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A soaring dollar, Bill Gates is bearish and there’s a job slowdown in China.Roaring dollarThe Dollar Index touched its strongest level in tw [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( A soaring dollar, Bill Gates is bearish and there’s a job slowdown in China. Roaring dollar The Dollar Index touched its [strongest level]( in two decades, buoyed by still-surging Treasury yields. Adding to the dollar’s attraction is the hawkish Federal Reserve, which has committed to a series of half-point rates hikes in coming months. Meanwhile, the [MLIV Pulse Survey]( showed that about 60% of investors expect the euro to fall to parity against the greenback. However, once it touches parity, more investors reckon the euro will rebound to 1.1500 rather than tumble further. Grim Gates Bill Gates said interest rates are likely to rise enough to cause a [global economic slowdown](. The billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder said Sunday on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that the war in Ukraine, which sent commodity prices soaring, “comes on top of the pandemic, where government debt levels were already very high and there were already some supply chain problems.” Fears of an economic slowdown are particularly rampant in Europe. Also in that [survey,]( 40% of respondents were most concerned about a recession in Europe and another 40% stagflation, compared with only 20% saying inflation. The growing risk of [stagflation]( is leaving investors without many places to hide, with havens looking few and far between, according to Standard Chartered. Oil ban Leaders of the Group of Seven nations committed to [a ban on the import of Russia’s oil]( to punish the invasion of Ukraine. While Europe has yet to agree a full halt to imports amid Hungarian resistance, oil traders are already preparing for a much more [difficult regulatory regime](. In the markets this morning, crude is lower with a barrel of West Texas Intermediate for June delivery trading near $108 as [Saudi Arabia cut prices]( to Asian buyers with China lockdowns weighing on demand in the region. Meanwhile in Russia, there was no sign of Vladimir Putin softening his war aggression in his speech to an annual [military parade in Moscow](. Chinese jobs Chinese Premier Li Keqiang [warned of a]( “complicated and grave” employment situation as Beijing and Shanghai tightened curbs on residents in a bid to contain Covid outbreaks in the country’s most important cities. Li instructed all government departments and regions to prioritize measures aimed at helping businesses retain jobs and weather the current difficulties. Meanwhile, Britain's biggest bank [is caught in]( the U.S.-China crossfire. Insurer Ping An wants to break up HSBC, 20 years after the ‘global bank’ invested in its future. The tussle points to the difficulty of doing business in China. Coming up... It's a really, really quiet start to the week (thank goodness). Economic data is limited to the final March Wholesale Inventory release due at 10:00 a.m. Duke Energy Corp., Microchip Technology Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. are among the companies reporting earnings. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the weekend. - [Day-trading army]( is losing money. - [Rivian slumps](. - [Rare watch]( sells for $1.1 million. - [U.K. food poverty]( surges. - For you, [oil trades at $250](. - [Saudi gloom]( shows toll of inflation. - [Chinese companies]( boost returns to shareholders. And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning What just happened to the stock market? In some respects, the recent decline (particularly in tech) has happened so dizzyingly fast, that it feels like it hasn't totally sunk in yet. On the latest episode of the podcast we try to dive into that question, of what exactly is going on. Our guests were Neil Dutta of Renaissance Macro and Luke Kawa of UBS Asset Management. The whole thing is complicated obviously, and there's a lot going on, but one thing that Dutta brought up, which I think is an important part of the story is the end of growth scarcity. Why did tech stocks do so well between 2010-2021? Well basically, they were the only game in town if you wanted growth. GDP growth was poor throughout all of those years, so the only thing growing, basically, was software. You know, software eating the world. That's a slight exaggeration, but there's truth to it. These days growth isn't so scarce anymore. Nominal GDP growth is way hotter than it used to be. Growth isn't confined to one sector. Lots of companies are growing. [Oil companies]( are bringing in cash the way they haven't in ages. So to put it simply, tech just isn't so special. If you want to find companies that are growing, there's plenty of places to be looking right now. Obviously that doesn't explain everything going on, but after a decade where tech was the only game in town, suddenly it's just not. Anyway, the full episode is worth listening to to really get a handle on this moment. Find it on [Apple]( or [Spotify]( or elsewhere. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on Twitter [@TheStalwart]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things - Americas newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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