5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Fear about inflation, Musk’s billion-dollar breakup and NATO applications.Inflation angstChair Jerome Powell talked tough on inflation Tuesd [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Fear about inflation, Musk’s billion-dollar breakup and NATO applications. Inflation angst Chair Jerome Powell [talked tough]( on inflation Tuesday, saying that "no one should doubt" the Federal Reserve's resolve to quell US inflation. "What we need to see is inflation coming down in a clear and convincing way, and we are going to keep pushing until we see that," he told the Wall Street Journal. Over in the UK, smoldering inflation showed no sign of remitting, with the headline measure surging 9% in April, a level [not seen]( since Margaret Thatcher was prime minister 40 years ago. Billion-dollar breakup Twitter Inc.’s board said it [plans to enforce]( its $44 billion agreement to be bought by Elon Musk, saying the transaction is in the best interest of all shareholders. The proposed takeover includes a $1 billion breakup fee for each party, which Musk will have to pay if he ends the deal or fails to deliver the acquisition funding as promised. And Musk may have even bigger problems — a [huge debt burden]( underpinning the deal. NATO, no pay Finland and Sweden officially submitted their [applications to join NATO]( this morning, with the Nordic nations needing to overcome opposition from Turkey for their bids to succeed. Russia President Vladimir Putin said he sees [no threat]( from the countries joining the military alliance. Neighbors joining NATO is probably far from the top of Putin's list of problems today with the US set to [block Russia's debt payments]( after the current sanctions exemption ends on May 25, potentially pushing the country into its first foreign default in a century. Speaking of defaults, Sri Lanka is set to miss the end of the grace period on [$78 million of payments today]( as the country spirals into chaos fueled by a lack of foreign currency and rampant inflation. Stock futures slip US stock [futures declined](, the S&P 500 dropped 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5% as of 5:50 a.m. in New York. In Europe, stocks were mixed. The Stoxx 600 fell 0.1%. Miners, tech and banks were the worst performing sectors. The US 10-year yield fell some 2 bps while hovering below 3%. The dollar rose 0.1%. Oil gained, but traded within Tuesday's range. Gold rose. Bitcoin snapped below $30,000 again. Coming up... Today's US economic data includes the weekly MBA mortgage applications released at 7 a.m. and April's Housing Starts and Building Permits at 8:30 a.m. DOE oil inventory numbers are due at 10:30 a.m. Today's Treasury auctions include $17 billion of 20-year bonds at 1 p.m. Fed's Harker, a 2022 voter on the FOMC, is on the docket to discuss the economic outlook at 4 p.m. Cisco Systems Inc., Lowe's Companies Inc. and Target Corp. are among the companies reporting earnings. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - [Gasoline tops $4]( in every US state. - The long, slow [death of Lehman](. - sued over [“fraternity” culture](. - [Blockchain gaming studio]( raises $46 million. - Goldman, JPMorgan could get $133 million for [advising on Twitter](. - [China stops reporting]( bond trades by foreigners. - [America’s Stonehenge](. And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning Yesterday Fed Chairman offered up some unambiguously [hawkish rhetoric](, saying that the Fed was prepared to hike until there was "clear and convincing" evidence that inflation was starting to roll over. He said the Fed was willing to go past neutral in order to accomplish that, and he acknowledged that doing so may not be painless, as it may involve inducing a rise in the unemployment rate, which is to say layoffs. On this note, it may be worth paying attention a bit more to what we're already seeing in the labor market. We know just based on news reports, that tech companies are cutting back on hiring. And some startups have announced layoffs. Even some larger ones ([like Netflix](, reportedly) are trimming workers. And in fact, we've seen weekly Initial Jobless Claims drift up since the middle of March. We're still seeing a robust pace of hiring. The BLS reported a 428,000 increase in employment in April. Still, it's time to start watching that weekly claims number a little more closely. Slowing inflation through the employment channel is a key way the Fed operates. That number is already ticking up. We'll see how far up it can go. 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. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](