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Good morning. Moody’s dim view of US debt reverberates through markets. There’s no respite for New Jersey commuters (yet.) And Americans wanting to escape the turmoil find fewer places to go. Listen to the day’s top stories.

Markets Snapshot
S&P 500 Index Futures 5,908.75 -1.12%
Nasdaq 100 Index Futures 21,186.25 -1.49%
Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index 1,223.78 -0.69%
Market data as of 06:57 am EST. View or Create your Watchlist
Market data may be delayed depending on provider agreements.

Brace for a bumpy start to the trading week after that downgrade of American debt by ratings company Moody’s on Friday evening. Longer-dated Treasury yields climbed to the psychological 5% level and stock futures slid with the dollar as the “sell America” trade found fresh wind. Our markets specialists explain why it matters.

Bloomberg Originals
Is the Age of American Exceptionalism Over?

Joe Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his office announced. The former president, 82, is reviewing treatment options with his medical team. Prostate cancer is among the most common cancers in men, especially as they age, but survival rates have improved over the past few decades.

Donald Trump said he’ll have a call with Vladimir Putin today to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. The Russian president is said to believe he has a strong hand so probably won’t offer much by way of concessions. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy talked with JD Vance in Rome—their first meeting since that awkward Oval Office spat in February.

Sorry New Jersey commuters. NJ Transit and its locomotive engineers reached an agreement on a new contract, ending a three-day transit strike that disrupted trains for thousands of riders—but not in time for service to resume today. Officials said they need 24 hours to inspect tracks and equipment, so full operations are expected to restart tomorrow.

The battle for AI supremacy ramped up again. Nvidia boss Jensen Huang unveiled new technologies aimed at keeping the leading chip maker ahead as competition stiffens. He also pushed back on suggestions that its prized semiconductors are being diverted into China. Elsewhere, Alibaba’s shares slumped on a report that the Trump administration has raised concerns over Apple’s plan to make the Chinese company’s AI available on iPhones in China. Check out today’s Big Take below for more on Apple.

The Big Take 

An Apple store in Walnut Creek, California. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Apple still hasn’t cracked AI. Now insiders say continued failure to get the technology right threatens everything from the iPhone’s dominance to plans for robots and other futuristic products.

The Big Take Podcast
Apple Has an AI Problem

Bloomberg Tech: Join top tech decisionmakers and influencers on June 4-5 in San Francisco. Decode technology’s evolving role across business, culture and healthcare as we discuss the advances transforming industries and how they impact society. Learn more.

Deep Dive: Running Out of Options

Passport control at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg

A rising number of Americans are exploring a move overseas to escape the tumult of the Trump administration. But those looking to Europe are seeing their options narrow by the day.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-19/americans-escaping-trump-race-to-secure-european-citizenship

Opinion

The Moody's headquarters in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

It’s not clear how much Moody’s downgrade of the US debt rating matters, John Authers writes. But with markets already in a precarious place, its judgment could crystallize a sea change in opinion about the direction of stocks.

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Paul J. Davies
Traders Ride the Trump Show’s ‘Good Volatility’
Karishma Vaswani
US-China Deal Is a Lesson for the Global South

Subscribe to Stock Movers, your 5-minute podcast on the winners and losers of each trading day.

Before You Go

Balloon Dog (Orange) by Jeff Koons in the lobby of the Seagram Building in New York. Photographer: Paul Goguen

Artist Ed Suman, who helped create Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog sculptures, said he lost his $2 million nest egg in the recently disclosed Coinbase hack. Meanwhile, an even more worrying crime trend is emerging in the crypto industry: a wave of kidnappings has investors hiring bodyguards and bulking up other protections.

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