* * * * * MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2024 ~ VOL. CCLXXXIII NO. 52 WSJ.com HHHH $5.

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California Snowin’: Blizzard Hits Sierra Nevada Macy’s

What’s
News Suitors
Business & Finance Boost Bid
 An investor group composed
of Arkhouse Management and
By Nearly
Brigade Capital raised its offer
to buy Macy’s by nearly $1 bil-
lion after the beleaguered de-
partment-store chain rebuffed
$1 Billion
its prior proposal as too low. A1 Arkhouse, Brigade
 A debate is building lift their proposal to
among economists over
whether some industries are $24 a share after $21
becoming too dependent on offer was rebuffed
foreign labor as migration hits
record levels worldwide. A1
BY LAUREN THOMAS
 The rapid surge in Nvidia’s
stock price has some Wall An investor group seeking
Street professionals wonder- to buy Macy’s is raising its of-
BROOKE HESS-HOMEIER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

ing whether the enthusiasm fer by nearly $1 billion after

for AI-related shares is becom- the beleaguered department-
ing a classic stock bubble. B1 store chain rebuffed its prior
proposal as too low.
 Chinese electric-vehicle
Arkhouse Management, a
makers have eclipsed for-
real-estate-focused investing
eign rivals to develop cars
firm, and Brigade Capital
faster, push the boundaries
Management, a global asset
of smart tech and swamp
manager, revealed Sunday that
consumers with choice. B1
they are now offering to ac-
 Conflict in the Middle East DIGGING OUT: More snow is headed to Northern California this week, after a powerful blizzard dumped more than 60 inches quire the Macy’s stock they
is threatening the integrity of over parts of the Sierra Nevada. The blizzard began on Thursday and grew in intensity until Sunday. A3 don’t already own for $24 a
important undersea internet share, or $6.6 billion.
cables that pass through the That is up from the pro-

Voters’ Views of Economy Warm,

narrow strait at the south- posal of $21 a share the group
ern end of the Red Sea. B1 submitted on Dec. 1. The new
offer represents a roughly 33%
 “Dune: Part Two” sold $81.5
premium to where Macy’s
million worth of tickets in the

Benefiting Biden Just Marginally

shares closed on Friday. The
U.S. and Canada, after a de-
investors bumped the price up
layed release that fulfilled Hol-
after the company recently de-
lywood’s hopes for a hit. B3
livered quarterly results that
 Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock gave them the confidence to
Average traded above do so.
40000 for the first time, in BY AARON ZITNER headed in the right direction, a to one of the most pressing matchup, with 47% backing Macy’s confirmed it re-
early trading Monday, lifted 9-point increase from the prior questions in the 2024 presiden- Trump and 45% picking Biden, ceived the new proposal and
by strong earnings and WASHINGTON—Voters are survey. tial campaign: whether an im- a difference within the survey’s said its board would take it
semiconductor stocks. B10 shedding some of their pessi- But the recent spate of ris- proving economy will lift Bi- margin of error of plus or mi- under review. Macy’s manage-
mism about the economy, a ing consumer prices still den’s re-election prospects nus 2.5 percentage points. ment said in January that the
 Chinese gangs are using
new Wall Street Journal poll weighs heavily on the public. against former President Don- In December, Trump led by prior bid failed to “provide
cryptocurrencies to launder
finds, but the more upbeat More than two-thirds of voters ald Trump. The answer so far four points. Some 37% now ap- compelling value” to share-
billions of dollars, including
mood is producing only a mar- say inflation is headed in the appears to be that it is helping prove of Biden’s handling of in- holders.
money raised from helping
ginal improvement in views of wrong direction, despite ample Biden just a bit—but also that flation, up 7 points from the The investors already have
supply drugs to the U.S. B11
President Biden. data showing that it has mod- more voters are turning their December survey, and 40% ap- a big position in Macy’s
Some 31% of voters in the erated. Nearly three-quarters attention instead to immigra- prove of his handling of the through funds managed by
World-Wide survey said the economy had say price increases are out- tion, a perilous issue for the economy overall, a 4-point in- Arkhouse, which recently nom-
gotten better over the past two stripping gains in household president. crease that is within the poll’s inated nine candidates to the
years, during the majority of income. Only one-quarter see Trump, the front-runner for margin of error. company’s board ahead of its
 Voters are shedding some Biden’s tenure, a rise of 10 per- an improvement in the ability the GOP nomination, holds a Those findings, while sug- annual shareholder meeting
of their pessimism about the centage points from a Journal of the average person to get narrow lead over Biden, a Dem- gesting improvement for the set for May 17 in an effort to
economy, a new Wall Street poll in December. And 43% said ahead. ocrat, in a head-to-head test of president, still show voters pressure the board and poten-
Journal poll found, but the their personal finances are The new survey gives clues the expected 2024 presidential Please turn to page A4 Please turn to page A4
more upbeat mood is produc-
ing only a marginal improve-
ment in views of Biden. A1
 Hamas officials are in Cairo BlackRock INSIDE Unsolved Deaths
Retreats
for negotiations on a potential
deal that would see the re-
lease of hostages in exchange Befall Russians
From ESG
for a temporary cease-fire in
Gaza, Egyptian officials said,
HECTOR RETAMAL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

