New NCInnovation grant supports breakthrough Alzheimer’s treatment development at UNC Pembroke

New NCInnovation grant supports breakthrough Alzheimer’s treatment development at UNC Pembroke

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – A recent grant aimed at commercializing university research could help bring new treatment options for patient’s Alzheimer’s Disease. Dr. Ben Bahr, a William C. Friday endowed chair and distinguished professor at UNC Pembroke, has been studying Alzheimer’s for years and has identified a target for the diagnosis of the most common form of dementia. He has presented his team’s research in 18 countries, has over 150 publications and patents, and leads UNCP as a partner institution of the Duke-UNC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Alzheimer’s disease affects 55 million people worldwide, as well as other brain disorders. Current treatment options are expensive, inaccessible, and/or have limited effectiveness. Bahr’s patent-pending compounds work to reduce multiple pathogenic proteins that accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

“I’ve been training teams of students for over 20 years now and they’ve helped me identify these self-repair mechanisms that the drugs can modulate. Think of it like turning up the volume of a stereo speaker that’s gotten old and not working so well. By turning up the volume, the repair messages can better be heard throughout the body especially in the brain,” said Bahr. “NCInnovation gave us a grant of over a million dollars to help pursue new drug molecules that activate the same repair pathways our brain uses to maintain function, memories and thinking ability as we get older.”

Other labs such as Harvard, Cornell, and Northwestern have been teasing apart the tiny details of protein-clearance machinery (otherwise called the garbage disposal of the brain) to find drug targets that help remove the pathogenic deposits that occur not just in Alzheimer’s but also Parkinson’s.

“Some people have better self-repair systems than other people which explains why every person has different outcomes. Some people are sharper than a tack when they get to their 90’s and others have growing memory problems. We’re trying to help those that need help clearing those bad proteins that accumulate with time, especially with age because age is the biggest risk factor of dementia,” said Bahr.

According to Bahr, it’s important to have low-cost, oral therapeutics for these patients to take as a nice pill form can be easily accessible. They’re looking to get all communities something that’s an every day simple task of taking a pill, especially for caregivers.

“The current therapeutic that’s been newly approved by the FDA are called immuno-therapies, they’re actually human proteins that are very expensive to generate, they have to be bio-manufactured, and then it has to be injected intravenously. Not everybody has access to a place to do the I.V. treatments and oftentimes when you care for someone with dementia it’s very difficult to get them in a car, or get them in a new environment, it’s very disruptive. We want something that helps both the caregivers and the care-facilities that are working hard tirelessly for this terrible disease,” said Bahr.

It’s going to be a long road to get the drug approved, but those are the steps it takes to go to the next phase of clinical trial. The team at UNC Pembroke is currently doing testing on mice with the same human genmutations that cause Alzheimer’s looking for improved memory, reduced eating due to nausea and changes in breathing.

“We give them blood tests, everything that the FDA requires so we can move our drug program to clinical trials,” said Bahr. “It takes an organization like NCInnovation to give us the confidence to move forward and approach the FDA and form the relationships with big companies in our state that really want to be game changers to try to treat dementia risk-factors long before you’re actually dealing with the Alzheimer’s disease.”

The non-profit organization that’s helping to unlock the innovative potential of North Carolina’s world-class public universities is NCInnovation. Around $13.6 million in R&D funding for 17 research projects at 12 North Carolina public universities has been approved by the unanimous Board of Directors after a multi-month review and evaluation process. Only university researchers, not private companies, are eligible for NCInnovation grants.

“Thank you to NCInnovation’s external reviewers, hard-working staff, and Program Committee members for the thoughtful and diligent work put into this process,” said Deanna Ballard, chair of the NCInnovation Board of Directors Program Committee. “The research projects on this list are exactly what North Carolina public universities should be championing: real-world research that can bolster North Carolina’s – and America’s – competitiveness.”

NCInnovation is meant to bridge the gap between industry and academia to advance more NC public university research from proof-of-concept to the point where it is commercially investable. The organization is working to overcome challenges such as lack of applied research, underdeveloped capital landscape, uneven success and lack of regional innovation networks.

NCInnovation grant applications go through a multi-phase review process that includes a pre-application, a full application, an external expert review panel and a market fit assessment.

