what happened? (April 23-29)
cable news star pink slip
In just a few hours on Monday, cable news changed dramatically. First, Fox News announced that it had ousted its most popular primetime host, Tucker Carlson. The move comes less than a week after he paid $787.5 million for the company to settle a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems. The lawsuit focused on texts showing Carlson defaming Donald J. Trump after the 2020 presidential election. But it wasn’t until a day before the defamation trial began that Fox’s leadership uncovered personal messages Mr. Carlson had sent. person said. Shortly after Mr. Carlson was fired, CNN announced that the network’s longtime star and most recently co-host of his show The Morning, Don He “had parted ways” with Lemon. Lemon faced backlash in February after making comments many viewed as sexist about women and aging.
problem bank
Federal regulators raced over the weekend to seize and sell troubled First Republic Bank before financial markets opened Monday. reported a staggering outflow of deposits.last On Monday, bank executives said the bank lost $102 billion in customer deposits for the quarter. That’s more than half of the $176 billion it had at the end of last year. Bank. First Republic’s troubles are part of a broader banking crisis that began with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in mid-March. In a report on his SVB’s failure released Friday, the Fed blamed itself for failing to prevent his SVB from collapsing. The Fed’s vice chairman for supervision, Michael S. Barr, said central bank supervisors had failed to “take strong enough action” and said the SVB’s regulatory standards were “too low.”
slowdown in economic growth
The U.S. economy was still growing in the first three months of the year, according to preliminary data released Thursday as consumers continued to spend on goods and services such as travel and dining out. rose at an annualized rate of 1.1%, slowing from 2.6% in the last three months of 2022, but still the third straight quarter of growth. Strong consumer spending helped offset slowdowns in other areas. Business investment in the housing sector and equipment — two areas of the economy sensitive to changes in interest rates — both continued to contract. But how long will consumers keep their wallets open? Analysts aren’t sure.
what’s next? (April 30th to May 6th)
The long-awaited Fed meeting
Isn’t every meeting of the Federal Reserve Board highly anticipated these days? But even at a time when the Fed’s moves have been closely watched, this Wednesday’s meeting is noteworthy. With signs of a slowing economy, some analysts now think the chances of Fed officials pausing their rate hike streak are slim. At its final meeting in March, right in the midst of bank turmoil, officials raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to match the previous month’s hike. But the Fed suggested a lot of uncertainty lies ahead as it seeks a path to a soft landing further narrowed by the failures of Silicon Valley and signature banks. Still, many analysts expect the central bank to approve another 0.25 percentage point rate hike and continue the fight to keep inflation down.
hollywood labor disputes
Thousands of Hollywood screenwriters could go on strike Tuesday when contracts with major studios in the industry expire. Earlier this month, the Writers Guild, which is affiliated with the East Coast and West Coast chapters of the Writers Guild of America, said 98% of the writers they represented, or more than 9,000 of his people, had approved the strike’s permit, citing the union. gave the following permissions to the leader of Request work stoppage. Writers say wages and working conditions are deteriorating amid scripted TV streaming boom. Hollywood studios say their demands for a new wage structure ignore economic realities. As a potential strike approaches, executives are stockpiling scripts and preparing reality shows that don’t need writers. But late-night shows like “Saturday Night Live” go dark as soon as the writers leave work.
Job market may cool
The consensus forecast for this Friday’s jobs report is that employers added 170,000 jobs in March from 236,000 in February. It was the first time since the early days of the pandemic that new jobs in a month fell below his 200,000 jobs, and the labor market is pushing him below the Fed’s target of about 100,000 jobs a month. It can also be reduced to a person. The labor market has been surprisingly resilient in the face of recent central bank policy moves. But analysts say that could change soon. They expect to see a significant slowdown in the second half of the year.
what else?
Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy last Sunday and said it will begin closing hundreds of stores while it seeks to sell part of its business. Disney said Wednesday Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials in a First Amendment lawsuit, accusing them of a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.” And an update to the FTX saga: On Thursday, the FBI raided the home of his former executive at a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, Ryan Salame.
