Flights Grounded Across the U.S.

The FAA halted all departing flights nationwide for “reasons of safety” after a communications issue affected air-route traffic-control centers. Planes already airborne could continue to their destinations, but travelers reported taxiing aircraft being turned around and passengers deplaning, with crews warning delays could last hours. The last comparable nationwide halt was in 2023, after an outage in the FAA’s Notice-to-Airman system.

Microsoft said it was seeing a “broad recovery” after hundreds of thousands of users worldwide reported problems with Outlook and Teams, disrupting governments, schools, and businesses. The company attributed the failure to a technical issue, not a cyberattack or AI agents, while warning that some users could still have trouble. Social-media reactions ranged from frustration to jokes about unplugging the system and plugging it back in.

Kevin Warsh is reducing the number of scheduled Federal Reserve interest-rate decisions from eight this year to seven next year and six in 2028. Warsh has argued that central bankers talk too much and overreact to the latest economic data. The change could make each meeting a larger market event, with potentially bigger rate cuts or hikes between decisions.

NVIDIA fell another 2% Friday and nearly 13% for the week, losing more than half a trillion dollars in market value—its largest weekly decline ever. Chip and data-center stocks dragged the Nasdaq down 0.9% and the S&P 500 down 0.4%, while the Dow edged higher. Bond markets also sold off as investors anticipated more Fed rate increases; the 10-year Treasury yield topped 5.15%.

WSJ economics reporter Ian Hodgson said diesel affects nearly every stage of food distribution, from tractors to distribution centers and refrigerated transport. Fresh fruit and produce are especially exposed because they must be picked seasonally, refrigerated, and moved quickly. Freight costs respond immediately to diesel prices, but their peak effect on grocery prices may arrive 12 to 18 months later, with wholesalers’ thin margins forcing them to pass costs to shoppers.

Hodgson said shoppers are switching to cheaper goods and retailers, including a recent spike in higher-income consumers visiting Walmart and Dollar General. People can replace berries with another fruit, but diesel-driven increases across every food category leave no broad grocery substitute. He said experts do not expect diesel prices to fall soon, making it difficult for politicians to deliver quick cost-of-living relief.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said NVIDIA should be held accountable if Singapore-based Megaspeed International funneled NVIDIA chips to China, arguing the key question is whether NVIDIA properly knew its customer and prevented leakage. Bessent said Treasury, the State Department, USTR, and others supported putting Megaspeed on the export-control entity list, but Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security had authority to act. Reporter Brian Schwartz said Howard Lutnick feared a blacklist could intensify a trade war, while administration critics suspect he delayed it to help Jensen Huang; Lutnick has not commented and still has Trump’s support.

Iran attacked U.S. Gulf ally Bahrain for the first time in two months, but U.S. forces shot down the drones and there were no injuries or damage. The incident escalated months of skirmishing around the Strait of Hormuz. The episode said President Trump has signaled that he does not want the confrontation to return to major combat.

This year’s El Niño could become the strongest on record, contributing to wildfires in Asia and Pacific hurricanes while bringing above-average snow to Utah, Colorado’s southern and eastern mountains, Lake Tahoe, and Mammoth. Ski Utah launched a “Vote Super El Nino” campaign with yard signs and T-shirts, and Vail Resorts hopes better conditions reverse last winter’s weak skier visits. The effect is expected to remain strong through March.

Ellen Gamerman said pets are increasingly treated like family members, making owners more emotionally charged while veterinary bills climb. Private-equity and corporate acquisitions of clinics have raised prices, while advanced medicine and medications give owners more options they feel reluctant to refuse; the host recalled paying $800 for fluids, and Gamerman described a $1,200 visit that also revealed her dog was overweight. Veterinary offices now use courses on placating angry clients and compassion-fatigue specialists to help staff handle the emotional strain.