President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Policymakers and economists — even those who support Trump — increasingly regard his actions as unpredictable and fraught with risk. (Eric Lee/The New York Times) By TONY ROMM Nearly one year since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has come to embrace a risky economic strategy: using the brute force of governme

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, ‌led ​by a more than 1% drop ‌in the Nasdaq with technology shares declining as investors moved into more defensive ​areas, while bank stocks extended recent losses following some mixed quarterly results. The S&P 500 bank index dropped 2.1% to ‍hit a five-week low, with shares ​of Wells Fargo down 5.1% after the company missed fourth-quarter profit expectations. Citigroup shares were down 4.1% and ​Bank of ⁠America fell 4.2% even after the comp

Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, testifies during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 11, 2025. The Justice Department’s decision to open up a criminal investigation of Powell is a major escalation in the pressure campaign against the central bank to cut interest rates. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times) By COLBY SMITH Jerome Powell wanted to avoid a fight. That had long been his approach to handling President Donald Trump and his relentless attacks o

Inflation may not subside ‌quickly ​enough for Federal ‌Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to deliver another interest-rate ​cut before his term ends in May, with the Bureau of ‍Labor Statistics reporting consumer prices ​rose 2.7% in December from a year earlier, ​in line ⁠with economists’ expectations and well above the Fed’s target. Traders see a June cut, after Powell is no longer chair, as the most likely timing, and continue to expect a total of ‌two rate cuts this year. Even

U.S. financial stocks and UK-listed ‌lenders ​fell on Monday as President Donald ‌Trump’s call for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates threatened a key ​revenue stream for the industry. The move deepened concerns over the sector as investors grapple with interest-rate uncertainty and will likely dull the ‍potential benefit from a shift toward value ​stocks. Trump on Friday called for a 10% cap on the interest rate on credit cards starting January 20 without providing

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, BRIAN O’KEEFE, BERNHARD WARNER, SARAH KESSLER, MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED and NIKO GALLOGLY Exxon Mobil has a long history of drilling in challenging environments. The largest U.S. oil company will go almost anywhere to extract hydrocarbons if it can manage the risk and make the numbers work. Exxon pumps crude in the deep water off the coast of Guyana and has invested some $19 billion to produce natural gas on the island nation of Papua New Guinea. But at

U.S. stocks have kicked off 2026 on a strong note, but could face turbulence in the coming days with the start of corporate earnings season, fresh inflation data and rising geopolitical uncertainty. The S&P 500 (.SPX), s up nearly 2% already in January, on the heels of the benchmark index in 2025 closing out its third straight year of double-digit percentage gains. Stocks jumped on Friday after mixed jobs data that saw traders maintain expectations for more interest rate cuts

Wilmer Parra loads his fishing boat docked next to Petroleos de Venezeula’s oil rigs in Cabimas, Venezuela, on Nov. 23, 2022. Despite the Trump administration’s claims that it was targeting Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro over the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, the administration is now fixated on a very different Venezuelan export: oil. (Adriana Loureiro Fernández/The New York Times) By IVAN PENN Western oil companies have been fighting to recoup tens of b