Catching you up on today's top stories with the nationwide Juneteenth observances, the Biden administration saying a recession is not "inevitable," Germany limiting gas consumption following supplies being cut off from Russia, and more.

Closing Bell

The Day's Top Stories: Juneteenth, Recession Debates & Germany Limits Gas Use

good monday afternoon everyone and welcome to Cheddars closing bell. I'm christian Schoeller live today from a different location. So thanks for joining me on this juneteenth and I'm here at cheddar studios in lower Manhattan because today is the federal observance of juneteenth after the holiday fell on a sunday. Well Juneteenth marking the end of slavery in the United States in 1865 and it's the first time that the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ are closed in observance of the federal holiday. Now the Federal Reserve, most major Wall Street banks, post offices and many companies across the country. They're closed today too. And this year's water observance does follow President biden last year declaring juneteenth a federal holiday two days prior. Now, while stocks are not trading today, there's still plenty of news to follow as there always as seems to be on a monday and certainly with the markets acting as they are of late. So the us reviewing options in order to ease the highest inflation in more than 40 years, causing skyrocketing prices for everyday essentials like gas and President biden examining tariffs on chinese goods imposed on china under the trump administration and a federal gas tax. Considering lifting of both. While the move would likely help ease the burden of inflation for americans affecting prices of everyday essentials like gas and food and President biden saying a decision on whether to implement a federal gas tax holiday could come by the end of the week. Well as recession concerns grip Wall street Washington and many americans. The biden administration is more optimistic. Fed last week raising interest rates by three quarters of a percentage point. That's an aggressive movement to combat soaring prices. Higher interest rates does mean higher borrowing costs, which leads consumers to spend less money lowering confidence, job growth and economic strength that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen remarking on abc. S this week, that a recession is not guaranteed. I expect the economy to slow. Uh, it's been growing at a very rapid rate as the economy as the labor market is recovered and we've reached full employment. It's natural now that we expected transition to steady and stable growth, but I don't think a recession is at all at all inevitable. Um, Chair Powell, clearly inflation is unacceptably high. It's President biden's top priority to bring it down, Yellen's comments, echoing words from President biden last week, who also said that that a recession isn't inevitable, but overseas Germany taking extra steps to conserve gas as Russia cuts off its energy supply to europe. The action from Russia is a response to european sanctions and support for Ukraine following Russia's invasion earlier this year. Now much of europe does rely on Russian oil, so cutting off the supply to europe has raised concerns about the global supply and contributing to rising fuel prices around the world. Well, Germany plans to start up its coal fired power plants again and at parks for companies that limit their use of natural gas as a way to limit gas consumption to ensure the country has enough of a supply to last through the winter.