Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

U.S. consumer confidence dips in August on job worries

Summary

  • index fell to 97.4 in August
  • Decline driven by rising anxiety
  • Expectations index dropped to 74.8, below recession marker
  • Current economic conditions index also edged lower

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans’ view of the declined modestly in August as anxiety over a weakening job market grew for the eighth straight month.

The said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index ticked down by 1.3 points to 97.4 in August, down from July’s 98.7, but in the same narrow range of the past three months.

The small decline in confidence was in line with the forecasts of most of the economists who were surveyed.

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market fell by 1.2 points to 74.8, remaining significantly below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead.

Consumers’ assessments of their current economic situation also fell modestly, to 131.2 in August from 132.8 in July.

While the unemployment and layoffs remain historically low, there has been noticeable deterioration in the labor market this year and mounting evidence that people are having difficulty finding jobs.

U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs in July, well short of the 115,000 analysts expected. Worse, revisions to the May and June figures shaved 258,000 jobs off previous estimates and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%.

That report sent financial markets spiraling, spurring to fire Erika McEntarfer, the head of Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tallies the monthly employment numbers.

Another government report showed that U.S. employers posted 7.4 million job vacancies in June, down from 7.7 million in May. The number of people quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects elsewhere — also fell.

More jobs data comes next week when the government releases its August job gains and June job openings reports.

The Conference Board’s report said that references to high prices and increased again and were often mentioned in tandem with tariffs.

Other government data this month showed that while prices at the consumer level held fairly steady from June to July, U.S. wholesale inflation surged unexpectedly last month. Economists say that’s a sign that Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports are pushing costs up and that higher prices for consumers may be on the way.

The share of consumers expecting a recession over the next year rose in August to the highest level since April, when Trump’s tariff rollout began.

The share of survey respondents who said they intended to buy a car in the near future rose, while those planning to purchase a home remained stable after July’s decline.

Those saying they planned to buy big-ticket items like appliances fell, but there were big variations among product categories. Respondents who said they planned to take a vacation soon, either inside of the U.S. or abroad, also declined.

AT&T snatches up wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for $23 billion

AT&T will spend $23 billion to acquire certain wireless from , a significant expansion of ‘s low- and mid-band coverage networks.

AT&T said Tuesday that the licenses cover virtually every U.S. market — more than 400 total — which the company plans to deploy as soon as possible to lure more home internet subscribers and meet its growth goals.

The deal also fortifies the long-term services agreement between AT&T and EchoStar, enabling the latter to operate as a hybrid mobile network operator providing wireless service under its brand. AT&T will be the primary network services partner to EchoStar.

Shares of EchoStar, based in Englewood, Colorado, soared 76% at the opening bell Tuesday.

“This bolsters and expands our spectrum portfolio while enhancing customers’ 5G wireless and home internet experience in even more markets,” said AT&T CEO John Stankey. ”We’re adding fuel to our winning strategy of investing in valuable wireless and broadband assets to become America’s best connectivity provider.”

Late in 2024, AT&T said it would expand its fiber broadband network to more than 50 million locations by the end of 2029, while actively working to exit its legacy copper network operations across most of its wireline footprint.

AT&T expects to have largely completed the modernization of its 5G wireless network with open technology by 2027. The company said the network will be able to support super-fast download speeds and serve as a platform for new product and GenAI innovation.

In its most recent earnings report in July, AT&T said it expected to realize up to $8 billion of cash tax savings from 2025 to 2027 due to tax provisions in the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. AT&T estimated that it would invest $3.5 billion of those savings into its network to accelerate its fiber internet build-out.

Shares of AT&T Inc., based in Dallas, rose less than 1% Tuesday.

Trump says he’s firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook, opening new front in fight for central bank control

Summary

  • Trump says he’s firing Governor Lisa Cook
  • Cites allegations of mortgage fraud from Trump appointee
  • Cook says Trump lacks authority to remove her
  • Move escalates Trump’s push for Fed control

WASHINGTON (AP) — said Monday night that he’s firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, an unprecedented move that would constitute a sharp escalation in his battle to exert greater control over what has long been considered an institution independent from day-to-day .

Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform that he is removing Cook effective immediately because of allegations that she committed mortgage fraud.

Cook said Monday night that she would not step down. “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the , and he has no authority to do so,” she said in an emailed statement. “I will not resign.”

Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made the accusations last week. Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences — in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Atlanta — in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those purchased to rent.

