Fed leaves key rate unchanged as it awaits the impact of tariffs and Trump again scolds Powell

Fed leaves key rate unchanged as it awaits the impact of tariffs and Trump again scolds Powell

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve kept its key rate unchanged Wednesday as it waits for additional information on how tariffs and other potential disruptions will affect the economy this year.

The Fed’s policymakers signaled they still expect to cut rates twice this year, even as they also project that President Donald Trump’s import duties will push inflation higher. They also expect growth to slow and unemployment to edge up, according to their latest quarterly projections released Wednesday.

Fed policymakers had cut their rate three times late last year but have since have been on hold. Inflation has cooled steadily since January, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference that tariffs are likely to reverse that progress and push inflation higher in the coming months. The Fed expects the bump to inflation will be temporary, but they want to see more data to be sure.

“Increases in tariffs this year are likely to push up prices and weigh on economic activity,” Powell said. “This is something we know is coming, we just don’t know the size of it.”

Changes to the Fed’s rate typically — though not always — influence borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and business loans.

So far inflation has continued to decline while some cracks have appeared in the economy, particularly in housing, where elevated borrowing costs are slowing sales and homebuilding. Hiring has also slowed. Such trends would typically lead the Fed to reduce its key rate, which is currently at about 4.3%.

Yet Powell said the economy remains in good shape and the Fed has to consider the potential for prices to rise soon.

“You can see perhaps a very, very slow continued cooling” in the job market, “but nothing that’s troubling at this time,” he said.

“We have to be forward looking,” Powell said later. “We expect a meaningful amount of inflation to arrive in coming months and we have to take that into account.”

Powell also said the Fed will learn much more over the summer about how tariffs will affect the economy. George Pearkes, global macro strategist for Bespoke Investment Group, said he interpreted that to mean the Fed won’t cut until September, at the earliest. Its next meeting is in July.

“Unless we see a really, really rapid deterioration in the labor market we won’t see a cut until September, and maybe not even then,” he said.

Wall Street investors currently expect the Fed to cut in September, according to futures prices tracked by CME Fedwatch.

Fed officials see inflation, according to their preferred measure, rising to 3% by the end of this year, from 2.1% in April, according to the projections released Wednesday. They also project the unemployment rate will rise to 4.5%, from 4.2% currently. Growth is expected to slow to just 1.4% this year, down from 2.5% last year.

Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors and a former Fed economist, said that the projections show that policymakers do expect inflation to come down in 2026 and 2027, with the tariffs having just a temporary impact. Without the duties, officials would be more likely to cut rates soon, she said.

“The Fed seems to be in agreement that this will be temporary, but they don’t have high enough conviction yet,” she said.

So far, inflation has cooled this year to just 2.1% in April, essentially back at the central bank’s target of 2%. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, remains elevated at 2.5%.

Trump has pointed to the mild inflation figures to argue that the Fed should lower borrowing costs and has repeatedly criticized Powell for not doing so. On Wednesday he called Powell “stupid” and accused him of being “political” for not cutting rates.

“So we have no inflation, we have only success,” Trump said, before the Fed announced its decision. “And I’d like to see interest rates get down.”

Trump has previously argued that a rate cut would boost the economy. Now his focus has shifted to the federal government’s borrowing costs, which have shot higher since the pandemic, with interest payments running at an annual rate of more than $1 trillion.

Pushing the Fed to cut rates simply to save the government on its interest payments typically raises alarms among economists, because it would threaten the Fed’s congressional mandate to focus on stable prices and maximum employment.

One of Trump’s complaints is that the Fed isn’t cutting rates even as other central banks around the world have reduced their borrowing costs, including in Europe, Canada, and the U.K. On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan kept its key short-term rate unchanged at 0.5%, after actually raising it recently.

But the European Central Bank, Bank of Canada, and Bank of England have reduced their rates this year in part because U.S. tariffs are weakening their economies. So far the U.S. economy is mostly solid, with the unemployment rate low.

The Bank of England has cut its rate twice this year but is expected to keep it unchanged at 4.25% when it meets Thursday.

