North America

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s economy showed life in the first three months of the year, growing 0.9% compared with the final quarter of 2021, according to preliminary estimates released Friday by Mexico’s statistics agency.

That was improvement over the zero growth in final three months of 2021 and the slight retraction in the quarter before that, but the economy continued to show weakness after its initial rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced shutdown of 2020, fueled largely by the United States’ economic recovery.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell in morning trading on Wall Street Friday, putting major indexes back into the red for the week after several sharp moves both up and down over the past few days.

The S&P 500 fell 1.2% as of 10:19 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 267 points, or 0.8%, to 33,651 and the Nasdaq fell 1.2%.

ATLANTA (AP) — When potential grand jurors show up at an Atlanta courthouse Monday, they’ll find a television camera in the room and streets closed outside — nods to the intense public interest in the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to pressure Georgia officials to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election victory in the state.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has taken the unusual step of requesting a special grand jury for the investigation, and the selection of that panel begins Monday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Exxon Mobil reported $5.48 billion in profits during the first quarter as oil and gas prices rose steadily, more than doubling its profits compared with the same quarter last year.

But the oil giant took a huge hit as it abandoned its Russian operations due to the war, writing down $3.4 billion.

Including that loss, the oil giant reported profits of $1.28 per share Friday, which was well below expectations of analysts polled by Factset, who were looking for $2.23 per share.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As Mexican investigators struggle with the so-far inexplicable death of an 18 year-old woman, the odds of an answer are slim: Even nationally significant homicide cases — like nearly all homicide cases in Mexico — tend to wind up as mysterious as the 1975 disappearance of U.S. union boss Jimmy Hoffa. Poor evidence handling, intentional distortion of investigations, cover-ups, political interests and just plain incompetence often leave the public without complete answers. Surveys by Mexican think tanks say roughly 90% of homicides go unpunished in Mexico.

DETROIT (AP) — Elon Musk has sold 4.4 million shares of Tesla stock worth roughly $4 billion, most likely to help fund his purchase of Twitter.

Musk reported the sale in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. The shares were sold over the past few days, at prices ranging from $872.02 to $999.13.

The world’s richest man, who is the CEO of Tesla, tweeted that he doesn’t plan any further sales of the company’s shares.

Most of the sales took place on Tuesday, when Tesla shares closed down 12%, a huge single-day drop.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday set tentative dates in June to publicly review COVID-19 vaccines for the youngest American children, typically the final step before authorizing the shots.

The meeting announcement follows months of frustration from families impatient for a chance to vaccinate their little children, along with complaints from politicians bemoaning the slow pace of the process.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Federal Reserve surged 6.6% in March compared with a year ago, the highest 12-month jump in four decades and further evidence that spiking prices are pressuring household budgets and the health of the economy.

Yet there were signs in Friday’s report from the Commerce Department that inflation might be slowing from its galloping pace and perhaps nearing a peak, at least for now.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The worst possible moment for bringing Trevor Reed home turned out to be the best.

With U.S.-Russian relations at their lowest point in decades, it seemed an improbable time to hope for the release of Reed, a former Marine detained in Russia for almost three years. Yet this week the Biden administration completed the type of transaction it had earlier seemed resistant to, exchanging Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot and convicted drug trafficker serving a 20-year prison sentence in Connecticut.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former U.S. Marine was killed alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia, his relatives told news outlets in what’s the first known death of an American citizen fighting in Ukraine.

Rebecca Cabrera told CNN her 22-year-old son, Willy Joseph Cancel, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine.