Latest Sectors News
Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, March 19, 2026. Daniel Heuer | Bloomberg | Getty Images A federal judge in Houston on Tuesday dismissed a 2025 lawsuit by FBI Director Kash Patel that alleged he was defamed by former FBI official Frank Figliuizzi, who had said Patel has "been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of" the bureau's headquarters in Washington, D.C.The lawsuit is not related to another defamation lawsuit that Patel filed Monday against The Atlantic magazine over an article that alleged he has abused alcohol.Figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, had made the comment about Patel on the MS Now show "Morning Joe.""The Court finds that Figliuzzi's statement is rhetorical hyperbole that cannotconstitute defamation," U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. wrote in the decision."Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit must be dismissed.":The Court finds that Figliuzzi's statement, when taken in context, cannot have beenperceived by a person of ordinary intelligence as stating actual facts about Patel. As alleged, Figliuzzi's statement about Patel â again, made in response to a question about Patel's decreased visibility as Director of the FBIâwas that 'he's been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building,' " the judge wrote."A person of reasonable intelligence and learning would not have taken his statement literally: that Dir. Patel has actually spent more hours physically in a nightclub than he has spent physically in his office building," Hanks wrote. "By saying that Patel spent "far more" time at nightclubs than his office, Figliuzzi delivered his answer "in an exaggerated, provocative and amusing way," employing rhetorical hyperbole.This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Tech executives from Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta have dined with Trump and donated millions to his inauguration fund and the White House ballroom. View More
In this articleAAPLFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Apple CEO Tim Cook laughs with President Donald Trump during a meeting in the White House, Washington, March 6, 2019.Leah Millis | Reuters President Donald Trump praised Tim Cook in a lengthy Truth Social post on Tuesday, calling the outgoing Apple CEO an "incredible guy" and boasting that Cook had appealed to him when he needed help. "For me it began with a phone call from Tim at the beginning of my First Term," Trump wrote. "He had a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix."Trump continued, "When I got the call I said, wow, it's Tim Apple (Cook!) calling, how big is that? I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to 'kiss my ass.'" Representatives from Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's Truth Social post.The post is emblematic of White House relationship dynamics under Trump. Business leaders have at times shown a willingness to indulge the president in order to advance their interests.Daniel Weiner, director of the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said Trump's post was a view into his "nakedly transactional and also nakedly personalistic approach to governing.""It is this idea that the expectation is that CEOs of powerful companies should just call him up and offer homage, and in exchange get favors," Weiner said. "It may be the way governance has happened in reality at various points in our history, but it's certainly never been the ideal. And now it is kind of being extolled as the idea."Cook, who is stepping down after a nearly 15-year tenure, has been particularly effective at navigating the administration. He appealed directly to Trump during Trump's first and second terms to shape policies on taxes, tariffs and other issues affecting the iPhone maker. The overtures often worked. Last year, Cook secured an exemption from Trump's sweeping tariffs on phones, computers and chips, which are critical to Apple's bottom line. Trump acknowledged that he "helped Tim Cook" with the move, though the White House has denied granting favors to benefit specific companies.   "During my five years as President, Tim would call me, but never too much, and I would help him where I could," Trump wrote on Tuesday. "Years latter [sic], after 3 or 4 BIG HELPS, I started to say to people, anyone who would listen, that this guy is an amazing manager and leader."  Read more CNBC tech newsApple incoming CEO John Ternus faces a defining challenge: Fixing the company's AI strategyTim Cook reactions: Trump, Altman, Buffett and more on the Apple CEO moveAmazon to invest up to another $25 billion in Anthropic as part of AI infrastructure dealAmazon 'strong-armed' Levi's, Hanes to hike prices on rival sites, California DA says Cook, in some cases, went beyond phone calls to appeal to Trump. In August, he presented Trump with a 24-karat gold-and-glass statue bearing the words "Made in U.S.A." as Apple announced an additional $100 billion commitment to American manufacturing. John Ternus, currently a senior vice president of hardware engineering, will take the helm at Apple on Sept.1 and Cook will assume the role of executive chairman. Apple hinted that it will continue to leverage Cook's deft handling of politicians. "Cook will assist with certain aspects of the company, including engaging with policymakers around the world," Apple said in a press release. Tech cozies up Trump's unfiltered insight into how Cook won his favor comes as other Silicon Valley leaders have followed a similar playbook.Tech executives from Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta have dined with Trump during his first and second administrations. They also donated millions to his inauguration fund and the president's planned $300 million White House ballroom.Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to put Trump back into the White House. He also took a position leading the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort by the Trump administration to slash federal capacity.Despite a public clash over Trump's "big, beautiful bill," Musk, the world's wealthiest individual, has stayed close to the president. He attended a White House dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November and reportedly joined a March phone call between Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A White House dinner with tech CEOs last September drew heavy scrutiny after attendees took turns praising Trump.Following the event, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was heard on a hot mic deferring to Trump on how to frame his company's spending plans after he said the company would invest "at least $600 billion through '28 in the U.S." A few moments later, Zuckerberg said to Trump, who was seated next to him, "I'm sorry, I wasn't ready to do our ⦠I wasn't sure what number you wanted to go with."  Zuckerberg later addressed the hot mic moment in a Threads post, saying he was confused at the time because Meta was weighing whether to invest "even more" in the U.S. beyond 2028."I wasn't sure which number he was asking about, so I just shared the lower number through '28 and clarified with him afterwards," Zuckerberg wrote. President Donald Trump speaks as, from left, White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and first lady Melania Trump listen during a dinner at the State Dining Room of the White House on Sept. 4, 2025.Alex Wong | Getty Images Intel took a page from Cook's playbook after Trump pressed its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, to resign following reports of Tan's ties to China. After Tan went to the White House for a face-to-face meeting, Trump called him a "success." The following week, the U.S. government took a 10% stake in Intel through an $8.9 billion investment. That came from CHIPS Act grants that hadn't been paid and government awards for semiconductor manufacturing.Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and a donor to Biden's 2024 reelection campaign, was a former Trump critic who changed his tune in 2025. He posted to X in January of that year: "watching @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him."Later in 2025, Trump issued a sweeping executive order preempting many state-level regulations of AI in what was a massive win for Altman and other industry leaders who had been urging such action.Altman has flanked Trump at several high-profile AI announcements, including Trump's Stargate joint venture and another project in the United Arab Emirates, which were both unveiled last year.The startup CEO, who has maintained a close relationship with Trump in his second term, also scored a deal with the Pentagon to deploy advanced AI systems in classified environments, hours after OpenAI rival Anthropic was blacklisted by the administration. OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman reportedly donated $25 million to Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., in September.Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos have cozied up to Trump during his second term in the White House, a sharp contrast from his first term, when Trump frequently attacked the e-retailer. The president often hurled insults at Bezos and his ownership of The Washington Post, as well as his tax record. The Trump administration last year praised Bezos, who appeared on stage at Trump's inauguration, for his decision to revamp the Post's editorial pages to focus on "personal liberties and free markets." Last April, Trump said Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon's CEO in 2021, was "terrific" and "a good guy" after the billionaire assured Trump that the company had no plans to display tariff-related surcharges on its website. Amazon has been criticized for its $75 million investment in "Melania," a documentary about the first lady that was produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Melania Trump. Lawmakers called the move a "pay-to-play scheme" and questioned why the company paid far more than is usual for documentaries. Amazon insisted it did nothing "improper," according to Variety. Media overtures Companies outside of Silicon Valley have also gone to great lengths to win over the president.Last year, Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to settle with Trump for $16 million after the president filed a lawsuit alleging an interview with Kamala Harris on "60 Minutes" was deceptively edited to make the then-Democratic presidential nominee look better. At the time, the lawsuit was viewed by some at Paramount as a potential obstacle to the company's sale to Skydance, which needed Trump administration approval.Paramount at the time said the lawsuit was "completely separate from and unrelated to the Skydance transaction."ABC was widely rebuked after it agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump's presidential library and $1 million in legal fees to settle a defamation lawsuit he brought against the network and anchor George Stephanopoulos. The lawsuit centered on an interview where the anchor said a jury had found Trump "liable for rape" in two lawsuits filed by the columnist E. Jean Carroll. In May 2023, Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll and ordered to pay $5 million. In January 2024, Trump was also found liable for defamation in a separate lawsuit brought by Carroll. In 2025, ABC, and its parent company Disney, drew more fire after suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for comments he made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination.ABC and Disney were under pressure from Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, as well as from Nexstar Media Group, a company that owns local ABC affiliates.Nexstar â which was pursuing a merger with a rival, called Tegna, and needed FCC approval â had threatened to preempt Kimmel's late-night show on the stations it owned, effectively blacking out the program in parts of the U.S.The White House disputed that Kimmel was suspended because of pressure from the Trump administrationKimmel's suspension ended after less than a week. Nexstar's bid to merge with Tegna was approved by the FCC, though the acquisition was paused by a federal judge last week.Correction: This story has been revised to reflect that the White House AI and crypto czar is David Sacks. A photo caption in a previous version misspelled Sacks' name. watch nowVIDEO37:1837:18Watch CNBC's full interview with President Donald TrumpSquawk Box Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Tim Cook had a highly successful tenure as Apple's CEO, but he leaves his successor with a big gap to fill when it comes to the company's position in AI. View More
