Royal-in-exile Prince Harry takes on the tabloids

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a patient pooch waiting for Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. The Duke of Sussex wants more atten [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a patient pooch waiting for Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - The [Duke of Sussex]( wants more attention just wants to be left alone. - France may regret rolling out [the red carpet for crypto](. - [What lies beneath the stock market’s gains]( is cause for concern. - The city that never sleeps [still hasn’t fully recovered]( from the pandemic. A Very British Feud Last month, South Park satirized the publicity-seeking activities of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle since their retirement from British royalty in 2020. With a glamorous lifestyle to fund, the couple need the oxygen that comes from remaining in the media spotlight. Harry was back in London this week, attending court along with other celebrities as part of a legal action they’re pursuing against the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper, alleging illegal acts including phone hacking and tapping of landlines dating back to the early 1990s. “The prince’s presence at court is a marker of [the symbiotic embrace]( that binds public figures to the media carousel,” notes Matthew Brooker. “The Duke of Sussex didn’t need to attend for what was a preliminary hearing to decide whether the case should go to trial in May.” The British newspaper industry is in dire straits, with circulation figures for even the most popular titles slumping to a fraction of the numbers they used to enjoy, while “the battle for eyeballs online is being won by competitors that didn’t even exist when phone hacking was in its heyday,” Matthew writes. Meantime, Prince Harry has become a media celebrity in his own right, with December’s Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan followed in January by the publication of his autobiography, Spare. “An acrimonious court battle between a royal family member and the popular press will bring together two institutions of public life that have both seen better days,” says Matthew. “In 2023, what could be more British?” Let Them Eat Bitcoin The US is becoming increasingly hostile to the cryptocurrency crowd following the obliteration of FTX. Several crypto-friendly banks have been forced to shutter, the Securities and Exchange Commission is going after Coinbase Global Inc., and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is suing Binance Holdings Ltd., Changpeng Zhao’s exchange, for letting Americans trade crypto derivatives. So Jeremy Allaire, co-founder of stablecoin issuer Circle, told Lionel Laurent he’s “doubling down” on Europe with applications for multiple licenses in France, which he called an “innovation-forward” country. For France, “the risk is one of overconfidence — and a backlash if something goes wrong,” [warns Lionel](. “At a time when angry protesters are fighting the perceived inequality of top-down pension reform, and with the French swept up in the global sports-betting boom, even techno-optimist leaders like Macron will be acutely aware of policy risks that seem to favor the privileged at the top over those at the bottom — including the risk of an unexpected, digitally led banking crisis,” Lionel writes. “Let them eat crypto? Maybe not.” Bonus French reading: Emmanuel Macron should [stand his ground](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board A Bull Market in Stocks? Don’t Bank on it The bellwether S&P 500 Index is set to post its second consecutive quarterly gain when the market closes Friday. “This will be cheered as good news, confirming the stock market’s recovery from last year’s bear market and resiliency in the face of stubbornly high inflation, rising interest rates and bank failures,” writes Robert Burgess. “[Don’t fall for it](.” The problem is that a handful of stocks, including Nvidia Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., Tesla Inc., Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., are responsible for the bulk of the gains. When calculated on an equal weighting, the index is little changed in the past three months. So where is the stock market, really? “Probably stuck in a sort of no man’s land for the foreseeable future,” argues Robert. “The euphoria that seems to be building about the dawn of a new bull market after two straight quarterly gains and the weathering of a minor banking crisis needs a reality check.” Bonus be-careful-out-there market reading: Silicon Valley Bank gives investors a stark lesson in [fixed-income risk](. — Nir Kaissar Telltale Charts New York City lost an estimated 962,400 jobs at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. [It still hasn’t recovered](. “Even as US nonfarm payroll employment has risen 2% above where it was in February 2020, New York’s remains 0.9% lower,” notes Justin Fox. US unemployment fell to a 54-year-low of 3.4% in January, even after the Federal Reserve raised its official interest rate seven times in the prior 10 months, to 4.50% from 0.25%. “Media narratives miss the context that [the Fed is fulfilling its obligation](to restrain wage and price pressures while so far avoiding a recession,” argues Matthew Winkler. Further Reading Defeating Russia is the best way for the West to [defend Taiwan](. — Hal Brands The US still needs to fight for [Taiwan’s hearts and minds](. — Nisid Hajari How moneyball investing ran into a data squeeze play. — John Authers The UK can learn from Bangladesh on [adapting to the climate crisis](. — Lara Williams For Your Viewing Pleasure Inside [New York’s most luxurious apartment](, and five market myths debunked, courtesy of social video editor Ale Lampietti ICYMI [Donald Trump is expected to be arraigned]( as early as Tuesday after becoming the first former US president to be indicted.  [Finland is poised to join NATO]( in a matter of days, dealing a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated aim to deter the defense alliance from encroaching on Russia’s border. Money is flooding out of deposit accounts and into money market funds, [adding to strains in the banking sector](. Patek Philippe is poised to introduce a new model line for [the first time in nearly a quarter of a century](. “The design is done, and the prototype is ready and really, I like it,” company President Thierry Stern says. BP will give [Uber drivers VIP status]( at its electric-vehicle charging stations. Kickers Some 27% of respondents in a survey found the Easter Bunny “creepy” when they were young; “[26% still find the EB creepy now](.” (h/t Andrea Felsted) [Plants cry out when they’re stressed](, “and some animals can probably hear them.” A court ruled that Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t responsible for [the 2016 skiing collision]( that retired optometrist Terry Sanderson claims left him with lasting brain damage. Notes:  Please send non-creepy Easter Bunnies and complaints to Mark Gilbert at [magilbert@bloomberg.net](mailto:magilbert@bloomberg.nete). [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? 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