Markets erase April losses as jobs report fuels stock gains
The stock market rallied Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report eased concerns that President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs could tank the U.S. economy, with both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average extending their winning streaks to nine days.
The S&P 500 closed at 5,686.87 — up about 1.5 percent for the day — and has now recovered all the ground it had lost since April 2, when Trump announced plans for sweeping tariffs. The Dow jumped more than 500 points to close 1.4 percent higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 1.5 percent.
Friday's strong jobs report boosted Wall Street's confidence in the U.S. economy and eased recession fears, which have surged as Trump has adjusted his tariff policies. U.S. employers added 177,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 percent.
The jobs report was 'reassuringly normal' and mitigates fears of an immediate employment downturn from tariff uncertainty, Comerica chief economist Bill Adams said. Still, more current surveys reflect widespread concern about how Trump's tariffs will impact business hiring and spending, he said.
The S&P 500 has closed higher for nine consecutive days. The index remains well below its February peak and is still down about 3.3 percent since the start of the year.
Stocks had suffered repeated sell-offs since the White House introduced its controversial tariff policies earlier this year, which has wiped out last year's post-election rally. At one point, the Cboe Volatility Index, known as Wall Street's 'fear gauge,' briefly reached its worst level since 2020.
But markets breathed a sigh of relief on Friday, said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Charlotte-based Northlight Asset Management. If the administration unveils more targeted tariffs when its 90-pause duties for most countries ends in July, markets will 'take it in stride,' Zaccarelli said, although stocks 'aren't out of the woods yet,' he added.
'If the labor market holds up and the Trump administration walks back the most egregious tariffs, the economy could skirt a deep recession,' added Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial.
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Business of Fashion
18 minutes ago
- Business of Fashion
The Year Pride Went Beige
For the past half-decade, Connor Clary has racked up tens of millions of TikTok likes for his sardonic reviews of branded Pride collections. In previous years, he poked fun at what he dubs a 'rainbow barf' aesthetic, including a Target shirt saying, 'Sorry, can't think straight' with a picture of a rainbow-hued brain or a bright green boilersuit with the word 'Gay' plastered in yellow across the back. This year, the theme of many corporate Pride efforts could best be described as 'in the closet,' he said. Clary has reviewed a beige Target Pride collection called 'New Neutrals,' dark denim jorts from Abercrombie & Fitch and a 'bizarre' number of other items that could easily pass for non-Pride clothing. It's not just fewer rainbow tank tops. Obvious political statements, envelope-pushing looks by LGBTQ+ artists, casting of trans models in campaigns and defiance of gender norms are rarer this year. Influencers and LGBTQ+ activists have rolled their eyes at corporate Pride celebrations for years, viewing these efforts as rainbow-washing — latching onto the cause mostly for its marketing potential — or just plain tacky. But the subdued tenor to 2025 Pride merch comes as many brands are avoiding public engagement with progressive causes amid a backlash by right-wing activists and the Trump administration, which has shaken the private sector by declaring DEI efforts unlawful and threatening to release a list of 'woke companies.' In one survey by Gravity Research, a risk management firm, 39 percent of corporate leaders said they planned to reduce 2025 Pride activities, with 61 percent citing fear of retaliation from Trump as a reason. LGBTQ+ youth nonprofit The Trevor Project 'has seen a dip in support from corporate partners this year,' said a spokesperson, and many cities' Pride parade organisers report a steep drop in sponsorships. Steering clear of rainbow T-shirts has its own risks. Target's sales are down from last year due in part to its public retreat from diversity efforts, chief executive Brian Cornell acknowledged in a May earnings call. Nike raised eyebrows last year for not releasing a Pride collection for the first time since 1999; this year it's back with sneakers in collaboration with a pair of WNBA stars (Nike-owned Converse is also out with its usual colourful collection of canvas shoes). A retreat from LGBTQ+ rights can not only alienate customers but also hurt recruitment, creative partnerships and influencer relationships, said Brent Ridge, founder of skincare brand Beekman 1802. 'It just depends on how visible you have been in the past, and how invisible you are now,' he said. 