Gabbard

resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard has resigned as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, saying she needed to leave office as her husband battles cancer. She is the fourth Cabinet member to depart during Trump’s second term, all of them women.

In her resignation letter, which she posted on social media, Gabbard said she told Trump she would leave her job on June 30. She said her husband had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”

Trump posted that her principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, will serve as acting director of national intelligence.

Fed chair

sworn in

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has overseen the White House swearing-in of the new Federal Reserve chair. Trump said Friday that he’d like Kevin Warsh’s help in stimulating the economy even as the president tried to emphasize that the nation’s central bank would remain independent.

Trump has spent months criticizing Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, for being reluctant to cut interests rates. Warsh noted the Fed’s mandate “is to promote price stability and maximum employment” and he pledged that the central bank would pursue those aims with “independence and resolve.”

It was unusual that the ceremony didn’t take place at the Fed’s headquarters.

Uncertainty

in Iran

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says “slight progress” has been made during talks with Iran. Rubio made the comment Friday as Pakistan’s army chief traveled to Tehran in a renewed effort to mediate a peace deal and uncertainty loomed over whether war will resume.

The secretary of state’s remark comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike against the Islamic Republic because negotiations were underway. Trump has been threatening for weeks that the ceasefire reached in mid-April could end if Iran does not make a deal.

Wall Street

keeps rising

NEW YORK (AP) — The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households keeps growing wider. The S&P 500 added 0.4% Friday and pulled closer to its all-time high to finish its eighth straight winning week, its longest such streak since 2023.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%. Ross Stores, Workday and Zoom Communications helped drive the market higher after reporting stronger profits than analysts expected.

The gains came even as a survey showed sentiment among U.S. households fell to a record low on worries about inflation and high oil prices caused by the war with Iran.