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The Federal Reserve could keep its key rate unchanged for several more months as it evaluates the impact of President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs on hiring and inflation, some economists say, even as the White House pushes for a rate cut.The Fed is nearly certain to keep its rate unchanged when it concludes its latest policy meeting Wednesday. Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have signaled that they want to see how the dutiesincluding 145% on all imports from Chinaimpact consumer prices and the economy.The central bank’s caution could lead to more conflict between the Fed and the Trump administration. On Sunday, Trump again urged the Fed to cut rates in a television interview and said Powell “just doesn’t like me because I think he’s a total stiff.” With inflation not far from the Fed’s 2% target for now, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argue that the Fed could reduce its rate. The Fed pushed it higher in 2022 and 2023 to fight inflation.If the Fed were to cut, it could lower other borrowing costs, such as for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards, though that is not guaranteed.Trump also said Sunday he wouldn’t fire Powell because the chair’s term ends next May and he will be able to appoint a new chair then. Yet if the economy stumbles in the coming months, Trump could renew his threats to remove Powell.A big issue facing the Fed is how tariffs will impact inflation. Nearly all economists and Fed officials expect the import taxes will lift prices, but it’s not clear by how much or for how long. Tariffs typically cause a one-time increase in prices, but not necessarily ongoing inflation. Yet if Trump announces further tariffsas he has threatened to do on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and copperor if Americans worry that inflation will get worse, that could send prices higher in a more persistent way.Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said this could keep the Fed on the sidelines until September.“It’s hard for them to cut sooner because they’ve got to weigh, what’s the inflation impact?” Bostjancic said. “Is this going to be somewhat persistent and add to inflation expectations?”Economists and the Fed are closely watching inflation expectations, which are essentially a measure of how much consumers are concerned that inflation will worsen. Higher inflation expectations can be self-fulfilling, because it Americans think prices will rise, they can take steps that push up costs, such as asking for higher wages.For now, the U.S. economy is mostly in solid shape, and inflation has cooled considerably from its peak in 2022. Consumers are spending at a healthy pace, though some of that may reflect buying things like cars ahead of tariffs. Businesses are still adding workers at a steady pace, and unemployment is low.Still, there are signs inflation will worsen in the coming months. Surveys of both manufacturing and services firms show that they are seeing higher prices from their suppliers. And a survey by the Federal Reserve’s Dallas branch found that nearly 55% of manufacturing firms expect to pass on the impact of tariff increases to their customers.“The bottom line is that inflation will be rising significantly over the next six months,” Torsten Slok, chief economist at the Apollo Group, said in an email.Yet the tariffs could also weigh heavily on the economy, particularly because of the uncertainty they have created. Huge tariffs on about 60 other nations, announced April 2, were then postponed until July 9, but could be reimposed. Business surveys show that firms are postponing investment decisions until they have greater clarity.Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said the uncertainty surrounding trade policy gives him “night terrors.”“The economics of uncertainty are absolutely suffocating,” Sweet said. “Businesses that don’t know the rules of the road, their knee-jerk reaction is to sit on their hands. And that’s what they’re doing.”But if the uncertainty delays hiring, slows the economy and pushes up the unemployment rate, the Fed could quickly shift toward interest rate cuts. A sharp economic slowdown could eventually cool inflation by itself, economists say.“If you felt like the economy was really slowing down, then I think that would probably take precedence (over inflation), because usually the way the committee thinks is that will also drag inflation somewhat with it,” said Jim Bullard, former president of the Federal Reserve’s St. Louis branch, and currently dean of Purdue University’s business school.In March, the Fed signaled that it could cut rates twice this year. But since then, the Trump administration imposed duties that Powell said last month were larger and broader than the Fed expected.The duties, Powell acknowledged, could both slow growth and lift prices, which puts the Fed in a tough spot. It would usually cut rates to boost growth and hiring, while it would raise them to cool spending and inflation. Powell signaled that if the two goals came into conflict, Fed officials would put more weight on inflation concerns.“Without price stability, we cannot achieve the long periods of strong labor market conditions that benefit all Americans,” Powell said. Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer
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North Dakota is the 11th state in the U.S. with a measles outbreak, logging its first cases since 2011.