NASA's in a 'weird period' right now, acting chief Janet Petro says
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — These are strange times for NASA, according to the agency's acting chief.
During the brief tenure of acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro, the agency has laid off employees, slashed budgets, ended key programs, and removed all mentions of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility from its websites.
If this stretch has seemed odd to you, you're not alone; Petro herself characterized it as a "weird period" during a fireside address today (April 8) at the Space Foundation's 40th annual Space Symposium here in Colorado Springs.
So weird, in fact, that Petro added that she thinks she is the person at NASA who is most eager to see billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman confirmed as NASA administrator. Isaacman is slated to have his first confirmation hearing tomorrow (April 9).
Related: Who is Janet Petro, Trump's pick for acting NASA administrator?
"I think I am the one most looking forward to that I know across the agency," Petro said today.
The acting administrator opened her fireside chat with Space Foundation CEO Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle (Ret.) by recounting how she came to find out she was given the position of acting administrator after former NASA chief Bill Nelson stepped down in January 2025. Petro was so surprised by the news after hearing it first from her chief of staff that she thought it was a prank.
"I thought he was punking me. I thought it was a joke," Petro told Space Symposium attendees today.
Related stories:
— NASA cutting programs, workforce to comply with Trump order
— Trump orders interim NASA chief to end DEI initiatives
— Who is Jared Isaacman, Trump's pick for NASA chief?
The acting NASA chief elaborated on how she views her role in this "weird" time at the agency, stating that she has been primarily attempting to keep the agency moving forward on its flagship programs of record like the Artemis moon missions or recent partnerships on private moon landings.
But the confirmation of a new agency administrator will "allow us to move forward even faster with some more specificity, if you will," Petro said.
"So along with that, I would say, I like to say I'm sort of preparing to wait for Jared, just making sure that everything is on track," she added.
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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
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As for whether Trump will be able to fire Powell, the Supreme Court in May issued a ruling that walled off the Federal Reserve from other independent agencies that had their leaders removed by Trump. The drumbeat that President Trump will fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell got louder Wednesday, with reporting from CBS News, Bloomberg, CNBC, and The New York Times all adding to the sense that Trump is getting closer to making the unprecedented move. Stocks were lower following the news, but the biggest move in markets was coming from the foreign exchange market, where the dollar was getting crushed against other major currencies. The dollar quickly fell as much as 1% against the Japanese yen, lost about 0.7% against the euro, and fell about 0.5% against the British pound. The dollar index fell about 0.7%. Trump has for some time complained about Powell's lack of aggressive rate cuts this year, saying the Fed chair is "too late," among other barbs. And while the spat between Trump and Powell — who was named Fed chair by Trump during his first term in office — has now spanned multiple administrations, some on Wall Street also see Trump's desire to cut Powell as coming back to aiding his key economic agenda: tariffs. "There is method to President Donald Trump's madness regarding Fed Chair Jerome Powell," Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research wrote in a note to clients on July 1. "Trump has been hammering Powell almost daily recently because doing so is very effectively hammering the foreign-exchange value of the dollar. Trump wants a weaker dollar to boost US exports and depress US imports. He has said that he favored a weaker dollar many times in the past, but now he has found a way to achieve that: by beating up on Powell." As for whether Trump will be able to fire Powell, the Supreme Court in May issued a ruling that walled off the Federal Reserve from other independent agencies that had their leaders removed by Trump. 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According to the CME Group, traders are pricing in a 44% chance that the Fed will not cut rates in September, up from 30% last week. Investors see a more than 54% probability of a 25 basis point cut in September, down from roughly 66% last week. And traders are betting that there's a slim 1.4% chance that the central bank will cut rates by 50 basis points, down from 4.2% last week. Johnson & Johnson stock climbs after earnings beat Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) stock climbed nearly 5% Wednesday after the drugmaker's latest earnings results topped expectations and the company raised its financial outlook for the year. The pharma giant reported revenues of $23.7 billion, higher than the $22.8 billion expected by Wall Street analysts. Earnings per share came in at $2.77, compared to the $2.66 projected, Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani reports. 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Wednesday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that its producer price index (PPI) — which tracks the price changes companies see — rose 2.3% from the year prior, below the 2.7% seen in May and lower than the 2.5% increase economists had projected. On a monthly basis, prices were flat. Economists had expected 0.2% increase. Excluding food and energy, "core" prices rose 2.6% year over year, below the 3.2% gain seen in May. Economists had expected an increase of 2.7%. Meanwhile, month-over-month core prices were flat below the 0.2% increase economists had expected and the 0.3% gain seen last month. The report follows Tuesday's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed core price increases accelerated to 2.9% in June. Wholesale prices rose less than expected in June. Wednesday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that its producer price index (PPI) — which tracks the price changes companies see — rose 2.3% from the year prior, below the 2.7% seen in May and lower than the 2.5% increase economists had projected. On a monthly basis, prices were flat. Economists had expected 0.2% increase. Excluding food and energy, "core" prices rose 2.6% year over year, below the 3.2% gain seen in May. Economists had expected an increase of 2.7%. Meanwhile, month-over-month core prices were flat below the 0.2% increase economists had expected and the 0.3% gain seen last month. The report follows Tuesday's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed core price increases accelerated to 2.9% in June. 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The order should take place within the next few days and will open up retirement plans to riskier investments. Reuters reports: Read more here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US trade chief Greer says wants US trade deficit on downward path
By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal (Reuters) -U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday that his trade policy goal was to put the $1.2 trillion U.S. trade deficit on a downward path and to stem the loss of U.S. advanced manufacturing capacity. Greer, in remarks to a reindustrialization summit in Detroit, said that President Donald Trump's expanded tariff program was already bearing fruit in terms of spurring new industrial investments in the U.S. This includes $4 billion from General Motors to move some production to the U.S. from Mexico, new steel and pharmaceutical plants, Greer said, adding that Trump was encouraging countries to move production to the U.S. to avoid his tariffs. Greer said in most substantial policy address since taking office in late February, that the U.S. industrial decline was due to long-running trade liberalization efforts by both Democratic and Republican administrations, including allowing China to join the World Trade Organization. The 2024 U.S. trade deficit of $1.2 trillion was "a state of affairs that is as unsustainable as it is unacceptable," Greer said. "It almost sounds like Monopoly money." To help remedy this, he said Trump's tariff policies called for a universal tariff rate of 10% on all countries, with higher rates for the most "problematic" ones, including China, which has the highest tariff rate of 55%. "Of course, the president signaled a willingness to negotiate with countries if they want to have an alternative relation with us and really join us in re industrializing. And countries have been responsive," Greer said. Trump himself drafted the recent letters that he has set to a number of countries informing them of tariff rates for their imports absent trade deals, Greer said. "He had a line in there that says there will be no tariff if you decide to build or manufacture product within the United States," Greer said. Greer also said that he also wanted to increase the manufacturing share of U.S. GDP and increase the median household income in the U.S. While tariffs were an important tool in this, there are others, including the recent enactment of a massive tax cut and spending bill that includes investments in energy, tax breaks for research and development and immediate expensing of capital investments against tax liabilities. As the top U.S. trade lawyer, Greer said, "my job is to clear the playing field of all the pitfalls, the obstacles, all the unfairness that has hindered U.S. re-industrialization." Sign in to access your portfolio
