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Nasdaq |
26,247.08 |
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S&P |
7,398.93 |
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Dow |
49,609.16 |
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10-Year |
4.364% |
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Bitcoin |
$80,233.83 |
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Intel |
$124.92 |
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*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. |
- Markets: Much like Alex Honnold, stocks just keep climbing. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 each notched another record close yesterday, capping off six winning weeks in a row. Chipmakers were among the favorites, with Intel, in particular, soaring after the WSJ reported the company had clinched a preliminary deal to make chips for Apple.
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Like a younger brother babysitting his niece or nephew for the first time, yesterday’s jobs report exceeded expectations. US employers added 115,000 jobs in April, roughly doubling analysts’ projections and suggesting that the geopolitical factors eroding consumer confidence haven’t yet hurt the job market. According to the Labor Department:
- Job gains were once again driven by the healthcare industry, reflective of an aging US population. Transportation, warehousing, and retail sectors also added the most jobs since 2024.
- Federal government payrolls declined again, and job cuts also occurred in manufacturing and “information employment,” which roughly accounts for tech fields. (The latter category has shed 11% of jobs since peaking in November 2022, when ChatGPT was released.)
- The unemployment rate held at 4.3%, as expected.
Combined with even stronger hiring from March, April’s numbers mark the biggest two-month payroll increase since 2024, coming right after the US lost 156,000 jobs in February, reflecting ongoing volatility. While yesterday’s labor dispatch delighted the stock market… …some warning signs also flashedUnemployment may be holding steady, but many Americans are still struggling. Last month:
- Wage growth increased slightly, to 3.6%. That was below expectations and below the 4.2% rate that economists predict all-items inflation will hit this year due to tariffs and the Iran war.
- A gauge for 1) part-time workers who would prefer full-time employment and 2) job-seekers who gave up on finding work hit its highest rate since December.
- The percentage of the population that’s working or seeking work hit its lowest level since October 2021.
Meanwhile, vibes are bad: Consumer sentiment fell to another record low this month as surging gas prices—which hit a nearly four-year high this week—compounded cost-of-living anxiety, according to the University of Michigan’s survey. Looking ahead…we’ll get a better idea of how much overall prices have risen recently when the latest CPI data comes out next week. With the job market appearing strong overall, the Federal Reserve could hinge its next interest rate decision primarily on inflation.—ML |
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Confident compliance starts with outcomes, not guesswork. That’s why Avalara helps run tax and compliance end to end, from calculation to filing. Built on 20+ years of real compliance infrastructure (and not retrofitted AI), Avalara processes and files returns at scale. That’s 1k+ per minute, in case you were keeping count. Avalara applies 60k+ continuously updated regulatory rules automatically and integrates seamlessly with 1,400+ business systems and platforms. It maintains full audit traceability from transaction to return and is trusted by 200k+ businesses operating across 75+ countries. That’s a lot of numbers—all of ’em good. In short: Teams can scale globally without needing to master local tax rules alone. Learn more and get started. |
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 Pentagon releases the X files documents on UFOs. Yesterday, the Defense Department began releasing a large batch of never-before-seen files declassified on a new website that includes details of alleged UFO sightings and photos of unidentified aerial phenomena (see for yourself here). The government did not offer any analysis of the documents, and President Trump said on Truth Social, “The people can decide for themselves, ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’ Have Fun and Enjoy!”—AR
  US disabled two Iranian oil tankers while waiting for peace plan response. American forces fired on the Iranian oil tankers yesterday, although the US insists the ceasefire is still in effect. The US military said the tankers were trying to breach its blockade of Iranian ports. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said he hoped to receive “a serious offer” from Iran regarding a peace deal by late Friday, according to the Associated Press, but the day ended without a public update.—HVL
 ABC claims the Trump administration is trying to stifle free speech. In a legal filing that’s pretty spicy for network TV, ABC accused the Federal Communications Commission of threatening “to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech.” At issue is the FCC’s scrutiny of The View and whether the daytime talk show is subject to the equal time rule when it brings on politicians for interviews. The FCC told the AP that it was reviewing ABC’s claim that The View is an exempt news program. The filing comes as the network has also clashed with the administration over comedian Jimmy Kimmel.—AR
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Procrastinating Intro to Romantic Lit students at thousands of schools were granted a surprise extension on their final essays. Canvas, the platform that about half of all colleges and universities in North America use to manage assignments and share grades, shut down all its sites for a few hours on Thursday, after its parent company, Instructure, suffered a massive cyberattack—just in time for final exams. Instructure reported late Thursday that Canvas was back for most users, but not before schools like Penn State canceled some exams scheduled for Thursday and Friday. A hacking group called ShinyHunters took credit for the attack, which it claimed affected 8,800 universities and K-12 schools around the globe and 275 million people’s data. It’s unclear exactly how many users or schools were targeted, as hacker groups sometimes exaggerate the impact to gain media attention or to get a ransom, according to TechCrunch. Some users at Harvard reported seeing a message from the hackers on the school’s Canvas login page during the outage. The outage was temporary, but:
- Instructure first noted a cybersecurity incident on May 1, when it found that some Student IDs, names, and emails, as well as messages between users on Canvas, were breached.
- Hackers also told some school officials that they’d need to negotiate a settlement with them by May 12 or data would be leaked.
