WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday revived the Presidential Physical Fitness Award as part of his push to return an annual physical fitness test to America's schools.
The award is tied to the Presidential Fitness Test, which was a public-school fixture for decades but was phased out under President Barack Obama in favor of a program that minimized competition and focused on long-term health. Trump signed an order last summer to reestablish the fitness test, which was created in the 1950s.
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Mascots of the Washington Nationals baseball team stand near the south lawn of the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump walks with kids during exercise drills on the south lawn of the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump speaks before signing a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks as President Donald Trump listens before the signing of a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“We’re bringing it back,” Trump said at an Oval Office ceremony alongside children and professional athletes. “My administration is working very hard to defend America’s cherished athletic traditions and pass our values of excellence and competitiveness to the next generation.”
The earlier exam tested students on a battery of exercises, including a 1-mile run and sit-ups. Those scoring above the 85th percentile for their gender in each component of the test received the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, though details of the revived test have yet to be released.
Trump unveiled the award at his desk while flanked by Cabinet members including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Housing Secretary Scott Turner. They were joined by children who said they played sports including football, volleyball, hockey and golf.
The test is being made mandatory for students at 161 schools located on U.S. military installations, Hegseth said in the Oval Office. He encouraged other schools across the country to follow.
“We need young, strong, healthy Americans, whether you serve in the military or any other aspect of your life,” Hegseth said. “The idea that competition is bad is the beginning of decline of a nation.”
Trump, an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, emphasized the importance of balancing both physical and mental fitness, saying that it's “all about the mind” at top levels of competition. He praised the athletes at the White House event while joking about his own fitness regimen.
“I work out so much, like about one minute a day, max — if I’m lucky,” Trump said.
Trump said he would be signing the first copy of the new award on Tuesday. After the Oval Office event, the kids were invited to the South Lawn to play sports to a soundtrack of songs like “YMCA” and “Eye of the Tiger." Trump joined outside as the kids putted at a green, kicked soccer balls and threw a baseball with pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
The president connected the initiative to Kennedy's “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. Speaking alongside Trump, Kennedy said it was “very unfortunate” that Obama discontinued the test and cited increased obesity among American children.
“We need to teach people how to win and how to lose and how to process victory and defeat,” Kennedy said.
Mascots of the Washington Nationals baseball team stand near the south lawn of the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump walks with kids during exercise drills on the south lawn of the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump speaks before signing a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks as President Donald Trump listens before the signing of a proclamation in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is rallying toward records Tuesday after an easing of oil prices let Wall Street turn its focus back to the big profits that companies keep producing.
The S&P 500 rose 1% and was on track to top its all-time high set at the end of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 379 points, or 0.8%, with less than an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was heading toward its own record after climbing 1.2%.
Stocks got a boost after oil prices gave back much of their big jumps from Monday. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 4% to $109.87 after briefly topping $115 on Monday, though it’s still well above its roughly $70 price from before the war with Iran.
U.S. military leaders said Tuesday that a ceasefire with Iran remains in effect, even though Iran was blamed for attacks against the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. ally, the day before. The U.S. military is meanwhile trying to force open a path in the Strait of Hormuz, which would allow oil tankers to resume shipments from the Persian Gulf and hopefully bring down the price of crude.
Even with the war ongoing, the U.S. stock market has remained remarkably resilient on its record-setting run. That’s in large part due to the strong profits that U.S. companies have reported for the start of 2026 despite the rise in oil prices since the end of February.
“This has been a ‘why ask why’ market,'” according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “You just have to go with it.”
Even though many risks are still weighing on the market, “investors are looking at earnings” and how much companies are spending on AI data centers and other investments, he said.
DuPont’s stock rallied 8.3% after the chemical giant led another cavalcade of companies reporting better-than-expected profits for the latest quarter.
DuPont said its water technologies business felt some impact from the war due to logistics disruptions in the Middle East. But it nevertheless raised its forecasts for financial results over the full year.
Other winners included American Electric Power Co., which rose 3.2%, and Cummins, which added 2.4%, after they likewise made more money during the first three months of the year than analysts expected.
Pinterest jumped 7.2% after the online bulletin board topped Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets as its number of active monthly users jumped 11% to 631 million.
AB InBev likewise topped analysts’ profit forecasts, and it credited growth for its Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra brands outside of their home markets. “Cheers to beer,” CEO Michel Doukeris said, as the company’s stock that trades in the United States climbed 9.3%.
They helped offset a drop for Palantir Technologies, which fell 7.2% even though it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock has struggled this year on worries about increased competition, like many software companies have. Its stock is also coming off a huge run where it more than doubled in each of the last three years.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. The CAC 40 rose 1.1% in Paris, but the FTSE 100 fell 1.4% in London. Many Asian markets were closed for holidays, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2% after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to 4.35%, saying conflict in the Middle East had sharply increased fuel and commodity prices that were already adding to inflation.
In the U.S. bond market, Treasury yields eased following oil's drops and reports on the U.S. economy that came in mixed.
One report said growth for U.S. services businesses unexpectedly decelerated last month, with some companies saying the war is slowing spending. A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly more job openings at the end of March than economists expected, an encouraging signal for the job market.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.42% from 4.45% late Monday.
That’s still well above its 3.97% level from just before the war began. The rise has made mortgages and other kinds of loans for U.S. households and businesses more expensive.
AP Writers Chan Ho-him, Matt Ott and Rod McGuirk contributed.
Specialist James Denaro works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, May 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Patrick King works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Options trader Anthony Spina, foreground, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A board above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Thursday, April 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
FILE - A train arrives at a Wall Street subway station in New York's Financial District on Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
