NEW YORK (AP) - Few ripples washed through Wall Street Wednesday after the Federal Reserve decided to hold its main interest rate steady, just like investors expected. The S&P 500 was nearly unchanged and inched down by less than 0.1% from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 12 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a full-throated defense Wednesday of President Donald Trump’s military operation to oust and arrest then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, while also using his wide-ranging congressional testimony to touch on Greenland, NATO, Iran and China.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iranian officials reached out to the wider Middle East on Wednesday over the threat of a possible U.S. military strike on the country, while the value of Iran’s currency reached a new low a month since the start of protests that soon spread nationwide and sparked a bloody crackdown.
Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs in the second round of mass layoffs for the ecommerce company in three months. The tech giant has said it plans to use generative artificial intelligence to replace corporate workers. It has also been reducing a workforce that swelled during the pandemic.
Starbucks reported strong fiscal first quarter as holiday drinks and a viral bear cup helped drive sales. Same-store sales – or sales at locations open at least a year – rose 4% for the October-December period. That was higher than the 2.3% that Wall Street was expecting, according to analysts polled by FactSet. Same-store sales in the U.S. were also up 4%.
LONDON (AP) – Britain’s competition watchdog said Wednesday that Google should give news sites and content creators the choice to opt out of having their online content scraped to feed its AI overviews. It’s part of a set of proposals from the Competition and Markets Authority aimed at loosening the U.S. tech giant’s stranglehold on the U.K’s online search market.
BRUSSELS (AP) – The ambitious free trade agreement between the European Union and India underscores the EU’s efforts to ink new global partnerships at a time when the Trump administration has rattled a continent deeply tied to Washington on trade, defense and diplomacy.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday a “big investigation” was underway into the killing of protester and ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. “I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” the president said as he left the White House.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal Reserve officials are expected to keep their short-term interest rate unchanged Wednesday after three cuts last year, ignoring huge pressure for lower borrowing costs from the White House in favor of waiting to see how the economy evolves.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday a “big investigation” was underway into the killing of protester and ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. “I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” the president said as he left the White House.



























































































































