Business Matters with Don Ma Epoch Media Group

An auditing firm that represents hundreds of clients including Trump Media, which owns former President Donald Trump’s “Truth Social” app, reached a $12 million settlement with the SEC to settle charges alleging it failed to comply with accounting oversight standards affecting over 1,500 of its SEC filings.
The U.S. labor market showed further signs of cooling down after the economy added a smaller-than-expected 175,000 new jobs last month, down from 315,000 in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The market had penciled in a reading of 243,000 positions.

Apple shares jumped 7% on Friday as the iPhone maker's record stock buyback plan and promise of sales growth brought back investors who have shunned the stock on concerns over weak demand and increased competition in China.

A former quality auditor at a Boeing supplier died suddenly this week after struggling with a “sudden, fast-spreading infection,” the Seattle Times reported on May 1.
U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday as investors weighed the Federal Reserve's more dovish-than-expected interest rate guidance on Wednesday against a plethora of mixed earnings and economic data.
A U.S. District Judge peppered the Justice Department and Alphabet's Google with questions in the first day of closing arguments in the government's antitrust lawsuit against the online search leader.The Justice Department argued the search engine giant is a monopolist and illegally abused its power to favor its bottom line. Google lawyer rejected contentions the company had engaged in anticompetitive conduct.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at their highest levels in 23 years as monetary policymakers have observed “a lack of further progress” toward the central bank’s 2 percent inflation target.
Regulatory filings show that former President Donald Trump increased his stake significantly in the company behind his social media platform Truth Social, with the former president now owning nearly 65 percent of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and becoming around $1.8 billion richer.
A majority of Americans believe that China uses TikTok to shape U.S. public opinion, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted as Washington moves closer to potentially banning the Chinese-owned short-video app.

People over the age of 60 in the US reportedly lost more than $3.4 billion in fraud schemes in 2023, a nearly 11% increase from the year before, according to a report from the FBI released Tuesday.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison for allowing rampant money laundering on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Elon Musk has dismissed two Tesla senior executives and plans to lay off hundreds more employees, frustrated by falling sales and the pace of job cuts so far, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing the CEO's email to senior managers.

U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated in April, falling to its lowest level in more than 1-1/2 years amid worries about the labor market and income, a survey showed on Tuesday.

An April small business report found 43% of small business renters were late on their rent or could only pay part of their payment. Alignable conducted the survey. It found that small business owners say rent is higher, costs have increased, and revenue is declining. Nearly 70% of businesses formed before the pandemic report making less monthly now. The report also found that inflation is growing as the top concern for small businesses.
Link to the report: https://www.alignable.com/forum/april-is-the-worst-small-biz-rent-delinquency-month-in-three-years
Tesla CEO Elon Musk visited Beijing over the weekend, reportedly to discuss with senior government officials the rollout of his full self-driving (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, only a week after canceling a planned visit to India.
A new AARP survey found that one out of five Americans ages 50 and over have no retirement savings. Lawrence Sprung, Founder of Mitlin Financial says it’s never too late to start saving. Sprung says it all depends on your goals. From there you must plan and budget. He also says retirement doesn’t mean you have to stop working completely, some may choose to just cut down on hours. Sprung shares his number one tip and a tool available online to calculate the amount each person needs to retire.  

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge surged at a higher-than-expected pace, highlighting the persistent struggle to return inflation to the central bank’s 2 percent target.
Alphabet Inc. announced a first-time-ever dividend program and a $70 billion buyback of its own stock that could revitalize the tech company for the next year.
TikTok’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance denied media reports of selling the platform as the company faces a mandate to either divest the firm or be banned from the United States.