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Former Alexandria laser tag arena sells for $6M

The owners of an Goddard School, an early childhood learning , plan to open a second location in the city in a 20,000-square-foot building that started out as a roller-skating rink and was later home to a laser tag arena.

The private preschool will take up 75% of the building at 5508 Franconia Road and the remainder will be home to a SafeSplash Swim School, according to a Wednesday announcement by , an independent brokerage with headquarters in Washington D.C.

The location will accommodate up to 180 students, the news release stated. The owners plan interior and landscaping renovations.

Jain Properties, a Springfield entity, paid $6 million on Feb. 19 for the property, according to  Property records.

Since 2005, the building, which was built in 1972, had been home to ShadowLand Laser Adventures, an arcade and laser tag operation. It sits on 1.8 acres.

The seller was represented by Marc Tasker, Vito Lupo, Steve Combs and Jack Regler of KLNB. Bryan Ramos of Washington-D.C.,-based Retail22 Advisors represented the buyer.

Nationally, there are more than 640 Goddard Schools.

VCU Health performs nation’s first fully robotic living donor liver transplant

Richmond-based made history this month by becoming the first center in the United States to perform a fully robotic liver transplant using a liver from a living donor.

VCU Health said the procedure, which was led by the interim surgical director of liver transplant Seung Duk Lee, used the da Vinci 5 surgical system, the latest and most advanced robotic available.

“This achievement marks a new era in liver transplantation, allowing us to perform highly complex procedures with greater precision, less invasiveness, and improved outcomes for our patients,” Lee said in a statement. “Very few centers offer robotic surgery for liver transplant patients, but at Hume-Lee, we are committed to redefining what is possible in order to offer our patients safer, faster recoveries with fewer complications.”

According to VCU Health, one of the advantages of robotic-assisted liver transplantation over traditional open surgery is smaller incisions, which reduce pain and scarring. Other advantages include greater precision and control, reduced blood loss, shorter stays and faster recovery times.

Director of Hume-Lee Transplant Center David Bruno in a statement that a procedure of this complexity required both cutting-edge technology and “an incredible team of experts.”

“Being the first in the nation to complete a fully robotic living donor liver transplant is a testament to the collaboration, skill and dedication of our surgeons, transplant hepatologists, and entire care team,” Bruno said. “Innovation in transplant surgery doesn’t happen in isolation — it happens through teamwork, and I’m incredibly proud of our continued advancement in this field to positively impact our patients.”

VCU Health Assistant Director of Public Relations Leigh Farmer said VCU Health began using the da Vinci system in 2014 and acquired the latest da Vinci 5 in December of 2024.

“We were the first in the world to use this system for living donor liver retrieval in January of this year,” she said in an email. This month, VCU Health used the same system on a recipient of a liver from a living donor.

VCU Health says the need for liver is growing and pointed to CDC data showing that 4.5 million adults 18 and older are diagnosed with liver disease.

Because thousands of patients are being added to the liver transplant waitlist every year, VCU Health says there is an urgent need for innovative surgical approaches that improve access to transplantation.

Trump administration cancels clean energy grants as it prioritizes fossil fuels

President Donald ‘s administration is terminating for two projects and roughly 300 others funded by the Department of are in jeopardy as the president prioritizes fossil fuels.

The DOE is canceling two awards to a nonprofit climate think tank, RMI in Colorado, according to a document from the agency confirming the cancellations that was reviewed by The Associated Press on Friday. One was for nearly $5.3 million to retrofit low-income multifamily buildings in Massachusetts and California to demonstrate ways to reduce the use of energy and lower planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The other was for $1.5 million to assess business models for electric vehicle carsharing in U.S. cities.

The department wrote that it had determined the awards do not meet the administration’s objectives. Both awards are on a list of about 300 clean energy projects under review. President declared an energy emergency early in his term and is working to speed up fossil fuel development, which he sums up as “drill, baby, drill.”

The burning of oil, gas and coal is the main contributor to caused by human activity. President Joe tried to lock in a trajectory for reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. As his term came to an end, his administration raced to award billions of dollars for clean energy and approved major offshore wind projects.