“North Carolina’s public universities are working on truly amazing technologies, from improving poultry and livestock mortality rates to treating diseases like Alzheimer’s and pancreatic cancer,” said Michelle Bolas, executive vice president and chief innovation officer of NCInnovation. “NCInnovation helps researchers advance their discoveries through the university R&D process toward commercialization, strengthening the university-to-industry pipeline that’s central to American competitiveness.”

Orange High School Principal named 2025 N.C. Principal of the Year

Orange High School Principal named 2025 N.C. Principal of the Year

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – In an emotional ceremony filled with applause and community pride, Orange High School Principal Jason Johnson was named the 2025 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction presented the prestigious award at a luncheon in Cary, where Johnson was joined by other regional finalists and leaders from Orange County Schools.

A 27-year educator, Johnson is known for his deep commitment to relationship-building and his belief in the power of community partnership. He emphasized that a school can only thrive when all components—staff, teachers, students, and parents—are working together.

“School leadership is running fine, teacher-leadership and teachers are running fine, staffs are running fine. Of course we need our parents’ support at all times, we need to partner with them to ensure schools are running smoothly,” said Johnson.

Despite changes in the educational landscape, Johnson said the core needs of students remain the same.

“They want to be taken care of, they want their needs taken care of, they want to be loved, they want to be respected, they want relationships with adults in their school and they want to learn,” said Johnson.

Johnson credited his late mother for instilling in him a drive to succeed and aim higher.

“She had such a philosophy of if you decide to work at a grocery store, you need to become a manager. If you decide to become a nurse you need to be a doctor. If you decide to be a teacher, you need to be a principal and so on and so forth,” said Johnson.

He also thanked Anne Osborne, a mentor who gave him the opportunity to lead.

“Always involve the parents to the best of your ability but also with your staff take care of them as human beings first and everything will work out,” said Johnson.

During his acceptance speech, Johnson grew emotional as he thanked his students and staff. He said the award was not just his, but a shared accomplishment that belongs to the entire Orange County community.

Home Depot says it doesn’t expect to boost prices because of tariffs

Home Depot says it doesn’t expect to boost prices because of tariffs

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

Home Depot doesn’t expect to raise prices because of tariffs, saying it has spent years diversifying the sources for the goods on its shelves.

Billy Bastek, executive vice president of merchandising, said during a conference call on Tuesday that Home Depot’s suppliers have shifted sourcing across several countries and that the company doesn’t expect any single country outside of the U.S. will represent more than 10% of its purchases 12 months from now.

“We don’t see broad based price increases for our customers at all going forward,” he said.

Other companies, domestic and foreign, have warned customers that price hikes are on the way due to a trade war kicked off by the U.S.

Walmart said last week that it has already raised prices and will have to do so again in the near future. Late Monday, Subaru of America said it would raise prices on some of its most popular models by as much as $2,000.

President Donald Trump lambasted Walmart, saying on social media over the weekend that the retail giant should “eat” the additional costs created by his tariffs.

As Trump has jacked up import taxes, he has tried to assure a skeptical public that foreign producers would pay for those taxes and that retailers and automakers would absorb the additional expenses. Most economists are deeply skeptical of those claims and have warned that the trade penalties would worsen inflation.

During the first quarter, Home Depot’s revenue climbed as customers spent slightly more on smaller home projects.

A number of U.S. companies have lowered or pulled financial guidance for investors as tariffs launched by the the Trump administration scramble world trade but on Tuesday, Home Depot stuck by earlier projections of sales growth at around 2.8%.

Shares of the Atlanta company dipped slightly on Tuesday.

Revenue rose to $39.86 billion from $36.42 billion a year earlier, beating the $39.3 billion that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, edged down 0.3%. In the U.S., comparable store sales climbed 0.2%.

Wall Street anticipated a 0.1% decline in same-store sales.

Customer transactions rose 2.1% in the quarter. The amount shoppers spent climbed to $90.71 per average ticket from $90.68 in the prior-year period.

“Our first quarter results were in line with our expectations as we saw continued customer engagement across smaller projects and in our spring events,” Home Depot Chair and CEO Ted Decker said in a statement.

Home improvement retailers like Home Depot have been dealing with homeowners putting off bigger projects because of increased borrowing costs and lingering concerns about inflation.

The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows.

Sales of previously occupied homes have dropped as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged home shoppers.

