By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MATT OTT, Associated Press Business Writers

Wall Street is poised to open with gains as the Federal Reserve wraps up a two-day policy meeting where it will almost certainly leave interest rates unchanged despite pleas from President Donald Trump for a rate cut as he pursues a worldwide trade war.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6% before the bell Wednesday. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%.

Walt Disney Co. jumped more than 6% in premarket after the entertainment behemoth easily beat Wall Street’s profit targets for the second quarter. Disney’s revenue rose 7% from the same quarter a year ago as it added another 2.5 million Disney+ and Hulu subscribers.

Disney’s results come just days after Trump accused other countries of “stealing the movie-making capabilities” of the U.S. and said that he had authorized government agencies to immediately begin the process of implementing this new import tax on all foreign-made films.

Video game company Electronic Arts climbed more than 5% after it announced preliminary results for its most recent quarter, which also easily beat analysts’ sales and profit targets.

Some companies say they’re already seeing impacts to their business from the uncertainty created by tariffs, causing them to revise or pull their guidance. Some have even offered two sets of forecasts — one contingent on tariffs and one without the additional costs factored in.

Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have signaled that they want to see how the duties — including 145% on all imports from China — impact consumer prices and the economy.

Uncertainty around tariffs has also made U.S. households more pessimistic about the economy and could affect their long-term plans for purchases. That anxiety has helped fuel a surge in imports ahead of potentially more severe tariffs ahead.

The U.S. trade deficit soared to a record $140.5 billion in March as consumers and businesses alike tried to get ahead of tariffs that went into effect in April and others that have been postponed until July. Last week, the government reported the U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3% annual pace during the first quarter of the year because of a surge in imports.

At midday in Europe, Germany’s DAX was virtually unchanged, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.6% and Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.4%.

In Asia, shares advanced after the U.S. and China said they plan to hold trade talks in Switzerland later this week.

Hong Kong’s benchmark briefly jumped more than 2% after officials in Beijing rolled out interest rate cuts and other moves to help support the Chinese economy and markets as higher tariffs ordered by Trump hit the country’s exports.

But the markets’ reaction to both developments was relatively restrained.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% lower to 36,779.66.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained only 0.1% by the end of trading, closing at 22,691.88. The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8% to 3,342.67.

The trade talks may account for the decision to announce the economic rescue package, Lynne Song of ING Economics said in a report.

“This way, the easing won’t be seen as a knee-jerk reaction to tariffs. Policymakers are likely now privy to some of the early data on how the economy is being impacted by the tariff shock,” Song said.

But analysts said the muted response to the policies announced Wednesday also may reflect disappointment over the lack of major government spending increases that many economists say may be needed to wrest the Chinese economy out of its doldrums.

“These will help to shore up growth at the margin. But any boost to credit demand will be modest and today’s moves are no substitute for an expansion in fiscal support,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.3% to 8,178.30, while the Kospi in South Korea gained 0.6% to 2,573,80.

U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 48 cents to $59.57 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 40 cents to $62.55 per barrel.

The dollar rose to 143.34 Japanese yen from 142.41 yen. The euro ticked down to $1.1365 from $1.1369.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Disney posted solid profits and revenue in the second quarter as its domestic theme parks thrived and the company added well over a million subscribers to its streaming service.

The company also boosted its profit expectations for the year.

For the three months ended March 30, Disney earned $3.28 billion, or $1.81 per share. The Burbank, California, company lost $20 million, or a penny per share, a year earlier.

Removing one time charges or benefits, earnings were $1.45 per share, easily topping the $1.18 that Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue rose 7% to $23.62 billion, also topping projections.

Revenue for Disney Entertainment, it’s movie studios and streaming, climbed 9%, while revenue for the Experiences division, its parks, increased 6%.

Recent box office hits include “Moana 2” and “Mufasa: The Lion King.” Its latest film, “Thunderbolts(asterisk),” is currently s itting atop the box office. CEO Bob Iger and Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston said in prepared remarks that they’re confident in this year’s movie slate, which includes “Lilo & Stitch,” “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

Disney, however, faces potential ramifications from the trade war launched by President Donald Trump. Other U.S. corporations have noted blowback by consumers in overseas markets and on Monday, Trump opened a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S.

In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”

Disney has come under some scrutiny from Trump’s administration for other issues. In March the head of the Federal Communications Commission said that he was opening an investigation into Disney and its ABC television network to see whether they are “promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced the probe in a letter to Iger. The company said at the time that it was reviewing the letter and was looking forward to answering the commission’s questions.

As of now, Disney’s streaming business continues to grow. Its direct-to-consumer business, which includes Disney+ and Hulu, posted quarterly operating income of $336 million compared with $47 million in the prior-year period. Revenue increased 8%.

