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The World
President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to meet Monday afternoon in a last-ditch effort to reach a deal to avoid a default on U.S. sovereign debt after negotiations to raise the federal borrowing limit reached an impasse. Talks between White House and House Republican negotiators largely ground to a halt this weekend, with both sides blaming the other for a failure to bridge their differences over spending levels. But Biden and McCarthy instructed their negotiating teams to resume their discussions, starting with a 6 p.m. meeting on Sunday. “There’s no agreement. We’re still apart,” McCarthy, a California Republican, told reporters at the Capitol, though he said the call with Biden was productive. (Wall Street Journal)
Biden says he thinks he has authority to use 14th Amendment on debt ceiling. Biden chided House Republicans for their debt ceiling proposal and called on them to "move from their extreme positions." "Much of what they've already proposed is simply, quite frankly, unacceptable," Biden said from Hiroshima, Japan, on the last day of the G7 summit. (The Hill, Axios)
Traders Brace for Volatility With US Debt Deal Still Elusive: Dollar is quoted mixed versus major peers at markets reopen. (Bloomberg)
Markets on edge as US debt ceiling talks approach crunch time: Asian stocks and Wall Street futures slipped, while banking fears and geopolitical worries capped sentiment. (Reuters)
Greece's ruling New Democracy party stormed to a crushing victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday but fell just short of the threshold needed to form a government on its own, making a runoff election in a month more likely. From Monday, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou will give the top three parties - New Democracy, Syriza and the Socialist PASOK - three days each in turn to form a coalition government. If they all fail, Sakellaropoulou will appoint a caretaker government to prepare new elections about a month later. (Reuters)
Warner Bros Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav was met with boos and angry chants from students after taking the stage at Boston University on Sunday to accept his honorary degree and give the 2023 commencement speech. Those cries began as early as Zaslav’s introduction by BU President Robert A. Brown during the 150th commencement exercises at Nickerson Field. As Brown spoke to Zaslav’s “passion for documenting and sharing the human story on a global scale,” the chants and booing immediately picked up, followed by what would become a constant ebb and flow of calls throughout his 20-minute speech. (The Hollywood Reporter)
London’s Allen & Overy to Merge With Shearman & Sterling to Create $3.4 Billion Global Firm: The proposed merger is among the largest tie-ups in the industry in recent memory, creating one of the largest law firms in terms of revenue. (Wall Street Journal)
New York City is sinking due to weight of its skyscrapers, new research finds. City is sinking approximately 1-2mm each year on average, worsening effects of sea level rise and flooding threat. (The Guardian)
Smoke from Canada's wildfires has drifted across the border and prompted air quality alerts across multiple U.S. states over the weekend. Wildfire smoke poses a threat to people's health even when hundreds of miles from the fire sites because of its harmful microscopic particles, studies show. States including Colorado, Utah, Montana and Idaho issued air quality alerts and advisories due to the dozens of fires burning across western Canada over the weekend. (Axios)
Jamie Dimon turns tide of criticism over JPMorgan’s big spending plans: As Dimon prepares to address shareholders at this year’s investor day, he has to convince them that the bank — the biggest in the US — still has plenty of room to expand. The bank’s shares have outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 and the KBW banking index in the last year, and has emerged as one of the winners in the recent regional banking crisis. In a research note this week, Wells Fargo analysts estimated JPMorgan’s market capitalization could more than double within seven years to $1tn, reaching a level that has been the preserve of tech and oil companies. (Financial Times)
America’s Biggest Bank Is Everywhere—and It Isn’t Done Growing: The deposit crisis that toppled First Republic and two other banks has only made JPMorgan stronger. (Wall Street Journal)
Economy
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he could support holding interest rates steady at the central bank’s next meeting to give officials more time to assess the effects of past rate increases and the inflation outlook. “I’m open to the idea that we can move a little bit more slowly from here,” he said. (Wall Street Journal)
US companies are rushing to borrow money in the bond market, bringing forward deals in case the country’s debt ceiling stand-off causes turmoil over the summer. Bankers who handle corporate bond deals say borrowers are making the most of a relatively buoyant market environment to tap investors now before any possible volatility erupts from the US government running out of cash — a scenario that could have cascading implications for global asset prices. (Financial Times)
What women employees say about Goldman Sachs’ culture: ‘Better but still terrible,’ one former executive says after bank’s $215mn settlement of gender discrimination lawsuit. The Financial Times spoke to more than a dozen current and former female Goldman employees about their experiences working for the bank. Their comments highlight perceptions that, despite some progress, Goldman is still grappling with some of the challenges outlined in the 2010 class action lawsuit. These include feelings that starting a family can stunt women’s careers in a way it does not for men, and that there are too few women in leadership roles. (Financial Times)
Uber has placed its longtime head of diversity, equity and inclusion on leave after workers complained that an employee event she moderated, titled “Don’t Call Me Karen,” was insensitive to people of color. Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, and Nikki Krishnamurthy, the chief people officer, last week asked Bo Young Lee, the head of diversity, “to step back and take a leave of absence while we determine next steps,” according to an email on Thursday from Ms. Krishnamurthy to some employees that was viewed by The New York Times. (New York Times)
How Bud Light Blew It: With one blunder after another, the brewing giant behind the brand became a case study in how not to handle a culture-war storm. The company’s marketing hub is about 950 miles away in a sleek building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. Employees can brainstorm in the break room while helping themselves to beer on tap, or take a drink up to the roof deck. Alissa Heinerscheid, the first woman in Bud Light’s four-decade history to run its marketing, had devised a strategy to combat the beer’s long-declining sales by appealing to a wider swath of customers, including more women and younger adults. Parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev embraced the plan and pledged to increase U.S. marketing spending on Bud Light fivefold after sharply cutting it during the pandemic. The result angered pretty much everyone: core Bud Light consumers, supporters and opponents of transgender rights, wholesalers, retailers, bar owners and company staff. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
China bans U.S. firm Micron’s products from key infrastructure over security risk: China said that US chipmaker Micron Technology’s products posed “serious network security risks” as it banned operators of key infrastructure from buying them, in its first big measure against an American semiconductor group. The Cyberspace Administration of China that the company, which is the biggest US maker of memory chips, “posed significant security risks to China’s critical information infrastructure supply chain”. (Financial Times)
Dutch foreign minister heads to China but little prospect of chip-ban breakthrough: The Netherlands has restricted exports to China of its advanced chip equipment and that is unlikely to change soon, observers say. Beijing is trying to win over European partners as US policy becomes more hostile: analyst. (South China Morning Post)
ChatGPT arrives on the iPhone, months after Apple banned its employees from using it. The free app is now available on the App Store and looks quite similar to the web version. It’s coming soon to Android as well, according to OpenAI, the startup behind the service. By default, it uses the GPT-3.5 language model, but paying customers can gain access to GPT-4. Users will also need the premium version to get faster response times and previews of new features. (Bloomberg)
Unable to turn a profit amid fewer hours watched, some US esports organizations lay off staff, end star player contracts, or even sell their teams at a loss. (New York Times)
Researchers reveal many low-cost Android phones and smart TVs from lesser-known brands, sold in the US and owned by millions, come with malware preinstalled. (Ars Technica)
Smart Links
An overview of the executive team behind Apple's upcoming mixed reality headset. (Bloomberg)
Mount Etna eruption halts flights to Sicily's Catania airport. (Reuters)
Meta Blames Tech Issue for Widespread Instagram Disruption. (Bloomberg)
Open-Source AI Is Gaining on Google and ChatGPT. (The Information)
I’m a Student. You Have No Idea How Much We’re Using ChatGPT. (Chronicle of Higher Ed)