Trump’s First Year Back: Markets and Prices Up, Job Engine Slows
The Wall Street Journal’s year-one snapshot of President Trump’s second-term economy paints a picture of uneven performance: some headline indicators look stable or even strong, but several underlying pressures—especially jobs, housing, and trade—remain stubborn or have worsened. On the labor market, the biggest shift is slower job creation. The U.S. added 181,000 jobs in 2025, […]
Oil Slips as Trump’s Tariff Hike Stirs Global-Growth Fears, Offsetting Middle East Risk Premium
Oil prices fell about 1% after a weekend jolt from U.S. trade policy revived worries about global growth and fuel demand, even as tensions between Washington and Tehran had pushed crude sharply higher the week before. In Asian trading, Brent futures dropped roughly 1.2% to about $70.89 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) […]
Tech Corps: Peace Corps Recruits U.S. AI Talent to Help Communities Abroad Put AI to Work
Peace Corps announced a new initiative called Tech Corps designed to recruit, train, and deploy skilled Americans to support the adoption of artificial intelligence in host countries. The program is aimed specifically at Peace Corps partner countries participating in the American AI Exports Program, a “whole-of-government” effort that the announcement says was introduced by Donald […]
Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Sweeping “Emergency” Tariffs, Forcing a Fast Pivot to a New Global Levy
The U.S. Supreme Court dealt Donald Trump a major defeat on tariffs, ruling that he did not have authority to unilaterally impose sweeping global import duties by declaring a national emergency. The ruling struck at a core pillar of Trump’s economic strategy, immediately upended the leverage his administration had used for months to pressure other […]
Pentagon’s New Cyber Certification Rules Raise Costs For Small Defense Suppliers, Risking Bottlenecks
New U.S. cybersecurity requirements for the defense industrial base are forcing some small manufacturers and specialty suppliers to reconsider whether military work is worth the price of compliance, raising concerns about resilience and competition across the defense supply chain. The rules are part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s long-delayed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) […]
US Readies “Freedom.gov” Portal to Let Europeans View Content Their Governments Ban
The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal designed to help people in Europe and other regions access online material their governments have blocked — including content categorized as illegal hate speech or terrorist propaganda. The project, hosted at freedom.gov, is framed inside the Trump administration as a pushback against what it calls foreign […]
Democrats Choose Virginia’s New Governor to Answer Donald Trump After His Prime-Time Address to Congress
Virginia’s newly elected governor, Abigail Spanberger, will deliver the Democratic response to President Trump’s upcoming State of the Union address, giving Democrats a high-profile chance to rebut the White House’s message on a night when the president commands the biggest audience. Party leaders framed her selection as a strategic choice: Spanberger won statewide by a […]
Big Food Pivots to “Smaller, Cleaner, Higher-Protein” as GLP-1 Drugs Reshape American Eating
Major packaged-food and beverage companies are rapidly retooling products and marketing as appetite-suppressing GLP-1 drugs spread through the U.S., changing what—and how much—people buy. It’s a shift from “wait and see” to “act now,” with companies emphasizing shorter ingredient lists, smaller pack sizes, and more protein- and fiber-forward foods designed to keep consumers fuller longer. […]
Fifth Circuit Cracks Down on “AI Hallucinations,” Saying Lawyers Can’t Plead Ignorance Anymore
U.S. federal appeals court has sanctioned a lawyer for filing a legal brief riddled with AI-generated errors, warning that fabricated citations and “hallucinated” material in court filings remain a growing problem. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordered attorney Heather Hersh to pay $2,500 after concluding she used […]
With Midterms Looming and Economic Ratings Low, Trump Tries to re-Sell His Cost-of- Living Message in Georgia
President Trump is traveling to Georgia on Thursday to deliver what the White House describes as a fresh economic message focused on lowering household costs—an issue that is increasingly central to Republicans’ hopes of holding Congress in the November 2026 midterm elections. The speech, scheduled in Rome, is the latest in a run of economic […]
