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Dow jumps 900 and S&P 500 climbs 2.4% following a 90-day truce in the US-China trade war

SUMMARY:

  • Industrial Average and were up more than 2% Monday morning, after and the U.S. announced .

  • Pause in will last 90 days.

  • Stocks are back up where they were on April 2, President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day,” when he announced worldwide tariffs.

  • U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods rose as high as 145%; Chinese retaliatory tariffs on U.S. good rose up to 125%.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are leaping Monday after China and the United States announced a 90-day truce in their . Each of the world’s two largest economies agreed to take down most of its tariffs against the other, which economists warned could start a recession and create shortages on U.S. store shelves.

The S&P 500 was up 2.4% in morning trading and back within 5.6% of its all-time high set in February. The index has been roaring higher since falling nearly 20% below that mark last month on hopes that President Donald Trump will lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with other countries. It’s back above where it was on April 2, Trump’s “Liberation Day,” when he announced stiff worldwide tariffs that ignited worries about a potentially self-inflicted recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 923 points, or 2.2%, as of 10:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 3.3% higher.

It wasn’t just stocks rising following what one analyst called a “best case scenario” for US-China tariff talks, which reduced tariffs by more than what many investors expected.

Crude oil prices jumped roughly 3% because a less weakened by tariffs would be hungrier for fuel. The value of the dollar climbed against everything from the euro to the Japanese yen to the Swiss franc. And Treasury yields jumped on expectations that the Federal Reserve won’t have to cut interest rates so deeply this year in order to protect the from the damage of tariffs.

Gold’s price fell as investors felt less need to buy something safe.

The move announced Monday could by itself add 0.4 percentage points to the U.S. economy’s growth this year, according to Jonathan Pingle, U.S. chief economist at UBS. Every bit counts when the U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual rate in the first three months of the year.

The 90-day reprieve comes at a vital time for the economy, allowing retailers and suppliers to “ensure that shelves are stocked for the all important back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons,” said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private Wealth.

Of course, conditions could change quickly again, as Wall Street has seen all too often in Trump’s on-again-off-again rollout of tariffs. Plus, the reduction in U.S. and China tariffs will last only 90 days. That’s to give time for more talks following last weekend’s negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, which the U.S. side said yielded “substantial progress.”

Until then, a joint statement said the United States will cut tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% from as high as 145%. China said its tariffs on U.S. goods will fall to 10% from 125%. That follows a deal the United States announced last week with the United Kingdom that will bring down tariffs on many U.K. imports to 10%.

Big challenges remain in the negotiations between China and the United States. And economic reports scheduled to be released this week, including on inflation and sentiment among U.S. consumers, could show how much damage the U.S. economy has already taken because of uncertainty about tariffs. But the mood was nevertheless ebullient across Wall Street on Monday, and gains were widespread.

Apparel companies jumped to some of the bigger gains. Lululemon leaped 8.2%, for example. More than a quarter of its fabric came from mainland China last fiscal year, and a reduction in tariffs would mean a less-tough decision on whether to pass on increases to costs to customers or to eat them through reduced profits. Nike rose 7.3%.

companies jumped on hopes that lower tariffs would encourage more customers to fly and feel comfortable enough to spend on trips. Carnival rose 7.5%, and Delta Air Lines climbed 6.3%.

Retailers like Best Buy and Amazon jumped because much of what they sell comes from China and elsewhere in Asia. Both rose at least 6.5%.

In abroad, indexes rose across most of Europe and Asia, though often by less than the U.S. market.

India’s Sensex shot up 3.7% after India and Pakistan agreed to a truce after talks to defuse their most serious military confrontation in decades. The two armies have exchanged gunfire, artillery strikes, missiles and drones that killed dozens of people.

Pakistan’s KSE 100 surged more than 9% and trading was halted for one hour following a spike driven by the ceasefire and an International Monetary Fund decision Friday to disburse about $1 billion of a bailout package for its battered economy.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.43% from 4.37% late Friday.

The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Fed will do with interest rates, jumped even more. It rose to 3.98% from 3.88% as traders ratchet back expectations for how many cuts to rates the Fed may deliver this year. Many now see just two cuts this year, according to data from CME Group.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott, Jiang Junzhe and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

ServicePower acquires French tech company

McLean-based field service management announced last week it had acquired France-based technology company .

