President Joe Biden discussed efforts to address the unprecedented flow of migration along the U.S. southern border in a Friday afternoon call with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Biden and the Mexican leader spoke for 52 minutes, the White House said. Press secretary Jen Psaki called the conversation was "very constructive" and said it focused on coordination around migration and economic issues.

The planned end on May 23 of the public health ban on asylum seekers could lead to a rush of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. Lopez Obrador tweeted that the conversation was "cordial" and focused on "issues of interest to the bilateral relationship."

López Obrador said, “It’s important that there’s this communication, to listen to President Biden who has treated us with respect, as President Trump also treated us with respect, and we have to ensure a good relationship."

López Obrador is scheduled to visit Central American countries along with Cuba next week. He plans to speak to counterparts about economic development and social programs.

The U.S. Department of Justice is challenging an Alabama law making it a felony for doctors to treat transgender people under age 19 with puberty blockers and hormones to affirm their gender identity.

The Justice Department on Friday filed a motion seeking to intervene in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the law and seeking to block it from taking effect on May 8. The Justice Department said the law discriminates against minors by denying them access to medically necessary care.

Alabama Republicans who support the law say it's needed to protect children. A spokeswoman for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said her office is prepared to defend the legislation.

“The law discriminates against transgender minors by unjustifiably denying them access to certain forms of medically necessary care,” the complaint states. “As a result of S.B. 184, medical professionals, parents, and minors old enough to make their own medical decisions are forced to choose between forgoing medically necessary procedures and treatments or facing criminal prosecution."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned again that the North could preemptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened.

His latest comments came as he praised his top army officials for a massive military parade in Pyongyang this week. State media reported on Saturday that Kim expressed "firm will" to continue developing his nuclear-armed military so that it could "preemptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves, including ever-escalating nuclear threats from hostile forces, if necessary."

The parade on Monday came after a spate of missile tests that underscored Kim's willingness to force the United States to accept the North as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions.

Ukraine’s ambassador-designate to Canada says Russia must be held accountable for its troops committing sex crimes, including against children.

Yulia Kovaliv told a Canadian House of Commons committee on Monday that Russia is using sexual violence as a weapon of war and said rape and sexual assault must be investigated as war crimes.

She said Russia also has kidnapped Ukrainian children and taken them to Russian-occupied territories and now Russia itself. Ukraine is working with partners to find the children and bring them back.

“Russians, a few days ago, killed a young mother and taped her living child to her body and attached a mine between them,″ the ambassador said. She said the mine detonated.

All of Russian society, and not just President Vladimir Putin “and his proxies," should bear responsibility for the war on Ukraine because more than 70% of Russians support the invasion, Kovaliv said.

Three U.S. tourists have died at a resort in the Bahamas after falling ill, officials of the Atlantic island nation confirmed, and another was airlifted to a hospital for treatment.

Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper issued a statement Friday saying that police are investigating and the cause of death was unknown, though foul play “is not suspected.”

Their identities were not initially made public.

The health minister, Dr. Michael Darville, told Eyewitness News Bahamas on Saturday that some hotel guests went to a clinic Thursday with nausea and vomiting, and were treated, and left. Three were later found dead. A fourth was flown to a hospital in New Providence.

He said the environmental health scientists, physicians and others were investigating to ensure there was not a public health hazard.

“We feel that what we are seeing is an isolated case associated in a particular area,” he said, adding that investigators are doing toxicology and blood tests to help determine the cause of the illness.

The head of communications for the prime minister's office, Latrae L. Rahming, tweeted that the deaths occurred at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma.

In a statement to People Magazine, a representative for Sandals confirmed the deaths and said the company was “actively working to support both the investigation as well as the guests’ families in every way possible.”

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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RODANTHE, N.C. — The National Park Service says two beach houses have fallen into the waves along North Carolina's coast. The homes, which were unoccupied when they fell into the ocean, were located along Ocean Drive in the Outer Banks community of Rodanthe.

The park service confirmed the collapses on Tuesday and has closed off the areas around the fallen structures. Debris from the first fallen house has spread widely. Officials from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore say they'll be working closely with the homeowner to coordinate cleanup activities. This is the third time a Rodanthe home has fallen into the surf this year.

“Unfortunately, there may be more houses that collapse onto Seashore beaches in the near future,” David Hallac, superintendent of National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press. “We proactively reached out to homeowners along Ocean Drive in Rodanthe after the first house collapse and recommended that actions be taken to prevent collapse and impacts to Cape Hatteras National Seashore.”

The coast of North Carolina is almost entirely made up of narrow, low-lying barrier islands. Hatteras Island is part of what’s known as the Outer Banks.

A NASA spacecraft on Mars is headed for a dusty demise.

The Insight lander is losing power because of all the dust on its solar panels. NASA said Tuesday it will keep using the spacecraft’s seismometer to register marsquakes until the power peters out, likely in July. Then flight controllers will monitor InSight until the end of this year, before calling everything off.

