Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Bosses get upper hand

The dynamism that’s been giving the US labor market some of its edge may be slowing down. The number of people who go directly from one job to the next has fallen by more than half a percentage point in recent months, according to data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. The dwindling numbers of job switchers—often the most highly skilled—could suggest some workers are insecure about their prospects, or that headhunters aren’t as busy as they once were.

The number of available positions has edged down from more than 12 million in March 2022 to 8.76 million, mainly reflecting a slowdown in the labor market. The measure of voluntary job-leavers as a share of total employment dropped to its lowest since 2020. To be sure, this kind of cool down is exactly what the Fed is shooting for in its bid to lower inflation toward its 2% goal. But for workers, that bosses may again have the upper hand is never welcome news. —Natasha Solo-Lyons  

Apple’s iPad has been added to a list of Big Tech products and services hit by strict new European Union rules aimed at stopping potential competition abuses before they take hold. The move means Apple has six months to make sure its tablet ecosystem complies with a raft of preemptive measures under the EU’s flagship Digital Markets Act.

WeWork and its major financial backers including SoftBank have struck a new restructuring deal to get the ailing workspace provider out of bankruptcy, spurning a competing financing proposal from co-founder Adam Neumann.

Adam Neumann Photographer: Noam Galai/Getty Images

The International Criminal Court is said to be weighing arrest warrants targeting both senior Israeli officials as well as the leadership of Hamas over the two sides’ conduct of the war in Gaza. The New York Times previously reported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be among those singled out. The US, Israel’s chief ally, is warning such a move by the court could jeopardize a cease-fire agreement currently being negotiated between Israel and Hamas. The worry, according to people familiar with the matter, is that Israel would back out of a truce if the ICC moves forward. 

After touching its weakest level against the dollar in 34 years, the yen surged amid speculation the Japanese government intervened to support it. In holiday-thinned market conditions in Japan, the yen swung wildly, rallying more than 2% on Monday after earlier dropping as much as 1.2%, the widest trading range since late 2022. Analysts suggested the size and speed of the jump smacked of intervention. 

The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Elon Musk in his “Twitter sitter” case, leaving intact his agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to have an in-house lawyer pre-approve his social media posts concerning Tesla. The justices, without comment, refused to hear contentions from the Tesla chief executive that the accord he signed in 2018 violates his free speech rights. Musk has battled the SEC over his social media posts since he tweeted in August 2018 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private, sending shares of the electric carmaker surging.  

McKinsey faces a lot of problems these days. So in Copenhagen earlier this month, the giant consulting firm sought to rally the troops with upbeat declarations and blasts of rock and rap music. Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels told his fellow partners at the event that McKinsey is expecting a good 2024 after its challenges of the past 18 months. He called it a “turn the page” moment.

Boeing raised $10 billion from a bond sale on Monday that attracted about $77 billion of orders and allowed the planemaker to ease some of its financial strains by refinancing part of its massive debt load. The outsized demand for the bonds—which Boeing attracted by initially dangling a relatively juicy yield premium to prospective investors—allowed the company to ultimately shrink that premium before it priced.

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Once renowned as avid overseas tourists, Japanese travelers are staying closer to home. A weaker yen, high air fares and tepid wage growth are keeping outbound travel stuck well below pre-pandemic levels. Just 1.22 million ventured abroad in March, 36.8% less compared with the same period in 2019, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Meanwhile, a record number of tourists visited the island nation last month.

Visitors at Nakamise-dori shopping street in Atami, Japan, on April 23. Photographer: Soichiro Koriyama

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