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Here’s what you need to know
The US Supreme Court issued two controversial decisions… A 6-3 vote ruled Americans don’t need a license to carry guns in public, while another limited Miranda rights enforcement.
…as the US Senate passed a gun control bill. The gun safety legislation, likely to pass the House, would be the first to come out of Congress in three decades.
America’s largest banks can withstand a recession. The US Federal Reserve’s stress test showed the country’s financial institutions are meeting regulators’ capital requirements.
The US Department of Education will cancel $6 billion in student loans. The decision will provide debt relief for roughly 200,000 defrauded borrowers and settle a years-long lawsuit.
Netflix confirmed ads are coming. A drop in new subscriptions prompted the streaming platform to cut jobs and seek new sources of revenue.
Yelp will shut three of its US offices. Chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman stated: “The future of work at Yelp is remote.”
Protests rocked Ecuador for an 11th day. Demonstrations over rising fuel and living costs have already claimed the lives of three people.
Brazil’s indigenous agency staff demanded better protection. The government workers joined nationwide protests sparked by the killings of their colleague Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips.
What to watch for
China’s “618” shopping festival was not really a festival at all, with muted sales signaling bleak times ahead for the world’s largest consumer market.
E-commerce giant JingDong saw its slowest sales growth ever for the 618 event, which runs from June 1 to 18. Year-over-year gains fell to 10.3%, far lower than last year’s 28%. And in an inauspicious prelude, Li Jiaqi, one of China’s biggest e-commerce influencers, suddenly disappeared after a livestream showed a symbol linked to the Tiananmen protests.
With China’s economy still recovering from zero-covid curbs and a tech crackdown that’s just showing signs of easing, it’s hard to say whether other sales extravaganzas around the globe will face the same fate. But Amazon already saw its sky-high pandemic sales fall back to Earth during last year’s Prime Day—and that was without the record-high inflation that’ll cloud this year’s July 12-13 event.
JetBlue is desperate to buy Spirit
Tale as old as time, tune as old as song—an attractive object, in this case Spirit Airlines, is being courted by two rivals. JetBlue is bigger and brawnier, but Frontier, honestly, is still a beast. This is business, not love, after all, and both airlines would get a whole lot out of a tie-up with Spirit.
Negotiations are ongoing, but JetBlue is the more desperate suitor. The four biggest carriers—American, Southwest, Delta, and United—control two thirds of the market. After that, there’s a stark drop-off in market share among the regional and budget airlines. Buying Spirit would land JetBlue in the upper echelon (or at least, close to it), but if Frontier wins, JetBlue would have to watch as it soared right over its head. As such, it’s taking desperate measures to push the deal through.
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