The transaction closed on May 6. The companies did not disclose financial details.

Headquartered in Paris, Inveniam specializes in -powered computer vision technology. According to a news release, the company delivers visual intelligence solutions allowing enterprises — especially those in the telecommunications, utilities and infrastructure sectors — to conduct real-time quality assurance and operational assessments. It also helps these companies guide the work technicians are performing in the field with computer vision and AI techniques.

ServicePower says the will advance its goals to drive innovation and automation in the global field service management industry and that it will reduce costs and boost efficiency.

“This acquisition marks a transformative milestone for ServicePower and our customers,” ServicePower CEO Frank Gelbart said in a statement. “Inveniam’s proprietary AI technology enables us to bring a new layer of intelligence to the field — allowing for smarter decision-making, real-time visual diagnostics and better service outcomes. We’re excited to integrate Inveniam’s vision into our platform and push the boundaries of what field service technology can achieve.”

ServicePower says the acquisition will allow its customers to benefit from AI-powered visual data capture and analysis, which will automate everything from fiber optic installation checks to asset condition monitoring.

“Joining forces with ServicePower represents a pivotal moment in our journey to revolutionize field operations through Vision AI,” Ahmed Ghorbal, founder and CEO of Inveniam, said in a statement. “Since founding Inveniam, I’ve been driven by the goal of turning visual complexity in the field into scalable, real-time intelligence. Integrating our technology into ServicePower’s esteemed platform amplifies our impact, bringing us closer to a future where field operations are smarter, more autonomous and highly efficient.”

ServicePower says it will integrate Inveniam’s capabilities into its platform over the coming months.

Headquartered in , ServicePower specializes in AI-powered field service management software, helping enterprise organizations save costs and become more efficient. The company’s services are used by several Fortune 500 companies, and it operates throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

US and China take a step back from sky-high tariffs and agree to pause for 90 days for more talks

SUMMARY:

  • U.S. and reduce by 115 percentage points.
  • A 90-day truce was agreed to continue trade talks.
  • Market indices and oil prices surged following the announcement.
  • The agreement aims to avoid a full trade blockade and stabilize global trade.

GENEVA (AP) — U.S. and Chinese officials said on Monday they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day truce in their to allow for more talks on resolving their trade disputes.

rose sharply as the globe’s two major economic powers took a step back from a clash that has unsettled the .

U.S. Trade Representative said the U.S. agreed to drop its 145% tariff rate on Chinese goods by 115 percentage points to 30%, while China agreed to lower its rate on U.S. goods by the same amount to 10%.

A deal averts a total blockade
Greer and Treasury Secretary announced the tariff reductions at a news conference in Geneva.

The two officials struck a positive tone as they said the two sides had set up consultations to continue discussing their trade issues. Bessent said at the news briefing following two days of talks that the high tariff levels would have amounted to a complete blockage of each side’s goods — an outcome neither side wants.

“The consensus from both delegations this weekend is neither side wants a decoupling,” Bessent said. “And what had occurred with these very high tariff … was an embargo, the equivalent of an embargo. And neither side wants that. We do want trade.”

“We want more balanced trade,” he said. “And I think that both sides are committed to achieving that.”

The delegations, escorted around town and guarded by scores of Swiss police, met for at least a dozen hours on both days of the weekend at a sunbaked 17th-century villa that serves as the official residence of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

At times, the delegation leaders broke away from their staffs and settled into sofas on the villa’s patios overlooking Lake Geneva, helping deepen personal ties in the effort to reach a much-sought deal.

Finally, a deal
China’s Commerce Ministry said the two sides agreed to cancel 91% in tariffs on each other’s goods and suspend another 24% in tariffs for 90 days, bringing the total reduction to 115 percentage points.

The ministry called the agreement an important step for the resolution of the two countries’ differences and said it lays the foundation for further cooperation.

“This initiative aligns with the expectations of producers and consumers in both countries and serves the interests of both nations as well as the common interests of the world,” a ministry statement said.

China hopes the United States will stop “the erroneous practice of unilateral tariff hikes” and work with China to safeguard the development of their economic and trade relations, injecting more certainty and stability into the global , the ministry said.

The joint statement issued by the two countries said China also agreed to suspend or remove other measures it has taken since April 2 in response to the U.S. tariffs.

