Good morning. This week needs to zip by because on Friday, Memorial Day weekend begins, and the (supposedly) final Mission: Impossible will be released in theaters. When Tom Cruise first began playing Ethan Hunt, he was 34. Now, he’s 62.
Markets: Stocks are getting into beach-ready shape. The S&P 500 climbed for five straight days to close over 5% higher for the week, a sign investors are lowering their bets that tariffs and economic uncertainty will lead to a major downturn. Meanwhile, the AI trade is so back: Coreweave, which rents Nvidia GPUs to AI companies, has more than doubled its share price since its March IPO.
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After the stock market closed on Friday, credit rating agency Moody’s got in a mood, downgrading America’s creditworthiness from a perfect AAA grade to the next-best Aa1 on account of running up massive deficits and paying an eye-watering amount of interest to service its debt.
There are three major credit agencies, and Moody’s was the last to knock the US from the most pristine credit rating. The others, S&P and Fitch, downgraded US’ credit in 2011 and 2023, respectively. Moody’s hadn’t lowered the US’ stellar score since it issued it in 1919. But it sent it to rung No. 2 on the 21-unit rating scale because…
The US is letting its debt get out of control
“Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs” over the past decade, Moody’s said.
Here’s what they’re talking about:
The US government paid over $1.1 trillion in interest on its debt last year, Bloomberg Opinion noted. That’s more than the Pentagon’s entire budget.
Moody’s is concerned that the US won’t generate enough tax revenue to cover interest on its debt, meaning it would have to borrow money just to pay interest on…the money it already borrowed.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the importance of the downgrade yesterday, calling Moody’s a “lagging indicator.” Markets may also react with a shrug as trading opens this morning. After all, foreign investors have piled into US debt since Fitch first downgraded the US in 2011. Since that year, they’ve roughly doubled their holdings of Treasuries and added $1.5 trillion since 2023, per the Treasury Department.
Zoom out: Moody’s downgrade comes as Republican lawmakers try to push forward what President Trump calls a “Big Beautiful Bill,” a large tax and spending package that is estimated to increase deficits by about $4.2 trillion over the next decade by extending and adding to Trump’s tax cuts from 2017.—HVL, NF
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Former President Joe Biden in April. Tannen Maury/Getty Images
⚕️ Former President Biden announced he has “aggressive” form of prostate cancer. In a statement released by his office yesterday, Biden shared his diagnosis, which includes “metastasis to the bone,” and said it was discovered last week while the former president sought treatment for “increasing urinary symptoms.” While prostate cancer that spreads to another part of the body is considered more serious than other forms of the disease, Biden’s statement said his appeared to be “hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.” It also shared that he is considering treatment options with his doctors.
Mexican Navy tall ship crashed into Brooklyn Bridge, killing two. What began as a goodwill journey to Iceland ended in tragedy when the Cuauhtémoc, a tall ship from the Mexican Navy, left a Manhattan pier on Saturday night and soon after lost power, causing its masts to slam into the Brooklyn Bridge, which was not damaged. Two crew members on board the ship died as of early Sunday morning and 19 were injured, according to a statement from Mayor Eric Adams’s office, which also said 277 people total had been on the Cuauhtémoc. Officials stressed that the information was preliminary.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged tariffs may raise Walmart prices. Bessent said he spoke to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon over the weekend and concluded that the world’s largest retailer would “eat some of the tariffs, just as they did in ’18, ’19 and ’20,” referring to the retailer’s actions after past trade deals. While speaking on CNN on Sunday morning, however, Bessent said that some of the tariff increases “may get passed on to consumers” shopping at Walmart. In a different interview, Bessent said that Walmart’s earnings call last week sounded bleak because because federal regulations require the company to give investors “the worst-case scenario so that they’re not sued.” Walmart did not comment on the conversation between its CEO and Bessent.—HVL
S. Tryon St. in Charlotte, NC. Jeff Greenberg/Getty Images
Growth is finally back on the menu for the US’ largest cities after years of pandemic-induced pressures on their economies. According to census data released on Thursday, nearly all of the country’s largest urban centers showed population growth.
