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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting just below their all-time high on Tuesday as the wait continues to hear what will come of trade talks underway between the United States and China.

The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher in late trading as talks between the world’s two largest economies carried into a second day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 91 points, or 0.2%, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

Stocks have roared higher since dropping roughly 20% below their record two months ago, when President Donald Trump shocked financial markets with his announcement of stiff, wide-ranging tariffs. Much of the rally was due to hopes that Trump would lower his tariffs after reaching trade deals with countries around the world, and the S&P 500 is back within 1.8% of its all-time high, which was set in February.

It’s getting to be time to see whether such hopes were warranted. The talks with China, which are likely covering a range of disagreements between the two countries, were “going well,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said as he arrived Tuesday morning. He expected them to continue all day in London.

Both the United States and China have put many of their tariffs announced against each other on pause as talks continue.

Even though many tariffs are on hold for the moment, they’re still affecting companies and their ability to make profits because of all the uncertainty they’ve created.

Designer Brands, the company behind the DSW shoe store chain, became the latest U.S. company to yank its financial forecasts for 2025 because of “uncertainty stemming primarily from global trade policies.”

The company, which also owns the Keds, Jessica Simpson and other shoe brands, reported a larger loss for the start of the year than analysts were expecting, and its revenue also fell short of forecasts. CEO Doug Howe pointed to ”persistent instability and pressure on consumer discretionary” spending, and the company’s stock tumbled 20.4%.

The uncertainty is moving in both directions, to be sure. A survey released Tuesday of optimism among small U.S. businesses improved a bit in May.

“While the economy will continue to stumble along until the major sources of uncertainty are resolved, owners reported more positive expectations on business conditions and sales growth,” according to Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist at the National Federation of Independent Business.

On Wall Street, J.M. Smucker fell 15.1% even though its results for the latest quarter topped analysts’ expectations. Its revenue fell short of expectations, as did its forecast for profit in the upcoming year.

Tesla helped to offset such losses after rising 5.1%. The electric vehicle company has been recovering since tumbling last week as Elon Musk’s relationship with Trump imploded. That raised fear about possible retaliation by the U.S. government against Tesla.

Shares that trade in the United States of chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 2.7% after the company known as TSMC said its revenue in May jumped nearly 40% from the year earlier.

Casey’s General Stores leaped 11.5% after the chain of convenience stores based in Ankeny, Iowa, reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It credited strength in sales of hot sandwiches and other items.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia. A 0.8% drop for Germany’s DAX and a 0.6% gain for South Korea’s Kospi were a couple of the bigger moves.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.47% from 4.49% late Monday.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Artificial intelligence is speeding up the work of America’s intelligence services, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday.

Speaking to a technology conference, Gabbard said AI programs, when used responsibly, can save money and free up intelligence officers to focus on gathering and analyzing information. The sometimes slow pace of intelligence work frustrated her as a member of Congress, Gabbard said, and continues to be a challenge.

AI can run human resource programs, for instance, or scan sensitive documents ahead of potential declassification, Gabbard said. Her office has released tens of thousands of pages of material related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, on the orders of President Donald Trump.

Experts had predicted the process could take many months or even years, but AI accelerated the work by scanning the documents to see if they contained any material that should remain classified, Gabbard said during her remarks at the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington.

“We have been able to do that through the use of AI tools far more quickly than what was done previously — which was to have humans go through and look at every single one of these pages,” Gabbard said.

The intelligence community already relies on many private-sector technologies, and Gabbard said she wants to expand that relationship instead of using federal resources to create expensive alternatives.

“How do we look at the available tools that exist — largely in the private sector — to make it so that our intelligence professionals, both collectors and analysts, are able to focus their time and energy on the things that only they can do," she said.

Gabbard, who coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies, has vowed to shake up America’s spy services.

Since assuming her role this year, she has created a new task force to consider changes to agency operations as well as greater declassification. She also has fired two veteran intelligence officers because of perceived opposition to Trump, eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs and relocated the staff who prepare the President’s Daily Brief to give her more direct control.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Tony Awards on Sunday lured 4.85 million viewers to CBS, its largest broadcast audience in six years, according to Nielsen’s data.

