Axios

Liquidation and going-out-of-business sales are entering the final days and weeks for closing Big Lots, Party City, Kohl's and Macy's stores.

Why it matters: Approximately 15,000 store closures are expected this year, more than double the 7,325 stores that closed in 2024, according to Coresight Research.

The Federal Aviation Administration is permanently halting non-essential helicopter operations near Reagan National Airport in D.C., the agency announced Friday.

The big picture: The closure comes after the National Transportation Safety Board's urgent recommendation earlier this week, following the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. in decades.

David Sacks, the venture capitalist advising President Trump on crypto and AI policy, sold $85 million of crypto-related assets in order to satisfy government ethics rules, according to a White House memo.

• Sacks' investment firm, Craft Ventures, divested another $115 million of crypto-related assets.
• There was no mention of AI-related divestitures.

In his first remarks as prime minister of Canada on Friday, Mark Carney categorically shot down the notion that the U.S. would annex Canada as its 51st state.

Why it matters: Carney enters the role during a politically and economically volatile time for Canada, amid threats from the U.S., its closest ally and neighbor, during the Trump administration.

Volatile trade policy is getting all the media attention lately. But another risk to the growth outlook is also playing out — an end to the high immigration rates that were a feature of the U.S. economy in recent years.

Why it matters: Most economic policymakers say immigration helped loosen the tightest labor market in decades and eased inflation. Whatever your views on the policy, plummeting border crossings — paired with White House deportation plans — mean economic adjustment ahead.

Consumers are becoming sharply more pessimistic about the economic outlook, according to a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan's sentiment survey for March.

Why it matters: The mix of new tariffs, federal cutbacks, erratic policy, and a slumping stock market is dampening American's optimism, which risks generating self-fulfilling economic weakness in the event consumers act on their newfound sense of worry.

BlackRock's landmark deal for two Panamanian ports is in danger of running aground, threatened by geopolitical forces outside of its control.

Driving the news: Panama's Maritime Authority requested all legal and financial documents involved in the sale, while China urged Hong Kong-based seller CK Hutchinson to "think twice" about a plan that it called a "betrayal."

Gold hit a new all-time high Friday, breaking $3,000 for the first time ever, as investors search for tariff safe-havens.

Why it matters: There's a psychological value to important assets breaking through big, round numbers — but it's also further evidence of the market's nerves and uncertainty about global trade.

New evidence confirms that people started fleeing red states after the Supreme Court overturned abortion rights in its 2022 Dobbs ruling.

Why it matters: At first, there were mainly anecdotes about individuals who were considering moving out of states with strict abortion bans.

Trumpism is causing Americans to start moving out of red states and even America itself.

Why it matters: The wealthy tend to have the greatest ability to move, which means that such outmigration can have a disproportionate effect on state and local taxes.

An American Airlines plane caught fire at Denver International Airport while taxiing to the gate after landing Thursday evening — forcing passengers to evacuate onto the plane's wing, video from the scene shows.

The big picture: The airport said on X 12 people were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries following the incident aboard the plane that was carrying 178 people, which the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

The Trump administration must reinstate thousands of fired probationary federal workers, a judge said in a temporary restraining order on Thursday.

Why it matters: In the second such order to reinstate fired workers on Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Bredar ruled that the lawsuit brought by state attorneys general against 18 agencies was likely to succeed in showing the mass firings "were unlawful."