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- [00:02]
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Alex Osila
The US has terminated trade talks with Canada. Plus, the Supreme Court hands down a victory for President Trump in his battles with the judiciary.
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Jess Bravin
They said that universal injunctions are probably beyond the scope of district judges. They didn't say never ever, ever, but they said that at least almost never. And they said that you could use a class action. It is harder, but it doesn't make it imposs.
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Alex Osila
And US Truck operators had hopes for a recovery this year until the trade war dashed them. It's Friday, June 27th. I'm Alex Osila for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of what's news, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We begin this evening with markets. They hit new highs this morning, fueled by optimism over trade and budget developments. In the afternoon, stocks pulled back after President Trump said the US Was ending trade talks with Canada over tariffs on dairy products and what he called an egregious digital services tax on US Tech companies. Trump's decision is the latest blow to an already strained relationship between the US and its second largest trading partner after Mexico. The day had started off with exuberance. The S&P 500 touched its first new high since February, capping a dizzying 23% rally from the depths of April's tariff induced sell off. The Nasdaq also hit a record shortly after the open. This morning, Crystal Herr reports on markets for the Journal and joins me now. Krystal, what drove the excitement in the markets this morning?
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Krystal Herr
Friday's trading session started on a really high note. We saw both The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite touching their first record high in months. And that was driven by a number of reasons. We saw Beijing pledge to approve export applications for rare earths, which have been a major sticking point in trade negotiations. And Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said the US Is closing in on numerous other trade deals and hopes to wrap up trade talks with more than a dozen nations by the start of September. Those developments helped sectors that are closely attuned to the strength of the economy, like industrials, lead the charge higher today in the morning.
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Alex Osila
What in the world got us here? Because there was all this conflict in the Middle East. Now we have the ceasefire that appears to be holding. Is this giving investors confidence about what's to come?
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Krystal Herr
Yeah, there are actually a number of factors that have investors feeling really good right now compared to where we were in April. So for example, we have the ceasefire like you mentioned, but we also have really strong corporate earnings. Plus strength in the economic data suggests that the economy is doing really well. And so while of course the tariff situation is still in flux, a lot of those things are keeping investors pretty optimistic right now.
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Alex Osila
Well, and actually speaking of the trade situation, President Trump announced that negotiations with Canada are done. How did markets and investors react to that?
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Krystal Herr
The rally definitely started losing steam around mid afternoon. When President Trump made that post on Truth Social, we saw stocks start to pare a lot of their gains. We even actually saw The S&P 500 and NASDAQ come down from those record highs and actually slip into the red for a little bit. But around the end of the trading day, we saw those indexes really start to accelerate their gains again.
- [03:55]
Alex Osila
That was Wall Street Journal reporter Crystal Her. In the end, major U.S. indexes closed higher. The Dow ended the day up 1%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both added about half a percent. American households felt more optimistic about the economy in June, though confidence remains lower than it was at the start of the year. The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment rose to 60.7, beating economists expectations, but still low by historical standards. The survey covered May 27 to June 23, a politically tumultuous period that included protests against President Trump's immigration crackdown in Los Angeles and the shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers, one of which was fatal. Economists say the initial shock of Trump's aggressive tariff announcements has worn off for consumers, particularly given the hot and cold nature of the White House's trade war. Separately, the Federal Reserve's targeted inflation measure ticked slightly higher in May but showed little tariff related impact. The Commerce Department said prices rose 2.3% over the 12 months through May, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index. Core PCE inflation that excludes volatile food and energy categories ticked up to 2.7% from the previous month. The data also showed Americans personal income dropped by 0.4% last month and their spending declined by 0.1%, weaker than economists expected after three years of soft demand. Trucking operators hoped freight volumes would rebound in 2025, but instead they Got a trade war. The Trump administration's on again, off again tariff policies have led to rapid shifts in import volumes and factory orders that blunted expected growth in shipping demand. Liz Young covers logistics and the supply chain for the Journal and is here to tell us more. So, Liz, where does the freight industry stand right now?
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Liz Young
Today, the freight industry is in a holding pattern. So after the past three years following the pandemic when demand was off the charts, demand's been a lot softer. A lot of trucking industry experts were expecting and planning for this year to be the turnaround. But then because of this on again, off again tariff policy, like you said, a lot of companies, retailers, manufacturers rushed in extra inventory early, which now means that inventory is sitting in warehouses, not needing to be moved around quite yet by truck.
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Alex Osila
Where's the industry headed next?