RMI spokeswoman Dina Capiello confirmed the organization had received a termination letter for the EV carsharing viability work, and had anticipated it. That work won’t proceed as a result of the funding being pulled back. As of Friday afternoon, she said she hadn’t seen a second letter, but the retrofitting work is due to finish in June using a grant announced during Trump’s first term.

E&E News first reported last week that the DOE was creating a “hit list” of clean energy projects awarded billions of dollars that the could wipe out.

The list, obtained by the AP, includes wind, solar, battery storage and electric vehicle infrastructure projects. It includes funding to help heavy industries transition away from fossil fuels and funding to decarbonize buildings. Many projects were funded through the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure  Biden signed in 2021.

Separately, the Environmental Protection Agency terminated grant agreements this month worth $20 billion issued by the under a so-called green bank to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects. A federal judge has blocked the administration from ending the grant program for now.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat, said halting clean energy projects will increase energy costs for families and businesses, and the Energy Department must carry out duly-enacted spending laws.

“We need the Department of Energy to work with us, not against us, to lower energy costs and help create good-paying jobs, but at a bare minimum, we demand the department to follow the law as intended,” Kaptur, the top Democrat of the House Appropriations energy subcommittee, said in a statement.

RMI has received government contracts and grants under Republican and Democratic administrations since its founding in 1982. Cappiello said that money has been used to help advance secure, reliable, efficient and clean energy solutions. The current administration’s actions will slow and could eventually halt the many benefits of moving a clean energy agenda forward, such as lowering energy costs, making communities resilient and creating jobs, she said in a statement.

Installation of renewable energy worldwide hit a record high last year, with 92.5% of all new electricity brought online coming from the sun, wind or other clean sources, according to a Wednesday report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. China led the way, with nearly 64% of the new renewable electricity capacity in 2024 installed there.

Convicted of bilking investors, Nikola founder and Trump donor gets a presidential pardon

Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle startup who was sentenced to prison last year for fraud, was pardoned by President , the White House confirmed Friday.

The of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his , could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors.

Milton, 42, and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election, according to the Federal Election Commission.

At Milton’s trial, prosecutors say a company video of a prototype truck appearing to be driven down a desert highway was actually a video of a nonfunctioning Nikola that had been rolled down a hill.

Milton had not been incarcerated pending an appeal.

Milton said late Thursday on social media that he had been pardoned by Trump.

“I am incredibly grateful to President Trump for his courage in standing up for what is right and for granting me this sacred pardon of innocence,” Milton said.

The White House confirmed the pardon Friday, though there was no notice of a pardon on the White House website.

When asked by a reporter in a news conference Friday why he pardoned Milton, Trump said it was “highly recommended by many people.” Trump suggested that Milton was prosecuted because he supported the president.

“They say the the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president,” Trump said.

Trump went on to say that Milton “did nothing wrong” and that the Southern District of New York’s prosecutors were “a vicious group of people.”

During his case, Milton was defended by two lawyers with connections to Trump: Marc Mukasey, who has represented the Trump Organization; and Brad Bondi, the brother of Pam Bondi, who Trump appointed as U.S. Attorney General.

Trump wasted little time in using his pardon power since beginning his second term. Hours after taking office, he wiped clean the records of roughly 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The next day, Trump announced that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs.

Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets.

Nikola, which was a hot startup and rising star on before becoming enmeshed in scandal, filed for Chapter 11 protection in February.

Milton, convicted of fraud, was portrayed by prosecutors as a con man six years after he had founded the company in a basement in Utah.

Prosecutors said Milton falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors product with Nikola’s logo stamped onto it.

Called as a government witness, Nikola’s CEO testified that Milton “was prone to exaggeration” when pitching his venture to investors.

Milton resigned in 2020 amid reports of fraud that sent Nikola’s stock prices into a tailspin. Investors suffered heavy losses as reports questioned Milton’s claims that the company had already produced zero-emission 18-wheel trucks.

The company paid $125 million in 2021 to settle a civil case against it by the SEC. Nikola didn’t admit any wrongdoing.

The U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted the case, declined to comment on Milton’s pardon.