Big picture: ShinyHunters has taken credit for a slew of similar high-profile breaches, hacking and exposing users’ personal information from some of the biggest data-hoarders in the country like Microsoft, Ticketmaster, and Salesforce.—MM |
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Comfort meets the court. Skechers just became an official partner of the WNBA for the league’s landmark 30th season. Their SKX line is engineered for athletes: high-performance cushioning, court-ready grip, and styles that don’t make you choose between feeling good and playing well. Women’s sports are having a moment. Skechers is here for it. Shop the collection. |
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 Three arrests were made in the hijacking of a truck that contained more than $1.2 million worth of Apple products. Police solved the case by finding the only three people in a 500-mile radius with Apple Vision Pro headsets.
Ten years after leaving ESPN, Skip Bayless returned to debate Stephen A. Smith on First Take yesterday. Historians are calling it the Most Unasked For Event in television history. A nightclub in Mexico City is asking Americans to pay a $300 cover charge while visitors from other countries only have to pay $20. But Americans will NEVER overpay for the same thing that people from other countries get for way cheaper—unless it’s healthcare. According to the Wall Street Journal, a newly coveted cosmetic surgery in South Korea is an injection to create the appearance of elf ears. Around the Shire, they’re calling it Elrond-maxxing. Fox Sports and Indeed are hiring a “Chief World Cup Watcher” to watch all 104 matches from an office in Times Square for $50,000. With that kind of money, someone could almost afford to attend a World Cup match.—DL |
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- Virginia’s Supreme Court nixed a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting map, harming Democrats’ chances of securing a congressional majority in the midterm elections.
- Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a three-day ceasefire, President Trump said.
- The owner of Dunkin’ and Buffalo Wild Wings has confidentially filed for an IPO and is reportedly seeking a ~$20 billion valuation.
- FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who has clashed with other officials over issues like vaccines and vapes, will reportedly be dismissed by the Trump administration, sources told news outlets.
- OnlyFans’s parent company sold a 16% stake to Architect Capital for $535 million. The deal values the company, whose founder died last month, at $3.15 billion.
- An ETF tracking the memory sector raised $1.1 billion on Thursday alone as AI boosts demand.
- Olivia and Liam remained the most popular baby names in the US, according to new annual data released by the Social Security Administration.
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Last week, we asked, “What’s a purchase you made while traveling that you were really pleased with?” Here are some of our favorite responses:
- “In a random little thrift shop in Austin, Texas, I found a frayed thrifted trucker hat that had the Waffle House letters hand-stitched onto it. To this day, I get asked if I worked there, but no, I just believe that Waffle House is a waffle home.”—Ryan from Louisville
- “In the 1980s, I was in Spain and went to the Lladró [porcelain figurines] factory. My wife was pregnant with our first child, and I bought a fabulous piece depicting a mother pushing a baby carriage with her child in it. It became the centerpiece of my wife’s now plentiful Lladro collection and will always remind us of our son.”—Fabrizio from Los Angeles
- “I needed travel-sized shampoo while backpacking in Italy. I went to farmacia and picked the only option. It was a 4 in-1 combo: shampoo, conditioner, soap, and....TOOTHPASTE. Strangest 4-in-1 combo I’ve ever found, but it worked.”—Justin from Vista, CA
- “When I was playing in an Army band in Germany, I bought an oboe, and then took lessons from a local German. And they were free, if I stayed for lunch and talked to his wife about the USA.”—Philip from Hillboro, NH
- “A T-shirt from Gibson’s Donuts in Memphis, TN. Dark blue with a modified Grateful Dead head on the front and back, not with a lightning bolt, but with a donut that has a bite missing. Best donuts around. It’s the favorite in my T-shirt rotation.”—Kevin from Chicago, IL
This week’s questionWhat’s a thrilling experience you’ve had that got your blood pumping? Sam’s answer to get the juices flowing: “I recently rode the Cyclone, aka Coney Island’s famous wood-track roller coaster built in 1927. It was so rickety that it made me want to write up a will while waiting in line, but the beach views made the pre-ride anxiety totally worth it!” Submit your response here. |
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 Clean: Sad desk lunches don’t have to mean greasy keyboards.**
Fly: A ranking of airlines broken down by cabin class.
Read: How Reddit resurfaced an unproduced Larry David script.
Watch: Learn how to meal prep like restaurant cooks to keep things fast and easy.
Touch grass: AllTrails is now in Claude. Just describe your vibe (solo runner, family of four, “I need trees ASAP”) and get a trail plan that’s actually built for you. No scrolling, no guesswork. Start exploring.*
*A message from our sponsor. **This is a product recommendation from our writers. When you buy through this link, Morning Brew may earn a commission.
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Brew Crossword: Your sample clue is “____ Men (‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ group).” Play the Crossword here. Open HouseWelcome to Open House, the only newsletter section prepared not just to host, but to entertain. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.  ZillowToday’s home, in Palm Springs, CA, is known as Villa Paradiso. Or the “Desert Disneyland,” if you’re Cary Grant. Grant never owned the property, but he spent so many weekends away at the estate that its former owner, a Las Vegas hotelier, eventually built a guesthouse for the movie star. Amenities include:
- 8 beds, 14 baths
- Citrus groves
- Formal motor court for all your black-tie parties
How much for the four-acre gated estate? |
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 Share the Brew, watch your referral count climb, and unlock brag-worthy swag. Your friends get smarter. You get rewarded. Win-win. Your referral count: 0 Click to Share Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
morningbrew.com/r/?kid=eaab23a8 |
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$12.7 million Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: hotelier, meaning “a proprietor or manager of a hotel.” Thanks to Joanna from Boston for the hospitable suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here. |
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