Trump’s move is likely to touch off an extensive battle that will probably go to the Supreme Court and could disrupt financial markets. Stock futures declined slightly late Monday, as did the dollar against other major currencies.

If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the board, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight because it enables it to take unpopular steps like raising . If bond investors start to lose faith that the Fed will be able to control inflation, they will demand higher rates to own bonds, pushing up borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans and business loans.

Cook has retained Abbe Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney. Lowell said Trump’s “reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority,” adding, “We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action.”

Cook was appointed to the Fed’s board by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and is the first Black woman to serve as a governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and she has taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Her nomination was opposed by most Senate Republicans, and she was approved on a 50-50 vote with the tie broken by then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Questions about ‘for cause’ firing

The law allows a president to fire a Fed governor “for cause,” which typically means for some kind of wrongdoing or dereliction of duty. The president cannot fire a governor simply because of differences over interest rate policy.

Establishing a for-cause removal typically requires some type of proceeding that would allow Cook to answer the charges and present evidence, legal experts say, which hasn’t happened in this case.

“This is a procedurally invalid removal under the statute,” said Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia law school and author of “The Fed Unbound,” a book about the Fed’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Menand also said for-cause firings are typically related to misconduct while in office, rather than based on private misconduct from before an official’s appointment.

“This is not someone convicted of a crime,” Menand said. “This is not someone who is not carrying out their duties.”

Fed governors vote on the ‘s interest rate decisions and on issues of financial regulation. While they are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, they are not like cabinet secretaries, who serve at the pleasure of the president. They serve 14-year terms that are staggered in an effort to insulate the Fed from political influence.

No presidential precedent

While presidents have clashed with Fed chairs before, no president has sought to fire a Fed governor. In recent decades, presidents of both parties have largely respected , though Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson put heavy pressure on the Fed during their presidencies — mostly behind closed doors. Still, that behind-the-scenes pressure to keep interest rates low, the same goal sought by Trump, has widely been blamed for touching off rampant inflation in the late 1960s and ’70s.

President Harry Truman pushed Thomas McCabe to step down from his position as Fed chair in 1951, though that occurred behind the scenes.

The Supreme Court signaled in a recent decision that Fed officials have greater legal protections from firing than other independent agencies, but it’s not clear if that extends to this case.

Menand noted that the Court’s conservative majority has taken a very expansive view of presidential power, saying, “We’re in uncharted waters in a sense that it’s very difficult to predict that if Lisa Cook goes to court what will happen.”

Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the president’s use of the “for cause” provision is likely an effort to mask his true intent. “It seems like a fig leaf to get what we wants, which is muscling someone on the board to lower rates,” she said.

A fight over interest rates

Trump has said he would only appoint Fed officials who would support lower borrowing costs. He recently named Stephen Miran, a top White House economic adviser, to replace another governor, Adriana Kugler, who stepped down about five months before her term officially ended Aug. 1.

Trump appointed two governors in his first term, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, so replacing Cook would give Trump appointees a 4-3 majority on the Fed’s board.

“The American people must have the full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,” Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Cook, a copy of which he posted online. “In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.”

Trump argued that firing Cook was constitutional. “I have determined that faithfully enacting the law requires your immediate removal from office,” the president wrote.

Cook will have to fight the legal battle herself, as the injured party, rather than the Fed.

Trump’s announcement drew swift rebuke from advocates and former Fed officials.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called Trump’s attempt to fire Cook illegal, “the latest example of a desperate President searching for a scapegoat to cover for his own failure to lower costs for Americans. It’s an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, , for not cutting its short-term interest rate, and even threatened to fire him.

Forcing Cook off the Fed’s governing board would provide Trump an opportunity to appoint a loyalist. Trump has said he would only appoint officials who would support cutting rates.

Powell signaled last week that the Fed may cut rates soon even as inflation risks remain moderate. Meanwhile, Trump will be able to replace Powell in May 2026, when Powell’s term expires. However, 12 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee have a vote on whether to raise or lower interest rates, so even replacing the chair might not guarantee that Fed policy will shift the way Trump wants.

GMU president’s lawyer calls DOE findings ‘legal fiction’

SUMMARY:

  • Attorney representing GMU’s president says  findings part of an “incomplete” process
  • Former Maryland attorney general serving as President Gregory Washington’s counsel
  • DOE says it requires an apology from Washington, among other measures, to settle civil rights violations

President Gregory Washington’s attorney called a federal investigation that found GMU in violation of civil rights “ fiction” and advised that Washington should not apologize, according to a letter sent Monday to the Fairfax university’s board.