At the time of his conviction U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, “Trevor Milton lied to investors again and again — on social media, on television, on podcasts, and in print. But today’s sentence should be a warning to startup founders and corporate executives everywhere — ‘fake it till you make it’ is not an excuse for fraud, and if you mislead your investors, you will pay a stiff price.”

Noted economist honored by Trump warns his 25% tariffs could add $4,711 to the cost of a vehicle

WASHINGTON (AP) — Noted economist Arthur Laffer warns in a new analysis that ‘s 25% tariffs on auto imports could add $4,711 to the cost of a vehicle and says the proposed taxes could weaken the ability of U.S. automakers to compete with their foreign counterparts.

In the 21-page analysis obtained by The Associated Press, Laffer, whom  awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019 for his contributions to economics, says the auto industry would be in a better position if the Republican president preserved the supply chain rules with Canada and Mexico from his own 2019 USMCA trade pact.

The White House has temporarily exempted auto and parts imports under the USMCA from the starting on April 3 so that the can put together a process for taxing non-U.S. content in vehicles and parts that fall under the agreement.

“Without this exemption, the proposed tariff risks causing irreparable damage to the industry, contradicting the administration’s goals of strengthening U.S. manufacturing and economic stability,” Laffer writes in the analysis. “A 25% tariff would not only shrink, or possibly eliminate, profit margins for U.S. manufacturers but also weaken their ability to compete with international rivals.”

In a Friday interview with The Associated Press, Laffer said the report had caused a “kerfuffle” and cautioned that it only applied to the economics, rather than Trump’s negotiating skills and strategic approach to trade.

“The report shows the economics of what would happen were the tariffs to be put in place,” he said. “This is about facts, not how we feel.”

The economist was quick to also praise Trump as a negotiator who has deep knowledge of trade issues, indicating that the tariff threats could be used as they had during Trump’s first term to ultimately lower barriers to trade and improve outcomes for the U.S. .

“ is more familiar with the gains from trade than any politician I’ve ever talked to in my life,” Laffer said. ”Do not take this paper in any way, shape or form as criticizing Donald Trump and what his strategies are.”

He added that he trusts the president and sees him as exceptionally competent.

While Trump’s tariff plans have frightened the stock market and U.S. consumers, Laffer’s analysis and other reports show the possible economic risks if the threat of import taxes is unable to produce a durable set of deals with other countries. The paper reminds Trump that it’s not too late to change course, specifically complimenting the USMCA negotiated in his first term as a “significant achievement.”

“The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has served as a cornerstone of President Trump’s first term and has quickly become a dominant feature of North American trade policy, fostering economic growth, stabilizing supply chains, and strengthening the U.S. auto industry,” Laffer writes.

The analysis says that the per vehicle cost without the USMCA exemption would be $4,711, but that figure would be a lower $2,765 if the exemptions were sustained.

Trump honored Laffer with the highest civilian honor 45 years after the economist famously sketched out on a napkin the Laffer curve, showing that there’s an optimal tax rate for collecting revenue.

The bell-shaped curve indicated that there’s a tax rate so high that it could be self-defeating for generating tax revenues. Many Republicans embraced the curve as evidence that lower tax rates could generate stronger growth that would lead to higher tax revenues.

“Dr. Laffer helped inspire, guide, and implement extraordinary economic reforms that recognize the power of human freedom and ingenuity to grow our economy and lift families out of poverty and into a really bright future,” Trump said in awarding him the medal.

Laffer served on the economic policy advisory board of President Ronald Reagan, in addition to being a university professor. He has his own economic consultancy, Laffer Associates. In 1970, he was the first chief economist of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Laffer also advised Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and co-wrote a flattering book, “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy.”

Trump maintains that 25% tariffs will cause more foreign and domestic automakers to expand production and open new factories in the United States. On Monday, he celebrated a planned $5.8 billion investment by South Korean automaker Hyundai to build a steel plant in Louisiana as evidence that his strategy would succeed.

Trump said the 25% auto tariffs would help to reduce the federal budget deficit while moving more production into the United States.

“For the most part, I think it’s going to lead cars to be made in one location,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “For right now, the car would be made here, sent to Canada, sent to Mexico, sent to all over the place. It’s ridiculous.”

