As we anticipated, the Fed held pat on rates yesterday, acknowledged rising inflation but betrayed little concern about it, and gave no signs of moving away from plans to next raise rates in June – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Your tariff update of the day sheds some light on what would outwardly appear to be a pretty simple issue: whether the US has a deal with Brazil to exempt it from steel and aluminum tariffs. The US says yes. Brazil says no. Discuss – NYTimes
Meanwhile, even as the White House is considering executive action that would further target Chinese telecom companies’ ability to sell in the US (and China mulls how to retaliate [and perhaps has already landed on soybeans]), the Journal warns that President Xi’s “hands are tied” as US-Sino trade talks get underway due to self-created public expectations and “resistance from ministries, local governments and state enterprises”—all of which make “compromise politically risky” – WSJ
Dealbook helps us evaluate the D.C. headwinds facing Sprint & T-Mobile in their effort to sell their $26.5 billion merger [for the 3rd time] to regulators and pols – NYTimes
Elon’s rather unconventional analyst-call performance managed to undercut some better-than-expected quarterly numbers for the company – MarketWatch and WSJ
The 5th Circuit has refused an effort by the AARP and a collection of state attorneys general from taking up a lower court’s invalidation of the DOL’s 2016-era fiduciary rule for retirement advisers – Law360
Amazon is starting with carrots as it urges retailers to adopt its new online payment service that’s seen in the industry as a threat to online payment systems (like PayPal) and card-issuers alike. So, will Jeff & Co. need to move to sticks? We’ll check back – Bloomberg
Nissan’s brutal sedan-sales figures and Ford’s decision to all but can its sedan lines suggests the rise—once again—of SUVs and trucks in America – WSJ
Speaking of cars, VW will pay $40 million to Arizona to resolve the state’s lawsuit asserting false advertising claims against the automaker. $10.5 million of the total will go to consumers – Law360
They had me at “verbal cryptobrawl” – Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coupe picked an awful time [on camera, during the week that his company announced a merger with Asda] to run through a few lines of one of his apparent musical [42nd Street] faves [“The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money)”] – NYTimes
Ladies and gentlemen, the fine folks at KraftHeinz are happy to give you . . . Mayochup. [Oh, and you may already know it by a series of more appealing names] – Marketplace
