rebecca jarvis with us again tonight. thank you, rebecca. >>> we move on tonight, to the deeply personal debate over abortion rights across this country. fences going up at the supreme court. workers tightening security around the court with a 12-foot tall fence standing around the perimeter now. tonight, the white house and senate democrats working to make roe versus wade federal law now. they know they don't have the votes, but they want every senator on record. and what about moderate republicans lisa murkowski and susan collins? senator collins, who once said she was convinced justices kavanaugh and gorsuch would not overturn roe versus wade. here's rachel scott again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, metal fencing now up, protecting the highest court in the land. but still a flood of demonstrators showed up at the steps. senate democrats are now vowing to hold a vote on legislation that would make a woman's right to obtain an abortion a federal law, codifying the roe decision. >> republicans will not be able to hide fro

>> rebecca jarvis with us tonight. thank you, rebecca. >>> overseas tonight, and to the war in ukraine. russia tonight intensifying its attacks, its troops entering the last stronghold in mariupol, that steel plant. in fact tonight, video posted by pro-russian separatists showing explosions at the plant, that those troops have now breached the outer perimeter there. video circulating online showing a missile strike on a bridge in the central city of dnipro. and in kharkiv, the second-largest city, where ukraine's troops are making gains, russian rockets slamming into an amusement park, including a children's playground. but of course, the concern in mariupol, are the civilians and the fighters still inside that plant? our senior foreign correspondent ian pannell in ukraine again tonight. >> reporter: tonight, large explosions at the azovstal steel plant, seen in undated video posted by pro-russian separatists. putin's troops breaking through today into the mariupol factory where ukrainian fighters in the city are makin

>> rebecca jarvis back with us tonight. re reb rebecca, thank you. >>> up next, abc news and our local stations across the country. one of the most closely watched battles still too close to call, nearly 24 hours later. dr. mehmet oz against david mccormick. so, tonight, who is slightly ahead at this hour? abc's rachel scott back in pennsylvania tonight. >> reporter: in pennsylvania tonight, election workers counting the mail-in ballots that could decid squeaker of a republican senate primary. fewer than 2,000 votes separating tv doctor mehmet oz, who has a slight lead, and former hedgefund executive david mccormick. >> when all the votes are tallied, i am confident we will win. >> reporter: on election night, oz paying special tribute to former president trump, whose endorsement lit a fire under his campaign. >> god bless you, sir, for putting so much effort into this race. i will make you proud. >> reporter: but today, trump urged oz not to wait for all the votes to be counted. "dr. oz should declare victory," the former

let's bring in our chief business and economics correspondent rebecca jarvis. how did folks in wall street explague the plunge then today? >> reporter: well, david, as one wall street veteran put it to me, this u-turn is reality setting in. reality is, inflation is at historic highs, the jobs market is strong, and in order to stabilize prices, the fed has to continue hiking interest rates, which can ultimately slow down the economy. and the stock market has responded. so far this year, the s&p 500, which is what's in most 401(k)s, is down about 13.5 %, meaning if you put $1,000 into the start of the market this year, today, you'd have about $865. keep in mind, there should be more volatility ahead, but you also have to remember history. since 1980, the stock market has returned on average 9% a year, which is why you have to be in it for the long-term. david? >> historical norms but it's tough to stomach when you're watching it go up and down. thank you, rebecca. >>> we move on tonight, to the deeply personal debate over abortion rights across this country. fenc

back to rebecca jarvis. good morning, rebecca. >> reporter: good morning, george. and this is the state of our economy. on the one hand you have inflation at 40-year highs. on the other hand you have those job openings, the highest on record, 11.5 million job openings for the 6 million unemployed. american workers so optimistic about this economy that they are voluntarily quitting their jobs in record numbers, more than 4.5 million people last month. the federal reserve is trying to keep prices from continuing to climb. to take things off this current path, what they have to do is increase interest rates, hike rates, and they plan to do that. largely expected to hike them by half a percent later today. what that will ultimately mean, the cost of borrowing goes up, everything from your credit card to a new car loan to a new mortgage. if you have an adjustable rate mortgage, that goes higher. the ultimate goal here is to stabilize prices, but in order to achieve that goal, they have t tamp down demand. they have to get americans buying less and that is why they are i