Douglas F. Gansler, Maryland’s former state attorney general and now a partner at the Cadwalader law firm’s Washington, D.C., office, issued an 11-page letter to George Mason’s board of visitors, following the U.S. Department of Education’s finding that the university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by “illegally using race and other immutable characteristics in university practices and policies, including hiring and promotion.” The Education Department cited Washington’s policies as biased toward people of color and discriminatory against white employees.

The DOE gave the university 10 days to voluntarily settle, with Washington required to make a full statement “to all university students and employees that GMU will conduct all recruitment, hiring, promotion and tenure decisions in compliance with Title VI, and disseminate information to the campus community explaining how to submit a discrimination complaint.” The statement must also include a personal apology by the president.

Gansler, who served as Maryland’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015, wrote that the DOE ‘ “investigation process has been cut short, and ‘findings’ have been made in spite of a very incomplete fact-finding process, including only two interviews with university academic deans.” Further, Gansler says, the office’s letter “contains gross mischaracterizations of statements made by Dr. Washington and outright omissions related to the two-plus-year DEI review process that the board of visitors and Dr. Washington engaged in.”

He adds that, “per OCR’s own findings, no job applicant has been discriminated against by GMU. … Therefore, it is a legal fiction for OCR to even assert or claim that there has been a Title VI or Title IX violation here.”

Gansler also says that the DOE’s resolution agreement, and “in particular its demand that Dr. Washington apologize to the Mason community for promoting unlawful discriminatory hiring practices, would be falsely admitting to conduct that did not occur and would open GMU to further legal risk in concurrent and future investigations by other agencies.”

That’s particularly relevant because the university is currently the target of three other federal investigations, including two by the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division, over similar issues regarding what the argues is illegal DEI policy — although Washington and his allies say they have not violated federal civil rights law.

In his letter, Gansler takes the DOE’s charges one by one, arguing that Washington was not advocating that faculty should be hired on the basis of race and that the Office of Civil Rights “selectively excerpted” Washington’s statement to make it appear he had. The attorney also argued that Washington himself is rarely involved in the hiring of faculty, which is mostly handled at the school level, and that Washington was never interviewed by the Office of Civil Rights during its investigation, which was launched July 10 and ended after just more than a month.

Gansler concludes the letter by requesting that he be included in any discussion by the board “over how to respond to OCR’s demands.”

The university board, which has hiring and firing power over Washington, has been critical of Washington’s DEI policies, some of which were enacted in the months after George Floyd’s murder and nationwide racial justice protests. Washington and his supporters, including Gansler, have emphasized the fact that Virginia’s then-governor, Ralph Northam, directed state agencies and universities to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion programs that allowed disenfranchised people more opportunity to compete for state contracts and jobs.

However, in the past few years, there has been serious backlash against DEI, including by , who appointed all of George Mason’s current board members, and President . Critics of the Trump administration have claimed the DOJ and DOE are using their powers to twist the meaning of the federal Civil Rights Act — initially enacted to prohibit anti-Black discrimination in the 1960s — to punish universities and drive out presidents with whom the administration disagrees.

In July, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan departed under pressure from the Trump administration, and George Mason supporters have said the same pattern is occurring with Washington.

US government halts nearly complete offshore wind farm. Is Virginia’s next?


SUMMARY:

  • The halted the nearly complete Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut
  • Pause raises questions about whether Energy’s $10.9 billion Coastal Virginia project in will share the same fate
  • Dominion says is critical for Virginia’s economy, jobs and energy goals

After the Trump administration has ordered a halt to construction of a nearly complete $4 billion offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut, it’s reasonable to wonder whether ‘s $10.9 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach could be in similar peril.

On Aug. 22, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management stopped Orsted’s Revolution Wind project, which already has 45 of 65 turbines installed, along with all underwater foundations. Citing a January memorandum by President , BOEM told Orsted North America to “halt all ongoing activities related to the Revolution Wind Project” while the federal government reviews potential national security concerns.

According to CNBC, the Revolution Wind project was about 80% complete when the Trump administration forced it to stop construction. Meanwhile, the Trump administration also filed court documents Aug. 22 stating it intends to revoke federal approval for US Wind’s planned Maryland Offshore Wind Project, which has not begun construction.