Existing home sales fell 5.9% in March from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said. The March sales decline was the largest monthly drop since November 2022, and marks the slowest sales pace for the month of March going back to 2009.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

“One of the central problems for Home Depot is the skittish housing market,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a statement. “While last quarter was robust, home sales declined by 3.1% year-over-year this quarter as consumers were deterred from moving by continued high interest rates and growing economic uncertainty. This lack of recovery makes it difficult to drive home improvement spending.”

For the three months ended May 4, Home Depot Inc. earned $3.43 billion, or $3.45 per share. A year earlier the Atlanta-based company earned $3.6 billion, or $3.63 per share.

Stripping out certain items, earnings were $3.56 per share. Wall Street was calling for earnings of $3.60 per share.

Meet Illicium: A Shade-Loving Shrub with Personality

Meet Illicium: A Shade-Loving Shrub with Personality

By MIKE RALEY

I can remember a time when there were few shade-loving shrubs from which to choose for the North Carolina landscape. In the early years of the “Weekend Gardener,” Erv Evans or those who filled in for him, would primarily recommend: acubas, rhododendrons, azaleas, or hydrangeas. Now there are a plethora of woody plants for the darker areas of your yard. What I am building up to is the world of Illiciums or Illicium parviflorum, illicium floridanum and illicium parviflorum anise shrubs. The leaves of this species have a distinctively pleasant scent when crushed. Most people say it smells like licorice, which is not my favorite. However, I do think it has a unique fragrance. The flowers of the floridanum have another distinctive attribute. They are pretty, a red to maroon color with a raw fishy fragrance. Some say it smells like a wet dog. This odor is not apparent unless the flower is right up to your nose. The plant usually blooms in April and May.

If you are diligent, you may find some compelling cultivars of Illicium. “Aztec Fire” has darker red flowers spring into fall once established. “Shady Lady” has variegated leaves so Nelsa Cox would be happy. “Halley’s Comet” has bright red leaves and is quite striking. “Swamp Hobbit” is a dwarf variety. It seems just about every variety of popular landscape plant has a diminutive cousin or two.

When planting your illicium in the spring or fall, be sure to dig the hole twice as wide as the root ball and deep enough for the top of the root ball to just peek over the top of the ground surface. You may choose to place some aggregate stone product or other type of aggregate material at the bottom of the hole, add some water and fill in dirt, compost, or organic matter of some kind. Add two to three inches of hardwood mulch. Keep in mind the evaporation rates are much higher in the spring than fall.

Remember to water your illicium regularly for the first year. In doing so, deep, infrequent watering, especially the first year, is one of the keys to a long-term healthy plant. Another key is to try to water at the base of a plant. You can use your garden hose if it is convenient. For new plants I prefer a soaker hose or some other type of drip irrigation. It will slow water consumption. While watering in the morning is best, you can get away with evening watering, but your plants might also be more susceptible to disease. You will find that any other time of day offers only high evaporation rates in late spring and summer.

Fertilize your fairly exotic plant lightly with a slow-release fertilizer. The extension service often recommends something in the realm of a 12-6-6. Root protection can be achieved with the use of hardwood mulch or pine straw. This will also provide nutrients.

The folks at the extension service tell me the Illicium has no significant pests.

If you want to add a standout plant to your landscape collection. The illicium or anise plant is for you whether you like licorice or not.

On ‘World Bee Day,’ the bees did not seem bothered. They should be

On ‘World Bee Day,’ the bees did not seem bothered. They should be

By DANIEL NIEMANN, FANNY BRODERSEN and MICHAEL PROBST Associated Press

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — On the eighth annual “World Bee Day,” the bees did not seem bothered.

They should be.

Bees and other pollinators have been on the decline for years, and experts blame a combination of factors: insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply. A significant part of the human diet comes from plants pollinated by bees — not just honeybees, but hundreds of species of lesser-known wild bees, many of which are endangered.

On the eighth annual “World Bee Day,” around 400,000 bees in urban rooftop hives in Cologne, Germany, were busy at work making honey. They seemed oblivious to the threats that endanger their survival. Scientists and bee experts hope Tuesday’s World Bee Day can raise awareness. (AP video AP video shot by: Fanny Brodersen and Daniel Niemann)

In 2018, the U.N. General Assembly sponsored the first “World Bee Day” to bring attention to the bees’ plight. Steps as small as planting a pollinator garden or buying raw honey from local farmers were encouraged.

May 20 was chosen for “World Bee Day” to coincide with the birthday of Anton Janša, an 18th century pioneer in modern beekeeping techniques in his native Slovenia.

