Stocks rose modestly in early trading this morning, helped by a jobs report that was only slightly below expectation.
“Stocks rose Friday as investors assessed a new quarter of trading and a troublesome bond market recession indicator … Wall Street is fresh off its first negative quarter in two years, but there were positive signs for investors on Friday. Beaten-down tech stocks were pushing higher in early trading, with chipmaker AMD and streaming company Roku each rising more than 1%. Shares of Twitter rose more than 2%,” write Jesse Pound and Sarah Min of CNBC. “Investors were also digesting the official jobs report for March, which showed the U.S. economy adding 431,000 jobs. The result was below the composite estimate of 490,000 from Dow Jones but above some of the lower end estimates.”
New Rules in Europe May Boost Competition in Online Services, Offering More Options to Consumers
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But what happens in Europe may have a major impact on online services all over the world.
“Apple users could soon install apps outside the App Store. WhatsApp users could message or video call friends using Telegram, and vice versa. And the search results users see on Google could change, with potentially major repercussions for smaller online businesses,” write Brian Fung and Clare Duffy of CNN Business. “These are just some of the changes that could come about for consumers from new landmark legislation unveiled by European lawmakers last week that aims to bolster competition in online services. By imposing new regulations on technology platforms deemed to be dominant ‘gatekeepers,’ the Digital Markets Act (DMA) could result in sweeping changes to how EU citizens — and potentially consumers around the world — interact with major tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook parent company Meta.”
End of an Era as Last Learjet is Delivered
A major chapter in the history of business aviation closed this week with the delivery of the last Learjet airplane.
“The final Learjet 75 rolled out of a Bombardier Wichita hangar Monday afternoon headed to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for delivery to a customer of Northern Jet Management. Just a few hours earlier, the light jet’s departure followed a 30-minute-long ceremony marking the delivery and the end of 60 years of Learjet production,” writes Jerry Siebenmark of Aviation International News. “Bombardier announced plans to shutter Learjet production in February 2021 citing a “challenging market dynamic” and competition from new entrants in the light jet category. More than 3,000 Learjet aircraft have been delivered since the company, under the helm of founder Bill Lear, delivered the first Learjet 23 from Wichita in 1964.”
Navy Seeks to Double Spending to Improve Networking and Data Capabilities
The U.S. Navy is hoping to expand and enhance its abilities to collect, manage, analyze and distribute information that could prove critical in a conflict.
“The U.S. Navy wants to more than double its spending on Project Overmatch, a classified initiative to improve the service’s networking and data capabilities,” writes Nathan Strout of C4ISRNET. “The Navy is seeking $195 million for the effort in fiscal year 2023, a 167% increase over the $73 million the service received for the effort in fiscal 2022. Project Overmatch is the Navy’s implementation of Joint All-Domain Command and Control, a Department of Defense-wide effort to connect sensors and shooters across the services and generally improve networking and data capabilities.”
