Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US stocks drift near their record following an encouraging inflation update

SUMMARY:

  • nears record high as stays lower than forecast.
  • Consumer prices rose 2.4% in May, easing Wall Street fears.
  • Trump announces will supply under trade framework.
  • Fed rate cuts more likely after cooler inflation data.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting near their record on Wednesday after a report suggested President Donald Trump’s tariffs are not pushing inflation much higher, at least not yet.

The S&P 500 was down 0.1% in afternoon trading and is just 1.8% below its all-time high set in February. The Industrial Average was up 94 points, or 0.2%, as of 12:24 p.m. Eastern time, and the composite was 0.2% higher.

The action was a bit stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields eased after a report showed inflation ticked up by less last month than economists expected. U.S. consumers had to pay prices that were 2.4% higher overall in May than a year earlier. That was up from April’s 2.3% inflation rate, but it wasn’t as bad as the 2.5% that Wall Street was expecting.

A fear has been that Trump’s wide-ranging could ignite another acceleration in inflation, just when it had seemed to get nearly all the way back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target from more than 9% at its peak three summers ago.

It hasn’t happened, though economists warn it may take months more to feel the full effect of Trump’s tariffs. For the time being, many businesses may be pulling products they already had in their inventories rather than passing along higher costs from fresh imports.

“Another month goes by with little evidence of tariffs, but the longer-term inflation challenge they pose remain,” according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Financial markets also had only modest reactions to the conclusion of two days of trade talks between the United States and China in .

Trump said Wednesday that China will supply rare-earth minerals and magnets to the United States, while his country will allow Chinese students into U.S. universities in a deal that still needs an agreement by him and by China’s leader. Trump also said that “ XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!”

Investors are still hoping for a more sweeping that would ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Hopes for such deals between the United States and countries around the world have been one of the main reasons the S&P 500 has charged nearly all the way back to its all-time high after dropping roughly 20% below a couple months ago. Without them, the fear is that Trump’s high tariffs could drive the economy into a recession while pushing inflation higher.

On Wall Street, Chewy dropped 9.3% after the seller of pet supplies reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts had forecast. Expectations were high after its stock had already rallied nearly 37% coming into the day for the year so far.

Tesla helped support the market after rising 1.7%. It’s been recovering much of its big losses taken last week after Elon Musk’s relationship with Trump imploded, which in turn raised fears about a loss of business for the electric-vehicle company. Musk on Wednesday backed away from some of his earlier comments and said they went “too far.”

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.43% from 4.47% late Tuesday. Shorter-term yields, which more closely track expectations for what the Fed will do with overnight interest rates, fell more.

Wednesday’s better-than-expected reading on inflation raised expectations along Wall Street that the Fed could cut its main interest rate at least twice by the end of the year.

The Fed has been keeping interest rates steady so far this year, going on pause after cutting rates at the end of last year. It has been waiting to see how much Trump’s tariffs raise inflation because cutting interest rates could push inflation up even more, as they give the economy a boost.

“The Fed could be justified in doing some preemptive rate cuts,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “They were afraid that inflation would rise before growth would slow, but the script has been flipped and they will likely change their tune.”

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and rose in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi was one of the best performers and jumped 1.2%.

Trump says US gets rare earth minerals from China and tariffs on Chinese goods will total 55%

SUMMARY:

  • Trump announces 55% U.S. tariffs under framework.
  • to supply rare earth minerals and magnets up front.
  • Deal includes loosening restrictions on Chinese students.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the United States will get magnets and rare earth minerals from China under a new trade framework and that tariffs on Chinese goods will total 55%.

In return, Trump said, the U.S. will provide China “what was agreed to,” including allowing Chinese students to attend American colleges and universities. The Republican had recently begun to clamp down on the presence of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.

What Trump described as a “deal” actually is a framework to help the U.S. and China eventually negotiate a sought-after trade agreement, which Trump intends to do with numerous countries but so far has been unable to execute on as quickly as he promised the public he’d be able to.

So far, Trump only has announced the terms of a deal with the United Kingdom.

A White House official, who was not authorized to discuss the terms publicly and insisted on anonymity to describe them, said the 55% was not an increase on the previous 30% tariff on China because Trump was including other pre-existing import taxes.

“OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME.,” Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media site.

He said full magnets and any necessary will be supplied up front by China.

“WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” Trump wrote.

A Chinese statement on the talks did not reveal any details or concrete steps.

In a follow-up social media post, Trump said he and Xi “are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!”

Senior U.S. and Chinese negotiators announced late Tuesday in that they had agreed on a framework to get their back on track after a series of disputes that threatened to derail them.

The announcement came at the end of two days of talks in the British capital that wrapped up late Tuesday.

It also came as an international rights group said that several global brands are among dozens of companies at risk of using through their Chinese supply chains because they use critical minerals or buy minerals-based products sourced from the far-western region of China.

The report by the Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance says companies including Avon, Walmart, Nescafe, Coca-Cola and Sherwin-Williams may be linked to titanium sourced from Xinjiang, where rights groups allege the Chinese government runs coercive labor practices targeting predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities.

The report found 77 Chinese suppliers in the titanium, lithium, beryllium and magnesium industries operating in Xinjiang. It said the suppliers are at risk of participating in the Chinese government’s “labor transfer programs,” in which Uyghurs are forced to work in factories as part of a long-standing campaign of assimilation and mass detention.

Asked about the report, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that “no one has ever been forcibly transferred in China’s Xinjiang under work programs.”

The named companies didn’t immediately comment on the report.

Trump’s announcement showed that his tariff rates continue to be a moving target, rather than a transparent policy tool used to both raise revenues and clearly extract better terms in trade.

The U.S. president continues to take a mercurial approach to tariffs, threatening to change the rates in ways that trading partners find to be random. He recently doubled his steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%, possibly increasing costs for U.S. manufacturers and construction companies that rely on the metals as raw materials.

He threatened a 50% tariff on the European Union under the belief that it would jumpstart talks, only to back down as his self-imposed 90-day negotiating period is set to expire around July 9. A separate 90-day negotiating period with China is set to end in mid-August.

But Trump could change those dates and tariff rates as he has stressed the importance of flexibility over certainty. The president next week will attend the Group of 7 summit in Canada with other leading trade partners he has kept in limbo over his trade policies.

On Tuesday night, Trump won what he said was a “great and important” win when a federal appeals court ruled that the government can continue to collect his sweeping import taxes while challenges to his work their way through the courts.

There are still lingering tensions between China and the U.S. on overarching economic goals. The Trump administration wants more manufacturing to occur domestically while using tariff revenues to fund its income tax cuts, while China wants to continue its technological ascent and move beyond its advancements in electric vehicles to developing artificial intelligence.

The Trump administration has played down the risk of tariffs worsening . Shortly after Trump announced the framework with China, the Labor Department said consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 2.4%, with the cost of autos and apparel falling on a monthly basis in a sign that any economy-wide inflation from the tariffs has yet to appear.

Hubbard Peanut Co. names new CEO

Southampton County-based announced Tuesday that it has appointed , the grandson of the company’s founders, to be its new and .

The transition at the producer of , a popular Virginia-grown gift item, became effective June 1. Rabil is succeeding Lynne Hubbard Rabil, his mother, who is transitioning to a new role as executive adviser. The company says her new position allows “for a more focused role in providing strategic counsel.”

“Along with my brother and twin sisters, I have been involved in our family business from the earliest days, and I have strong memories of our meager beginnings in the kitchen of our five-room home,” Lynne Rabil said in a statement. “I am very excited about the next chapter under Marshall’s leadership but also happy that I will continue to play a part. I am confident that Marshall will maintain the ethos that our parents carefully developed and that our family has worked to nurture through these years.”

Marshall Rabil, named one of Virginia Business’s 100 People to Meet in 2025, was most recently the company’s director of sales and marketing.

Since 2016, Rabil has developed strategic marketing partnerships with PGA Tour events, increased wholesale partnerships to develop regional grocery partners throughout the U.S., and hired more full-time employees. In 2023, Rabil served as president of the Franklin-Southampton Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Working alongside our dedicated team on a business my grandparents started and my mother grew and led is an absolute honor,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s the biggest responsibility of my professional career, and I am looking forward to the challenge and opportunity.”

The company was founded in 1954 by Dot and HJ Hubbard.