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Liz Young
Logistics experts say that they expect freight demand to stay relatively flat in the coming weeks. There is some debate about what that will look like, but typically we're heading into what usually is the busiest season of the year for these truckers as retailers rush in back to school and holiday products. But instead, right now, we're in this period where a lot of those imports came in early. For example, some of them might be being rushed in now during this kind of tariff pause that we're in, but we're not expecting to see the volume of imports that we typically would see this time of year.
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Alex Osila
What would it take to turn things around?
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Liz Young
Industry experts think that what really needs to happen is a big boost in demand. Could be consumer spending picks up. It could be any number of things. But they really think that this is the answer to this period of weak demand. Is it just going to be that demand returns?
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Alex Osila
That was WSJ reporter Liz Young. Thanks, Liz.
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Liz Young
Thank you.
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Alex Osila
Coming up, what a Supreme Court decision means for efforts to push back on President Trump's executive orders. That's after the break.
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Alex Osila
In a decision out today, the U.S. supreme Court Limited the authority of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions. It's a decision that handed President Trump a victory in his battles with the judiciary, but left uncertain the fate of his push to curtail birthright citizenship. Jess Bravin covers the Supreme Court for the Wall Street Journal. So, Jess, the litigation centered on one of Trump's most controversial executive orders, which denies citizenship to children born in the US Unless one of their parents is a citizen or a permanent legal resident. What did the court say about this question?
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Jess Bravin
The majority really said very little, if anything, about the substance of Trump's decree abolishing birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment. And that would come up later in the litigation. Right now, the issue the majority saw as essential was clarifying the scope of these universal injunctions. When a federal district judge says, government, your policy breaks the law, stop breaking the law. And they said that universal injunctions are probably beyond the scope of district judges. They didn't say never ever, ever, but they said that at least almost never. And they said that if you have a situation where there are many people who have issues at stake and it's not economical for each of those to file his or her own lawsuit, you could use a class action. It is harder. It adds some burden to the plaintiff, gives the government more opportunities to push back against the case, but it doesn't make it impossible.
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Alex Osila
You mentioned that there have been a number of legal challenges to many of President Trump's executive orders. Where does this decision leave them?
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Jess Bravin
If they had generated universal injunctions that have not otherwise been stayed, we can expect that the government is going to go back into court and say, here, take a look at this case from the Supreme Court. Please dissolve your universal injunction, leave it intact for the named parties in the case. But otherwise we can continue implementing our policy, and then those courts are going to have to decide, well, is there a more narrow way to provide relief? So basically, we can look forward to more and more lawsuits and litigation over Trump administration policies.
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Alex Osila
That was WSJ reporter Jess Bravin. Thank you, Jess.
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Jess Bravin
You bet, Alex.
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Alex Osila
In other Supreme Court rulings, the justices ruled in favor of a group of Maryland parents who want to be able to opt their elementary school children out of instruction that includes storybooks on gay relationships, transgender identity, and other LGBTQ themes. The case set up a clash between parents ability to direct their children's education and schools authority over classroom material. Teachers might now have to make more extensive accommodations for families with certain religious views and could be more inclined to skip some topics altogether. In another decision, the court ruled that a Texas law requiring age verification for sexual content is constitutional. The Texas law is one of more than 20 of its kind passed by states around the country and gives websites options to verify users ages, including through the use of government identification or other personal documents. Violations of the law are punished with a monetary fine and finally got weekend plans. Well, Jeff Bezos certainly does. The billionaire Amazon founder who is one of the richest men in the world, and Lauren Sanchez, an Emmy winning TV host and pilot, are getting married this weekend in a three day extravaganza in Venice, Italy. Local vendors, from water taxi providers to pastry shops to traditional glassblowers, are embracing the event as a once in a lifetime business opportunity. Other residents have protested, unwilling to let their city become a playground for the rich. Bezos and Sanchez were set to exchange vows this evening local time on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Their wedding reception will take place tomorrow at the Arsenale, a fortified medieval shipyard. Fewer than 200 guests are anticipated to attend the festivities and the guest list remains largely unknown. But several high profile attendees like Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and their children have already touched down in Venice. And that's what's news for this week. Tomorrow you can look out for our weekly markets wrap up, what's news in markets. Then on Sunday, we're bringing you an episode of Bold Names with hosts Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims talking with Horacio Rosanski, CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton, a company that helps government agencies leverage the latest advances in technology used by the private sector. That's in what's New Sunday. And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning. Today's show is produced by Anthony Banci with supervising producer Michael Cosmides. Additional support this week from Colman Standifer and Zoe Culkin. Michael Lavall wrote our theme music. Aisha El Mousslem is our development producer. Scott Salloway and Chris Sinsley are our deputy editors. And Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. I'm Alex Osola. Thanks for listening.