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GDP grew by a lower than expected 1.6%; Initial jobless claims fell to 207,000 last week; Pending home sales rose 3.4% in March; Meta spending on AI triggers selloff in shares.

The U.S. economy grew by just 1.6% last quarter — falling very short of expectations. At the same time, inflation was up, according to the latest PCE. What’s the Federal Reserve’s next move? Plus, small businesses could see big productivity gains by collaborating with other firms, a McKinsey report shows.

New emissions standards for fossil fuel power plants would require them to eliminate 90% of the carbon dioxide they emit, or close. But the Supreme Court could strike down the regulations before they go into effect. Plus, New Jersey announces an incentive for residents to sue New York and Congress weighs a new path for funding medical research.

From the BBC World Service: Venice, Italy, has become the first city in the world to charge day trippers. But is $5.30 enough to keep a lid on tourist numbers? And, we’ll take a look at the $300 billion ‘modest fashion’ industry as thousands of models, designers and buyers arrive in Istanbul for Modest Fashion Week.

When Jeff Bezos left Wall Street to start Amazon in 1994, the most common question he got was “What’s the internet?” Fast-forward to today, and Amazon is, of course, the country’s leading online retailer, as well as cloud services provider. In 2022, the company controlled almost 38% of the U.S. e-commerce market. Walmart, its closest competitor, had just over 6%, according to Insider Intelligence. In her new book, “The Everything War,” The Wall Street Journal’s Dana Mattioli documents the tactics she says have enabled Amazon to dominate.

Today, we’re talking about two different kinds of bans. As expected, President Joe Biden signed the TikTok sell-or-ban bill. But first, guest host Meghan McCarty Carino breaks down the Federal Trade Commission’s decision to ban noncompete agreements and their impact on workers and innovation. Plus, we’ll smile about Emily Dickinson and her newfound love of exclamation points!!! And how “old” is “old”?

Here’s everything we talked about today:


“Business Groups Race to Block FTC’s Ban on Noncompete Agreements” from The Wall Street Journal
“FTC Bans Noncompete Agreements That Restrict Job Switching” from The Wall Street Journal
“Did California’s Noncompete Ban Fuel Silicon Valley Innovation?” from Bloomberg Law
“Banning Noncompetes Is Good for Innovation” from Harvard Business Review
“TikTok may be banned in the US. Here’s what happened when India did it” from The Associated Press
“U.S. Approves Sale of Dating App Whose Owners Were Probed by National Security Officials” from The Wall Street Journal
“Grindr sold by Chinese owner after US raised national security concerns” from TechCrunch
“People think ‘old age’ starts later than it used to, study finds” from the American Psychological Association
“Eternity Only Will Answer” from Poetry Foundation

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