68m bettors are expected to wager $15.5B in bets for March Madness (Read More). 36% of employees watch March Madness during the workday and 25% of have taken time off work (including sick days) to watch tournament games (Read More). U.S. employers are estimated to lose $17.3 billion in productivity due to March Madness (Read More).
- As of February, renters in the U.S. owe nearly $11 billion in debt - owing an average of $2,094 (Read More). The rate of eviction filings has returned to or exceeded pre-pandemic levels in many U.S. cities in recent months (Read More). NYC was ranked the lowest for cost of living on a six-figure salary in a study of 76 cities, where making $100,000 “feels like” only $36,000 (Read More).
- Just 22% of U.S. adults know each year about how much they will owe or receive as a refund from their taxes (Read More).
- Nationwide, undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022, the steepest decline on record according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Read More).
- Gen Z is feeling “tech-shamed” at work because they don’t all know how to use devices that are outdated in their worlds (Read More).
- The Fed said its instant-payments service, FedNow, will go live in July. The system could overhaul how Americans move money each day. Think: not having to wait for checks to clear could cut demand for payday loans (Read More).
- The Federal Reserve is considering changing the rules it imposes on midsize banks as a result of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank (Read More).
- A group of Democrats led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) proposed a bill to restore bank regulations that were undone by former President Donald Trump (Read More).
- The Biden administration reportedly called for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app in light of perceived security threats over ByteDance’s Chinese ownership. If ByteDance does not sell TikTok, it could risk a national ban on the app (Read More). TikTok management is considering splitting itself from parent company ByteDance if it can't reach an agreement with the U.S. to address national security concerns (Read More). TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will make his first appearance before Congress. He’s expected to testify about the app’s consumer privacy and data security practices (Read More).
- New legislation will let savers roll over unused funds from their kids' 529 college-savings plans into a Roth IRA (Read More).
- The EPA. Yesterday, the agency proposed new limits on toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water. It’s the first time the gov has introduced national drinking water standards for "forever chemicals." (Read More).
- States are looking to ease some child-labor laws amid a tight job market (Read More).
- Lunchables’s Extra Cheesy Pizza—as well as its Turkey and Cheese variety—will be on the menu at K-8 cafeterias across the US come fall as part of Kraft Heinz’s new deal with the National School Lunch Program (Read More).
- New applications for unemployment benefits declined by 20,000, mostly reversing prior week's jump (Read More).
- 44% of US job postings now include salary ranges on job platform Indeed, up from just 18% in just 3 years (Read More).
- A Californian court ruled that Uber & Lyft drivers will continue to be treated as independent contractors instead of employees under Prop 22, sending those company stocks surging (Read More). Gig workers are estimated to make up about 15% of the US workforce (Read More).
- Layoffs
- Meta is laying off roughly 10,000 employees and closing an additional 5,000 open jobs (Read More).
- Amazon will cut another 9,000 jobs in the coming weeks (Read More)
- Anchorage Digital — the U.S.' first federally chartered crypto bank — is laying off 75 people, or 20% of its staff (Read More).
- Tyson Foods looks to strengthen its underperforming poultry business, it will close two chicken plants — a move that will come at the expense of 1,700 jobs (Read More).
- Krispy Kreme is closing its factory in Concord, North Carolina and letting go of more than 100 workers (Read More).
- This is the 23rd month in a row where the US cost of living outpaced real wage growth (Read More).
- New apartments in 2022 measured 887 square feet on average, a 30-square-foot drop from a year earlier (Read More).
- Amazon could be making a new web browser (Read More).
- OpenAI rolled out GPT-4 which has more creative capabilities and the ability to handle more nuanced instructions than GPT-3 (Read More).
- Microsoft said it will add AI-powered assistants (“Copilots”) to their Office Suite, including Excel and PowerPoint (Read More).
- Google revealed it would bring generative AI features to Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Gmail (Read More) and debuted an array of new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven health care tools (Read More).
- Duolingo launched a new subscription tier with access to an AI tutor powered by GPT-4 (Read More). Educational platform Khan Academy also introduced an AI-powered guide, Khanmigo, a tutor and teaching assistant (Read More).
- General Motors wants to bring chatbot-style assistants to your cars (Read More).
- Midjourney 5 debuted with updated photo capabilities and more realistic hands (Read More).
- Amazon is readying the launch of its own Project Kuiper service sometime next year with a fleet of 3,236 satellites blanketing the Earth (Read More).
- Home Depot launched a virtual kids experience in Roblox in its first foray into the metaverse (Read More).
- TMobile announced that they were acquiring Ryan Reyold’s Mint Mobile, retaining the $15/mo pricing model (Read More).
- Kellogg’s is spinning off their global snack business under new brand Kellanova. Meanwhile, Kellogg's North American cereal unit will be renamed WK Kellogg Co (Read More).
- Dollar Tree will stop selling eggs at its stores because it can’t make money offering them at flat prices (Read More).
- Goodwill is making a push into e-commerce with GoodwillFinds, a curated marketplace with high-end scores from Gucci, Prada, Burberry, and more (Read More).
- Honda is recalling more than 500,000 Accords, CR-Vs, Odysseys and more models due to an issue with the seatbelts (Read More).
- Walmart built a platform to connect creators, content and social commerce (Read More).
- US-based fast-food chicken chain Chick-fil-A is looking to expand beyond the states to establish new locations in Europe and Asia by 2026 (Read More).
- Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.-owned Diamond Sports Group LLC, which operates the Bally Sports regional sports networks, filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas court (Read More).
- YouTube TV added split-screen feature in time for March Madness (Read More) as they raise prices to $73 a month, blaming content costs (Read More).
- Entertainment company A24 bought NYC’s Cherry Lane Theater -- The studio’s first venture into live performance (Read More).
Nearly 40,000 fans attended the Battlehawks’ win over Arlington in St. Louis, officially making it the largest crowd in XFL history (Watch Now).