Since landing on Mars in 2018, InSight has detected more than 1,300 marsquakes; the biggest one, a magnitude 5, occurred two weeks ago.

It will be NASA's second Mars lander lost to dust: A global dust storm took out Opportunity in 2018. In InSight's case, it's been a gradual gathering of dust, especially over the past year.

NASA's two other functioning spacecraft on the Martian surface — rovers Curiosity and Perseverance — are still going strong thanks to nuclear power. The space agency may rethink solar power in the future for Mars, said planetary science director Lori Glaze, or at least experiment with new panel-clearing tech or aim for the less-stormy seasons.

InSight currently is generating one-tenth of the power from the sun that it did upon arrival. Deputy project manager Kathya Zamora Garcia said the lander initially had enough power to run an electric oven for one hour and 40 minutes; now it’s down to 10 minutes max.

The InSight team anticipated this much dust buildup but hoped a gust of wind or dust devil might clean off the solar panels. That has yet to happen, despite several thousand whirlwinds coming close.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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Iowa’s ban on most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy was signed into law Friday by Gov. Kim Reynolds, but a judge is still considering abortion advocates’ request to put the restrictions on hold.

The new legislation prohibits almost all abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which is usually around six weeks of pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. That’s a dramatic shift for women in Iowa, where abortion had been legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Reynolds signed the measure into law in front of 2,000 conservative Christians barely a mile away from where a court hearing for the request to postpone the state’s new ban took place. The ACLU of Iowa, Planned Parenthood North Central States and the Emma Goldman Clinic filed the legal challenge Wednesday and representatives spoke at the court hearing Friday.

That hearing ended with the judge saying a decision on whether to put a hold on the new ban may be made next week.

District Court Judge Joseph Seidlin said he could not imagine “anything that would be more insulting to either side” than for him to “flippantly” rule from the bench Friday.

The split screen punctuates a bitter battle between abortion advocates and opponents in Iowa that has dragged on for years and will likely, for now, remain unresolved as the courts assess the law’s constitutionality.

“As we gather here today, at this very moment, the abortion industry is in the court trying to prevent this law from taking effect and stop once again the will of the people,” Reynolds said before bringing people on the stage to sign the law. “But the passage of this legislation by even a wider margin this times sends an unmistakable message.”

The bill passed with exclusively Republican support late on Tuesday at the conclusion of a rare, 14-hour special legislative session.

The new measure will be considered in the context of decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and Iowa’s Supreme Court last year, when both reversed themselves on rulings that had affirmed a woman’s fundamental constitutional right to abortion.

Those decisions prompted Reynolds to ask the court to reinstate her blocked 2018 law, which is nearly identical to the new one. The state’s high court deadlocked last month, prompting Reynolds to call lawmakers back to the Iowa Capitol.

“Patients’ lives are deeply impacted every day that this law is allowed to stand,” said Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States. “Iowans will be harmed as they’ve lost the right to control their bodies and futures. Iowans must have the freedom to make the best medical decisions for themselves and their families. We stand at the ready for our patients as we await the Court’s decision and are prepared to help them get the reproductive health care they need regardless of the outcome.”

Planned Parenthood North Central States was planning to refer patients to other states, but remained hopeful there would not be a long interruption in services. As of Wednesday, 200 patients were scheduled for abortions at Iowa Planned Parenthood or the Emma Goldman Clinic this week and next, according to the court filings. Most of them past the six-week mark in their pregnancies.

One Planned Parenthood clinic stayed open until about 9:30 p.m. Thursday in an effort to provide abortion care before the new restrictions, their attorney said.

“I can only hope that all patients who had appointments this morning have gotten the care that they need and that they’re not sitting at a health center right now,” the clinics’ attorney Peter Im said during Friday's court arguments.

Iowa lawmakers passed the law in less time “than the 24 hour time period that’s required for patients to wait before they get an abortion in Iowa," he said, adding that the status quo for the last 50 years has been for abortion pre-viability to be legal in Iowa.

“This law, which on Tuesday the General Assembly passed in the dead of night after less than a day of deliberation, will violate Iowans constitutional rights and alter that status quo and have devastating consequences for Iowans," he said.

There are limited circumstances under the measure that would allow for abortion after the point in a pregnancy where cardiac activity is detected: rape, if reported to law enforcement or a health provider within 45 days; incest, if reported within 145 days; if the fetus has a fetal abnormality “incompatible with life”; or if the pregnancy is endangering the life of the pregnant woman.

Most Republican-led states have drastically limited abortion access in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and handed authority on abortion law to the states. More than a dozen states have bans with limited exceptions and one state, Georgia, bans abortion after cardiac activity is detected. Several other states have similar restrictions that are on hold pending court rulings.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre put out an immediate statement saying Iowa's newly signed law is “an extreme abortion ban that will take away a woman’s right to choose."

