TRADING DAY Making sense of the forces driving global markets By Jamie McGeever, Markets Columnist Another batch of upbeat U.S. economic data including solid retail sales boosted risk appetite on Thursday,

This past April, when President Donald Trump started flirting with the notion of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, stocks and the dollar tumbled because investors worried that even talking about such a move crossed a red line.

PepsiCo jumped 7.5% after delivering revenue and profit that topped Wall Street’s expectations. The drink and snack giant also stood by its financial forecasts given in April, which projected lower full-year profit than previous forecasts due to increased costs from tariffs and a pullback in consumer spending.

A healthy crop of earnings helped European stocks bust out of a four-day losing streak on Thursday, Wall Street was watching Netflix and the dollar bounced after U.S. President Donald Trump quashed talk he was about to fire Fed head Jerome Powell.

Many on Wall Street have privately worried that political pressure will undermine the Federal Reserve’s credibility.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday said the agency’s renovation of its office complex in Washington complies with plans approved by a local commission, disputing a White House suggestion that they had violated the law by deviating from those plans.

The Nasdaq Composite rose to a record high on Thursday, with Wall Street's other major indexes also advancing, as strong economic data and positive earnings reports cheered investors.

Kevin Hassett, Trump’s longest-serving economic adviser, is a leading contender to become the next Federal Reserve chairman, a position with significant influence over interest rates and the U.S. econ

Wall Street's main indexes rose slightly, buoyed by strong results from PepsiCo and positive economic data. Retail sales exceeded expectations and job growth remained steady. Despite potential tariff impacts,

U.S. stock indexes are ticking higher on Wednesday following a better-than-expected update on inflation across the country.