__

AP reporter Alex Veiga contributed.

Juneteenth observed across NC as communities honor freedom and history

Juneteenth observed across NC as communities honor freedom and history

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — Juneteenth, the holiday that honors the end of slavery in the United States, will be celebrated across North Carolina today along with events throughout the month that reflect both remembrance and joy. Adrienne Nirdé, Director of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission, says Juneteenth is the annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

“What is the day that we’re commemorating where the land of the United States was free and then the day that everyone, all of the United States people were actually free which is what we’re commemorating with June 19th,” said Nirdé.

While the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, not all enslaved people were immediately freed. It took over two years for that message to reach Texas—where, on June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston to announce the end of the Civil War and enforce emancipation for the last remaining enslaved people.

“Though the emancipation proclamation was issued back in 1863, there were a lot of things going on in our country,” said Nirdé. “It was not until June 19th, 1865 that 2,000 Union soldiers arrived to Galveston, Texas, to share the news that the Civil War was over and all enslaved Texans were also free.”

The day wasn’t recognized as a federal holiday until 2021, though celebrations within Black communities across the country have long commemorated it. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the period following Juneteenth—known as Reconstruction—was one of both hope and hardship as newly freed people navigated freedom in a still-divided nation.

The period after Juneteenth is known as the ‘Scatter.’ In the weeks after June 19, many formerly enslaved people left Texas in great numbers to find family members and make their way in the postbellum United States. Nirdé says that Juneteenth offers more than history—it’s a chance for people to come together and reflect on the nation’s journey.

“We have so little opportunity to really think about this history where we come from, so it’s just really a great time to gather,” said Nirdé.

The Commission is encouraging community members to engage in local events across the state, which can all be found on a community calendar on their website, including their own Juneteenth gathering this Saturday at 2 p.m. in North Carolina Freedom Park, titled Songs of Liberation.

“We’re going to have a wonderful performer as well as activities for families to take part in too,” said Nirdé.

From music to historical reflection, North Carolina’s Juneteenth celebrations invite residents to honor the past while moving forward—together.

Date Honey Sugar Cookie

Date Honey Sugar Cookie

Date Honey Sugar Cookie

Photo by Getty Images

Date Honey Sugar Cookie Recipe from Ronnie Fein

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 12 minutes

Serving size: 36 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1/2 cup solid coconut oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup date honey
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Combine the shortening, coconut oil, sugar, honey and vanilla extract and beat at medium speed for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.
  3. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until well blended.
  4. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt and cinnamon.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the honey mixture and beat at medium speed until a soft dough forms.
  6. Roll the dough on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness.
  7. Cut out shapes with 2-inch round or heart-shaped cookie cutters. Place the cookies prepared cookie sheet.
  8. Bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly brown.
  9. Let cool. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar if desired.
Buss family agrees to sell controlling stake of Lakers to Mark Walter for $10B, AP source says

Buss family agrees to sell controlling stake of Lakers to Mark Walter for $10B, AP source says

The Buss family has agreed to sell the controlling stake of the Los Angeles Lakers to TWG Global CEO Mark Walter, doing so with a franchise valuation of $10 billion — the most ever for a professional sports franchise, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Wednesday.

As part of the deal, Jeanie Buss — whose family has had control of the Lakers since her father bought the team in 1979 — intends to remain as governor, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side immediately announced details.

It is not clear how much of the Lakers that Walter is acquiring. He was part of a group that bought 27% of the Lakers in 2021.

Walter is part of the ownership of many other franchises, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chelsea FC, the Los Angeles Sparks and several auto racing teams.

ESPN first reported the agreement.

US unemployment ticked down, hovering at historically low levels

US unemployment ticked down, hovering at historically low levels

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dipped to 245,000 last week, hovering at historically low levels, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

U.S. jobless claims ticked down from 250,000 the week before. Economists had expected last week’s claims to match that at 250,000.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose to 245,500, the highest since August 2023.

The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits the week of June 7 slid to 1.95 million.