in a push to stop the fight-

Following Pilot who defected adds to growing list

ing before the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan. A8
 A plurality of American vot- On a Tuesday afternoon copter pilot. The killer had

Pushback
ers thinks Israel has gone too last month, Maksim Kuzmi- vanished, driving out over
far in responding to the Octo- nov drove up to his new the 28-year-old victim’s bul-
CLIFF JETTE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

ber attacks by Hamas, and a condo overlooking a palm- let-ridden body. A medic who
growing share believes the U.S. sliced through his shirt with
isn’t doing enough to help the BY JACK PITCHER By Drew Hinshaw, bandage shears noted the ac-
Palestinian people, a new Wall AND AMRITH RAMKUMAR Joe Parkinson and curacy of the five small-cali-
Street Journal poll found. A4 Matthew Luxmoore ber shots, one directly pierc-
 A British-owned ship struck Climate investing is boom- ing his heart.
on Feb. 18 by Yemen’s Iran- ing at BlackRock. Just don’t lined Spanish beach, un- Six months earlier, Kuzmi-
backed Houthi forces sank in call it ESG. aware that an assassin was nov, a native of a town near
the Red Sea, U.K. and Yemen of- After crusading for years SPORTS AUTOS waiting for him by the park- Russia’s North Korean border,
ficials said, threatening to cause for investment funds and Caitlin Clark is going Once laggards, Chinese ing garage. had defected to Ukraine, his
an environmental disaster. A18 companies to take into ac- Local police stationed less Mi-8 attack helicopter taking
count environmental, social
pro despite having automakers have than 500 feet away needed small-arms fire as he flew
 Oregon is on the cusp of and governance factors, Larry another year’s NCAA raced to the front in only minutes to respond, but barely 20 feet above the
ending a three-year experi- Fink has purged the letters eligibility. A14 EV production. B1 witnesses said it was too late ground. After turning over
ment as the only state in the from his vocabulary. for the former Russian heli- Please turn to page A10
nation to allow people to He attempted to use Black-
freely use drugs from heroin Rock’s clout as the steward for
to cocaine to fentanyl. A3
 Russian spies recorded Ger-
millions of investors to prod
companies toward climate-
The ‘Most Annoying Thing Rich Countries Depend
many’s air-force commander friendly policies and press
In Computer History’ Hangs On
and his top officers discuss-
ing the possible delivery of
Berlin’s most powerful guided
them to disclose the social ef-
fects of their businesses. He
long argued that the world’s
i i i More on Migrant Labor
missiles to Ukraine. A18 largest asset manager and its Clippy, Microsoft’s once-reviled animated
peers could simultaneously BY TOM FAIRLESS within a week.”
 Gov. Newsom is staking
his political capital on a mul-
make money and make the virtual assistant, continues popping up To some economists, how-
world a better place. A debate is building among ever, dependence on imported
tibillion-dollar ballot measure Fast forward to 2024, and economists over whether workers is approaching un-
aimed at addressing mental the chief executive has BY ROBERT MCMILLAN at a Las Vegas esports tourna- some industries are becoming healthy levels in some places,
illness, drug abuse and home- stopped mentioning the ab- ment; in September he was sto- too dependent on foreign la- stifling productivity growth
lessness in California. A3 breviation in public letters Clippy, Microsoft’s un- len from a New York bar. bor as migration hits record and helping businesses delay
