a network of approximately 90 geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites and nearly 30 medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites.

The combined company says the expanded fleet and access to low earth orbit satellites and an extensive ground network will allow it to deliver higher quality services and tailored solutions to its customers, representing sectors such as government, aviation, maritime and media.

“Today, we’re not just merging two companies — we’re creating a stronger company, built for the future,” SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said in a statement. “I want to extend a warm welcome to all new employees, customers and partners. In this new chapter, we are bringing together a powerful mix of talented , network infrastructure, spectrum, innovation and global relationships that will allow us to deliver next-generation connectivity and space-enabled services in smarter and quicker ways.”

The combined company is expected to generate €3.7 billion in revenue, the equivalent of $4.29 billion in U.S. dollars.

SES is publicly listed on the Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges.

BWXT wins $2.6B in contracts for naval nuclear reactor components

The U.S. Naval Propulsion Program has awarded , a -based manufacturer of nuclear components and fuel, contracts totaling approximately $2.6 billion for the manufacture of naval nuclear reactor components.

announced on Thursday that the contracts include future-year options.

The work will support Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines, as well as work for certain Ford-class aircraft carrier components. BWXT stated that the products included in the contracts will be delivered over the next six to eight years.

“The BWXT team is proud to produce this essential hardware that allows the to carry out its critical national security mission,” Gary Camper said in a statement. “That commitment to quality is the legacy that comes from our more than 70 years of service to the Navy.”

BWXT described a naval nuclear reactor as “a highly complex assembly” that requires several large, heavy components, numerous smaller, finely machined components and highly enriched uranium fuel. Work will be performed at BWXT facilities in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Virginia.

The new award is in addition to the $2.1 billion in contracts that the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program awarded to BWXT in February for nuclear reactor component manufacturing and material procurement for Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines, as well as Ford-class aircraft carriers.

In March, BWXT celebrated the official opening of its new Innovation Campus, set on 11 acres in Campbell County. The campus includes 170,000 square feet of offices and manufacturing space, which will house laboratories where the company’s Advanced Technologies business unit will design, build and test advanced nuclear systems for its clients, which include NASA, the Defense Department and commercial businesses.

The company announced in May that it completed its $525 million of Kinectrics, which provides nuclear power plant lifecycle support services and lifecycle management services. The acquisition nearly doubled the workforce of BWXT’s commercial operations group and allows BWXT to expand its products and services.

BWXT has nearly 10,000 employees and 20 major operating sites in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

UVA Health University Medical Center CEO to depart

SUMMARY:

  • University Medical Center is leaving in September for a new job in California
  • An interim leader will be named before her exit
  • Her exit marks the third top executive departure from UVA Health in five months amid broader leadership turnover

UVA Health is losing another one of its top executives, as University Medical Center CEO Wendy Horton has announced plans to leave in September to take a job at the University of California, San Francisco’s .

Horton is the third top executive to announce their departure from the Charlottesville-based health system within the last five months. She arrived at the medical center in March 2020 as the center’s chief operating officer at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven months later, she became the teaching hospital’s CEO, with responsibility for a facility with approximately 700 beds and roughly 9,000 employees.

“During her tenure as CEO of the University Medical Center, Wendy Horton has been an enormous driver of and contributor to the growth of our academic medical center as well as helping to progress UVA Health’s ambitious 10-year strategic plan,” said Dr. Mitchell H. Rosner, interim executive vice for health affairs at the , in a statement. “We wish Dr. Horton all the best as she takes on her exciting new role at UCSF Health.”

An interim leader will soon be named, Rosner said, with the expectation that the selected candidate will be in place by Horton’s departure in September.

“We are committed to a smooth leadership transition and will continue to rely on and support the many leaders and team members that provide exceptional care for our patients and families every day,” he said.

Horton did not immediately return requests for comment.

The health system’s website credits Horton for leading the UVA Health Medical Center in maintaining services during a pandemic staffing crisis, and for facilitating growth of the health system. Before joining UVA Health, Horton served as chief administrative officer of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and as vice president of operations at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.

UVA Health has seen a significant overhaul of its leadership in recent months. Earlier this week, the University of Virginia confirmed the planned departure of its medical school and UVA Health chief health affairs officer, , who has been at U.Va. since 2021.

