TV News LIES

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 40,000 points on Thursday for the first time ever, signaling a strong endorsement of the health of the U.S. economy.

The trigger that drove the market to a historic high was new data released Wednesday showing annual inflation easing after three consecutive months of higher-than-expected reports.

For investors the news of cooling inflation was a huge relief. Stubborn inflation has been one of the top challenges for an economy that otherwise is doing remarkably well.

The question now is whether these gains in the markets can be sustained. The Dow eventually gave up its earlier gains and ended down slightly at 39,869 points.

Here are three things to know about where things stand in stock markets.

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About two weeks since its meteoric debut, shares of Truth Social are slumping, wiping out billions of dollars in value in former President's Trump's stake.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group — the company behind Truth Social — lost 8% on Monday after already losing 12% on Friday.

It's now trading at its lowest level since the company's trading debut on March 26. Trading has been remarkably volatile since its debut, with some big swings.

The sharp declines over the past two days will take a big bite out of Trump's paper gains.

The former president owns a majority stake in the company and his stake was valued at about $2.9 billion on Monday, down from a peak of over $6 billion after its debut on its trading debut.

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The US workforce added 303,000 jobs last month, far more than expected and the 39th straight month of job gains in the US. The unemployment rate dipped to 3.8%.

Joe Biden hailed the report as “a milestone in America’s comeback”.

“Three years ago, I inherited an economy on the brink. With today’s report of 303,000 new jobs in March, we have passed the milestone of 15m jobs created since I took office. That’s 15 million more people who have the dignity and respect that comes with a paycheck,” he said.

Economists had expected the US to add 192,000 jobs for the month. Hiring has remained surprisingly strong despite the Federal Reserve’s attempts to cool inflation by raising interest rates.

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America’s employers delivered another outpouring of jobs in March, adding a sizzling 303,000 workers to their payrolls and bolstering hopes that the economy can vanquish inflation without succumbing to a recession in the face of high interest rates.

US corporations and their supporters in Washington are pushing aggressively to roll back tax policies they once endorsed, in a move that could return hundreds of billions of dollars to some of America’s biggest companies.

As congressional negotiators attempt to keep the government funded past 19 January, an agreement is emerging that ties the corporate tax breaks to an increase in support for vulnerable American families – an effort to make the deal more palatable for Democrats.

Just six years ago the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group for CEOs of large US firms, described the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as “a remarkable, once-in-a-generation opportunity”. Now, the group is leading “a six-figure advocacy campaign” to roll back parts of it, according to Politico, and threatening that failing to secure new tax cuts will lead to “slower job creation, smaller wage increases and lower overall economic growth”.

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FTX Trading on Friday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, capping a sudden and startling downfall for one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried also resigned from the company, which appointed John J. Ray III as its new chief executive. Bankman-Fried plans to stay with FTX while it works through the bankruptcy process, according to a statement on Friday.

"The immediate relief of Chapter 11 is appropriate to provide the FTX Group the opportunity to assess its situation and develop a process to maximize recoveries for stakeholders," Ray said in the statement.

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