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Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed voted Sunday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago.

The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in in Mascoutah, Illinois, and the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners but threatens to complicate the aerospace company’s progress in regaining its financial footing.

“Boeing claimed they listened to their employees – the result of today’s vote proves they have not,” Brian Bryant, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement.

Boeing said it was disappointed by the result and noted the vote had been a close one. The company said in a statement that it was increasingly hearing from workers “who want to cross the picket line” and “understand the value of our offer.”

“The union’s statement is misleading since the vote failed by the slimmest of margins, 51% to 49%,” the statement read. “We are turning our focus to executing the next phase of our contingency plan in support of our customers.”

The machinists’ union acknowledged the vote was close but said in a message to members that “very few” workers have crossed the picket line.

“Our solidarity remains strong, and the company’s claim otherwise is wrong,” the union said.

Union leaders say talks have stalled over issues such as wages and retirement benefits, while Boeing has argued that workers’ demands exceed the cost of living in the Midwest.

Ahead of Sunday’s vote, the union told its members that it did not recommend approval of the company’s latest offer, which it said “had no meaningful improvements” to retirement benefits and wage increases for workers with more seniority.

Negotiations escalated over the summer in the days leading up to the strike, with the workers rejecting an earlier proposed agreement that included a 20% wage hike over the life of the five-year contract.

Boeing quickly countered with a modified agreement that didn’t boost the proposed pay raises but did remove a scheduling provision affecting the workers’ ability to earn overtime pay. Workers rejected that offer, too, and went on strike the next morning. They also voted against revised terms in September.

The company has said that it was prepared for a strike, with a contingency plan in place “to ensure our non-striking workforce can continue supporting our customers.”

Boeing’s Defense, Space & Security business accounts for more than one-third of the company’s revenue. Boeing is set to report its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A trade deal between the United States and China is drawing closer, officials from the world’s two largest economies said Sunday as they reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting.

Any agreement would be a relief to international markets even if it does not address underlying issues involving manufacturing imbalances and access to state-of-the-art computer chips.

Beijing recently limited exports of rare earth elements that are needed for advanced technologies, and Trump responded by threatening additional tariffs on Chinese products. The prospect of a widening conflict risked weakening economic growth worldwide.

China’s top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, told reporters the two sides had reached a “preliminary consensus,” while Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said there was “a very successful framework.”

Trump also expressed confidence that an agreement was at hand, saying the Chinese “want to make a deal and we want to make a deal.” The Republican president is set to meet with Xi on Thursday in South Korea, the final stop of his trip through Asia.

Bessent told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the threat of additional higher tariffs on China was “effectively off the table.” In interviews on several American news shows, he said discussions with China yielded initial agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the U.S., and that Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earths.

When asked how close a deal was, Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, said on “Fox News Sunday” that “it’s really going to depend” on the two presidents.

Meanwhile, Trump reiterated that he plans to visit China in the future and suggested that Xi could come to Washington or Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida.

The progress toward a potential agreement came during the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in Kuala Lumpur, with Trump seeking to burnish his reputation as an international dealmaker.

Yet his way of pursuing deals has meant serious disruptions at home and abroad. His import taxes have scrambled relationships with trading partners while a U.S. government shutdown has him feuding with Democrats.

At the summit, Thailand and Cambodia signed an expanded ceasefire agreement during a ceremony attended by Trump. His threats of economic pressure prodded the two nations to halt skirmishes along their disputed border earlier this year.

Thailand will release Cambodian prisoners and Cambodia will begin withdrawing heavy artillery as part of the first phase of the deal. Regional observers will monitor the situation to ensure fighting doesn’t restart.

“We did something that a lot of people said couldn’t be done,” Trump said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet called it a “historic day,” and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the agreement creates “the building blocks for a lasting peace.”

The president signed economic frameworks with Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, some of them aimed at increasing trade involving critical minerals. The United States wants to rely less on China, which has used limits on exports of key components in technology manufacturing as a bargaining chip in trade talks.

“It’s very important that we cooperate as willing partners with each other to ensure that we can have smooth supply chains, secure supply chains, for the quality of life, for our people and security,” Greer said.

Trump attended this summit only once during his first term, and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed unfamiliar with ASEAN during his confirmation hearing in January.

This year’s event was a chance for Trump to reengage with nations that have a combined $3.8 trillion economy and 680 million people.

“The United States is with you 100%, and we intend to be a strong partner and friend for many generations to come,” Trump said. He described his counterparts as “spectacular leaders” and said that “everything you touch turns to gold.”

