🥁 Axios PM: Stock market bloodbath

Plus: New press secretary | Thursday, May 05, 2022

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Amazon   Axios PM By Mike Allen · May 05, 2022 Good afternoon: Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 468 words, a 2-minute read. ⚡️ Vladimir Putin apologized today to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's false claim that Adolf Hitler had "Jewish blood," Axios from Tel Aviv author Barak Ravid reports.     1 big thing: Stock market bloodbath Data: Yahoo Finance; Chart: Axios Visuals Stocks had their worst day of the year today — led by a sell-off in areas of the economy that boomed during the pandemic, Axios Closer co-author Hope King reports. Big Tech — namely Apple — had a huge impact on the losses, as did Facebook parent company Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Microsoft.  E-commerce giants Etsy, eBay and Shopify spooked investors too when they cautioned growth would be slowing. "Roughly four in every 10 companies on the Nasdaq Composite Index have seen their market values cut in half from their 52-week highs," Bloomberg reports. Between the lines: Supporting factors of last year's stability, including the expectation that stay-at-home trends would continue, are gone now. So is easy money, with rates headed up. Zoom out: Investment strategies have moved from "get rich quick" to "get rich slowly," Axios Capital author Felix Salmon reports. Retail investors aren't panicking and pulling their funds out of the market. They're just less enthusiastic about meme stocks and NFTs. Value investors are waking up: Berkshire Hathaway spent $51 billion buying stocks in the first quarter.     2. Housing reality: Cash buyers are king Data: National Association of Realtors. Chart: Axios Visuals It's now harder than ever to move from one home to another with the same value, Felix reports. Between the lines: Not only will the new mortgage cost you a lot more than you're currently paying, but the proportion of homes being sold for cash is at the highest level we've seen since the post-crisis years.     A message from Amazon Amazon's parental leave policy means more time together as a family     When Kiddrick and Julie welcomed their new daughter, Amazon's parental leave policy helped them spend precious time with her — without the loss of a paycheck. "It was a relief to know we didn't have to worry about work during a very stressful time," said Julie, an hourly Amazon employee.     3. Next press secretary Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images Karine Jean-Pierre will replace Jen Psaki as White House press secretary when Psaki leaves the job May 13, President Biden announced today. Jean-Pierre is currently the deputy press secretary and is a longtime Biden adviser. Jean-Pierre will be the first Black woman and first openly LGBTQ+ woman to hold the position.     4. 🎞️ Minion domination From "Minions: The Rise of Gru." Photo: Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures via AP The goggle-wearing Minions are expanding their sizable empire with "Minions: Rise of Gru," in theaters July 1, AP reports. The "Despicable Me" franchise (a fourth is due in 2024) and its "Minions" spinoffs already rank as the highest-grossing animated film franchise ever, with more than $3.7 billion in tickets sold worldwide. That's a big reason why "Rise of Gru" (voiced by Steve Carell) was held back by Universal Pictures for the last two years during the pandemic. The Minions — a second-banana, scene-stealing horde of mostly incompetent but fiercely loyal henchmen — have in 12 years become a formidable force and a ubiquitous cultural presence. The filmmakers tried to channel the spirit of the Jawas in "Star Wars" or the Oompa Loompas in "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." Watch the trailer.     A message from Amazon Only 23% of U.S. workers have access to paid parental leave     Over 75% of working Americans are faced with the choice of focusing on new parenthood or continuing to earn a paycheck. At Amazon, employees can have both. Amazon is proud to provide up to 20 weeks of fully paid leave for hourly employees like Elizabeth, who became a mom last summer.   Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: