The NBA playoffs tip off in earnest this weekend, with LeBron’s Lakers taking on the tournament’s second favorites, the Denver Nuggets. Could this be 39-year-old King James’s last dance?

• Israel retaliated against Iran with a missile strike late last night, bumping oil up 3.5% and stock futures down 1%. So far, Tehran is downplaying the attack, which could mean Iran won’t continue to escalate.

• The S&P 500 saw its fifth straight session of declines, its longest losing streak since October. It’s very likely to close below 5,000 today.

• Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari wants to take his sweet time with rate cuts.

  • "I’m in the view of, we need to wait and see, be patient as long as it takes, until we get convinced that inflation is on its way back down to 2%.”

• Bitcoin briefly flopped under $60k before mostly recovering for the day.

• Weekly jobless claims remained unchanged at 212,000, showing a steady labour market.

• The IPO market continued heating up with digital ad firm Ibotta raising $577 million in its public debut.

• Jury selection is done in former President Trump’s hush money trial.

📈 Trends you need to know

The S&P is about to smash below 5,000 for the first time since February. Where does it go from here?

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Ideas, trends, and analysis

• Women facing retirement are at a significant financial disadvantage compared to men, with a median savings gap of $84,000.

• US existing home sales tumbled 4.3% in March as mortgage rates climbed back above 7%, keeping many buyers sidelined. The median selling price still rose 4.8% from a year ago to a record $393,500 for the month.

• The Greek economy is on the brink of a full recovery, forecasting a nearly 3% growth in 2024, outpacing the euro zone average.

• An IMF economist said it would take a "lot to derail" the global economy into a recession.

• UK inflation in March was also annoyingly sticky.

🌍 Global Perspectives

• 🇮🇳 The world’s largest election kicked off today in India as President Modi makes a bid for a third term.

• 🇵🇱 A Polish citizen was arrested for allegedly spying for Russia in a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

• 🇺🇸 🇵🇸 The US will oppose the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, citing direct negotiations as the path to statehood.

• 🇨🇦 Six people were arrested in connection with the largest gold heist in Canadian history, valued at over C$22 million.

• 🇰🇪 Kenya's defense chief and nine other senior military officials were killed in a helicopter crash during a troop visit.

• 🇦🇪 Dubai faced a massive clean-up effort after a record storm dumped a year's worth of rain in one day.

📊 Crypto

• JPMorgan thinks Bitcoin will drop after the halving.

• Hong Kong officially approved spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore are expected to follow suit.

• Tether reorganized into four new divisions focused on stablecoins, Bitcoin mining, AI infrastructure, and education, indicating expansion beyond its USDT stablecoin.

• The halving will slash Bitcoin's new daily supply from 900 BTC to 450 BTC.

🧠 Errata

• Antarctica's Mount Erebus volcano spews out $6,000 worth of gold dust daily.

• A light pole installation knocked out 911 service across several states.

• Fossils reveal an ancient snake in India that was longer than a school bus and weighed a ton.

• A long read on human psychology gone awry after the writer had to medically stop eating any food.

That’s all for today. Did I miss anything? Smash the reply button to let me know.

Cheers,

Wyatt