US consumers remained cautious about spending last month as inflation ticked higher

WASHINGTON (AP) — picked up last month and consumers barely raised their spending, signs that the economy was already cooling even before most tariffs were imposed.

Friday’s report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer prices increased 2.5% in February from a year earlier, matching January’s annual pace. Excluding the volatile food and categories, core prices rose 2.8% compared with a year ago, higher than January’s figure of 2.7%.

Economists watch core prices because they are typically a better guide of where inflation is headed. The core index has barely changed in the past year. Inflation remains above the ‘s 2% target, making it difficult for the central bank to cut its key interest rate anytime soon.

The report also showed that rebounded last month after falling by the most in four years in January. Yet much of the additional spending reflected price increases, with inflation-adjusted spending barely rising. The weak figure suggests growth is rapidly slowing in the first three months of this year as consumers and businesses turn cautious amid sharp changes in government policies.

“Inflation too hot and spending too cold,” said Stephen Brown, an economist at Capital Economics, a consulting firm, in an email. “The Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates this year.”

Brown estimates that economic growth could fall to zero in the first three months of this year, down from 2.4% in last year’s fourth quarter.

Inflation remains a top economic concern for most Americans, even as it has fallen sharply from its 2022 peak. rode dissatisfaction with higher prices to the presidency and promised to quickly bring down inflation, but the yearly rate is higher now than in September, when it briefly touched 2.1%.

Consumer spending rose 0.4% in February, though the gain was just 0.1% after adjusting for prices. The mild increase follows a sharp 0.6% drop in January.

The spending and inflation figures steepened a market downturn early Friday. The broad index fell 1.4%. The Dow Jones index fell more than 500 points and the Nasdaq fell as well.

The spending increase was driven by greater purchases of long-lasting goods, such as cars and appliances, which could reflect an effort by shoppers to buy things before are imposed. They are the kind of purchases that won’t likely be repeated in coming months.

Spending on services, including discretionary spending such as at restaurants and hotels, fell.

“The fact that consumers chose to increase outlays on goods that are about to see price increases at the expense of the far more economically important service sector provides insight into the mindset of the consumer,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at tax and advisory firm RSM.

Also Friday, the University of Michigan released its updated consumer sentiment survey for March, which showed a sharp drop in Americans’ outlook for the economy. The survey also found growing anxiety over inflation and jobs.

“This month’s decline reflects a clear consensus across all demographic and political affiliations,” said Joanne Hsu, director of the survey. “Republicans joined independents and Democrats in expressing worsening expectations since February for their personal finances, business conditions, unemployment, and inflation.”

has slapped 20% tariffs on all Chinese imports, 25% import taxes on steel and aluminum, and on Wednesday said he would hit imported cars with another 25% duty. Most economists, and the Federal Reserve, now expect inflation to tick higher this year as a result of the tariffs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week said elevated inflation from the tariffs could be temporary. But he also added the outlook was unusually uncertain given the swift changes in policy from the White House.

On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% in February from the previous month, the same as in January, while core prices increased 0.4%, the largest increase in more than a year. Increases at that pace, for a full year, would drive inflation far above the Fed’s 2% target.

One bright spot in the report was a big jump in incomes for the second straight month — they rose 0.8% in February from January. Higher income with weaker spending pushed up the savings rate, which can fuel future spending. But it also could reflect greater caution among consumers.

“Savings went up, consistent with reports of flagging , rising uncertainty about the future and reduced expectations for the future,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said.

Consumer and business confidence in the economy has fallen sharply since Trump began rolling out tariffs, and a measure of Americans’ outlook for the future of the economy dropped to a 12-year low on Tuesday. Many polls find that most of the public sees the economy as fair or poor. A survey last month by the Pew Research Center found that 63% of Americans still see inflation as a “very big problem.”

Apparel company Lululemon on Thursday became the latest retailer to warn that slumping consumer confidence will hurt sales, while the parent company of Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer, and Johnny Was stores said that sales slowed to start the year as consumer sentiment darkened.

Nike previously issued a similar warning and expectations from major retailers like Target and Walmart have grown subdued as customers pull back.

A federal judge temporarily blocks parts of Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the from implementing parts of President ‘s executive orders aimed at curbing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts among federal contractors and grant recipients.

