Macro College Grad Underemployment Hits 42.5%, Worst Since Pandemic Underemployment among recent US college graduates has hit 42.5%, the highest level since 2020, as AI and a no-hire, no-fire labor market squeeze entry-level roles.
Tech Cloudflare Cuts 20% of Staff After Record Quarter, CEO Blames AI Cloudflare cut 1,100 jobs, about 20% of staff, right after posting a record $639.8M quarter. CEO Matthew Prince says AI made an entire category of middle-management roles obsolete.
Geopolitics U.S. Pauses $14B Taiwan Arms Sale to Preserve Iran War Munitions The U.S. has paused a planned $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan to preserve munitions for the Iran war, the Acting Navy Secretary said, putting new focus on defense primes like LMT and RTX.
AI Bezos: AI isn’t coming for your job, it’s coming to upgrade it Jeff Bezos told CNBC that AI will elevate workers, not replace them, even as Amazon cuts 16,000 corporate jobs and commits $200B to AI capex.
Real Estate Private Equity Now Owns 1 in 8 US Apartments, PESP Report Finds Private equity firms now own roughly 13% of US apartment units, about 3 million across 11,800 buildings, with half acquired since 2021. Blackstone leads with 230,000+ units.
Macro Trump: U.S. Likely to Pay Back $149 Billion in Tariffs Trump said the U.S. will likely have to refund roughly $149 billion in tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA duties. The refund is on top of an estimated $300 billion in lost annual tariff revenue.
Macro U.S. National Debt Hits $39 Trillion, Adding $5B a Day Since October U.S. national debt has officially crossed $39 trillion, with roughly $5 billion added every day since late October. Interest costs now rival defense and education spending combined.
Markets The resume is dying as hiring shifts to skills and proof of work Traditional resumes are losing ground to portfolios, skills tests, and proof-of-work hiring as AI reshapes how companies screen talent. Here is what it means for LinkedIn, HR tech, and the labor market.
AI OpenAI Says Internal AI Model Cracked 80-Year-Old Erdős Conjecture OpenAI says an internal reasoning model disproved an 80-year-old Erdős conjecture in discrete geometry, with external mathematicians verifying the proof. A potential milestone for AI-driven research.
Politics US Government Drops Tax Claims Against Trump in Settlement The U.S. government has agreed to permanently drop tax claims against President Trump, resolving his lawsuit against the IRS over leaked tax returns.
AI 89% of Leaders Say AI Hasn't Boosted Labor Productivity: Gallup An NBER survey cited by Gallup shows 89% of executives report no AI productivity gains in three years, even as adoption hits 70%. The disconnect raises questions for AI capex names.
Politics Government waste, fraud and abuse rose 13% last year despite DOGE Federal waste, fraud and abuse rose roughly 13% last year despite DOGE's pledge to root it out, with $162B in improper payments across 68 programs in FY2024.
AI AI Now Costs More Than Human Workers, Nvidia VP Admits An Nvidia VP says AI compute now costs more than the employees using it, Uber blew its 2026 AI budget in four months, and an MIT study found humans are still cheaper in 77% of visual tasks.
Geopolitics Russian Cargo Ship Carrying Nuclear Reactors Sinks Off Spain A Russian cargo ship carrying two nuclear reactors sank off Spain's coast under unexplained circumstances, raising concerns over nuclear material security.
Tech Microsoft Fires Israel GM Alon Haimovich Over Azure Surveillance Probe Microsoft fired Israel GM Alon Haimovich and other senior managers after a probe linked Azure cloud services to Unit 8200’s surveillance of Palestinians. Microsoft Israel now reports to Microsoft France.
Markets DOJ Drops Fraud Charges Against Gautam Adani After Hiring Trump's Lawyer The U.S. Department of Justice is dropping fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani after he hired President Trump's personal lawyer and offered a $10 billion U.S. investment.
Politics Border Patrol Chief Resigns Amid Allegations of Soliciting Sex Workers U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks resigns amid allegations of soliciting sex workers during overseas trips, raising concerns about agency ethics and potential market implications.
Markets Iran Conflict Triggers Diet Coke Shortage in India The Iran conflict disrupts aluminum can supply, leading to a Diet Coke shortage in India. Coca-Cola (KO) faces supply chain challenges amid rising aluminum prices.
Energy Maryland Ratepayers to Eat $1.6B in Data Center Grid Costs Over a Decade Maryland's Office of People's Counsel says homeowners will pay an extra $1.6 billion over 10 years to fund PJM transmission upgrades driven by out-of-state data centers, and has filed a FERC complaint.
Markets Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship Confirms Rare Human-to-Human Transmission A hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has resulted in three deaths and confirmed rare human-to-human transmission, raising concerns for the cruise industry.
Energy $920M Crude Oil Short Hit 70 Minutes Before US-Iran Deal Report A $920M crude oil short hit the tape at 3:40 AM ET, 70 minutes before Axios broke a US-Iran 14-point deal report. Oil fell 12%, netting roughly $125M in paper gains.
Markets FBI Charges 30 in Decade-Long Global Insider Trading Ring FBI Boston has charged 30 people, including corporate attorneys, in a decade-long insider trading scheme tied to stolen M&A information from major U.S. law firms, with trades made ahead of deals like Amazon’s iRobot bid.
Markets 23 Hantavirus Cruise Passengers Returned Home, Including to US At least 23 passengers from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius cruise have returned home, including to the US, with one already sick. Cruise operator stocks back in focus.
Politics RFK Jr. Defends Trump's '600% Drug Price Cut' Math at Senate Hearing HHS Secretary RFK Jr. told the Senate that Trump has a different way of calculating percentages, defending the claim that TrumpRx cuts drug prices by 600%. The actual figure is 98.3%.
Markets Powell to Remain as Fed Governor Post-Chair Term Amid Legal Pressures Jerome Powell will continue as a Federal Reserve governor after his chair term ends, citing legal challenges threatening the Fed's independence.
