Bloomberg Businessweek-Europe Edition

● Time is running out to avert a US default. Negotiations between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on raising the debt ceiling remained stalled on May 24. House Republicans accused the White House of lacking urgency in negotiations, while a Democratic aide said McCarthy was unwilling to compromise across a wide spectrum of disputed points. ● War in Ukraine ▶ Russia said on May 23 that it had defeated insurgents who’d crossed the border from Ukraine. But the Freedom of Russia legion, the main group involved in the attack, said it was continuing its operations in the Belgorod region. ▶ Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the paramilitary Wagner Group, blasted Vladimir Putin’s war effort in an interview on May 24. “Somehow we don’t get anything right,” he said. Ukraine “had 20,000 people…

The Biden administration’s sensible new policy for asylum seekers—requiring them to submit applications in Latin American countries before arriving—seems to have preempted a wave of migration to the border, at least for now. But what about those the US has already legally admitted into the country, who are being blocked from doing what the American economy needs them to do: work? Take, for example, migrants admitted under humanitarian parole. Under current policy, they can’t work until they go through a backlogged authorization process that can last a year or more. With few other options, migrants barred from working legally may turn to under-the-table work or government relief programs, costing taxpayers money, straining local and state budgets, and fostering dependencies that run counter to the history of US immigration. Meanwhile, US companies…

▶ The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the US unemployment rate for May on June 2. Forecasters say it should edge up slightly from April’s historic low of 3.4%. ▶ On June 6, China’s General Administration of Customs publishes May trade balance data, while the US Bureau of Economic Analysis puts out its April figures on June 7. ▶ France, Germany and Italy report year-over-year inflation on May 31. Data for the euro area comes in on June 1. Analysts expect inflation to continue easing in the region. ▶ HP and Box report earnings on May 30; Chewy, CrowdStrike, Nordstrom and Salesforce on May 31; Broadcom, Dell, Dollar General and Lululemon, on June 1. ▶ The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1. Meteorologists say this year’s may be mild: An El Niño, historically…

Republican voters just aren’t ready to quit Donald Trump, even if the party’s donors and political strategists would prefer almost any other candidate. That much was evident in mid-April in Manchester, New Hampshire, where a small crowd of Trump die-hards stood across the street from a downtown hotel where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was slated to speak. They waved oversize Trump 2024 flags, while some cars drove by and honked in solidarity. They professed their devotion to the former president, whose indictment by the Manhattan district attorney weeks earlier on charges of falsifying business records only served to increase his popularity. “Trump is a businessman, not a politician. He is not in the deep state, and that is why they hate him so much,” said Paula Johnson, a real estate agent…

In 2019 the Food and Drug Administration told sunscreen manufacturers it had safety concerns about 12 ingredients that give so-called chemical lotions and sprays their protective power. The one that became the poster child for concern among researchers and consumer advocates was oxybenzone. It can upset the balance of hormones in ways that may increase cancer risk and lead to shorter pregnancies as well as lower testosterone levels in adolescent boys, studies have shown. Oxybenzone has been found in amniotic fluid and breast milk. Four years later, oxybenzone has been largely eliminated as an ingredient—though manufacturers typically can’t get to an SPF above 50 without adding it to the mix. The percentage of chemical sunscreens with oxybenzone on the market fell from 60% in 2019 to 13% this year, according to…

The fabled Village Vanguard in New York is filled on this April evening with fans of Samara Joy. This isn’t simply because the gifted 23-year-old singer brings to mind Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald at their peak. The audience is here to be in the presence of a once-in-a-decade jazz superstar whose career has soared since she was crowned best new artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards in February. In between songs, Joy says she’s still getting used to it. “People come up to me in the street,” she says, laughing in disbelief. “And I’m not even dressed!” Listening intently from one of the club’s banquettes is Jamie Krents, head of Universal Music Group’s Verve and Impulse! record labels, whose catalogs boast some of the most important works of Fitzgerald and…