Bulletin Business Briefing (e-edition)

Published 6:55 pm Wednesday, May 1, 2024

U.S. stocks finished mixed after the head of the Federal Reserve said the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street craves so much are still likely, even if they’re delayed because of stubbornly high inflation.

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% Wednesday after seeing a big afternoon rally evaporate.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.3%.

On the downside for financial markets, the Fed’s chair said inflation is taking longer than expected to get under control. But he also said its next move is unlikely to be a rate hike, and the Fed announced moves to stabilize the bond market.

The U.S. Justice Department has launched a double-barreled antitrust attack on Google’s dominant search and Apple’s trendsetting iPhone. The legal offensive is reviving memories of the epic battle that hobbled Microsoft before it roared back to yet again become the world’s most valuable company.

The parallels to the Justice Department’s landmark antitrust case in 1998 could provide a window into the potential breakthroughs that could be unleashed and new empires built if regulators succeed in their current attempts to crack down on Google and Apple now.

Do social media users have the right to control what they see — or don’t see — on their feeds? A lawsuit filed against Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. is arguing that a federal law often used to shield internet companies from liability also allows people to use external tools to take control of their feed — even if that means shutting it off entirely.

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Meta Platforms on behalf of an Amherst professor who wants to release a tool to let users unfollow all the content fed to them by Facebook’s algorithm.

Airbnb says it’s going to give customers a chance at overnight stays in a Paris museum, a bedroom filled with Ferrari racing cars, and other exotic settings.

It’s a mix of game-show glitter and marketing. CEO Brian Chesky said Wednesday that 4,000 Airbnb users will win a chance to get one of the 11 listings that the company is calling “icons.” They include a house made to look like the one in the 2009 Pixar-Disney animated film “Up,” another featured in the Prince film “Purple Rain” and an evening hanging out with comedian Kevin Hart.

The campaign seeks to promote Airbnb as a company that sells experiences and not just hotel alternatives.

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