and comments. He retreated wanted, unloved Office assis- And in June, a software de- levels worldwide. the search for more sustainable
after a conservative backlash tant, once listed as one of veloper named Ayushmaan Many business owners have solutions to labor shortages.
JOURNAL REPORT against “woke capitalism” Time’s 50 Worst Inventions, is Bordoloi rebooted him as an AI said bringing in low-skilled for- Those solutions could in-
Investing Monthly: made the term politically experiencing a renaissance. chatbot. Thousands of people eign workers has become es- clude bigger investments in au-
Where to find 5%-plus toxic. Furthermore, he faced You remember Clippy. He downloaded his Clippy app, sential, as local populations age tomation, or more radical re-
criticism, even in the finance was the animated paper which looked like the origi- and labor forces shrink. In rural structurings such as business
yields. B5-6 industry, that he was moraliz- clip who would pop up, nal, but had its chatting Wisconsin, John Rosenow said closures, which are painful but
ing, playing God and stepping uninvited, in Microsoft capabilities provided by it is impossible to find locals to might be necessary long-term,
CONTENTS Mutual Funds..............B9 beyond BlackRock’s fiduciary Office to state the obvi- OpenAI’s GPT software. work on his 1,000-acre dairy these economists said.
Arts in Review ..... A13 Opinion................... A15-17
Business News......... B3 Sports.............................. A14
duty to maximize financial re- ous and offer unwanted That AI incursion was a farm. He relies on 13 Mexican “Once industry is organized
Crossword................... A14 Outlook................................A2 turns for clients. advice: “It looks like step too far for Microsoft, immigrants, up from eight to 10 in a certain way and the struc-
Heard on Street..... B12 Personal Journal A11-12 BlackRock is still wagering you’re writing a letter. which has a longstanding a decade ago. That has enabled ture encourages employers to
Markets.......................... B11 U.S. News................. A2-6 that fighting climate change Would you like help?” love-hate relationship with him to avoid making costly in- recruit migrants, it can be very
Markets Digest..........B8 World News. A8-9, 18
will be a generational invest- Some found that annoy- Would you the sad-eyed paper clip. vestments in robots that can hard to turn back,” said Martin
ment opportunity—but is no ing. He was later forced like help? A few months after he help milk cows, as some other Ruhs, a professor of migration
> longer pushing for changes in into retirement. released his code, Bor- dairy farmers have. studies in Florence, Italy. “In
corporate behavior, talking But today, ugly Christmas doloi received an email from “We get really good peo- some cases, policymakers
about hard-to-quantify social sweaters featuring Clippy are Microsoft’s Trademarks Team, ple,” Rosenow said. With im- should ask, does it make
issues or actively promoting listed for hundreds of dollars asking him to confirm his soft- migrant labor, “I’m pretty sense?” said Ruhs, who is also
s 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
ESG investing criteria. Instead, on eBay. In December, he ware was “properly autho- sure if I wanted to double em- a former member of the U.K.
All Rights Reserved Please turn to page A6 showed up on a handmade sign Please turn to page A10 ployment, I could get it done Please turn to page A9
A2 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

