NEW YORK — U.S. stocks were mixed early Friday as Wall Street turned its attention to the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Symposium, where Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is scheduled to speak later in the day on the central bank’s economic outlook and strategy for bringing inflation back to target.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up about 0.15% to 0.3% in early trading, changing hands near 53,650, while the S&P 500 edged modestly higher. The Nasdaq Composite slipped roughly 0.1%, pulling back after a tech- and earnings-driven rally the day before.

Friday’s session followed a strong close on Thursday, when the Dow gained 105.56 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 53,569.44. The S&P 500 advanced 0.72% to 7,730.99, and the Nasdaq jumped 1.57% to 26,541.35 in its best day since Aug. 4, powered largely by Nvidia’s latest earnings report. Nvidia shares surged 8.7% after the chipmaker beat analyst expectations and issued a bullish revenue forecast, a result that helped rebuild investor confidence in the broader artificial intelligence trade.

That confidence carried into Friday’s premarket trading, though markets were largely holding steady as investors waited for clarity from Warsh. His remarks are being closely scrutinized after his stance at the Fed’s last policy meeting left investors uncertain about the central bank’s near-term rate path.

Treasury yields were little changed heading into the speech. The 10-year and 30-year yields remained close to the multiyear highs touched earlier in August, as concerns about inflation and the federal government’s debt load continued to weigh on the bond market. The 10-year yield had fallen to 4.63% earlier in the week, offering some relief to interest-rate-sensitive sectors after climbing sharply in recent weeks.

Beyond the Fed speech, traders were also digesting a notable divergence in speculative assets. Bitcoin and Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation ETF have each risen more than 20% in August, a pairing that has occurred only four other times since the fund’s 2014 launch. The rally has drawn comparisons to the market environment of late 2020 and early 2021, when near-zero interest rates and pandemic-era stimulus fueled speculative enthusiasm across meme stocks, special-purpose acquisition companies and cryptocurrencies.

The broader market backdrop this week has been shaped by a mix of technology strength and lingering macroeconomic caution. Earlier in the week, on Monday, the S&P 500 fell 0.28% to 7,652.86 and the Nasdaq lost 0.76%, dragged down by weakness in semiconductor stocks. Micron Technology dropped 5.8%, while Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom each fell more than 2%. The Dow bucked that trend Monday, adding 140.15 points, or 0.26%, to close at 53,417.16, aided by a decline in Treasury yields after reports that the Treasury Department could tap its General Account to help fund a buyback operation.

Gold prices have also been in focus this month, climbing toward $4,637 an ounce on Monday, their highest level since mid-May, though still below the roughly $5,600 record touched earlier this year. The metal’s rebound has come amid broader dollar weakness and continued investor unease over the scale of U.S. government debt.

Oil prices, by contrast, have softened. West Texas Intermediate crude traded near $81 a barrel earlier in the week, pressured lower by reports that the United States plans to return diplomatic personnel to parts of the Middle East, a development that appeared to ease some of the geopolitical risk premium built into energy markets.

On the economic data front, labor market indicators have shown modest improvement. According to ADP, private employers added an average of 11,750 jobs per week over the four weeks ending Aug. 8, up from 9,500 jobs per week in the prior reading, a sign that hiring activity may be firming even as the broader economy navigates elevated borrowing costs.

Investors are also looking ahead to the University of Michigan’s final August consumer sentiment index, due out Friday, along with a quieter stretch of earnings and economic releases heading into next week. Aside from a smaller August ISM Manufacturing PMI report and July JOLTS data due Sept. 1, market attention is expected to remain fixed on the Fed’s policy signals coming out of Jackson Hole.

With equity markets having posted a solid run through much of 2026, some strategists have cautioned that August and September have historically been seasonally weaker months for stocks, and that a period of near-term consolidation would not be unusual even as the broader outlook for equities over fixed income remains favorable, supported by strong corporate profit growth and resilient economic activity.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge late Thursday permanently barred the Trump administration from enforcing a set of measures aimed at cutting artificial intelligence company Anthropic off from the federal government, ruling that officials had unconstitutionally punished the firm for protected speech.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin of the Northern District of California issued the 59-page ruling capping a monthslong legal fight between Anthropic and the Pentagon over the company’s AI model, Claude, which is used across parts of the U.S. military. Lin found that the Defense Department’s actions against the company violated both the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections.