Trump’s tariff threats were credited with helping spur negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia. Some of the worst modern fighting between the two countries took place over five days in July, killing dozens and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

The president threatened, at the time, to withhold trade agreements unless the fighting stopped. A shaky truce has persisted since then.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim praised the agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, saying at the summit that “it reminds us that reconciliation is not concession, but an act of courage.”

Trump in Kuala Lumpur met Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was also attending the summit. There has been friction between them over Brazil’s prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president and a close Trump ally. Bolsonaro was convicted last month of attempting to overturn election results in his country.

During their meeting, Trump said he could reduce tariffs on Brazil that he enacted in a push for leniency for Bolsonaro.

“I think we should be able to make some good deals for both countries,” he said.

While Trump was warming to Lula, he avoided Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The president is angry with Canada because of a television advertisement protesting his trade policies, and on his way to the summit announced on social media he would raise tariffs on Canada because of it.

One leader absent from the summit was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Although he was close with Trump during Trump’s first term, the relationship has been more tense lately. Trump caused irritation by boasting that he settled a recent conflict between India and Pakistan, and he has increased tariffs on India for its purchase of Russian oil.

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Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Tokyo and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration’s annual cost-of-living adjustment will go up by 2.8% in 2026, translating to an average increase of more than $56 for retirees every month, agency officials said Friday.

The benefits increase for nearly 71 million Social Security recipients will go into effect beginning in January. And increased payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving Supplemental Security Income will begin on Dec. 31.

Friday’s announcement was meant to be made last week but was delayed because of the federal government shutdown.

The cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for retirees and disabled beneficiaries is financed by payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers, up to a certain annual salary, which is slated to increase to $184,500 in 2026, from $176,100 in 2025.

Recipients received a 2.5% cost-of-living boost in 2025 and a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.

The smaller increase for 2026 reflects moderating inflation. The agency will notify recipients of their new benefit amount by mail in early December.

Some seniors say the cost-of-living adjustment won’t help much in their ability to pay for their daily expenses. Linda Deas, an 80-year-old Florence, South Carolina, resident said “it does not match the affordability crisis we are having right now.”

Deas, a retired information systems network operations specialist, moved to South Carolina from New York in 2022 to be closer to family. She says her monthly rent has increased by $400 in the past two years.

She listed other items that have become more expensive for her in the past two years, including auto insurance and food. “If you have been into the supermarkets lately you will notice how prices are going up, not down,” she said.

Deas is not alone in feeling that costs are getting out of control. Polling from the AARP shows that older Americans are increasingly struggling to keep up in today’s economy. The poll states that only 22% of Americans over age 50 agree that a COLA of right around 3% for Social Security recipients is enough to keep up with rising prices, while 77% disagree. That sentiment is consistent across political party affiliations, according to the AARP.

In Deas’ case, the MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates that an adult living alone in Florence, South Carolina, would spend per year $10,184 for housing, $3,053 for medical expenses and $3,839 for food.

AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said the COLA is “a lifeline of independence and dignity, for tens of millions of older Americans,” but even with the annual inflation-gauged boost in income, “older adults still face challenges covering basic expenses.”

Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a statement Friday that the annual cost-of-living adjustment “is one way we are working to make sure benefits reflect today’s economic realities and continue to provide a foundation of security.”

Emerson Sprick, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s director of retirement and labor policy, said in a statement that cost-of-living increases “can’t solve all the financial challenges households face or all the shortcomings of the program.”

The latest COLA announcement comes as the Social Security Administration has been navigating almost a year of turmoil, including the termination of thousands of workers as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce. Trump administration officials have also made statements they later walked back that raised concerns about the future of the program.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in July that the Republican administration was committed to protecting Social Security hours after he said in an interview that a new children’s savings program President Donald Trump signed into law “is a back door for privatizing Social Security.”

And in September, Bisignano had to walk back comments that the agency is considering raising the retirement age to shore up Social Security. “Raising the retirement age is not under consideration at this time by the Administration,” Bisignano said at the time in an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press.

“I think everything’s being considered, will be considered,” Bisignano said in the statement when asked whether raising the retirement age was a possibility to maintain the old age program’s solvency.

In addition, the Social Security Administration faces a looming bankruptcy date if it is not addressed by Congress. The June 2025 Social Security and Medicare trustees’ report states that Social Security’s trust funds, which cover old age and disability recipients, will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034. Then, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits.

Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago, when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the program from 65 to 67.