U.S. NEWS
THE OUTLOOK | By Jason Douglas

New China Export Boom Cuts Two Ways

I
n the late 1990s and Two decades earlier China’s U.S. import prices, change from a year earlier share grabbed by Chinese producer prices have been
early 2000s, the U.S. share of manufacturing was imports, with the biggest falling for 16 months, led by
10%
and the global econ- less than 10% and of exports benefits felt by people on consumer and durable
omy experienced a less than 5%. low and middle incomes. goods, food products, metals
“China shock,” a boom In the early 2000s, over- 8 But the China shock also and electrical machinery.
in imports of cheap Chinese- production mainly came piled pressure on domestic That disinflationary im-
made goods that helped keep from China, while factories 6 manufacturers. In 2016, Au- pulse is showing up around
inflation low but at the cost elsewhere shut down. Now, tor and other economists es- the world. The price of U.S.
of local manufacturing jobs. the U.S. and other countries 4 timated that the U.S. lost imports from China fell 2.9%
A sequel might be in the are investing heavily in and more than two million jobs in January from a year ear-
making as Beijing doubles protecting their own indus- Mexico between 1999 and 2011 as a lier, while the price of im-
2 E.U.
down on exports to revive tries as geopolitical tensions result of Chinese imports, as ports from the European
the country’s growth. Its fac- rise. Chinese firms such as Japan makers of furniture, toys Union, Japan and Mexico all
tories are churning out more the battery maker Contem- 0 and clothes buckled under rose.
cars, machinery and con- porary Amperex Technology the competition and workers Unlike in the early 2000s,
sumer electronics than its are building plants overseas –2 in hollowed-out communities however, the Western world
domestic economy can ab- to soothe opposition to im- China
struggled to find new roles. now sees China as its chief
sorb. Propped up by cheap, ports, though they already –4 economic rival and geopoliti-

A
state-directed loans, Chinese produce much of what the 2017 ’18 ’19 ’20 ’21 ’22 ’23 ’24 sequel of sorts ap- cal adversary. The EU is con-
companies are glutting for- world needs at home. pears to be under sidering whether Chinese-
eign markets with products The result could be a Source: CEIC way. made electric vehicles are
they can’t sell at home. world swimming in manu- China’s economy ex- unfairly subsidized and
Some economists see this factured goods, and short of billions of dollars in support Autor said, because China is panded 5.2% last year, a sub- should be subject to tariffs or
China shock pushing infla- the spending power to buy to industries deemed strate- competing with advanced dued rate by its standards, other import restrictions.
tion down even more than them—a classic recipe for gic, and imposed or threat- economies in cars, computer and is expected to slow fur- Former President Donald
the first. China’s economy is falling prices. ened to impose tariffs on chips and complex machin- ther as a drawn-out real-es- Trump, who is seeking the
now slowing, whereas, in the “The balance of China’s Chinese imports. Aging pop- ery—higher-value industries tate crunch crushes invest- Republican nomination for
previous era, it was boom- impact on global prices is ulations and persistent labor that are viewed as more cen- ment and consumers rein in November’s presidential elec-
ing. As a result, the disinfla- tilting even more clearly in a shortages in the developed tral to technological leader- spending. Capital Economics, tion, has floated the idea of
tionary effect of cheap Chi- disinflationary direction,” world could further offset ship. a consulting firm, thinks an- hitting imports from China
nese-manufactured goods said Thomas Gatley, China some disinflationary pres- The first China shock nual growth will slow to with tariffs of 60% or higher.
won’t be offset by Chinese strategist at Gavekal Drag- sure China exerts this time. came after a series of liber- around 2% by 2030. Beijing Such protectionism might
demand for iron ore, coal onomics. “It won’t be the same alizing reforms in China in is seeking to engineer an shift some of the deflation-
and other commodities. China shock,” said David Au- the 1990s and its accession economic turnaround by ary impact to other parts of

T
China is also a much here are some counter- tor, a professor of economics to the World Trade Organi- plowing money into facto- the world, as Chinese ex-
larger economy than it was, vailing forces. The U.S., at the Massachusetts Insti- zation in 2001. For U.S. con- ries, especially for semicon- porters look for new markets
accounting for more of the Europe and Japan tute of Technology and one sumers, this brought consid- ductors, aerospace, cars and in poorer countries. Those
world’s manufacturing. It don’t want a rerun of the of the authors of a 2016 pa- erable benefits. One 2019 renewable-energy equip- economies could see their
had 31% of global manufac- early 2000s, when cheap per that described the origi- paper found that consumer ment, and selling the result- own fledgling industries
turing output in 2022, and Chinese goods put many of nal China shock. prices in the U.S. for goods ing surplus abroad. shrivel in the teeth of Chi-
14% of all goods exports, ac- their factories out of busi- Even so, “the concerns fell 2% for every extra per- But weak demand and nese competition, much as
cording to World Bank data. ness. So they have extended are more fundamental” now, centage point of market overcapacity means Chinese the U.S. did in an earlier era.

