Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Bumpy glide path

It’s a crucial week ahead for central banks that oversee 40% of the world’s gross domestic product. There’s intense speculation that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates for the first time since 2007, ending the world’s last negative rate. In the US, policymakers are expected to hold steady until it’s clear that price surges are contained, as the glide path to a soft landing experiences some turbulence. Moreover, a slight uptick in inflation revealed by data this week may mean the Federal Reserve will stick with its mantra of patience longer than previously expected. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg now forecast three US interest-rate cuts this year and four in 2025. The UK and euro-zone also look set to begin cutting rates later in 2024 as inflation there comes under control.

But while the US economy has avoided a recession and unemployment has remained low, that doesn’t mean everyone is having an easy time of it. Some Americans feel increasingly pressured by the surge in the cost of carrying their debt. Delinquency rates on their credit card debt and auto loans are now at the highest in more than a decade. Of course there’s a flip side: Many US families are relatively well-positioned to service their debt, and broad wage gains mean workers are pulling in larger paychecks. 

More than two years after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, during which Russian forces have killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians while blasting cities into rubble, Russians back home have been doing well, with an economy that’s held up in the face of Western sanctions. Vladimir Putin, set to become the longest serving Kremlin leader since Joseph Stalin in an election widely seen as a fait accompli, has spent the last few years trying to bend the world to his liking. Meantime, a program for private investors to help rebuild Ukraine is aiming to provide $15 billion of funding with support from state bodies and capital markets. 

Legislation that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the video-sharing app within six months seems to be going nowhere fast in the US Senate. After the House of Representatives easily passed the bill, senators on both sides of the aisle appear unwilling to fast-track a ban on the popular app—used by as many as 170 million Americans—in an election year. Some think ByteDance should make a move sooner rather than later, though. “The platform’s Chinese owners should look to make the best of a bad situation and divest the app while it has maximum value,” Dave Lee writes in Bloomberg Opinion.

TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Zi Chew Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg

Another bad week for Boeing. US accident investigators said they remain in the dark about who performed the work on the panel of a Boeing jet that blew off shortly after takeoff in January, with the embattled planemaker saying it’s unable to find the records. United Airlines meanwhile told Boeing to stop building its 737 Max 10 jets for the carrier. And a Boeing employee who raised concerns about production standards at a 787 Dreamliner factory was found dead. John Barnett, who worked at Boeing for 32 years until his retirement in 2017, reportedly died from a self-inflicted wound. 

As the world braces for how much (or little) artificial intelligence will change everything, startups with new AI ideas continue to emerge. The firm Physical Intelligence is building software intended to power robots that can learn a wide range of tasks. Another one, Cognition AI, is working to turn a user’s prompt into a website or video game. And Nvidia’s annual AI conference is next week, with expectations high for news that will sustain its blistering stock rally.

Scientists and engineers are racing to find new ways to slow global warming as communities everywhere seek to adapt. In this episode of An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau explores lasting solutions to the crisis and how people from Kenya to Greenland are changing the way they live in the interim. For some professional athletes, staying employed—or even building empires—after retirement requires both grit and help. On the latest episode of The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, we speak with a National Football League executive-turned-manager who’s helped build second careers for football stars like Deion Sanders and Michael Strahan.

Watch An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on Bloomberg Originals

• Crucial monetary policy decisions from Japan to UK.
• Fed rate decision, but most expect no change yet.
• Bloomberg News’ inaugural China Credit Forum; China economic data.
• EU leaders meet to discuss Ukraine, Middle East and migration.
• Reddit is moving ahead with an IPO after two years on the sidelines.

From a Republican-appointed supermajority of the Supreme Court ending affirmative action in college admissions to the charged controversy surrounding Claudine Gay’s Harvard ouster, the political backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion is intensifying. Right-wing figures like Elon Musk and Stephen Miller have been on the attack and gains made by people of color in the wake of George Floyd’s murder are coming undone. Indeed, companies are increasingly backing away from publicly addressing diversity, a Bloomberg analysis has revealed. In the Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary How Diversity Became a Dirty Word in Corporate America, we explore how the debate over DEI got to this point and the road forward for corporate America.

Companies are backing away from diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Photographer: Richard A. Chance

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