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s confirmed measles case count is 935, more than triple the amount seen in all of 2024. The three-month outbreak in Texas accounts for the vast majority of cases, with 702 confirmed as of Tuesday. The outbreak has also spread to New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas.Two unvaccinated elementary school-aged children died from measles-related illnesses in the epicenter in West Texas, and an adult in New Mexico who was not vaccinated died of a measles-related illness.Other states with active outbreakswhich the CDC defines as three or more related casesinclude Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.North America has two other ongoing outbreaks. One in Ontario, Canada, has resulted in 1,243 cases from mid-October through April 29. And the Mexican state of Chihuahua had 922 measles cases and one death as of Tuesday, according to data from the state health ministry. Health officials in Mexico and the U.S. say all three outbreaks are of the same measles strain.Measles is caused by a highly contagious virus that’s airborne and spreads easily when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It is preventable through vaccines, and has been considered eliminated from the U.S. since 2000.As the virus takes hold in U.S. communities with low vaccination rates, health experts fear that spread could stretch on for a year. Here’s what else you need to know about measles in the U.S. How many measles cases are there in Texas and New Mexico? Texas state health officials said Tuesday there were 19 new cases of measles since Friday, bringing the total to 702 across 29 countiesmost of them in West Texas. The state also added two hospitalizations to its count Friday, for a total of 91 throughout the outbreak.State health officials estimated about 1% of casesfewer than 10are actively infectious.Fifty-seven percent of Texas’ cases are in Gaines County, population 22,892, where the virus started spreading in a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. The county has had 403 cases since late Januaryjust over 1.7% of the county’s residents.The April 3 death in Texas was an 8-year-old child, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Local health officials in Texas said the child did not have underlying health conditions and died of “what the child’s doctor described as measles pulmonary failure.” A unvaccinated child with no underlying conditions died of measles in Texas in late FebruaryKennedy said age 6.New Mexico was steady Tuesday with 67 total cases. Seven people have been hospitalized since the outbreak started. Most of the state’s cases are in Lea County. Three are in Eddy County, two in Dona Ana County and one in Chaves County. How many cases are there in Indiana? Indiana confirmed two more cases April 21 in an outbreak that has sickened eight in Allen County in the northeast part of the statefive are unvaccinated minors and three are adults whose vaccination status is unknown.The cases have no known link to other outbreaks, the Allen County Department of Health has said. How many cases are there in Kansas? Kansas added nine cases Wednesday for a total of 46 across eight counties in the southwest part of the state. Gray County is up to 15 cases. The state also reported its first hospitalization.Kansas’ health department didn’t elaborate Wednesday about a discrepancy in the number of new cases at the state and county levels beyond noting that case counts are “fluid as the outbreak progresses.”The state’s first reported case is linked to the Texas outbreak based on genetic testing. How many cases are there in Michigan? Montcalm County, near Grand Rapids in western Michigan, has an outbreak of four cases that state health officials say is tied to the Ontario outbreak. The state had nine confirmed measles cases as of Friday, but the remaining five are not part of the Montcalm County outbreak. How many cases are there in Montana? Montana state health officials announced five cases April 17 in unvaccinated children and adults who had traveled out of state, and later confirmed it was an outbreak. All five are isolating at home in Gallatin County in the southwest part of the state.They were Montana’s first measles cases in 35 years. Health officials didn’t say whether the cases are linked to other outbreaks in North America. How many measles cases are there in North Dakota? North Dakota announced its first measles case since 2011 on Friday, and by Tuesday, there were nine cases.All are in Williams County in western North Dakota on the Montana border. The state health department said Monday that three of the confirmed cases are linked to the first casean unvaccinated child who health officials believe got it from an out-of-state visitor.The other five cases, announced Tuesday, were people who were not vaccinated and did not have contact with the other cases, causing concern about community transmission. The state health department said four people diagnosed with measles attended classes while infectious at a Williston elementary school, middle school and high school. How many cases are there in Ohio? The state has two outbreaks. Ashtabula County near Cleveland has 16 cases. And Knox County in east-central Ohio has 2014 among Ohio residents and the rest among visitors.The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday confirmed 33 measles cases and one hospitalization. That count includes only Ohio residents. Defiance County in the northwestern part of the state has logged its first case.Allen and Holmes counties have had one case each. How many cases are there in Oklahoma? Oklahoma added one case for a total of 14 confirmed and three probable cases as of Tuesday. The outbreak is linked to Texas and New Mexico.The state health department is not releasing which counties have cases, but Cleveland, Oklahoma and Sequoyah counties have had public exposures in the past couple of months. How many cases are there in Pennsylvania? There are eight measles cases in Erie County in far northwest Pennsylvania, officials said Friday. The county declared an outbreak in mid-April. The state has said it has 13 cases overall in 2025, including international travel-related cases in Montgomery County and one in Philadelphia. How many cases are there in Tennessee? Tennesse had six measles cases as of last week. Health department spokesman Bill Christian said all cases are the middle part of the state, and that “at least three of these cases are linked to each other” but declined to specify further. The state also did not say whether the cases were linked to other outbreaks or when Tennessee’s outbreak started.The state health department announced the first measles case March 21, three more on April 1 and the last two on April 17, but none of the news releases declared an outbreak. However, Tennessee was on a list of outbreak states in a CDC report April 17. Where else is measles showing up in the U.S.? Cases also have been reported in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.Cases and outbreaks in the U.S. are frequently traced to someone who caught the disease abroad. In 2019, the U.S. saw 