For Friday, May 9th, 2025
>>Stocks Close Higher
(New York, NY) -- Wall Street closed Thursday with stocks higher. It comes after President Trump announced the framework for a trade deal between the United Kingdom and the U.S. Trump said the final details of the deal are still being worked on. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 254 points to 41-368. The S&P 500 rose by 32 points to 56-63. The Nasdaq gained 189 points to 17-928.
>>U.S., U.K. Announce Trade Deal
(Washington, DC) -- The U.S. and the UK are announcing a new trade deal. President Trump made the announcement at the White House yesterday. He said he feels it will be a great deal for both countries. The trade deal with the U.K. is the first to be reached since Trump unveiled his sweeping tariff plan. Trump said the U.S. is working on trade deals with other countries. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke about the deal over the phone in the Oval Office.
>>Trump: "Too Late" Powell Should Have Cut Rates
(Washington, DC) -- President Trump says it's "too late" for the Fed to cut interest rates. Before his cabinet meeting, Trump noted England and China cut rates, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell chose not to. Powell has said if Trump wants to talk to him, he needs to call him, to which Trump responded "it's like talking to a wall" -- adding his new nickname is "too late" Powell. He went on to say that a rate cut wouldn't make much difference because the U.S. economy is so strong.
>>Bill Gates Announces Plan To Give Away Money, End Gates Foundation
(Seattle, WA) -- Bill Gates says he plans to give away "virtually all" of his money within 20 years and he will shutdown the Gates Foundation in 2045. The Microsoft co-founder said people will say a lot of things about him when he dies, but he's determined that "he died rich" won't be one of them. Gates said there are too many urgent problems to solve for him to hold onto resources that could be helpful. The Gates Foundation has given away over 100-billion-dollars since it was founded. The 70-year-old said he wants to speed up his foundation's work on equity initiatives and global health to hopefully set up a model for other billionaires to follow.
>>Investors Sue UnitedHealth
(New York, NY) -- A group of investors is suing UnitedHealth Group, accusing the company of misleading them about the backlash of the killing of top executive Brian Thompson. The class action suit, filed in New York federal court Wednesday, claims the company's earning forecast didn't factor in reports about its high rate of insurance denials and the sentiment against the company following Thompson's murder on a New York City sidewalk. The suit comes after the company eventually cut its 2025 earnings forecast. It argues the company didn't tell investors earlier it would have to adjust its strategy.
>>Trump To Rescind Biden Chip Legislation
(Washington, DC) -- The Trump administration is rescinding U.S. chip export restrictions known as the "AI diffusion rule." It's legislation that was proposed in the last days of the Biden administration. It organized countries into three different tiers all of which have different restrictions on whether advanced AI chips can be shipped to the country without a license. The limits were set to take effect on May 15th. Now the Trump administration's decision could have sweeping impacts on the global distribution of critical AI chips, as well as which companies profit from the new technology.
>>Weekly Jobless Claims Fall
(Washington, DC) -- First-time unemployment claims were down last week. The Labor Department says it received 228-thousand initial claims in the week ending May 3rd. That's a drop of 13-thousand from the previous week's revised total and is basically in line with what most analysts were expecting.
>>Toyota Tariffs Report Projects Profit Decline
(Toyota City, Japan) -- Toyota is projecting a decline in profit for the current financial year. The world's top-selling automaker released a report on Thursday forecasting a 21-percent profit decline due to widespread fallout from sweeping tariffs implemented by President Trump. This comes after a year of record profit totaling 32-point-four-billion-dollars for the manufacturer. According to Toyota, the company must also navigate the negative impact from a stronger yen.