CBS said Monday the telecast — hosted by “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo — scored a 38% increase over last year’s 3.53 million viewers.

That’s the largest audience for the Tonys since 2019, when the telecast that year nabbed 5.4 million viewers and “ Hadestown ” was crowned best new musical. The latest version also had to compete with the second game of the NBA Finals, between the Thunder and Pacers,

CBS also said the awards show drew its largest ever streaming audience on Paramount+ but did not disclose streaming viewership numbers, only saying it was up 208% from last year.

“Maybe Happy Ending,” a rom-com about androids that crackles with humanity won best new musical on a night when Kara Young made history as the first Black person to win two Tonys consecutively for “Purpose,” which also won best new play.

Interest in the Tonys may also have been fueled by the competition in the best lead actress in a musical category, with Audra McDonald gunning for her record-setting seventh Tony and Nicole Scherzinger of “Sunset Blvd.” hoping to be crowned a legitimate Broadway diva after a career in the pop group Pussycat Dolls and as a TV talent show judge.

Other Hollywood names included in the telecast included George Clooney making his Broadway debut and “Succession” star Sarah Snook being named best leading actress in a play for “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” a one-woman show.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech’s pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during an annual developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology.

The presummer rite, which attracted thousands of developers from nearly 60 countries to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, was more subdued than the feverish anticipation that surrounded the event during the previous two years.

Apple highlighted plans for more AI tools designed to simplify people’s lives and make its products even more intuitive while also providing an early glimpse at the biggest redesign of its iPhone software in a decade. In doing so, Apple executives refrained from issuing bold promises of breakthroughs that punctuated recent conferences.

In 2023, Apple unveiled a mixed-reality headset that has been little more than a niche product, and last year WWDC trumpeted its first major foray into the AI craze with an array of new features highlighted by the promise of a smarter and more versatile version of its virtual assistant, Siri — a goal that has hasn’t been achieved yet.

Apple had intended the planned Siri upgrade to herald its long-awaited attempt to become a major player in the AI craze after getting a late start in a phenomenon that so far has been largely led by OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and an array of cutting-edge startups.

“This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s top software executive, said Monday at the outset of the conference. The company didn’t estimate when its upgraded Siri would be completed.

“The silence surrounding Siri was deafening,” said Forrester Research analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said. “No amount of text corrections or cute emojis can fill the yawning void of an intuitive, interactive AI experience that we know Siri will be capable of when ready. We just don’t know when that will happen. The end of the Siri runway is coming up fast, and Apple needs to lift off.”

The showcase unfolded amid nagging questions about whether Apple has lost some of the mystique and innovative drive that turned it into a tech trendsetter during its nearly 50-year history.

Instead of making a big splash as it did with the Vision Pro headset and its AI suite, Apple took a mostly low-key approach that emphasized its effort to spruce up the look of its software while also unveiling a new hub for its video games and new features like a “Workout Buddy” to help track physical fitness on its smartwatch.

Apple executives promised will make its software more compatible with the increasingly sophisticated computer chips that have been powering its products while also making it easier to toggle between the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

“Our product experience has become even more seamless and enjoyable,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told the crowd as the 90-minute showcase wrapped up.

IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said Apple seemed to be largely using Monday’s conference to demonstrate the company still has blueprint for success in AI, even if it’s clearly going to take longer to realize the vision that was presented a year ago.

“This year’s event was not about disruptive innovation, but rather careful calibration, platform refinement and developer enablement —positioning itself for future moves rather than unveiling game-changing technologies,” Jeronimo said.

Besides redesigning its software. Apple will switch to a method that automakers have used to telegraph their latest car models by linking them to the year after they first arrive at dealerships. That means the next version of the iPhone operating system due out this autumn will be known as iOS 26 instead of iOS 19 — as it would be under the previous naming approach that has been used since the device’s 2007 debut.

The iOS 26 upgrade is expected to be released in September around the same time Apple traditionally rolls out the next iPhone models.

In an early sign that AI wasn’t going to be a focal point of this year’s conference, Apple opened the proceedings with a short video clip featuring Federighi speeding around a track in a Formula 1 race car. Although it was meant to promote the June 27 release of the Apple film, “F1” starring Brad Pitt, the segment could also be viewed as an unintentional analogy to the company’s attempt to catch up to the rest of the pack in AI technology.

