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Good afternoon. Here’s what you should know today, March 9: |
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U.S. jobless claims jumped but remained historically low New drugs are coming to market at sky-high prices Put out a welcome mat for Elon Musk’s Snailbrook, Texas |
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| President Biden said he is willing to discuss the budget with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who called the plan reckless in a statement with other Republican leaders. PHOTO: EVAN VUCCI/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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1. President Biden’s $6.9 trillion budget proposes cutting deficits and raising taxes on wealthy people and large corporations. |
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The fiscal year 2024 plan, which would reduce deficits by $3 trillion over 10 years, was criticized by Republicans but will kick off government-spending talks. GOP House lawmakers want unspecified spending cuts in exchange for raising the federal debt limit; Biden has said he won’t negotiate on that. He also largely wants to extend Trump-era tax cuts for households making under $400,000 a year beyond their scheduled expiration after 2025. It’s unlikely the budget will be enacted, though it lays out the president’s policy priorities for the second half of his term and could test some themes of his expected re-election campaign. |
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🎥 How the U.S. Spent $1.4 Trillion in Debt Last Year, Explained With Pennies (Watch) What’s in Biden’s 2024 Budget Request (Read) Here’s Why the Economy Seems Weird, Writes WSJ’s Greg Ip (Read) |
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2. Initial jobless claims saw the biggest week-to-week increase since early October. |
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The proxy for layoffs grew by 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000 last week, the Labor Department said. Despite the jump, worker filings for unemployment benefits remained historically low, as demand for labor outpaces the number of job hunters. Meanwhile, more employed people might soon enjoy on-site daycare, thanks to new government incentives and companies’ desire to attract and retain talent. Fewer than 6% of employers offer it at or near their workplaces, according to a recent survey. Working parents feel the sting of the daycare-worker shortage that became acute during the Covid-19 pandemic. |
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Executives Lose a Coveted Status Symbol—Their Assistants (Read) |
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3. U.S. financial markets are on edge. |
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Investors are looking for clarity after recent data surprises about the state of the economy and inflation. Reports on nonfarm employment and the consumer-price index come out tomorrow and Tuesday, respectively. While traders now predict the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates higher than forecast—as Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee he would consider—they hope inflation will plummet soon and blame last month’s numbers on one-off factors, like unusually warm January weather. Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 543.54 points, or 1.7%, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.8% and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.1%. |
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Banks Lose Billions in Value After Tech Lender SVB Stumbles (Read) Credit Suisse Delays Annual Report After Last-Minute SEC Request (Read) Inflation-Protection Funds Struggle to Perform as Advertised (Read) Markets Are Telling Investors Two Things at Once, Writes WSJ’s James Mackintosh (Read) |
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4. Russia unleashed one of its biggest attacks on Ukraine this year. |
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Eighty-one missiles rained down from the air, land and sea along with eight Iranian-made attack drones, according to the Ukrainian armed forces’ commander-in-chief. Four drones and 34 cruise missiles were intercepted. Russia’s defense ministry said the strikes were retaliation for an attack last week in the Bryansk region that killed two civilians. Moscow blamed Ukrainian saboteurs; Kyiv denied any involvement. Russia continues to take more territory in eastern Ukraine. |
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Nord Stream Blast Probe in Germany Centers on Sailboat and Crew (Read) |
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