'It's more about the contrast between the two.' The brand's Pride collection includes soap and moisturiser with rainbow packaging designed by residents of the Ali Forney Center. A portion of the profits goes to the LGBTQ+ youth shelter. Beauty brands sticking with Pride campaigns include decades-long supporters like Kiehl's and MAC and younger brands like Glow Recipe. Beekman 1802's Pride collection for 2025. (Beekman 1802) 'Some companies give too much credence or weight to what they think is going to happen,' said Ridge. In a politically fraught time, collections heavy on neutral and black can be seen as a way of laying low, even for brands that continue to support LGBTQ+ organisations and Pride parades. 'A lot of companies … now seem to have the attitude, 'We've been doing it for this long, and it would be a big deal if we didn't do it, so here's just something that is non-offensive and quiet,'' Clary said. Blending In Pride collections typically include their share of basic T-shirts and tanks alongside edgier items. The scarcity of more provocative looks could be viewed as either a tasteful or fearful turn — or possibly both. Some mainstream brands' collections evoke pop stars more than politics this year. Brands used to 'approach Pride with a sense of humour,' said Clary, who noted that Target's cringiest catchphrase merch has disappeared since 2023, when an uproar about trans-friendly swimsuits resulted in violent threats to employees and the retailer pulled items from stores. There are still some whimsical touches at Target, including a rainbow mesh dress and a 'Love is for all' slogan T-shirt. A miniature moving truck featuring bird figurines and the lesbian flag colours has gone viral. In a statement, Target said it 'will continue to mark' Pride month with products, internal programming and event sponsorships. Clary has called out five brands so far for putting out Pride-labeled items that could pass for everyday clothing, including plain denim items, a green oxford shirt and shorts set and a Britney Spears tank top from Abercrombie & Fitch; an earlier year saw the brand's collection draw on American artist and activist Keith Haring. In the UK, Adidas labels a Jeremy Scott collaboration as a 'Pride' collection, but doesn't connect it to the celebration on its US site. There, the Pride landing page displays sneakers available year-round, along with a mention of its partnership with the LGBTQ+ nonprofit Athlete Ally. An Adidas representative said the Jeremy Scott collaboration 'is available in the US as part of the Pride collection,' pointing out a banner saying 'love lifts us up' on a separate landing page minus the term 'Pride.' The titles of the Jeremy Scott Adidas collaboration page on the brand's UK site (top) and US site (bottom). (Screenshots) Standing Up Not all labels are shying away from rainbows or provocation this year, as shown by a bright watch capsule by Guess and a lascivious Diesel collection and campaign cast from the social networking app Grindr. Whether bland or bold, most brands' Pride items are combined with donations to LGBTQ+ causes. Pride is a crucial fundraising month for advocacy, but takes on more urgency this year amid what a Trevor Project representative called 'uniquely challenging political environment' in the US. Abercrombie & Fitch, Lululemon, Sephora, MAC Cosmetics and Rare Beauty are among The Trevor Project's continued supporters. Levi's 2025 collection doesn't have anything as bold as the purple gender-neutral dress by a non-binary textile artist it offered for Pride in 2023. But it was designed in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society, and the company is one of a small number of large brands to publicly stand by its DEI efforts. The denim brand also tags several pride products with the triangle symbol used by queer activists starting in the 1970s, 'proving that you can go beyond rainbows and remind people that the personal is political,' said Michael Wilke, the founder and executive director of LGBTQ-focused marketing consultancy AdRespect. Beauty labels that have stood by the LGBTQ+ community for decades are also staying active. Kiehl's, a Pride supporter since the 1980s, has an in-store campaign and is donating $150,000 to the Ali Forney Center, while MAC Cosmetics' 30-year-old Viva Glam initiative will donate $1 million and 100 percent of proceeds of a special-edition Kim Petras lip gloss to charities. Sephora teamed up with Haus Labs and Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation for a Pride campaign donating $1 from every purchase. Aesop is sponsoring its fifth annual Queer Library in select stores, giving away free copies of books by queer authors in partnership with Penguin Random House and the ACLU. Kim Petras poses with MAC Cosmetics' special-edition lip gloss for Pride 2025. (MAC Cosmetics) Pairing Pride marketing and merchandise with donations helps brands counter accusations of rainbow-washing. Experts also highlight the importance of continuing to elevate the work of smaller artists in the community, especially in the face of right-wing backlash. Not all brands have given in to their own customers' blowback. Nascar has eschewed critics of its kitschy rainbow Pride shirts with phrases like 'Slaytona.' One with 'Yaaascar' in rainbow letters was among the only Pride items that Clary has accepted as a PR gift. 'The move is to crop it and then wear it,' said Clary.