Loss in Trade-Secrets Case Reveals Broader Problems

BY ARUNA VISWANATHA spiracy. It was a crushing de- trates the point. The company investment in China. In 2016, the Chinese gov- In 2020, UMC pleaded
AND HEATHER SOMERVILLE feat in a case the Justice De- had urged U.S. authorities to Micron Chief Executive ernment identified memory- guilty to trade-secrets theft,
partment had made the pursue the criminal case and Sanjay Mehrotra met with chip technology as a national and agreed to pay a fine and
U.S. officials across the po- centerpiece of a yearslong limit access to U.S. technology China’s commerce minister in economic priority because cooperate in the prosecution
litical spectrum have de- push dating to the Trump Ad- for Jinhua, and it filed its own November and later pledged to Chinese companies hadn’t yet of Jinhua, but said it never
scribed Chinese corporate ministration to protect domes- civil lawsuit. In 2022, it lob- investors a strong commit- developed their own capabili- gave Jinhua information about
theft as a defining threat of tic companies from Chinese bied for Commerce Depart- ment to be a major chip sup- ties. The provincial govern- Micron’s technology. At trial,
our times. A Justice Depart- efforts to steal American cor- ment restrictions on exporting plier for smartphones in ment in Fujian funded its own that became a problem for the
ment loss last week under- porate secrets. advanced chips to China, and China. multibillion-dollar effort and Justice Department. Prosecu-
scores the challenges in ad- “There are limits to prose- the blocking of exports to an- Mehrotra has been asked to made a deal with United Mi- tors didn’t call any UMC engi-
dressing it. cuting cross-border trade-se- other Chinese rival, Yangtze testify about Micron’s China croelectronics Corp., a Tai- neers to testify on the nature
When senior engineers and crets cases involving China Memory Technologies, people concerns before the House Se- wanese semiconductor com- of their collaboration with
managers at the Taiwan fac- given it is nearly impossible to familiar with the matter said. lect Committee on the Chinese pany that trades on the New Jinhua.
tory of the U.S. chip maker produce evidence or wit- But in May, Chinese offi- Communist Party, but has York Stock Exchange, to pro- Last Tuesday, U.S. District
Micron Technology left nesses,” said Jimmy Goodrich, cials banned major Chinese been reluctant to do so, for vide the research while Jinhua Judge Maxine Chesney acquit-
abruptly with hundreds of in- a China and semiconductor ex- companies from buying from fear of further inflaming ten- would make the chips. ted Jinhua, saying the govern-
ternal files nearly a decade pert advising the Rand Corp. Micron, in what was widely sions, people familiar with the In 2018, Micron’s lawyers ment hadn’t provided suffi-
ago for a rival teaming up Other tools in the U.S. arse- viewed as a retaliatory re- matter said. Micron declined went to prosecutors with a cient evidence to convince her
with a Chinese government- nal, such as sanctions or re- sponse. to answer questions from The laptop that had belonged to a that the former Micron em-
owned company, it looked to stricting Chinese access to Micron had gotten about a Wall Street Journal. former Micron engineer who ployees had acted at Jinhua’s
prosecutors like an open-and- U.S. technology, can impose quarter of its revenue from Idaho-based Micron is the left for UMC. The engineer ap- direction to commit theft.
shut case of state-sponsored greater costs on China, but China, half of which risked be- U.S.’s only company that peared to have downloaded A spokesman for the U.S.
corporate theft. they also come with risks of ing wiped out. makes a type of memory chip Micron trade secrets to his attorney’s office in San Fran-
A federal judge in San Fran- unintended consequences, in- It moved to reach a confi- used to store data in every- Google account and then cisco declined to comment.
cisco disagreed, acquitting cluding backlash for U.S. com- dential settlement in its six- thing from cellphones to lap- searched for how to wipe data Jinhua said it welcomed the
Chinese state-owned company panies. year lawsuit against Jinhua, tops. The chip technology at from the laptop. U.S. prosecu- verdict and “has always oper-
Fujian Jinhua Integrated Cir- Micron’s shifting posture made a series of high-profile issue in the criminal case is tors ultimately charged Jin- ated in accordance with the
cuit last week of charges of since the Justice Department diplomatic visits and an- now generations old, but few hua, UMC and three managers law and respected intellectual-
economic espionage and con- brought the case in 2018 illus- nounced a new $600 million other companies possess it. in the case. property rights.”

