Kevin Warsh, the Federal Reserve chairman, speaks to reporters at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and officials readied for higher borrowing costs, as inflation fears dominated Warsh’s first meeting as chairman of the central bank. (Anna Rose Layden/The New York Times) By COLBY SMITH The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and officials readied for higher borrowing costs, as inflation fears dom

U.S. stock indexes closed higher ⁠on ⁠Thursday, with a strong boost from semiconductor ⁠shares and easing inflation fears, although investors still priced in interest rate hikes this year from ​the Federal Reserve. The Philadelphia semiconductor index sharply outperformed the rest of the market as Intel’s shares jumped to a record high. U.S. President Donald Trump ‌said iPhone maker Apple had agreed to ‌work with Intel to design and manufacture its chips in the U.S. Early in

SPACs are making a comeback. A flood of expected blockbuster IPOs this year is creating an ⁠opening ⁠for SPACs as smaller companies seek to capitalize on a favorable ⁠market without having to compete for investor attention against the likes of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI. That is giving blank-check companies renewed footing after years of upheaval, ​with a more mature SPAC market emerging at a time when mega-IPOs are expected to command an outsized share of investor capital

Lines of trucks and containers during the morning rush hour in Dong Nai Province, Vietnam, Sept. 11, 2025. Don’t expect economies around the globe to simply pick up where they left off before the United States and Israel began bombing Iran on Feb. 28. The war has set in motion changes that will be hard to reverse. (Linh Pham/The New York Times) By PATRICIA COHEN The framework deal between the United States and Iran sets the stage for an end to the bursts of violence and debil

The global stock rally triggered by the preliminary U.S.-Iran ⁠deal seemed to moderate on Tuesday as markets awaited more details on its terms and looked for signs that it would lead to ​a meaningful increase in tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Attention was also fixed on central banks on Tuesday as the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of Japan kicked off the week’s busy calendar for ‌monetary policymakers. The BOJ delivered an expected quarter-point rate ‌h

Protesters opposed to Elon Musk gather outside the headquarters of JPMorgan Chase in midtown Manhattan to mark the initial public offering of SpaceX on Friday, June 12, 2026. As Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, workers are facing higher prices and fears of A.I.-driven job losses. (Andres Kudacki/The New York Times) By BEN CASSELMAN Two events from the last week help crystallize this strange, contradictory moment for the U.S. economy. On Wednesday, the Bureau o

Stocks of crude ⁠oil ⁠in the U.S. Strategic ⁠Petroleum Reserve fell to 340.3 million barrels, the lowest level since ​1983, according to data from the Department of Energy on Monday, signaling tight supplies just ‌as the U.S. and Iran ‌agree on a deal to end the war and open the Strait of ⁠Hormuz. Inventories in ⁠the government’s emergency stash fell by 8.9 million barrels, the third ​steepest draw on record. The drawdowns are a part of a U.S. agreement to loan 172 million b

On Friday, Elon ⁠Musk’s ⁠image loomed large over Times Square from the ⁠giant TV screen of the Nasdaq stock exchange, as tourists outside snapped selfies, SpaceX investors in T‑shirts ​grinned at their newfound fortunes and news cameras jostled for position. “If people had told me this was going to happen, I was like, ‘man you must be ‌smoking some really good crack,’” Musk said ‌in a video address celebrating SpaceX going public. “I gave SpaceX less than a 10% chance of succ

Shoppers in the groceries section of a Sam’s Club store in Brandon, Fla., on May 27, 2026. U.S. inflation accelerated for a third-straight month in May amid a stalemate in negotiations to end the war with Iran, adding to the price pressures confronting consumers. (Zack Wittman/The New York Times) By LYDIA DePILLIS Inflation accelerated for a third straight month in May amid a stalemate in negotiations to end a war with Iran that has pushed up energy prices, adding to the burd

U.S. stocks were set to ⁠open ⁠higher on Thursday, as investors sought ⁠bargains in beaten-down technology stocks and kept a close watch on developments around ​the Middle East conflict and its impact on economies and businesses. Chipmakers bounced back after Wednesday’s selloff sent major Wall Street ‌indexes down more than 1% and ‌technology stocks into correction territory, a 10% drop from their record close. Nvidia, Intel and Micron Technology were up ⁠between 1% ⁠and 4.6