Large, ocean-based wind farms are part of utilities’ plans to shift to renewable energy, particularly in populous East Coast states with limited land for onshore wind turbines or solar arrays. But President Donald Trump has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels and hinder renewable energy projects. Those include reviewing wind and solar energy permits, canceling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopping work on another offshore wind project under construction for New York. However, construction was later allowed to resume.

“Americans deserve energy that is affordable, reliable, and built to last — not experimental and expensive wind projects that are proven failures,” Interior Department Deputy Press Secretary Aubrie Spady said in a statement distributed to media.

In Virginia, construction on Richmond-based Dominion Energy’s CVOW wind farm 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast is about 60% complete. As of Monday, the CVOW project remained on schedule for full completion in late 2026, according to Dominion spokesperson Jeremy L. Slayton. Once operational, CVOW will consist of 176 wind turbines generating up to 9.5 million megawatt-hours per year of energy, or enough to power up to 660,000 homes.

Dominion would not directly address whether it thought the Virginia offshore wind project is at risk of a similar stop-work order from BOEM. However, Slayton provided the following statement: “Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is a customer-driven project only months away from delivering its first power to Virginia’s economy. Virginia’s shipyards, military bases, defense manufacturers and data centers are depending on power from CVOW to fuel Virginia’s growing economy. The project is supporting thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment in . It has broad, bipartisan support and is a critical part of Virginia’s all of the above energy strategy.”

Brett Massimino, chair of the department of supply chain management and analytics at Virginia Commonwealth University, said he’s not optimistic about the project being completed as originally planned.

About six months ago, Massimino spoke with Dominion officials who indicated that the project “wasn’t going as planned” and expressed concerns about its cost.

Since that time, Massimino said, those concerns have become amplified by events such as Trump’s “crackdown” on alternative energy sources and Dominion stating that Trump’s trade war would likely increase CVOW’s cost by $500 million.

Now, Massimino thinks the project “could be either paused or killed.”

In his opinion, he said, “I don’t see … Dominion finishing the project out the way it was originally planned to be. Whether that is just stopping at this point, wherever they are in construction, and running with what they have, or if it involves terminating the project entirely and shutting it down, I don’t know.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Youngkin has previously expressed support for offshore wind in Virginia. However, Massimino said he believes the governor will be “limited” in preventing the federal government from halting CVOW if the Trump administration chooses to intervene.

“I think the federal government is going to do what they want to do,” Massimino said, “and I think Youngkin’s voice is going to be kind of marginalized right now because of the end of his term coming up.”

Tariffs and Trump’s policies will continue to impact offshore wind projects nationwide, he added: “I think by holding these projects, I think the progress, or the hope of establishing any significant offshore wind program nationally, all those hopes are kind of getting dashed at this point.”

Dominion incurred $73 million in tariffs through the end of the second quarter of this year. If the current tariff policy continues through the end of the third quarter, tariff costs would increase to $193 million and if policy continues through the end of 2026, total tariff costs would be $506 million, Slayton said in an email.

Accounting for tariff costs through the end of this year’s third quarter, Dominion increased the total project cost estimate from $10.8 billion to $10.9 billion. Slayton said that will add an average of 3 cents to residential customers’ monthly bills over the life of the project.

Revolution Wind pause

Meanwhile, Democratic governors, members of congress and union workers have called for the Trump administration to let construction resume on the Revolution Wind project. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee says Revolution Wind is critical to the region’s economy and energy future.

Revolution Wind is expected to be Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first large offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes. Power would be provided at a rate of 9.8 cents per kilowatt hour, locked in for 20 years. That is cheaper than the average cost of electricity in New England.

The developer, Danish energy company Orsted, is evaluating the financial impact of stopping construction and considering legal proceedings.

The project site is more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the Rhode Island coast, 32 miles (51 kilometers) southeast of the Connecticut coast and 12 miles (19 kilometers) southwest of Martha’s Vineyard. Rhode Island is already home to one offshore wind farm in state waters, the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm.

The Trump administration previously stopped work on Empire Wind, the New York offshore wind project. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said it appeared former President Joe Biden’s administration had “rushed through” the approvals, although the developer Equinor spent seven years obtaining permits. Construction was allowed to resume in May after two of the state’s Democratic leaders, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul, intervened.

Elon Musk sues Apple, OpenAI in antitrust AI lawsuit

Summary

on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in .

The 61-page complaint filed in Texas federal court follows through on a threat that Musk made two weeks ago when he accused Apple of unfairly favoring OpenAI and ChatGPT in the iPhone’s app store rankings for top AI apps.