abc's rebecca jarvis tallies up the damage. >> reporter: if you had put $1,000 into the market at the start of this year, today given those declines you'd have about $865 of your nest egg left. what's really important to keep in mind, though, is history. historically the market returns about 9% on average each year and that even is accounting for inflation, which is why investing for the long term is what is so important. >> the nasdaq opens today at its lowest level since november of 2020. >>> former president trump reportedly wanted to launch missiles into mexico to destroy the drug labs and cartels. the allegation comes from former defense secretary mark esper. in a new book obtained by "the new york times," esper writes, trump asked him at least twice about the possibility of the air strikes and said no one would know it was the u.s. trump has not responded to requests for comment. >>> former trump attorney rudy giuliani has backed out of an appearance before the january 6th committee. he was supposed to take part in an interview but a spokesman for the panel said giuliani is now

here's abc's chief business and economics correspondent rebecca jarvis tonight. >> reporter: tonight, inflation's grip on american consumers not letting up. that latest report from the government out today showing prices climbed 8.3% in april from a year ago, slower than march's 8.5% increase, but still at historic highs. at this california food bank, adelle feeling stretched thin. >> you go in the grocery store right now and everything is sticker shock, meat, eggs, everything. everything. >> reporter: food prices now climbing for 17 consecutive months. eggs up 23%. chicken up 16%. milk up 15% from a year ago. tonight, president biden proposing help for american's farmers. >> we have to keep investing in our farmers to reduce the cost, to reduce prices to consumers, and have the most productive, most efficient farmers in the world here in the united states. >> reporter: meantime, gasoline prices up 44%, rents up 5%, and air fares up a whopping 33%. the inflation eating into wages. even after significant wage increases, up 5.5% over the last year, prices are still moving faster. >> peo

rebecca jarvis has the latest. good morning, rebecca. >> reporter: good morning, george. the headline here is that the nmbers are better than march, but still elevated. inflation in april versus 12 months ago up 8.3%. that's a 40-year high. it shows that prices are still very high for most americans. in particular they're high in food which has gone up for 17 consecutive months. over the last 12 months prices up 9.4%. the energy costs, those up 30.3%. shelter costs climbing, now up 5.1% from a year ago, that's rents and the cost of houses. airfares and new cars driving prices higher. the bottom line, this is not only more costly for american families, it can also cost the economy. there's worries of a recession. what we've seen since world war ii is that most recessions are preceded by rising prices. the odds of a recession according to wall street continues to rise as numbers are weighing on american consumers and the economy. the fed and the white house now have to choose their next steps. michael? >>> now let's go back to trevor ault at a gas station with more on those

chief business correspondent rebecca jarvis is at the new york stock exchange. good morning, rebecca. >> reporter: good morning, michael. the sell-off continues this morning with stocks opening lower following the april jobs report, showing 428,000 jobs were created for the month. unemployment constant at 3.6%. wages over the last 12 months up 5.5%. but that is only part of the story. the other part is historic inflation. prices climbing 8.5% over the last year. that means prices are moving up faster than wages are. wall street is aware the federal reserve is on a course of action now intended to try to bring the prices under control. that course of action will mean the economy slows down. the question is will it mean there is a recession? some believe that that could be out in the future. it's something that wall street has contended with now for the last handful of weeks. it's why the market, so far this year, is down 13.5%. that is the s&p 500, which is the thing that's reflected in most retirement savings accounts. meaning, if you had a $1,000 in the s&p 500

our chief economics correspondent rebecca jarvis is here to tell us all about it. good morning, rebecca. >> hi, robin. buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make in your life oftentimes a down payment being your life savings but experts are warning real estate wire fraud is on the rise and if you aren't careful, your money could be gone in the blink of an eye. becoming a new home owner is a dream come true but for some like carly, it can become a nightmare. >> i had gotten an email that day right around the same time i was on the phone. i was talking to the title company. it was instructions on how to send the wire transfer. >> reporter: she says it was a scam. >> i sent the money to the person that had sent it in the email and then the next day i got a call from my closing company and they stated that they had never received the funds. >> reporter: she says nearly $24,000 down payment was gone. >> are you seeing an increase in real estate transfer wires? >> last year was a breakaway year, unfortunately, for consumers being victimized for r