Politico
19 minutes ago
- Politico
Senate says SALT isn't settled
IN TODAY'S EDITION:— Senate GOP eyes slashing the SALT deal…— … and zeroing out CFPB funding— Tuberville raises alarm over SNAP cuts Pity Speaker Mike Johnson this morning. Not only does he have to deal with Elon Musk trying to sabotage the 'big, beautiful bill,' Johnson is now staring down Senate tax writers who are doubling down on threats to scale back his carefully negotiated deal to raise the state-and-local-tax deduction cap. Senate Finance Republicans left the White House on Wednesday without decisions on key tax provisions in the bill. But two things are clear: Senators want to make President Donald Trump's business tax incentives permanent, not just extend them for five years as the House did. And to help pay the roughly half-trillion-dollar price, they're ready to carve up the House's deal to quadruple the SALT deduction limit. SALT Republicans don't have the same leverage in the Senate that they do in the House — because they simply don't exist in the other chamber. 'There's not a single [Republican] senator from New York or New Jersey or California,' said Finance Chair Mike Crapo. That means there's not much appetite 'to do $353 billion for states that, basically, the other states subsidize.' But Senate Republicans are keenly aware of the House's precarious math problem. If they send a package back to the House with significant SALT changes, it could derail the timeline for Trump's biggest legislative priority. 'We are sensitive to the fact that, you know, the speaker has pretty narrow margins, and there's only so much that he can do to keep his coalition together,' Sen. Todd Young told reporters. 'At the same time it wouldn't surprise people that the Senate would like to improve on their handiwork.' Where's Trump? The president on Wednesday didn't directly tell lawmakers not to meddle with the House's SALT deal. But he, too, is playing the numbers game. 'He said, 'You do this, do we lose three votes here? If you do that, do you lose three votes here?'' Sen. Ron Johnson told reporters after the meeting. Senate Majority Leader John Thune also conceded the difficult calculus on SALT, telling reporters 'we understand that it's about 51 and 218' and 'we will work with our House counterparts and the White House' to move the megabill. There's been a breakthrough elsewhere, though: With Commerce preparing to release its draft bill today, Sen. Mike Rounds told Lisa Wednesday that he's satisfied a planned spectrum auction will protect national security, with specific frequencies used by the military shielded through 2034. One potential wrinkle: Rounds later suggested to our John Hendel that the deal that was still being finalized Wednesday could look to free up other frequencies 'that the business community is going to be concerned with.' GOOD THURSDAY MORNING. Tonight is Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Sens. Todd Young and James Lankford have made a classic friendly wager on the championship: The loser has to wear the winning team's jersey. Before tipoff, follow our live Capitol Hill coverage on the Inside Congress blog at And send us the answer to our burning question of the day: Should we swap our Celsius for Horse electrolytes like Rep. Mike Collins? Email us your thoughts: lkashinsky@ mmccarthy@ and bleonard@ THE SKED The House is in session and voting on a bill that would move Small Business Administration offices out of so-called sanctuary cities at 3 p.m. — Intel will have closed hearings on the president's fiscal 2026 budget requests for the military services at 9 a.m., for Cyber Command and U.S. Special Operations Command at 10:15 a.m. and for FBI and DHS at 11 a.m. — Armed Services will have a hearing on the Air Force's fiscal 2026 posture with testimony from Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman at 10 a.m. — Financial Services will have a hearing on data privacy in financial systems at 10 a.m. — Judiciary will have a hearing on foreign influence on Americans' data at 10 a.m. — Oversight will have a hearing on using AI in the federal government at 10 a.m. — Small Business will have a hearing on private equity at 10 a.m. — Education and Workforce will have a hearing on the Labor Department's policies and priorities with testimony from Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer at 10:15 a.m. — Appropriations will begin marking up the Military Construction-VA appropriations bill at 10 a.m. and the Agriculture-FDA appropriations bill at 10:30 a.m. The committee will have a hearing on the president's fiscal 2026 budget request for the Commerce Department, with Secretary Howard Lutnick testifying at 11 a.m. The Senate is in session and voting on James O'Neill's nomination to be deputy secretary of HHS and to end debate on John Eisenberg's nomination to be an assistant attorney general at 11:30 a.m. The Senate will then vote on Eisenberg's nomination and to end debate on Brett Shumate's nomination to be an assistant attorney general at 1:45 p.m. — Homeland Security will have a hearing on five nominations, including Sean Cairncross to be the national cyber director and Robert Law to be an under secretary at DHS at 9:30 a.m. — Armed Services will have a hearing on the Army's fiscal 2026 posture with testimony from Secretary Daniel Driscoll at 9:30 a.m. — HELP will have a hearing on the nominations of Penny Schwinn and Kimberly Richey to be deputy and assistant secretaries at the Education Department and of Daniel Aronowitz and David Keeling to be assistant secretaries at the Labor Department at 10 a.m. — Judiciary will