China has increased export controls on rare earths, including some critical to the defense industry and added more American companies to its export control and unreliable entity lists, restricting their business with and in China.

Markets rally as two sides de-escalate
The full impact on the complicated tariffs and other trade penalties enacted by Washington and Beijing remains unclear. And much depends on whether they will find ways to bridge longstanding differences during the 90-day suspension. Bessent said in an interview with CNBC that U.S. and Chinese officials will meet again in a few weeks.

But investors rejoiced as trade envoys from the world’s two biggest economies blinked, finding ways to pull back from potentially massive disruptions to world trade and their own markets.

Futures for the jumped 2.6% and the Industrial Average was up 2%. Oil prices surged more than $1.60 a barrel and the dollar gained against the euro and the Japanese yen.

“This is a substantial de-escalation,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics. But he warned “there is no guarantee that the 90-day truce will give way to a lasting ceasefire.”

Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, welcomed the news but expressed caution.

The tariffs only were suspended for 90 days and there is great uncertainty over what lies ahead, he said in a statement.

“Businesses need predictability to maintain normal operations and make investment decisions,” Eskelund said. “The chamber therefore hopes to see both sides continue to engage in dialogue to resolve differences, and avoid taking measures that will disrupt global trade and result in collateral damage for those caught in the cross-fire.”

Trump last month raised U.S. tariffs on China to a combined 145%, and China retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125% levy. Tariffs that high essentially amount to the two countries boycotting each other’s products, disrupting trade that last year topped $660 billion.

The announcement by the U.S. and China sent shares surging, with U.S. futures jumping more than 2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged nearly 3% and benchmarks in Germany and France were both up 0.7%

The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on countries worldwide, but its fight with China has been the most intense. Trump’s import taxes on goods from China include a 20% charge imposed because Trump says Beijing has not done enough to stop trafficking in the precursor chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Tariff talks begin between US and Chinese officials in Geneva as the world looks for signs of hope

SUMMARY:

  • U.S. and begin high-level trade talks in Geneva
  • as high as 145% threaten global economic stability
  • Trump hints at lowering tariffs, but outcome remains unclear

GENEVA (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Secretary and America’s top trade negotiator began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland Saturday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the .

Treasury Secretary and U.S. Trade Representative have begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier .

Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks wasn’t made public. However, a motorcade of black cars and vans was seen coming and going from the home of the Swiss ambassador to the United Nations delegation in the wealthy city, and a diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the meeting, said the sides met for about two hours before departing for a previously arranged luncheon.

Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim. But there is hope that the two countries will scale back the massive taxes — tariffs — they’ve slapped on each other’s goods, a move that would relieve world financial markets and companies on both sides of the Pacific Ocean that depend on .

U.S. last month raised U.S. tariffs on China to a combined 145%, and China retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125% levy. Tariffs that high essentially amount to the countries’ boycotting each other’s products, disrupting trade that last year topped $660 billion.

Even before the talks began, Trump suggested Friday that the U.S. could lower its tariffs on China, saying in a Truth Social post that “ 80% Tariff seems right! Up to Scott.″

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, noted it will be the first time He and Bessent have talked. She doubts the Geneva meeting will produce any substantive results.

“The best scenario is for the two sides to agree to de-escalate on the … tariffs at the same time,” she said, adding even a small reduction would send a positive signal. “It cannot just be words.”

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has aggressively used tariffs as his favorite economic weapon. He has, for example, imposed a 10% tax on imports from almost every country in the world.

But the fight with China has been the most intense. His tariffs on China include a 20% charge meant to pressure Beijing into doing more to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States. The remaining 125% involve a dispute that dates back to Trump’s first term and comes atop tariffs he levied on China back then, which means the total tariffs on some Chinese goods can exceed 145%.

During Trump’s first term, the U.S. alleged that China uses unfair tactics to give itself an edge in advanced technologies such as quantum computing and driverless cars. These include forcing U.S. and other foreign companies to hand over trade secrets in exchange for access to the Chinese market; using government money to subsidize domestic tech firms; and outright theft of sensitive technologies.

Those issues were never fully resolved. After nearly two years of negotiation, the United States and China reached a so-called Phase One agreement in January 2020. The U.S. agreed then not to go ahead with even higher tariffs on China, and Beijing agreed to buy more American products. The tough issues — such as China’s subsidies — were left for future negotiations.

