Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - A fresh record for stocks

Wall Street traders sent stocks to all-time highs as bond yields slumped after an inflation slowdown reinforced bets the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as early as September. The S&P 500 notched its 23rd record in 2024 as data showed the consumer price index cooled for the first time in six months. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the VIX — sank toward the lowest since December. US Treasuries climbed across the curve. The dollar fell against all of its developed-market peers. Here’s your markets wrap.   —Natasha Solo-Lyons  

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico suffered life-threatening injuries after being shot in public, the first assassination attempt on a European leader in more than two decades and an incident that underscores the deep polarization in the country. Fico, 59, was rushed to the hospital and remains in surgery and in “very serious” condition following an attack by a 71-year-old man during an appearance away from the capital.

President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump said they would debate each other on June 27, setting the stage for their first televised face-off of the 2024 campaign months earlier than expected. Biden said Wednesday in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that he “received and accepted” an invitation from CNN to debate Trump. Trump’s campaign later said he also agreed to attend. The event will take place at 9 p.m. New York time at the network’s Atlanta studios in swing-state Georgia, CNN said in a statement.

Former US President Donald Trump. Photographer: Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg

It’s not just young Americans on the sidelines of the real estate market. The vast majority of baby boomers who are renting also say buying a home is a bad bet right now. The difference? Boomers are loving the renter’s life. Typically those who don’t own a home worry it might be detrimental to their financial future. However, more baby boomers are in favor of renting and have little interest in buying, according to a Bank of America report. About 80% of renters in that generation, who are now 57 to 75 years old, say doing so is better than buying a home in the current environment, up from 63% a year ago, the report shows. 

Five years after Amazon raised wages to $15 an hour, half of warehouse workers surveyed by researchers say they struggle to afford enough food or a place to live. The national study, published Wednesday by the University of Illinois Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development, asked US employees about their economic wellbeing, including whether they’d skipped meals, went hungry, or were worried about being able to make rent or mortgage payments. Fifty-three percent of respondents reported that they’d experienced one or more forms of food insecurity in the prior three months, and 48% experienced one or more forms of housing insecurity. 

Two brothers who studied at MIT were arrested and charged with exploiting a weakness in the Ethereum blockchain and stealing $25 million in 12 seconds, in what prosecutors called a first-of-its-kind caper. Anton Peraire-Bueno, 24, and James Peraire-Bueno, 28, were charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan with fraud and money laundering offenses. They are accused of carrying out the lightning-fast heist, plotted over the course of months, from their keyboards last year.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called for full and thoughtful engagement with China, despite the country posing “tough competition” for the West. In an interview with Sky News in London on Wednesday, Dimon said “as long as China is kind of on the side of Russia, we’re going to have a hard time,” adding the tensions over Taiwan could pose problems.

Jamie Dimon. Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Netflix said monthly active users of its advertising-supported subscription plan reached 40 million, and that it will launch an in-house ad technology platform to support this growing part of its business. The number of users rose from 5 million a year ago, Amy Reinhard, the company’s president of advertising, said Wednesday in New York where Netflix was presenting its future programming lineup to potential sponsors. Ad-plan subscribers amount to more than 40% of the sign-ups in the countries that offer the plan. The company has 270 million subscribers overall.

• Six ways Congress plans to make flying better with the FAA bill.
• US sanctions Nicaraguan government in bid to stem migrant flow.
• Macron talks about Europe’s decline, Scholz is trying to fix it.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Were those hot inflation numbers just a bad dream?
• Netflix nears deal for NFL games, extending push into sports.
• Christie’s pulls off $114.7 million auction despite cyberattack.
• F1 mogul’s ex-wife builds family office to manage divorce riches.

The Colombian capital is emerging not just as an economic powerhouse but as a purveyor of cultural and culinary riches. Its checkered past means many of its brightest gems are hidden behind closed doors—luckily, we’ve found them all for you. We independently scoped out more than 150 venues and distilled the list down to the very best of the best: Every recommendation below has earned our most discerning stamp of approval. Click here for more. 

Photographer: Victoria Holguin

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