Headline News from The Associated Press
AP Headline News - May 16 2024 11:00 (EDT)
AP News. I'm Jackie Quinn. The Justice Department is defending its decision to withhold the audio of President Biden's interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents. Attorney General Merrick Garland, he's being accused of being in contempt of Congress, says the request from Republicans is not for any valid reason. The effort to threaten to defund our investigations at the way in which there are contributions to an atmosphere that puts our agents and our prosecutors at risk. These are wrong. House Speaker Mike Johnson. The American people will not be able to hear why prosecutors felt the president of the United States was in special counsel Robert Herr's words, a quote "elderly man with a poor memory" and thus shouldn't be charged. Two House committees are taking up the issue today. From the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upholds the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The justices have rejected a conservative challenge to the agency. In New York, Donald Trump's former fixers back to under witness stand in the House money trial. Defense lawyers are trying to chip away at Michael Cohen's credibility, more from our Julie Walker. On his way into court, the former president denouncing his House money trial. This trial is a scam and it's a sham and it shouldn't happen. Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen back on the witness stand for more cross-examination over his testimony linking Trump to a scheme to pay off women for unfavorable sex stories that he says never happened in exchange for silence. South African officials are telling the United Nations top court the situation in Gaza's reached a new and horrific stage. The country, citing genocide, seeking emergency measures to stop Israel's military operation in the southern city of Rafa. I'm Seth Zutel and this is Markets in a Minute. Stocks are drifting mostly higher on Wall Street as momentum cools following a rally to record highs the day before. The S&P 500 was up two-tenths of a percent in early trading Thursday. The Dow added 84 points. That's about two-tenths a percent. The NASDAQ composite edged up one-tenth of a percent. All three indexes set all-time highs on Wednesday. Walmart rose 6.6 percent. The huge retailer reported stronger than expected profits for the latest quarter. Those strong results could help calm fears on Wall Street about whether U.S. households can keep spending. Deer also topped expectations but the stock fell two-and-a-half percent after the company gave a weaker than expected forecast. Treasury yields were relatively steady in the bond market following a mixed set of reports on the economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was flat at 4.35 percent. Seth Zutel, New York. [BLANK_AUDIO]