But China didn’t come through with the promised purchases, partly because COVID-19 disrupted global commerce just after the Phase One truce was announced.

The fight over China’s tech policy now resumes.

Trump is also agitated by America’s massive trade deficit with China, which came to $263 billion last year.

In Switzerland Friday, Bessent and Greer also met with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter.

Trump last month suspended plans to slap hefty 31% tariffs on Swiss goods — more than the 20% levies he plastered on exports from European Union. For now, he’s reduced those taxes to 10% but could raise them again.

The government in Bern is taking a cautious approach. But it has warned of the impact on crucial Swiss industries like watches, coffee capsules, cheese and chocolate.

“An increase in trade tensions is not in Switzerland’s interests. Countermeasures against U.S. tariff increases would entail costs for the Swiss , in particular by making imports from the USA more expensive,” the government said last week, adding that the executive branch “is therefore not planning to impose any countermeasures at the present time.”

The government said Swiss exports to the United States on Saturday were subject to an additional 10% tariff, and another 21% beginning Wednesday.

The United States is Switzerland’s second-biggest trading partner after the EU – the 27-member-country bloc that nearly surrounds the wealthy Alpine country of more than 9 million. in goods and services has quadrupled over the last two decades, the government said.

The Swiss government said Switzerland abolished all industrial tariffs on Jan. 1 last year, meaning that 99% of all goods from the United States can be imported into Switzerland duty-free.

More warning signs emerge for US travel industry as summer nears

SUMMARY:

  • ‘s Q1 revenue missed expectations amid falling U.S. demand
  • Bookings from Canada to the U.S. dropped nearly 30%
  • Economic concerns and blamed for slowdown

 

Expedia Group said Friday that reduced travel demand in the United States led to its weaker-than-expected revenue in the first quarter, and Bank of America said credit card transactions showed spending on flights and lodging kept falling last month.

The two reports add to growing indications that the U.S. travel and may see its first slowdown since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a period of “revenge travel” that turned into sustained interest in getting away.

Expedia, which owns the lodging reservation platforms Hotels.com and VRBO as well as an eponymous online travel agency, was the latest American company to report slowing business with both international visitors and domestic travelers.

and noted the same trends last week in their quarterly reports. Most major U.S. airlines pulled their full-year financial guidance in April and said they planned to reduce scheduled flights, citing an ebb in passengers booking leisure trips.

The U.S. Travel Association has said that economic uncertainty and anxiety over President Donald Trump’s tariffs may explain the pullback. In April, Americans’ confidence in the economy slumped for a fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic.

Bank of America said Friday that its credit card holders were willing to spend on “nice to have” services like eating at restaurants in March and April, but “bigger ticket discretionary outlays on airfare and lodging continued to decline, possibly due to declining and worries about the economic outlook.”

Abroad, anger about the tariffs as well as concern about tourist detentions at the U.S. border have made citizens of some other countries less interested in traveling to the U.S., tourism industry experts say.

The U.S. government said last month that 7.1 million visitors entered the U.S. from overseas this year as of the end of March, 3.3% fewer than during the first three months of 2024.

The numbers did not include land crossings from Mexico or travel from Canada, where citizens have expressed indignation over Trump’s remarks about making their country the 51st state. Both U.S. and Canadian government data have shown steep declines in border crossings from Canada.

Expedia Chief Financial Officer Scott Schenkel said the net value of the travel technology company’s bookings into the U.S. fell 7% in the January-March period, but bookings to the U.S. from Canada were down nearly 30%.

In a conference call with investors Friday, Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin said U.S. demand was even softer in April than March.

“We’re still continuing to see pressure on travel into the U.S., but we’ve also seen some rebalancing,” Gorin said. “Europeans are traveling less to the U.S., but more to Latin America.”

Seattle-based Expedia said its revenue rose 3% to $2.99 billion for the quarter. That was lower than the $3 billion Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Expedia shares were down than 7% in mid-day trading Friday.

Airbnb said last week that foreign travel to the U.S. makes up only 2% to 3% of its business. But within that category, it’s seeing declining interest in the U.S. as a destination.

“I think Canada is the most obvious example, where we see Canadians are traveling at a much lower rate to the U.S. but they’re traveling more domestically, they are traveling to Mexico, they are going to Brazil, they’re going to France, they’re going to Japan,” Airbnb Chief Financial Officer Ellie Mertz said in a conference call with investors.