While a permanent solution for shoring up the benefits program has not been passed into law, both the Trump and Biden administrations have recently signed into law new benefits for retirees, which are expected to boost their finances.

The Trump administration, as part of Republicans’ tax and spending bill, gave tax relief to many seniors through a temporary tax deduction for seniors aged 65 and over, which applies to all income — not just Social Security. However, those who won’t be able to claim the deduction include the lowest-income seniors who already don’t pay taxes on Social Security, those who choose to claim their benefits before they reach age 65 and those above a defined income threshold.

Additionally, former President Joe Biden in 2024 repealed two federal policies — the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset — that previously limited Social Security payouts for roughly 2.8 million people, including largely former public workers.

These measures have accelerated the insolvency of the old-age benefits program.

Sprick at the Bipartisan Policy Center said “there have been longstanding questions about whether benefits are adequate for low-income seniors, which should inspire urgency among policymakers to work toward broader reforms instead of ignoring Social Security’s long-term solvency.”

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Social Security Administration at https://apnews.com/hub/us-social-security-administration.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are heading for records on Friday after an update on inflation came in a bit less painful than feared.

The S&P 500 rose 1% and was on track to top its all-time high, which was set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 529 points, or 1.1%, as of 2:05 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher. Both were also rising toward records.

The data on inflation is encouraging because it could mean less pain for lower- and middle-income households struggling with still-high increases in prices every month. Even more importantly for Wall Street, it could also clear the way for the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates in hopes of giving a boost to the slowing job market.

The Fed just cut its main interest rate last month for the first time this year, but it’s been hesitant to promise more relief because lower rates can make inflation worse, beyond goosing the economy and prices for investments. Following the inflation report, traders upped bets to a near certainty that the Fed will cut rates at its next two meetings, including one next week.

“Right now, Fed officials are more concerned about the labor market than about inflation,” according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “Without any evidence to the contrary, there’s nothing to really change their minds about cutting.”

Stocks have been shaky in recent weeks following a tremendous rally of 35% for the S&P 500 from a low in April. Criticism has climbed that stocks became too expensive after their prices rose much faster than corporate profits. Worries also flared about potentially bad loans that banks made following a period of calm that may have encouraged too much risk-taking. And President Donald Trump rattled markets after threatening much higher tariffs on China, the world’s second-largest economy.

But stocks have rebounded each time, only to push higher. Banks have characterized the industry’s hiccups as just a collection of one-offs, while Trump is set to meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, at a conference next week.

And most big U.S. companies are reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected, as is usually the case.

Ford Motor revved 12.8% higher to help lead the market Friday after the automaker topped analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. The company said its business is running at the high end of the forecasted range it had given for financial performance this year in February.

Intel added 0.6% after reporting profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ expectations. CEO Lip-Bu Tan credited the artificial-intelligence boom with “accelerating demand for compute and creating attractive opportunities.”

Google’s parent company climbed 3.1% after Anthropic announced an expansion worth tens of billions of dollars, where it would increase its usage of Google cloud technologies for its AI chatbot, Claude. Alphabet was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500, along with other AI beneficiaries like Nvidia.

Procter & Gamble’s profit beat analysts’ forecasts, despite what CEO Jon Moeller called “a challenging consumer and geopolitical environment,” and the stock of the company behind the Charmin, Oral-B and Pampers brands rose 1.2%.

They helped offset a drop for Newmont Mining, which fell 4.6% even though it also reported a stronger profit than expected.

The miner’s stock came into the day with a stunning gain of nearly 139% for the year so far, after benefiting from the surging price of gold. But gold’s run has stalled recently. No investment’s price goes up forever, and criticism had been growing that gold’s price had gone too far, too fast after it shot up even more than the U.S. stock market.

Many of the same factors that drew buyers to gold this year are still there, including concerns about the mountains of debt that the U.S. and other governments worldwide are amassing. The U.S. government’s gross national debt topped $38 trillion this week, and the worry is that a continued acceleration will only worsen inflation.

In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly rose across Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.4% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady, as the inflation data merely solidified already high expectations for coming cuts to rates by the Fed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 3.99% from 4.01% late Thursday.

A report from the University of Michigan also said expectations for inflation among U.S. consumers remains mixed. Such numbers are important because expectations for high inflation can encourage behavior that pushes inflation even higher, creating a vicious cycle.

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AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.

NEW YORK (AP) — The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures, on charges of illegal sports betting has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of professional sports gambling across the U.S.

Since widespread legalization, the multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy to place wagers on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. It’s just about impossible to go to a basketball, football, baseball or other pro game today — or watch a matchup on TV — without seeing ads for sports betting.

