š Staying put
Plus: Google's not-so-safe search.
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Yuan small step. Chinaās central bank cut interest rates to bolster its economy amid continuing trade tensions and global market volatility.
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Holding pattern
The Federal Reserve stood pat on interest rates Wednesday, continuing to hold the benchmark range steady at 4.25ā4.5%, sticking to a cautious stance as it juggles sticky inflation and a cooling U.S. economy. But this wasnāt business as usual ā Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned of rising risks in regard to both inflation and unemployment, and he gestured toward the possibility of stagflation.
Powell said the U.S. economy is in āsolid shapeā but admitted that his gut says āuncertainty about the path of the economy is extremely elevated.ā Thatās largely because of tariffs.
President Donald Trumpās sweeping tariffs ā including a massive 145% duty on Chinese imports ā arenāt officially factored into the Fedās decisions, but Powell acknowledged their potential to complicate the inflation picture. If those price shocks prove temporary, the Fed may hold course. But if they stick? Wellā¦
The Fed will āwait and see and watchā as the tariffs change things over the coming weeks and months. But with growth slowing, inflation lingering, and tariffs looming, waiting might not get easier.
Powell remains focused on inflation and employment, not the presidentās social media tirades directed at him. But the Fed chairās path forward looks anything but easy. Quartzās Shannon Carroll has more on how tariffs could force the Fedās hand.
Siri, not sorry
Apple may be Googleās biggest customer ā and, increasingly, its biggest threat.
During testimony on Wednesday in the DOJās antitrust trial against Alphabet, Appleās senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue, revealed that the company is exploring how to fold AI-powered search into its browser, Safari. That news sent Alphabetās stock tumbling 8%, and for good reason: Now, an era where Google remains the default search engine is far from guaranteed.
Apple is already in talks with startup Perplexity, and Cue said that company, OpenAIās ChatGPT, and Anthropicās Claude could be part of a future where users select their AI engine of choice for searches. Cue said those tools arenāt perfect yet, but theyāre already good enough that āpeople will switch.ā
Meanwhile, Apple still collects upward of $20 billion a year from Alphabet for making Google the default search engine on its iPhones ā a deal thatās partially at the heart of the federal governmentās antitrust case.
Cue didnāt suggest that Appleās potential AI-powered search engines would dethrone Google as the default any time soon. But Apple, quietly, might be building a future where users ā and not Google ā get to decide how they search. Quartzās Niamh Rowe has more on how Apple could reshape Googleās bread and butter.