“While Republican elected officials advance dangerous laws, President Biden and Vice President Harris stand with the majority of Americans who believe personal health care decisions should be between a woman and her doctor, not politicians, and will continue to call on Congress to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law,” the statement said.
__

Ballentine contributed from Columbia, Missouri.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed handing more power to states and tribes to block major energy projects based on water quality concerns.

The proposal would undo a Trump-era rule that restricted local regulators' authority to stand in the way of fossil fuel development. The new proposal would allow states to conduct a broader, more flexible review before making a permitting decision.

The public will have time to weigh in on the proposal. For now, the Trump-era rule will remain in place.

That rule required local regulators to focus their reviews on the pollution that projects might discharge into rivers, streams and wetlands. It also rigidly enforced a one-year deadline for regulators to make permitting decisions. Some states lost their authority to block certain projects based on allegations they blew the deadline, the Associated Press reported.

The EPA is taking the position that states should have authority to look beyond pollution discharged into waterways and “holistically evaluate” the impact of a project on local water quality. The proposal would gives local regulators more power. It allows localities to make sure they have information needed before facing deadline pressure to then issue or deny permits.

A milestone environmental measure designed to tap the brakes on the spread of cryptocurrency mining operations burning fossil fuels in New York has passed the state legislature.

The closely watched bill approved early Friday by the state Senate would establish a two-year moratorium on new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants used for energy-intensive “proof-of-work” cryptomining.

Proof-of-work is the blockchain-based algorithm used by bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies.

The bill, which supporters say is the first of its kind, now goes to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul for consideration. The governor has said she wants to make sure any legislation balances economic and environmental concerns.

Environmentalists who lobbied for the bill said natural gas-burning power plants being used for cryptomining operations threaten the state’s ability to meet its long-term climate goals.

Supporters of the cryptocurrency industry said the measure would crimp economic development in New York. The Blockchain Association, an industry group, said it would simply prompt mining operations to move to other states.

Cryptocurrency mining requires specialized computers that consume huge amounts of energy.

One study calculated that as of November 2018, bitcoin’s annual electricity consumption was comparable to Hong Kong’s in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Some miners are looking for ways to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels to produce the necessary electricity.

A coalition of environmental groups has separately been urging the Hochul administration to deny the air permit renewal for Greenidge Generation in the Finger Lakes, which also produces power for the state's electricity grid. A decision could come at the end of the month.

This measure, if signed into law, would not affect pending applications like the one from Greenidge.

The measure also would require the state Department of Environmental Conservation to perform an environmental impact assessment on how cryptomining affect the state’s ability to meet its climate goals.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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President Vladimir Putin has said at Russia's showpiece investment conference that the country's economy will overcome sanctions that he called "reckless and insane."

Putin began his address Friday to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum with a lengthy denunciation of countries that he contends want to weaken Russia, including the United States. He says the U.S. "declared victory in the Cold War and later came to think of themselves as God's own messengers on planet Earth."

Russia came under a wide array of sanctions after sending troops into Ukraine in February. Putin said trying to damage the Russian economy "didn't work."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday that it's still "absolutely necessary" for some leaders to talk directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin amid efforts to end the war in Ukraine. He told German news agency DPA on Friday that he and France's president will continue to do so.

Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have held several telephone conversations with Putin, separately and together, since Russia's invasion began in late February. Those contacts have drawn some criticism — including from Poland's president, who said recently that they achieve nothing and serve only to legitimize the Russian leader.

Scholz said some leaders need to talk to Putin "and it is necessary that they are clear."

The number of child migrants who crossed the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama has spiked, the United Nations Children's Fund said Friday. UNICEF said that in May 2021, 500 children were detected crossing on the jungle trail. But in May 2022, that number had risen to 2,000.

The fund estimates that about 5,000 children have crossed the Darien Gap so far this year.

Plagued by wild animals, swollen rivers, rough terrain and thieves, the gap claims many lives each year. The overall number of migrants crossing the land bridge between South and North America doubled.

The overall number of migrants crossing the land bridge between South and North America doubled, with about 32,000 crossing so far this year, compared to 16,000 in 2021.

WNBA star Brittney Griner tried to call her wife nearly a dozen times through the American embassy in Russia on the couple's fourth anniversary Saturday, but they never connected since the phone line at the embassy was not staffed, Cherelle Griner said Monday.

The couple has not spoken by phone in the four months since Griner's arrest in Russia, where she remains jailed. That was to have changed Saturday when a long-awaited call was to have finally taken place after getting Russian government approval.

But the day came and went without any contact, leaving an anguished Cherelle Griner to wonder what went wrong and to suspect at least initially that Russian authorities had thwarted the call.