Former Martin’s store in Chesterfield sells for $2.87M

Ukrop’s Super Markets last month sold the former Martin’s retail space at Chesterfield Meadows shopping center in to a limited liability company for $2.866 million.

Sunhe Property purchased the 4.3-acre site at 6401 Centralia Road on May 23, according to county real estate records. The land includes a 44,840-square-foot retail building.

James Ashby IV and David Crawford of , who handled negotiations on behalf of ‘s and arranged the sale, announced in a news release that the land was bought as an investment.

Longtime Richmond family grocery chain Ukrop’s purchased the site in 1986 and had owned the land up until last month. The building was remodeled into a Martin’s store in 2010, after the Giant-Carlisle division of Dutch company Ahold acquired all Ukrop’s stores and turned them into Martin’s grocery stores. Martin’s Richmond-area markets closed in 2017, although 10 were replaced by grocery stores after the Florida-based grocer purchased stores in the region.

The Chesterfield Meadows building has been vacant since 2017, according to Ashby.

Ashby said the buyer has retail plans for the space, but that he can’t provide any information about what they are. The registered agent for the LLC declined to comment.

Atlantic Shores moves to exit New Jersey offshore wind project

Summary:

  • Atlantic Shores files to terminate its 1.5-GW offshore wind project
  • Project faced regulatory, permitting, federal policy hurdles
  • Filing follows cancellation of key air permit and paused construction
  • Company cites future offshore potential

A project that was once supposed to establish the Garden State’s first offshore has filed to terminate.

 is a 50/50 partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF North America. The entity submitted a June filing to the  Board of Public Utilities. The document seeks to terminate the Offshore Wind Certificates (OREC) order for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1.

Despite Shell pulling out of Atlantic Shores 1 in January, the company remains a partner of the overall Atlantic Shores organization, according to its website. Slated for construction off the coast of Atlantic City, the project would have provided 1.5 gigawatts of power.

A number of issues have roiled the offshore wind industry — such as higher , , supply chain challenges and intense local opposition/litigation. Then, an executive order shortly after President took office essentially put most wind projects on pause.

Blowing in the wind?

In March, a key federal permit was also pulled for the project – further clouding its viability. That came on the heels of the NJBPU announcing it would not proceed with an award in its fourth offshore wind solicitation. Atlantic Shores rebid its project in Round 4. The move aimed to better reflect the changing economics of the industry since its initial approval. The NJBPU cited – in part – the uncertainty driven by federal actions and permitting.

NJBIZ recently reported on the setbacks the offshore wind sector has faced. Meanwhile, the broader energy issue has taken centerstage here in the Garden State.

The topic emerged as a key issue on the campaign trail as well as writ large, as a June 1 rate hike takes effect. Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced allocating $430 million to offer direct relief to all Jersey ratepayers.

Following the earlier cancellation of Ørsted’s Offshore Wind 1 and 2 projects, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1 would have established the state’s first .

“Due the uncertainty caused by the Presidential Wind Memorandum, the subsequent loss of the Air Permit, and other actions taken by the current administration more generally, Petitioner’s parent company has been forced to materially reduce its personnel, terminate contracts, and cancel planned project investments,” Atlantic Shores wrote in its filing. “The Petitioner has also had to seek a pause to its construction scheduled with the federal government as there has been no indication when or if the essential Air Permit would be reinstated.

“Most recently, this includes cancellation of the ISA and associated upgrades to the regional transmission grid. As a result of the foregoing developments, the Project is no longer viable upon the terms and conditions set forth in the OREC Order.”

Reboot-ready

In a statement,  Joris Veldhoven said this filing marks the closing of a chapter. However, it’s not the end for Atlantic Shores.

“Offshore wind continues to offer New Jersey a strong value proposition that includes thousands of good paying jobs, stable power prices and real economic benefits,” Veldhoven told NJBIZ. “While no ratepayer money or subsidy was spent on Atlantic Shores Project 1, this reset period presents us an opportunity to ensure utility customers continue to get a fair deal for critical infrastructure deliver. And with record demand for electricity outpacing supply, one thing’s for sure: New Jersey needs more power generation.

“Atlantic Shores stands ready to deliver high-capacity factor projects that will safeguard American business interests, support energy security, and improve quality of life for millions of Garden State residents.”