The Disney+ streaming service had a 2% increase in paid subscribers domestically, which includes the U.S. and Canada. There was a 1% rise internationally, which excludes Disney+ HotStar.

Total paid subscribers for Disney+ edged up 1% in the quarter to surprising 126 million subscribers, from 124.6 million in the first quarter. The Walt Disney Co. previously said that it expected a modest decline in Disney+ subscribers in the second quarter when compared with the first three months of the year.

Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions totaled 180.7 million, up 2.5 million from the first quarter.

Iger and Johnston said that Disney has benefited from success at the box office, which becomes content for its growing streaming service. “Moana 2″ has more than 139 million hours streaming since hitting Disney+ on March 12, making it the biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios’ premiere on the platform since “Encanto,” he said. The first “Moana” film remains the most watched movie on Disney+ with more than 1.4 billion hours streamed.

The Moana franchise also drives traffic at Disney’s theme parks, with meet and greets with characters at theme parks and on cruise ships and the Journey of Water at Epcot at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The Experiences division, which includes Disney’s six global theme parks, its cruise line, merchandise and videogame licensing, reported operating income rose 9% to $2.5 billion. Operating income climbed 13% at domestic parks. Operating income dropped 23% for international parks and Experiences, due to softness at its Shanghai and Hong Kong theme parks.

Disney also announced Wednesday that it will build its seventh theme park in Abu Dhabi. The waterfront resort will be located on Yas Island and be Disney’s seventh theme park.

The theme park will be built and run by the developer Miral, with Disney licensing its intellectual property for the project and providing development and management services, according to a regulatory filing. Disney, which won’t provide any capital, will earn royalties based on the project’s revenues and will also earn service fees.

While Disney continues to pull levers to successfully manage all of the different components of its business, it also continues to work on its search for a successor to Iger, the face of Disney for most of the past two decades.

Disney created a succession planning committee in 2023, but the search began in earnest last year when the company enlisted Morgan Stanley Executive Chairman James Gorman to lead the effort.

Disney does have some time, as Iger agreed to a contract extension that keeps him at the company through the end of 2026.

Disney is looking at internal and external candidates. The internal candidates are widely believed to include the chairman of Disney-owned ESPN, Jimmy Pitaro, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Josh D’Amaro, Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman and Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Dana Walden.

Disney is projecting full-year adjusted earnings of $5.75 per share, which is better than the $5.43 per share that analysts polled by FactSet are looking for. The company’s previous guidance was for high-single digit adjusted earnings per share growth for fiscal 2025.

Shares surged more than 6% before the market open on Wednesday.

By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press

Citizen activists supporting a public vote on important issues could have to brush up on their reading, writing and arithmetic if they want to get their initiatives on next year’s ballot in some states.

A new Arkansas law will bar initiative ballot titles written above an eighth-grade reading level. And canvassers will have to verify that petition signers have either read the ballot title or had it read aloud to them.

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In South Dakota, sponsors will need to make sure their petition titles appears in 14-point type on the front page and 16-point font on the back, where people typically sign.

And in Florida, volunteers will have to register with the state if they gather more than 25 petition signatures from outside their family or risk facing felony charges punishable by up to five years in prison.

Across about dozen states, roughly 40 bills restricting or revamping the citizen initiative process have passed at least one legislative chamber this year, according to a review by The Associated Press. Many already have been signed into law.

Some advocates for the initiative process are alarmed by the trend.

“Globally, as there’s movements to expand direct democracy. In the United States it’s contracting,” said Dane Waters, chair of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, who has advised ballot campaigns in over 20 nations.

Most of the new restrictions come from Republican lawmakers in states where petitions have been used to place abortion rights, marijuana legalization and other progressive initiatives on the ballot. GOP lawmakers contend their measures are shielding state constitutions from outside interests.

“This is not a bill to restrict. It is a bill to protect — to make sure that our constitutional system is one of integrity, and that it’s free of fraud,” said state Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Florida, where the new initiative requirements already have been challenged in court.

A right in some states, but not others

About half the U.S. states allow people to bypass their legislatures by gathering signatures to place proposed laws or constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Since Oregon voters first used the process in 1904, a total of 2,744 citizen initiatives have appeared on statewide ballots, with 42% wining approval, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute.

But the process has long caused tension between voters and their elected representatives.

Lawmakers often perceive the initiative process as “an assault on their power and authority, and they want to limit it,” Waters said. “They view it, in my opinion, as a nuisance – a gnat that keeps bothering them.”

Restrictions on petition canvassers

Because initiative petitions require thousands of signatures to qualify for the ballot, groups sponsoring them often pay people to solicit signatures outside shopping centers and public places. Some states now prohibit payments based on the number of signatures gathered.

