WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has for decades moved steadily from a remote, opaque government agency that shared little about what it did or why to a more transparent institution willing to explain how it makes decisions and what it thinks about the economy.

But in his first press conference last Wednesday, new chair Kevin Warsh began to reverse some of those steps. Warsh, like many economists, thinks the financial markets have become too dependent on Fed guidance, and that such direction is more effective in financial crises or economic downturns.

Warsh’s changes to the Fed’s communications represent something of a return to former chair Alan Greenspan’s circumspect approach. Greenspan died at 100 on Monday. He is the only former chair Warsh praised at his swearing-in last month.

As chair, Warsh has rapidly delivered on his promise to slash the Fed’s communications. He sharply cut the central bank’s post-meeting statement and underscored at the press conference the removal of the guidance it formerly gave to financial markets about the Fed’s next interest-rate moves. Yet such an approach carries the risk of more violent swings in stock and bond prices, analysts say, and ultimately could lead to higher interest rates for consumers and businesses.

“Forward guidance in general has served to suppress volatility and anchor market expectations,” said George Pearkes, global macro strategist at Bespoke Investment Group. “And that has led to lower borrowing rates, relative to alternatives.”

Still, the impact on consumers is likely to be modest, Pearkes added, with mortgage rates perhaps a quarter-point higher than they would be otherwise.

Such swings could be a sign of things to come. Previous chairs have signaled the Fed’s next moves clearly enough that financial markets have largely anticipated the central bank’s actions. But Warsh appears to be following Greenspan, whose oracular comments often kept investors guessing.

Yet Greenspan, who served as chair from 1987 to 2005, also ushered in several changes that made the Fed more transparent. He began the practice of issuing statements after each Fed meeting to announce its interest-rate decision. He also began publicly releasing the minutes of each meeting and the full transcripts, after a five-year delay, though those moves came in response to pressure from Congress.

The first statement was issued Feb. 4, 1994, and said the Fed would increase its key rate for the first time in five years. The move caught investors off-guard and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 2.4% that day.

The paring back of Fed communications is part of a larger package of potential reforms to the central bank’s operations that Warsh signaled Wednesday. He announced that the Fed will set up five task forces to examine the Fed’s communications, its balance sheet, how it analyzes and gathers economic data, the impact of AI on productivity and jobs, and the frameworks it uses to analyze inflation.

Warsh said the communications task force would consider changes to the quarterly economic projections the Fed issues as well as look at other recent innovations, including press conferences. Former chair Ben Bernanke was the first to hold them, though he did so only after every other Fed meeting. Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, shifted to holding them after every meeting.

Such steps were a sharp contrast with the 1990s, when Greenspan never explained a Fed decision, on the record, to reporters. Warsh could ultimately dial back some of the Fed’s increased transparency.

“This is a big change in how the Fed has conducted itself since the (2008-2009) global financial crisis,” Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, said. “Since then there has been a one-way train to greater communication, more transparency, and more forward guidance. Warsh has now put that train in reverse.”

Previous Fed chairs, starting with Bernanke, have seen a clear benefit to more communication: It helps guide the markets in the direction the Fed wants. Fed officials control a short-term interest rate, but the rates that affect the economy — such as the yield on the 10-year Treasury — are heavily influenced by investors’ expectations for inflation and economic growth. By telegraphing their next moves, policymakers can cause those longer-term rates to change even before the Fed adjusts its own benchmark rate.

Yet Warsh’s view is that financial markets have become too dependent on Fed guidance. Instead, he wants investors to gauge where the Fed may move next by examining economic data and making their own judgments, which the Fed can then consider as part of their assessments of where the economy is headed.

“Financial market prices are probably the most important source of information to guide central bankers,” Warsh said at Wednesday’s news conference.

David Andolfatto, an economics professor at the University of Miami and former economist at the St. Louis Fed, said he agreed with Warsh that forward guidance has flaws. It can be easily upended by unexpected events, he said, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the Iran war.

But the chair should set out guidelines for how the Fed will react to unexpected events, Andolfatto said, or to challenges such as the persistent inflation it is grappling with now, yet Warsh so far hasn’t done so.

“I’m with him on dispensing with forward guidance, but you have to replace it with a contingency plan,” Andolfatto said. “It’s not enough to say, trust me, we’ll keep inflation at target.”

Ironically, Warsh’s decision to drop forward guidance may empower the other 18 members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee, Pearkes said. Those officials — six members of the Fed’s governing board, plus the presidents of the 12 regional Fed banks — frequently give public speeches, and their remarks will get even more attention as financial markets seek clues about what the Fed may do next.

A big challenge to Warsh’s approach will come if there is a sharp financial downturn or economic crisis, as occurred during the COVID pandemic. In those circumstances, economists said, forward guidance can play an important role calming markets.

“Whether it will stand the test of time and he will behave this way for five years is a very different question, but one that we’re going to have to wait for events to unfold to get an answer to,” Pearkes said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

The justices, by a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who had urged them to undo a federal appeals court decision that overturned the verdict. The three liberal justices dissented.

Prosecutors had been preparing to try the man, Pedro Hernandez, for a third time. His first trial ended in a mistrial.

The unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Hernandez’ murder and kidnapping conviction in the second trial because of how the judge had answered a question from jurors.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had called the basis for overturning the conviction “a slender reed” that essentially ignored a five-month-long trial with 66 witnesses.

The justices agreed, in an unsigned opinion, that federal courts should not second-guess state courts under a 1996 federal law that was intended to reduce federal court oversight of state criminal trials.

“The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the justices wrote.

Hernandez, 64, has been serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Bragg hailed the high court’s decision. “This office has remained steadfast in its pursuit of justice for Etan and the Patz family and will continue to stand by this important conviction,” Bragg, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Hernandez’ lawyers said they were “terribly disappointed” by the ruling. “We firmly believe that an innocent man is in jail for a crime that he did not commit,” attorneys Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier said.

Hernandez admitted to the crime under police questioning, but his lawyers say he confessed falsely because of a mental illness that sometimes made him hallucinate. They emphasized that the admission came after police queried him for about seven hours before reading him his rights and recording the interview. Hernandez then repeated his confession on tape, at least twice.

Etan vanished while walking to his downtown Manhattan school bus stop on May 25, 1979. Hernandez worked at a nearby convenience shop at the time, but the Maple Shade, New Jersey, resident didn’t become a suspect until 2012.

Etan was among the first missing children ever to appear on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance became National Missing Children’s Day.

Hernandez already has been tried twice. A jury deadlocked in 2015, and then a different panel of jurors convicted him at a 2017 retrial.

During deliberations, the 2017 jurors asked a complicated question: If they decided Hernandez didn’t confess voluntarily when he hadn’t been read his rights yet, must they disregard his other confessions? The then-judge responded simply, “the answer is no.” The jury went on to convict.

In overturning that verdict, the appeals court said the jury’s question should have gotten a more fulsome answer, including the possibility of discounting all the confessions.

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report from New York.

ONAWAY, Mich. (AP) — Tom and Diane Peterman tried to buy flood insurance when they moved to their retirement home on the shores of Black Lake 14 years ago but were told it wasn’t available. John Solum was told he wasn’t in a flood zone when his family bought a 1940s-era cabin there.

Then came this spring’s historic and devastating floods across northern Michigan — in some areas, for the first time anyone can remember — swamping homes, pushing dams to the brink of failure and washing out roadways. Dozens of counties were under a state of emergency.

Black Lake was so high that floating ice broke apart decks and crashed through windows.

“We’ve never seen anything like that. Never,” said Solum, who experienced flooding often when he lived in Houston. Knee-high floodwater forced them to tear out flooring, drywall, furniture, bedding and appliances.

Across Michigan, thousands were left without financial protection after record April rains fell on top of record March snowfall. Worse, many had no idea they were at risk despite years of increasingly heavy precipitation.

Their experience exposes vulnerabilities across the country, experts say, because flood plain maps don’t cover all areas. What’s more, the federal government’s mapping method is arguably outdated and does not account for actual risks as climate change increases the odds of more extreme weather.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency develops and updates maps that determine who’s in a flood plain and must buy insurance, and to help communities plan. But it hasn’t developed maps in many less-populated areas, including some Michigan counties that experienced unprecedented flooding.

Black Lake, for example, straddles two counties — Cheboygan, which has a 2012 FEMA flood plain map, and Presque Isle, where most areas have never been mapped. The longtime summer and retiree destination is ringed by small cabins and some larger homes.

Another issue: FEMA’s maps are based on risks of rivers, streams and other waterways overflowing their banks. But they don’t account for flooding caused strictly from increasingly heavy rainfall that overwhelms stormwater infrastructure in urban areas and inundates rural towns where there’s nowhere for the water to go.

First Street, a company that researches the financial implications of climate change, found more than twice the number of properties at significant flood risk nationwide after incorporating that rainfall data into its own models and by mapping the whole country, including smaller streams that FEMA does not.

That includes four times more properties in Michigan.

“I couldn’t believe it when we first started building our model how different we were from FEMA,” said Jeremy Porter, chief economist at First Street, who says federal maps are “missing a whole source of flooding.”

FEMA uses that extra rainfall data to help set insurance rates, experts said. But it’s unclear whether it’s proceeding with an effort to incorporate it into flood plain mapping.

The General Accounting Office, a federal watchdog agency, raised concerns five years ago that FEMA’s flood hazard maps didn’t reflect the best available climate science or heavy rainfall.

FEMA declined an interview request, but said in a statement that 95% of the U.S. population lives in areas with maps, which are “snapshots in time.” It did not respond to questions about whether this year’s flooding adds urgency to mapping less-populated areas or whether it’s updating its mapping methods.

Michigan experienced “truly a monumental flood” that in many areas exceeded what is known as a 100-year flood, meaning it has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year, said Matthew Occhipinti, the state’s National Flood Insurance Program coordinator.

But it wasn’t a fluke, experts said.

A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture for longer periods, which can lead to heavy rain or snow when enough builds up. And this spring, an “extraordinarily warm” Gulf of Mexico set the stage for both snow and rain in the upper Midwest, said Richard Rood, a University of Michigan climate scientist.

A massive March snowstorm dumped up to 2-4 feet (61-122 centimeters) across northern Michigan. Then April’s record rainfall created more runoff than waterways, dams and culverts could handle.

“We call these storms historic; that is only true compared to the past,” said Rood, adding that Michigan and neighboring Wisconsin experienced their wettest March 1-April 15 period on record. “I think it is more appropriate to consider it typical of the climate of the future.”

That’s why it’s important to update flood maps and for communities to be prepared, experts said.