1,274 cases and almost lost its status of having eliminated measles. What do you need to know about the MMR vaccine? The best way to avoid measles is to get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The first shot is recommended for children between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.Getting another MMR shot is harmless if there are concerns about waning immunity, the CDC says. People who have documentation of receiving a live measles vaccine in the 1960s don’t need to be revaccinated, but people who were immunized before 1968 with an ineffective measles vaccine made from “killed” virus should be revaccinated with at least one dose, the agency said.People who have documentation that they had measles are immune and those born before 1957 generally don’t need the shots because most children back then had measles and now have “presumptive immunity.”In communities with high vaccination ratesabove 95%diseases like measles have a harder time spreading through communities. This is called “herd immunity.”But childhood vaccination rates have declined nationwide since the pandemic and more parents are claiming religious or personal conscience waivers to exempt their kids from required shots. The U.S. saw a rise in measles cases in 2024, including an outbreak in Chicago that sickened more than 60. What are the symptoms of measles? Measles first infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body, causing a high fever, runny nose, cough, red, watery eyes and a rash.The rash generally appears three to five days after the first symptoms, beginning as flat red spots on the face and then spreading downward to the neck, trunk, arms, legs and feet. When the rash appears, the fever may spike over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the CDC.Most kids will recover from measles, but infection can lead to dangerous complications such as pneumonia, blindness, brain swelling and death. How can you treat measles? There’s no specific treatment for measles, so doctors generally try to alleviate symptoms, prevent complications and keep patients comfortable. AP Science Writer Laura Ungar contributed to this report. 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. Devi Shastri, AP Health Writer
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New AI features from LinkedIn will soon help job seekers find positions that best suit themwithout the need for exact keyword matches or specific job titles. LinkedIns new AI-powered job search interface allows users to express their goals in plain language, says Rohan Rajiv, LinkedIns head of career products. For example, users can type a phrase like business development or partnership roles in video games and still be matched with relevant positions in the gaming industry, even if job listings dont use those exact terms. Job seekers can also enter more abstract goals like using brand marketing skills to cure cancer to uncover marketing roles at pharmaceutical companies and oncology centers, Rajiv demonstrated in a session with Fast Company. Powered by large language model (LLM) AI, the new search tool interprets the intent behind job seeker queries and job descriptions, making it easier to match people with opportunities in a job market that often frustrates both applicants and employers. [Image: LinkedIn] LLMs are amazing at looking at a job description and extracting semantics out of them and nuance out of them, and inferring things from them, says Erran Berger, VP of engineering at LinkedIn. Recent survey data from LinkedIn shows that job seekers are applying to more positions than before, increasing the volume of applications that hiring teams must review. They say they are spending three to five hours a day sifting through applications, and less than half of these applications meet the required criteria, Rajiv notes. The enhanced AI search can also surface jobs and employers that applicants may not have previously considered. LinkedIn currently lists more than 15 million job postings. Another new feature, job match, helps users assess their fit for a role before applying. By analyzing both job descriptions and user profiles, the AI identifies how closely someone matches a job’s criteria and highlights areas where qualifications are strong or lackingsuch as experience with a particular technology. [Image: LinkedIn] Unlike traditional keyword searches, LLMs are less likely to overlook relevant experience. For example, the AI understands that a web developer likely knows HTML, even if its not explicitly listed. This insight allows users to refine their profiles with relevant skills or consider roles better aligned with their background, saving time for both candidates and recruiters. Another feature will provide context around whether a position is actively hiring, whether it’s being promoted on LinkedIn, and, when available, how long applicants typically wait to hear back. These AI innovations build on tools introduced last year to help recruiters identify strong matches and come roughly 20 years after LinkedIn first began helping users connect with job opportunities. At that time, the company recognized that its vast career and network data could help recruiters discover candidates not actively searching for roles, Berger explains. Twenty years ago, LinkedIn transformed the traditional job search by connecting recruiters with passive candidates, CEO Ryan Roslansky says in a statement to Fast Company. And today, with the launch of AI-powered job search, were not just introducing a new way to find a job, but an entirely new way to discover what’s possible. LinkedIn has steadily expanded its job-matching capabilities, introducing automated job recommendations around 2010 and consolidating job search tools into a dedicated tab on its main platform in 2016. These changes reflect how users often combine job searches with other research activities, such as exploring company profiles. Currently, more than 11,000 LinkedIn users apply for a job every minute. The company expects that its rich history of job and job seeker data will continue to enhance its AI matching tools. We’re really uniquely positioned to take this rich data that we haveand what’s possible with AI nowto build this feature in a way that few, if any, other companies can, Berger says.
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