U.S.WATCH
TEXAS ALABAMA
Man Held Over Girl Freedoms Under
Who Was Missing Attack, Harris Says
Police in Texas have ar- Vice President Kamala
rested a man suspected in the Harris told thousands gath-
disappearance of a girl who ered for the 59th anniversary
was missing for eight days of the Bloody Sunday attacks
before she was safely located. on civil-rights marchers in
The 27-year-old Houston Selma, Ala., that fundamental
man was charged with evad- freedoms are under attack in
ing authorities after he at- America even today.
tempted to flee from officers Harris joined those gath-
Friday, the Columbus Police ered at the foot of the Ed-
Department said Saturday. mund Pettus Bridge, where
The police learned around voting-rights activists were
12:40 p.m. Friday that a 12- beaten back by law enforce-
year-old girl who was the ment officers in 1965. The
subject of an Amber Alert vice president praised the
search was in Columbus, marchers’ bravery as they en-
some 90 miles west of Hous- gaged in a defining moment
ton. The girl’s identity was of the civil-rights struggle.
confirmed and she was trans- “Today, we know our fight
ported to Texas Children’s for freedom is not over, be-
Hospital in Houston for evalu- cause in this moment we are
ation, police said. witnessing a full-on attack on
The Houston Police Depart- hard-fought, hard-won free-
ment issued the alert notify- doms, starting with the free-
ing the public about the miss- dom that unlocks all others, the
SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

ing girl after she was last freedom to vote,” Harris said.
seen on Feb. 22 getting into a She criticized attempts to
pickup truck in the city, news restrict voting, including lim-
reports said. The suspect was its on early voting, and said
being held in the Colorado the nation is again at a cross-
County jail with additional road. She said other funda-
charges possible, pending an mental freedoms under at-
investigation by the FBI, the tack include “the freedom of Vice President Kamala Harris joined a march across Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala.
Columbus police said. a woman to make decisions
The arrest came shortly about her own body.”
after another abduction case Harris paid tribute to the THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
involving a girl in the Hous- civil-rights marchers who— (USPS 664-880) (Eastern Edition ISSN 0099-9660) (Central Edition ISSN 1092-0935) (Western Edition ISSN 0193-2241)
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. * * Monday, March 4, 2024 | A3

U.S. NEWS

California Destruction From Texas Panhandle Fires Comes Into View

Fights Over
Helping the
Mentally Ill
BY CHRISTINE MAI-DUC

As Californians grow in-

creasingly frustrated with the
mental illness, drug abuse and
homelessness evident on
streets from San Francisco to
San Diego, Gov. Gavin Newsom
is staking his political capital
on a multibillion-dollar ballot
measure meant to address all
three problems.
But some likely supporters,

SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES

among them advocates for the
mentally ill, aren’t on the
Democrat’s side, complicating
his sales pitch to voters.
Proposition 1 on Tuesday’s
ballot would raise about $6.4
billion in bonds to build hous- CHARRED: A destroyed car sat in a burned landscape on Sunday in the aftermath of the Smokehouse Creek fire in Stinnett, Texas.
ing and mental-health treat-
ment facilities. It would also