Judge Matthew Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois halted the from requiring federal contractors or grant recipients from certifying that they don’t operate any programs in violation of ‘s anti- executive orders.

That certification provision has stepped up pressure on companies and other organizations to revisit their DEI practices because if the government were to determine they violated the provision, they would be subject to crippling financial penalties under the .

Thursday’s ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed last month by Chicago Women in Trades, a nonprofit founded in 1981 that helps prepare women for work in skilled construction trades and has several from with the Department of Labor. The organization argued that the president’s executive orders on DEI are so broad and vague that the organization had no way to ensure compliance, and thus they threaten its core mission.

The judge also blocked the Labor Department from freezing or canceling any funding with Chicago Women in Trades, and the from pursuing any False Claims Act enforcement against them.

“This is a critical step in ensuring that the organization can continue the important work it leads — helping women put food on the table through careers in the skilled trades and making job sites safer for thousands of women over the last four decades,” Sabrina Talukder, a senior counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under , which is representing the organization, said in a statement.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A hearing on Chicago Women in Trades’ bid for a longer-lasting halt on Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders is scheduled for April 10.

The organization’s lawsuit is one of several challenging Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI programs in both the private and public sectors.

Trump signed an order his first day in office directing federal agencies to terminate all “equity-related” grants or contracts. He signed a follow-up order that included a requirement that federal contractors and grantees certify that they don’t “operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.”

Kennelly’s decision comes nearly two weeks after an appeals court lifted a broader nationwide injunction against Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders in a separate lawsuit in Baltimore. But Thursday’s ruling is limited in scope because Kennelly declined to extend the temporary restraining order to other federal agencies.

Kennelly wrote that Chicago Women in Trades was likely to succeed in its arguments that parts of the executive orders are a violation of free speech rights and are unconstitutionally vague.

Although the government argued that the certification provision “implicates only illegal DEI programs, it has studiously declined to shed any light on what this means. The answer is anything but obvious,” Kennelly wrote.

Kennelly wrote that he extended his order to all Labor Department contractors and grant recipients because the vagueness of Trump’s executive orders, coupled with the threat of financial penalties, would likely pressure organizations to curb DEI programs in potential violation of free speech rights.

Rather than face potentially crippling penalties, “it is likely that many of these grantees will take the safer route and choose to simply stop speaking on anything remotely related to what the government might consider to promote DEI or equity. A nationwide restraining order is appropriate to protect grantees who cannot afford the risks inherent in biting the hand that feeds them,” Kennelly wrote.

During a hearing on Tuesday, the Trump administration argued that Chicago Women in Trades’ motion for relief was premature because it was based on speculation as to how the executive orders will be implemented.

But Kennelly wrote that said the concern that grant recipients “may be targeted by the Certification Provision is anything but speculative.” He noted that 60 organizations, including Chicago Women in Trades, received an email on March 20 from the Department of Labor instructing them to “immediately cease all activities related to DEI” consistent with the executive orders.

Kennelly also noted Chicago Women in Trades lost a subcontract with a DOL contractor trying to comply with the executive order.

Chicago Women in Trades has a long history of partnering with companies, state and federal agencies and other industry stakeholders trying to recruit more women into skilled trades. Its grant work with the federal government dates back years, including two grants awarded under the first Trump administration under the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations initiative, which aims to expand pathways for women seeking to enter skilled trades.

IRS crime fighting arm announces modernization program as financial crimes use more tech

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the nature of financial crime changes, with and AI increasingly used to perpetrate illegal acts, the ‘ crime fighting arm —IRS Criminal Investigation— is announcing a new program intended to improve how it interacts with financial institutions.

Called Feedback in Response to Strategic Threat —or CI-FIRST— the program unveiled Friday is intended to speed up subpoena requests, give banks better on how to detect criminal activity and build out investigations faster and more efficiently.

Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks and financial institutions are required to send over a variety of suspicious activity reports to the federal government after detecting potential money laundering or terrorist financing.