Reversing a trend: Pandemic deaths, falling birth rates, and a hankering for smaller-town living caused many big-city populations to shrink in the wake of Covid-19. So, what changed? Well, there are just more people overall now. The country’s nationwide population rose 1% from June 2023 to June 2024. That increase is “the highest we’ve seen in a generation,” according to Steven Martin, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, who spoke to the Washington Post. He also said that immigration has been a major population driver.
The South’s got something to say
New York and Los Angeles experienced some of the biggest population increases from 2023 to 2024, but, for the most part, the compass arrow pointed south. Five of the 15 major cities with the most population growth were in Texas and Florida, with Fort Worth and Jacksonville joining the million-resident club. Texas also had the fastest-growing city in the US last year: Princeton, a Dallas suburb that saw its population jump more than 30% in one year. With all of this expansion, the Sun Belt might have to start poking new holes in itself.—BC
Orlando is getting another theme park: Break out the comfortable shoes and your favorite refillable water bottle, because Universal’s long-anticipated Epic Universe park opens this week. The massive addition includes five worlds based on popular franchises like Harry Potter, Nintendo, and Universal’s classic monster movies. According to one estimate, the new park could generate $2 billion for the state of Florida just in its first year of operation.
Retailers (and tariffs) in the spotlight: Target, Home Depot, and Lowe’s report earnings this week, offering investors a few more clues about the state of the US consumer after last week’s data showed slowing retail sales and weak consumer sentiment.
President Trump’s memecoin dinner: On Thursday, the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP token will get to attend a private dinner with the man himself. The winning wallets have been announced, but that doesn’t mean we know who’s sitting down with the president yet. Crypto wallets are notoriously anonymous, so there’s a little bit of mystery about who will show up. Many of the wallets are connected to international exchanges, suggesting a chunk of the dinner guests may be from other countries.
Everything else…
UK and EU leaders meet in London today to try to recapture some of that pre-Brexit magic. Security, fishing rights, and youth travel limits are all expected to be on the agenda.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his fellow G7 finance ministers meet in Canada on Tuesday.
The NBA conference finals tip off this week. The Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow, while the New York Knicks host the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he wants President Trump’s wide-ranging budget bill to be brought to the House floor for a vote by Sunday night.
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The hottest new trend in the culinary world may be Styrofoam containers and grocery bags tied tighter than physics should allow. According to the National Restaurant Association, to-go orders—pickups, deliveries, and drive-thrus—now make up nearly 75% of all restaurant traffic, prompting philosophy majors everywhere to wonder: If you’ve never actually been there, can it still be your favorite restaurant?
Mobile ordering is also on the rise, with 57% of adults saying they recently used it, though older people say they still prefer giving their order face-to-face.—BC
New Jersey Transit reached a tentative deal with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union. The rail strike is expected to end at midnight on Tuesday.
A car bomb detonated outside a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, CA, on Saturday, killing one person and injuring four others. The FBI linked the attack to anti-natalist ideology.
A Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Seville in February 2024 had no pilot for 10 minutes due to a fainting incident, German media reported this weekend.
The Federal Reserve will cut staffing by 10% over the next several years, Chair Jerome Powell said in a memo, which feels a little weird for the agency charged with “maintaining maximum employment” to be announcing.
Austria won Eurovision 2025 thanks to JJ, a counter-tenor with the Vienna State Opera, and his rendition of “Wasted Love.”
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Today’s Word of the Day is: fiscal, which means “relating to public money or debt.” Thanks to Saheli Chowdhury from Kolkata, India, and Lee from Halifax, VA, for a suggestion that has currency. Submit another Word of the Day here.
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Mexican Navy tall ship crashed into Brooklyn Bridge, killing two. What began as a goodwill journey to Iceland 
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged tariffs may raise Walmart prices. Bessent said he 
Decor: 