New Pilotless Jet Fighters on Horizon

take billions of dollars from a
tax that voters approved in
2004 to fund mental-health
services and divert it to hous-
ing for those receiving mental-
health and addiction treat-
ment—and that has sparked BY DOUG CAMERON Atomics’ Reapers and Preda- MQ-28 Ghost Bat Air Force acquisition chief
much of the opposition. Service tors have been extensively Andrew Hunter said the CCA
The Australia-developed Ghost Bat provides a test bed for the
providers and patient advo- Pilotless jet fighters that used to fire missiles in the program takes lessons from
autonomous flying sought by the U.S. Air Force. Designed to fly
cates say the money is desper- can fly 30 feet above the Middle East, piloted remotely. past programs that have
with crewed jets and on preprogrammed missions, it has a nose
ately needed in an overbur- ground to their targets or Black Hawk helicopters and struggled to harness new
cone that can be swapped out with different equipment.
dened mental-health system. straight toward a barrage of F-16 fighters also have been technology, notably the F-35
Prop 1 supporters say cities enemy missiles are being de- flown autonomously. Maximum speed Subsonic program. The first CCAs are
need to get people off the veloped by the U.S. Air Force Small drones have trans- Range 2,300 miles intended to be stripped-down
streets to provide them with to help deter China. formed the battlefields over First flight 2021 models, keeping costs low and
effective mental-health and The soaring cost of existing Ukraine and parts of the Mid- Manufacturer Boeing
introducing new technology
addiction services. military aircraft and advances dle East, but larger jet-pow- when it is ready, rather than
“What we see a lot are re- in flying software have the Air ered versions are viewed as while it is still being tested.
peat offenders. Because of the Force pivoting toward a new crucial to tackle the vast dis- Companies bidding for the
untreated mental illness, they generation of pilotless jets to tances in the western Pacific. CCA contract are also being
keep on encountering law en- bolster a fleet that its leaders “They offer a lot of things that told to minimize complexity,
forcement and then coming say is the smallest and oldest traditional crewed fighter Sources: Boeing, Royal Australian Air Force including only what is re-
back to our facilities,” said Los since it became a separate planes just aren’t designed to Jemal R. Brinson/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL quired for missions rather
Angeles County Sheriff Robert service in 1947. do,” Air Force Secretary Frank than every eventuality. The
Luna, who supports Prop 1. The Air Force wants at Kendall said. ground has been superseded vers, Air Force officials and fly- average Pentagon program
Voters up and down the least 1,000 of the mini-fight- Only one of the five con- by software allowing planes to ing-software developers said. takes seven years from con-
West Coast are demanding ers now being developed, in- tenders—Boeing’s MQ-28 fly autonomously and adapt to Shield AI’s software offers the tract award until service en-
new approaches to the persis- cluding hundreds within five Ghost Bat—has flown publicly, changing conditions. ability for jets to skim the try, and the F-35 took twice
tent problems of people who years. They would escort and and the Royal Australian Air San Diego-based Shield AI ground at 600 miles an hour, that. Only five years is being
are sick and visibly struggling protect crewed aircraft such Force has ordered the plane. developed software that said Brandon Tseng, the com- allotted for the CCA.
on sidewalks. as the F-35 fighter and the Anduril has released photos of helped an uncrewed F-16 pro- pany’s founder and president. Air Force officials said one
The Oregon House of Repre- new B-21 bomber, carry their its Fury, while General Atom- grammed with AI to regularly It should also make them obstacle to broader adoption
sentatives on Friday passed a own weapons to attack other ics has published renderings beat some of the best Air cheaper, the Air Force and de- of uncrewed jets is starting to
bill reversing a 2020 measure planes and targets on the of its Gambit series. Lockheed Force and Navy pilots in simu- fense executives said. erode: the pilots themselves.
decriminalizing hard drugs. In ground and act as scouts and Martin and Northrop Grum- lated dogfights as part of a The Air Force is targeting The options of piloting
San Francisco, polls show vot- communications hubs. man have kept their jets under Pentagon-backed test. $20 million to $30 million for drones from the cockpit, re-
ers are likely to pass a mea- The “Collaborative Combat wraps. The Air Force wants to tap each jet, though industry ex- motely from the ground or au-
sure Tuesday mandating drug Aircraft,” or CCAs, are part of The Ghost Bat and the Fury into the technology, allowing ecutives expect it to eventu- tonomously with preplanned
screening for recipients of a $6 billion program being are between 20 feet and 30 pilots to control the new ally come down to around $10 flight programs has reduced
county cash welfare benefits. pursued by Boeing, Lockheed feet in length—half the size of drones remotely from their million or less. That compares resistance among seasoned fli-
Voters’ “frustration is pal- Martin, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin’s ubiquitous cockpits. Ground controllers with around $100 million for ers. Newer recruits brought
pable,” Newsom said last year General Atomics and new- F-16. also could handle as many as an F-35 or more than $750 up on videogames have also
as he signed bills that put comer Anduril Industries. The The new jets reflect strides 10 of the drones, while others million for the new B-21 tipped the balance. “We’re ea-
Prop 1 on the ballot. He stars Pentagon plans by the sum- made in flying software, using could be pre-programed to fly bomber. ger to get them because
in numerous ads for the mea- mer to choose two of the com- artificial intelligence to build in swarms, overwhelming en- The CCA program is a key they’re gonna save our lives,”
sure and has toured the state panies to start building the programs based on thousands emy defenses or confusing test of the Defense Depart- Air Force Secretary Kendall
campaigning for it. jets. of hours of combat flying. The them to draw fire. ment’s efforts to break from said of the new drones.
A poll released Friday by The Air Force has had big technology that allowed The lack of crew allows the years of late and over-budget —Michael R. Gordon
the Institute of Governmental drones for years. General planes to be piloted from the drones to fly riskier maneu- military programs. contributed to this article.
Studies at the University of
California, Berkeley, found