On Monday, she said she learned from her wife's lawyers a more distressing truth: Brittney Griner had actually tried to call 11 times over a period of several hours, dialing a number she'd been given at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, which the couple had been told would then patch the call through to Cherelle Griner in Phoenix.

But each time, the call went unanswered because the desk at the embassy where the phone rang was apparently unstaffed on Saturday.

"I was distraught. I was hurt. I was done, fed up," Cherelle Griner told The Associated Press in an interview, recounting how an anniversary she had eagerly anticipated was instead spent in tears. "I'm pretty sure I texted BG's agent and was like: 'I don't want to talk to anybody. It's going to take me a minute to get my emotions together, and just tell everybody I'm unavailable right now.' Because it just knocked me out. I wasn't well, I'm still not well."

The State Department said Monday that "we deeply regret that Brittney Griner was unable to speak with her wife because of a logistical error."

The department reiterated that it has no higher priority than the safety of Americans overseas and that it remains in regular contact with families of hostages and wrongful detainees.

For Cherelle Griner, the experience has exacerbated already simmering frustrations about the U.S. government's response to her wife's case.

Though U.S. officials have repeatedly said they are working behind the scenes to get the two-time Olympic gold medalist home from Russia, she said she is "very pissed" about the snafu, especially since the call had been on the schedule for two weeks and yet no one warned her during that time that it might be logistically impossible because of the weekend.

She added: "I find it unacceptable and I have zero trust in our government right now. If I can't trust you to catch a Saturday call outside of business hours, how can I trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife's behalf to come home? Because that's a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call."

Cherelle Griner said a contact in the U.S. government had apologized to her for the error. She said she's since learned that the one number Brittney Griner had been given to dial typically processes calls from prisoners on Mondays through Fridays but not weekends, which is why no one was there to transfer the call.

"But mind you," Cherelle Griner said in the interview, "this phone call had been scheduled for almost two weeks — with a weekend date."

Brittney Griner, a seven-time WNBA All-Star who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, was detained at a Russian airport on Feb. 17 after authorities there said a search of her bag revealed vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.

The State Department in May designated her as wrongfully detained, moving her case under the supervision of its Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, effectively the government's chief hostage negotiator. Russian state-run news agency Tass reported last week that her detention had been extended until July 3.

Cherelle Griner said she was still hoping to talk to or meet with President Joe Biden, but "at this point, it's starting to feel like a no."

So far, Cherelle Griner says she's had to rely exclusively on others' assessments of her wife's condition. Lawyers and consular affairs officials have been able to speak with the basketball star, but her wife has not.

On the evening before the call, she went to sleep at 5 p.m. so that she'd be awake and alert at midnight to receive the anticipated call from Russia to Phoenix that never came.

"This was such a big moment because this would have been the first time where I truly could tell if she's OK," Cherelle Griner said, describing it as a "life-or-death" opportunity to discern how her wife was actually holding up. "This would have been the first time for me to actually just hear her in real-time and to truly know if she's OK or to know if she's seconds away from not being in existence anymore."

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Puerto Rico's Comptroller Office has released a report saying the island's Senate made nearly $30,000 worth of "extravagant, excessive and unnecessary" purchases from 2013 to 2020.

The report released on Wednesday comes as the U.S. territory tries to emerge from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history and remains under the eye of a federal control board overseeing the island's finances. The report found that the items bought included a $2,545 sofa, two chandeliers worth $1,200 each, three chairs valued at $675 each, two laptops worth more than $9,000, and an $870 console table.

In addition, $8,200 was spent to buy 225 red shirts for a 2015 sporting event that already included official shirts, the report said.

“This expense turned out to be unnecessary because it was of no use to the public,” the report said.

Sen. Susan Collins is being criticized for the Supreme Court ruling allowing states to ban abortion because the moderate Republican voted to confirm two of the justices who were in the majority opinion.

Critics attacked the Maine senator on social media, and some called for her resignation. The Maine Democratic Party and others cast some of the blame on Collins because her vote was crucial in confirming Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Collins also voted to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch, who also sided with the majority opinion.

Collins says in a statement that the overturning of Roe is a "sudden and radical jolt to the country" that will sow division.

Collins is a Republican and has been a supporter of a woman’s right to an abortion. She has also crossed the aisle on key issues like splitting with Republicans on former President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from several Muslim countries, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and on whether to convict Trump after his impeachment following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The senator said in a statement Friday that she had received assurances from Kavanaugh and Gorsuch that Roe v. Wade was an established legal precedent, the Associated Press reported.

“Throwing out a precedent overnight that the country has relied upon for half a century is not conservative,” she said. “It is a sudden and radical jolt to the country that will lead to political chaos, anger, and a further loss of confidence in our government.”

A federal court has put a temporary hold on the government's order for Juul to stop selling its electronic cigarettes.