Meanwhile, Hilton lowered its full-year forecast for revenue per available room, a key industry metric. The company said in late April that it now expects growth of 0% to 2% for the year, down from 2% to 3%.

Hilton President and CEO Christopher Nassetta told stock analysts the company saw international travel to its U.S. hotels fall throughout the first quarter, particularly from Canada and Mexico.

But Nassetta said he remained optimistic for the second half of this year.

“My own belief is you will see some of — if not a lot of — that uncertainty wane over the next couple of quarters, and that will allow the underlying strength of the economy to shine through again,” he said.

Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies

SUMMARY:

  • Judge Susan Illston issued a 14-day halt to large-scale federal
  • Lawsuit challenges Trump’s downsizing agencies
  • Cuts affected HHS, SSA, , and more without congressional approval

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Trump administration must halt much of its dramatic downsizing of the , a California judge ordered Friday.

Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco issued the emergency order in a lawsuit filed last week by and cities, one of multiple challenges to Republican ‘s efforts to shrink the size of a he calls bloated and expensive.

“The Court holds the President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks, and thus issues a temporary restraining order to pause large-scale reductions in force in the meantime,” Illston wrote in her order.

The temporary restraining order directs numerous federal agencies to halt acting on the president’s workforce executive order signed in February and a subsequent memo issued by the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Personnel Management.

The order, which expires in 14 days, does not require departments to rehire people. Plaintiffs asked that the effective date of any agency action be postponed and that departments stop implementing or enforcing the executive order, including taking any further action.

They limited their request to departments where dismantlement is already underway or poised to be underway, including at the the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which announced in March it will lay off 10,000 workers and centralize divisions.

Illston, who was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, said at a hearing Friday the president has authority to seek changes in the executive branch departments and agencies created by Congress.

“But he must do so in lawful ways,” she said. “He must do so with the cooperation of Congress, the Constitution is structured that way.”

Trump has repeatedly said voters gave him a mandate to remake the federal government, and he tapped billionaire Elon Musk to lead the charge through DOGE.

Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, left their via deferred resignation programs or have been placed on leave as a result of Trump’s government-shrinking efforts. There is no official figure for the job cuts, but at least 75,000 federal employees took deferred resignation, and thousands of probationary workers have already been let go.

In her order, Illston gave several examples to show the impact of the downsizing. One union that represents federal workers who research health hazards faced by mineworkers said it was poised to lose 221 of 222 workers in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, office; a Vermont farmer didn’t receive a timely inspection on his property to receive disaster aid after flooding and missed an important planting window; a reduction in Social Security Administration workers has led to longer wait times for recipients.

All the agencies impacted were created by Congress, she noted.

Lawyers for the government argued Friday that the executive order and memo calling for large-scale personnel reductions and reorganization plans provided only general principles that agencies should follow in exercising their own decision-making process.

“It expressly invites comments and proposals for legislative engagement as part of policies that those agencies wish to implement,” Eric Hamilton, a deputy assistant attorney general, said of the memo. “It is setting out guidance.”

But Danielle Leonard, an attorney for plaintiffs, said it was clear that the president, DOGE and were making decisions outside of their authority and not inviting dialogue from agencies.

“They are not waiting for these planning documents” to go through long processes, she said. “They’re not asking for approval, and they’re not waiting for it.”

The temporary restraining order applies to departments including the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Interior, State, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.

It also applies to the National Science Foundation, Small Business Association, Social Security Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.

Some of the labor unions and nonprofit groups are also plaintiffs in another lawsuit before a San Francisco judge challenging the mass firings of probationary workers. In that case, Judge William Alsup ordered the government in March to reinstate those workers, but the U.S. Supreme Court later blocked his order.

Plaintiffs include the cities of San Francisco, Chicago and Baltimore; labor group American Federation of Government Employees; and nonprofit groups Alliance for Retired Americans, Center for Taxpayer Rights and Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.

An offshore wind project for New York may be abandoned over Trump administration delays

SUMMARY:

  • may cancel due to Trump’s construction freeze
  • Interior Secretary paused project citing rushed Biden-era approval
  • Equinor losing $50M weekly; over $2.5B already invested
  • NY, other states sue to block Trump’s anti-wind

 

The Norwegian energy company Equinor said Friday it will be forced to terminate an project for New York within days unless ‘s administration relents on its order that stopped construction.