Musk’s post insinuated that Apple had rigged the system against ChatGPT competitors such as the Grok chatbot made by his own xAI. Now, he is detailing a litany of grievances in the lawsuit — filed by xAI and another of his corporate entities, X Corp. — in an attempt to win monetary damages and a court order prohibiting the alleged illegal tactics.

The double-barreled legal attack weaves together several recently unfolding narratives to recast a year-old partnership between Apple and OpenAI as a veiled conspiracy to stifle competition during a technological shift that could prove as revolutionary as the 2007 release of the iPhone.

“This is a tale of two monopolists joining forces to ensure their continued dominance in a world rapidly driven by the most powerful technology humanity has ever created: artificial intelligence,” the lawsuit asserts.

The complaint portrays Apple as a company that views AI as an “existential threat” to its future success, prompting it to collude with OpenAI in an attempt to protect the iPhone franchise that has long been its biggest moneymaker.

Some of the allegations accusing Apple of trying to shield the iPhone from do-everything “super apps,” such as the one Musk has long been trying to create with X, echo an antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple last year by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The complaint casts OpenAI as a threat to humanity bent on putting profits before public safety as it tries to build on its phenomenal growth since the late 2022 release of ChatGPT. The depiction mirrors one already being drawn in another federal lawsuit that Musk filed last year, alleging OpenAI had betrayed its founding mission to serve as a nonprofit research lab for the public good.

OpenAI has countered with a lawsuit against Musk accusing him of harassment — an allegation that the company cited in its response to Monday’s antitrust lawsuit. “This latest filing is consistent with Mr. Musk’s ongoing pattern of harassment,” OpenAI said in a statement.

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The crux of the lawsuit revolves around Apple’s decision to use ChatGPT as an AI-powered “answer engine” on the iPhone when the built-in technology on its device couldn’t satisfy user needs. The partnership announced last year was part of Apple’s late entry into the AI race that was supposed to be powered mostly by its own on-device technology, but the company still hasn’t been able to deliver on all its promises.

Apple’s own AI shortcomings may be helping drive more usage of ChatGPT on the iPhone, providing OpenAI with invaluable data that’s unavailable to Grok and other would-be competitors because it’s currently an exclusive partnership.

The alliance has provided Apple with an incentive to improperly elevate ChatGPT in the AI rankings of the iPhone’s app store, the lawsuit alleges. Other AI apps from DeekSeek and Perplexity have periodically reached the top spot in the Apple app store’s AI rankings in at least some parts of the world since Apple announced its deal with ChatGPT.

The lawsuit doesn’t mention the potential threat that ChatGPT could also pose to Apple and the iPhone’s future popularity. As part of its expansion efforts, OpenAI recruited former Apple designer Jony Ive to oversee a project aimed at building an AI-powered device that many analysts believe could eventually mount a challenge to the iPhone.

MasterBrand to acquire American Woodmark in $3.6B deal


SUMMARY:

  • to acquire -based in $3.6 billion all-stock deal, closing in 2026
  • Combined company keeps MasterBrand name, with headquarters in Ohio
  • Impact on American Woodmark’s 7,800 employees not yet revealed

Ohio-based cabinet giant MasterBrand announced this month that it plans to acquire Winchester-based cabinet manufacturer American Woodmark in an all-stock , creating a company valued at $3.6 billion.

The boards of directors of both companies approved the transaction, which is expected to close in early 2026, pending shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. MasterBrand intends to pay off American Woodmark debt at the close of the transaction.

After the transaction is completed, the combined company will be known as MasterBrand and will be headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio. However, the merged company plans to maintain “a significant presence” in Winchester.

The combined company will have a pro forma equity value of $2.4 billion and an enterprise value of $3.6 billion.

Upon closing the deal, American Woodmark shareholders will receive 5.150 shares of MasterBrand common stock for each share of American Woodmark common stock they own. Ultimately, MasterBrand shareholders will own approximately 63% of the combined company, while American Woodmark shareholders will own approximately 37% of the company, on a fully diluted basis. There is expected to be $90 million in cost savings by the third year following the merger.

“Bringing together MasterBrand and American Woodmark will be a transformative step for both of our organizations that will even better position us to serve the evolving needs of our customers and provide consumers with more choice and access,” said MasterBrand President and CEO Dave Banyard in a statement.

In a statement, American Woodmark President and CEO said combining the companies will enhance offerings for customers while improving value for shareholders.

