By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Business Writer

U.S. stocks rose in early trading Wednesday as Wall Street weighed the latest developments in the Trump administration’s bid to win more deals with global trading partners.

The S&P 500 was up 0.7%, a solid start after posting a slight loss a day earlier. The benchmark index remains near the record it set last week after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 224 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:01 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% higher.

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Bond yields were mostly lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.38%, down from 4.40% late Tuesday.

Gains in technology stocks helped drive the market higher, outweighing declines in energy and other sectors.

Nvidia rose 2.5% and Microsoft added 1.6%.

Wall Street has been focused this week on President Donald Trump’s renewed push to use threats of higher tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of securing new trade agreements with countries around the globe.

Wednesday was initially set as a deadline by Trump for countries to make deals with the U.S. or face heavy increases in tariffs. But with just two trade deals announced since April — one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam — the window for negotiations has been extended to Aug. 1.

The extension has calmed Wall Street for the time being, unlike the tariff rollouts of the spring, which sent markets swinging wildly from day-to-day for weeks.

Still, this latest phase in the White House’s trade war heightens the threat of potentially more severe tariffs that’s been hanging over the global economy. Higher taxes on imported goods could hinder economic growth, if not increase recession risks.

On Tuesday, Trump said he would be announcing tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at a “very, very high rate, like 200%.” He also said he would sign an executive order placing a 50% tariff on copper imports, matching the rates charged on steel and aluminum.

Copper prices eased Wednesday after spiking a day earlier. Shares in mining company Freeport-McMoRan were down 0.7%.

Outside of trade talks, some corporate news surfaced after a typically quiet early summer stretch.

Pharmaceutical giant Merck is buying Verona Pharma, a U.K. company that focuses on respiratory diseases, in an approximately $10 billion deal. If approved by Verona shareholders and U.K. officials, Merck will get access to Verona’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease medication Ohtuvayre. Verona shares jumped more than 20% on the news, while Merck shares were up 2.1%.

Delta Air Lines kicks off earnings season on Thursday, with most analysts expecting the airline’s second-quarter profit to decline from a year ago. Delta and other major U.S. carriers have trimmed their flight schedules and pulled their forecasts this year as consumers pull back on travel and other nonessential spending due to uncertainty about how Trump’s tariffs will affect their budgets.

Later Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its June policy meeting, when it left its benchmark rate alone for the fourth straight time, also due to uncertainty over how tariffs will impact the labor market and broader economy.

In overseas markets, stock indexes were broadly higher in Europe after a mixed finish in Asia.

U.S. benchmark crude was down 0.7%, while Brent crude, the international standard, was off 0.6%.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crime Enforcement Team and federal agents seized nearly 900 pounds of meth in Minneapolis this week.

St. Paul police, which has officers on the team, and the sheriff’s office said it may have been the largest drug bust in the state’s history.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crime Enforcement Team and federal agents seized nearly 900 pounds of meth in Minneapolis on July 7, 2025. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

If sold by the pound, the value of the meth is estimated at $1.7 million, according to criminal complaints filed against two men Tuesday by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Law enforcement found a document in a vehicle they searched that noted dates, vehicles and dollar amounts — a suspected “drug ledger,” said the criminal complaints. The case is “associated with larger drug sale organizations in Mexico,” the complaints also said.

The enforcement targeted drug trafficking rings, Dan Bongino, the FBI’s deputy director, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday. “We’re finding them and crushing their operations,” he wrote and thanked  Drug Enforcement Administration “partners for their coordination.”

Prosecutors gave the following information in the complaints:

An undercover officer bought one pound of methamphetamine in South Minneapolis from a man identified as Guillermo Mercado Chaparro, 44, of Chicago. Afterward, officers watched as he drove a Tacoma truck around South Minneapolis and made other suspected drug deals.

About 10:30 a.m. Monday, officers saw Chaparro walk to the Tacoma, which was parked on a South Minneapolis street. He then put two large bags inside a Jeep near the truck. Another man, identified as Joel Casas-Santiago, got in the Jeep.

Guillermo Mercado Chaparro (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)

Both vehicles left the area and officers conducted surveillance on them. The Tacoma was located in South Minneapolis and the Jeep at 31st Street and Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis. Both Chaparro and Casas-Santiago, 46, of Minneapolis, were found in the Jeep.

“After a drug detection dog provided a positive alert to the odor of controlled substances, the Jeep was searched,” the complaints said. Officers found 251 pounds of meth inside.