The dispute traces back to February, when the Pentagon and Anthropic clashed over how far the military could go in using Claude. Anthropic had sought to keep in place internal safeguards preventing its model from being used for mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons systems, while military officials argued they should be free to use the technology for any lawful purpose. When the two sides failed to reach an agreement, President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Claude, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a supply chain risk, a rarely used label that effectively sought to block private defense contractors from using the company’s technology for military-related work.

In her ruling, Lin wrote that the government’s actions “constituted unlawful retaliation in violation of the First Amendment” and found that Anthropic “was denied the pre-deprivation process required under the Fifth Amendment.” She was sharply critical of the administration’s stated justification for its actions, writing that the government’s contemporaneous statements and conduct showed the moves were “based on a desire to make a public example out of Anthropic for its ‘arrogance’ in criticizing the government, not based on any articulable basis to believe that Anthropic would actually sabotage its model.”

Lin also pointed to a contradiction in the government’s own conduct, noting that other federal agencies continued working with and meeting with Anthropic even after the Pentagon’s supply chain risk designation took effect. “None of that is consistent with a genuine fear that Anthropic is a saboteur who would poison its software to harm national security,” she wrote. She further wrote that “the empty invocation of national security is not a blank check to punish and retaliate against government critics.”

The judge was careful to note that her order does not require the government to do business with Anthropic or prevent it from choosing a different AI vendor, “so long as those actions are consistent with applicable regulations, statutes, and constitutional provisions.”

Lin’s ruling followed a hearing in late July at which she had already signaled skepticism toward the government’s position, telling attorneys the administration’s stance was “really troubling” to her and appeared “at odds” with the First Amendment. At that same hearing, Justice Department lawyers argued that AI models are “so staggeringly enormous and opaque” that the Pentagon could not evaluate Claude the same way it would assess a piece of physical hardware.

Anthropic sued the Pentagon in March, calling the supply chain risk designation part of an “unlawful campaign of retaliation” tied to its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. Earlier in the litigation, Lin had already temporarily blocked the Pentagon from enforcing the supply chain risk label and had separately blocked enforcement of Trump’s directive ordering federal agencies to stop using Claude.

An Anthropic spokesperson welcomed Thursday’s ruling in a statement, saying the company remains “focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for our national security so all Americans benefit from this technology.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

The Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic marked the first time the U.S. government had publicly applied the supply chain risk label to an American company under the statute, which was originally intended to protect military systems from foreign sabotage. Lin also noted an apparent contradiction between the blacklisting and an earlier threat by Hegseth to invoke the Defense Production Act against Anthropic, a move that Lin said implied the administration itself viewed the company as “essential to national security rather than a threat to it.”

The government is expected to appeal Thursday’s decision. A second, narrower lawsuit filed by Anthropic over a different rule the Pentagon has used to try to justify labeling the company a supply chain risk remains pending before the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. It remains unclear whether the administration will wait for a ruling in that case before challenging Lin’s decision.

Thursday’s ruling represents a significant legal victory for Anthropic as the company continues to expand its commercial and government business. The decision could reopen paths for federal agencies and defense contractors to resume using Claude, potentially restoring business opportunities that had been cut off since the designation took effect earlier this year.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Seven months into the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, a new and unverified claim about a plumber who allegedly visited her home in the days before she vanished has drawn fresh attention to a case that remains without a named suspect.

Guthrie disappeared from her home in the Catalina Foothills, an upscale suburb north of Tucson, in the early morning hours of Feb. 1. Investigators believe she was abducted, and doorbell camera footage released by the FBI shows a masked individual on her porch appearing to tamper with the security camera before her disappearance.