Fans can place wagers from their stadium seats, while “Bet” tickers scroll on TV sports broadcasts. Star athletes are frequently at the center of ads promoting it all.

In Thursday’s indictment, federal investigators accused Rozier and other defendants of breaking the law by exploiting private information about players to win bets on NBA games. Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”

A separate indictment alleges Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and others participated in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games. Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, issued a statement denying the allegations, calling his client a “man of integrity.”

Regulating sports wagering has proven to be a challenge — and experts warn about the ramifications for gamblers who typically lose money. Professional leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has raised eyebrows.

Here’s what we know.

Sports betting is probably as old as sports itself. But in the U.S., legal gambling really took off in 2018.

That’s when the Supreme Court struck down the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act, which barred sports betting in most states. Once allowed only in Nevada, sports betting is now permitted online or in retail locations in 38 states and Washington, D.C. Missouri will become the 39th state on Dec. 1.

Experts say the biggest jump has been online, through smartphone apps and platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel. Through the third quarter of this year, legal sports betting generated $10 billion in revenue, up about 19% from the same period a year ago, according to the American Gaming Association.

The industry argues that legal wagering generates money for states and can deter illegal betting. Major operators point to technology they use to monitor suspicious activity. FanDuel said Thursday’s news illustrates “the stark contrast between legal and illegal betting markets.”

There is plenty of money on the table both for those who place winning bets and the platforms that make it possible. The NBA and other pro sports leagues have also created revenue streams by partnering with sportsbooks and reaping advertising dollars.

Live game stats provided by leagues are key to the sports world’s relationship with the gambling industry. When you’re able to bet what the next pitch in a baseball game is going to be, that’s because Major League Baseball is selling data to platforms “for a pretty high price,” according to Isaac Rose-Berman, whose research focuses on sports betting as a fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men.

The NBA has a partnership with Sportradar for its data rights. Sportradar, in turn, provides FanDuel Sportsbook official NBA statistics. When the deal was announced in 2022, Sportradar touted it as a way “to monetize our long-term partnership with the NBA.”

Each state has its own regulations and tax rates for sports betting. A handful restrict where you can place bets — allowing users to use mobile apps, but only while they’re physically inside a casino or within a certain radius of a stadium, for example. Others limit which betting platforms you can use or what you can bet on.

“States sort of opened up a can of worms, and now some of them are starting to realize just how crazy this sports betting world sort of is,” said Wayne Taylor, a professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University.

An even stickier factor is when players and other team or league personnel are involved. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL all prohibit employees and players from betting on their own league games, although some gambling in separate areas is allowed.

Legalized betting has certain security advantages in that unusual betting patterns — such as large bets being placed on a random player’s performance — can be immediately flagged. In some cases, sportsbooks have taken down odds on certain events to protect against manipulation.

Still, experts like Taylor note that companies’ own financial interests may bring some of that into question. And across the sports market, he says the large number of players and scope of micro bet possibilities makes potential manipulation “easier to hide.”

A prop is a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistical number, such as whether a basketball player will finish over or under a certain total of points, rebounds, assists and more.

This kind of bet is key to the sports betting probe announced Thursday. Investigators pointed to a March 23, 2023, game involving Rozier, then playing for the Charlotte Hornets.

Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of that game — and not only did he not return that night, citing a foot issue, but he did not play again that season. He finished with five points, four rebounds and two assists — a productive opening quarter, but well below his usual total output for a full game. At the time, many bettors turned to social media to say that something shady occurred regarding prop bets involving his stats for that night.

More broadly, the NBA has expressed concern about prop bets, while other sports leagues have worried about the potential for manipulation.

Earlier this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urged his state’s gambling commission to ban prop bets after Major League Baseball placed two Cleveland Guardians pitchers on leave during a sports betting investigation.

Sports betting also faces criticism for opening the door to addictive gambling.

“The fact that it’s normalized, the advertising is aggressive, it’s available 24/7, the micro bets — all of this is adding up to tremendous increase in usage across individuals," said Taylor, citing algorithms and other incentives betting platforms use to increase engagement.

Rose-Berman notes that platforms make the most off of returning “biggest losers.” Recent research suggests that young men in low-income communities are particularly affected by financial consequences tied to sports gambling.

“Upwards of 90% of sports bettors are not really going to experience significant negative impacts — but it’s really concentrated among those big losers and it’s going to be devastating for them,” he said.

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Associated Press reporters Tim Reynolds in Miami, David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.