Newswatch

Bessent says IMF and World Bank need reform, says there’s an ‘opportunity for a big deal’ with China

WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has played a balancing act trying to reassure nervous investors that the U.S. would maintain its global leadership role, while staying true to the Trump administration’s skepticism of multilateral banking organizations. Leveling both harsh criticism for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, while promising support for their core missions on Wednesday, Bessent told the Institute of International Finance in a Wednesday morning speech that “America first does not mean America alone.” Rather, Bessent says, the U.S. wants “deeper collaboration and mutual respect among trade partners.” Bessent stops short of calling for the U.S. to withdraw from the IMF and the World Bank as some conservatives have advocated.

Trump says he has ‘no intention’ of firing Federal Reserve chair

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has no plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, just days after his statement that he would like to terminate the head of the U.S. central bank caused a stock market selloff. Trump told reporters, “I have no intention of firing him.” The U.S. president had previously insinuated otherwise as he said he could fire Powell if he wanted to, having been frustrated by the Fed putting a pause on cuts to short-term interest rates.

Musk says he’ll spend less time in Washington and more time running Tesla after its profit plunges

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk says he’ll be spending less time in Washington slashing government costs and more time running Tesla after his electric vehicle company reported a big drop in profits. Tesla struggled to sell vehicles as it faced angry protests over Musk’s leadership of DOGE, a jobs-cutting group that has divided the country. The Austin, Texas, company reported a 71% drop in profits and a 9% decline in revenue for the first quarter. Tesla stuck with its predictions that it will be able to launch a paid driverless robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June and have much of its fleet operating by itself next year.

Wall Street rises and markets rally worldwide 

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose as a worldwide rally came back around to Wall Street. The S&P 500 climbed 1.7% Wednesday The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 2.5%. Treasury yields also eased in the U.S. bond market. Stocks also rallied across much of Europe and Asia.

The European Union hits Apple and Meta with 700 million euros in fines, first under digital rules

LONDON (AP) — European Union watchdogs fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of euros as they stepped up enforcement of the 27-nation bloc’s digital competition rules. The European Commission has fined Apple 500 million euros for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store. The commission also slapped Meta Platforms with a 200 million euro fine because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them. Apple accused the commission of unfairly targeting the iPhone maker, while Meta said it was attempting to handicap successful American businesses.

Ex-OpenAI workers ask California and Delaware AGs to block for-profit conversion of ChatGPT maker

Former employees of OpenAI are appealing to the top law enforcement officers in California and Delaware to halt the company’s move to transfer control of its artificial intelligence technology from a nonprofit charity to a for-profit business. A letter to the state attorneys general Wednesday was signed by 10 former employees and a coalition of experts and advocates, including three Nobel Prize winners. It represents those concerned about the threats to humanity posed by the ChatGPT maker’s ambition to build AI that outperforms humans.

Jen Psaki stepping up for MSNBC as Rachel Maddow returns to once-a-week schedule

NEW YORK (AP) — Jen Psaki is stepping up into a more prominent role at MSNBC, taking over the flagship 9 p.m. time slot on Tuesdays and Fridays as Rachel Maddow returns to a once-a-week television schedule. She replaces Alex Wagner in the tough role on May 6, trying to retain as much of the audience as possible from the network’s most popular personality. She talks about her new show, which will have a new name. It will be called “The Briefing” instead of “Inside,” because the moment has taught Psaki that insiders don’t have all the answers. In an interview, the former White House press secretary also weighs in on the current one.

Boeing doesn’t expect the US trade war with China to slow its recovery

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg says he doesn’t expect the U.S. trade war with China to get in the way of its its financial recovery and aircraft delivery targets even though Chinese airlines are refusing to accept the company’s planes. Ortberg said on Wednesday that Boeing had three airplanes in China ready for delivery but brought two of them back to Seattle so far because Chinese airlines “stopped taking delivery of aircraft due to the the tariff environment.” Ortberg says the company had planned to complete 50 orders for Chinese airlines this year but is “actively assessing” options for diverting those jetliners to other interested buyers.