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Stock market today: Wall Street drifts ahead of Fed decision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting in early trading on Wall Street as investors wait to hear what the Federal Reserve’s latest decision will be on interest rates. The S&P 500 was little changed early Wednesday after riding a winning streak to its best level since April 2022. The Dow fell 137 points, or 0.4% and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%. Markets were mostly quiet, with the main event coming later in the afternoon when the Fed will announce its latest move on interest rates. The Fed has jacked up rates to their highest levels since 2007 in hopes of getting inflation under control.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street futures are mixed Wednesday ahead of an interest rate policy decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve and new inflation data.Futures for the Dow fell about 0.1% before the bell and the S&P 500 ticked up 0.2%.A cooler reading on U.S. inflation on Tuesday buoyed hopes the Federal Reserve will announce that it is skipping ...

The Federal Reserve will likely leave interest rates alone for the first time in 15 months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve, having raised interest rates at the fastest pace in four decades, is poised Wednesday to leave rates alone for the first time in 15 months to allow time to gauge the impact of its aggressive drive to tame inflation.Yet top Fed officials have made clear that any such pause may be brief — more of a “skip” — with another rate hike likely as soon as their next meeting in late July.Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other top policymakers have also indicated that they want to assess how much a pullback in bank lending might be weakening the economy. Banks have been slowing their lending — and demand for loans has fallen — as interest rates have risen.Some analysts have expressed concern that the collapse of three large banks last spring could cause nervous lenders to sharply tighten their loan qualifications and worsen the drop in lending. Economists at Goldman Sachs have estimated, though, that such damage will be modest. For the Fed, “skipping” a rate hi...

Volkswagen deal to cost the federal government more than previously announced: PBO

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

OTTAWA — The parliamentary budget officer says Canada’s exclusive contract with German auto giant Volkswagen to build an electric vehicle battery plant in southwestern Ontario will cost the federal government up to $16.3 billion over the next ten years. That figure is higher than what the federal government said the deal would cost taxpayers, which included a $700-million upfront capital investment and up to $13.2 billion in production tax credits.The analysis by the PBO looks at the fiscal and economic costs and benefits of the deal in the construction phase of the facility only.The PBO estimate includes the $700-million contribution for the construction of the plant and $12.8 billion in production support, but also estimates Ottawa will have to make additional tax adjustments that total $2.8 billion to match the benefits offered by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.The analysis also estimates that the deal would create a peak of 3,100 jobs at the start of 2026, but that figur...

Quebec judge rejects request from Muslim group to suspend ban on school prayer rooms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge has denied a request to suspend the province’s ban on prayer room spaces in public schools.The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Council of Canadian Muslims have argued that the ban was causing irreparable harm to Muslim students.Justice Lukasz Granosik disagreed, ruling today that the groups did not prove that there was an urgent need to stay the province’s decree while their case is heard on its merits.Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville in April barred public schools from making space available to students for prayer, citing the province’s policy on institutional secularism.Drainville had said that students would still be allowed to pray discreetly and silently.But the groups argued that Muslim prayers require physical action and that students had been threatened with disciplinary measures for attempting to pray on school property.This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, ...

13-year-old arrested in Bosnia for allegedly shooting, wounding teacher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — A 13-year-old boy was arrested in Bosnia Wednesday after allegedly shooting and wounding a teacher inside an elementary school building, police and local officials said.The teacher, a 38-year-old man who also served as the assistant headmaster in Lukavac Elementary School in the northeastern town, sustained serious wounds and was undergoing surgery, police said in a statement. The assailant was detained after the shooting in which no students were injured, the statement added.Police released no information about the shooter’s motive, but local officials confirmed the boy was expelled from the school earlier this year for unruly behavior. A local politician in Lukavac, Dino Osmanovic, claimed the boy had previously threatened to take revenge for the disciplinary action. Osmanovic said he notified the police of the danger in late May, but was told they had taken “necessary measures, that everything was under control and that they cannot share ...