Chaparro had the keys to the Tacoma and officers returned to it. A drug detection dog also “alerted,” officers obtained a warrant for the Tacoma and located about 638 pounds of meth inside. The ledger was found in the Tacoma.

After law enforcement arrested the men, Chaparro told them he was involved in drug trafficking, according to the complaints. The complaint against Casas-Santiago doesn’t say whether he gave a statement to police.

Joel Casas-Santiago (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)

Chaparro is charged with two counts of first-degree drug sale and Casas-Santiago with one count.

Both men are being held in the Hennepin County jail and are due to make their first court appearances today.

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By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sweeping tariffs set to be imposed by President Donald Trump next month may overshadow his top diplomat’s first official trip to Asia this week — just as the U.S. seeks to boost relations with Indo-Pacific nations to counter China’s growing influence in the region.

Trump on Monday sent notice to several countries about higher tariffs if they don’t make trade deals with the U.S., including to a number of Asian countries. The move came just a day before Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed for a Southeast Asian regional security conference in Malaysia.

Top diplomats and senior officials from at least eight countries that Trump has targeted for the new tariffs, which would go into effect on Aug. 1, will be represented at the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur that Rubio will attend on Thursday and Friday.

From left to right, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Sugiono, Lao Minister for Foreign Affairs Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamad Hasan, Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, Brunei’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Erywan Yusof, Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative Kyaw Nyun Oo, East Timor Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas and ASEAN’s Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn pose for a group photo during a plenary session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ meeting at the Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

State Department officials say tariffs and trade will not be Rubio’s focus during the meetings, which Trump’s Republican administration hopes will prioritize maritime safety and security in the South China Sea, where China has become increasingly aggressive toward its small neighbors, as well as combating transnational crime.

However, Rubio may be hard-pressed to avoid the tariff issue that has vexed some of America’s closest allies and partners in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, which Trump says would face 25% tariffs absent a deal. Neither of those countries is a member of ASEAN, but both will be represented at the meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

Rubio’s “talking points on the China threat will not resonate with officials whose industries are being battered by 30-40% tariffs,” said Danny Russel, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific during the Obama administration.

“In fact, when Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last week said ASEAN will approach challenges ‘as a united bloc’ — he wasn’t talking about Chinese coercion but about U.S. tariffs,” Russel said.

Among ASEAN states, Trump has so far announced up to 40% tariffs on at least six of the 10 members of the bloc, including the meeting host Malaysia, which would face a 25% tariff mainly on electronics and electrical product imports to the United States.

Southeast Asian countries not yet targeted by the U.S. include Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, which recently agreed to a trade deal with Trump. The Trump administration has courted most Southeast Asian nations in a bid to blunt or at least temper China’s push to dominate the region.

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In Kuala Lumpur, Rubio also will likely come face-to-face with the foreign ministers of two of America’s biggest adversaries: China and Russia. U.S. officials could not say if meetings with either are planned for the short time — about 36 hours — that Rubio will be in Malaysia.

Russel noted that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is a veteran of such gatherings and “fluent in ASEAN principles and conventions,” while Rubio “is a rookie trying to sell an ‘America First’ message to a deeply skeptical audience.”

Issues with both countries remain substantial, particularly over Ukraine.

Trump on Tuesday expressed his exasperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “I’m not happy with him, I can tell you that much right now” as Moscow ramps up attacks in Ukraine amid the American leader’s push for a peace deal.

Trump also announced that the U.S. would resume providing Ukraine with defensive weapons after the Pentagon announced a surprise pause in some deliveries last week.

U.S. officials continue to accuse China of resupplying and revamping Russia’s military industrial sector, allowing it to produce additional weapons with which it can attack Ukraine.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

A “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have required businesses to make it easy for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions and memberships, has been blocked by a federal appeals court just days before it was set to go into effect.

The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed changes, adopted in October, required businesses to obtain a customer’s consent before charging for memberships, auto-renewals and programs linked to free trial offers.

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The FTC said at the time that businesses must also disclose when free trials or other promotional offers will end and let customers cancel recurring subscriptions as easily as they started them.

The rule was set to go into effect on Monday, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said this week that the FTC made a procedural error by failing to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis, which is required for rules whose annual impact on the U.S. economy is more than $100 million.

The FTC claimed that it didn’t have to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis because it initially determined that the rule’s impact on the national economy would be less than $100 million. An administrative law judge decided that the economic impact would be more than the $100 million threshold.

The court decided to vacate the rule.

“While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission’s rulemaking process are fatal here,” the court wrote.

The FTC declined to comment on Wednesday.