While some of the new AI tricks compatible with the latest iPhones began rolling out late last year as part of free software updates, Apple still hasn’t been able to soup up Siri in the ways that it touted at last year’s conference. The delays became so glaring that a chastened Apple retreated from promoting Siri in its AI marketing campaigns earlier this year.

While Apple has been struggling to make AI that meets its standards, the gap separating it from other tech powerhouses is widening. Google keeps packing more AI into its Pixel smartphone lineup while introducing more of the technology into its search engine to dramatically change the way it works. Samsung, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, is also leaning heavily into AI. Meanwhile, ChatGPT recently struck a deal that will bring former Apple design guru Jony Ive into the fold to work on a new device expected to compete against the iPhone.

Besides grappling with innovation challenges, Apple also faces regulatory threats that could siphon away billions of dollars in revenue that help finance its research and development. A federal judge is currently weighing whether proposed countermeasures to Google’s illegal monopoly in search should include a ban on long-running deals worth $20 billion annually to Apple while another federal judge recently banned the company from collecting commissions on in-app transactions processed outside its once-exclusive payment system.

On top of all that, Apple has been caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, a key manufacturing hub for the Cupertino, California, company. Cook successfully persuaded Trump to exempt the iPhone from tariffs during the president’s first administration, but he has had less success during Trump’s second term, which seems more determined to prod Apple to make its products in the U.S.

The multidimensional gauntlet facing Apple is spooking investors, causing the company’s stock price to plunge by nearly 20% so far this year — a decline that has erased $750 billion in shareholder wealth. After beginning the year as the most valuable company in the world, Apple now ranks third behind longtime rival Microsoft, another AI leader, and AI chipmaker Nvidia.

Apple’s shares closed down by more than 1% on Monday — an early indication the company’s latest announcements didn’t inspire investors.

NEW YORK (AP) — The leaders of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” have been convicted of federal forced labor charges.

A Brooklyn jury on Monday found Nicole Daedone, founder of OneTaste Inc., and Rachel Cherwitz, the California-based company’s former sales director, guilty of forced labor conspiracy after deliberating for less than two days following a roughly monthlong trial.

Daedone’s defense team had cast her as a “ceiling-shattering feminist entrepreneur” who created a unique business around women’s sexuality and empowerment.

But prosecutors argued the two women ran a yearslong scheme that groomed adherents — many of them victims of sexual trauma — to do their bidding.

They said Daedone and Cherwitz used economic, sexual and psychological abuse, intimidation and indoctrination to force OneTaste members into sexual acts they found uncomfortable or repulsive, such as having sex with prospective investors or clients.

The two told followers the questionable acts were necessary in order to obtain “freedom” and “enlightenment” and demonstrate their commitment to the organization’s principles.

Prosecutors said OneTaste leaders also didn’t pay promised earnings to the members-turned-workers and even forced some of them to take out new credit cards to continue taking the company’s courses.

Lawyers for the defendants said their clients maintain their innocence and intend to appeal.

“We are deeply disappointed in today’s verdict,” the lawyers said in a statement. ”This case raised numerous novel and complex legal issues that will require review by the Second Circuit. We find inspiration in our clients, Nicole and Rachel, who have shown incredible strength throughout this entire process.”

OneTaste started in San Francisco around 2005 as a sort of self-help commune that viewed female orgasms as key to sexual and psychological wellness and interpersonal connection.

A centerpiece was “orgasmic meditation,” carried out by men manually stimulating women in a group setting.

The company quickly opened outposts from Los Angeles to London following glowing media coverage in the 2010s. At the time, OneTaste was portrayed as a cutting-edge enterprise that prioritized women’s sexual pleasure.

But Daedone sold her stake in 2017 — a year before OneTaste’s marketing and labor practices came under scrutiny.

The company’s current owners, who have rebranded it the Institute of OM Foundation, have said its work has been misconstrued and the charges against its former executives were unjustified.

They maintain sexual consent has always been a cornerstone of the organization. The company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.