Summary

Office vacancy rates reach a new high of 19.8% in Q1 of 2024, surpassing records from 1986 and 1991. The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge impacts over 8,000 jobs and $200 million of daily cargo movement in Baltimore. Stock market drops after Federal Reserve warns on interest rate cuts. OpenAI unveils voice cloning tech but delays release due to misuse concerns. AT&T reports 73 million customer records leaked after a data breach. Google settles lawsuit, agreeing to destroy billions of Incognito mode browsing data. Tesla's vehicle deliveries drop, leading to a 5% stock decrease. Two investors plead guilty to illegal insider trading ahead of Trump Media SPAC deal.

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For those who read...

Starting with the Macro Business Landscape: 

• Office vacancy rates hit a crazy new high of 19.8% in Q1 of 2024, beating out previous records from way back in 1986 and 1991.
• Economists are optimistic that the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday of last week, will have a minimal effect on supply-chain. Although, the incident will directly impact over 8,000 jobs and up to $200 million of cargo typically moved through the port in Baltimore daily.
• And on Wall Street, the stock market dropped hard after Federal Reserve officials warned that interest rate cuts might not happen as soon as people expected.  The Fed Reserve Bank of Minneapolis stated that cuts will all be dependent on inflation, as it still remains above 3%.

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Moving to the Corporate World:

• OpenAI unveiled a new voice cloning tech that can copy anyone's voice from just 15 seconds of audio, but they're holding off releasing it over safety concerns. They fear the misuse of such strong technology to be used to misinform citizens in social media influenced events such as the presidential elections.
• Heading over to the black market, AT&T has reported that over 73 million customer records have been leaked and sold on shady dark web markets after a data breach.
• And staying within data, Google has agreed to destroy billions of data points to settle a lawsuit claiming it was illegally tracking "private" Incognito mode browsing.
• In an ugly quarter, Tesla's vehicle deliveries dropped for the first time since 2020 as price cuts failed to boost demand, sending its stock down over 5%.
• And speaking of the stock market, Two investors have pleaded guilty to making $22 million through illegal insider trading ahead of the Trump Media SPAC deal to take Truth Social public. I guess they really “couldn’t handle the truth.”

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Macro Recap:

Office Vacancy Rates Reach New All-Time Highs at Roughly 20% (YF) (BLMBG)

Francis Scott Key Bridge Incident Will Have Limited Effect on U.S. Supply Chain (BI) (NPR) 

Stock Market Falls Dramatically as Interest Rate Cuts Become More Pessimistic (AP) (RT) 

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Corporate World Recap:

OpenAI Holds Back on Publicly Releasing New Voice Cloning Tech Over Safety Concerns (FN) (YF)

AT&T Reports Over 73 Million Customer Information Leaked and Sold on Black Market (FB) (FT)

Google Destroys Billions of Data Records Because of Lawsuit Settlement (CBS) (WSJ)

Tesla Stock In Shambles After Massive Vehicle Delivery Decline (CNBC) (RT)

Two Investors Involved in Trump’s Social Media IPO Plea Guilty To Insider Trading (BLMBG)(RT)