Turkey’s Erdogan says his economic views are same but will accept minister’s policies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in comments published Wednesday he remains firm on his unconventional approach to Turkey’s economy, but suggested his recently appointed finance minister will have leeway to move away from policies many have blamed for a worsening cost-of-living crisis.Erdogan, who was reelected last month, reappointed Mehmet Simsek, an internationally respected banker, to the post of treasury and finance minister in a sign of a pivot from his unusual economic policies. He also appointed Hafize Gaye Erkan, a former U.S.-based bank executive, to head the central bank. She became Turkey’s first woman central bank governor.But lingering uncertainty over Erdogan’s economic direction — coupled with an apparent move to loosen government controls of foreign currency exchanges — led Turkey’s currency to plunge to record lows against the U.S. dollar last week.Speaking to reporters on his return from a trip to Azerbaijan on Tuesday, Erdogan said ...

German opposition party launches legal challenge to reform meant to shrink parliament

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A German opposition party on Wednesday launched a legal challenge against an electoral reform designed to reduce the size of the country’s increasingly bloated parliament.The Barvarian center-right Christian Social Union is one of two opposition parties that have been vehemently critical of the legislation, which lawmakers approved in March, and see their future place in parliament at risk. They accuse Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition of cobbling together constitutionally dubious rules to favor itself.The party’s general secretary, Martin Huber, said it has filed a complaint to Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court against the “undemocratic, anti-federalist, manipulative and unconstitutional” legislation.Parties across the political spectrum agree that parliament’s lower house, or Bundestag, has too many members, but they have disagreed for years on what to do about it. The chamber currently has a record 736 members and the ...

Activists say Benito the giraffe isn’t living his best life in small Mexican zoo, want him moved

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Benito the giraffe arrived in Mexico’s arid northern border city of Ciudad Juarez just last month, and already the climate appears to be a problem — and he’s only had to deal with the scorching heat of summer.The snow and freezing temperatures of winter are still to come, and animal activists are up in arms and pushing a campaign under the hashtag “Save Benito” seeking to have the animal moved somewhere more hospitable.On a recent day, the 3-year-old male giraffe could be seen crouching with only its head under a small, circular canopy for shade. The structure did little to protect him from a pelting rain and a hail storm later. There is also a small shed for winter, but activists say it is cruel for the city-run Central Park to keep the giraffe in a small fenced enclosure, by himself, with only about a half acre to wander and few trees to nibble, in a climate he’s not used to.“We have been fighting for a month, a group of animal activists, to demand that he...

Casket of Italian ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi is brought to cathedral for his funeral

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

MILAN (AP) — Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi was honored Wednesday with a state funeral in Milan’s Duomo cathedral and a day of national mourning, as his legacy — positive or negative — was being hotly debated among Italians.Thousands of people outside the Duomo and within erupted in applause as a sign of respect as Berlusconi’s flower-draped casket was hoisted out of the hearse and into the cathedral. His children and companion teared up as the casket was placed in front of the altar.Most Italians identify Berlusconi, a media mogul, soccer entrepreneur and three-time former premier, as the most influential figure in Italy over recent decades. But they remain sharply divided on whether his influence was for the better or worse, extending to whether the three-time former premier merits all the fuss and ceremony.Berlusconi died at the age of 86 on Monday in a Milan hospital where he was being treated for chronic leukemia. His family held a private wake Tuesday at one of Berlusconi’s ...

Google should break up digital ad business over competition concerns, European regulators say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:09 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union regulators hit Google with fresh antitrust charges Wednesday, saying the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its lucrative digital ad business is by selling off parts of the tech giant’s main moneymaker.The unprecedented decision to push for such a breakup marks a significant escalation by Brussels in its crackdown on Silicon Valley digital giants.The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, said its preliminary view after an investigation is that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services” would satisfy the concerns. The 27-nation EU has led the global movement to crack down on Big Tech companies — including groundbreaking rules on artificial intelligence — but it has previously relied on issuing blockbuster fines, including three antitrust penalties for Google worth billions of euros (dollars). It’s the first time the bloc has told a tech giant that it should split...