


The White House on Thursday proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of a U.S. air traffic control system that it said still relies on floppy disks and replacement parts found on eBay and has come under renewed scrutiny in the wake of recent deadly plane crashes and technical failures.
The plan calls for six new air traffic control centers, along with an array of technology and communications upgrades at all of the nation’s air traffic facilities over the next three or four years, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
“We use radar from the 1970s,” said Duffy. The cost of the proposal wasn’t immediately revealed. Duffy said he’ll work with Congress on the details.
“It’s going to be billions, lots of billions,” he said.
Demands to fix the aging system have increased since the midair collision in January between a military helicopter and a commercial airliner that killed 67 people over Washington, D.C.
U.S. stocks rose Thursday after the United States and United Kingdom announced a deal on trade that would lower some tariffs between the two countries, the first of what Wall Street hopes will be enough agreements to keep a recession from hitting the economy.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% for its 11th gain in the last 13 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 254 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.1%.
It wasn’t just stocks. Bitcoin jumped back above $101,000, and crude oil prices climbed, while the price of gold eased back as investors felt less need for safety. Treasury yields rose on bets that more trade deals with other countries may mean the Federal Reserve won’t need to cut interest rates as sharply as feared in order to prop up the economy.