AFN News March 11

 AFN NEWS

Thursday, March 11, 2021

1) From ABC News, I’m Michelle Franzen. Fifty days into the term, President Biden is celebrating a huge victory, the House passing his $1.9 trillion COVID Rescue Plan without any Republican vote. “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi going after Republicans who said no. ‘It’s typical that they vote no and take the dough.’ Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy insisting Democrats wasted money. ‘It represents a missed opportunity for Congress to focus on the real needs of the American people.’ In fact, the bill helps millions of unemployment rents, school reopening, child poverty, business loans, and keeping first responders on the job. Andy Filed, ABC News, Washington.” Biden will sign the bill Friday.

 2) Today at the White House, he hosted the leaders of Johnson & Johnson and Merck and says the U.S. is adding another 100 million doses that will help vaccinate every American by the end of May. “There is real reason for help, folks. There’s real reason for hope. I promise you.” The next 50 days though could be just as challenging with variants emerging and states lifting more restrictions.

 3) Texas fully reopened today and the Governor ended the mask mandate. Houston bar owner Al Jara said it put him in a tight spot. “I don’t believe the onus should be on small business, I think, especially in the hospitality industry. Requiring us now to take a side on the masks isn’t right in my opinion.”

 4) New concerns: White supremacists plotting to infiltrate police and military unit. “Based on the investigation between 2016 and 2020, the FBI San Antonio division concluded in a document obtained by ABC News that extremists would very likely seek affiliation with military and law enforcement entities to further their ideologies. In a letter to the FBI, House Democrat Jamie Raskin said the bureau dismissed the threat when he asked about it last year. ‘They told us there was no real problem, and now it’s clear that there is.’ Raskin demanded a briefing from the FBI. ‘We want to know what the plan is. This is an emergency.” ABC’s Aaron Katersky. You’re listening to ABC News.

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I’m Connell McShane. This is the Fox Business Report.

Stocks finishing mixed and the Dow notching a record close, marking a milestone, closing above the 30,000 marks for the first time ever as the House approved President Biden’s near $2 trillion COVID spending bill. First aid assuring the consumer price index, a key inflation gauge rose 4/10 of a percent last month. That helped common investors’ concern that a sharp increase in inflation would prop the fed to tighten monetary policy. Among the gainers today, energy and financials while tech lagged. The Dow winners: Boeing, Golden Sachs, Walmart. The decliners: Microsoft, UnitedHealth, and Apple. Take a look at Wall Street by the numbers. The Dow finishing up 463 points, the Nasdaq down 5, while the S&P 500 closed up 23. Johnson & Johnson stocks jumping 1% today. Shares of Roblox, the kids gaming app, jumping 54%.

That’s your Fox Business Report. I’m Tom Graham, invested in you.