Musk vs. the Bots
Starbucks will cover travel expenses for employees seeking abortions. In a memo yesterday, the company said that it wanted to ensure employees had “access to quality health care.” Starbucks is one of a few high profile companies, including Yelp, Citigroup and Tesla, that have announced plans to cover transportation costs.
Wall Street resets expectations
Recently, predictions of a looming slowdown have seemed to be growing faster than the actual economy, which is by all measures still pretty hot. Goldman Sachs’s top economist, Jan Hatzius, over the weekend became the latest Wall Streeter to lower his expectations for the U.S. economy, cutting his G.D.P. forecast by a total of $200 billion for this year and next.
Layoffs are rising. A number of industries, particularly those that are affected by higher rates, seem vulnerable to job cuts, reports The Times’s Lydia DePillis. Layoffs rose by 6 percent in April versus the same month in 2021, according to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. And April was the first month this year to have a year-over-year increase in layoffs. In addition, the drop in tech stocks has also caused venture capital firms to pull back on funding start-ups, leading to layoffs in tech as well. “We’ve seen several of our clients in the high-growth technology space quickly shift their focus to reducing cost,” said Bryce Maddock, the chief executive of the outsourcing company TaskUs, discussing U.S. layoffs on an earnings call last week.
Many, though, still think the country can avoid a recession. Goldman says the housing market in general is less likely than it was back in 2008 to drop because of a lack of supply of available houses. Nor does the firm expect a jump in unemployment. And some are guessing that given how hard it has been to find workers, employers will be slower to let them go than usual.
Seen and heard
“I sincerely ask all our partners to join us in increasing their financial support to Ukraine.” — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in a speech today at the Brussels Economic Forum, warned that Ukraine did not have enough funding to sustain its government and fend off Russia.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/business/dealbook/musk-vs-the-bots.html