Chris Towns, a blueberry farmer, on his farm in Alma, Ga., on March 18, 2026. The Small Business Administration lent $378 billion to keep businesses afloat. Getting paid back is proving difficult. (Anna Ottum/The New York Times) By LYDIA DePILLIS When COVID-19 came to Alma, the blueberry capital of Georgia, Chris Towns was staring down a paltry return on his berry crop as shoppers stayed at home and stuck to buying essentials. The federal government offered relief, in the for

What matters in U.S. and global markets today By Mike Dolan, Editor-at-Large, Finance ⁠and ⁠Markets “Off ramp” seems to be the word of the ⁠week surrounding the Iran war - and the steep Wall Street rally on the final day of the first quarter ​spoke to that relief on Tuesday. Will April skies clear? The S&P 500’s jump of almost 3% was the biggest one-day gain since last May, and the other assets beaten down by ‌the war - bonds, credit and gold - all followed suit. I’ll ‌get in

By ANA SWANSON One of the biggest economic casualties of the U.S.-led war in Iran has been the global fertilizer supply. Shipments of it have piled up on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz. In India, Algeria and Slovakia, fertilizer plants have shut down or slowed their output because of rising natural gas prices. China has restricted fertilizer exports. Australian wheat farmers are planting less, and corn and soy farmers in the United States are begging President Donald

Julio Herrera Velunitini (Wikipedia) By THE STAR STAFF Representatives of Geneva Trust Company, the Swiss fiduciary entity that manages the trust controlling Bancrédito Holding Corp. (BHC) -- the sole shareholder of Bancrédito International Bank & Trust Corp. -- are expected to travel to Puerto Rico in the coming weeks to request an in‑person meeting with the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions and the court‑appointed trustee, Driven Administrative Services.

The turbulent first quarter of 2026 ends with a ⁠dull thud, as the Iran war continues to rumble and the energy price shock hits homes with average U.S. gas ​pump prices crossing $4 per gallon for the first time in more than three years. The war’s expected timeline shifts from headline to headline. For those betting the conflict will end soon, the Wall ‌Street Journal provided some ammunition, reporting on Monday that ‌President Trump was prepared to end the war without openin

Fishermen perform maintenance on their shrimp boat while in dry dock because of high diesel fuel prices and shortages, in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, March 16, 2026. Across Southeast Asia, a region heavily dependent on energy exports that move through the Strait of Hormuz, lives are being upended by rising oil and gas prices due to the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran and the country’s responding attacks in the waterway. (Lauren DeCicca/The New York Times) By RIVER AKIRA DAVIS Count

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit seven-month lows and bond ⁠yields ⁠fell on Monday as the Iran war entered its fifth ⁠week, with investors increasingly spooked by growth fears over inflation concerns even though oil prices rose further above $100 a barrel. In my column ​today I look at why the spike in market-based borrowing costs since the Iran war broke out could not have come at a worse time for “Big Tech”, which is increasingly turning to debt to ‌finance its unprecedented AI i

Wind turbines near Mart, Texas, Aug. 5, 2023. Renewable energy leaders said their industry got “rolled” in President Donald Trump’s tax bill. Many executives say they are finding ways to adapt, and some promising technologies that might help slow global warming are moving forward. (Mason Trinca/The New York Times) By BRAD PLUMER Clean energy isn’t dead in the Trump era. But it does look different these days. Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has dismantled fed

The Dow Jones ⁠Industrial ⁠Average fell 1.7% on ⁠Friday as investors worried about the global economic impact ​of the war in Iran, leaving the blue-chip index down 10% from its record ‌high close on February 10 ‌and confirming it has been in a correction since then.  In a ⁠broad Wall ⁠Street selloff fueled by uncertainty about the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran, the Dow ​in recent days has suffered its worst decline since April 2025, when U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Libera

Mark Zuckerberg, center, Meta’s chief executive, departs after testifying in a tech addiction trial at California Superior Court of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles, Feb. 18, 2026. The social media company Meta and the video streaming service YouTube harmed a young user with design features that were addictive and led to her mental health distress, a jury found on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, a landmark decision that could open social media companies to more lawsuits over user