America's pay gains just logged a fresh record: wages and salaries surged at the fastest pace ever last quarter.
Why it matters: The dataout Friday morning is considered a better gauge of wage gains than others because it's not impacted by the drastic workforce shifts we've seen during the pandemic.
One-click checkout company Bolt Financial made headlines earlier this month by announcing new funding at around a $6 billion valuation. Now it's already back in market with a deal that could nearly double that price, Axios has learned from several sources.
Why it matters: This is emblematic of how the growth equity market is a sea of easy cash, in which investors don't worry much about what happens if the tide goes out. For startups, it's about striking while the swimmers are still naked.
Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) agreed to buy Momentive (Nasdaq: MNTV), the parent company of SurveyMonkey, for around $4.13 billion in stock.
Why it's the BFD: Investors reacted very poorly, with Zendesk shares plummeting around 16% in after-hours trading. It's too early to say this will be another Zoom/Five9 situation, in which stock price depreciation scuttled a major enterprise software merger. But it's not too early to think about it.
Third-quarter GDP growth was muted — more so than many expected. But the market shrugged off the slowdown, which took annualized quarterly growth to 2% from 6.7% in the Q2 reopening frenzy.
Why it matters: We have, for the most part, economically moved past Delta, and the signals for a fourth-quarter rebound are aplenty.
If you saw the news that oil prices pulled back this week, don’t get too excited for your pocketbook just yet.
Driving the news: U.S. crude may have receded a few bucks from its seven-year record high — but global energy demand still signals that there’s room for this year’s upward march to resume.
Unusual dynamics in the bond market are showing that investors are prepping for rate hikes — and some think that’s a positive signal for the long-term economy.
Driving the news: The yield curve got flatter this week.
With paid family leave out of the Build Back Better framework released by the White House yesterday, the U.S. remains one of seven countries without paid leave for new moms, Bloomberg reports.
The others: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga, per UCLA's World Policy Analysis Center.
The pandemic pushed more than 3 million baby boomers into premature retirement, according to a new analysis from Miguel Faria e Castro, a senior economist at the St. Louis Fed.
Why it matters: The wave of early retirements is contributing to the labor shortage that's roiling the U.S. economy.
Beauty brands are going after a huge new group of consumers: men.
Why it matters: Redefining makeup as something anyone can wear chips away at the gender norms and beauty standards that women have dealt with for generations. And cosmetics companies see big dollar signs.
Cancer drug Keytruda is on pace to generate more than $17 billion of revenue this year after reaching a record $4.5 billion of sales in the third quarter.
Why it matters: Keytruda is close to becoming the highest-selling drug in the world and would be a Fortune 200 company on its own.
