By Emma Tucker

President Trump gave Congress a no-apologies assessment of his whirlwind return to power, praising DOGE's cost-cutting actions and casting his first month in office as the most successful in history. He defended his trade war as his opening shot reverberated through corporate America. In all of the activity, Trump has added a priority that has nothing to do with Washington, diplomacy or the economy: getting disgraced baseball legend Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame.

Today's Headlines

Trump presented Congress with a swaggering view of his administration, doubled down on tariffs and called for more funding for his deportation campaign.

Trump's success from here on will depend largely on whether Americans believe the unease caused by his speedy actions will bring the renewal he promised.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's long game against the West appears to be paying off.

Israel is targeting more military sites in Syria as part of its efforts to neutralize the Turkish-backed Islamists trying to unify the country.

Live From The Markets

Trump's remaking of global alliances leaves investors with big questions-and none have simple answers, James Mackintosh writes.

Target is determined to bring back some of its lost "Tarzhay" mojo, but a turnaround will take time, Jinjoo Lee writes.

Read It Here First

Trump's tariff threats became a reality for businesses.

America's companies have been preparing, even as some business leaders thought the threats were mostly bluster and brinkmanship. Now they're facing the reality of higher costs and retaliation from major trading partners. Sarah Nassauer, Roshan Fernandez and Rebecca Picciotto look at how executives from banking and construction to retail and the auto sector are weathering the opening salvos of Trump's trade war.

A new version of Merck's blockbuster cancer drug is threatened by a patent battle.

Merck & Co. has been tweaking Keytruda, the cancer drug that generates nearly half of the company's sales, to make it easier to use -- and to protect billions of dollars in revenue the company could lose after U.S. patent protection runs out in 2028. A microscopic enzyme in the new Keytruda allows it to be injected, rather than given intravenously. That enzyme is the subject of a brewing patent dispute between Merck and a biotech called Halozyme Therapeutics, Jared S. Hopkins reports.

Expert Take

Q: With new tariffs in effect, what's the worst-case scenario for the U.S. economy?

Trump's decision to dramatically raise tariffs on imports threatens the U.S. with an uncomfortable combination of weaker or even stagnant growth and higher prices-sometimes called "stagflation." Nick Timiraos explains how that could take shape and the challenge it presents for the Federal Reserve.

A: Consumer sentiment indicators and business commentary in recent weeks point to slumping confidence over the threat of higher prices.

For example, take Brothers International Food Holdings, based in Rochester, N.Y. It imports mangoes and avocados from Mexico and sells fruit juices, purees and frozen food concentrates to food and beverage manufacturers. New tariffs are forcing the 95-person company to pass on price increases to its customers or accept lower profit margins.

Many of the company's customers accelerated shipments in January in anticipation of tariffs. "We are bracing for softer sales in the coming months," said Chief Operating Officer Jack Whittier.

Tariffs are a particularly difficult economic threat for the Federal Reserve to address. Its mandate is to keep inflation low and stable while maintaining a healthy labor market. Tariffs represent a "supply shock" that both raises inflation, which calls for higher interest rates, and hurts employment, which calls for lower rates. The Fed would have to choose which threat to prioritize.

See The Story

A nuclear-power revival brings back an old problem: what to do with the waste.

Already, more than 90,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel is being stored at sites in 39 states. The waste has accumulated in spent-fuel pools and dry casks intended for temporary storage since the U.S. nuclear industry began to take off in the 1960s, and the Energy Department's failure to permanently dispose of it has cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. As additional plants become available, the waste pile is poised to grow even more.

Happening Today

The Democratic mayors of Denver, New York, Boston and Chicago face a House committee at 10 a.m. ET that is probing "sanctuary cities."

Vice President JD Vance is set to visit the U.S. southern border.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will determine whether private companies can temporarily store spent nuclear fuel at facilities in Texas and New Mexico.

Earnings: Marvell Technology, Zscaler, Brown-Forman, Campbell's, Thor Industries, Foot Locker

Number Of The Day:

$14

The money our travel columnist Dawn Gilbertson saved using an additional eSIM on her phone for a two-day trip to Paris, instead of relying on a $12-a-day Verizon TravelPass. Travel eSims can be an alternative to pricey phone-company travel plans or a nonstop hunt for Wi-Fi. Dawn's savings weren't enough to justify her hours of research, at least for her short trip. But the savings can be huge on longer trips, or when traveling with lots of family members.

And Finally...

Can Trump get Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame?

Even before Trump called on Major League Baseball to give Rose a posthumous induction into the sport's Hall of Fame, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had already begun weighing Rose's status. Rose, the game's all-time hits leader, has been on the permanently ineligible list since 1989 for betting on baseball. Now Manfred is set to become the first modern commissioner to answer a surprisingly complicated question: Does "permanently ineligible" continue to apply beyond the grave?

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 05, 2025 06:10 ET (11:10 GMT)

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