“You should never be lulled into complacency that, ‘Oh geez we just had the big flood so we’re good for another 100 years or another 500 years,’” said Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers. “Mother Nature does not obey statistical averages.”

FEMA has been working to update existing flood plain maps — some that were decades old — but has made little progress creating new ones in rural areas where development could occur, despite a 2012 congressional mandate, Berginnis said.

The agency has historically prioritized places with the greatest population and risk, which makes sense due to budget constraints, Berginnis said, but also leaves about two-thirds of the country’s streams, rivers and coastlines unmapped. Some of those areas are unpopulated federal land that likely won’t be mapped.

His organization estimates it would cost $4 billion to $12 billion to fully map the country, but FEMA has never had the funding to do so, he said.

Flood plain managers worry the agency could fall even further behind due to significant staffing losses under the Trump administration.

FEMA lost close to 20% of its total workforce in 2025, according to a General Accounting Office report. That includes about 25% of its permanent and most senior staff, said Christopher Currie, who audits FEMA for the GAO.

“We’re very concerned,” said Currie, adding that FEMA was chronically understaffed even before Trump’s second term. Now it would have to divert resources from many programs, including mapping, to respond to multiple disasters.

Getting accurate flood-risk information to communities is a challenge even beyond flood plain mapping.

Communities must participate in the National Flood Insurance Program before homeowners can buy policies underwritten by FEMA and sold by private companies. But many — including several hundred in Michigan, Occhipinti said — have never joined.

Communities can participate without a map. But experts say those that haven’t might never have experienced damaging floods or don’t understand the insurance program.

They also might not realize they have an elevated risk if they rely on FEMA’s National Risk Index, a separate tool from mapping. The index gives one score for a community’s overall risk of any type of natural disaster, and assumes there are no flood risks if the community doesn’t have a flood plain map, said Berginnis.

That means a community with a low score might actually have elevated flood risks, he said, which “gives people the absolute wrong sense of security.”

But even program participation doesn’t guarantee homeowners get accurate information.

Diane Peterman, who evacuated as her crawlspace filled with floodwater, said she tried buying insurance three times but was told she couldn’t, even though her township participates in the National Flood Insurance Program.

“They said, ‘You’re not in a flood zone’ and I said, ‘But I live on a lake,’” said Peterman, who later learned that her neighbor had insurance.

In Michigan, an average policy costs about $1,000 for $250,000 in coverage, though that rate can vary widely based on factors such as home value and location, Occhipinti said. Some companies will sell private flood insurance, though it’s rare, he said.

Berginnis said homeowners and communities should seek information beyond what FEMA provides.

“FEMA flood maps should always be the beginning of the journey and not the end,” he said. “Maybe states and communities need to step up and lead a little bit more.”

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Vice President JD Vance said Monday peace talks with Iran created a “good foundation for a successful final deal” to end the war that began at the end of February.

Vance’s comments came after he and Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrapped up a lengthy round of initial talks aimed at solidifying a permanent end to the war between the countries.

Also, President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, insisting she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticizing what he said was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war. The remarks deepen the spat that began this week, which ultimately led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States.

Here’s the latest:

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain this week as the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to end the war with Iran while Gulf countries remain uneasy about a proposed deal.

The State Department announced Monday that Rubio would visit the three countries for bilateral meetings with leaders to discuss the memorandum of understanding reached last week between the U.S. and Iran, weekend talks in Switzerland between senior Iranian and U.S. officials as well as security for American allies and partners in the Middle East, including the status of the Strait of Hormuz.

Rubio will discuss “regional priorities,” “efforts to secure full and free safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and the importance of peace and stability in the region,” the department said in a statement.

While in Bahrain, Rubio will also meet with Gulf Cooperation Council officials “to discuss shared priorities.”

The license authorizes the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil. It will last through Aug. 21.

The license emerged Monday as U.S. Vice President JD Vance said his lengthy talks with senior Iranian officials in Switzerland created a “good foundation for a successful final deal.” Negotiators are seeking a permanent end to the war the U.S. and Israel began in late February.

The talks were jolted by statements from Trump, who, from thousands of miles away, fired off comments that offended the Iranians.

Iranian state media said talks had paused after the “publication of an insulting message by the U.S. President.” The negotiations later continued.

Vance pushed back against the notion that Trump’s threats complicated the talks.

“No, they didn’t throw a wrench in the system,” Vance said. He added, “Yes, they did threaten to walk out, or at least there were social media threats that they would walk out. But we were negotiating well past one in the morning yesterday, so they didn’t walk out.”

Vance also said the U.S. was not imposing the deal on the region, even though the negotiations include provisions about the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, without representatives from Israel or Lebanon.

“This is a deal that the region has desperately asked the United States to put in place,” Vance said. “This region has been a basket case for a very long time.”

Vance touted that Iran had agreed to invite International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country. However, Iran did not acknowledge that and it was not immediately clear how big a shift that would be.

Since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in 2025, inspectors have visited the Islamic Republic.

However, Tehran has refused inspectors access to the enrichment sites in the country bombed by the U.S., where Iran’s highly enriched uranium is believed to be buried.

Vance said that he was returning to Washington, but he said that talks would continue between the American and Iranian “technical teams.”

“We wanted to set up a structure for that so that you could have proper political oversight, but obviously, as much as this place is very beautiful, I can’t stay here for the next 60 days,” Vance told reporters.

The vice president said that the negotiating teams would have the proper oversight in DC as they waded into an array of issues including how to monitor and address the nuclear material in Iran.

Vance said negotiators had been in constant contact with Netanyahu as well as other countries in the region throughout the negotiations in Switzerland. Some hardliners in Israel’s government have criticized Netanyahu for being sidelined in the negotiations.

Vance said Monday that the U.S. and Iran have made progress on four key points in initial negotiations in Switzerland, listing them as:

Establishing a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open

Coordination for the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon

An agreement on IAEA inspection

A process for the technical negotiations that remain

The vice president said that Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Trump and one of the lead U.S. negotiators, came up with the idea with officials from Qatar.

Vance said that Qatar would have approval over the process, but Iranian money that would be accessible as sanctions were lifted “would actually go to buy American soy, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.”

Iran has not acknowledged this measure and does not currently have demand for U.S. crops.

Vance said that Iranian negotiators “did threaten to walk out” on peace talks, as he defended social media posts by Trump that criticized Iran.

“What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call ‘trash talk,’ you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.

Vance noted that Iran’s team continued to negotiate and did not leave the talks, adding that the country’s team of technical experts had stayed in Switzerland.

“So, yes, there was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining,” Vance said. “But at the end of the day, the talks continued and we made great progress.”

Vice President JD Vance said that peace talks with Iran had created a “good foundation for a successful final deal” to end the war that began at the end of February.

“The final deal is the house,” Vance told reporters. “We set the foundation. We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people.”

The vice president noted that Iran’s team did threaten to walk out of the talks, but he defended social media posts by Trump that had caused Iranian officials to feel offended.

“What we told the Iranians yesterday is when you guys engage in what us millennials might call ‘trash talk,’ you can’t expect the president of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record,” Vance said.

Trump on Saturday announced that federal authorities had made “multiple arrests” of people he said were vandalizing the Reflecting Pool as he struggled to explain why the $14-million-plus rehabilitation project he launched for the nation’s 250th anniversary seemingly backfired.

Trump said his predecessors had let the pool turn an algae-stained green and that he’d line it with “American flag blue” so it better reflected the Washington Monument. But after the new pool was unveiled, its blue tinge quickly became a familiar green. Workers treated it with chemicals to kill the algae, but then the painted blue lining on the bottom began to peel.

On Friday night, Trump posted about the pool.

“We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” he posted on his social media site Friday night. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”

He offered no details to substantiate his claim.

▶ Read more

Trump on Saturday lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, insisting that she asked “over and over” for a photo with him at the recent Group of Seven summit and criticizing what he said was Italy’s lack of cooperation during the Iran war.

The remarks deepen the spat that began this week with the Republican president’s interview with an Italian broadcaster, during which Trump claimed Meloni “begged” for the photo during the G7 meeting in France. Meloni has called that “completely fabricated.” The dustup led Italy’s foreign minister to cancel a planned trip to the United States as Meloni’s government lined up in her defense.

“Italian Prime Minister Gigiorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his social media platform while spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat. He misspelled her first name in the initial post, which he later corrected.

Meloni soon responded, saying in a statement to Trump that “these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless.”

▶ Read more

Senior negotiators from the U.S. and Iran on Monday wrapped up a lengthy round of initial talks aimed at solidifying a permanent end to the war between the countries.

The mediation effort in Switzerland started Sunday and had rocky moments. But it also led to some agreements between the two sides.

Mediators Qatar and Pakistan hailed what they called “encouraging progress” made during the talks as Iran and the United States agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” to address the fighting in Lebanon. A senior U.S. diplomat claimed progress on multiple fronts, including the establishment of “mechanisms” to ensure the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy shipments, remains open and that a ceasefire in southern Lebanon holds.

Yet the talks between the U.S. and Iran, who were accompanied by Qatari and Pakistani officials, were jolted by blistering statements from U.S. President Donald Trump, who, from thousands of miles away from the Swiss negotiating venue at a mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne, was firing off comments that offended the Iranians.

▶ Read more

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The superintendent of Los Angeles public schools has resigned four months after he was put on paid leave during a federal investigation, the district’s Board of Education said Monday.

Alberto Carvalho denied any wrongdoing earlier this year and had asked to be reinstated as head of the nation’s second-largest district.

The FBI served search warrants on Feb. 25 at his home and the LA Unified School District’s headquarters. Two days later, the district’s Board of Education voted unanimously to place him on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

In its statement released early Monday, the Board acknowledged it received a letter of resignation from Carvalho. The resignation was effective as of Sunday.

“The Board remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring stability, continuity, and continued progress through strong leadership. Our focus remains unchanged: providing every student with a high-quality education, supporting our dedicated workforce, and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve,” it said in the statement.

It said that Andrés Chait, who has been acting superintendent, will remain in that position until a permanent decision is made.

Authorities have not provided details of the nature of the investigation involving the district, which serves more than 500,000 students, nor have they accused Carvalho of any crimes.

The FBI also searched a third location near Miami. The Miami Herald reported the Florida property belonged to Debra Kerr, who previously worked with AllHere, an education technology company that had a contract with Los Angeles schools before it collapsed and its leader was indicted for fraud.

In 2024, Carvalho heavily touted a deal with AllHere for an AI chatbot named “Ed” designed to help students. But about three months after unveiling the technology and paying the company $3 million, the district dropped its dealings with AllHere, which collapsed into bankruptcy. Months later, founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was charged with securities and wire fraud, along with identity theft.

At the time, Carvalho denied personal involvement in the selection of AllHere, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Mr. Carvalho respects the rule of law and the investigative process and has always acted in the best interests of students and within the bounds of the law,” a statement provided by Holland & Knight, the law firm representing him, had said. “While the government’s investigation remains ongoing, no evidence has been presented by prosecutors supporting any allegation that Mr. Carvalho violated federal law.”

An email seeking comment was sent to the law firm Monday.

Following the search of school headquarters, LA Unified said it was cooperating with investigators and had no further information.

Carvalho became superintendent for LA in 2022. He previously led the public schools in Miami.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore seeks the Democratic nomination for a second term in Tuesday’s primary for federal, state and local offices. Among the other top races on the ballot are two Democratic congressional primaries: one where two dozen hopefuls look to succeed a longtime congressional leader and another where a Democratic incumbent faces a tough challenge from her wealthy predecessor.

The 2026 midterm contests in Maryland take place under the shadow of the 2028 elections. Moore is running for reelection amid speculation that he also has his eye on a possible presidential campaign. Meanwhile, the contested primaries in all eight of Maryland’s congressional districts could be the last held under the current set of boundaries, as state lawmakers consider entering the national mid-decade redistricting fray with a map that could eliminate the state’s lone Republican congressional seat in time for the 2028 elections.

At the top of the ballot, Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller face a primary challenge from Eric Felber and his running mate, LaTrece Hawkins Lytes. In Maryland, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket. Felber is a physician who unsuccessfully challenged Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin in the 8th Congressional District primary in 2024.

The Democratic ticket will face the winners of a nine-way Republican primary field that includes former state Del. Dan Cox and his running mate, Rob Krop. Cox lost to Moore in the 2022 general election for governor and ran unsuccessfully in 2024 for the 6th Congressional District Republican nomination.

In the 5th Congressional District, 24 contenders seek the Democratic nomination to replace former Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who is retiring after 23 terms. Among those running are former Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, health care business executive Quincy Bareebe, Prince George’s County state Del. Adrian Boafo, Prince George’s County Councilwoman Wala Blegay and former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn.

Bareebe led the field in fundraising as of early June, followed by Dunn. Boafo has endorsements from Hoyer, Moore and Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks.

Dunn served at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters supporting President Donald Trump attacked the complex in an attempt to block certification of his 2020 presidential election defeat. Dunn ran in the 3rd Congressional District in 2024, placing second in the 22-candidate Democratic primary.

The district includes all of Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s County in southern Maryland, but the bulk of voters come from parts of Anne Arundel County and heavily Democratic Prince George’s County.

U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney seeks a second term in the 6th Congressional District but first must clear a strong Democratic primary challenge from the man she replaced, former U.S. Rep. David Trone, who has loaned his campaign $25 million from his personal fortune. Trone gave up the seat for an unsuccessful 2024 U.S. Senate primary bid where he spent $63 million of his own money to place second behind Alsobrooks, who went on to win the seat.

A majority of voters in the 6th District come from Democratic leaning Frederick County and heavily Democratic Montgomery County, but the district also includes all of Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties in heavily Republican western Maryland.

Moore and his allies in the state Legislature attempted to redraw the state’s congressional districts in response to new Trump-backed maps in several Republican-controlled states, but the measure was blocked in mid-April by Democratic state Senate President Bill Ferguson, who said the plan put existing Democratic seats at risk.

But in the wake of an April U.S. Supreme Court decision that prompted some Republican-controlled southern states to eliminate several Democratic-held majority-Black districts, Ferguson said in a statement that “Maryland must respond as the ground shifts under us.” The Legislature may take up the measure again ahead of the 2028 election in the form of a state constitutional amendment that could go before voters as early as November.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for governor, U.S. House, state Senate, state House and local offices in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

Voters registered with a political party may participate only in their own party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary.

As of May 31, there were about 4.6 million registered voters in Maryland. That includes about 2.2 million active registered Democrats, about 1 million active registered Republicans and about 1 million active voters not affiliated with any party. There are an additional 250,000 inactive registered voters that the state does not break down by party.

About 671,000 registered Democrats and about 295,000 registered Republicans cast ballots in the 2022 primaries for governor. That was about 16% and 7% of registered voters at the time.

About 60% of Democratic primary votes and about 37% of Republican primary votes in the 2022 primaries were cast early in-person or by mail.

As of Wednesday, about 228,000 Democratic primary ballots and about 67,000 Republican primary ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

The first vote reports of the night tend to be from early voting and mail ballots cast before Election Day.

In the 2022 primary, the AP first reported results at 8:42 p.m. ET, or 42 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 4:15 a.m. ET with about 56% of total votes counted.

In Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, the two most populous in the state, the first votes were reported at 9:05 p.m. ET. The last election night update from Montgomery County was at 2:25 a.m. ET with about half the vote counted and from Prince George’s at 3:05 p.m. ET with about 59% counted.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Recounts in Maryland are not automatic. A losing candidate may request and pay for a recount if the vote margin between the top two candidates is 5% or less of the total votes cast for those two candidates. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of Tuesday, there will be 133 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Utah voters will nominate candidates for Congress Tuesday using a new map that created a Democratic-friendly district in Salt Lake City and scrambled the reelection plans of the state’s all-Republican delegation.

