Investors are losing their ability to resist a stock rally that much of Wall Street is convinced is doomed. More than $12.6 billion has been sent to equity exchange-traded funds in April, the largest influx since January and more than twice the rate of February and March.
Federal Reserve officials are on track to raise interest rates a quarter percentage point next month and signal a potential pause from the steepest hiking campaign in decades, amid concern that fallout from recent bank failures will slow the economy. US bank deposits decreased by $76.2 billion last week, indicating the financial system remains fragile after a string of bank failures.
Bed Bath & Beyond is considering selling assets and intellectual property as part of a potential bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this weekend, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The retailer is also looking to line up funding from Sixth Street Partners to support its operations through Chapter 11 proceedings.
It’s still a difficult time to buy a house: Even as interest rates rise, supply is near a 1999 low and that’s keeping prices high. The median price in March for a previously owned home was $375,700, only a slight dip from a year earlier. And expect another inventory crunch in the new-home market by the middle of 2024, Conor Sen writes in Bloomberg Opinion. Homeowners don’t want to move, and cautious builders are finishing homes under construction faster than they’re starting new ones.
Donald Trump plans to bury Ron DeSantis’s expected presidential campaign before it officially begins, aiming to hit the Florida governor on the two things he’s proudest of: his handling of Covid-19 and his state’s economy. DeSantis’s poll ratings have been falling steadily, and some major Republican donors are losing confidence that he or any other GOP hopeful can displace Trump. Meantime, Joe Biden is expected to formally launch his reelection campaign as early as next week.
Republicans in Congress are acting cynically, Bloomberg Opinion editors write, but it’s time for President Joe Biden to negotiate on the debt ceiling. In seeking such a deal, Biden should make the case for better government to both sides in Congress and to the country’s voters. What’s needed most in this impasse is leadership — and right now, that means negotiating.
It’s back to the launch pad for SpaceX after Elon Musk’s Starship rocket blew up on its first flight. Still, for those eagerly awaiting a trip away from Earth, French startup Zephalto is planning to take passengers into the stratosphere in a balloon for €120,000 ($132,000) per person. While not actually in outer space, which NASA says begins at about twice the height Zephalto’s airships would go, it offers customers a chance to experience something close to being in orbit, with some fine French cuisine and wine on the six-hour round trip.