One week after learning inflation ticked up and consumer spending didn’t...
One week after learning inflation ticked up and consumer spending didn’t rise as much as expected, this Friday’s jobs report is expected to show slowing growth and unemployment remaining unmoved at 4.1%. This report will land while consumer confidence is reaching new lows. The latest survey from the University of Michigan revealed that two-thirds of consumers are expecting unemployment to rise in the year ahead, the most pessimistic that respondents have been since 2009.
Trump’s “Liberation Day” for tariffs arrives on Wednesday: That’s...
Trump’s “Liberation Day” for tariffs arrives on Wednesday: That’s when the administration is set to enact sweeping tariffs on products from other countries in response to their existing levies on American goods, though the size and breadth of the tariffs is not yet clear. Some of the tariffs that could begin this week include a tax on an array of imports from Canada and Mexico, reciprocal tariffs on countries that slapped retaliatory tariffs on US goods, and a 25% tariff on foreign automobiles and car parts. In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump said he “couldn’t care less” whether foreign automakers raise prices because “people are going to start buying American-made cars.”
The death toll from the Myanmar earthquake surpassed 2,000.
President Trump told NBC News he would not rule out seeking a third term in office, saying, “There are methods which you could do it.”
An experimental drug from Eli Lilly cut a risk factor of genetic heart disease by 94% in a trial.
Snow White was dethroned from the top of the box office, falling behind the Jason Statham vehicle A Working Man.
Richard Chamberlain, who starred in Dr. Kildare, The Thorn Birds, and the 1980 miniseries Shōgun, died at 90.
A 7.7 magnitude quake struck yesterday near Myanmar ’s second-largest...
A 7.7 magnitude quake struck yesterday near Myanmar ’s second-largest city, Mandalay, leveling buildings. Myanmar’s military-led government said 1,002 people had died and more were injured, but those numbers are expected to rise as recovery efforts continue and information is collected, according to the Associated Press. The earthquake shook the ground as far as neighboring Thailand—where it caused an under-construction high-rise in Bangkok to collapse. As of this morning, Thai authorities said 6 people had been killed and nearly 50 were still missing.
Charlie Javice found guilty of defrauding JPMorgan. The...
Charlie Javice found guilty of defrauding JPMorgan. The startup founder—who once mused that Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes should get a light sentence for defrauding “sophisticated ***holes”—was convicted yesterday of lying to JPMorgan when selling Frank to the bank for $175 million in 2021. Prosecutors convinced a New York jury that Javice, a Wharton grad who was featured in Forbes magazine's “30 Under 30” list in 2019, had not been frank, convincing the bank her financial aid tool had 4.25 million customers when it really only had 300,000. The jury also found her co-defendant, Frank's former chief growth officer, guilty. Javice is expected to appeal.
Elon Musk said he sold X to his similarly named company xAI in an all-stock deal that valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.
The FCC is investigating DEI initiatives at Disney and ABC.
Columbia University’s interim president, Katrina A. Armstrong, is stepping down, as the school continues to try to get federal funding restored by the Trump administration.
BlackRock’s deal to buy two Panama Canal ports has reportedly been delayed while Chinese antitrust regulators probe it.
Big Law firms Jenner & Block and WilmerHale sued to challenge President Trump’s executive orders against them, while competitor Skadden promised to do $100 million in free legal work to avoid getting hit with one.
JD Vance criticized Denmark’s rule of Greenland during his controversial visit there.
A federal judge ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to rehire staff and get back to work.
Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water.
Oil settles higher for the week as ‘whirlwind’ U.S. tariff policy creates uncertainty
Oil futures on Friday ended lower, but still higher for the week, with the possibility...
Oil futures on Friday ended lower, but still higher for the week, with the possibility that Venezuelan and, especially, Iranian exports will decline due to sanctions being the dominant factors — and bullish ones at that, said Michael Lynch, president at Strategic Energy & Economic Research.
Venezuelan oil exports are “minor enough that, even if the sanctions are effective, the market will be only minimally affected,” he said. President Donald Trump earlier this week threatened “secondary tariffs” of 25% on all imports from any country that buys oil from Venezuela.
Iranian oil exports, meanwhile, could decline by half a million barrels a day or more, but it's not clear how successful sanctions will be, said Lynch. The U.S. on March 20 sanctioned additional entities that have participated in Iran’s petroleum trade as part of its ongoing "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran.
May West Texas Intermediate crude settled down 56 cents, at $69.36 a barrel Friday, down 0.8% for the session but up 1.6% for the week. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, closed down 40 cents, at $73.63 per barrel.