“With MasterBrand, we are joining a partner that shares our commitment to investing for growth, investing in associates, and investing for the future,” Culbreth said. “Together, we will create an even stronger company that is able to provide a broader product portfolio across expanded channels, advance our innovation capabilities, and create exciting opportunities for team members.”

Through the acquisitions, American Woodmark will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of MasterBrand. MasterBrand’s board of directors, which currently has eight members, will be expanded to include three directors from American Woodmark.

Barnyard will be CEO of the combined company and current board member David Petratis will serve as board chair.

It is unclear whether Culbreth will remain with the company after the merger. In the coming weeks and months, the companies will establish an integration planning team to evaluate the necessary resources for the combined company. Executive management roles beyond those outlined in the announcement made earlier this month will be determined as part of the planning process.

Specific details on how American Woodmark products will be branded after the merger have yet to be determined. The companies don’t expect any immediate footprint changes after completing the merger.

An American Woodmark spokesperson did not answer whether there would be relocations or layoffs in store for any of American Woodmark’s roughly 7,800 employees.

“MasterBrand shares our commitment to investing for growth, investing in employees and investing for the future and we expect the transaction to create exciting new opportunities for team members,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

American Woodmark reported $1.7 billion in net sales for the fiscal year ending on April 30. That’s down from the $1.85 billion at that same point the previous year, and $2.07 billion in 2023. The company, founded in 1980 and headquartered in Winchester, has 18 and distribution facilities, as well as eight service centers.

Meanwhile, MasterBrand bills itself as the largest manufacturer of residential cabinets in North America, offering cabinetry products for the kitchen, bathroom and other areas of the home. Its products are delivered through a distribution network of over 7,700 dealers, retailers and builders. The company employs over 13,000 people across more than 20 manufacturing facilities and offices.

Henrico EDA head to leave in 2026

SUMMARY:

  • to leave role as EDA executive director in early 2026
  • Executive search committee formed to find his successor
  • Accomplishments include landing Fortune 1000 headquarters, planned data center campus

Anthony Romanello, the Henrico Authority’s executive director, plans to step down from the role early next year.

Romanello submitted his letter to the EDA’s board on Aug. 21, stating his last day will be Jan. 16, 2026, although he said he told the board he would be willing to stay longer if at that point he has not accepted a different job and the EDA has not identified a successor.

“I’ve got almost 34 years in public service,” Romanello said. “I started full-time local government when I was 21, and [I’m] excited to think about doing something different, maybe outside of government.”

The EDA’s board has formed an executive search committee to identify Romanello’s successor. The committee is set to meet with Manager John Vithoulkas Tuesday to discuss next steps.

Romanello became executive director of the Henrico EDA in 2019, after joining the county in 2016 as deputy county manager. Under his tenure, Henrico has landed giant corporate headquarters relocations, including Fortune 1000 IT company ASGN in 2020 and health care solutions company Owens & Minor’s 2024 move from Hanover County.

Earlier this year, the county launched a global business gateway program for internationally headquartered companies seeking to establish a presence in the U.S.

For fiscal 2025, Henrico saw more than $8 billion in private investment, expected to create 1,445 jobs. That includes Iron Mountain’s planned $1 billion data center complex in Henrico’s White Oak Technology Park, where QTS Data Centers and Meta also have data centers.

Currently, Henrico is working toward the redevelopment of the former Best Products corporate headquarters on a 93-acre site after the GreenCity development failed. Announced in late 2020, GreenCity was supposed to be an environmentally friendly development anchored by an arena and including two hotels, approximately 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail space and 2,100 residential units.

The would-be arena operator, ASM Global, sued the developers. The Henrico EDA sued two LLCs linked to the developers after they failed to make more than $5 million in overdue payments to the county by a March deadline, but the mid-August settlement agreement between the developers and ASM cleared the way for the county to reacquire the land. The transaction is expected to close Sept. 5.

Along with working “hand in glove” with the county government, Romanello said, “I believe the EDA has become an indispensable contributor to quality of life in Henrico. That is what I’m most proud of.”

Beyond bringing jobs and private investment to the county, the EDA has contributed to quality of life for Henrico residents through assisting with county projects, including providing tax-exempt financing for affordable housing projects and being the fiscal agent for the Henrico County Detox & Residential Treatment Center under construction.