Work on Empire Wind has been paused since April 16, when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to halt construction. Burgum said it needs further review because it appeared the Biden administration rushed the approval. Equinor went through a seven-year permitting process before starting to build Empire Wind last year, and the project is roughly a third complete.

Trump has been hostile to , particularly offshore wind, and has signed a spate of executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. His first day in office, Trump signed an executive order temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for all wind projects.

Empire Wind is fully permitted and the developer has already invested more than $2.5 billion so far in the project, said Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, in an interview Friday.

She said this is an “urgent, unsustainable situation” because each day of uncertainty is extremely expensive: Equinor spends up to $50 million per week on the project and has 11 vessels on standby. The developer has done a significant amount of onshore work already, where the cable from the wind farm will connect to the local grid.

“If no material progress is made toward a resolution within days, Equinor will be forced to terminate the project,” she said. “This is about honoring contracts and financial investments made in the U.S. It could set a dangerous precedent by stopping a project in mid-execution.”

The did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Equinor has over $60 billion in investments across the U.S., including substantial oil, gas and renewable projects. RWE, a German energy company, has stopped its offshore wind work in the United States, citing the political environment. French energy giant TotalEnergies paused the development of its offshore wind project in New York after Trump won reelection.

Equinor is considering options, but rather than getting tied up in the , Morris said the best way forward is a quicker political resolution. The summer construction window for major offshore work began this month, and missing it would set the project back a year, she said.

Morris and Equinor CEO Anders Opedal met with Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, on Wednesday. She said it was helpful, but they’ve asked to meet with Burgum and haven’t gotten a meeting.

Equinor is building Empire Wind to start providing power in 2026 for more than 500,000 New York homes. Equinor finalized the federal lease for Empire Wind in March 2017, early in Trump’s first term. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the construction and operations plan in February 2024 and construction began that year.

New York is leading a coalition of state attorneys general challenging the wind energy executive order in court. They say in the lawsuit filed Monday that Trump doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally shut down the permitting process, and he’s jeopardizing development of a power source critical to the states’ economic vitality, energy mix, public health and climate goals.

The White House says Democratic attorneys general are trying to stop the president’s popular energy agenda instead of working with him to restore America’s energy dominance.

Virginia unemployment claims rise amid federal layoffs


SUMMARY:

  • Over 121,000 federal employees have faced or have been targeted for layoffs
  • Virginia’s initial claims rose 8.1% in one week.
  • Expert expects to see reduction in the state’s administrative services
  • Weldon Cooper Center predicts rising unemployment in Virginia through 2025

A recent spike in claims can likely be traced to sweeping under the second Trump administration.

For the week ending May 3, the number of individuals filing initial claims for unemployment was 2,720, according to a Thursday news release from the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement, which is also known as Virginia Works. That’s an 8.1% increase in claims over the previous week and an 8.9% increase over a comparable week in 2024.

“We are starting to see some job losses,” Terry Clower, professor of public policy at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, said. “It’s not a huge number yet, but it’s starting to add up.”

Since returned to the White House in January, more than 100,000 federal employees have been fired or put on leave as part of a measure to cut federal spending. A CNN tracker puts the number of federal workers laid off or targeted for layoffs at 121,361 as of April 28. More than 321,500 federal workers live in Virginia, according to data from the 2023 Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The Trump administration has also cut federal contracts to curb federal spending, which is anticipated to result in layoffs among some government contractors. (For instance, in April, Goldschmitt and Associates, a Sterling-based business management firm, announced plans to lay off 217 employees, citing a reduction in a federal contract as the reason for the cut jobs.)

Along with federal spending cuts, the economy is also responding to Trump’s trade war and its accompanying , which has grown economic uncertainty,  resulted in $11 trillion in losses in the short term and is expected to result in greater inflation and supply chain problems.

The increase in unemployment claims, Clower said, is a result of a “compounded storm of tariffs hitting parts of Virginia that deal a lot with trade and the supplies that we get in for manufacturing, and then, of course … dealing with the uncertainty of federal and federal contracts at the moment.”

Like Clower, João Ferreira, a regional economist at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Economic and Policy Studies, was not surprised by the state’s increase in unemployment claims.