The latest claim comes from Mark the Shark, a YouTube streamer who has followed the case closely for months. He wrote on X that a source told him a plumber had been working at Guthrie’s house about a week before she went missing, and he questioned whether the detail could hold significance for investigators.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the investigation alongside the FBI, has not confirmed that any repair or maintenance work was underway at Guthrie’s home before her disappearance. Authorities have not commented publicly on the plumber claim, and it has not been corroborated by law enforcement or verified by other news organizations. The claim remains, for now, an unconfirmed detail circulating among online followers of the case rather than an established investigative lead.

It is already established that a masked individual was captured on camera outside Guthrie’s property on more than one occasion. In addition to the doorbell footage from the morning she disappeared, NewsNation has reported obtaining photographs of a masked man in the area days earlier. The FBI has described the person seen in the footage as standing between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10 with an average build, but he has not been publicly identified, and no arrest connected to the disappearance has been announced.

The case took a new turn last week when online speculation linked an unrelated Tucson murder investigation to the unidentified figure captured at Guthrie’s home, whom internet sleuths have nicknamed “Porch Guy.” The Pima County Sheriff’s Department issued an arrest warrant on Aug. 21 for Alex James Barnett, 33, in connection with the killing of Tucson Police Cadet Carlos Ramirez, a 23-year-old recruit who was found shot dead inside his home days before he was set to complete the police academy. Ramirez’s fiancee, a corrections officer, was also shot and wounded in the attack, and the couple’s child was inside the home at the time.

After the sheriff’s department shared a public-assistance notice with Barnett’s photograph, social media users began comparing his appearance, gait and clothing to the masked figure seen in the Guthrie doorbell footage. Barnett was taken into custody Aug. 24 following a three-hour standoff with a SWAT team at a Tucson apartment complex and reportedly surrendered peacefully. Court records reviewed by the Arizona Daily Star show Barnett has a prior history that includes domestic violence, burglary, theft and child abuse charges.

Despite the online chatter, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has been clear that it has not tied Barnett to the Guthrie investigation. Officials have said the Ramirez homicide and the Guthrie disappearance continue to be treated as separate cases, and no evidence has been released publicly connecting the two.

The Guthrie case has drawn national attention since it began, prompting Savannah Guthrie to step back from her broadcasting duties, including her coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, to take part in the search for her mother. Family members have described Nancy Guthrie as mentally sharp and independent; she had lived alone in the Catalina Foothills home for years after moving to the Tucson area with her family in the early 1970s. She previously worked in communications and university advancement at the University of Arizona and had also served as a spokeswoman for University Medical Center.

Investigators have pursued numerous leads in the seven months since Guthrie went missing. In late July, the sheriff’s department released two ransom notes purportedly connected to the case in hopes that the public could help identify the writer. One of the notes, sent to a Tucson news outlet on Feb. 6, claimed Guthrie died shortly after she was taken and stated the sender believed her death was heart-related. Authorities have not confirmed the notes’ authenticity or verified the claims made in them, and Guthrie’s whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

Earlier this month, forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie raised questions about the legitimacy of the ransom notes in comments to Fox News Digital, suggesting the case could have originated as a burglary that escalated, followed by attempts to cover it up. He said he still believed releasing the notes publicly had been the right call by investigators.

The sheriff’s department has said DNA evidence collected from the scene was sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for testing. Officials have said Guthrie’s family members and their spouses have been cleared as suspects, and no arrests have been announced that resolve the case.

Earlier this year, authorities said they were also looking into reports of suspicious activity near Guthrie’s neighborhood, including at a nearby home that had recently been vacated, though a sheriff’s spokesperson declined to say whether that inquiry involved specific individuals. At a CrimeCon panel earlier this year, a reporter covering the case said federal investigators were exploring new technological tools to aid the search, and a defense attorney on the same panel said Savannah Guthrie had spent roughly $500,000 of her own money hiring private investigators to assist.

As of late August, no body has been found, and officials have said remains discovered in the Tucson desert on Aug. 17 are not believed to be connected to Guthrie’s case. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department continues to ask anyone with information to come forward, and a reward has been offered for details leading to a resolution of the case.