Before joining Henrico County government, Romanello was deputy county administrator and then county administrator for Stafford County. Previously, he worked for West Point and for Richmond city government. His first full-time government job was as a food stamp worker for the City of Richmond, which he worked while pursuing his master’s degree in public administration at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“It’s been a phenomenal opportunity, and hopefully I’ve made an impact in the communities I’ve served,” Romanello said about his career in public service.

Regarding next steps, Romanello said he “had been privileged to do some teaching for Virginia Tech and George Mason, and I’d love to do more of that. I’ve published a couple of books, and I love writing … and that’s another passion of mine that I’d like to explore a little further.”

Romanello has written two books: “Random Thoughts: Reflections on Public Service, Fatherhood and Middle Age,” a collection of monthly reflections he sent to his team in Stafford County (a tradition he continues today), and “The Girl Who Lived on the Third Floor,” a children’s book about his fifth and youngest child, whom Romanello and his wife took in as an 11-day-old foster child before the couple adopted her.

Romanello teaches virtual classes for Virginia Tech’s certificate of local government program, designed for people transitioning to the Master of Public Administration program. While in Stafford, he taught three classes at .

Besides time in class, “the other aspect of it that’s so much fun is staying in contact with students over the years,” Romanello said. “The ongoing relationship with the students has been really fun,”

Stocks slip on Wall Street after last week’s rally

Summary

  • slipped 0.2%, Dow Jones fell 192 points
  • composite was little changed
  • Keurig Dr Pepper dropped on $18B Peet’s Coffee deal
  • Treasury yields rose; Europe mixed, Asia closed lower

Stocks wavered in afternoon trading on Monday, after a big jump last week on hopes for interest rate cuts from the .

The S&P 500 was down 0.2%, hovering around its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 301 points, or 0.7% as of 3:09 p.m. Eastern time, pulling back from the record it set on Friday. The Nasdaq composite edged up 0.1%.

Health care stocks were the biggest drag on the market. Pfizer fell 2.5% and Eli Lilly and Co. was 2.2% lower.

Gains for several big technology stocks helped offset broader losses in the market. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rose 1.3%. Technology heavyweight Nvidia rose 1.9%.

Keurig Dr Pepper sank 11.4% after saying it will buy Peet’s Coffee owner JDE Peet’s in a deal worth about $18 billion.

Railroad stocks fell following a report that Warren Buffett informed CSX management that he is not looking to buy the railroad. Shares in CSX fell 4.7%. Union Pacific dropped 2.2% and Norfolk Southern was 2.4% lower.

Treasury yields rose in the bond market following their big drop on Friday amid expectations that the Fed will cut its benchmark interest rate in September.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.25% late Friday. The two-year Treasury yield rose to 3.73% from 3.70% late Friday.

European markets mostly closed lower after Asian markets finished lower overnight.

Wall Street is still overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will cut at its next meeting in September. Traders see an 86% chance that the will trim its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point, according to data from CME Group.

The Fed has been maintaining rates at their current level since the end of 2024 amid worries about heating up as tariffs work their way through the economy to businesses and households.

The central bank has grown increasingly concerned about the state of the in the U.S. Its two main focuses are keeping inflation low and supporting conditions for strong employment.

Recent signals have show that the job market is seemingly stagnating and could possibly weaken, which could prompt the central bank to cut rates. Lower interest rates make borrowing easier, helping to spur more investment and spending, but that could also potentially fuel inflation.

So far, consumer confidence remains mostly solid, though concerns about inflation linger. Wall Street and the Fed will get an update on consumer confidence in the U.S. when business group The releases its monthly survey for August on Tuesday. Economists expect overall confidence to remain mostly unchanged from July.

The bigger update will come on Friday, when the government releases an inflation report that is closely monitored by the Fed. An update on inflation earlier in August showed that consumer prices remained modestly higher in July, compared with a year ago. The government’s report on Friday, the personal consumption expenditures price index, is expected to show a similar result.

Economists expect the PCE to show that prices rose 2.6% in July, compared with a year ago. That’s unchanged from the rate in June and hovering just above the Fed’s preferred target of 2%.

Wall Street has a few more corporate earnings updates this week, essentially wrapping up the latest round of profit reports and forecasts from U.S. companies.

Nvidia will report its latest results on Wednesday. The company’s role as a key supplier of chips for and its heavy weighting give it outsized influence as a bellwether for the broader market. It has been a driving force for much of the market’s gains, along with several other tech giants with pricey stock values.

On Thursday, Wall Street will get earnings updates from electronics retailer Best Buy and discount retailer Dollar General. Retailers are being closely watched as Wall Street tries to gauge the current and potential future impact on costs and prices from tariffs.

