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Welcome back! Chances are, you might be reading this over a nice cup of coffee. If that's the case, you also might be wondering why it costs you more than usual. We spoke to three roasters to learn why that's the case. (And no, it's not just because of tariffs.)
In today's big story, more depressing news about the state of the job market, and the people who are suffering as a result.
What's on deck
Markets: Nervous investors keep turning to gold.
Tech: Google's fancy new AI features could boost its mobile business.
Business: For the first time in a long time, the price you see online is the price you actually get.
But first, one bill to rule them all.
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The big story
Not hiring
I regret to inform you that I have more bad news about the job market.
It seems the labor market is in its wait-and-see era as companies are taking much longer to fill their few open roles, according to BI's Jacob Zinkula and Madison Hoff. Data shared with BI from Revelio Labs shows how deliberate companies are being nowadays.
Back in October 2019, roughly 91% of job postings from Russell 3000 companies were filled in six months. This October, fewer than half the jobs posted were filled within that same timeframe.
It's the latest in a long line of disappointments for job seekers these days.
The white-collar recession is alive and well. Tech jobs, in particular, are being hit hard as companies rethink their workforce. (And even if you work in tech, it might not be for long.)
AI has made applying and interviewing for jobs a mess. You also have to worry about ghost jobs. And even if you decide to stay put, get ready to be around many grumpy people.
I'd love to tell you things are going to get better. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. But the reality is I can't. The biggest thing holding up the job market is what's frozen the rest of the economy: uncertainty.
President Donald Trump's on-again-off-again trade war has companies hesitant to commit to hiring plans they might regret depending on where tariffs land.
Maybe you're still not convinced things are that bad.
After all, unemployment is still fairly low (4.2%). And yes, some of the above data might look a bit scary, but the job market ebbs and flows.
Sometimes data only tells part of the story, which is why BI's Allie Kelly spoke to some people who have felt the job market's challenges firsthand. After months of rejection, they are settling for jobs that'll just help them pay their bills.
The challenges of the job market are age-agnostic. A 71-year-old told Allie about putting retirement dreams on hold as he sometimes works seven days a week to support himself.
Meanwhile, a 21-year-old hoped to break into the marketing and communications industry. But after applying to nearly 100 roles in the field, she's now opened her job search to anything that'll help her pay the bills.
3 things in markets
1. Bad vibes are prompting people to go for gold. The economy may be intact, but "soft data" shows worsening consumer sentiment and inflation expectations. Now, people are flocking to physical gold, with demand up 13% in Q1, according to the World Gold Council.
2. These retail investors dumped stocks. They don't regret it. Some retail investors may be scrambling to buy the dip, but "cash is king" is also picking up steam. Two investors de-risked their portfolios amid market volatility. Here's why.
3. Meet the investment banker behind Trump's invest-in-America agenda. For 30 years, Michael Grimes was the go-to banker at Morgan Stanley for tech companies. He also helped Elon Musk buy Twitter. Now, instead of wooing Silicon Valley, Grimes is trying to attract foreign investors to the US as Trump's investment accelerator.
3 things in tech
1. It's Google's time to shine. Apple has done a good job of keeping customers in its product ecosystem, but Google's slew of new AI announcements at its I/O conference could be a "Trojan horse" for its device business, as Bank of America analysts put it. Apple is behind Google and OpenAI in the AI department, and the gap is only widening.
2. A tour of where Amazon's robots are born. The company has hundreds of thousands of robots working across its sortation and fulfillment centers. As manufacturing comes back stateside, these facilities could be the future.
3. Inside the brain drain happening within Meta's Llama AI team. Out of the 14 researchers who worked on the original version of Meta's open-source Llama model, only three remain. A good portion now work at Paris-based startup Mistral, cofounded by two of Llama's key architects. The exits raise eyebrows over Meta's ability to retain AI talent.
3 things in business
1. The era of all-in pricing is here. On May 12, a bipartisan-supported FTC rule went into effect, cracking down on bait-and-switch pricing. Live-event and short-term rental companies like Airbnb and Ticketmaster now have to disclose all costs up front. BI's Emily Stewart took the new rule for a spin — and said it was awesome.
2. Employees aren't interested in engaging with "engagement surveys." In a post-COVID world where workers are spread out across the map, companies are cashing in on employee vibe checks. The problem is, employees taking the satisfaction surveys are pretty … unsatisfied, prompting the question: Do the surveys actually work?
3. This app is becoming "the ultimate girl math." Women are renting out their closets on the app Pickle with some "lenders" making thousands of dollars a month. BI spoke to five women about how much they make on Pickle, and how they get the most out of their unworn clothes.
In other news
- There's a nasty CEO succession crisis brewing.
- Trump weighed taking $3 billion in frozen Harvard grants and giving the money to trade schools instead.
- BYD just fired another shot in China's EV price war — and investors are worried.
- Here's how newly public Hinge Health wants to use AI to automate more care delivery and bring in more cash.
- Get ready to pay even more for a used car this year.
- Labubu's bootleg cousin 'Lafufu' is janky, cheap, and weirdly irresistible. It's fueling a thriving market of fakes.
- Here are the eight programming languages to know to land a tech job on Wall Street.
What's happening today
- Monthly and Quarterly House Price Index.
US Supreme Court releases an order list.
The Business Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.