In this articleAAPLFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO3:5403:54Who is John Ternus, the long-time Apple executive replacing Tim Cook?Tech Apple has maintained its dominance in consumer devices and built up a $4 trillion market cap despite largely sitting on the sidelines of the artificial intelligence boom. But investors won't remain patient forever, and they'll be looking to new CEO John Ternus for a clearer strategy when it comes to playing in the hottest market on the planet. Tim Cook's 15-year tenure as Apple CEO comes to an end on Sept. 1, the company announced on Monday. Ternus, Apple's longtime hardware boss, is taking over, becoming just the second leader since Steve Jobs departed in 2011, less than two months before he died from cancer.As Cook exits, Apple faces numerous challenges, including an intricate supply chain that's complicated by geopolitical tensions and soaring prices for memory due to unprecedented demand from the AI buildout. But for Ternus, perhaps the most critical aspect of his new job will be pushing the company deeper into AI, where it's lagged many of its megacap peers.So far, Apple's AI strategy has involved avoiding hefty capital expenditures while Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta commit to hundreds of billions of dollars a year in combined capex to fund new data centers and fill them with pricey AI chips. When it comes to developing a foundational AI model, Apple has punted there as well, and is instead counting on Google's Gemini to power its AI features, including a major Siri upgrade expected later this year following a delay. In 2024, Apple launched Apple Intelligence, which includes image generators, text rewriters, the ability to summarize push notifications and an integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Consumer response has been mixed, but Apple continues to sell boatloads of iPhones, and users are getting plenty of AI options on those devices âjust from other companies.ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude are currently the two most popular free iOS apps, with Gemini at fourth and Meta AI at eighth. Meanwhile, Apple is betting that within a few years, hefty workloads will run on a chip inside the phone, which will play to its strengths as the company has been integrating AI-capable silicon into its devices since 2017. "By choosing a hardware leader in John Ternus, Apple may be signaling that it still believes the future of AI will run through tightly integrated devices, not just software," said Timothy Hubbard, assistant professor of management at the University of Notre Dame. watch nowVIDEO4:2404:24Apple CEO Tim Cook leaving position 'sooner than expected', says Deepwater's Gene MunsterClosing Bell: Overtime For the moment, Apple is getting plenty of growth from iPhone sales. In the latest quarter, iPhone revenue surged 23% from a year earlier to $85.3 billion, a jump the company attributed to strong sales of the iPhone 17 models released in September.  Cook said at the time that iPhone demand was "simply staggering." The company is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter results next week. Cook will still be CEO for that report, but investors will have plenty of questions directed at Ternus and where he sees Apple headed.AI-enabled hardware appears to be where the market is going through some combination of wearables, robotics, spatial computing or possibly something Apple hasn't shown yet. In January, Bloomberg reported that Apple will be accelerating the development of three upcoming AI wearables all built around Siri: smart glasses, a pendant and AirPods with cameras. Apple is also expecting to introduce a foldable phone, which Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies, called "the most consequential hardware moment in years.""I think the biggest question is what comes after the iPhone," Bajarin told CNBC in March. "These are mature categories and we have no idea what comes after that but we do know it will be some form of AI hardware." AI and services Ternus, 50, will also face the challenge of pushing AI in the services area of Apple's business, where the company relies on iPhone users paying for subscriptions to AppleCare, iCloud, Apple TV+ service, and using Apple Pay. When consumers upgrade to paid versions of ChatGPT, Claude and other generative AI services and chatbots, Apple gets a cut. Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said that in the coming years, "the seas will be turbulent for Apple because there's been so much change in how consumers interact with technology," particularly with generative AI.Ternus will also have to decide whether the company continues with its emphasis on privacy, or whether it embraces AI-driven personalization. For Cook, Apple's privacy-first approach to user data has long been a differentiator compared to other tech giants like Meta and Google, which specialize in letting brands target users with ads. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management told CNBC's "Closing Bell: Overtime" on Monday that his firm recently bought more apple stock due to its prospects in "personalized AI.""There's an opportunity for Apple to tell a story to investors that could be quite compelling that they're going to get this," Munster said. Nowhere in Monday's press release announcing the CEO shift did Apple mention AI. Rather, the sections on Ternus focused on his 25 years at the company and his instrumental role in "the introduction of multiple new product lines, including iPad and AirPods, as well as many generations of products across iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch."But it's clear that when the Ternus era begins in a little over four months, AI will have to be front and center. And Notre Dame's Hubbard said Apple is going to have to return to its roots, at least when it comes to innovating. "The very strengths that made Apple dominant â that rapid innovation is where Apple started, and maybe that's where the company needs to return," Hubbard said.âCNBC's Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report.WATCH: Expect more hardware innovation from John Terrnus watch nowVIDEO2:3802:38Expect more hardware innovation from incoming Apple CEO John Ternus, says D.A. Davidson's LuriaClosing Bell: Overtime Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Incoming CEO John Ternus said he was "lucky" to have worked under Apple founder Steve Jobs and considers Tim Cook his mentor. View More