Powell signals possible Fed rate cut, faces Trump pressure

Summary

  • Powell signals Fed could cut rates at September meeting
  • Move risks appearing as a response to Trump’s pressure
  • Fed must weigh persistent against growth outlook
  • Decision seen as one of Powell’s toughest challenges yet

WASHINGTON (AP) — Now that Chair has signaled that the could soon cut its key interest rate, he faces a new challenge: how to do it without seeming to cave to the White House’s demands.

For months, Powell has largely ignored President ‘s constant hectoring that he reduce borrowing costs. Yet on Friday, in a highly-anticipated speech, Powell suggested that the Fed could take such a step as soon as its next meeting in September.

It will be a fraught decision for the Fed, which must weigh it against persistent inflation and an economy that could also improve in the second half of this year. Both trends, if they occur, could make a cut look premature.

Trump has urged Powell to slash rates, arguing there is “no inflation” and saying that a cut would lower the government’s interest payments on its $37 trillion in debt.

Powell, on the other hand, has suggested that a is likely for reasons quite different than Trump’s: He is worried that the economy is weakening. His remarks on Friday at an economic symposium in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming also indicated that the Fed will move carefully and cut rates at a much slower pace than Trump wants.

Powell pointed to economic growth that “has slowed notably in the first half of this year,” to an annual rate of 1.2%, down from 2.5% last year. There has also been a “marked slowing” in the demand for workers, he added, which threatens to raise unemployment.

Still, Powell said that tariffs have started to lift the price of goods and could continue to push inflation higher, a possibility Fed officials will closely monitor and that will make them cautious about additional rate cuts.

The Fed’s key short-term interest rate, which influences other borrowing costs for things like mortgages and auto loans, is currently 4.3%. Trump has called for it to be cut as low as 1% — a level no Fed official supports.

However the Fed moves forward, it will likely do so while continuing to assert its longstanding independence. A politically independent central bank is considered by most economists as critical to preventing inflation, because it can take steps — such as raising to cool the economy and combat inflation — that are harder for elected officials to do.

There are 19 members of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee, 12 of whom vote on rate decisions. One of them, Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve’s Cleveland branch, said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press that she is committed to the Fed’s independence.

“I’m laser focused … on ensuring that I can deliver good outcomes for the for the public, and I try to tune out all the other noise,” she said.

She remains concerned that the Fed still needs to fight stubborn inflation, a view shared by several colleagues.

“Inflation is too high and it’s been trending in the wrong direction,” Hammack said. “Right now I see us moving away from our goals on the inflation side.”

Powell himself did not discuss the Fed’s independence during his speech in Wyoming, where he received a standing ovation by the assembled academics, economists, and central bank officials from around the world. But Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that was likely a deliberate choice and intended, ironically, to demonstrate the Fed’s independence.

“The not talking about independence was a way of trying as best they could to signal we’re getting on with the business,” Posen said. “We’re still having a civilized internal discussion about the merits of the issue. And even if it pleases the president, we’re going to make the right call.”

It was against that backdrop that Trump intensified his own pressure campaign against another top Fed official.

Trump said he would fire Fed Governor if she did not step down from her position. Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to head the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alleged Wednesday that Cook committed mortgage fraud when she bought two properties in 2021. She has not been charged.

Cook has said she would not be “bullied” into giving up her position. She declined Friday to comment on Trump’s threat.

If Cook is somehow removed, that would give Trump an opportunity to put a loyalist on the Fed’s governing board. Members of the board vote on all interest rate decisions. He has already nominated a top White House economist, Stephen Miran, to replace former governor Adriana Kugler, who stepped down Aug. 1.

Trump had previously threatened to fire Powell, but hasn’t done so. Trump appointed Powell in late 2017. His term as chair ends in about nine months.

Powell is no stranger to Trump’s attacks. Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, noted that the president also went after him in 2018 for raising interest rates, but that didn’t stop Powell.

“The president has a long history of applying pressure to Chairman Powell,” Strain said. “And Chairman Powell has a long history of resisting that pressure. So it would be odd, I think, if on his way out the door, he caved for the first time.”

Still, Strain thinks that Powell is overestimating the risk that the economy will weaken further and push unemployment higher. If inflation worsens while hiring continues, that could force the Fed to potentially reverse course and increase rates again next year.

“That would do further damage to the Fed’s credibility around maintaining low and stable price inflation,” he said.