In April, the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service released an economic forecast for Virginia, predicting unemployment in Virginia will continue to grow over the course of the year to a level not seen since 2021. “We expect this to be a trend as the federal activity in Virginia is reduced,” Ferreira said.

However, Virginia Labor Secretary Bryan Slater cautioned in a statement Monday that the news might not be as grim as it seems:  “To date, we have only seen approximately 1,700 federal employees and federal contractors file for unemployment, far below any projections that have been made over the past 90 days.”

Slater also noted that Virginia has more than 225,000 open jobs and directed job seekers to the website VirginiaHasJobs.com.

“Virginia’s unemployment rate is 3.2% — a full point lower than the national average and considerably lower than most of our competitors and surrounding states,” Slater said in his statement. “Our initial claims are lower than they were three and four weeks ago and in line with the 10-year average and well below the 30-year average of 5,235. Our continuing claims are well below the 10- and 30-year averages of 20,239 and 33,844.”

About 83% of claimants making initial unemployment claims self-reported their occupations. More than 500 worked in professional, scientific and technical services. Other top fields reported by claimants were administrative and support and waste management (275); retail trade (217); health care and social assistance (208); and manufacturing (145).

Ferreira expects to see a reduction in the state’s administrative services jobs as well as a slowdown in growth of professional, scientific and technical services jobs in 2025.

Also in Virginia, continuing unemployment claims for the week ending May 3 were 1.5% higher than the previous week and 15.1% higher than a comparable week in 2024, according to Virginia Works. Those numbers indicate that “those folks that have lost a job are finding it harder to find one now,” Clower said.

Of the 17,896 continuing claims, nearly 92% of claimants self reported their professions. The top industries were professional, scientific and technical services (3,748); administrative and support and waste management (2,225); health care and social assistance (1,579); retail trade (1,392); and manufacturing (1,161).

But Virginia also has seen major layoff announcements outside of the and government contracting in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Georgia-Pacific told 554 employees they would lose their jobs at its Emporia plywood mill, which the company is closing in response to a 30-year low in existing home sales.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia’s Democratic senior senator, touched on the economy during a Thursday media call.

“I’ve never seen a more self-made economic crisis,” said Warner, “and it is created because of the whim of one individual: Donald Trump.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated May 12 to include Virginia Labor Secretary Bryan Slater’s statement.

Norfolk casino developer pledges $1M to NSU

The company behind the $750 million casino pledged $1 million to to support its business school’s and management program.

, which is developing the still-unnamed with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, will be the title sponsor of ‘s Boyd Gaming Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, the company announced Friday.

“We are pleased to enter into this partnership with one of the leading gaming corporations in the United States,” NSU President Javaune Adams-Gaston said in a statement. “Our Department of Tourism & Hospitality is the perfect place to prepare the next generation of gaming professionals.”

Construction began in February on the long-awaited casino, which is expected to create 850 jobs. The resort casino was approved by Norfolk voters in fall 2020, but construction was delayed due to conflicts over design plans between Norfolk City Council and the developers. An earlier partnership between the and Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough ended last year, and Boyd Gaming entered the picture. At that time, Boyd and the tribe scrapped the casino’s previously announced branding as the HeadWaters Resort & Casino.

In September 2024, Norfolk City Council approved the development agreement between the city, the tribe and Boyd, and since then, the project has moved forward. A temporary casino is expected to be completed late this year, with the permanent casino resort is expected to open in late 2027.

The permanent casino will have 1,500 slot machines, 50 table games, a 200-room hotel, eight food and beverage outlets, a 45,000-square-foot outdoor amenity deck and live entertainment.

Earlier this week, the two casino partners granted Old Dominion University and Tidewater Community College $50,000 each to help develop education and training programs to support the casino’s workforce needs. In October 2024, the casino partners gave $100,000 to NSU.

Boyd Gaming and the Pamunkey Tribe “look forward to working closely with our friends and partners at NSU in the years ahead as we build a best-in-class team and create exciting career opportunities for Norfolk State graduates at our resort,” Ron Bailey, vice president and general manager of the Norfolk casino, said in a statement.

Boyd Gaming operates 28 gaming properties in 10 states, manages a tribal casino in California and owns and operates Boyd Interactive, an online casino gaming business. The company also is a 5% equity owner of FanDuel Group, a sports betting operator.

Virginia has three operating in Danville, Bristol and Portsmouth, and construction on the $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia in Petersburg began in March.