Juul filed the emergency motion so it can appeal the sales ban from the Food and Drug Administration. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington granted the request later Friday. A day earlier, the FDA said Juul must stop selling its vaping device and its cartridges. The agency said Juul didn't give it enough information to evaluate the potential health risks of its e-cigarettes.

In its court filing, the company disagreed, saying it provided enough.

To stay on the market, companies must show that their e-cigarettes benefit public health. In practice, that means proving that adult smokers who use them are likely to quit or reduce their smoking, while teens are unlikely to get hooked on them.

Stocks fell broadly in afternoon trading on Wall Street Tuesday, extending a slump for the major indexes as investors continue to worry about the state of the economy.

The S&P 500 fell 1.5% as of 12:01 p.m. Eastern. More than 85% of stocks in the benchmark index fell in the weak opening following a long weekend for the Independence Day holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 562 points, or 1.8%, to 30,532 and the Nasdaq fell 0.3%.

Small-company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 shed 1.2%.

Energy companies had some of the biggest losses as U.S. oil prices fell 8.1%. Exxon Mobil shed 4%.

Banks also fell significantly, along with bond yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set mortgage rates, fell to 2.79% from 2.90% late Friday. JPMorgan Chase fell 2.3%.

European markets were also lower.

Stocks remain in a slump that pulled the S&P 500 into a bear market last month, meaning an extended decline of 20% or more from a recent peak. The market's performance in the first half of 2022 was the worst since the first six months of 1970.

Inflation has been squeezing businesses and consumers throughout the year, but tightened its grip after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The invasion sent oil prices higher globally and sent gasoline prices in the U.S. to record highs. That prompted a pullback in spending from consumers struggling with higher prices on everything from food to clothing.

Lockdowns in China from rising COVID-19 cases have also made supply chain problems worse.

Central banks have been raising interest rates in an attempt to temper inflation. The Federal Reserve has been aggressive in its shift from historically low-interest rates at the height of the pandemic to unusually big rate increases. But, that has raised concerns that the central bank could go too far in raising rates and hitting the brakes too hard on economic growth, which could bring on a recession.

Wall Street has been closely watching the latest economic updates for more clues on how inflation is impacting the economy and whether that could shift the Fed's position on rate hikes. Wall Street will get a closer look at the employment market on Friday when the government releases employment data for June.

Investors are also looking ahead to the next round of corporate earnings for a clearer picture of inflation's impact. Several big companies recently warned that their financial results are being squeezed by inflation, including spice and seasonings maker McCormick.

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As we enter the second half of the year, many Americans are questioning the stability of the U.S. economy amid fears we could be heading into a recession.

Later this month, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee will meet to discuss the likeliness of more interest rate hikes to address the nation's highest inflation in more than 40 years.

Consumer prices in June saw the biggest 12-month increase since 1981.

Mary Daly is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and she suggests that the COVID-19 lockdowns and the war in Ukraine have both contributed in part to rising costs across the globe.

"We have a strong economy but inflation is too high," she said. "As an economist and policymaker, I was less startled. It [inflation] is something you can expect because we had a pandemic. We locked down the economy and then opened back up suddenly. We're ready as consumers to get back out there and buy things and do things, but supply chains are completely under siege."

Last month, the Federal Reserve attempted to tame rising costs by raising its key interest rate by 0.75% — its largest hike since 1994. It was the third rate hike from the central bank this year and more are expected.

But Daly said she isn't concerned that the Fed is overcooking things in order to tame down inflation.

"I'm not concerned because we put extraordinary emergency accommodation into the economy," she said. "We put a lot of support into the economy. When we did that, the economy was supported through the pandemic, and now we're just dialing back that support as we raise the interest rates through the end of the year. That should help bring inflation down to help get the economy back in balance."

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Consumers picked up their spending from May to June, underscoring their resilience despite painfully higher prices at the gas pump and in grocery aisles and allaying fears that the economy might be on the verge of a recession.

U.S. retail sales rose 1% in June, from a revised decline of 0.1 % in May, the Commerce Department said Friday.

The figures aren't adjusted for inflation and so largely reflect higher prices, particularly for gas. But they also show that consumers are still providing crucial support for the economy and spending on such discretionary items as furniture, restaurant meals and sporting goods.

SEE MORE: U.S. Inflation Reached 40-Year High Of 9.1% In June

At the same time, last month's spending gain is modest enough that it likely won't encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more aggressively. Stock prices rose after the report's release.

Consumers still have significant savings, on average, bolstered by pandemic-era government relief checks and strong hiring and pay gains. JPMorgan executives said Thursday that their customers are still breaking out their credit and debit cards at a healthy pace.

The report showed consumers' ongoing appetite for nonessentials like gadgets and furniture. In fact, sales at furniture stores rose 1.4%, while consumer electronics stores rose 0.4%. Online sales showed a resurgence, posting a 2.2% increase. Business at restaurants was up 1%. But department stores took a hit, posting a 2.6% decline.