they're at an all-time high and rebecca jarvis joins us now. rebecca, we are talking about an impact on almost all americans from everything from groceries to deliveries potentially. >> reporter: absolutely, t.j. good morning to you and when we talk about rising fuel prices we're often talking about gasoline, what we pay at the pump. that today is averaging $4.19 a gallon, but when you look at diesel prices, diesel fuel, they hit a new record high just this morning, $5.32 a gallon and diesel is incredibly important to the economy. it's known as the fuel that moves the economy because it's the fuel that most the trucks use on the street across the country. the things carrying your groceries, your diapers, your necessities and when the cost for those truckers go up, all the costs go up on these various items that we are so reliant on as americans. so why is this happening? well, the same forces that have been driving up gasoline prices, the same forces that have been driving up other prices across the board are having an impact here. inventories

our chief financial correspondent rebecca jarvis joining us. good morning, rebecca. >> good morning, michael, and those gas prices hit a record high. the national average is $4.37 a gallon after the prices peaked in march after the russian invasion in ukraine and the u.s. released record amounts of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, and that was for a short time but now with the key prices of gas prices and oil now climbing up above $100 a barrel, and as michael says this has sent the stock market tumbling in the last couple of days and we have seen dramatic shifts in investor sentiment and volatility and sent the stocks down 3%. and the stocks down which is the key part of people's retirement down 17%. >> and that is very volatile. what does this mean for the economy concerned about recession? >> the analysts are saying that the odds are rising for a recession. nothing certain, but deutsche bank is saying recession is expected by late 2023 or early 2024. goldman sachs puts tprobability at 35%. in the next 24 months. >> thank you, rebecc

chief business corespondent rebecca jarvis is here now with more on this for us. good morning, rebecca. >> good morning, robin. and the ads ran all through tax season, turbotax telling people they can file their income taxes for free. well, attorneys general from all 50 states say it was not true for everyone. intuit, the company that makes turbotax agreeing to pay $141 million to customers to settle the claims. in a statement intuit says it, quote, admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement. the lawsuit claiming turbotax would steer customers away from free products and towards paid offerings even though they might have qualified for free irs services. turbotax also offered. new york's attorney general saying it targeted low income customers in particular, robin. >> what should you do if you think you deserve compensation? >> the good news, you don't have to do anything. people who use the free edition from 2016 to 2018 will automatically get checks sent to them for $30 for each year they were wrongly charged. >> they don't have to do anything. that's just

chief business correspondent rebecca jarvis is here now to try to answer that question for us. good morning, rebecca. >> good morning, robin. it is a serious question because a recession happens when economic activity slows down significantly for several months, and it can have very serious consequences. for example, a recession leads to job loss, employers tend to cut back wages, benefits and bonuses. it gets harder to take out a new loan in recessions, and there can be stock selloffs and business bankruptcies, robin. >> there are a few key signs to look for that will indicate we are on a path to recession. >> there are. there are things that are correlated to recessions, first inflation, second consumer spending. if consumers slow their spending or stop spending, it can cause a recession, and we haven't seen this yet. even though consumers say they're feeling less optimistic about the economy they keep doling out the bucks to pay for everything from vacations to dining out likely because americans saved an estimated $2 trillion during the pandemic by not doing these things. a

our chief economic correspondent rebecca jarvis has the very latest. good morning, rebecca. >> reporter: good morning to you, michael, and we are basically seeing prices back where they were when they hit record highs in march. this morning, the nationwide average for a gallon of gas, $4.33 a gallon, and that comes after the united states has taken these massive measures like releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. that is not the only place where we're seeing prices higher. we're also seeing prices higher for diesel, record high at $5.54 a gallon today. diesel is the fuel that moves the economy. everything that we do for the most part relies to some extent on diesel, the thing that truckers use, ships use it. some airlines use it. diesel is very important to the price we pay for things like groceries and diapers and with the memorial day holiday and summer weekends around the corner, that only means, robin, that prices are expected to continue to climb. robin. >> all right, rebecca, thank you. >>> now to those wildfires that are burning in