The goal for CI-FIRST is to help financial institutions more easily detect and report financial crimes tied to fentanyl trafficking, drug trafficking, human smuggling and other crimes — by streamlining subpoena requests and improving data-sharing with banks. IRS-CI Chief Guy Ficco said in a statement that “public-private partnerships thrive when everyone mutually benefits.”

Also on Friday, IRS Criminal Investigation released new statistics highlighting how the agency has investigated financial crimes using Bank Secrecy Act data.

The agency found $21.1 billion in tied to tax and financial crimes from 2022 to 2024, seized $8.2 billion in assets tied to criminal activity in the same period, and recouped $1.4 billion in restitution for crime victims, according to the agency.

“Behind all of these metrics are real crimes with real victims,” said Lauren Kohr, IRS-CI’s strategic engagement adviser. “A lot of times people look at BSA data or the Bank Secrecy Act as a regulatory requirement, but it’s really one of the sharpest tools enforcement as a whole has to trace fraud illicit money and dismantle these criminal networks.”

“And when illicit money moves, it’s these BSA reports,” she said “that tell us the story.”

IRS-CI special agents ran an average of 966,900 searches annually against currency transaction reports. A currency transaction report, or CTR, is a financial document that banks are required to file with Treasury for any cash transaction exceeding $10,000 in a single day.

In the past three years, roughly 67% of cases opened by IRS-CI involved one or more currency transaction reports below $40,000, with half of currency transaction reports involving amounts less than $22,230.

Despite the majority of reports coming in below $40,000, a group of Republican lawmakers is pursing raising the threshold.

Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk and nine other House Republicans have sponsored a bill called the Financial Reporting Threshold Modernization Act, which would raise the currency transaction reporting and Suspicious Activity Reporting thresholds to $30,000 and $10,000, respectively, and index the CTR threshold for every five years.

On April 1, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions will hold a hearing on April 1 and the issue of CTR thresholds will come up.

Last December a Government Accountability Office report recommended Treasury help to “reduce the number of CTRs filed that are not used by law enforcement, such as by raising the reporting threshold or expanding criteria to allow for further exemptions.”

In addition to their financial crimes work, IRS Criminal Investigations has been called upon by the administration to help with immigration enforcement.

Last month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent a request to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to borrow IRS Criminal Investigation workers to help with the immigration crackdown, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. It cites the IRS’s boost in funding, through the $80 billion infusion of funds the federal tax collection agency received under the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act has already been clawed back.

Wall Street tumbles, and S&P 500 drops 2% on worries about slower economy, higher inflation

NEW YORK (AP) — Another wipeout is swamping Friday on worries about a potentially toxic mix of worsening inflation and a U.S. slowing because of households afraid to spend due to the global trade war.

The S&P 500 was down 2% in afternoon trading and on track for one of its worst days of the last two years. It’s also heading for its fifth losing week in the last six after wiping out the last of its big gain from the start of the week.

The was down 719 points, or 1.7%, as of 2:25 p.m. Eastern time, and the composite was 2.6% lower.

Lululemon Athletica dropped 15.4% to lead the market lower, even though the seller of athletic apparel reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It warned that its revenue growth may slow this upcoming year, in part because “consumers are spending less due to increased concerns about and the economy,” said CEO Calvin McDonald.

Oxford Industries, the company behind the Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer brands, likewise reported stronger results for the latest quarter than expected but still saw its stock fall 5.6%. CEO Tom Chubb said it saw a “deterioration in consumer sentiment that also weighed on demand” beginning in January, which accelerated into February.

They’re discouraging points when one of the main worries hitting Wall Street is that President Donald Trump’s escalating tariffs may cause U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending. Even if the end up being less painful than feared, all the uncertainty may filter into changed behaviors that hurt the economy.

A report on Friday morning showed all types of U.S. consumers are getting more pessimistic about their future finances. Two out of three expect unemployment to worsen in the year ahead, according to a survey by the University of Michigan. That’s the highest reading since 2009, and it raises worries about a job market that’s been the linchpin keeping the U.S. economy solid.

Another report released in the morning raised concerns after it showed a widely followed, underlying measure of inflation was a touch worse last month than economists expected. The data followed reports on other measures of inflation for the month, but this is the one the tracks pays the most attention to as it decides what to do with interest rates.