Kibbe’s tenure took place amid tensions between UVA Health employees and senior leadership, with both her and former UVA Health CEO Dr. K. Craig Kent being the subjects of a 2024 “no confidence” vote by 128 physicians, who called for their resignations, accusing Kent and Kibbe of creating a “culture of fear and retaliation” that “compromised patient safety.” A letter from the physicians also accused UVA Health leaders of “excessive spending on C-suite executives and support” and “failure to be forthcoming on significant financial matters.”

Kent resigned as CEO of UVA Health in February, following a closed-session meeting of the U.Va. Board of Visitors. Kibbe remained in place, although a false letter of resignation made the rounds around the same period, forcing UVA Health head Dr. Mitch Rosner to state publicly that it was a hoax.

Kibbe is the sole finalist for the presidency of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, UTHealth announced Monday. However, U.Va. did not disclose who will serve in Kibbe’s position when she leaves, nor what the timeline will be to hire her replacement.

Currently, U.Va.’s president, UVA Health’s CEO and U.Va.’s provost posts are all filled on an interim basis. U.Va President Jim Ryan resigned June 27 under pressure by the administration’s . Former Provost Ian Baucom departed earlier this year to become president of Middlebury College.

Eva Hardy, a former state secretary of health and human resources, said she’s observed that the UVA Health system has faced “a string of issues.” She speculated the recent overhaul in UVA Health leadership may be somewhat related to the departure of Ryan.

“I’ve not seen such an overhaul of personnel from a major health system to this degree,” Hardy said. “Yeah, it’s, it’s almost like wiping the slate clean of everybody and the top positions. It’s unusual to have that many leave.”

She said the UVA Health system is at a critical point in determining who it will hire and what direction it wants to take going forward.

“How long is this going to take them to develop the kind of team, leadership team that they need? You know, they can’t just jump in and start the minute they arrive,” Hardy said. “It’s going to take them a while.”

Retail sales rebound in June despite tariff concerns

Summary

  • rose 0.6% in June after a 0.9% drop in May
  • April sales also declined slightly, down 0.1%
  • Consumer spending showed resilience despite tariff fears
  • rebounded after March buying surge ahead of 25% tariff
  • Excluding autos, sales increased 0.5%

WASHINGTON (AP) — After an earlier pullback, consumers picked up their spending in June despite anxiety over  and the state of the U.S. economy.

Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.6% in June after declining 0.9% in May, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Sales in April fell 0.1%, pulled down by a steep drop in auto sales, after Americans ramped up their car-buying in March to get ahead of Donald ‘s 25% duty on imported cars and car parts.

Excluding autos and automotive parts, sales rose 0.5%, according to the Commerce Department.

There was broad-based strength across the board. Clothing and accessories sales rose 0.9%, while health and personal care sales saw a 0.5% bump. Restaurants sales rose 0.6% , while online retailers recorded a 0.4% gain. Autos and automotive parts dealers rebounded with a 1.2% increase.

There were a few weak spots like electronics and appliance retailers and department stores, both of which had sales declines.

Heather Long, the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that remain low and consumers are still confident enough that the economy is chugging along.

“Don’t count the American consumer out yet,” said Long in a statement. “There’s still a lot of trepidation about tariffs and likely price hikes, but consumers are willing to buy if they feel they can get a good deal. The word of the summer for the economy is resilient.”

The retail sales report arrives amid a whipsaw frenzy of on and off again tariffs have that jolted businesses and households. For businesses, that has made it harder to manage supply and inventories. Americans are focusing more on necessities, when they do shop.

The latest government report showed that inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as Trump’s sweeping tariffs push up the costs of everything from groceries and clothes to furniture and appliances.

Consumer prices rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, the said Tuesday, up from an annual increase of 2.4% in May. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3% from May to June, after rising just 0.1% the previous month.

Trump insists that the U.S. effectively has no inflation as he has attempted to pressure  Chair into reducing short-term interest rates.

Yet the new inflation numbers make it more likely that the central bank will leave rates where they are. Powell has said that he wants to measure the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs before reducing borrowing costs.

Americans have continued to spend, which is what the Fed had hoped to curtail a little bit with rate hikes.

