You deserve a three-day weekend

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a hydrating splash through Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. Sign up here. Workers of the world, unite in favor [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a hydrating splash through Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Workers of the world, unite in favor of [a four-day week](. - Why can’t my watch [measure my blood pressure](? - [A second wave of defaults](is coming for China’s property bond market. - What’s behind the stock market rally? ([Spoiler alert: Not earnings expectations](.) I Owe, I Owe, So Off to Work I Go Last Monday, I worked. This coming Monday, I will also work. In a month when the UK enjoys three four-day weeks, courtesy of public holidays, driving a desk from Monday through Friday feels, well, like something of an imposition. As Howard Chua-Eoan notes, we have religion to thank for Sundays being a day of rest, Henry Ford for adding Saturdays permanently to the break in the working week, and a guy called John Lubbock for appending occasional Mondays to the roster of days off. “[Shouldn’t three days be the rule instead of the occasional refreshment](?” asks Howard. The evidence in favor of a reduced week is compelling. In February, the UK’s 4 Day Week Campaign said that 56 of 61 companies that took part in a six-month trial would continue with the experiment, citing lower reports of burnout and a 66% reduction in sick days. ([Click here]( for a video produced by the University of Cambridge on the benefits of shorter working weeks.) Studies suggest we’re at our most productive during our first two days at the coalface; if Mondays were scrapped, Tuesdays and Wednesdays would become the concentrated focus of our labors. “The sacredness of ‘weekends’ is ours to define,” Howard argues. “God may have rested only one day after the creation of the cosmos, but mere mortals require extra time to recharge. That’s what recreation is supposed to provide — a chance to begin again, reinvigorated. If working one day less gives us the energy to become more efficient, why not do it?” Bonus dignity-of-labor reading: A fulfilling job is [a luxury of modern times](. — Stephen Mihm Under Pressure The World Health Organization says that hypertension is a major cause of premature death around the world. But while advances in hardware and software have put the ability to measure cardiac functionality, sleep quality, ovulation and even blood-oxygen saturation at our fingertips, “one of the oldest and most fundamental metrics — blood pressure — has proven [too tricky to capture with digital technology](,” notes Tim Culpan. Devices that currently claim to be able to monitor blood pressure are either using algorithms combined with real-time pulse data to estimate blood pressure, or are calibrated against equipment that’s known to be accurate, such as a cuff wrapped around a limb, and then track values rather than measure them. “With hundreds of devices already claiming to provide this fundamental health metric, and those being largely inaccurate, there’s an increasing risk that consumers are making decisions based on false data,” Tim writes. “In the age of numerous health-tech gadgets and constant connectivity, a breakthrough in wrist-based blood pressure monitoring would be a welcome advance.” Telltale Charts China’s high-yield property dollar bond market will suffer another $10.1 billion of defaults this year, after a record $63.7 billion in 2022, according to estimates from HSBC Holdings Plc. “With the economic outlook so uncertain, whether privately owned builders can survive rests ultimately on the strength of government support,” notes Shuli Ren. “Right now, [their interests are not aligned with the state’s](.” The S&P 500 index has gained almost 10% this year. It’s not because of earnings forecasts, or expectations for lower borrowing costs, notes John Authers. Rather, it seems to have been motivated by the Federal Reserve keeping liquidity flowing through the financial system combined with [enthusiasm about artificial intelligence]( and its prospect for transforming the economy. “The catalyst for the latest market surge has come from the conjunction of a lot of liquidity with an exciting story,” John argues. “It’s based on (reasonable) hopes, rather than anything that has yet happened.” Further Reading Don’t disappear down that [AI longtermism rabbit hole](. — Parmy Olson Mark Zuckerberg’s [tech supreme court]( can now expand beyond Meta. — Dave Lee The debt-ceiling debate is a farce, but [fiscal policy is a fiasco](. — Clive Crook Immigration can help [solve the US nursing shortage](. — Bloomberg’s editorial board Latin American central banks [should be cutting interest rates](. — Juan Pablo Spinetto [A SPAC might make sense now](, if it wasn’t for the recent carnage. — Ed Hammond [California’s floods]( show the limits of man-made solutions. — Adam Minter [The Supreme Court’s tech ruling]( offers only a fleeting win. — Stephen L. Carter For Your Listening Pleasure Allison Schrager on why Adriana Kugler’s nomination [for the Fed’s Board of Governors is a mistake](, and Jonathan Bernstein on Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to raise the voting age. — Bloomberg Opinion Podcast ICYMI [Wildfire’s toxic legacy]( leaves children gasping for air years later. BlackRock’s chief investment strategist reckons [the “Goldilocks” era for global markets is over](. Japan’s Netflix addiction is [triggering a “digital deficit”](and putting pressure on the yen.  OpenAI [released an iPhone version]( of its ChatGPT generative AI tool. [Floods in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region]( may have caused damage to crops worth about €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion). Kickers [A scoop of the world’s most expensive ice cream](, which features edible gold leaf, white truffle and natural cheeses and is produced in Japan, will cost you $6,696. The price of olive oil has climbed to the highest level since at least 2010 as [drought slashes production in Spain](, which accounts for more than 40% of world supply. A fiberglass mermaid, a prosthetic leg and a very creepy doll’s head are among seacombed items that will be auctioned on Saturday at Tony’s Trash to Treasure auction in Port Aransas, Texas, [to raise funds for the Amos Rehabilitation Keep](, which treats wounded sea turtles and birds. (h/t Andrea Felsted) Researchers at the University of Cambridge have come up with a way of shining sunlight on artificial leaves to produce [liquid fuel from carbon dioxide and water](. [New York City is sinking]( under the weight of its skyscrapers. Notes:  Please send ridiculously overpriced ice cream and feedback to Mark Gilbert at magilbert@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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