Weekly unemployment claim are a proxy for layoffs and mostly have stayed within a healthy band of 200,000 to 250,000 since the economy recovered from a brief but painful COVID-19 recession in 2020, which temporarily wiped out millions of jobs.

In recent weeks, however, claims have stayed at the high end of range, adding to evidence that U.S. job market is decelerating after years of strong hiring. So far this year, employers are adding a decent but far from spectacular 124,000 jobs a month, down from an average 168,000 last year and an average of nearly 400,000 from 2021 through 2023.

The hiring slowdown is partly the drawn-out result of 11 interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023. But Trump’s aggressive and often-erratic trade policies — including 10% taxes on imports from almost every country on earth — are also weighing on the economy, paralyzing businesses and worrying consumers who fear they’ll mean higher prices.

Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics is worried that claims remain elevated compared with recent years, when employment has remained very low by historical standards.

“We believe firms have been ‘hoarding’ workers to ensure that they don’t lay off skilled and trained workers by mistake, especially with the labor market still very close to full employment,” Weinberg wrote. “With uncertainty still high…companies have remained hesitant about layoffs. That may be changing.”

The Fed, satisfied that an inflation was coming down, cut rates three times last year. But the central bank has turned cautious in 2025, worried that Trump’s tariffs will rekindle inflationary pressures. The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged as it wraps up a two-day meeting Wednesday.

Supreme Court OKs Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for kids, a setback for transgender rights

Supreme Court OKs Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for kids, a setback for transgender rights

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a jolting setback to transgender rights.

The justices’ 6-3 decision in a case from Tennessee effectively protects from legal challenges many efforts by President Donald Trump’s Republican administration and state governments to roll back protections for transgender people. Another 26 states have laws similar to Tennessee’s.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a conservative majority that the law banning puberty blockers and hormone treatments for trans minors doesn’t violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same.

“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field. The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound,” Roberts wrote. “The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. Nor does it afford us license to decide them as we see best.”

In a dissent for the court’s three liberal justices that she summarized aloud in the courtroom, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent.”

The law also limits parents’ decision-making ability for their children’s health care, she wrote.

Efforts to regulate transgender people’s lives

The decision comes amid other federal and state efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people, including which sports competitions they can join and which bathrooms they can use. In April, Trump’s administration sued Maine for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports.

The Republican president also has sought to block federal spending on gender-affirming medical care for those under age 19 — instead promoting talk therapy only to treat young transgender people. And the Supreme Court has allowed him to kick transgender service members out of the military, even as court fights continue. The president signed another order to define the sexes as only male and female.

The debate even spilled into Congress when Delaware elected Democrat Sarah McBride as the first transgender member of the House. Her election prompted immediate opposition among Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, over which bathroom McBride could use.

Some providers have stopped treatment already

Several states where gender-affirming care remains in place have adopted laws or state executive orders seeking to protect it. But since Trump’s executive order, some providers have ceased some treatments. For instance, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia announced last month it wouldn’t provide surgeries for patients under 19.

The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Susan Kressly, said the organization is “unwavering” in its support of gender-affirming care and “stands with pediatricians and families making health care decisions together and free from political interference.”

Five years ago, the Supreme Court ruled LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. That decision is unaffected by Wednesday’s ruling.

But the justices declined to apply the same sort of analysis the court used in 2020 when it found “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers’ decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. Roberts joined that opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was part of Wednesday’s majority.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett also fully joined the majority but wrote separately to emphasize that laws classifying people based on transgender status should not receive any special review by courts. Barrett, also writing for Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote that “courts must give legislatures flexibility to make policy in this area.”

‘A devastating loss’ or a ‘Landmark VICTORY’

Chase Strangio, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case for transgender minors and their families, called the ruling “a devastating loss for transgender people, our families, and everyone who cares about the Constitution.”

Mo Jenkins, a 26-year-old trans woman who began taking hormone therapy at 16, said she was disheartened but not surprised by the ruling. “Trans people are not going to disappear,” said Jenkins, a Texas native and legislative staffer at the state capitol in Austin. Texas outlawed puberty blockers and hormone treatment for minors in 2023.

