By STAN CHOE

NEW YORK (AP) — Modest moves for Wall Street overall on Thursday are masking some big gains underneath the surface for makers of weapons and other military equipment after President Donald Trump said he wants to increase spending on them sharply.

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The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% in midday trading, coming off its first loss in four days, and remains near its all-time high set earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 272 points, or 0.6%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower.

The majority of stocks climbed as yields ticked higher in the bond market following mixed reports on the U.S. economy.

The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits rose last week, a potential indicator of increasing layoffs, but by no more than economists expected. Other reports said U.S. workers improved their productivity by more in the summer than economists expected, while the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly shrank in October.

On Wall Street, defense-industry companies led the market after Trump said he wants to increase U.S. military spending to $1.5 trillion in 2027 from $901 billion in order to build the “Dream Military.”

Northrop Grumman climbed 4.3%, Lockheed Martin soared 5.3% and L3Harris Technologies jumped 5.8%. They more than made up their losses from the prior day, when Trump complained defense contractors were making military equipment too slowly.

RTX came under particular criticism by Trump, and its stock rose less than peers. It added 2% after Trump said that it was the “slowest in increasing their volume.”

Trump signed an executive order Wednesday calling on the Pentagon to ensure future contracts with contractors contain a provision prohibiting their ability to buy back their own stock during a period of underperformance on U.S. government contracts.

Another winner on Wall Street was Constellation Brands, which climbed 4.8% after the beer and wine company reported a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

That helped offset drops for several technology stocks that held back the overall market. Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after dropping 2.3%, which gave back some of its big gain of nearly 40% last year.

Elsewhere, oil prices jumped to continue their zigzags since Trump ousted the leader of Venezuela last weekend.

A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude climbed 1.8% to $57.02. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2% to $61.14 per barrel.

Venezuela is potentially sitting on more oil than any other country in the world, and any increase in production could push further downward on prices, which have already fallen on expectations for plentiful supplies. But billions of dollars of investment are likely necessary to get Venezuela’s aging infrastructure in good-enough shape to ramp up production sharply.

It’s not just Venezuela where the U.S. military could see action, as Trump talks about “troubled and dangerous times.” The president in recent days has also called for taking over the Danish territory of Greenland for national security reasons and has suggested he’s open to carrying out military operations in Colombia.

In stock markets abroad, indexes moved modestly in Europe following a weak finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.6% for one of the world’s bigger moves, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.17% from 4.15% late Wednesday.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A judge disqualified a federal prosecutor from overseeing investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James, ruling Thursday that he had been serving in his post unlawfully when he requested subpoenas.

U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield blocked subpoenas requested by John Sarcone, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.

“The subpoenas are unenforceable due to a threshold defect: Mr. Sarcone was not lawfully serving as Acting U.S. Attorney when the subpoenas were issued,” the judge wrote.

James, a Democrat, had challenged Sarcone’s authority after he issued subpoenas seeking information about lawsuits she filed against President Donald Trump, claiming he had committed fraud in his business dealings, and separately against the National Rifle Association and some of its former leaders.

Justice Department lawyers say Sarcone was appointed properly and that the subpoenas were valid. James claims the inquiry into her lawsuits is part of a campaign of baseless investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s perceived enemies.

The ruling is the latest to address the legality of unusual maneuvers the Trump administration has performed to try and keep its favored candidates for U.S. attorney in those jobs indefinitely, without going through the usual process of getting them confirmed in the U.S. Senate.

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By STEPHEN GROVES and JOEY CAPPELLETTI

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, sounding a note of disapproval for his expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.

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Democrats and five Republicans voted to advance the war powers resolution on a 52-47 vote and ensure a vote next week on final passage. It has virtually no chance of becoming law because Trump would have to sign it if it were to pass the Republican-controlled House. Still, it was a significant gesture that showed unease among some Republicans after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

Trump’s administration is now seeking to control Venezuela’s oil resources and its government, but the war powers resolution would require congressional approval for any further attacks on the South American country.

“To me, this is all about going forward,” said Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the five Republican votes. “If the president should determine, ‘You know what? I need to put troops on the ground of Venezuela.’ I think that would require Congress to weigh in.”

The other Republicans who backed the resolution were Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Todd Young of Indiana.

Democrats had failed to pass several such resolutions in the months that Trump escalated his campaign against Venezuela. But lawmakers argued that now that Trump has captured Maduro and set his sights to other conquests such as Greenland, the vote presents the Republican-controlled Congress with an opportunity.

“It’s time for Congress to assert its control over military action of this kind, and it’s time to get this out of secrecy and put it in the light,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who forced the vote.

Lawmakers’ response to the Venezuela operation

Republican leaders have said they had no advance notification of the raid early morning Saturday to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, but mostly expressed satisfaction this week as top administration officials provided classified briefings on the operation.

The administration has used an evolving set of legal justifications for the monthslong campaign in Central and South America, from destroying alleged drug boats under authorizations for the global fight against terrorism to seizing Maduro in what was ostensibly a law enforcement operation to put him on trial in the United States.

Republican leaders have backed Trump.

“I think the president has demonstrated at least already a very strong commitment to peace through strength, especially in this hemisphere,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “I think Venezuela got that message loudly and clearly.”

A vote on a similar resolution in November narrowly failed to gain the majority needed for passage. Paul and Murkowski were the only Republicans voting in favor then.