States also are trying to restrict who can circulate petitions. A new Arkansas law requires paid petition canvassers to live in the state. And a new Montana law will make petition circulators wear badges displaying their name and home state.

The new Florida law expanding registration requirements for petition circulators also requires them to undergo state training and bars canvassers who are noncitizens, nonresidents or felons without their voting rights restored.

More requirements for petition signers

In addition to providing their name, address and birth date, people signing initiative petitions in Florida also will have to provide either their Florida driver’s license, state identification card or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

That information is not required in other states, said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a progressive group that has backed dozens of ballot initiatives in states. Hall said people concerned about privacy might hesitate to sign petitions.

“I work in ballot measures, and I deeply support many of the things that folks have tried to put on the ballot in Florida, ” Hall said, “and I don’t know if I could bring myself to do that – that’s a very prohibitive requirement.”

Making the fine print larger

Many states already prescribe a particular format for initiative petitions. South Dakota’s new mandate for specific font sizes was prompted by allegations that some people got duped into signing a petition for abortion rights last year, said sponsoring state Sen. Amber Hulse, a Republican.

Printing the ballot title in large type “might make it harder for some issues to get on the ballot if people know what they’re signing. But that’s actually a good thing,” Hulse said.

More power for elected officials

Before they can collect signatures, petition sponsors must get approval from state officials. New measures in several states give those officials greater authority.

New Arkansas laws allow the attorney general to reject initiatives written above an eighth-grade reading level or which conflict with the U.S. Constitution or federal law. Utah’s lieutenant governor, who already can reject unconstitutional petitions, now also will be able to turn away petitions that are unlikely to provide adequate funding for their proposed laws.

A new Missouri law gives greater power to the secretary of state, instead of judges, to rewrite ballot summaries struck down as being insufficient or unfair.

A higher threshold for voter approval

Most states require only a majority vote to amend their constitutions, though Colorado requires 55% approval and Florida 60%.

Republican-led legislatures in North Dakota and South Dakota approved measures this year proposing a 60% public vote to approve future constitutional amendments, and Utah lawmakers backed a 60% threshold for tax measures. All three propositions still must go before voters, where they will need only a majority to pass.

Voters rejected similar proposals in Ohio, Arkansas and South Dakota in recent years, but they approved a 60% threshold for tax measures in Arizona.

Lawmakers contend the move has merit.

“Raising the threshold can help protect the constitution from being manipulated by special interest groups or out-of-state activists,” North Dakota House Majority Leader Mike Lefor said earlier this year.

Associated Press writers Jack Dura and Kate Payne contributed to this report.

Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

LONDON (AP) — Joe Biden said in his first post-presidential interview that President Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to give up territory to Russia amounts to “ modern-day appeasement,” a historically fraught term that refers to a failed effort to stop the Nazis from annexing land in Europe in the 1930s.

Biden told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program in remarks aired Wednesday that Trump’s statements about acquiring Panama, Greenland and Canada have bred distrust of the United States in Europe.

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“What president ever talks like that?” Biden said. “That’s not who we are. We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity — not about confiscation.”

He also said it was a “difficult decision” to leave the U.S. presidential race in 2024 four months from Election Day to allow former Vice President Kamala Harris to challenge Trump. But, he added, making that move earlier as some critics had suggested “would(n’t) have mattered.”

The term appeasement refers to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s efforts in the 1930s to appease Adolf Hitler’s moves to annex land in Europe, which failed to prevent World War II.

Trump has long dismissed the war in Ukraine as a waste of lives and American taxpayer money. Early in his presidency, Trump ordered a pause in American aid to Ukraine — then resumed it. The two countries last week signed an agreement granting American access to Ukraine’s vast mineral resources — a return on investment, Trump suggested, that could pave the way for more U.S. aid.

He has also said that Crimea, a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, “will stay with Russia.”

Biden said he worried that relations between the U.S. and Europe was eroding under Trump, with NATO member nations reconsidering whether they trust the U.S.

“Europe is going to lose confidence in the certainty of America and the leadership of America,” Biden told the BBC. The continent’s leaders, he added, were asking: “‘Can I rely on the United States? Are they going to be there?’”

Of special concern, Biden said, was the administration’s proposal to let Russia keep some Ukrainian territory in an effort to strike a peace deal that would put an end to fighting.

“It is modern-day appeasement,” Biden said.

Biden said Trump’s thrashing of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in February was “beneath America.”

“I don’t understand how they fail to understand that there’s strength in alliances,” Biden said of the Trump administration on Monday.

Asked about Trump’s triumphant celebration of his first 100 days in office, Biden replied that he’ll let history render the judgement.

“I don’t see anything that was triumphant,” he said.