In Germany, where bees contribute 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in economic benefits, they’re key to pollinating the iconic yellow rapeseed fields that dominate the countryside in the spring.

On Tuesday, around 400,000 bees in urban rooftop hives in the western city of Cologne — where the yellow fields flower — were busy at work making honey.

They seemed oblivious to the threats that endanger their survival. Scientists and bee experts like Matthias Roth, chairman of the Cologne Beekeepers Association, hope World Bee Day can raise awareness.

For Roth, it’s crucial to protect both honey bees — like the ones in his rooftop hives — and wild species. His organization has set up nesting boxes in the hopes of helping solitary bees, which don’t form hives, but Roth fears that it’s not enough.

“We must take care of nature,” Roth said Tuesday. “We have become far removed from nature, especially in cities, and we must take care of wild bees in particular.”

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Fanny Brodersen reported from Berlin, and Michael Probst from Wehrheim, Germany. Kerstin Sopke and Stefanie Dazio contributed to this report from Berlin.

Trump officials set new requirements for COVID vaccines in healthy adults and children

Trump officials set new requirements for COVID vaccines in healthy adults and children

By MATTHEW PERRONE and LAURAN NEERGAARD Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Annual COVID-19 shots for healthy younger adults and children will no longer be routinely approved under a major new policy shift unveiled Tuesday by the Trump administration.

Top officials for the Food and Drug Administration laid out new requirements for yearly updates to COVID shots, saying they’d continue to use a streamlined approach that would make vaccines available to adults 65 and older as well as children and younger adults with at least one health problem that puts them at higher risk.

But the FDA framework urges companies conduct large, lengthy studies before tweaked vaccines can be approved for healthier people. In a framework published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, agency officials said the approach still could keep annual vaccinations available for between 100 million and 200 million adults.

The upcoming changes raise questions about people who may still want a fall COVID-19 shot but don’t clearly fall into one of the categories.

“Is the pharmacist going to determine if you’re in a high-risk group?” asked Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The only thing that can come of this will make vaccines less insurable and less available.”

The framework, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the culmination of a series of recent steps scrutinizing the use of COVID shots and raising major questions about the broader availability of vaccines under President Donald Trump.

For years, federal health officials have told most Americans to expect annual updates to COVID-19 vaccines, similar to the annual flu shot. Just like with flu vaccines, until now the FDA has approved updated COVID shots when manufacturers provide evidence that they spark just as much immune protection as the previous year’s version.

But FDA’s new guidance appears to be the end of that approach under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, who has filled the FDA and other health agencies with outspoken critics of the government’s handling of COVID shots, particularly their recommendation for young, healthy adults and children.

Tuesday’s update, written by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad, criticized the U.S.’s “one-size-fits-all” approach and states that the U.S. has been “the most aggressive” in recommending COVID boosters, when compared with European countries.

“We simply don’t know whether a healthy 52-year-old woman with a normal BMI who has had Covid-19 three times and has received six previous doses of a Covid-19 vaccine will benefit from the seventh dose,” they wrote.

Outside experts say there are legitimate questions about how much everyone still benefits from yearly COVID vaccination or whether they should be recommended for people at increased risk. An influential panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to debate that question next month.

The FDA framework announced Tuesday appears to usurp that advisory panel’s job, Offit said. He added that CDC studies have made clear that booster doses do offer protection against mild to moderate illness for four to six months after the shot even in healthy people.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Trump comes to the Capitol to try to persuade a divided GOP to unify around his big tax cuts bill

Trump comes to the Capitol to try to persuade a divided GOP to unify around his big tax cuts bill

By LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING, LEAH ASKARINAM and JOE CAPPELLETTI Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived on Capitol Hill early Tuesday to try to seal the deal on his big tax cuts bill, using the power of political persuasion to unify divided House Republicans on the multitrillion-dollar package that is at risk of collapsing before planned votes this week.

Trump called himself a “cheerleader” for the Republican Party and praised the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson as he headed behind closed doors to rally Republicans.

“We have a very, very unified party,” Trump said in hallway remarks at the Capitol. “We’re going to have available one big beautiful bill.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledges there is still work to do as Republicans struggle to push ahead with President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and border security funds. (AP Video)

The president arrived at a pivotal moment. Negotiations are slogging along and it’s not at all clear the package, with its sweeping tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs, has the support needed from the House’s slim Republican majority. Lawmakers are also being asked to add some $350 billion to Trump’s border security, deportation and defense agenda.

Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programs to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue. At the same time, a core group of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states want bigger tax breaks for their voters back home. Worries about piling onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt are stark.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to need more time,” said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

“These are complicated issues with trillions of dollars,” he said. “We’ve got to do this thing right.”

Trump’s visit to address House Republicans at their weekly conference will test the president’s deal-making powers. The Republican speaker, Johnson, is determined to push the bill forward and needs Trump to provide the momentum, either by encouragement or political warnings or a combination of both.

With House Democrats lined up against the package, GOP leaders have almost no votes to spare. A key committee hearing is set for the middle of the night Tuesday in hopes of a House floor vote by Wednesday afternoon.

Democrats argue the package is little more than a giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of health care and food programs Americans rely on.

“They literally are trying to take health care away from millions of Americans at this very moment in the dead of night,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

“If this legislation is designed to make life better for the American people, can someone explain to me why they would hold a hearing to advance the bill at 1 a.m. in the morning?”

Trump has been pushing hard for Republicans to unite behind the bill, which has been uniquely shaped in his image as the president’s signature domestic policy initiative in Congress.

The sprawling 1,116-page package carries Trump’s title, the “ One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as well as his campaign promises to extend the tax breaks approved during his first term while adding new ones, including no taxes on tips, automobile loan interest and Social Security.

Yet, the price tag is rising and lawmakers are wary of the votes ahead, particularly as the economy teeters with uncertainty.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

Republicans criticizing the measure argued that the bill’s new spending and tax cuts are front-loaded, while the measures to offset the cost are back-loaded.

In particular, the conservative Republicans are looking to speed up the new work requirements that Republicans want to enact for able-bodied participants in Medicaid. They had been proposed to start Jan. 1, 2029, but GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on CNBC that work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries would begin in early 2027.

At least 7.6 million fewer people are expected to have health insurance under the initial Medicaid changes, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week.

Republican holdouts are also looking to more quickly halt green energy tax breaks, which had been approved as part of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, and are now being used for renewable energy projects across the nation.

But for every change Johnson considers to appease the hard-right conservatives, he risks losing support from more traditional and centrist Republicans. Many have signed on to letters protesting deep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs and the rolling back of clean energy tax credits.

At its core, the sprawling legislative package permanently extends the existing income tax cuts and bolsters the standard deduction, increasing it to $32,000 for joint filers, and the child tax credit to $2,500.

The New Yorkers are fighting for a larger state and local tax deduction beyond the bill’s proposal. As it stands, the bill would triple what’s currently a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, increasing it to $30,000 for joint filers with incomes up to $400,000 a year. They have proposed a deduction of $62,000 for single filers and $124,000 for joint filers.

If the bill passes the House this week, it would then move to the Senate, where Republicans are also eyeing changes.

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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Bao Beef Buns

Bao Beef Buns

Bao Beef Buns

Photo Courtesy of BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com

Bao Beef Buns Recipe from Beef It’s What’s For Dinner

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serving size: 30 servings

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces Cooked Beef Pot Roast
  • 1 cup chopped spinach, green onions or Swiss chard
  • 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
  • 3 cans (10 biscuits each) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

Directions

Beef and Sauce:

  1. Chop or shred pot roast; place in large microwave-safe dish.  Cover, vent and microwave until heated through, stirring occasionally.  Stir in spinach and hoisin sauce.  Microwave until sauce is thickened and beef is coated with sauce.  Set aside.

Dumplings:

  1. Cut parchment paper to line basket of stove-top steamer, cutting hole in center as needed.  Add water to steamer, making sure water level is below basket.  Bring water to a boil.
  2. Meanwhile, place biscuit dough pieces on cutting board. Flatten each piece of dough into 3-inch square, extending corners; press corners onto board with thumbs. Place about 1 tablespoon of beef mixture in center of dough square. Bring two opposite corners up and over filling and pinch together; bring remaining two corners up and over filling, pinching all seams and corners together to form square bun. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Turn buns over until ready to cook. Place buns into steam basket in batches, keeping at least 2 inches apart. Cover and steam 7 minutes or until dough reaches temperature of 190°F and the filling is 165°F. Gently remove buns from basket with long handled tongs; cool. Repeat until all buns are steamed. Serve bao buns with sauce as desired.
Stocks, bonds and the dollar drift after the latest downgrade to the US government’s credit rating

Stocks, bonds and the dollar drift after the latest downgrade to the US government’s credit rating

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — After recovering from an initial jolt, U.S. stocks, bonds and the value of the U.S. dollar drifted through a quiet Monday following the latest reminder that the U.S government may be hurtling toward an unsustainable mountain of debt.