One big litmus test was Amazon’s four-day Prime event along with competing retail sales from the likes of Walmart and Target that kicked off last week. Adobe Digital Insights, which tracks online sales, reported that the sales events drove $24.1 billion in online spending, a 30.3% increase compared with the same period last year.

Still, those that were buying prioritized essentials like dish soap and paper products over big-ticket purchases, according to consumer data provider Numerator, based on its analysis of Amazon Prime orders.

Deborah Weinswig, founder and CEO of Coresight Research, said she’s becoming more optimistic about the financial health of the consumer after the Amazon Prime events. She said inventories are at a healthy level, and she didn’t see big fire sales.

” aren’t buying things that they don’t need,” she said. “I think it’s a healthier retail environment.”

Retailers are now turning their attention to the back-to-school shopping season, which is the second largest consumer rush after the winter holidays. Coresight Research estimates that total U.S. back-to-school spending will increase by 3.3% year compared with the year-ago period, to $33.3 billion. And it predicts that shoppers will do a big chunk of their shopping before August to get ahead of tariffs.

Economists will also dissect quarterly financial reports next month from major retailers like Walmart, Target and Macy’s, both for consumer behavior and to gauge how businesses are navigating a chaotic period of global trade due to fluid U.S. policies.

Levi Strauss & Co. said last week that it was cutting back on making styles that aren’t selling and making targeted price increases as it moves production away from China due to tariffs.

Jobless claims fall to 3-month low, defying tariff fears

Summary

  • fell by 7,000 to 221,000 last week
  • Lowest level of initial claims since mid-April
  • Fifth straight weekly decline in filings
  • Total continuing claims rose slightly to 1.96 million
  • shows resilience despite tariff worries

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in three months, a sign that the U.S. labor market remains sturdy despite fears over the impact of widespread U.S. .

The reported Thursday that jobless claims for the week ending July 12 fell by 7,000 to 221,000, the fifth straight weekly decline and the fewest since mid-April. Last week’s number was also lower than the 232,000 that analysts forecast. Applications for unemployment aid are viewed as representative of .

Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added a surprising 147,000 jobs in June, adding to evidence that the American labor market continues to show resilience despite uncertainty over Donald ‘s economic policies. The job gains were much bigger than expected and the unemployment rate ticked down 4.1% from 4.2% in May. Analysts were expecting the unemployment to rise to 4.3%.

Though the job market is broadly healthy by historical standards, some weakness has surfaced as employers contend with fallout from Trump’s policies, especially his aggressive tariffs, which raise prices for businesses and consumers. Most economists believe the import duties make the less efficient by reducing competition. They also invite retaliatory tariffs from other countries, hurting U.S. exporters and potentially driving businesses to freeze hiring or cut staff.

The deadline on most of Trump’s stiff proposed taxes on imports were extended again until Aug. 1. Unless Trump reaches deals with other countries to lower the tariffs, economists fear they could act as a drag on the economy and trigger another bout of inflation.

Companies that have announced job cuts this year include Procter & Gamble, Workday, Dow, CNN, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Microsoft, Google and Facebook parent company Meta.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday said that the four-week average of claims, which smooths out some of the weekly ups and downs, fell by 6,250 to 229,500.

The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the week of July 5 remained stable, ticking up by just 2,000 to 1.96 million.

Wall Street ticks toward a record as PepsiCo and tech stocks rally

Summary

  • Trump eases off threat to fire Fed Chair
  • S&P 500 futures flat, Dow futures dip, Nasdaq slightly up
  • rises on strong Q2 sales and profits
  • stock jumps 3.4% after massive beat
  • earnings due after market close

EW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is ticking toward a record on Thursday following some better-than-expected updates on the and a mixed set of profit reports from big U.S. companies.

The S&P 500 was up 0.5% in afternoon trading and on track to top its all-time high set a week ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 252 points, or 0.6%, as of 2:24 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.8% to its record set the day before.

Trading was calmer than Wednesday’s, when President Donald Trump jolted financial markets by saying he had discussed the “concept” of firing the chair of the  but was unlikely to do so. Such a move could help Wall Street get the lower it loves but would also risk a weakened Fed unable to make the unpopular moves needed to keep inflation under control.

A strong profit report from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. helped drive tech stocks, and its net income soared nearly 61% in the last quarter from a year earlier. The chip maker said it’s seeing strong demand from artificial-intelligence and other customers, and its stock that trades in the United States rose 4.1%.

