Trading on Wall Street was mixed early Wednesday ahead of key U.S. economic data being released later in the week, as well as developments in President Donald Trump’s trade agenda.
Futures for the S&P 500 were flat before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1%. Nasdaq futures fell 0.1%.
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A person walks in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Shares of Dollar Tree jumped 5% after the discount retailer announced the sale its Family Dollar business to a pair of private equity firms for $1 billion. Dollar Tree, which acquired Family Dollar for more than $8 billion in 2015, struggled to make the business fit.
The company had been scouting options for Family Dollar for a while and said that the sale to Brigade Capital Management and Macellum Capital Management will allow it to focus on its core business.
Online pet store Chewy rose 5.1% after it beat Wall Street's fourth quarter sales and profit targets and issued strong 2025 sales guidance based on momentum that executives expect to carry over into this year.
U.S. stocks have recovered a chunk of their losses since falling 10% below their all-time high earlier this month, the first market correction since 2023. The S&P 500 is down 6% from its record, meaning many stocks appear less expensive, which had been a major criticism following what many saw as a euphoric and unwarranted rise in markets.
But Wall Street analysts warn that more sharp swings are likely ahead of next week's tariff deadline. That’s what Trump has called “Liberation Day,” when he will begin tariffs on trading partners that he says will roughly equal what he sees as the burden each of them puts on the United States.
Trump's on-again-off-again tariff threats have already soured confidence among U.S. households and businesses. The fear is that both could dial back spending and slow economic growth.
Like other recent surveys, Tuesday's consumer confidence data showed U.S. households are much more concerned about where the economy is heading than where it is currently. So far, actual economic activity and the job market seem to be holding up despite the worsening moods of consumers and U.S. companies, particularly retailers.
More potentially market-moving data will be released later this week, with the government's final fourth-quarter GDP estimate and weekly unemployment benefits report coming Thursday and February consumer spending figures due Friday. The consumer spending report also contains an inflation measure closely watched by the Federal Reserve.
In Europe at midday, Germany's DAX lost 0.6%, as did the CAC 40 in Paris. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.2% higher.
In Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.6% to 23,483.32, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped less than 0.1%, to 3,368.70.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index added 0.7% to 38,027.29.
The Kospi in Seoul was up 1.1% at 2,643.94. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7% to 7,999.00.
Later this week, the U.S. is due to report on economic growth, personal spending, inflation and other key data.
A person walks in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations.
Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
In his letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said he was “willing to work” to address the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that wasn't possible.
“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
Marks was offered the choice of resigning or being fired by Kennedy, according to a former FDA official familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn’t have permission to discuss the matter publicly.
Kennedy has a long history of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, although during his Senate confirmation hearings he seemed to say he would not undermine vaccines. He promised the chair of the Senate health committee that he would not change existing vaccine recommendations.
Since becoming commissioner, Kennedy has vowed to scrutinize the safety of childhood vaccinations, despite decades of evidence they are safe and have saved millions of lives.
Marks oversaw the agency’s rapid review and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments during the pandemic.
Marks is credited with coining the name and concept for “Operation Warp Speed,” the effort under President Donald Trump to rapidly manufacture vaccines while they were still being tested for safety and efficacy. The initiative cut years off the normal development process.
Despite the project’s success, Trump repeatedly lashed out at the FDA for not approving the first COVID shots even sooner. Trump told confidants after his 2020 loss that he would have been re-elected if the vaccine had been available before Election Day.
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, criticized what he called the “firing” of Marks.
“RFK Jr.’s firing of Peter Marks because he wouldn’t bend a knee to his misinformation campaign now allows the fox to guard the hen house," Offit said. “It’s a sad day for America’s children.”
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said the issues raised in Marks' resignation letter “should be frightening to anyone committed to the importance of evidence to guide policies and patient decisions.”
“I hope this will intensify the communication across academia, industry and government to bolster the importance of science and evidence,” he wrote.
The resignation follows news Friday that HHS plans to lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including ones that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centers across the country.
In a post on social media Thursday, Kennedy criticized the department he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy." He also faulted the department’s 82,000 workers for a decline in Americans’ health.
The resignation is the latest blow to the beleaguered health agency, which has been rocked for weeks by layoffs, retirements and a chaotic return-to-office process that left many staffers without permanent offices, desks or other supplies. Last month, Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods, resigned, citing “the indiscriminate firing” of nearly 90 staffers in his division, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by the AP.
Marks, who could not be reached for comment, also raised concerns in his letter about “efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning” as well as the “unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation.”
He went on to detail the historic benefits of vaccinations dating back to George Washington and pointed to the ongoing measles outbreak as proof of what can happen when doubts about science take hold.
“The ongoing multistate measles outbreak that is particularly severe in Texas reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined,” he wrote.
The measles outbreak, which could go on for months, has now spread to Kansas and Ohio after sickening more than 370 in Texas and New Mexico.
If it hits other unvaccinated communities across the U.S., as may now be the case in Kansas, the outbreak could endure for a year and threaten the nation’s status as having eliminated the local spread of the vaccine-preventable disease, public health experts said.
Casey reported from Boston. Perrone reported from Washington, D.C.
FILE - Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing to examine an update from Federal officials on efforts to combat COVID-19, Tuesday, May 11, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)
