>>Ahead Of The Bell
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning after stocks closed lower on Wall Street yesterday. This, as the Federal Reserve announced it was leaving interest rates unchanged. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said they will remain cautious as inflation remains elevated. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 136 points to 44-713. The S&P 500 dropped by 28 points to 60-39. The Nasdaq lost 101 points to end the day at 19-632. Investors today will be keeping an eye out for Apple to release its first quarter earnings results after the bell.
>>White House Reverses Funding Freeze
(Washington, DC) -- The White House is reversing an order freezing federal grants. President Trump ordered a pause on federal aid earlier this week, which led to confusion at and a judge putting a temporary "stay" in place. The memo caused chaos at government agencies when it appeared to jeopardize programs funding schools, housing and health care. That memo has now been rescinded.
>>OpenAI Looks Into Whether Chinese AI Startup DeepSeek Used Its Data
(San Francisco, CA) -- OpenAI is looking into whether Chinese AI startup DeepSeek took data from ChatGPT to build its own new AI assistant. The American company said it's "reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled" its models. A spokesperson said OpenAI is aware groups in China use methods like distillation, a technique used to transfer a large model's knowledge to a smaller model, to replicate American AI models. DeepSeek says its model works at the same level as OpenAI's latest version. It currently sits at the number one free app spot on the Apple App Store, overtaking ChatGPT.
>>Starbucks To Cut 30% Of Menu
(Seattle, WA) -- Starbucks is planning to cut around 30 percent of its menu options by the end of the year. It's part of the coffee chain's efforts to stop losing customers after four quarters straight of dipping sales. New CEO Brian Nichol calls the plan "Back to Starbucks," and said the current menu is a bit overwhelming for customers and employees. The chain is also hoping to streamline the ordering process, aiming for drinks to take no longer than four minutes to deliver. No word on which items will be geting the ax.
>>Honda Recalls More Than 290K Vehicles
(Undated) -- Honda is recalling more than 290-thousand vehicles because they might stall or lose power. At issue is a problem wit the fuel injection electronic control unit. Affected models include Acura MDX Type S from 2022-2025, Acura TLX Type S from 2021 to 2021-2025 and Honda Pilots from 2023-2025.
>>New Supersonic Jet Breaks Sound Barrier
(Mojave, CA) -- A new prototype passenger jet, the Boom Supersonic XB-1, has broken the sound barrier during a supersonic test flight. The XB-1 aircraft accelerated to over Mach One speed on Tuesday, while flying 35-thousand feet over California's Mojave Desert. It was the first civilian aircraft to reach speeds of over 850 miles per hour since the Concorde airliner over 20 years ago. The CEO of Boom Supersonic praised his team for accomplishing the feat, and said he hopes to "bring the benefits of supersonic flight to everyone."