The new congressional boundaries could result in an additional Democratic seat, as Republicans try to retain a slim U.S. House majority in a midterm election environment where the president’s party typically loses seats in Congress.

The state adopted the new map over the objections of the Republican-controlled Legislature after a Utah court invalidated lawmakers’ 2021 plan, which divided the Democratic stronghold of Salt Lake City among four Republican-dominated congressional districts. The court ruled that the Republican lawmakers’ map violated a voter-backed 2018 measure designed to reduce partisanship in redistricting.

The Utah Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling in February, and a Republican measure backed by President Donald Trump to repeal the 2018 anti-gerrymandering law failed to make the November ballot. The reshuffling of seats in Utah comes as Republicans are set to make gains from mid-decade redistricting efforts in several states at Trump’s urging.

In the newly drawn Salt Lake City-based 1st Congressional District, former Salt Lake City mayor and former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams looks to return to Congress in a district more favorable than the one he represented for one term at the end of the last decade. He faces state Sen. Nate Blouin, tax attorney Michael Farrell and former American Heart Association lobbyist and former TikTok and Meta policy analyst Liban Mohamed. At the start of June, McAdams had almost triple Blouin’s overall fundraising haul and dwarfed the rest of the field combined in cash available.

Republican Riley Owen is running unopposed. Had this district been in effect in the 2024 presidential election, former Vice President Kamala Harris would have carried it with 60% of the vote.

The new 2nd Congressional District in northwest Utah is the least changed of the state’s four districts. It tracks closely with the current 1st Congressional District. Republican U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, who currently represents the 1st District, is running for a fourth term, but he faces a tough primary against state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee. At the April state party convention, Lisonbee defeated Moore by an almost two-to-one margin in a nomination vote among delegates, but Moore secured a spot in the primary through a signature petition. Lisonbee has criticized Moore for co-chairing the “Better Boundaries” committee that helped pass the 2018 redistricting law that many state Republicans blame for costing them a seat in Congress.

In the massive new 3rd Congressional District spanning southern and eastern Utah, Republican U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy faces a primary challenge from former state Rep. Phil Lyman in her bid for a second full term. Maloy currently represents the 2nd Congressional District, which overlaps with the new 3rd District in southwest Utah, but the bulk of the new district along the Colorado border will be new territory. Maloy narrowly won the nomination vote at the April state convention over Lyman after two rounds of voting, but not by enough to keep Lyman off the primary ballot.

In the new 4th Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kennedy is unopposed for renomination. The district overlaps mostly with Maloy’s current 2nd District on the western side of the state, not the eastern half that he’s represented since 2025.

Republican U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens of the current 4th District in the heart of Utah opted not to seek reelection.

Trump has endorsed all three incumbents seeking reelection.

About half of Utah’s 29 state Senate seats and all 75 state House seats are up for election in 2026. Republicans hold overwhelming supermajorities in both chambers.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

Polls close at 8 p.m. MT, which is 10 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, state Senate, state House and state Board of Education.

Any registered voter may participate in the Democratic primary regardless of party registration. Only registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary. Eligible voters may register in-person at the polls during the early voting period or on Election Day. Voters who are not affiliated with any political party may affiliate with the Republican Party at the polls on Election Day and vote in the Republican primary.

As of June 16, there were about 2.1 million registered voters in Utah, including about 1 million registered Republicans, about 297,000 registered Democrats and about 622,000 voters not affiliated with any party.

Roughly 427,000 votes were cast in the 2024 Republican state primary. Total votes in Democratic primaries ranged from about 68,000 in the 2024 presidential primary to about 221,000 in the 2020 presidential primary.

Elections in Utah are conducted predominantly by mail.

As of Thursday, about 163,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s primaries, including about 127,000 from Republicans, about 32,000 from Democrats and about 2,900 from unaffiliated voters.

Most counties tend to release a significant amount of early in-person and mail results in the 1st vote update of the night. But in about two-thirds of counties, advance voting results are released along with results from in-person Election Day voting.

In the 2024 state primary, the AP first reported results at 10:03 p.m. ET, or three minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 2:07 a.m. ET with about 74% of total votes counted. The tally surpassed 90% of the vote counted by June 27 at 6:32 p.m. ET, two days after Election Day.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

Recounts are automatic in Utah only in the event of a tie vote. A losing candidate may request a recount if the vote margin is 0.25% of the total vote or less. In elections with fewer than 400 total votes cast, recounts may be requested if the winning margin is one vote. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of Tuesday, there will be 133 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two of South Carolina’s top officeholders will compete one-on-one for the Republican nomination for governor in a primary runoff election on Tuesday. Voters will also select nominees for a handful of congressional races and other contests in which no candidate received a majority of the vote in the June 9 primary.

The Republican gubernatorial runoff features two-term Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson, son of Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson. President Donald Trump announced Friday he was endorsing both Evette and Wilson in the runoff.

“I can’t hurt one of them by only Endorsing the other,” he said in a Friday evening social media post. Trump had endorsed Evette in the primary over Wilson and five other candidates.

Trump’s picks have had a strong record at the ballot box in 2026, although some recent contests have shown that the president’s backing is not a guarantee of victory. The president’s picks for Iowa governor and Georgia governor lost their nomination bids, while his pick for Oklahoma governor was forced to a runoff after placing second in the June 16 primary.