The investigation remains active, and authorities have not said whether the plumber claim or any other recent development has altered the direction of the case.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple has confirmed it will hold its annual fall product event on Wednesday, Sept. 9, kicking off a stretch of major changes for the company that includes a new lineup of iPhones, a fresh round of desktop computers and, for the first time in more than a decade, a new chief executive.

The company sent invitations to media Wednesday featuring a glowing Apple logo set against a blue haze and the tagline “Surprise and shine.” The event will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific time at the Steve Jobs Theater on Apple’s Cupertino campus and will be livestreamed on Apple’s website, the Apple TV app and YouTube.

This year’s gathering carries added significance because it will be the first major product launch overseen by incoming chief executive John Ternus, who takes over from Tim Cook on Sept. 1. Ternus, Apple’s longtime senior vice president of hardware engineering, is widely expected to lead the keynote.

Apple announced the leadership change in April, saying Cook would become executive chairman of the company’s board of directors while Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran, would step into the chief executive role. The transition was approved unanimously by Apple’s board following what the company described as a long-term succession planning process.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said in Apple’s announcement of the transition. “I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people.”

Cook also praised his successor, calling Ternus a leader with “the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor.” Ternus will also join Apple’s board of directors effective Sept. 1, while board chairman Arthur Levinson transitions to lead independent director.

Cook’s departure closes out nearly 15 years at Apple’s helm. He succeeded company co-founder Steve Jobs in August 2011 and went on to oversee the launch of the Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Pay and Apple Vision Pro, along with the Mac’s multiyear transition away from Intel processors to Apple’s own silicon. As executive chairman, Cook is expected to continue representing Apple in dealings with policymakers around the world.

At the Sept. 9 event, Apple is expected to introduce its first foldable iPhone alongside updated iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Unlike in past years, Apple does not plan to introduce a standard iPhone 18 model at the September event; that version is expected to arrive in spring 2027 instead, according to widely circulated supply-chain reports. The new Pro models are expected to run on Apple’s A20 Pro chip, built on a 2-nanometer manufacturing process the company says will improve both speed and power efficiency compared with the current generation.

Industry analysts tracking Apple’s supply chain have said pricing across the new iPhone lineup could rise compared with last year’s models, citing an ongoing global shortage of memory chips that has affected component costs across the technology industry.

The September event follows a surprise announcement this week that Apple had already begun refreshing its Mac desktop lineup, releasing new Mac mini and Mac Studio models days before the iPhone showcase. In a press release, Apple said the new Mac Studio, powered by its M5 Max and newly introduced M5 Ultra chips, delivers up to 4.3 times faster on-device artificial intelligence performance than the previous generation, along with faster graphics, additional storage speed and up to 512 gigabytes of unified memory in its highest-end configuration.

The redesigned Mac mini, meanwhile, is now available with either Apple’s new M6 chip or the M5 Pro chip introduced earlier this year. Apple said the M6 chip includes a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, along with the company’s first dual Neural Engine configuration, intended to boost on-device AI processing.

Pricing on both machines increased alongside the hardware upgrades. The Mac mini now starts at 899 dollars, and the Mac Studio starts at 2,499 dollars, with the high-end M5 Ultra configuration priced at 5,499 dollars. Apple has attributed recent price increases across its Mac lineup to rising component costs tied to global demand for memory chips used in AI data centers. Most of the new Mac configurations are set to ship Sept. 22, with the highest-memory Mac Studio option arriving in late October.

Apple has not detailed what else will appear on stage at the Sept. 9 event, though the company traditionally uses its September keynote to introduce new iPhone and Apple Watch models alongside updates to its software platforms. The event marks a rare instance in recent years of Apple launching new desktop hardware just ahead of its iPhone event rather than folding all announcements into a single keynote.

Apple’s stock has traded near record levels in recent months as investors weigh the company’s plans to expand artificial intelligence features across its devices, alongside broader industry pressure from competitors racing to build out generative AI tools. The Sept. 9 event will be closely watched both for its product announcements and as the public debut of Ternus in Apple’s most high-profile executive role.

Apple did not respond to requests for additional comment ahead of the event.

SEOUL — South Korean boy band BTS has earned its 10th gold certification from France’s national recording industry body, with the group’s single “Swim” reaching the milestone roughly five months after its release, the group’s label announced this week.

