Surging Bond Yields Pile Pressure on the Fed

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Luke Vargas (0:33)

The Supreme Court averts a potentially chaotic shakeup of mail ballot rules ahead of the midterms.

Plus, the 10-year Treasury yield hits its highest level in almost two decades. And if you're hoping to get away from business news, don't go to the movies.

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Hollywood has a long history of making films about the most socially relevant topics. And of course, in 2026, the most powerful, compelling people in the world are from the tech industry. These are the titans who shape our lives.

Luke Vargas (1:06)

It's Tuesday, September 15th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. And here is the AM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

The Supreme Court has blocked the Trump administration's push to create new rules for mail ballots, heading off changes that state and local officials said would have been logistically impossible ahead of November's midterms. In an unsigned one-paragraph ruling, the court said that the US. Postal Service can't enforce the rules that would have compelled states to quickly redesign their ballot envelopes, submit lists of voters to the federal government, and get sign-off from postal officials before ballots could be sent out. Nevada's Democratic Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar, said the ruling was particularly important for states like his, where people primarily vote by mail.

Cisco Aguilar (1:58)

We start planning for the election right after the past election. We've been planning for this since November of 24 because that's our responsibility, that's our duty, that's what we owe Nevadans across the state to have safe, secure and accessible elections. And Nevada does what it needs to do in order to make that happen.

And the fact that today the Supreme Court put away the chaos and the lack of leadership from this administration to say, hey, it's states that run elections and states are going to make the decisions that are in the best interests of its citizens and the best interests of the voters.

Luke Vargas (2:30)

President Trump has frequently criticized mail voting, saying it's rife with fraud, something that Attorney General Todd Blanch echoed in an interview with CBS shortly before the ruling.

Todd Blanch (2:40)

What President Trump is doing and what the executive order that President Trump signed wants to do is make sure that we're eliminating fraud in our elections. And so there is, I don't even think that, well, that any honest broker will concede that mail and voting, even though there are benefits, especially for people in our military, people who can't go to the polling stations, the potential for fraud is obvious.

Luke Vargas (3:02)

There is no documented evidence of widespread fraud tied to mail ballots, which are used by nearly a third of American voters.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said it will unwind two key carbon dioxide emission rules as part of a wider effort to curb the agency's role in regulating climate change. The first would reverse Biden era policies to crack down on pollution from coal and newly built natural gas power plants, while the other concerns the EPA's broader authority under the Clean Air Act, which could prevent future administrations from regulating power plant emissions, as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin explained.

Lee Zeldin (3:40)

The reality is that America produces energy better and cleaner than anywhere else in the world and our power plant should not be so absurdly targeted. If finalized as proposed, energy producers will be given certainty for the future.

Luke Vargas (3:57)

The move to unwind EPA regulations is considered a victory for the fossil fuel industry which has pushed back against Federal climate regulations. President Trump has framed fossil fuels as vital to economic and national security.

The board of the Kennedy Center, which President Trump handpicked, says that the Performing Arts Center could close as early as today unless the president's fundraising efforts are properly recognized by having his name put on the building. A federal judge in May ordered Trump's name to be removed from the building's facade, saying that only Congress could rename the institution. And Senator Mitch McConnell has returned to Congress for the first time in three months. The Kentucky Republican didn't answer questions when he was wheeled from his home, heard here courtesy of WUSA 9