The solid figures bode well for the back-to-school shopping season, the second largest sales period behind the winter holidays. Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment forms including cash, forecasts that back-to-school spending will be up 7.5% from July 14 through Sept. 5 compared with the year-ago period when sales rose 11%.

But spending is volatile. The latest round of retail earnings reports published in May showed some slowing of spending, particularly with low-income shoppers. RH, an upscale furniture chain, cut its sales outlook for the year last month, pointing to deteriorating macro-economic conditions. It pointed to higher mortgage rates, which are slowing sales of luxury homes, indicating that even wealthy shoppers are pulling back.

Nevertheless, the overall solid spending came even as shoppers were confronted with high prices in all areas. U.S. inflation surged to a new four-decade high in June because of rising prices for gas, food and rent, squeezing household budgets and pressuring the Fed to raise rates aggressively — trends that raise the risk of a recession.

The retail sales report covers about a third of overall consumer spending and doesn't include services, such as haircuts, hotel stays and plane tickets.

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Funeral services for the seven people killed by a gunman at an Independence Day parade will conclude Monday as family and friends gather in suburban Chicago to remember Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy’s funeral service is scheduled for Monday afternoon in Skokie, Illinois. In an obituary, he is described as a father, husband, brother, uncle and son who “brought the fun to every situation.”

The 37-year-old father and his wife, Irina, were killed in the Highland Park parade attack. They left behind a 2-year-old son, Aiden, whose story prompted thousands of people to donate money for the orphaned boy.

“Kevin’s irrepressible zest for life and his family and friends will remain with us always,” his family wrote in the obituary. “We love you.”

Irina McCarthy was buried last week.

Services for the five other victims have been held in recent weeks. They have been identified as: 64-year-old Katherine Goldstein, 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim, 88-year-old Stephen Straus and 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza and 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo.

Prosecutors have charged 21-year-old Robert E. Crimo III with seven counts of murder and said they expect to present attempted murder charges representing the people wounded in the attack.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is giving back some of its strong gains from the week on Friday following discouraging readings on the global economy and another slew of profit reports from big U.S. companies.

The S&P 500 was 1.3% lower, as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, and threatening to halt a three-day rally that had carried it back to its highest level in six weeks.

The Nasdaq composite was leading the market lower with a 2.2% drop following weaker-than-expected profit reports from Snap, Seagate Technology and other tech-oriented companies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was holding up better, down 249 points, or 0.8%, at 31,787, in large part because constituent American Express gave an encouraging earnings report and said its cardholders were spending more.

Sandwiched between last week's dispiriting report on inflation and next week's decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates, the S&P 500 is still on track for its best week in a month following a collection of mostly better-than-expected reports on corporate profits.

Falling yields in the bond market also helped, easing the pressure on stocks after expectations for rate hikes by the Fed sent yields soaring much of this year.

On Friday the two-year Treasury yield tumbled again, to 2.99% from 3.09% late Thursday and from 3.14% a week ago, on worries about the economy. A report Friday morning indicated U.S. business activity may be shrinking for the first time in nearly two years, with service industries particularly weak.

"Manufacturing has stalled and the service sector's rebound from the pandemic has gone into reverse, as the tailwind of pent-up demand has been overcome by the rising cost of living, higher interest rates and growing gloom about the economic outlook," Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence said in a statement accompanying the survey data.

Similar reports earlier in the morning also suggested weakness in Europe, underscoring how fragile the global economy is as central banks jack up interest rates in order to whip inflation. Higher rates make economic conditions more difficult, and the threat is that too-aggressive hikes could cause a recession.

The reports follow others from earlier in the week showing parts of the U.S. economy slowing more than expected. While that raises the threat of a recession, it also has traders pulling back expectations for how aggressively the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. Instead of a full percentage point, traders now see an increase of 0.75 percentage points as the most likely outcome.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.78% from 2.91% late Thursday.

In the stock market, the company behind the Snapchat app tumbled 38.9% after it reported a worse loss and lower revenue for the spring than Wall Street forecast.

The weakness for Snap could mean pressure on other tech companies that depend on advertising, which also happen to be among Wall Street's most influential stocks. The parent companies of both Google and Facebook are scheduled to report their earnings next week.

Data storage company Seagate Technology lost 8.2% after it said anti-COVID measures in Asia and slowing global economic conditions last quarter hit its results, which fell short of forecasts.

Verizon dropped 7.7% after its profit fell short of expectations, though its revenue squeaked past. It also cut its forecast for earnings this year.

On the winning side was American Express, which rose 2.1% after it delivered better profit for the spring than analysts expected. It said customers spent more on travel and entertainment in April than they did before the pandemic, the first time that's happened.

The encouraging data bolstered some recent comments from CEOs at big banks, who said their customers appear to be in solid financial shape despite all the worries about inflation and the economy.

HCA Healthcare surged 12.5% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after delivering better results than Wall Street forecast. Oilfield services provider

Despite Friday's drops for Wall Street, the S&P 500 is still on pace for a gain of more than 2%.

Besides the easing of Treasury yields over the week, dropping prices for crude oil and other commodities also provided some relief on the inflation front. They add to some signals suggesting inflation may be close to peaking, such as easing expectations for inflation in future years, said Nate Thooft, senior portfolio manager at Manulife Investment Management.

"Inflation is the most important thing," he said. "It's not earnings, it's not the Fed, it's not interest rates themselves. It's the uncertainty of inflation."

"To me, as soon as you see real evidence that inflation is stabilizing and improving, all the other things also become less problematic," he said. The war in "Ukraine is separate and off in the corner, but all the others are related, and the epicenter is inflation."

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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Wall Street capped a choppy day of trading with a mixed finish for stock indexes Monday, as investors brace for another sharp interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve this week as the central bank combats inflation.

The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% after fluctuating between gains and losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%.

Smaller company stocks fared better than the broader market, sending the Russell 2000 0.6% higher.

The major indexes are coming off solid gains last week following a mix of mostly better-than-expected reports on corporate profits. Falling yields in the bond market also helped, easing the pressure on stocks after expectations for rate hikes by the Fed sent yields soaring much of this year.

On Wednesday, most economists expect the Fed to announce a three-quarter percentage point hike in its short-term rate, a second consecutive hefty increase that it hasn't otherwise implemented since 1994. It would put the Fed's benchmark rate in a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, the highest since 2018.

Wall Street will closely watch a news conference by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday to get a sense of policymakers' next steps.

"The only question is will Powell sound a little less hawkish in his press conference, which could allow the market to continue to breathe a sigh of relief," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The U.S. economy is slowing, but healthy hiring shows it isn't yet in recession, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." She spoke ahead of a slew of economic reports due this week that will shed light on an economy currently besieged by rampant inflation.

Since the Fed last met in June, the government has reported that inflation accelerated to a 9.1% annual rate, the most since 1981.

Still, some early signs suggest that inflation may be cooling from red-hot levels. Auto club AAA said on its website as of Monday that the average price of a gallon of regular gas is $4.36 per gallon. That's down 16 cents from a week ago, and 55 cents cheaper than late June, when the average price was $4.91 per gallon. Crude oil prices have fallen nearly 10% this month alone.

Even so, elevated inflation is increasingly prompting consumers to reprioritize their spending.

Walmart's shares fell nearly 10% in after-hours trading Monday after the retail giant lowered its profit outlook for the second quarter and full year. The company blamed surging inflation on basics like food that are forcing shoppers to cut back on discretionary items, particularly clothing, that carry higher profit margins.

Outside of the Fed meeting, the week's highest-profile report will likely be Thursday, when the Commerce Department releases its first estimate of the economy's output in the April-June quarter. Some economists forecast it may show a contraction for the second quarter in a row. The economy shrank 1.6% in the January-March quarter. Two straight negative readings is informally considered a recession.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 5.21 points to close at 3,966.84 Monday. The Dow gained 90.75 points to 31,990.04, and the Nasdaq fell 51.45 points to 11,782.67. The Russell 2000 added 10.89 points to 1,817.77.

Energy companies, banks and health care stocks helped lift the market Monday. Exxon Mobil rose 3.3% and Bank of America added 0.9%. UnitedHealth Group gained 1.5%.

Losses by technology and communications stocks kept indexes' gains in check. Chipmaker Nvidia fell 1.7% and Meta closed 1.6% lower.

Restaurant chains, retailers and other companies that rely on direct consumer spending also fell. Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants dropped 2.1%, while Dollar Tree fell 2.1%.

World Wrestling Entertainment jumped 8.4% after CEO Vince McMahon retired Friday amid an investigation into alleged misconduct.

Weber slumped 12.6% after the Illinois-based grill maker announced the departure of CEO Chris Scherzinger. It also pulled its 2022 forecast and suspended its dividend.

Newmont slid 13.2% for the biggest decline in the S&P 500 after the gold miner's second-quarter earnings fell sharply from a year earlier amid higher costs and weaker gold prices.

Bond yields rose. The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to move with expectations for the Fed, rose to 3.04% from 2.97% late Friday. The 10-year yield, which influences mortgage rates, rose to 2.81% from 2.78%.

Earnings were mostly quiet, but pick up later this week when technology heavyweights like Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon all report their results. Other big companies reporting this week include Coca-Cola and McDonald's, where investors may look to see the impact of inflation on these inflation-conscious, consumer-facing companies.

Stocks are lower on Wall Street in afternoon trading Tuesday after Walmart warned that inflation was negatively impacting American consumers' spending power.