Big Hit Music said Wednesday that the Syndicat National de l’Edition Phonographique, France’s official music certification organization known as SNEP, awarded “Swim” gold status as of Aug. 20. The certification is based on a combination of streaming activity, digital downloads and physical album sales, and requires a track to accumulate the equivalent of 15 million units in France to qualify.

“Swim” is the focus track from BTS’s fifth full-length album, “Arirang,” which was released in March. According to the label, the song reached gold certification in about five months, the second-fastest turnaround for the group behind only “Dynamite,” the 2020 hit that became BTS’s breakout global crossover single.

The achievement marks the 10th time a BTS song has received SNEP gold certification, a run that includes some of the group’s best-known tracks, among them “Dynamite,” “Butter,” “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey, and “Fake Love.” The certifications reflect the septet’s sustained popularity in France, one of the largest music markets in Europe and a longtime stronghold for the group’s fan base.

“Swim” was released March 20 as the lead single from “Arirang,” accompanied by a music video directed by Tanu Muiño and filmed against the coastal backdrop of Lisbon, Portugal. The video features the group alongside American actress Lili Reinhart and depicts the septet working aboard a sailing ship. The song has also found traction beyond streaming charts: it earned BTS a nomination for song of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards, which will be held in Los Angeles on Sept. 27. The group is also up for the award for best K-pop act, a category it has won three times in previous years.

“Arirang” itself has continued to perform well on global album charts nearly half a year after its release. According to the latest Billboard chart dated Aug. 29, the album ranked No. 24 on the Billboard 200, extending its run on the chart to five months since its debut. The album marks BTS’s return to full-group releases following the completion of the members’ mandatory military service in South Korea, and it has been framed by the band and its label as a homecoming project, drawing its title from the traditional Korean folk song of the same name.

The gold certification news arrives as BTS is in the midst of its largest concert tour to date. The Arirang World Tour began April 9 in Goyang, South Korea, and is scheduled to run through March 2027, spanning more than 85 shows across 34 cities in 23 countries. Industry observers have described it as the most extensive tour ever undertaken by a K-pop act.

This week, the tour brought BTS to Chicago’s Soldier Field for back-to-back concerts Thursday and Friday, the group’s first performances at the stadium in more than seven years. BTS previously made history there in 2019 during its “Love Yourself: Speak Yourself” world tour, when it became the first K-pop act to headline a standalone concert at the venue. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office proclaimed Aug. 27 and 28 “BTS Day in Illinois” to mark the group’s return, citing both its global cultural influence and the charitable and community work associated with its fan base, known as ARMY.

BTS’s run of certifications in France adds to a broader string of honors the group has collected across major international markets in recent years. In the United States, the group has become the most-certified Asian act in the history of the Recording Industry Association of America, with more than a dozen platinum-certified singles and dozens of additional gold and platinum honors spanning both group and solo releases. Individual members, including Jungkook and Jimin, have also picked up their own certifications and awards for solo material released during the band’s hiatus from group activities.

The French certifications specifically have become a recurring marker of BTS’s staying power in Europe. The group’s earlier tracks reached the same milestone over a period of several years following their initial releases, while more recent singles, including “Swim,” have reached gold status considerably faster, a trend the label has pointed to as evidence of the band’s continued relevance following its return to full activity.

The tour’s scale and the pace of chart and certification news around “Arirang” underscore how quickly BTS has re-established its commercial footing since regrouping. All seven members had spent time fulfilling South Korea’s mandatory military service requirement before reconvening for the new album and tour, a period during which several members released solo material that itself collected certifications and chart placements in multiple countries, including the United States and France.

Big Hit Music did not immediately provide additional comment on the certification beyond its initial announcement. The company has continued to promote “Arirang” and its associated tour as central priorities for BTS following the members’ return from service, with additional tour dates in Asia, including stops in Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan, scheduled for later this year.

BTS is expected to continue touring through the fall, with the group’s next major public appearance expected at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony in Los Angeles next month, where “Swim” faces competition in the song of the year category alongside releases from other major international acts.