vote on multiple nominations including David Waterman to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa at 10:15 a.m. — Foreign Relations will vote on multiple bills at 10:30 a.m., including a resolution condemning Hamas for its 2023 attack on Israel and another requiring the State Department to report to Congress a strategy for U.S. security assistance to Mexico. The rest of the week: The House will vote on a bill that would require proof of citizenship to apply for SBA loans. The Senate is out on Friday. THE LEADERSHIP SUITE Johnson meets with his cardinals about funding totals The speaker plans to meet today with top GOP appropriators about what funding totals to use in drafting the dozen government funding bills they'll write this summer, our Jennifer Scholtes writes in. There are less than four months left until the new fiscal year begins in October, and House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole wants to push all those measures through his committee before August recess. But how high to go on funding totals is still a push-and-pull with GOP leaders. The goal of today's confab: 'To see if we can find some additional savings,' Cole told reporters. Already, Cole's committee is forging ahead with markups today on two of the 12 bills, even before GOP leaders and his dozen subcommittee chairs — 'the cardinals' — have settled on numbers for the full slate. Schumer throws up a judicial roadblock Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer shot down the quick confirmation of a top Justice Department nominee Wednesday as part of a blockade tied to the Trump administration's acceptance of a Qatari plane to use as Air Force One, our Jordain Carney writes in. Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley tried to get unanimous consent to confirm one of his former staffers, Patrick Davis, to be the assistant attorney general overseeing legislative affairs. Schumer objected, citing his blanket holds that remain in place 'because the attorney general refuses to answer fundamental questions about Donald Trump seeking a luxury plane.' POLICY RUNDOWN SCOOP: GOP WANTS TO ZERO OUT CFPB FUNDING — Senate Banking Republicans will propose provisions that would change the pay scale for Federal Reserve employees and zero out funding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of the Senate version of the GOP megabill, according to a committee staff memo obtained by our Jasper Goodman. Banking Republicans are scheduled to meet this morning to discuss the proposal. The panel is required to find $1 billion in cuts over the next 10 years as part of the party-line tax-and-spending package. If approved, the proposal would need to be reconciled with the House's plan, which did not include Fed pay scale changes or as drastic a cut to the CFPB. SCOOP: TUBERVILLE'S SNAP CONCERNS — Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a frontrunner to become Alabama's governor, is raising the alarm over a controversial House GOP plan to help pay for the Trump megabill by pushing billions in federal food aid costs to states, our Meredith Lee Hill reports. 'Everybody that's going to be in state government is going to be concerned about it,' Tuberville told Meredith. 'I don't know whether we can afford it or not.' At least two dozen other GOP senators have quietly raised concerns about how their states, including those run by fellow Republicans, could be hit by the policy change. FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: CLEAN-ENERGY GROUP TARGETS GOP SENS — Protect Our Jobs, a pro-clean-energy group, is running $1 million in television and digital ads warning key Senate Republicans against following the House's plan to in some cases sunset — and in other places eviscerate — the green tax credits created by the Biden-era climate law. 'These politicians promised to bring down our monthly costs. But cutting America's energy production will only make our costs go up,' the narrator says in the ad, which began running Monday on 'Fox & Friends' and in the D.C. area, and will on Friday move into Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina and Utah. Sens. Jerry Moran of Kansas, John Curtis of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have all urged GOP leadership not to follow through with a full-scale repeal of the credits, warning it could harm investments back home. Tillis, who faces a potentially difficult reelection fight in his purple state, expressed some cautious optimism Wednesday that Senate Republicans want to find a 'glide path' for businesses that already have projects in motion using the credits, but didn't elaborate. TARIFFS TEST GOP PATIENCE — Sen. John Kennedy grilled Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at a hearing Wednesday, signaling some Republican patience with the White House's negotiating strategy may be starting to wear thin, our Daniel Desrochers and Doug Palmer report. Kennedy asked Lutnick if the administration would take a zero-for-zero trade deal with Vietnam, one of many trading partners facing major tariff hikes in July. Lutnick said 'absolutely not,' because he said Vietnam is being used as a pathway for China to send products to America. 