Tennessee’s leading Republican elected officials all praised the outcome. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on social media called the ruling a “Landmark VICTORY for Tennessee at SCOTUS in defense of America’s children!”

There are about 300,000 people between the ages of 13 and 17 and 1.3 million adults who identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law that researches sexual orientation and gender identity demographics.

When the case was argued in December, then-President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and families of transgender adolescents called on the high court to strike down the Tennessee ban as unlawful sex discrimination and to protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable Americans.

They argued the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment in part because the same treatments that the law prohibits for transgender minors can be used for other purposes.

Soon after Trump took office, the Justice Department told the court its position had changed.

A major issue in the case was the appropriate level of scrutiny courts should apply to such laws.

The lowest level is known as rational basis review, and almost every law looked at that way is upheld. Indeed, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati that allowed the Tennessee law to be enforced held that lawmakers acted rationally to regulate medical procedures.

The appeals court reversed a trial court that employed a higher level of review, heightened scrutiny, which applies in cases of sex discrimination. Under this more searching examination, the state must identify an important objective and show the law helps accomplish it.

Roberts’ 24-page majority opinion was devoted almost entirely to explaining why the Tennessee law, called SB1, should be evaluated under the lower standard of review. The law’s restrictions on treating minors for gender dysphoria turn on age and medical use, not sex, Roberts wrote.

Doctors may prescribe puberty blockers and hormone therapy to minors of any sex to treat some disorders, but not those relating to transgender status, he wrote.

But in her courtroom statement, Sotomayor asserted that similar arguments were made to defend the Virginia law prohibiting interracial marriage that the Supreme Court struck down in 1967.

“A ban on interracial marriage could be described in the same way as the majority described SB1,” she said.

Roberts rejected the comparison.

___

Associated Press writers Geoff Mulvihill, in Cherry Hill, N.J., and Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

___

At least 51 Palestinians killed while waiting for aid trucks in Gaza, health officials say

At least 51 Palestinians killed while waiting for aid trucks in Gaza, health officials say

By MOHAMMAD JAHJOUH, SAMY MAGDY and JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — At least 51 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for U.N. and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital.

Palestinian witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military said soldiers had spotted a gathering near an aid truck that was stuck in Khan Younis, near where Israeli forces were operating. It acknowledged “several casualties” as Israelis opened fire on the approaching crowd and said authorities would investigate what happened.

The shooting did not appear to be related to a new Israeli- and U.S.-supported aid delivery network that rolled out last month and has been marred by controversy and violence.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs, or OCHA, said the people killed were waiting for food rations arriving in U.N. convoys.

Also on Tuesday, the main Palestinian telecoms regulatory agency based in the West Bank city of Ramallah reported that Israeli strikes had cut off fixed-line phone service and internet access in central and southern Gaza.

‘Aren’t we human beings?’

Yousef Nofal, an eyewitness, said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces opened fire. “It was a massacre,” he said, adding that the soldiers continued firing on people as they fled from the area.

Mohammed Abu Qeshfa reported hearing a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. “I survived by a miracle,” he said.

The dead and wounded were taken to the city’s Nasser Hospital, which confirmed 51 people had been killed. Later Tuesday, medical charity MSF raised the death toll to 59, saying that another 200 had been wounded while trying to receive flour rations in Khan Younis.

Samaher Meqdad was at the hospital looking for her two brothers and a nephew who had been in the crowd.

“We don’t want flour. We don’t want food. We don’t want anything,” she said. “Why did they fire at the young people? Why? Aren’t we human beings?”

Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds trying to reach food distribution points run by a separate U.S. and Israeli-backed aid group since the centers opened last month. Local health officials say scores have been killed and hundreds wounded.

In those instances, the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots at people it said had approached its forces in a suspicious manner.

Deadly Israeli airstrikes continued elsewhere in the enclave on Tuesday. Al-Awda Hospital, a major medical center in northern Gaza, reported that it has received the bodies of eight Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on a house in the central Bureij refugee camp.

Desperation grows as rival aid systems can’t meet needs

Israel says the new system operated by a private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is designed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid to fund its militant activities.

