| | Gerard Baker
Editor in Chief
The Wall Street Journal |
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Passing On the Baton
The Journal reports that the Trump administration is seeking to assemble an Arab force to replace the U.S. military contingent in Syria and help stabilize the country’s northeast after the defeat of Islamic State. The initiative comes as the administration has asked Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to contribute billions of dollars to help restore northern Syria. Details about the initiative, which haven’t been previously disclosed, have emerged in the days since the U.S.-led strikes on sites associated with the Syrian regime’s chemical-weapons capabilities. In Syria and beyond, a dangerous new era dawns. As the U.S. simultaneously confronts an aggrieved Russia and an aggressive rising power in China, for the first time in living memory there appears to be a realistic prospect of a superpower conflict, our Gerald F. Seib writes. |
Wanted: Teenage Workers
After the longest stretch of continuous job creation to date, the U.S. is facing its most severe worker shortage in the past two decades. Employers such as General Electric and Michelin are expanding their hunt to include the labor market’s youngest echelon, which is now piling into the workforce. Extending the search to teenagers follows a similar pattern during some other tight labor markets, including in the postwar 1950s and the tech-fueled 1990s. The trend hasn’t always held: Unemployment fell below 5% in 2006 but teen employment rates dropped, leading some economists to conclude more-recent generations had less interest in working. Restaurants remain the top teen employer, but data suggest doors are opening beyond fast food and malls. The turnaround in teen hiring traces to America’s economic growth, which is near its fastest rate since the recession ended in 2009. |
Unfriend
Stock-picking fund managers have soured on Facebook since the social network’s revelation that millions of users’ data were compromised. Some big investors are facing a moment of soul-searching about whether to abandon part of a long-profitable trade: a bet on a group of tech stocks known as “FANG.” The stocks—Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google parent Alphabet—have historically risen in lock step and helped power the long-running market rally. However, they have lost some of their influence over the broader market. Last month’s declines in the FANG stocks wiped out nearly half of the year-to-date gains of some of the best-performing actively managed funds, according to data provider Morningstar. While some money managers believe Facebook’s trouble threatens to cool user and revenue growth, many say the group’s three other stocks are still among the market’s best bets. |
Movie Time
Saudi Arabia wants to do more than export oil. So it’s importing popcorn machines. When moviegoers in Riyadh take their seats to watch a screening of Walt Disney’s “Black Panther” on Wednesday, it will be the first time a Hollywood movie has played in a theater in Saudi Arabia in 35 years. AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest movie theater company, is the first to operate in the kingdom since a longtime ban on cinemas was lifted five months ago. Separately, our Bonds columnist, Elizabeth Bernstein, says it is better to have conversations about death early. Don’t wait until the very end, when people are emotional and time may be limited. If you’re anxious about whether you will be able to tell your dying loved one what you want to say, try writing it down and reading it aloud first. And start by acknowledging the talk is difficult for you. |
 | | | Trade Troubles | |  | | | The U.S. is examining ways to retaliate against China’s restrictions on American technology companies. A broader trade battle escalated Monday after the U.S. and U.K. dealt separate blows to Chinese telecom-gear maker ZTE. The Trump administration argues that Beijing is using its “Made in China 2025” plan to give its tech companies an unfair advantage. But what is it exactly? Our reporter Dan Strumpf weighs in. | | |
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| | 7.41 million | | | The amount of subscribers Netflix added in the first quarter, topping analysts’ expectations that the video-streaming giant would add slightly more than 6.5 million. | |
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 | | I love this city, I love this race, this course. | | | Two-time Olympian Desiree Linden, 34, after becoming the first American woman since 1985 to win the Boston Marathon on Monday. |
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| | | | Going back to our story above, what are your thoughts on employers recruiting teenagers? Send your comments, which we may edit before publication, to 10point@wsj.com. Please include your name and location. | | |
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| | —Compiled by Jessica Menton | |
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| | Responding to yesterday’s question on the Trump administration’s decision to strike Syria, John Kilburn of New Hampshire wrote: “Striking Syria was absolutely necessary, though I question whether the message sent was strong enough.” Jan Rogers Kniffen of Connecticut shared: “As a former U.S. Air Force officer, tactically, I was extremely impressed with the coordination and effectiveness of the strike…On the strategic front, the signal to ‘evildoers’ was a pretty strong ‘don’t or else.’ Geopolitically, this doesn’t mean much other than messaging. Nothing changes.” And Brook Lathram of Tennessee weighed in: “The long-term strategy must be to protect Israel from attack by Iran-aided Hezbollah, to limit Russia’s role in the Middle East, and to ensure the existence of a safe haven for those fleeing Assad’s terror…Merely serving as chemical police will not accomplish these objectives.” | |
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