>>All Eyes On Wall Street
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning after stocks closed higher Wednesday, before futures dropped like a rock in pre-market trading. Wall Street closed in positive territory as investors awaited the rollout of President Trump's tariffs. Shares of Tesla rose more than five percent after reports emerged that Elon Musk would be leaving his post as the head of DOGE in the coming months. At the closing bell, the Dow climbed 235 points to 42-225. The S&P gained 37 points to 56-70, and the Nasdaq rose 151 points to 17-601.
>>Trump Announces Tariffs
(Washington, DC) -- As promised, President Trump has announced his global tariffs, calling it "Liberation Day." Trump said Wednesday that trading partners have "looted, pillaged, and raped" American industries for decades, leading to a loss of U.S. jobs and manufacturing. He said his administration will now "Make America Wealthy Again." Critics claim the reciprocal tariffs are unfair and could lead to hyper-inflation. The European Union has said it's working on countermeasures and overnight Vietnam held an emergency cabinet meeting after the Southeast Asian nation was hit with a whopping 46-percent tariff on exports.
>>Report: Amazon Makes Bid For TikTok
(Seattle, WA) -- Amazon is reportedly making a last minute bid to buy TikTok. The New York Times broke the news that the e-commerce giant had submitted the bid via an offer letter sent to Vice President JD Vance and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. Saturday is the deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok or the app will face a ban in the U.S. Lawmakers have expressed security concerns over the app's connection to China. Tech giant Oracle and private equity firm Blackstone have reportedly been in talks possibly buying the video app.
>>UFC, Meta Sign Partnership Deal
(Menlo Park, CA) -- The UFC is signing a multi million-dollar partnership deal with Meta. The MMA company aims to restructure their fan experience using AI using Meta platforms. President and CEO Dana White said in a release, "Meta has the greatest minds in tech and they are going to take fan engagement to the next level." He added that UFC and Meta are already working on a new fighter rankings system.
>>Mega Millions Ticket Price To Increase
(Atlanta, GA) -- The cost to play the Mega Millions lottery will go up this week. The price of a ticket is going up to five dollars following Friday's drawing. Officials say the price increase will lead to faster growing jackpots and better odds. Every prize will also now be worth more than the cost of a ticket. This is the first price increase for Mega Millions since 2017.