U.N. agencies and major aid groups deny there is any major diversion of aid and have rejected the new system, saying it can’t meet the mounting needs in Gaza and that it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who has access to aid.

Experts have warned of famine in the territory that is home to some 2 million Palestinians.

The U.N.-run network has delivered aid across Gaza throughout the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, but has faced major obstacles since Israel loosened a total blockade it had imposed from early March until mid-May.

U.N. officials say Israeli military restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it difficult to deliver the aid that Israel has allowed in.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for OCHA, said on Tuesday that the aid Israeli authorities have allowed into Gaza since late May has been “woefully insufficient.”

Fuel has not entered Gaza for over 100 days, she said. “The only way to address it is by sufficient volumes and over sustained periods of time. A trickle of aid here, a trickle of aid there is not going to make a difference.”

Israel’s military campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israel launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage.

The militants still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo and Krauss from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.

A judge could advance Purdue Pharma’s $7B opioid settlement after all 50 states back it

A judge could advance Purdue Pharma’s $7B opioid settlement after all 50 states back it

All 50 U.S. states have agreed to the OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma ’s latest plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids.

A judge on Wednesday is being asked to clear the way for local governments and individual victims to vote on it.

Government entities, emergency room doctors, insurers, families of children born into withdrawal from the powerful prescription painkiller, individual victims and their families and others would have until Sept. 30 to vote on whether to accept the deal, which calls for members of the Sackler family who own the company to pay up to $7 billion over 15 years.

If approved, the settlement would be among the largest in a wave of lawsuits over the past decade as governments and others sought to hold drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies accountable for the opioid epidemic that started rising in the years after OxyContin hit the market in 1996. The other settlements together are worth about $50 billion, and most of the money is to be used to combat the crisis.

In the early 2000s, most opioid deaths were linked to prescription drugs, including OxyContin. Since then, heroin and then illicitly produced fentanyl became the biggest killers. In some years, the class of drugs was linked to more than 80,000 deaths, but that number dropped sharply last year.

The request of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane comes about a year after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a previous version of Purdue’s proposed settlement. The court found it was improper that the earlier iteration would have protected members of the Sackler family from lawsuits over opioids, even though they themselves were not filing for bankruptcy protection.

Under the reworked plan hammered out with lawyers for state and local governments and others, groups that don’t opt in to the settlement would still have the right to sue members of the wealthy family whose name once adorned museum galleries around the world and programs at several prestigious U.S. universities.

Under the plan, the Sackler family members would give up ownership of Purdue. They resigned from the company’s board and stopped receiving distributions from its funds before the company’s initial bankruptcy filing in 2019. The remaining entity would get a new name and its profits would be dedicated to battling the epidemic.

Most of the money would go to state and local governments to address the nation’s addiction and overdose crisis, but potentially more than $850 million would go directly to individual victims. That makes it different from the other major settlements.

The payouts would not begin until after a hearing scheduled for Nov. 10, during which Lane is to be asked to approve the entire plan if enough of the affected parties agree.

Tuna Sushi Roll

Tuna Sushi Roll

Tuna Sushi Roll

Photo by Getty Images

Tuna Sushi Roll Recipe from Heinen’s

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: n/a

Serving size: 4 servings

Ingredients

Sushi Rice

  • 3 cups cooked rice
  • ⅓ cup rice vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp. pure organic maple syrup
  • 1½ tsp. sea salt

Sushi Roll

  • 4 nori sheets
  • 10 oz. frozen wild caught ahi tuna, thawed and cut into ½-inch strips
  • 2 mini cucumbers, quartered lengthwise
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • Soy sauce, wasabi or sriracha mayo, for serving

