Thursday, May 31
Breaking: U.S. Imposes Steel Tariffs on EU, Canada, Mexico Effective Midnight Tonight, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Says (Bloomberg)
Most Read on the Bloomberg Terminal (Last 8 Hours):
Soros Contention on Global Crisis ‘Ridiculous,’ Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman Says (Bloomberg)
Trump’s Net Worth Slides to $2.8 Billion, Lowest Since Campaign (Bloomberg)
Why Wall Street Traders Aren’t Rejoicing (Yet) Over Volcker Rule (Bloomberg)
EU Prepares for Trade Brawl as Trump’s Tariff Deadline Looms (Bloomberg)
Selection of stories is from READ <GO> on your Bloomberg Terminal.
Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends: Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker unveiled her highly anticipated internet trends report at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California yesterday, covering everything from smartphone behavior in the U.S. to tech company competition in China.
Key findings from Recode:
–Internet leaders like Google and Amazon will offer more artificial intelligence service platforms as AI becomes a bigger part of enterprise spending.
–China is catching up as a hub to the world’s biggest internet companies. Currently, the country is home to nine of the world’s 20 biggest internet companies by market cap while the U.S. has 11. Five years ago, China had two and the U.S. had nine.
–Immigration remains important for U.S. tech companies. More than half of the most highly valued tech companies in the U.S. are founded by first- or second-generation immigrants. Uber, Tesla, WeWork and Wish all have first-generation founders.
See all 294 slides of her presentation here.
The Trump-Kim Summit…but not the one you expected.
President Trump tweeted this image yesterday after he met with Kim Kardashian about prison reform.
The Trump-Kim Kardashian Meeting, Explained (Vox)
A great explainer on what this meeting was really about: Kardashian is lobbying Trump to pardon Alice Marie Johnson, a great-grandmother convicted of drug trafficking.
Alexander Soros Oped: Roseanne Barr’s Lies about my father George Soros are an insult to all who survived the Holocaust (New York Daily News)
It is shameful that, in 2018, over 70 years after the end of the Holocaust, heads of state, celebrities and pundits alike are using anti-Semitic rhetoric and lies to attack my father. I hope that the next generation of world leaders, public intellectuals and entertainers won’t stoop so low. Roseanne Barr’s claims are not just an insult to my father, but all those who endured the Holocaust.
Metro Section: Chirlane McCray has led a city-run non-profit into ruin (New York Post editorial)
The New York Times reported this week that the drop in funding for the once-thriving Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City is partially because McCray “has largely been missing in action.” She has also missed more than half the fund’s board meetings (seven of 12) as chairwoman. Bloomberg-era chair Patricia Harris missed just one meeting in four years, and she had a day job as deputy mayor.
The World’s Longest Flight to New York Starts in October – 19 Hours from EWR to Singapore (Bloomberg)
Singapore Airlines will launch the world’s longest flight on Oct. 11 with the new Airbus A350 between Singapore and Newark airport.
Wear Orange Weekend Starts Tomorrow: Friday, June 1 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day in the U.S. Everytown for Gun Safety, the group founded and funded by Mike Bloomberg, and its partner organizations across the country will wear orange to honor those who have lost their lives and loved ones and to demand a future free from gun violence. The Wear Orange movement was born in Chicago, when the friends of Hadiya Pendleton wore that color in her honor after she was shot and killed at the age of 15—just one week after performing at President Obama’s second inaugural parade.
If you’re interested in participating, look for a Wear Orange event over the weekend including the Youth Over Guns March across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday. If you can’t make it to an event, add your photo on social media or on the gallery at WearOrange.org to show support for ending gun violence.
Find an event here, and add your photo, turn it orange, and post it from here.
Headlines from around the world.
Times of India: In symbolic nod to India, U.S. changes name of Pacific Command to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
Bloomberg: The 200-Plus China Stocks That Are About to Join MSCI’s Indexes
China Daily: China promotes tobacco-free Olympics
The National (UAE): Dubai third most expensive expatriate city in the world, new study says
The Moscow Times: Moody’s Says FIFA World Cup Will Have Limited Economic Impact for Russia
Quote of the day.
After Roseanne Barr blamed her eradic tweeting on Sanofi drug Ambien, the pharmaceutical company issued this statement on Twitter:
“People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world. While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.”
Best of late night.
On North Korea offering to open up a western hamburger franchise in Pyongyang as a gesture of good will:
“So instead of shutting down its nuclear program, North Korea is instead offering to open a burger joint. I don’t know how that makes sense. I like to think that was intended to be Kim Jong Un’s opening gambit, you know a ridiculous low-ball offer to get the ball rolling, but then Trump heard “hamburger” and said “YES! We’re in!!!”
— Trevor Noah on The Daily Show