In this articleAAPLFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO3:5403:54Who is John Ternus, the long-time Apple executive replacing Tim Cook?Tech Apple is adding a new CEO to its ranks and continuing a long-running tradition of internal promotion. The iPhone maker on Monday announced that CEO Tim Cook will step down as chief executive in September and named senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus as his successor. Cook will serve as executive chairman. He has the "mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor," Cook wrote in a press release announcing Ternus as CEO.Industry experts have long speculated that the 50-year-old Ternus would become Cook's eventual successor. Over the last 25 years at Apple, Ternus has become a key architect of the tech giant's robust product pipeline, managing hardware engineering for iPad, AirPods, and recent iPhone models. When Ternus takes the reins this September, he'll become the company's eighth CEO. He also faces a significant obstacle: revamping the company's struggling artificial intelligence strategy. Apple is facing pressure to innovate on an AI strategy long viewed as lagging megacap peers. Recently, the company has hit development snags with its AI-charged Siri model and enlisted the help of Google's Gemini in January. Wall Street analysts view the CEO promotion as a potential catalyst for reigniting optimism in Apple and its AI strategy.Morgan Stanley analysts wrote that "promoting him to CEO clearly shows Apple's emphasis on product at the center of the flywheel will remain." Read more CNBC tech newsApple incoming CEO John Ternus faces a defining challenge: Fixing the company's AI strategyTim Cook reactions: Trump, Altman, Buffett and more on the Apple CEO moveAmazon to invest up to another $25 billion in Anthropic as part of AI infrastructure dealAmazon 'strong-armed' Levi's, Hanes to hike prices on rival sites, California DA says The road to CEOTernus graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 with a degree in mechanical engineering. As a student, he juggled studies with a competitive varsity swimming career.After graduation, he worked as an engineer at Virtual Research, an early firm working on virtual reality headsets. He joined Apple in 2001 as an engineer on the design team. During a commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania's engineering school in 2024, Ternus described his first day at the tech company as "exhilarating and intimidating.""I wasn't sure I belonged there," he recalled. "The people I met were so smart and so confident, and they knew so much more than me, but I'll always be grateful that I wasn't afraid to ask for help when I needed it."His first project at the burgeoning tech company was on a plastic desktop monitor known as the cinema display. He described the buildout as a detail-intensive process that included "large, complicated clear plastic parts." Apple later pivoted to aluminum. watch nowVIDEO5:1405:14Apple taps John Ternus as CEO to replace Tim Cook, who will become chairmanSquawk Box "Every experience like this sharpened my ability to approach problems from different angles," he told students in 2024. "They give me the confidence and willingness to try new things and the resolve to keep going until I find a solution."By 2013, Ternus became vice president of hardware engineering, leading development for key product lines, including the Mac and iPad. He took charge of Apple's iPhone and became senior vice president of hardware engineering in 2021, when then-hardware chief Dan Riccio pivoted to the Apple Vision Pro.Over the past five years, Ternus has overseen design and product performance for many new Apple products, including the iPad and AirPods. He has also played a significant role in Apple's Silicon chip program as it transitions away from Intel. For Apple fans, Ternus is also a familiar face at launch events broadcast from the company's Cupertino, California, headquarters. Last year, he unveiled the company's new iPhone Air.In a statement announcing his appointment, Ternus said he's been "lucky" to have worked under Apple founder Steve Jobs and to have Cook as his mentor."I am filled with optimism about what we can achieve in the years to come, and I am so happy to know that the most talented people on earth are here at Apple, determined to be part of something bigger than any one of us," he said.Correction: This story has been revised to reflect that incoming Apple CEO John Ternus is 50. A previous version misstated his age. watch nowVIDEO4:5704:57Apple after Cook: Can John Ternus deliver on AI?Europe Early Edition Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
The carrier's first-quarter earnings topped Wall Street's expectations. View More
In this articleUALFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT A United Airlines plane approaches the runway at Denver International Airport on March 23, 2026.Al Drago | Getty Images United Airlines slashed its 2026 earnings outlook Tuesday as it grapples with a surge in jet fuel prices due to the Iran war.United said it could earn between $7 and $11 a share on an adjusted basis this year, down from its previous forecast of between $12 and $14 a share that it released in January, more than a month before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. The carrier, like others, is trimming some of its planned flying this year to reduce costs. Wall Street had already been adjusting its expectations for the year as a result. Analysts polled by LSEG had forecast that United's adjusted, full-year earnings would be $9.58 a share.For the second quarter, United forecast adjusted earnings of between $1 and $2 a share. Analysts had expected $2.08 