The NJBPU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

RTX subsidiary wins $646M contract modification

Raytheon, a subsidiary of -based aerospace and contractor , has been awarded a $646 million contract modification to continue producing the AN/SPY-6(V) family of radars for the .

The modification is the fourth option exercised from a potential $3.16 billion hardware, production and sustainment contract that the awarded in March 2022. Under the contract, the Navy will receive four additional radars, increasing the total number of radars under contract for procurement to 42.

“SPY-6 enables the U.S. Navy to see further than they’ve ever seen before, providing sailors with more time to respond to detected threats,” said Barbara Borgonovi, of naval power at , in a statement. “This latest contract builds on our decades of experience and technical expertise in developing modular, scalable and highly maintainable radars.”

The SPY-6 family of radars performs air and missile defense on seven classes of ships. Some of the advantages over legacy radars, according to RTX, include greater detection range, increased sensitivity and more accurate discrimination. The company says it can simultaneously defend against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, hostile aircraft and surface ships.

The majority of the work in the contract will take place at Raytheon’s development facility in Andover, Massachusetts, through 2028.

RTX has more than 185,000 employees globally and reported more than $80.73 billion in 2024 sales. The contractor is the second highest ranked Virginia-based company on the 2025 Fortune 500.

U.S. and China continue trade talks in London

SUMMARY:

  • U.S. and continue trade talks in
  • Meeting follows May 12 tariff suspension agreement
  • 90-day pause on 100%-plus still in effect
  • Delegations led by top U.S. and Chinese official

LONDON (AP) — The U.S. and China held a second day of talks Tuesday in London aimed at easing their , after said China is “not easy” but the U.S. was “doing well” at the negotiations.

A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier met U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer for several hours on Monday at Lancaster House, an ornate 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace.

Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister, and trade negotiator Li Chenggang are also in Beijing’s delegation.

Lutnick said as he arrived Tuesday morning that the talks were “going well,” and he expected them to continue all day.

Asked late Monday how the negotiations were going, Trump told reporters: “We are doing well with China. China’s not easy.”

The two sides are trying to build on negotiations in Geneva last month that agreed to a 90-day suspension of most of the 100%-plus tariffs they had imposed on each other in an escalating that had sparked fears of recession.

Since the Geneva talks, the U.S. and China have exchanged angry words over advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence, visas for Chinese students at American universities and that are vital to carmakers and other industries.

Trump spoke at length with Chinese leader Xi Jinping by phone last Thursday in an attempt to put relations back on track. Trump announced on social media the following day that the trade talks would resume in London.

China, the world’s biggest producer of , has signaled it may ease export restrictions it placed on the elements in April, alarming automakers around the world who rely on them. Beijing, in turn, wants the U.S. to lift restrictions on Chinese access to the technology used to make advanced semiconductors.

Trump said that he wants to “open up China,” the world’s dominant manufacturer, to U.S. products.

“If we don’t open up China, maybe we won’t do anything,” Trump said at the White House. “But we want to open up China.”

Citing trade wars, the World Bank sharply downgrades global economic growth forecast to 2.3%


SUMMARY:

WASHINGTON (AP) — ‘s are expected to slash economic growth this year in the United States and around the world, the World Bank forecast Tuesday.

Citing “a substantial rise in trade barriers” but without mentioning Trump by name, the 189-country lender predicted that the – the world’s largest – would grow half as fast (1.4%) this year as it did in 2024 (2.8%). That marked a downgrade from the 2.3% U.S. growth it had forecast back for 2025 back in January.

The bank also lopped 0.4 percentage points off its forecast for global growth this year. It now expects the world economy to expand just 2.3% in 2025, down from 2.8% in 2024.

In a forward to the latest version of the twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects report, World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill wrote that the has missed its chance for the “soft landing” — slowing enough to tame without generating serious pain — it appeared headed for just six months ago. “The world economy today is once more running into turbulence,” Gill wrote. “Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep.”

America’s economic prospects have been clouded by Trump’s erratic and aggressive trade policies, including 10% taxes — — on imports from almost every country in the world. These levies drive up costs in the U.S. and invite retaliation from other countries.