The S&P 500 was down 1.3% as of 2:42 p.m. Eastern, wiping out modest gains from a day earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 247 points, or 0.8%, at 31,744 and the Nasdaq Composite slid 2%.

Walmart shares dropped 8.3% after the retail giant cut its profit outlook for the second quarter and the full year, saying rising prices for food and gas are forcing shoppers to cut back on more profitable discretionary items, particularly clothing.

Walmart's profit warning in the middle of the quarter is rare, and raised worries about how the highest inflation in 40 years is affecting the entire retail sector. Stocks of other major chains fell following Walmart's announcement, made after Wall Street's closing bell on Tuesday. Target dropped 4.2%, Macy's slid 6.5% and Kohl's fell 8%.

Investors have remained deeply concerned about inflation's impact on company profits and how it will affect U.S. consumers. While Americans' finances are relatively strong thanks to savings built up during the pandemic, those nest eggs are being spent on high gas and food prices.

The major indexes are coming off solid gains last week fueled by mostly better-than-expected reports on corporate profits. Falling yields in the bond market also helped, easing the pressure on stocks after expectations for rate hikes by the Federal Reserve propelled yields higher much of this year.

The central bank is expected to announce a rate hike of up to three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday, triple the usual amount. The central bank is waging an aggressive campaign to stem four-decade high inflation. The expected hike would put the Fed's benchmark rate in a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, the highest since 2018.

Bond yields were mixed Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to move with expectations for the Fed, rose to 3.04% from 3.02% late Monday. The 10-year yield, which influences mortgage rates, fell to 2.79% from 2.82%.

Technology stocks, retailers and communication companies were among the biggest drags on the benchmark S&P 500 index. Microsoft was down 3.5%, Amazon slid 5.3% and Facebook owner Meta Platforms dropped 4.5%.

The losses easily outweighed gains by health care and utilities stocks. Small company stocks also fell, sending the Russell 2000 0.6% lower.

Investors were eying the latest batch of corporate earnings reports.

Shares of automaker General Motors fell 3.1% after the company said its second-quarter profit fell 40% from a year ago, as computer chip and parts shortages hobbled factory output and drove the company's U.S. sales down more than 15%.

The Detroit automaker earned $1.67 billion from April through June, well below the $2.79 billion it made a year earlier. GM couldn't deliver 95,000 vehicles during the quarter because it lacked parts.

Shopify slumped 15.3% after the Canadian e-commerce company said it is cutting 10% of its staff, or about 1,000 employees, as it reckons with an unexpected sales downturn after pandemic-fueled growth.

Tech heavyweights Alphabet and Microsoft report their results after the closing bell, while Meta, Apple and Amazon report later in the week.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's no reason for China and the U.S. "to come to blows" should House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visit Taiwan during an Asia trip she is expected to make soon, the White House said Friday, underscoring the international tensions surrounding her travel plans.

The remarks by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby came as Pelosi, D-Calif., offered a rationale for a visit to Asia that she had yet to publicly acknowledge. Kirby was asked Friday if the U.S. has noticed any Chinese military preparations due to her travel plans.

"There's no reason for it to come to that, to come to blows, to come to increased physical tension," Kirby said at the White House. "There's no reason for that because there's been no change in American policy with respect to One China."

Seeming to stop just short of saying she would travel there, Pelosi said, "I'm very excited that should we go to the countries, that you'll be hearing about along the way about the conversations" she would have there.

She noted President Joe Biden's focus on Asia and referenced his recent trip to South Korea and Japan, telling reporters, "He has visited there, his vice president has visited, the secretary of commerce and others. And we want the Congress of the United States to be part of that initiative."

Pelosi and her aides have not confirmed her travel plans or named the countries she might visit, citing security concerns. China considers Taiwan its own territory and has said it might reclaim the island democracy by force.

For more than four decades, the U.S. has followed a "one China" policy in which it recognizes Beijing as the government of China yet maintains informal relations and defense ties with Taiwan.

China has objected strenuously to any Taiwan visit by Pelosi, warning of "resolute and strong measures" if she does.

Biden said earlier this month that the Pentagon thinks a Pelosi trip to Taiwan is "not a good idea right now." Senior defense officials who briefed reporters on Friday declined to discuss any potential preparations for a trip.

Biden has designed his foreign policy in part around countering China's growing economic and military might. Pelosi's itinerary has also become a domestic political issue, with some Republicans urging her to visit Taiwan as a show of standing up to Beijing.

Kirby said Friday that Pelosi "does not need nor nor do we offer approval or disapproval" for travel. And he said, "The speaker is entitled to travel aboard a military aircraft."

The military routinely supplies aircraft for travel by lawmakers, which presidents have the rarely used authority to deny. In a highly unusual move, then-President Donald Trump blocked Pelosi and other lawmakers from using a military plane to visit Afghanistan during a 2019 battle over a government shutdown and after she told him to delay his State of the Union address.