Evette had Trump’s endorsement for the primary but also failed to win the nomination outright. She received 28.9% of the primary vote, narrowly outperforming Wilson, who received 26.1%. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman placed third with 17.1%.

Evette’s best showing was in the Pee Dee region to the northeast along the North Carolina border and the Atlantic Ocean. The region was a strong area for Trump in 2024 and comprised about 15% of the total primary vote. Wilson’s strongest area was in the central core of the state, where Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris ran about even in 2024. The area includes Richland County, home to the state capital of Columbia, and reaches southwest to the Georgia border to include several of the state’s majority Black counties. Collectively, the area made up about 19% of the total primary vote.

A key battleground in the runoff will be the Upcountry region that includes some of the state’s most populous counties, including Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson. Evette was the top vote-getter in this area, although the margin between first-place Evette and third-place Norman was less than 2 percentage points.

The eventual Republican nominee will face Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, who won the nomination outright in the primary. Democrats last won the governorship in 1998.

The winner in November will succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who has endorsed Evette. Regardless of party, his replacement will likely play a key role in the early stages of the 2028 presidential race, with the state expected to once again hold critical first-in-the-South presidential primaries.

Placing a distant fifth in the gubernatorial primary was U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a one-time staunch Trump ally who broke with the president in calling for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Both the Republican and Democratic primaries to replace her in the 1st Congressional District were forced to a runoff.

The Republican finalists are Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt and state Rep. Mark Smith. The Democratic finalists are former Hilton Head Island general counsel and U.S. Coast Guard veteran Mac Deford and retired Navy Vice Admiral and former Navy Reserve Chief Nancy Lacore. Honeycutt had a 4-point lead over Smith in the Republican primary, while Lacore outperformed Deford by nearly 8 points in the Democratic primary.

Trump carried the 1st District in 2024 with about 56%, compared to about 43% for Harris.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in primary runoffs for U.S. House, governor, attorney general, agriculture commissioner and state House.

Voters who cast a ballot in a partisan primary on June 9 may only vote in the runoff of the same party as they did in the primary. In other words, Democratic primary voters may not vote in a Republican primary runoff or vice versa. Registered voters who did not participate in a party primary on June 9 may vote in the runoff for either party.

As of Saturday, there were about 3.4 million registered voters in South Carolina. Voters in South Carolina do not register by party.

About 473,000 voters cast ballots in the June 9 Republican primary for governor.

The total number of voters in a runoff tends to be smaller than in the preceding primary. In the last Republican primary runoff for governor in 2018, the number of voters fell about 7% from the primary. The drop-off was about 14% in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial runoff.

The two statewide primary runoffs in 2022 had much starker drops. The number of Republican runoff voters for state school superintendent fell by 47% compared to the primary. Total voters in the Democratic U.S. Senate runoff was 74% less than in the primary.

About 52% of the Democratic primary vote and about 29% of the Republican primary vote in the June 9 primaries was cast early in-person or by mail.

As of Wednesday, halfway through the state’s two-day early voting period, about 37,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

Nearly all of South Carolina’s 46 counties release all or almost all of their early in-person and mail voting results in the first vote update of the night, usually before releasing any results from in-person Election Day voting.

In the June 9 primary, the AP first reported results at 7:20 p.m. ET, or 20 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 12:19 a.m. ET with about 99.9% of total votes counted.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

In South Carolina, recounts are automatic if the margin between the winning and losing candidates is 1% of the total vote or less. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of Tuesday, there will be 133 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

NEW YORK (AP) — Democratic nomination contests for New York’s seats in the closely divided U.S. House take center stage Tuesday in a state primary where relatively few of the state’s top officeholders will appear on the ballot.

One incumbent who is not up for election but has emerged as a key figure in the campaign is New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is looking to shape the city’s congressional delegation through a series of endorsements, including for challengers to two Democratic incumbents.

New York is expected to play a key role in deciding control of the chamber in November.

In New York City, competitive primaries in traditionally safe Democratic seats could help define the party’s identity in the Empire State and beyond.

In the 10th Congressional District in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Golden faces a strong challenge from former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who has endorsements from Mamdani and Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Mamdani and Lander are former mayoral campaign rivals.

In the 13th Congressional District in Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, five-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat faces three primary challengers, including doctoral student and political organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, who also has Mamdani’s backing.

In the 7th Congressional District straddling Brooklyn and Queens, retiring 17-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez has endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, but he faces a tough race against state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez, who has endorsements from Mamdani and Sanders.

In Manhattan’s 12th Congressional District, eight Democrats are running to succeed retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler. The top contenders include state Assemblymen Alex Bores and Micah Lasher, attorney, Donald Trump critic and former Republican George Conway, and Kennedy family scion Jack Schlossberg. Conway leads the field in fundraising, but Lasher boasts endorsements from Nadler, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and former independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

North of the city in the 17th Congressional District, five Democrats hope to unseat two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, who is unopposed for the nomination. The field includes former White House counterterrorism official and Army combat veteran Cait Conley, Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson and Tarrytown Village Trustee Effie Phillips-Staley. Conley leads in fundraising and available cash as of early June, followed by Davidson, with Phillips-Staley a distant third.

This swing district in the northern suburbs of New York City is among the top seats Democrats hope to flip. Democrat Kamala Harris narrowly carried the district in 2024. Her strongest showing was in Westchester County, the largest of the district’s four counties and the closest to New York City. Trump carried Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess counties with double-digit leads.

