Starbucks feels the heat as more chains compete for US coffee drinkers

NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks revolutionized U.S. coffee culture. But it’s facing unprecedented competition. And that will make it harder to win back customers it's lost to perennial rival Dunkin' and fast-growing drive-thru chains like Dutch Bros and 7 Brew. Seattle-based Starbucks was a small, regional chain when former CEO Howard Schultz acquired it in 1987 and made it a global brand. Now, other small chains are seeing explosive growth. Chinese chains like Luckin Coffee and Mixue also are getting into the mix. The chief operating officer of Starbucks says the company believes the way to stay on top is to open more cafes that offer both convenience and a comfortable place to linger.

Trump nominates government economist to lead Bureau of Labor Statistics

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is nominating the government economist Brett Matsumoto to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump previously accused the federal agency of releasing low monthly jobs numbers in order to make him look bad. There is no evidence that the Bureau of Labor Statistics sought to undermine Trump with its data releases. Matsumoto has worked as a supervisory research economist at BLS and has been serving as a senior economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Trump's choice of Warsh to lead Fed could reshape the world's most influential central bank

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to chair the Federal Reserve could bring about sweeping changes at a central bank that dominates the global economy and markets like no other. Warsh, if approved by the Senate, will be under close scrutiny from financial markets and Congress given his appointment by a president who has loudly demanded much lower rates than many economists think are justified by economic conditions. Whether he can maintain the Fed’s long time independence from day-to-day politics while also placating Trump will be a tremendous challenge. Warsh would replace current chair Jerome Powell when his term expires in May. Trump chose Powell to lead the Fed in 2017 but this year has relentlessly assailed him for not cutting interest rates quickly enough.

Warsh's challenge: Navigating Fed independence and Trump's demands

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kevin Warsh has sought the job of Federal Reserve chair, off and on, since President Donald Trump first considered him for the position nearly a decade ago. Now that he is in line for the job, the enormity of the challenge ahead of him is clear. To be effective, Warsh will have to gain the trust of the committee of Federal Reserve officials, the financial markets, and not least Trump himself. Warsh may also face a bumpy confirmation process in the Senate, where two Republicans have said they will oppose his nomination unless a recently-revealed criminal investigation of the Fed and its current chair, Jerome Powell, is resolved.

Who is Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh?

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he’ll tap former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair to replace Jerome Powell in May. The appointment, which requires Senate confirmation, amounts to a return trip for Warsh, 55, who was a member of the Fed’s board from 2006 to 2011. He was the youngest governor in history when he was appointed at age 35. He is currently a fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution and a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to serving on the Fed’s board in 2006, Warsh was an economic aide in George W. Bush’s Republican administration and was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.

US stocks fall while a break in gold fever sends metals prices plunging

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell on Wall Street, while gold and silver prices plunged as investors tried to gauge what President Donald Trump’s new nominee to lead the Federal Reserve will mean for interest rates. The S&P 500 dropped 0.4% after sinking as much as 1.1% earlier on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.9%. The value of the U.S. dollar rallied but only after swiveling a couple times. Gold’s price dropped 11%, and silver plummeted more than 30% as tremendous rallies for both metals suddenly halted. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market.

More consumers are buying or selling gold. What to know about the latest rush and swings in value

NEW YORK (AP) — Gold prices hit new heights in early 2026 — and many consumers have rushed to buy and sell pieces of the precious metal. New York spot gold reached a record over $5,418 per troy ounce on Wednesday, before tumbling closer to the $5,000 mark Friday. Gold prices can be volatile and unpredictable, but have still grown significantly over the last year. Experts say uncertainty drives these surges, with gold's latest records arriving amid heightened geopolitical tensions and economic concerns. Jewelry sellers are seeing increased demand, though rising costs have caused some sticker shock.

US producer prices rose 0.5% in December, more than expected, on uptick in services inflation

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. wholesale prices rose a hotter-than-expected 0.5% in December. The Labor Department reported Friday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose from November to December at the fastest pace in three months and faster than the 0.3% economists had forecast. Compared to December 2024, producer prices were up 3% last month in line with what forecasters expected. Services prices were up 0.7% from November, biggest increase since July, partly reflecting fatter profit margins at wholesalers and retailers. But the price of goods — such as appliances and autos — were unchanged last month and up 2.5% from a year earlier.

Anger and anguish spread across Cuba as it learns of Trump's tariff threat on those who provide oil

HAVANA (AP) — Massive power outages in Cuba mean that many people are unaware that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to the Caribbean island. As word began to spread in Havana and beyond on Wednesday, anger and anguish boiled over. After Trump made the announcement late Thursday, he described Cuba as a “failing nation” and said, “it looks like it’s something that’s just not going to be able to survive.”

Senate passes Trump-backed government funding deal, sending to House

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to fund most of the government through the end of September while carving out a temporary extension for Homeland Security funding, giving Congress two weeks to debate new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country. With a weekend shutdown looming, President Donald Trump struck the spending deal with Senate Democrats on Thursday in the wake of the deaths of two protesters at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. Democrats said they would not vote for the larger spending bill unless Congress considers legislation to unmask agents, require more warrants and allow local authorities to help investigate any incidents.