Paul, an outspoken proponent of war powers resolutions, acknowledged that Maduro is seen as a “bad guy” and “a socialist and an autocrat.” But, Paul added, “The question is about who has the power to take the country to war?”

Some progressive Democrats have suggested inserting language in a defense appropriations bill to limit certain military actions, but that idea met resistance from more pragmatic members of the caucus. Democratic leaders have tried to cast Trump’s foreign ambitions as a distraction from the issues that voters face at home.

“The American people are asking what the hell is going on in Venezuela and why is this president, who campaigned on ‘America First,’ now spending all his time and energy on escapades overseas?” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a floor speech.

House Democrats were also introducing a similar resolution on Thursday.

The rarely enforced War Powers Act

Congress was once again left in the dark during the military operation in Venezuela, with Trump later confirming that he talked to oil executives but not leaders on Capitol Hill. That reflects a broader pattern in Trump’s second term, unfolding under a Republican-controlled Congress that has shown little appetite for reasserting its constitutional authority to declare war.

Under the Constitution, Congress declares war while the president serves as commander in chief. But lawmakers have not formally declared war since World War II, granting presidents broad latitude to act unilaterally.

Congress attempted to rein in that authority after the Vietnam War with the War Powers Resolution, passed over Republican President Richard Nixon’s veto. The law requires presidents to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces and to end military action within 60 to 90 days absent authorization — limits that presidents of both parties have routinely stretched.

Democrats argue those limits are being pushed further than ever. Some Republicans have gone further still, contending congressional approval is unnecessary altogether.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally who traveled with the president aboard Air Force One on Sunday, said he would be comfortable with Trump taking over other countries without congressional approval, including Greenland.

“The commander in chief is the commander in chief. They can use military force,” Graham said.

Greenland may further test the limits

Graham’s comments come as the administration weighs not only its next steps in Venezuela, but also Greenland. The White House has said the “military is always an option” when it comes to a potential American takeover of the world’s largest island.

While Republicans have cited Greenland’s strategic value, most have balked at the idea of using the military to take the country, instead favoring a potential deal to purchase the country.

Democrats want to get out in front of any military action and are already preparing to respond. Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego said he is working on a resolution “to block Trump from invading Greenland.”

“We must stop him before he invades another country on a whim,” Gallego wrote on X. “No more forever wars.”

Kaine also said Wednesday that a resolution on Greenland would soon be filed, in addition to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Nigeria.

Greenland belongs to a NATO ally, Denmark, which has prompted a much different response from Republican senators than the situation in Venezuela. Paul said Republicans discussed Trump’s plans for Greenland at their Wednesday luncheon and he heard “zero support” for taking military action to seize it.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, used a Senate floor speech to criticize White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for comments this week that the U.S. should take control of Greenland. Tillis said such remarks were “amateurish” and “absurd.”

“This nonsense on what’s going on with Greenland is a distraction from the good work he’s doing,” Tillis said of the president. “And the amateurs who said it was a good idea should lose their jobs.”

By TODD RICHMOND

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man accused of killing his parents and stealing their money to fund a plan to assassinate President Donald Trump pleaded guilty to two homicide counts in a deal with prosecutors Thursday, locking himself into two life prison sentences.

Nikita Casap, 18, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in Waukesha County Circuit Court in connection with the deaths of his stepfather, Donald Mayer, and his mother, Tatiana Casap, last year. In exchange, prosecutors dropped seven other charges, including two counts of hiding a corpse and theft.

Each homicide count carries a mandatory life prison sentence. Judge Ralph Ramirez could choose to make Casap eligible for parole after he serves 20 years on each count when he is sentenced on March 5.

Casap trembled in his seat at the defense table as Ramirez asked him if he understood the ramifications of his pleas and whether he shot his mother and Mayer. He responded “Yes, your honor” to everything.

Casap’s attorney, public defender Joseph Rifelj, spoke only to confirm the terms of the plea agreement with Ramirez and to say that he had sufficient time to speak with Casap about it. Rifelj left the hearing without speaking to reporters.

District Attorney Lesli Boese told reporters outside court that her goal was to force Casap to accept responsibility for his parents’ deaths and two mandatory life sentences amount to sufficient punishment.

She said she will push Ramirez to deny Casap any chance at parole. She said Casap is a “danger to the community and that she didn’t want to take any chances that he could be rehabilitated.

According to a criminal complaint, investigators believe Casap shot his stepfather and mother at their home in the village of Waukesha on or around Feb. 11.

He lived with the decomposing bodies for weeks before fleeing across the country in his stepfather’s SUV with $14,000 in cash, jewelry, passports, his stepfather’s gun and the family dog, according to the complaint. He was eventually arrested during a traffic stop in Kansas on Feb. 28.

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Federal authorities have accused Casap of planning his parents’ murders, buying a drone and explosives and sharing his plans with others, including a Russian speaker. They said in a federal search warrant that he wrote a manifest calling for Trump’s assassination and was in touch with others about his plan to kill Trump and overthrow the U.S. government.

“The killing of his parents appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carrying out his plan,” that warrant said.

Detectives found several messages on Casap’s cellphone from January 2025 in which Casap asks how long he will have to hide before he is moved to Ukraine. An unknown individual responded in Russian, the complaint said, but the document doesn’t say what that person told Casap. In another message Casap asks: “So while in Ukraine, I’ll be able to live a normal life? Even if it’s found out I did it?”