Axios

Black researchers remain woefully underrepresented in the Federal Reserve system, comprising only 1.5% of its 945-person staff of economists, according to Fed data published publicly for the first time on Thursday.

Why it matters: The numbers highlight the Fed's struggles with diversity as its 12-bank system and Board of Governors in D.C. make crucial decisions about economic policy that have a wide range of impacts on communities of color.

Bear markets are not fun, but they are also not the end (usually).

The big picture: The crypto market is still very new. There are risks and shaky technologies, many of which are failing in spectacular attention-grabbing fashion this week. But at the same time, the industry is on firmer footing today than it was in 2018's Crypto Winter, the last bear market.

The Terra blockchain was halted for almost two hours today amid widespread turmoil in the cryptocurrency market, with investors challenging the presumed 1-to-1 pegs that underpin stablecoins.

• Driving the news: The blockchain runs the algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD, alongside its partner Luna, the governance token. Both coins have crashed in a dramatic fashion in the last few days, while another called Tether has also come under pressure.

Disney's stock slipped 2% Thursday, despite reporting streaming subscriber gains the day prior, as investors begin to weigh whether the company's massive investment in content is sustainable.

Why it matters: Disney's streaming division still isn't profitable and its losses widened last quarter. Wall Street is worried about whether the company's long-term streaming strategy is most lucrative to investors.

Naomi Osaka is famous for a lot of reasons around the tennis court. And the 24-year-old star is now leaving sports agency powerhouse IMG to start her own representation company, Evolve, according to Sportico.

Why it matters: Osaka, born in Japan, is just the latest sports star to leave a traditional sports agency, as more top athletes seek to take control of their growing wealth and branch off into business interests away from the playing surface.

A stablecoin called TerraUSD (UST) imploded this week, causing billions of dollars in losses and raising the question of why any cryptocurrency — or even a government-issued fiat currency, for that matter — would ever want to have its value pegged to some other currency.

Why it matters: Nowadays, most currencies float freely against each other. Historically, however, that's something of an anomaly. Indeed, as recently as 1971, even the U.S. was part of the Bretton Woods system that pegged all currencies to a gold standard.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell was confirmed to a second term on Thursday, putting him in charge of the central bank for another four years as it grapples with the highest inflation in decades and with financial markets in tumult.

The big picture: Powell received bipartisan support, with the Senate voting 80-19 in favor of confirmation. He faces the challenge of withdrawing the Fed's extraordinary pandemic stimulus implemented in his first term rapidly enough to contain inflation without tanking the economy.

Twitter is pausing most hiring and backfills, except for business critical roles, a spokesperson on Thursday confirmed to Axios. It's also pulling back on non-labor costs "to ensure we are being responsible and efficient."

Why it matters: The decisions were made by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, a source told Axios. They come as Twitter faces a complicated takeover bid from billionaire Elon Musk.

Instacart, the online grocery delivery platform, confidentially filed to go public, according to a statement late Wednesday.

Why it matters: In a slow year for large IPOs, the listing could be a bellwether. The timing of Instacart's public debut could still be thwarted by a rocky stock market and uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment.

Coinbase on Wednesday for the first time detailed what would happen to user assets were the company to go bankrupt, a disclosure that helped drive Coinbase’s share price to new lows.

Behind the scenes: Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas tells Axios that the disclosure was prompted by new SEC guidance, not because of any solvency concerns at Coinbase.

SoftBank today reported a $27.4 billion loss from its Vision Fund unit, for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2022.

Why it matters: This is a staggering decline, even if only on paper, and means that one of tech's most profligate VC investors will need to slow its roll. Particularly given that Vision Fund II is entirely capitalized via the parent company's balance sheet.

Biofire Technologies has raised $17 million in seed funding to further develop its smart gun, which uses a fingerprint sensor to unlock the trigger.

Why it matters: Firearms were the No. 1 cause of deaths for children in 2020, according to new research based on CDC data, after decades of auto accidents topping the list. 35% of those were suicides.

A stablecoin called TerraUSD (UST) — and the cryptocurrency that backed it, Luna — seem to have entered a doom loop in recent days, vaporizing billions in illusory wealth and demonstrating the potential pitfalls of poorly thought-through crypto hijinks.

Why it matters: The spectacular blowup will bolster the push for regulation of stablecoins, the creations that serve as the actual money used in the crypto and DeFi economies.

Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan has a chance to work her way down her Big Tech to-do list, nearly a year into her tenure, now that she has a Democratic majority in hand.

Driving the news: The Senate voted 51-50 Wednesday afternoon — with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking a tie — to confirm privacy expert Alvaro Bedoya to the FTC.

The latest inflation data included a number that was shocking, though not exactly surprising to anyone who has been booking their summer travel lately: Airfares rose 18.6% in April, the most on record for a single month, which accounted for about a quarter of the overall surge in core inflation last month.

Why it matters: A challenge with interpreting inflation data is determining what to "look through" as a mere one-time adjustment and when to show more alarm. The experience of the last year shows the risks of being too willing to brush off high inflation just because one or two categories are disproportionately responsible.

Heinz says it's developing a paper-based version of its iconic ketchup bottle.

Why it matters: Consumer product companies are busy trying to reduce packaging-related waste and pollution — because so much of it winds up in the earth's oceans and landfills, and consumers are very concerned about the problem.

Internet-based food delivery services have the potential to transform the lives of people who live in "food deserts" — but only if broadband becomes more widely available there, according to a new Brookings Institution report.

Why it matters: Access to healthy food is closely tied to economic security and public health. And while lots of low-income neighborhoods don't have great local supermarkets, they do have access to the four most prominent food delivery platforms: AmazonFresh/Whole Foods, Instacart, Uber Eats and Walmart.

Legalizing abortion was one of the most meaningful economic policies of the past 50 years for women — bolstering their educational attainment and career advancement, as well as reducing poverty rates for women and families, research shows.

Why it matters: If Roe v. Wade goes away, some of that progress will likely be reversed, which could slow economic growth more broadly.

The Interior Department announced Wednesday it won't proceed with plans for three oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's Cook Inlet.

Why it matters: The move that all but ends the likelihood of the U.S. government selling new drilling leases in coastal waters in 2022 comes as gas prices hit all-time highs and after President Biden spoke of supplying European nations with fuel to ease dependence on Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine, per the Washington Post.

The Trump International Hotel is officially closed after the Trump Organization reached a $375 million agreement to sell the D.C. property to a Miami investor group.

The latest: Hours after the former President Trump's family business had completed the sale, half a dozen workers moved to dismantle signs from the facade of the building on Wednesday night.