The report also showed that an underlying measure of how much income Americans are making, which excludes government social benefits and some other items, “has been treading water for the last three months,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.

“Households aren’t in a good place to absorb a little tariff pain,” Jacobsen said. “The Fed isn’t likely to run to the rescue either as inflation moved up more than expected in February.”

The Fed has been keeping its main interest rate on hold this year after cutting it sharply in late 2024, in part because of worries about inflation remaining above its 2% target. While more cuts to rates would give the economy and financial markets a boost, they would also push upward on inflation.

The economy and job market have so far been holding up relatively well, but if they were to weaken while inflation stays high, it would produce a worst-case scenario called “stagflation.” Policy makers in Washington have few good tools to fix it.

Some of Wall Street’s sharpest losses on Friday hit companies that need customers feeling confident enough to spend, and not just on yoga wear or beach clothes. Delta Air Lines lost 5.1%. Cruise operator Royal Caribbean Group fell 4.4%. Casino operator Caesars Entertainment dropped 5.1%.

The heaviest weights on the market were Microsoft and other Big Tech stocks, whose massive sizes give their movements more sway over indexes. They and other stocks that had gotten caught up in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence have among the hardest hit in Wall Street’s recent sell-off.

Their prices had shot up so much more quickly than their already fast-growing revenues and profits that critics said they looked too expensive. CoreWeave, whose cloud platform helps customers manage complex AI infrastructure, was bouncing between modest losses and gains in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq.

On the flip side, among the relatively few rising stocks on Wall Street were those that can make money almost regardless of what the economy does, such as utilities. American Water Works rose 2.1%, for example.

Stock markets worldwide will likely remain shaky as an April 2 deadline approaches for more tariffs. That’s what has called “Liberation Day,” when he will roll out tariffs tailored to the United States’ trading partners. In each case, he said the “reciprocal” tariff will match the burden the other country places on the United States, including things like value-added taxes.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell sharply in Japan and South Korea as auto makers felt more pressure following Trump’s announcement that he plans to impose 25% tariffs on auto imports. Hyundai Motor fell 2.6% in Seoul, while Honda Motor fell 2.6%, and Toyota Motor sank 2.8% in Tokyo.

On Wall Street, Ford Motor fell 2.2%, and General Motors sank 1.5%. Even U.S. automakers selling vehicles in the country can feel the pain of such tariffs because their supply chains are spread throughout North America. Trump says he wants more manufacturing to take place within the United States.

Thailand’s SET lost 1% after a powerful earthquake centered in Myanmar rattled the region, causing the prime minister to declare a state of emergency for the capital, Bangkok.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury tumbled to 4.25% from 4.38% late Thursday. It tends to fall when expectations for either U.S. economic growth or inflation are on the wane.

___

AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.

Spire Global taps new CFO

Vienna-based space-focused and company has appointed Alison “Ali” Engel as its new chief financial officer, effective April 1.

Engel brings nearly two decades of experience, most recently serving in that capacity for LeaseAccelerator from 2023 to 2024. Before that, she was CFO and treasurer of media company Gannett from 2015 to 2020, and of media holding company DallasNews (formerly A.H. Belo) from 2008 to 2014.

“Ali has a strong track record of steering companies through complex challenges in rapidly evolving industries,” Spire CEO Theresa Condor said in a statement. “Her many years of experience as a public company CFO bring steady leadership in financial controls, strategic business partnership and team building. I am excited to welcome her and the wealth of experience she brings to the team at Spire.”

She replaces interim CFO Thomas Krywe who will remain as an executive adviser for through April. In her new role, she will be based in the company’s headquarters.

“Spire has established a proven infrastructure in a dynamic industry with immense opportunities for innovation and growth,” said Engel in a statement. “I look forward to working alongside Theresa and the leadership team to drive the business forward, capitalizing on these opportunities, and ultimately, improving life on Earth with data from space.”

Engel received her Master of Professional Accountancy degree and a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.

Spire is a global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services that builds, owns and operates a fully deployed that observes the Earth in real time using radio frequency . Data from Spire’s satellites provides global weather intelligence, ship and plane movements and spoofing and jamming detection. Spire has more than 430 employees, with nine offices around the globe.