Bitcoin’s Comeback, Toxic Return-to-Office: Saturday US Briefing

(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin began 15 years ago as an alternative to the centralized financial system, so it’s a bit ironic that the key forces behind its resurgence to near-record territory are the SEC and Wall Street. With Bitcoin exchange-traded funds now legit, resistance among big players is crumbling and stoking a crypto asset famously pooh-poohed by JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon. Stocks are powering ahead, too, extending a streak of S&P 500 records. But for better or worse, traditional finance firms are now also married to crypto — though we still don’t know who invented Bitcoin.

It’s relatively easy in crypto world to be agnostic about where you work. Not so in more conventional parts of the US economy, where return-to-office policies are exposing yet another front in America’s political culture wars. While about two thirds of Democrats in a poll for Bloomberg said it’s unfair for companies to require in-person work for jobs that can be remote, only about half of Republicans agreed. So-called knowledge workers are an easy target for voters whose jobs may never have been remote.

Donald Trump Holds Get Out The Vote Rally

Former President Donald Trump is expected to sweep Republican caucuses in Michigan, Missouri and Idaho on Saturday, building more momentum for the party’s 2024 nomination. His fights on other fronts are more risky: a property slump could land him in a financial squeeze over a New York fraud verdict and a May trial in Florida for mishandling classified documents looks likely to be delayed, potentially moving it closer to the election.

For Biden, fundraising for his reelection is less of a worry: he’s amassing a cash stockpile. Signals from the economy are murkier: people’s expectations of inflation ticked up in February, consumer sentiment faltered and momentum in manufacturing — a  key element of Biden’s effort to return jobs to the US— is fitful. The latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll suggests that Trump leads Biden in seven key states as perceptions of an improving US economy fail to stir a significant increase in support for the president. While voters in every major demographic group described Biden as too old Trump faces his own vulnerabilities: a majority said the former president is dangerous.

Boeing Finds More Misdrilled Holes On 737 In Latest Setback

Days after US regulators gave Boeing a 90-day ultimatum to address quality lapses in its jets, the planemaker is swinging into action with what stands to be its most consequential strategic move in years. Boeing on Friday confirmed it is in preliminary talks to acquire Spirit AeroSystems, the supplier at the center of a spate of recent quality issues affecting the 737 Max airliner. A deal would reunite assets that once sat under one roof, bringing together thousands of workers and decades of shared expertise, and allow the aerospace giant to tighten oversight over its most important parts provider.

In the world of luxury goods, endorsements as official suppliers of Britain’s royal household are necessarily rare. That’s why champagne makers are lobbying King Charles III to keep them on the list. There’s more than prestige at stake: exports of the sparkling wine made in the Champagne region east of Paris fell 8% last year.

Operations at the Brazilian Cannabis Phytotherapy Club as Court Debates Legal Cultivation

If you’re thinking of going “California sober” and swapping out alcohol for weed — think again. Studies point to growing evidence that a daily toke can be bad for your heart. While the data have limitations,  the trendline is enough to put the cardiovascular risk on the radars of regular pot users, writes Bloomberg Opinion’s Lisa Jarvis.

Looking for “clean” entertainment this weekend? Dune: Part Two is out. It’s a must-see for fans of the sci-fi franchise, rooted in the Pacific Coast-inspired 1960s novel by American writer Frank Herbert. Hollywood is banking on it: theater traffic still hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic (and the rise of streaming). Toymakers are also feeling the pinch from a shortage of potential blockbuster movies.

Enjoy your Saturday. We’ll be back tomorrow with a look at the week ahead.

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