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U.S. stocks are drifting Monday ahead of potential flashpoints looming later in the week that could bring more sharp swings for financial markets. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading, coming off a winning week in its whipsaw ride thats been rattling investors for weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 145 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower. The relatively calm trading offers a respite following historic swings that have come as hopes rise and fall that President Donald Trump may back down on his tariffs, which investors expect would otherwise cause a recession. The S&P 500 has roughly halved its drop that had taken it nearly 20% below its record set earlier this year. This upcoming week will feature earnings reports from some of Wall Streets most influential companies, including Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. Their performances carry huge sway over the market because theyve inflated to become the biggest by far in terms of size. Outside of Big Tech, executives from Caterpillar, Exxon Mobil, and McDonalds may also offer clues about how theyre seeing economic conditions play out. Several companies across industries have recently been slashing their estimates for upcoming profit or pulling their forecasts completely because of uncertainty about what will happen with Trumps tariffs. We heard more plans to mitigate tariff impacts than in prior months and than during 2018 from U.S. companies, including preordering, shifting production, and increasing prices for their own products, according to Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian. But she also said in a report that she’s seeing some indications of a pause: no hiring/no firing, no new projects/no cancellations etc. A fear is that Trumps on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, seemingly by the hour. Dominos Pizza was flipping between small losses and gains after it reported weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The pizza chains CEO, Russell Weiner, called the global economic environment challenging, and its stock was most recently up 0.7% DoorDash added 1.2% after Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, said it heard from DoorDash about a possible cash offer to take over the company. So far, economic reports have mostly seemed to show the U.S. economy is still growing, though at a weaker pace. On Wednesday, economists expect a report to show that U.S. economic growth slowed to a 0.8% annual rate in the first three months of this year, down from a 2.4% rate at the end of last year. But most reports Wall Street has received so far have focused on data from before Trumps Liberation Day on April 2, when he announced tariffs that could affect imports from countries worldwide. That could raise the stakes for upcoming reports on the U.S. job market, including Fridays, which will show how many workers employers hired during all of April. Economists expect it to show a slowdown in hiring down to 125,000 from 228,000 in March. The most jarring economic data recently have come from surveys showing U.S. consumers becoming much more pessimistic about the economys future because of tariffs. The Conference Boards latest reading on consumer confidence will arrive on Tuesday. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. Theyve calmed since an unsettling, unusual rise rise in yields earlier this month rattled both Wall Street and the U.S. government. That rise had suggested investors worldwide may have been losing faith in the U.S. bond markets reputation as a safe place to park cash. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.25% from 4.29% late Friday. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.8%, but stocks slipped 0.2% in Shanghai. Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.
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E-Commerce
Iran and the United States will hold talks Saturday in Oman, their third round of negotiations over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear program. The talks follow a first round held in Muscat, Oman, where the two sides spoke face to face. They then met again in Rome last weekend before this scheduled meeting again in Muscat. Trump has imposed new sanctions on Iran as part of his maximum pressure campaign targeting the country. He has repeatedly suggested military action against Iran remained a possibility, while emphasizing he still believed a new deal could be reached by writing a letter to Irans 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to jump start these talks. Khamenei has warned Iran would respond to any attack with an attack of its own. Heres what to know about the letter, Irans nuclear program and the tensions that have stalked relations between Tehran and Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Why did Trump write the letter? Trump dispatched the letter to Khamenei on March 5, then gave a television interview the next day in which he acknowledged sending it. He said: Ive written them a letter saying, I hope youre going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, its going to be a terrible thing. Since returning to the White House, the president has been pushing for talks while ratcheting up sanctions and suggesting a military strike by Israel or the U.S. could target Iranian nuclear sites. A previous letter from Trump during his first term drew an angry retort from the supreme leader. But Trumps letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term led to face-to-face meetings, though no deals to limit Pyongyangs atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental U.S. How did the first round go? Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, hosted the first round of talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The two men met face to face after indirect talks and immediately agreed to this second round in Rome. Witkoff later made a television appearance in which he suggested 3.67% enrichment for Iran could be something the countries could agree on. But thats exactly the terms set by the 2015 nuclear deal struck under U.S. President Barack Obama, from which Trump unilaterally withdrew America. Witkoff hours later issued a statement underlining something: A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal. Araghchi and Iranian officials have latched onto Witkoffs comments in recent days as a sign that America was sending it mixed signals about the negotiations. Yet the Rome talks ended up with the two sides agreeing to starting expert-level talks this Saturday. Analysts described that as a positive sign, though much likely remains to be agreed before reaching a tentative deal. Why does Irans nuclear program worry the West? Iran has insisted for decades that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Iran now enriches uranium to near weapons-grade levels of 60%, the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so. Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity and to maintain a uranium stockpile of 300 kilograms (661 pounds). The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Irans program put its stockpile at 8,294.4 kilograms (18,286 pounds) as it enriches a fraction of it to 60% purity. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so. Ali Larijani, an adviser to Irans supreme leader, has warned in a televised interview that his country has the capability to build nuclear weapons, but it is not pursuing it and has no problem with the International Atomic Energy Agencys inspections. However, he said if the U.S. or Israel were to attack Iran over the issue, the country would have no choice but to move toward nuclear weapon development. If you make a mistake regarding Irans nuclear issue, you will force Iran to take that path, because it must defend itself, he said. Why are relations so bad between Iran and the U.S.? Iran was once one of the U.S.s top allies in the Mideast under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who purchased American military weapons and allowed CIA technicians to run secret listening posts monitoring the neighboring Soviet Union. The CIA had fomented a 1953 coup that cemented the shahs rule. But in January 1979, the shah, fatally ill with cancer, fled Iran as mass demonstrations swelled against his rule. The Islamic Revolution followed, led by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and created Irans theocratic government. Later that year, university students overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seeking the shahs extradition and sparking the 444-day hostage crisis that saw diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S. severed. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s saw the U.S. back Saddam Hussein. The Tanker War during that conflict saw the U.S. launch a one-day assault that crippled Iran at sea, while the U.S. later shot down an Iranian commercial airliner that the American military said it mistook for a warplane. Iran and the U.S. have see-sawed between enmity and grudging diplomacy in the years since, with relations peaking when Tehran made the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. But Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, sparking tensions in the Mideast that persist today. ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
Weve all been there: the windowless conference room, the stale coffee, the flip charts, the obligatory icebreaker, followed by hours of sticky notes and talk of disruption that feels, ironically, deeply uninspired. This is the traditional corporate offsite: a manufactured attempt at connection and creativity staged inside four beige walls. But heres the truth that most leaders wont say out loud: If your strategy session couldve been an email, your offsite isnt working. In a world demanding fresh thinking, deep alignment, and courageous reinvention, we dont need more sticky notes; we need more perspective, pause, and place. Its time to rethink the offsite. It is not a retreat from work, but a return to what makes work matter. The traditional offsite is designed for control: a fixed agenda, predictable outputs, and highly curated team-building exercises. But innovation is inherently unpredictable. Creativity doesnt follow a schedule, and a breakthrough doesnt happen when people feel boxed inliterally or figuratively. A recent Steelcase study found that only 13% of employees strongly agree that their workplace helps them be creative. Imagine taking that same creative tension and relocating it to a stuffy hotel ballroom with bad lighting and bad air quality. Its not just uninspiring, its counterproductive. The Power of Perspective, Pause, and Place If you want to unlock real innovation, you need to get out of the roomliterally. I have taken executive teams hiking in the mountains, walking through sculpture parks, sketching beside rivers, and sharing stories under open skies. What happens in those moments isnt just memorable; its transformative. Creativity doesnt thrive in confinement; it thrives in movement, reflection, and meaningful environments. Heres what shifts when you leave the room: Perspective expands: On a recent mountain trail, one of my clients looked out over the valley and said, I finally see my business differently. Nature helps leaders zoom out, see patterns, and reconnect to what really matters. Dialogue deepens: Walking side-by-side fosters vulnerability in a way boardroom chairs never will. One CFO told me after a trail walk, Thats the first time I have really talked to my team, not just with them. Energy resets: Changing physical environments resets our mental state. The body moves, the mind loosens, and new insights begin to emerge, often without even trying. Ask yourself: What would happen if your team had space to think, not just speak? To feel instead of just perform? Nature, Narrative, and Nonlinear Thinking Before you overhaul your next offsite, pause and consider what actually fuels creativity and connection in teams. Its not tighter agendas or better breakout sessions. Its the deeper human elements that corporate playbooks often overlook. It’s the environments that stir the senses, stories that build shared meaning, and a space that honors the messy, magical process of emergence. At the heart of powerful offsites are three essential elements most corporate agendas ignore: Nature. Nature doesnt just reduce stressit rewires our thinking. A Stanford study found that even a 90-minute walk in nature can reduce rumination and improve problem-solving. But beyond the science, nature reminds us: Not everything must be engineered. Some things must be experienced. What might your team discover if they swapped Wi-Fi for tree lines? Narrative. The best breakthroughs dont start with strategy decks; they start with stories. When leaders share pivotal life moments or team origin stories, new insights emerge. The strategy becomes personal, and the mission gets real. Instead of starting with goals, ask each person to share a moment that shaped how they lead. Watch what opens up. Nonlinear Thinking. Great ideas dont arrive on demand. They bubble up in white space (or maybe it should be called green space). Thats why I build in unstructured time during offsites, not as filler, but as fertile ground. One leader told me their breakthrough idea came during a quiet solo hour by the water. Innovation needs space to breathe. A New Offsite Design Philosophy Forget the PowerPoint marathons. The new offsite design should be immersive instead of performative, meaningful instead of efficient, and designed for discovery, not just alignment. Whether you are hiking a coastal trail or sitting around a campfire, the goal isnt to force productivity. Its to create the conditions where insight naturally emerges. I call this strategic restoration, a practice of slowing down, stepping back, and reconnecting with what matters most. You dont need to summit a mountain. Just start here: Change the Environment. Ditch the hotel ballroom and book a retreat center near water, a creative space, or even a local museum. One client who held their offsite in a botanical garden said, We got more creative in two hours than we usually do in two days. Design for Emotion, Not Just Execution. Begin with personal storytelling. Build in moments of awesunrise meditations, guided journaling, even shared silence. Whats the emotional tone we want this offsite to create, and why does it matter? Include Movement and Mindfulness. Use walking meetings, breathing practices, or a simple quiet space. Movement regulates the nervous system, and stillness amplifies clarity. If you are feeling bold, schedule unplugged windows with no devices, just presence. Trust Emergence. Dont overfill the schedule. Leave space for what you cant plan. Thats where breakthroughs hide. In a world addicted to speed, the leaders who pause are the ones who leap forward. In a culture obsessed with performance, the companies that reconnect with purpose are the ones that endure. So no, your next innovation breakthrough probably wont come from a hotel ballroom with cold sandwiches and tired team-building games. It might come from a hike or a story told around a fire. Because when you design for renewal, reflection, and reconnection, strategy becomes more than a plan. It becomes a shared vision that feels alive.
Category:
E-Commerce
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