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, maple syrup and salt.
  2. Prepare the rice according to the package instructions and transfer it to a mixing bowl. If using leftover rice, reheat it before use. Cold rice won’t absorb the flavor well. Pour the vinegar mixture into the rice and mix with a spatula.
  3. Place a nori sheet on a piece of parchment paper, shiny-side-down. Divide the sushi rice into quarters. Evenly spread a quarter of the rice on the nori sheet, leaving a 1-inch border on the top.
  4. Arrange a line of tuna, avocado and cucumber on top of the rice. Lift the end of the parchment paper with the nori sheet and fold over the filling. Squeeze tightly. Lift the end of the parchment paper slightly to prevent it from rolling into the sushi. Keep rolling until you reach the other end of the nori sheet.
  5. Rest the sushi roll wrapped in the parchment paper for 2- 3 minutes to set. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
  6. Unwrap the parchment paper and use a sharp knife to slice the rolls into 1-inch-thick pieces.
  7. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi or sriracha mayo for dipping.
Stocks slump and oil prices jump as Trump urges Iran’s unconditional surrender

Stocks slump and oil prices jump as Trump urges Iran’s unconditional surrender

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks slumped on Tuesday under the weight of another jump for the price of oil. It was a return to formfor financial markets after Wall Street’s worries about Israel’s fighting with Iran had seemed to calm a bit on Monday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% following signals that the Israel-Iran conflict may be worsening and that one of the U.S. economy’s main engines is weakening. The swing sent Wall Street’s main measure of health nearly back to where it started the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 299 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.9%.

Stocks sank under increasing pressure from crude oil prices, which climbed in their latest see-saw move. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude jumped 4.3% to $74.84. Brent crude, the international standard, added 4.4% to $76.45 per barrel.

Their gains accelerated after President Donald Trump raised the temperature on Israel’s fight with Iran by calling for “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” on his social media platform and saying, “We are not going to” kill Iran’s leader, “at least for now.”

Before that, Trump had left a Group of Seven summit early and warned that people in Iran’s capital should evacuate immediately. It took only about eight hours for Trump to go from suggesting a nuclear deal with Iran remained “achievable” to urging Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives.

The fighting has the potential to drive up prices for crude oil and gasoline because Iran is a major producer of oil, and it sits on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s crude passes. Past conflicts in the area have caused spikes in oil prices, though they’ve historically proven to be only temporary after showing that they did not disrupt the flow of oil.

Often, higher oil prices can help stocks of companies in the solar industry because they increase the incentive to switch to alternative energy sources. But solar stocks tumbled Tuesday because of the possibility that Congress may phase out tax credits for solar, wind and other energy sources that produce fewer emissions that change the Earth’s climate.

Enphase Energy dropped 24%, and First Solar fell 17.9%.

Treasury yields also fell in the bond market after a report said shoppers spent less last month at U.S. retailers than the month before and than economists expected. Solid such spending has been one of the linchpins keeping the economy out of a recession, but part of May’s drop may have simply been a return to more normal trends.

In April, some shoppers had rushed to buy automobiles to get ahead of Trump’s tariffs.

“Today’s data suggests consumers are downshifting, but they haven’t yet slammed the brakes,” according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

On the winning side of Wall Street was Jabil, which jumped 8.9% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Mike Dastoor credited strength from accelerated demand related to artificial-intelligence technology, among other things.

Verve Therapeutics soared 81.5% after Eli Lilly said it would buy the company developing genetic medicines for cardiovascular disease in a $1 billion deal that could be worth up to $1.3 billion if certain conditions are met. Lilly’s stock fell 2%.

All told, the S&P 500 lost 50.39 points to 5,982.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 299.29 to 42,215.80, and the Nasdaq composite sank 180.12 to 19,521.09.

All the action took place as the Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting on interest rates. The nearly unanimous expectation among traders and economists is that the Fed will make no move.

The Fed has been hesitant to lower interest rates, and it’s been on hold this year after cutting at the end of last year, because it’s waiting to see how much Trump’s tariffs will hurt the economy and raise inflation. Inflation has remained relatively tamerecently, and it’s near the Fed’s target of 2%.

More important for financial markets on Wednesday will likely be the latest set of forecasts that Fed officials will publish for where they see the economy and interest rates heading in upcoming years.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.38% from 4.46% late Monday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.6% after the Bank of Japan opted to keep its key interest rate unchanged. It’s been gradually raising its rate from near zero and cutting back on its purchases of Japanese government bonds to help counter inflation.

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