a share for the quarter. United estimated its fuel price would average $4.30 a gallon in the second quarter.The carrier said it expects its revenue to cover between 40% to 50% of the fuel price increase in the second quarter, as much as 80% in the third and between 85% and 100% by the end of the year.United reiterated that it is tweaking its schedules to adjust to higher fuel, with capacity in the second half of the year expected to be flat to up about 2% on the year. It grew 3.4% in the first quarter.Here is what United Airlines reported for the quarter that ended March 31 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on estimates compiled by LSEG:Earnings per share: $1.19 adjusted vs. $1.07 expectedRevenue: $14.61 billion vs. $14.37 billion expected Revenue, profit climb Revenue overall rose more than 10%, to $14.61 billion, up from the $13.21 billion from a year before. For the first quarter, United's net income rose 80% to $699 million, or $2.14 cents a share, compared with net income of $387 million, or $1.16 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted for one-time items, United posted earnings per share of $1.19 a share.Unit revenue was up in every reported segment, including for domestic U.S. flights, where it rose 7.9% to $7.9 billion from a year earlier, signaling strong pricing power in the quarter."These are results our employees can be proud of, and they show the resilience of our long-term strategy, even in the face of escalating fuel expense," CEO Scott Kirby said in an earnings release.Jet fuel in the U.S. was going for $3.51 a gallon on Monday, down from the high on April 2 of $4.78, but far above the $2.39 on Feb. 27, the day before the first attacks on Iran, according to prices assessed by Platts.Airline executives have said demand has remained robust even while they have increased fares and checked bag fees as they pass along higher fuel prices to customers. The industry has become more reliant on travelers who are willing to shell out more for flights and bigger seats, and who are less affected by price increases. Alaska Airlines pulled its 2026 forecast on Monday because of higher fuel prices. It has raised fares about $25, CEO Ben Minicucci told analysts Tuesday. Merger ambitions? United CEO Scott Kirby is likely to face questions on the company's 10:30 a.m. ET earnings call on Wednesday about his ambitions for a merger with another airline. Kirby floated a potential merger with American Airlines to a Trump administration official earlier this year, according to a person familiar with the matter, but President Donald Trump said he was against the idea. "I don't like having them merge," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday morning. He said he would like someone to buy struggling discount carrier Spirit but he also suggested that the federal government could "help that one out."American also rejected the idea of a merger with United last week. Read more CNBC airline newsBasic business class is here with new, stripped-down United Polaris faresPricy airfare, airport chaos test travelers' willingness to fly this yearAmerican is 'seriously considering' bringing back seat-back screens to narrow-body fleetUnited ditches economy seats to make room for bigger premium cabins with new layoutsFlights are already getting more expensive after a jet fuel spike. When should you book? Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Traders are monitoring Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh's confirmation hearing on Tuesday. View More
In this articleUS30YUS2YUS10YFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Construction work continues at the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC, on Dec. 30, 2025.Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images Treasury yields ticked higher Tuesday as investors sought clarity over the state of U.S.-Iran discussions around an end to the war. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note â the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing â was up more than 6 basis points at 4.313%.The 2-year Treasury note yield, which more closely tracks short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, was more than 8 basis points higher at 3.802%. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield climbed more than 3 basis points to 4.916%.One basis point is equal to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions. On Tuesday, Iranian state media reported that Iran would not be attending peace talks in Islamabad, saying that attending them is a "waste of time." Multiple reports also said Vice President JD Vance's trip to the talks was put on hold.Later in the day, President Donald Trump said the ceasefire between the two nations would be extended "until such time as [Iran's] proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other." This, he said in a Truth Social post, is based "on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured."Trump had previously said the two-week deal agreed between the U.S. and Iran was set to expire Wednesday.Elsewhere, traders monitored Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh's confirmation hearing on Tuesday. During the hearing, Warsh said Trump has never asked him to "predetermine, commit, fix, decide on any interest rate decision in any of our discussions" and that he wouldn't agree to ever make such a decision simply because the president asked him to.In his prepared statement to the Senate Banking committee released Monday, the former Fed governor said the U.S. central bank must be largely independent of political influence, while also staying focused on its primary goals."The Fed must stay in its lane," he said. "Fed independence is placed at greatest risk when it strays into fiscal and social policies where it has neither authority nor expertise."Trump told CNBC Tuesday he'll be disappointed if Warsh doesn't immediately cut rates if appointed as the central bank's chief.â CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Justina Lee also contributed to this report. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
The confirmation hearing for President Trump's nominee to be the next Fed chairman once again sparked heated debate. View More
The confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump 's nominee to be the next Federal Reserve chairman once again sparked heated debate over central bank independence. Senators on the Banking Committee on Tuesday grilled Kevin Warsh about how independent the Fed can be when the president openly demands lower interest rates. Just hours before the hearing, Trump did it again, saying on CNBC's " Squawk Box " that he would be disappointed if Warsh didn't cut rates "right away" after being confirmed and taking the helm. The president's wishes aside, the two questions the market cares about most: Will the economic data support a rate cut? If not, will Warsh cut anyway and risk the Fed's ability to act free of political interference â and, in turn, investors' views as to the investability of U.S. financial markets? The cornerstone of the Fed has always been its independence to deliver, as it sees fit, on its dual mandate of maximizing employment and fostering stable prices. Warsh, who served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, said during Tuesday's hearing that the practice would not change under his watch. "I'm honored the president nominated me for the position, and I'll be an independent actor if confirmed as chairman of the Federal Reserve." He added that all presidents generally favor lower rates as they are supportive of the economy. The only difference with this president, he said, is that Trump says it out loud. Warsh stressed, however, "The president never asked me to predetermine, commit, fix, [or] decide on any interest rate decision in any of our discussions. Nor would I ever agree to do so." Gauging the level of Fed independence is somewhat subjective because views on the future course of rates can vary greatly. Both before and following the Warsh hearing, the CME FedWatch tool gave nearly 70% odds on no rate cuts this year. That's up from 54% on Monday. If confirmed, Warsh would take over the Fed in May, when current central bank chief Jerome Powell 's term ends. Trump has criticized Powell for not cutting rates more aggressively â and off and on, has threatened to fire Powell, who was Trump's pick for Fed chairman during his first administration. The current Trump Justice Department is investigating Powell over costs related to the ongoing renovations of two Fed buildings in Washington. Powell said the probe was retaliation for not doing the president's bidding. Does that mean that an immediate rate cut under Warsh would put the market's view of his independence at risk â or, is there indeed a path to lower rates? On the employment side of the Fed's dual mandate, there is arguably room for a rate cut. Sure, the economy is resilient, especially looking at last month's strong jobs report. However, when zooming out, the revisions to a middling January and a horrendous February, job creation was 7,000 positions lower than previously thought. The unemployment rate has been holding in the mid-4% range; however, it has certainly been rising since early 2023. With artificial intelligence ramping up, there are concerns that labor demand will wane versus historical trends. Indeed, Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott , (R) South Carolina, alluded to the impact of AI during his line of questioning, and this is a topic that Warsh has called out as supportive of rate cuts. That puts the inflation mandate squarely in focus as the likely determining factor on rates. The Powell central bank has set its inflation goal at 2%. While running hotter than that in most price indexes, even when stripping out volatile food and energy costs, Warsh wants to change the way inflation is tracked. "I think that means a regime change in the conduct of policy. I think that means a different, new inflation framework," the Fed nominee said, arguing that there needs to be more focus on the underlying trends and less so on one-off events. The greatest impact on inflation is the price of oil. The Fed does look to strip out the direct impact of oil by focusing on the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which excludes food and energy due to their inherent volatility. However, crude prices represent an input cost for almost all goods and services â be it a direct input in the manufacturing process, or a logistics cost. That's why we think that any consideration of rates does tie back into the war with Iran and where it goes from here. Should the war go on much longer, then it will prove difficult for Warsh to cut, barring a total slowdown in the economy that results in a material uptick in unemployment. However, should ongoing peace negotiations prove effective, ahead of Wednesday's expiration of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and the war winds down soon, we think the focus for investors will turn back to AI and the job market. During his hearing, Warsh said that "interest rates need to be forward-looking," highlighting that monetary policy can take anywhere from six to 12 months to make its way into the broader economy. It's clear he understands the importance of thinking more about where the puck is going, rather than where it is or where it's been. With that as a backdrop, we think rate cuts will prove to make perfect sense. Arguably, it's this view on AI's impact on the job market and the importance of thinking ahead that will bias Warsh to cutting rates when able, far more than pressure from the president. That brings us to another important consideration: a confirmation hearing is nothing more than an intense job interview. Warsh may well have said something to garner favor with Trump in hopes of being nominated. Once installed, Warsh would have far more to lose should it turn out that he was being anything but data dependent than he does by acting independently of the president's wishes. Not only would that likely put his job at risk, but it would also destroy his reputation and legacy, two things that arguably matter much more than any job, to a man worth north of $135 million . That net worth, along with being married to Jane Lauder, the Estee Lauder heiress who is estimated to be worth somewhere in the area of $1.9 billion, according to Forbes, also speaks to a greater interest in maintaining