On Long Island, vulnerable Democratic freshmen Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen are defending their seats in the 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts, respectively. Both face contested primaries.

In the massive 21st Congressional District in upstate New York, Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik is not seeking a seventh term following her aborted run for governor and her withdrawn nomination for United Nations Ambassador. State Assemblyman Robert Smullen has the backing of local party officials to replace her, while business owner Anthony Constantino has an endorsement from Trump.

The only statewide contest at stake on Tuesday is the Democratic primary for state comptroller, where the five-term incumbent, Tom DiNapoli, faces his first-ever primary challenge after almost 20 years in office.

Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James are running for reelection, but they are unopposed for their party’s nominations and do not appear on primary ballots, as is the case for their Republican opponents, Bruce Blakeman and Saritha Komatireddy. Under New York election law, primaries are not held in contests where only one candidate seeks the nomination.

Voters will also decide contested primaries for state Senate and state Assembly. All 63 state Senate and 150 state Assembly seats are up for election in 2026. Democrats hold about 2-to-1 majorities over Republicans in both chambers.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, state comptroller, state Senate and state Assembly.

Voters registered with a political party may participate only in their own party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary.

As of Feb. 20, there were about 13.4 million registered voters in New York, including about 6.4 million registered Democrats, about 3 million registered Republicans and about 3.4 million voters not affiliated with any party.

About 899,000 Democratic primary votes and about 451,000 Republican primary votes were cast in the 2022 primaries for governor.

About 20% of the 2022 primary vote was cast early in-person or by mail. The figure rose to about 39% in the 2024 presidential primaries.

As of Wednesday, about 107,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

New York counties and New York City tend to release all or almost all of their results from early voting and most of their results from mail voting in the first vote update of the night, usually before any results from in-person Election Day voting are released.

In the 2022 primary, the AP first reported results at 9:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 3:11 a.m. ET with about 95% of total votes counted.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

In New York, an automatic recount is triggered in races where more than 1 million votes are cast if the margin of victory is less than 5,000 votes. For smaller races, the automatic recount is triggered if the margin of victory is 20 votes or less or 0.5% or less of the total votes cast. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of Tuesday, there will be 133 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

By Arriana McLymore and Koyena Das

NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) – Amazon Prime Day starting on Tuesday will be a litmus test of U.S. shoppers’ spending power, with the earlier-than-usual sales event increasingly centered on perishable groceries, household basics and back-to-school needs rather than carefree splurges.

The four-day blitz running June 23 to 26, comes after Amazon shifted it from July, citing a calendar crowded by the FIFA World Cup and the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. The earlier timing could also capture spending on summer travel, July Fourth stock-ups and back-to-school shopping.

What shoppers add to their carts is as important as how much they spend, helping gauge whether recent U.S. consumer resilience is holding or beginning to crack. Squeezed by inflation — up 4.2% in May at its fastest pace in three years — and a surge in gas prices driven by conflict in the Middle East, most lower- and middle-income consumers have eschewed big-ticket items.

“People just don’t have the cash right now,” said William Stern, CEO at U.S.-based small business lender Cardiff. “Prime Day isn’t going to be about buying big TVs or fun stuff this year. It’s for buying toilet paper and garbage bags on sale. Families are literally waiting for these discounts just to buy regular everyday things because their bank accounts are empty.”

Amazon has highlighted deals on groceries, household goods, travel and school items, and said fresh food and essentials are becoming a larger part of Prime members’ baskets as it expands same-day delivery.

Adobe Analytics expects a boost in children’s apparel, lunch boxes, backpacks, refrigerators, power tools and vacuum cleaners, with average discounts of 23% on apparel, 23% on electronics and 19% on toys — largely flat from last year.

Shoppers will spend more on this Prime Day than on Cyber Monday and Black Friday 2025 combined, Adobe projected.

Amazon is also promoting its AI shopping assistant, Alexa for Shopping, as a discovery and deal-tracking tool for Prime Day. The feature offers personalized recommendations based on user behavior, allows shoppers to track price history for up to a year, set alerts, and automate purchases once target drop prices are reached.

Bank of America said in a note that the tool will be key “in protecting direct traffic for Amazon, as well as enabling higher conversion rates and driving incremental spend on the platform.” The brokerage expects the 96-hour Prime Day event to reach $21.6 billion in goods sold, a 5% increase over 2025.

An earlier Prime Day will help Amazon grab seasonal spending on outdoor and travel products, and summer wardrobe, eMarketer analyst Sky Canaves said, adding that shoppers remain highly strategic and wait for these sales to stock up on essentials as well as delayed bigger-ticket purchases.

While Amazon’s rivals Walmart and Target have shadowed Prime Day for years, the overlap has turned it into a synchronized industry event, intensifying price competition. Walmart’s seven-day sale started on Monday, while Target Circle Deal Days align exactly with Prime Day.

eMarketer expects Amazon to capture more than 60% of sales over the four days.

“Walmart and Target…aren’t getting people to spend more overall, they’re just fighting over the same exact person. People are just going to go to whichever store has the absolute cheapest price,” Cardiff’s Stern said.

While shoppers are expected to be more selective, steady retail sales and a stable economy should support a solid Prime Week, though with a greater focus on value, said Bret Kenwell, an analyst at eToro.

(Reporting by Arriana McLymore in New York City; Additional reporting by Sanskriti Shekhar in Bangalore; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Jacqueline Wong)