The Federal Reserve emphasized that inflation has remained stubbornly high and said it doesn't plan to cut interest rates until it has "greater confidence" that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target. The Fed kept its key rate at a two-decade high of roughly 5.3%. Several hotter-than-expected reports have recently undercut the Fed's belief that inflation was steadily easing. The combination of high rates and persistent inflation has also emerged as a potential threat to President Joe Biden's reelection bid. "In recent months," Chair Jerome Powell said, "inflation has shown a lack of further progress toward our 2% objective," adding, "It is likely that gaining greater confidence will take longer than previously expected."

Consumer inflation remained persistently high last month, boosted by gas, rents, auto insurance and other item. That's according to a government report that will likely give pause to the Federal Reserve as it considers how many — or even whether — to cut interest rates this year. Prices outside the volatile food and energy categories rose 0.4% from February to March. Measured from a year earlier, these core prices are up 3.8%. Wednesday's figures represent a disappointment for the White House. Republican critics of President Joe Biden have sought to pin the blame for high prices on the president and use it as a cudgel to derail his reelection bid.

Tesla sales fell sharply last quarter as competition increased worldwide, electric vehicle sales growth slowed, and price cuts failed to draw more buyers. The Austin, Texas, company said it delivered 386,810 vehicles from January through March, almost 9% below the 423,000 it sold in the same quarter of last year. Sales also fell short of Wall Street expectations. Analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to deliver 457,000 vehicles. The slowing sales will make it difficult for the company to reach the annual growth rate of 50% per year that CEO Elon Musk has predicted in most years.

Shares of Donald Trump's social media company jumped more than 30% in the first day of trading on the Nasdaq, boosting the value of the former president's large stake in the company in the process. Trump Media & Technology Group runs the social media platform Truth Social. Before trading began, Trump Media had a market value of about $6.8 billion, a figure that will rise significantly if the gains in the shares hold. The shares are trading under the ticker symbol "DJT." Trump holds a nearly 60% ownership stake in the company.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun will step down from the embattled plane maker at the end of the year as part of a broad management shakeup Monday after a series of mishaps at one of America's iconic manufacturers. Boeing has been under intense pressure since early January, when a panel blew off a brand-new Alaska Airlines 737 Max. Fallout from the Jan. 5 blowout has raised scrutiny of Boeing to its highest level since two Boeing 737 Max jets crashed in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia. In all, the crashes killed 346 people.

A New York appeals court has agreed to hold off collection of former President Donald Trump's more than $454 million civil fraud judgment if he puts up $175 million within 10 days. If Trump does, it will stop the clock on collection and prevent the state from seizing his assets while he appeals. Monday's order is a significant victory for Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee defends the real estate empire that vaulted him into public life. The development came just before New York Attorney General Letitia James was expected to initiate efforts to collect the judgment. Trump says he'll post a bond, securities or cash to cover the $175 million.

Donald Trump is returning to the stock market. Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded shell company, approved a deal to merge with the former president's media business in a Friday vote. That means Trump Media & Technology Group, whose flagship product is social networking site Truth Social, will soon begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market. The deal's greenlight arrives at a time the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is facing his most costly legal battle to date: a $454 million judgment in a fraud lawsuit.