Markets closed April in the red despite a recent rally, as businesses front-loaded imports ahead of President Trump's tariffs.
The S&P 500 rose a little above 0.1%, the Dow gained 0.3% (continuing its longest winning streak of 2025), and NASDAQ closed just below flatline.
Inflation picked up again—the Fed’s core PCE rose 3.5% in Q1, above expectations. March data showed a brief cooling, but tariffs are expected to push prices higher again.
Hiring slowed down. Private employers added just 62,000 jobs in April, the weakest showing since July 2024. Unemployment claims just hit 241,000. Businesses seem hesitant to launch new initiatives or hire amid growing economic uncertainty.
The DOGE saga continues. Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team at HUD has tasked a university student with using AI to rewrite the agency's regulations. Meanwhile, Musk said that he’s scaling back his involvement in DOGE as planned, going down to “day or two per week.” The US is split on whether his 100 days of DOGE were successful or not.
U.S. and Ukraine sign mineral deal. The US now has preferential access to rare earths in exchange for a reconstruction investment fund. The US and Ukraine are starting to get on the same page—but the White House still has work to do with Russia.
Trump called China the leading candidate for “chief-ripper-offer.” More on the trade war below.
😱 Fear and Greed Index
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Should Musk have young programmers working at DOGE?
Trump stated that US children might “have two dolls instead of 30 dolls” as a result of tariffs, but overall, he doesn’t seem to believe we’re headed for a recession.
In response to the US’s falling GDP statistic, Trump posted on Truth Social, “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th.”
Container shipments from China to the US plummeted, with major carriers switching to smaller ships and some canceling trans-Pacific sailings outright.
Airbus told US airlines they must pay tariffs on imported European-built planes themselves, setting up a clash with carriers like Delta and American.
Amid tariff uncertainty, Mexico's economy narrowly avoided recession with 0.2% growth in Q1, driven by an 8.1% surge in agriculture that offset industrial weakness.
📊 Alternative Investing News
Gold posted its third straight day of losses yesterday, hitting a two-week low and continuing to sink to $3,224 as of writing.
Even as rates dipped to 6.89%, mortgage demand slid 4% last week, hitting its lowest level since February.
Suez SA, backed by BlackRock, tapped HSBC to review its Chinese water infrastructure assets.
🤖 AI/Future/Tech News
OpenAI scrubbed recent GPT-4o updates after backlash over the chatbot’s “toxic positivity” and refusal to offer critical feedback.
Visa and Mastercard spun up AI shopping agents that can make purchases on behalf of users.
The new $280 Android phone, CMF Phone 2 Pro, is estimated to be a real future competitor for Samsung and Motorola.
Pinterest rolled out controls to fight AI slop, letting users reduce the number of generative AI Pins they see.
Meta dropped a standalone AI app with a social twist, featuring a Discover feed where users can remix and share AI interactions.
🪙 Crypto
ETFs became the largest holders of Bitcoin last week, surpassing both institutional and retail wallets.
Bitcoin climbed 3.2% on April 30, driven by ETF accumulation and a spike in trading volume.
NexusOne, a President Trump-linked firm, launched in DC to advocate for crypto and AI policy, aiming to shape federal frameworks under the current administration.