The Chinese economy is forecast to see growth slow from 5% in 2024 to 4.5% this year and 4% next. The world’s second-largest economy has been hobbled by the tariffs that Trump has imposed on its exports, by the collapse of its real estate market and by an aging workforce.

The World Bank expects the 20 European countries that share the euro currency to collectively grow just 0.7% this year, down from an already lackluster 0.9% in 2024. Trump’s tariffs are expected to hurt European exports. And the unpredictable way he rolls them out — announcing them, suspending them, coming up with new ones — has created uncertainty that discourages business investment.

India is once again expected to the be world’s fastest-growing major economy, expanding at a 6.3% clip this year. But that’s down from 6.5% in 2024 and from the 6.7% the bank had forecast for 2025 in January. In Japan, economic growth is expected to accelerate this year – but only from 0.2% in 2024 to a sluggish 0.7% this year, well short of the 1.2% the World Bank had forecast in January.

The World Bank seeks to reduce poverty and boost living standards by providing grants and low-rate loans to poor economies.

Another multinational organization that seeks to promote global prosperity — the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — last week downgraded its forecast for the U.S. and global economies.

Disney to pay almost $439 million to take full control of streaming service Hulu

Disney will pay ‘s nearly $439 million for its stake in , taking full control of the streaming service.

The move closes out an appraisal process that’s dragged on for a few years. said in November 2023 that it was acquiring a 33% stake in Hulu from Comcast for at least $8.6 billion. That amount reflected Hulu’s guaranteed floor value of $27.5 billion, according to a regulatory filing.

Disney has run Hulu since 2019, when Comcast ceded its authority to Disney and effectively became a silent partner.

Hulu began in 2007 and quickly evolved into as a service backed by entertainment conglomerates who hoped to stave off the internet with an online platform for their own TV shows. Disney joined in 2009, planning to offer shows from ABC, ESPN and the Disney Channel. A decade later, Disney gained majority control of the business when it acquired 21st Century Fox.

Disney said in a regulatory filing on Monday that its appraiser arrived at a valuation below the guaranteed floor value during the initial phase of the appraisal process, while NBCUniversal’s appraiser arrived at a valuation substantially in excess of the guaranteed floor value.

A third appraiser was brought in and concluded that The Walt Disney Co. will pay $438.7 million for the Hulu stake.

“We are pleased this is finally resolved. We have had a productive partnership with NBCUniversal, and we wish them the best of luck,” Disney Bob Iger said in a statement. “Completing the Hulu acquisition paves the way for a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu’s general entertainment content with Disney+ and, soon, with ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, providing an unrivaled value proposition for consumers.”

The transaction is anticipated to close by July 24. It’s not expected to impact Disney’s fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings forecast.

Shares of Disney rose slightly in morning trading on Tuesday.

Technomics to add 248 jobs in Arlington expansion

Government contractor will invest $5.38 million to expand its headquarters, adding 25,200 square feet of office space and creating 248 jobs.

made the announcement Tuesday. Virginia successfully competed with Washington, D.C., for the expansion.

“The expansion of Technomics in Virginia marks a significant milestone not only for our local economy with 248 new jobs, but also for the future of innovation and evidence-based decision-making,” said Youngkin in a statement. “As a leader in data and , Technomics is helping drive smarter solutions across their federal government clients. Virginia continues to be the best place for companies to build their future.”

Technomics specializes in providing data and analytics-driven support services for both United States and international government clients.

Technomics was established in 1984 and opened its headquarters in Arlington in 2000. The company’s website states, “… for the first 15 or so years, it was a stretch to call ourselves a business, as we were a very small team of experts.”

The company, which became employee-owned in 2009, has expanded its Arlington office three times since 2022. The Virginia Partnership worked with Arlington County to secure the latest expansion project for Virginia.

“For over 25 years, our mission has been to be great stewards of the taxpayers by using our analytical and quantitative skills to help our federal government clients spend their resources wisely,” Technomics Al Leung said in a statement. “The current efficiency-focused environment presents enormous opportunities for us. We are thrilled to have earned the trust and support of our clients, Gov. Youngkin and the VEDP to enable achievement of our mission and the next phase of not only our growth but that of the local community.”

Technomics currently employs about 300 people in Arlington. A timeline for when the expansion will be completed was not provided and the company did not immediately return requests for comment.