Fed independence â and, in turn, stronger U.S. financial health, than avoiding retribution from Trump. "Fed independence means everything to me," Warsh said at the hearing. Also encouraging, Warsh made quite clear that he understands that letting inflation rise unchecked is far more costly over the long run than higher rates. "Once you let inflation take hold in the economy, it's more expensive and harder to bring it down, and so the fatal policy error going back four or five years is still a legacy that we're dealing with," Warsh said. However, should it be determined that higher rates are warranted, we do think Warsh understands that sometimes, you just have to take the medicine, even if it hurts, or comes with some not-so-nice words from Trump. Bottom line During Tuesday's hearing, we think Warsh did a solid job in arguing that he will maintain independence not only because it's what the market wants to hear but because it's what's best for the Federal Reserve and the United States broadly. At the end of the day, should he be confirmed, we believe that Warsh will indeed be data-dependent. It's for that reason that we remain bullish on the market broadly and are holding on to our position in Home Depot . During Tuesday's Morning Meeting, Jim Cramner said, "Warsh is going to save the housing market." You don't do that by destroying years of Fed independence overnight; you do it by being data dependent and fulfilling the Fed's dual mandate. Should the war with Iran wrap up relatively quickly, the labor market is likely to come back into greater focus â and with it, the impact of AI. When it does, we think Warsh will cut rates, not because Trump demands it, but because the data, along with a bit of forward thinking, will warrant it. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
The Fed chair faced many questions about his finances, but few about his plan to overhaul the central bank. View More
watch nowVIDEO5:0105:01Kevin Warsh on affordability: 'The trend is going in the right direction'Money Movers Kevin Warsh faced searching questions at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday. Democrats and even at times Republicans challenged his complicated finances, his relationship to President Donald Trump and what often seems like a wide-eyed endorsement of the promise of artificial intelligence. But one core issue for Warsh went all but unquestioned: his plan for what he calls "regime change" at the Federal Reserve. Warsh has planned for years to sharply change the way the Fed operates, down to the very definition of the word "inflation." That plan came through the hearing largely intact, leaving Warsh in a strong position if confirmed quickly to attempt an overhaul of the Fed. Any attempt at major changes will certainly spark dissent and disagreement within the Fed, as will his efforts to quickly lower interest rates. But Warsh said Tuesday he welcomes a "good family fight," and objections from the Fed's other policymakers may only be an advantage in Warsh's eyes as he seeks to overturn their way of doing business. Warsh has faced attacks on his credibility since Trump nominated him in January. The president has publicly demanded interest rates be lowered to as low as 1%. He attempted to fire one Fed governor and has encouraged his Department of Justice to move ahead with an investigation of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The courts are adjudicating those issues.Warsh tried to dispel worries about Trump. "The president never generally or specifically instructed me or suggested I should commit to any interest rate path whatsoever," he told senators under repeated questioning about what he may have said to Trump. Kevin Warsh, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be next chair of the Federal Reserve, testifies before a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2026. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters But that followed a number of difficult exchanges."I must commend you on the way you can circularly go around questions and not answer them," Sen. Jack Reed, D.-R.I., told Warsh. "It's a skill. Unfortunately, it's not a good skill for the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board." watch nowVIDEO4:3904:39Kevin Warsh pressed on Trump interest-rate claims: 'Someone here is lying'Halftime Report Some prominent former Fed officials have also expressed doubts. Former Chair Janet Yellen said recently that she believes Warsh would have a hard time swaying the Federal Open Market Committee, where he would need a majority of 11 other votes to change rates. "I really don't see the FOMC accepting this in the short run," Yellen said.Perhaps not, and while Warsh can't totally ignore other Fed officials, he has spent his time since leaving an earlier stint on the Fed in 2011 defining himself in opposition to them. Read more CNBC politics coverageTrump nominee Kevin Warsh Fed confirmation hearing: Live updatesKevin Warsh would be the first tech bro Fed chair. How Silicon Valley shaped himU.S. struck, seized Iranian-flagged ship Touska in Gulf of Oman, Trump saysThree things to know about FISA Section 702: Congress passes short-term extension of controversial surveillance program "Milton Friedman had a phrase that always stayed with me," Warsh said at the hearing. Warsh once worked as a research assistant for Friedman, an influential conservative economist. "He always worried about government officials that lured and hung around with what he called the tyranny of the status quo. Status quo practices and policies are especially harmful when the world is changing this fast," he said. Warsh would break that status quo. He declined at the hearing to commit to continuing with regular press conferences, which the Fed has held since the financial crisis. He would abandon forward guidance, the Fed's way of signaling to the markets where it wants interest rates to go. He would even move away from the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, the core personal consumption expenditure measure, which he dismissed as a "rough swag as to what was going on" with prices. "We don't have to do a rough swag any more."These ideas aren't just window dressing for Warsh. They are how he brings