Other stocks involved in AI also climbed, and a 1.2% gain for Nvidia was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500.

PepsiCo jumped 7% after delivering revenue and profit that topped Wall Street’s expectations. The drink and snack giant also stood by its financial forecasts given in April, which projected lower full-year profit than previous forecasts due to increased costs from and a pullback in consumer spending.

United Airlines flew 3.8% higher after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said it’s seen an acceleration in demand from customers that began in early July, and it’s expecting less uncertainty about the economy to hurt its business in the second half of this year.

Lucid Group’s stock surged 37.1% after it said Uber is aiming to use 20,000 or more of its vehicles over six years in a robotaxi program. Using an autonomy system by Nuro, it expects to launch “later next year in a major US city.”

Uber, which plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Lucid and Nuro, saw its stock edge down by 0.2%.

On the losing side of Wall Street was Abbott Laboratories, which fell 8% despite delivering results for the latest quarter that edged past analysts’ expectations. The company cut the top end of its forecasted range for revenue growth over 2025.

Elevance Health dropped 12% after reporting a weaker profit than analysts expected. It cut its forecast for profit in 2025 because of rising medical cost trends in its Affordable Care Act business, along with other factors.

Also falling were shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland and Ingredion, makers of high fructose corn syrup. Trump said Wednesday that Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship soft drink in the United States at his suggestion, though the company has yet to confirm that.

Ingredion dropped 0.8%, and Archer-Daniels-Midland fell 1%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following several better-than-expected reports on the economy.

One said that shoppers upped their spending at U.S. retailers by more last month than economists expected. Such spending, along with a relatively solid jobs market, has helped keep the U.S. economy out of a recession.

A separate report said that fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could be a signal of limited layoffs. A third suggested unexpectedly strong growth in manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region.

Such solid data could keep the Federal Reserve on pause when it comes to interest rates. The Fed has been keeping rates steady this year, after cutting them at the end of last year. The Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, has been insisting that he wants to wait for more data about how Trump’s tariffs will affect the economy and inflation before the Fed makes its next move.

That’s because while lower interest rates could goose the economy and prices for investments, they would also give inflation more fuel. And prices may already be starting to feel the upward effects of tariffs.

Thursday’s strong economic helped push the two-year Treasury yield, which closely tracks expectations for the Fed, up to 3.92% from 3.88% late Wednesday.

Longer-term Treasury yields were mostly steady, though, and the 10-year yield remained at 4.46% from late Wednesday. The Fed has less influence over these yields, where investors in the bond market carry more sway.

Bond investors had briefly driven longer-term yields higher on Wednesday, when fears were high that Trump may fire Powell. The president has been angrily calling for Powell to cut interest rates, and a less independent Fed may end up keeping short-term rates low in the near term. That, in turn, could allow inflation to run higher in future years.

Longer-term yields then relaxed after Trump said he was unlikely to fire Powell.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.

Eds: UPDATES: trading.

Trump comments on Fed chair jolt stock market swings

Summary

  • says he discussed firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
  • , Dow, Nasdaq all ended the day with gains
  • Markets swung sharply before rebounding
  • Investors weigh rate-cut hopes vs. Fed independence risks

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump sent the U.S. on a jagged round trip Wednesday after saying he had “talked about the concept of firing” the head of the Federal Reserve. Such a move could help Wall Street get the lower it loves but would also risk a weakened Fed unable to make the unpopular moves needed to keep inflation under control.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% after whipping through an earlier drop and subsequent recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 231 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.3% to its record set the day before.

Stocks had been rising modestly in the morning, before news reports saying that Trump was likely to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell quickly sent the S&P 500 down by 0.7%.

When later asked directly if he was planning to fire Powell, Trump said, “I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely.” That helped calm the market, and stocks erased their losses, though Trump added that he could still fire Powell if “he has to leave for fraud.” Trump has been criticizing a $2.5 billion renovation project underway of the Fed’s headquarters.

Trump’s main problem with Powell has been how the Fed has not cut interest rates this year, a move that would have made it easier for U.S. households and businesses to get loans to buy houses, build factories and otherwise boost the . Lower interest rates could also help the U.S. government, which is set to borrow and add a lot more to its debt after approving a wide range of tax cuts.