'Why are you negotiating trade deals then?' a visibly frustrated Kennedy replied. Lutnick could face the fire again today: the Commerce secretary is testifying in front of House Appropriations at 11 a.m. MAJOR OPIOID CRISIS BILL PASSES HOUSE — The GOP-led House voted 366-57 to reauthorize landmark legislation to prevent and treat illicit opioid use Wednesday. The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote comes despite frustration from leading Democrats over the Trump administration's cuts for addiction treatment. The bill, led by Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, would reauthorize billions of dollars in funding for tackling the opioid crisis, which killed nearly 50,000 Americans last year, according to federal estimates. Congress passed the original bill in 2018 with near-unanimous House approval, and Trump signed it into law. The legislation expired nearly two years ago, but Congress has continued funding its programs. Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E: POLITICO PRO SPACE: Your insider's guide to the politics behind the new space race. From battles over sending astronauts to Mars to the ways space companies are vying to influence regulators, this weekly newsletter decodes the personalities, policy and power shaping the final frontier. Get sharp analysis, scoops and reporting from across the newsroom — including insights from our teams in Florida, California and Brussels. Try the newsletter free for a limited time starting tomorrow before it becomes exclusive to POLITICO Pro subscribers. Find out more. TUNNEL TALK NEW USCP CHIEF — The next chief of the U.S. Capitol Police will be Michael Sullivan, a former interim chief of the Phoenix Police Department, our Nicholas Wu, Chris Marquette and Katherine Tully-McManus report. Before serving in Phoenix, Sullivan was deputy commissioner of compliance and deputy commissioner of operations at the Baltimore Police Department, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was also a deputy chief at the Louisville Metro Police Department, where he spent more than two decades as an officer. THE BEST OF THE REST Bill Gates comes to Utah to help Sen. Curtis in his efforts to preserve clean energy, from Cami Mondeaux at Deseret News After Muscling Their Bill Through the House, Some Republicans Have Regrets, from Michael Gold at the New York Times Republicans Are Trying to Stop — And Even Sabotage — Bill Huizenga's Potential Senate Bid, from Reese Gorman at NOTUS CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE AUTOMOBILE ALLIANCE DIVIDED — A split among automakers over Republicans' megabill is hobbling their powerful lobbying group as the Senate considers major rollbacks to electric vehicle and manufacturing tax credits, four people familiar with the dynamics tell our James Bikales. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major automakers and suppliers, has yet to take a public stance because its members can't reach consensus on changes to a key tax credit claimed by automakers for producing EV batteries. The trade group had strongly defended the credits in Democrats' climate law last year, and in recent months warned that rolling them back would threaten U.S. competitiveness and national security. SMUCKER AIDE JOINS MINDSET — Kate Bonner has left the Hill to return to K Street as a principal at Mindset. Bonner spent the past five years working as chief of staff and senior adviser to Rep. Lloyd Smucker, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and vice chair of the House Budget Committee, POLITICO Influence scooped. Before joining Smucker's office, she was a director of federal government relations and external affairs at Citigroup and spent nearly a decade with the National Federation of Independent Business. Bonner told PI that she will be registering to lobby with an expected focus on tax and trade issues as well as financial services and energy. JOB BOARD Stu Sandler is now Sen. Rick Scott's chief of staff. He previously served as the National Republican Senatorial Committee's political director and executive director of the Michigan Republican Party. Eden Alem is now deputy comms director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Dems. She previously was national press secretary at Climate Power. Hana Tadesse is now VP of comms for the Seattle FIFA World Cup 26 local organizing committee. She previously was comms director for Rep. Kim Schrier. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Rep. Chrissy Houlahan … Jack Smith … Megan Beyer … Jeff Rapp of Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester's office … Jordan Dickinson of Target … Mary Kirchner of Sen. Roger Marshall's office … Todd Zubatkin … Kara Hauck … Everytown's Kate Brescia (3-0) … Daniella Landau of Penn Avenue Partners … Socko Strategies' James Cecil Kemmer … Rob Kelly TRIVIA WEDNESDAY'S ANSWER: Jacob Murphy correctly answered that Theodore Roosevelt said the quote 'When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer 'present' or 'not guilty.'' TODAY'S QUESTION, from Jacob: On August 1, 1946, President Harry Truman signed the Fulbright Scholarship Program into law. Which country was the first to sign a Fulbright agreement with the U.S.? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@
Bloomberg
20 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
David Jolly, Trump critic and Former GOP Congressman, to Run For Florida Governor as Democrat
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A former Republican congressman and vocal critic of Donald Trump says he wants to become governor in the president's adopted home state of Florida, and that he's running as a Democrat. David Jolly formally announced his bid Thursday, becoming the latest party convert hoping to wrest back control of what had been the country's premier swing state that in recent years has made a hard shift to the right. Under state law, term-limited Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis can't run for reelection in 2026.
