Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Bulls run wild

Wall Street has officially erased more than a year of Fed-inflicted pain. Seemingly ignoring the central bank’s caution that—June pause or not—more rate hikes are likely, the bulls are running wild as investors claw back all of the ground lost during the Fed’s tightening campaign. The artificial intelligence-fueled rally also ran right over continuing calls from some corners that a recession may soon appear, perhaps a reflection on a year of perpetually unrealized downturn predictions. After the Federal Reserve paused hikes Wednesday, the S&P 500 closed at 4,372.59, a level seen back in March 2022 when Powell kicked off the hiking cycle and sparked a bear market across stocks and bonds. On Thursday, the S&P 500 closed even higher. Still, as Powell and others warned, the US economy doesn’t stop on a dime, and the central bank’s tightening measures may have yet to be fully felt. “Those who’ve successfully played the current rally, in part because of excessive investor pessimism, should recognize the crowd is now mostly aboard,” said Doug Ramsey, chief investment officer of Leuthold. “My biggest concern by far is the lagged impact of the last 15 months’ tightening.” —David E. Rovella

Earlier this year, the Republican Party sought to bury proposals by some of its members to target Medicare and Social Security for cuts. Democratic President Joe Biden managed to maneuver House Republicans into a promise of sorts during the State of the Union not to touch those third rails of American politics, and the GOP has repeatedly denied it intends to cut the benefits. Now, a 176-member group that makes up the majority of Republican House members is proposing to do just that, seeking to raise the retirement age for Americans by 3 years, to 69. 

Since the Kakhovka dam was destroyed on June 6, floods have cut off the ability of Ukraine’s troops to cross the Dnipro River in support of their counteroffensive. Yet that benefit to the Kremlin, which Kyiv said blew up the dam, may not last. As Ukraine deploys billions of dollars of western weaponry along a front stretching for 1,000 miles, the Dnipro is a crucial feature of the battlefield, offering protection to troops facing each other across much of its southern portion. Now, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War is redrawing its battlefield maps to reflect the sudden shrinkage of the water course that separates Ukrainian forces from the occupied land on the eastern banks of the reservoir. 

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, occupied by Russian troops, on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine as the level of water in the Kakhovka Reservoir continues to decrease Photographer: NurPhoto

A Goldman Sachs partner agreed to pay several million dollars to a woman to resolve a complaint so sensitive it was handled at the highest levels of the firm. The executive was said to have accidentally included a sexually explicit recording of himself as part of a work-related video sent to a junior staffer. The incident, which happened in 2020, quickly spiraled into an internal review overseen by senior leaders, including Chief Executive Officer David Solomon.

The biggest US supplier of semiconductor chipmaking equipment sued a Chinese-owned rival over what it says was a 14-month effort to steal some of its most valuable secrets. Applied Materials accused California-based Mattson, which is owned by a Beijing-backed concern, of hiring away 17 of its most senior engineers over just more than a year. 

Three years after the pandemic closed down offices around the world, the remote-work revolution has morphed into a tug-of-war between frustrated bosses and fed-up staff. While workers don’t want to give up flexibility, leaders want teams back in the office with claims of increased collaboration and productivity. The impasse is the latest phase in a high-stakes battle that’s putting careers, profits and mental health on the line. 

Few companies are insisting on a full-time return to the office, with most preferring hybrid models that allow some flexibility. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

A reckoning is coming for lower-quality office buildings over the next few years, and it will be made worse by tightening credit at US regional banks, says the head of one of Canada’s largest institutional investors: “There’s going to be a bloodbath in some areas, for sure.”

India’s Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case to legalize same-sex marriage, and a decision is likely this year. But since the court effectively decriminalized homosexuality in 2018, a growing group of gay and lesbian Indian couples have embraced—and reinvented—the country’s elaborate wedding ceremonies and traditions. As a result, India’s massive, $210 billion wedding industry is embracing LGBTQ ceremonies.

Source: Sougata Basu and Mayank Kalra

• Netherlands is set to close Europe’s biggest gas field this year.
• Deadly disease arrives at the doorstep of South African power.
• Venezuela makes a long-shot bid of revival  with natural gas.
• Restaurant chain Cava almost doubles after $318 million IPO.
• Microsoft’s AI dominance scrambles Silicon Valley’s power structure.
• Is AT&T’s return-to-office mandate a mass layoff in disguise?
• Thanks to Netflix, a tiny Swiss town has more visitors than locals.

The Perelman Performing Arts Center, or PAC NYC for short, will formally open in September. The $500 million building sits in the shadow of One World Trade Center and alongside the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, all on the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 22 years ago. The project will debut as New York City continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, and in an era of lagging audiences and patronage of the arts. These are some of the reasons the center is being watched closely by urban planners, arts professionals, philanthropists—and of course curious New Yorkers.

The new PAC NYC Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg

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