A federal filing Monday revealed the Interior Department's attempt to eliminate more than 2,000 jobs amid an escalating legal fight over mass layoffs across federal agencies.
Why it matters: The expected layoffs, also called reductions in force (RIF), are higher than an estimate the department put out just days ago in a court filing after several unions sued the department.
In a conversation with Axios Publisher Nick Johnston, Meta's chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan outlined what's at stake as the U.S. faces off with China in the global race for AI dominance. From compute access to pro-innovation policy, Kaplan emphasized that the U.S. must move faster to maintain its edge — and that policymakers' urgency may be the key to winning.
Six months ago, the world's top finance officials worried that President Trump's policies, and the uncertainty he stoked, would cause the global economy to grind to a halt.
Now they see the tariff shock as something the world economy can largely withstand, even if they see more shoes likely to fall on inflation.
Why it matters: It still adds up to a brighter mood among the economic policy elite, even if they continue to warn of risks ahead.
Argentinian central bank officials on Monday confirmed they signed a $20 billion currency deal with the U.S. Treasury, one designed to stabilize the country's faltering economy.
Why it matters: The U.S. government is increasingly adopting a "whatever it takes" mantra when it comes to rescuing Argentina, despite questions about why and whether the aid comes at the expense of American farmers.
The blowups of First Brands and Tricolor — while unusual given the allegations of financial irregularities against them — have still rattled investors already jittery over an uncertain economy.
Why it matters: If bad loans like those at the two collapsed companies emerge elsewhere, investors are likely to accelerate a move away from risk.
And that could be the straw that breaks this bull market's back.
Small-business owners want the government back to work, according to a survey of nearly 1,500 of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses participants, shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: Survey respondents are sounding the alarm to Washington, and perhaps to Wall Street, that the economic impact of the government shutdown is bigger than what lawmakers may currently be calculating.
President Trump and the federal government are policing speech, morality, and punishment of individual citizens at a level of micromanagement rarely, if ever, witnessed in America.
Why it matters: We've written extensively about the unprecedented new powers seized or granted to Trump and future presidents in the past eight months alone.
But few throw America deeper into new, uncharted waters than making presidents and the executive branch the judge, jury and executioner of words and behavior.
More U.S. homebuyers are chasing fixer-uppers than four years ago, when mortgage rates were lower and houses were more affordable, Realtor.com reports.
The big picture: Keywordsearches for "fixer-upper" have more than tripled since 2021, even as those listings become a bit harder to find, according to the real estate site's analysis.