Powell, meanwhile, has been insisting that he wants to wait for more data about how Trump’s stiff proposed will affect the economy and inflation before the Fed makes its next move.

The Fed has two main jobs: keeping the job market strong while keeping inflation under control. Lowering interest rates would help boost the economy but would also give inflation more fuel when tariffs may be set to push prices for U.S. households higher.

A report on Wednesday said inflation at the wholesale level slowed to 2.3% last month, which was better than economists expected. It’s an encouraging signal, but it came a day after another report suggested that Trump’s tariffs are pushing up the prices U.S. shoppers are paying for toys, apparel and other imported products.

Trump’s tariffs are making their weight felt across financial markets. ASML, the world’s leading supplier of chipmaking gear, warned that it can’t guarantee growth next year, after delivering an expected 15% growth in sales for 2025.

Conditions still look strong for ASML’s customers in the artificial-intelligence business, but Christophe Fouquet said in a video that “the level of uncertainty is increasing, mostly due to macroeconomic and geopolitical consideration. And that includes, of course, tariffs.”

Shares that trade in the United States of ASML, which is based in the Netherlands, fell 8.3%.

Stocks of several U.S. companies reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected helped offset that.

Johnson & Johnson jumped 6.2% after the drug and medical device giant beat analysts’ sales and profit targets and raised its full-year forecasts for both. CEO Joaquin Duato said it expects “game-changing approvals and submissions” in the second half of 2025 on an array of products, including for lung and bladder cancer.

PNC Financial Services Group added 0.9% following its better-than-expected quarterly report, thanks in part to loan growth despite what CEO Bill Demchak called “an uncertain macro environment.”

GrabAGun, an online retailer of firearms and ammunition, swung sharply after combining with Colombier Corp. II and taking its spot on the stock market under the ticker symbol “PEW.” Donald Trump Jr., the son of President Trump, is joining the company’s board.

The stock quickly went from an early gain of 19% to a drop of 31% before finishing with a loss of 23.9%, with several halts in trading along the way.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 19.94 points to 6,263.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 231.49 to 44,254.78, and the Nasdaq composite gained 52.69 to 20,730.49.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell to 4.45% from 4.50% late Tuesday. It had been as low as 4.44% earlier in the day, but it climbed following the reports that Trump was likely to fire Powell.

A new Fed chair friendlier to Trump could mean lower short-term interest rates but also the opposite effect on longer-term yields. That’s because a less independent Fed would raise worries that it may also let inflation run higher in the future by being slow to raise interest rates.

In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly fell amid relatively modest movements.

Stocks rose 0.7% in Jakarta after Trump said Tuesday that he plans to charge imports from Indonesia a tariff of 19%, instead of the 32% that he had threatened earlier, after reaching a trade deal.

Indonesia’s central bank also cut its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday, to 5.25%.

“We have calculated everything and discussed everything. The most important thing for me is my , as I must protect the interests of our workers,” Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto told reporters, adding that “this is our offer, and we are not able to give more (to the United States).”

Leadership Metro Richmond names new CEO

Leadership development organization Metro announced Monday that Chris Edwards will be its new and , effective Aug. 11.

Edwards is succeeding Myra Goodman Smith, who served in the role for 15 years and will retire July 31.

LMR was founded in 1980 by Richmond’s to improve racial, gender and socio-economic divides in the community. The organization connects leaders and partners with organizations to create community engagement opportunities. LMR has six staff members.

More than 2,000 leaders have participated in the organization’s 10-month leadership development program, Leadership Quest.

Edwards most recently served as director of mission advancement at SupportWorks Housing (formerly Virginia Supportive Housing), where he guided strategic operations, helped secure $1.2 million in annual philanthropy and led a rebranding and renaming initiative across multiple regions.

In his new role, Edwards will help the organization expand its reach and accelerate innovation.

“We are thrilled to welcome Chris to lead our organization into its next era,” Jeff Conley, chair of LMR’s board of directors, said in a statement. His strategic insight, deep commitment to inclusive leadership and proven track record in developing high-performing teams make him the right leader for this transformative chapter.”

Edwards has a bachelor’s degree from Washington and Lee University and a master’s from Portland State University. He is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, but has called Richmond home for most of his adult life.