The S&P 500 edged up by 0.1% after Moody’s Ratings became the last of the three major credit-rating agencies to say the U.S. federal government no longer deserves a top-tier “Aaa” rating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 137 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite inched up by less than 0.`%.

Moody’s pointed to how the U.S. government continues to borrow more and more money to pay for its expenses, with political bickering making it difficult to either rein in Washington’s spending or raise its revenue in order to get its ballooning debt under more control.

They’re serious problems, but nothing Moody’s said is new, and critics have been railing against Washington’s inability to control its debt for many years. Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating for the U.S. government in 2011.

Because the issues are so well known already, investors have likely already accounted for them, according to Brian Rehling, head of global fixed income strategy and other analysts at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. They’re expecting “limited additional market impact” following the initial reactions to the Moody’s move.

Stocks and U.S. government bond prices at first fell sharply early in Monday’s trading, but they trimmed their losses as the day progressed. The S&P 500 went from a loss of 1.1% to a modest gain of 0.2% before drifting through the afternoon.

The move by Moody’s essentially warns investors globally not to lend to the U.S. government at such low interest rates, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly jumped above 4.55% early Monday morning. That number shows how much in interest the U.S. government has to pay in order to borrow money for 10 years, and it was up sharply from 4.43% late Friday. But it later regressed to 4.45% as more calm returned to the market.

The yield on a 30-year Treasury bond briefly leaped above 5% before likewise receding, up from less than 4% in September.

The downgrade by Moody’s comes ahead of a tense period for Washington, where it’s set to debate potential cuts in tax rates that could suck away more revenue, as well as the nation’s limit on how much it can borrow.

If Washington has to pay more in interest to borrow cash to pay its bills, that could filter out and cause interest rates to rise for U.S. households and businesses too, in everything from mortgage rates to auto loan rates to credit cards. That in turn could slow the economy.

The downgrade adds to a long list of concerns that have already weighed on the market. Chief among them is President Donald Trump’s trade war, which itself has forced investors globally to question whether the U.S. bond market and the U.S. dollar still deserve their reputations as some of the safest places to park cash during a crisis.

The U.S. economy seems to be holding up OK so far despite the pressures of tariffs, and hopes are high that Trump will eventually relent on his tariffs after striking trade deals with other countries. That’s a major reason the S&P 500 has rallied back within 3% of its all-time high after falling roughly 20% below that market last month.

But big companies have been warning recently they’re uncertain about the future. Walmart, for example, said recently that it will likely have to raise prices because of tariffs. That caused Trump over the weekend to criticize Walmart and demand it and China “eat the tariffs.”

Walmart’s stock slipped 0.1% Monday.

Other big retailers on the schedule to report their latest quarterly results this upcoming week include Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s and TJX Cos.

On the winning end of Wall Street was Novavax, which rose 15% after it said U.S. regulators approved its COVID-19 vaccine under some conditions. The approval triggered a $175 million milestone payment under the company’s collaboration agreement with Sanofi.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 5.22 points to 5,963.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 137.33 to 42,792.07, and the Nasdaq composite rose 4.36 to 19,215.46.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia.

Indexes were close to flat in both Shanghai and Hong Kong after the Chinese government said retail sales rose less in April than expected. Growth in industrial output slowed to 6.1% year-on-year from 7.7% in March.

In the foreign currency markets, the value of the U.S. dollar fell against everything from the euro to the Australian dollar.

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AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.

Trump says Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks will begin immediately following call with Putin

Trump says Russia-Ukraine ceasefire talks will begin immediately following call with Putin

By ZEKE MILLER, JOSH BOAK and KATIE MARIE DAVIES Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations, President Donald Trump said Monday after separate calls with the leaders of both countries meant to spur progress toward ending the three-year war. The conversations did not appear to yield a major breakthrough.

It was not clear when or where any talks might take place or who would participate. Trump’s announcement came days after the first direct engagement between Russian and Ukrainian delegations since 2022. Those negotiations Friday in Turkey brought about a limited exchange of prisoners but no pause in the fighting.

