Federal Reserve opts against cutting rates

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave little indication Wednesday of bowing anytime soon to President Donald Trump's demands that he cut interest rates.

The Fed left its key short-term interest rate unchanged for the fifth time this year, at about 4.3%. Powell also signaled it could take months for the Fed to determine if Trump's tariffs will push up inflation temporarily or more persistently. His comments suggested a rate cut in September is now less likely. Two Fed members broke with the majority to vote for a cut.

Prices rose 2.6% in June compared with a year ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

CLIMATE: Amid a record breaking heat wave in the Southeast U.S., the Trump administration on Tuesday proposed revoking the scientific "endangerment finding," the legal underpinning of several regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and that fight climate change under the Clean Air Act.

LAWSUIT: More than 20 mostly Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its efforts to cut Medicaid payments to the nation's largest abortion provider: Planned Parenthood. The move came in response to the package of tax breaks and spending cuts Trump signed July 4.

SOCIAL SECURITY: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's new children's savings program included in Republicans' federal spending and tax cuts law "is a back door for privatizing Social Security."