down the long-term interest rates that trouble Americans in the form of higher mortgage and credit-card rates. Warsh believes markets have driven those rates up in response to muddled policy from the Fed, including the recent spike in inflation after Covid â but going much further back, too. The Fed, he argues, has lost credibility. watch nowVIDEO5:4105:41Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh: One of my first reforms will be a 'data project' on inflationMoney Movers Warsh left the Fed in 2011 because, he said at the time, he objected to a set of programs that left the central bank too deeply entrenched in the U.S. economy. A large part of that was the Fed's asset-buying program, called quantitative easing, that has left $6.7 trillion in financial assets on the Fed's balance sheet. That program was important to stemming the financial crisis, Warsh said at the time, but should have long since been dismantled. "Winning the battle against the Panic of 2008 was a necessary but insufficient condition to win the peace and ensure a strong foundation for economic prosperity," Warsh said in a September 2009 speech. The Fed needed to pull back from its micromanagement of the economy, Warsh argued. The Fed has neglected "market discipline," or allowing ailing firms to fail, he argues. The result is an economy that runs far weaker than it should, with officials who are prone to jump in at any sign of trouble. In 2023, after Silicon Valley Bank and other institutions failed and were rescued by the Fed and other government institutions, Warsh blamed the episode on the Fed's coddling of the economy. "A decade-long period of free money, negative real interest rates, and large asset purchases by the world's central banks from their own treasury departments leads to deep complacency in financial markets, among regulators, and [among] market participants," he said an interview that year.Warsh's diagnosis of the Fed's problems isn't that it has interest rates wrong. Rather he believes the institution's entire way of seeing the world since the financial crisis is wrong. That isn't fixed, in his mind, by getting interest rates a quarter-point higher or lower. Rather, it is fixed by coming into the Fed and showing to the market and the public that a new sheriff is in town. It is too early to say whether Warsh can immediately make the case for the rate cuts Trump has demanded, though he has the advantage of time. The longer his nomination drags on, the greater the chance that the Fed and other central banks will be able to look past the Iran war's oil-price shock and get back to worrying about a weakening labor market. That would argue for cuts.Regardless, if Warsh is brought into the Fed amid cries of discontent from the central bank, they may only help to make his case to the public that this is an institution that has lost its way. The Senate, at least, showed little sign it disagrees. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
HORSERACING-CHURCHILLDOWNS/:Horse racing-Churchill Downs to buy Preakness intellectual property for $85 mln View More
Microsoft's new gaming leader, Asha Sharma, is making the Xbox flagship subscription more affordable. But it won't have every game at launch. View More
In this articleMSFTFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT A Microsoft Xbox sign appears at the Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 21, 2025.Ying Tang | Nurphoto | Getty Images Microsoft said Tuesday that it will lower the cost of subscriptions that include access to hundreds of video games, after the company's new gaming leader promised to "recommit to our core Xbox fans and players."The flagship Game Pass Ultimate service, which allows gamers to download titles on PCs and Xbox consoles and stream games on mobile devices, has been cut to $22.99 per month from $29.99, Microsoft said in a blog post. The more limited PC Game Pass is now $13.99, down from $16.49.Forthcoming titles in the popular "Call of Duty" franchise will no longer be part of the two subscriptions immediately when they come out. Instead, gamers can buy the titles when they come out â the latest one goes for $69.99 â or wait until release the next holiday season and play older versions in the meantime.The change represents an attempt to rejigger the Xbox business from Asha Sharma, a former Meta executive who replaced Phil Spencer as Microsoft's gaming chief in February. Read more CNBC tech newsApple incoming CEO John Ternus faces a defining challenge: Fixing the company's AI strategyTim Cook reactions: Trump, Altman, Buffett and more on the Apple CEO moveAmazon to invest up to another $25 billion in Anthropic as part of AI infrastructure dealAmazon 'strong-armed' Levi's, Hanes to hike prices on rival sites, California DA says Gaming contributed 7% of Microsoft's total revenue in the fourth quarter. The unit's revenue was down around 10% year over year, while the Azure cloud, LinkedIn, Microsoft 365 productivity offerings and Dynamics business software all grew at least 10%. Hardware sales declined 32% after Microsoft canceled the development of the two games, "Everwild" and "Perfect Dark."Revenue from Xbox content and services, a metric that excludes hardware sales, came in below internal projections, Microsoft's finance chief, Amy Hood, said on a conference call. She announced an unspecified impairment charge in the gaming business, which expanded in 2023 with the $75.4 billion acquisition of "Call of Duty" publisher Activision Blizzard.Sharma told employees in a memo that Game Pass had become too expensive, The Verge reported earlier this month. Microsoft pushed up the price of Game Pass Ultimate by $10 to $29.99 a month in October. The company said in 2024 that Game Pass had 34 million subscribers."Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn't a single model that's best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we've gotten so far," Microsoft said in Tuesday's blog post.WATCH: Microsoft Gaming CEO and Xbox President Phil Spencer leaving Microsoft effective immediately watch nowVIDEO1:1901:19Microsoft Gaming CEO and Xbox President Phil Spencer leaving Microsoft effective immediatelyClosing Bell Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.