Ahead of the calls, the White House said Trump had grown “frustrated” with both leaders over the continuing war. Vice President JD Vance said Trump would press Russian President Vladimir Putin to see if he was truly interested in stopping the fighting, and if not, that the U.S. could disengage from trying to stop the conflict. Trump later told reporters that he believed Putin was serious about wanting peace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow is ready to work towards ending the fighting in Ukraine, following a two-hour phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump. (AP Video)

“The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” Trump said in a social media post.

Trump said the call with Putin was “excellent,” adding, “If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later.”

Later, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he noted the process has “got very big egos involved, I tell you.”

“Big egos involved. But I think something’s going to happen and, if it doesn’t I’d just back away and they have to keep going,” Trump said. “This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation.”

Trump also said he told Putin, “We’ve got to get going.”

Trump has struggled to end a war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022, a setback for his promises to quickly settle the conflict once he was back in the White House, if not before he took office.

‘Weary and frustrated’

“He’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday before the calls.

The Republican president is banking on the idea that his force of personality and personal history with Putin will be enough to break any impasse over a pause in the fighting. He dangled the prospect of reduced sanctions and increased trade with Russia should the war end.

After the call, Putin said Russia was ready to continue discussing an end to the fighting after a “very informative and very frank” conversation with Trump. Putin said the warring countries should “find compromises that would suit all parties.”

Moscow, he said, will “propose and is ready to work with” Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining the framework for “a possible future peace treaty.”

But indicating that little had fundamentally changed about his demands, Putin said: “At the same time, I would like to note that, in general, Russia’s position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he reaffirmed to Trump that Ukraine is ready for a full and unconditional ceasefire. He urged the international community to maintain pressure on Moscow if it refuses to halt its invasion.

“Ukraine doesn’t need to be persuaded — our representatives are ready to make real decisions. What’s needed is mirrored readiness from Russia for such result-oriented negotiations.” Zelenskyy said.

Trump and Putin addressed each other by first names

Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov, who previously served as Russian ambassador to the U.S., described the conversation as friendly, with Trump and Putin addressing each other by their first names.

“Trump said, ‘Vladimir, you can pick up the phone at any time, and I will be happy to answer and speak with you,’” he said.

Ushakov also said Trump and Putin could meet face-to-face at some point, but no timeline was set.

Putin and Trump also talked about a Russia-U.S. prisoner exchange, which Ushakov said was “in the works” and envisioned Moscow and Washington releasing nine people each. Ushakov did not offer any other details.

Speaking before the call, Vance said Trump could walk away from trying to end the war if he feels Putin isn’t serious about negotiation.

“I’d say we’re more than open to walking away,” Vance told reporters before leaving Rome after meeting with Pope Leo XIV. Vance said Trump has been clear that the U.S. “is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes.”

Zelenskyy, who spoke to Trump one-on-one before the Putin call and then jointly with European leaders after, told reporters that he emphasized to Trump that no decisions should be made about Ukraine without involving Kyiv. He also said that he discussed the potential for “serious sanctions” on Russia.

Trump said the Vatican expressed interest in hosting the negotiations, but there was no immediate confirmation that any talks had been scheduled.

Trump tries the carrot — and stick — with Putin

Trump sought to use financial incentives to broker some kind of agreement after Russia’s invasion led to severe sanctions by the United States and its allies that have steadily eroded Moscow’s ability to grow.

“Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic “bloodbath” is over, and I agree,” he said in a social media post. “There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.”

Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump had made it clear that a failure by Putin to negotiate “in good faith” could lead to additional sanctions against Russia.

Bessent suggested the sanctions that began during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden were inadequate because they did not stop Russia’s oil revenues, due to concerns that doing so would increase U.S. prices. The United States sought to cap Russia’s oil revenues while preserving the country’s petroleum exports to limit the damage from the inflation that the war produced.

Trump and Zelenskyy spoke with leaders from France, Italy and Finland, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who have threatened tougher sanctions on Russia in a bid to force Putin into negotiations.

Putin recently rejected an offer by Zelenskyy to meet in-person in Turkey as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including Washington. Instead, Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul for talks, the first such direct negotiations since March 2022.

Those talks ended Friday after less than two hours, without a ceasefire in place. But both countries committed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, with Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, saying on Ukrainian television Saturday that the exchanges could happen as early as this week.

___

Davies reported from Manchester, England. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Will Weissert in Washington; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Hanna Arhirova and Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

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