California Digs Out, Girds

that 50% of likely voters sup-
port Prop 1, 34% are opposed
and 16% remain undecided.
The institute said historically
most people undecided about
bond measures close to elec-
tion day end up voting no.
Opponents say mental-
For More Snow This Week
health problems will worsen if BY GINGER ADAMS OTIS The storm forced the clo- Electric customers were with-
money from the tax approved sure of a major freeway in out power, the utility said. Elec-
in 2004—1% on incomes over More snow is headed to northern California, knocked tricity was restored to all but
$1 million—is diverted. northern California this week, out power to thousands of about 9,000 by early Sunday.
BROOKE HESS-HOMEIER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

“If the state wanted to fund on the heels of a powerful homes and businesses and The California Department
expanded substance-use ser- blizzard that dumped more shut several ski resorts. of Transportation closed parts
vices, they didn’t have to steal than 60 inches over parts of In Donner Pass, the three- of Interstate 80 during the
services money from the seri- the Sierra Nevada mountains. day snowfall measured blizzard and mandated the use
ously mentally ill to do that,” The blizzard began on roughly 60 inches, said David of tire chains on other sec-
said Clare Cortright, policy di- Thursday and grew in intensity Roth, a forecaster with the tions.
rector for Cal Voices, a men- until Sunday, when its winds National Weather Service. The storm moving in Mon-
tal-health service provider and and snowfall lessened. How- Homewood Mountain Resort, day night will bring more
advocacy group. ever, a second system could in the Lake Tahoe area, re- snow to parts of the Sierra
Anthony York, a spokesman bring rain and more snowfall ported a total of 87 inches. Nevada and then into the
for the yes campaign, said the A blizzard covered a highway sign in Truckee, Calif., on by Monday night, the National At the peak of the blizzard, Rockies on Tuesday, the Na-
state’s infrastructure and Sunday, with more snow expected over the next few days. Weather Service said. roughly 280,000 Pacific Gas & tional Weather Service said.
funding for mental health has
grown vastly since the origi-
nal measure was passed.
The California State Associ-
ation of Counties said in a
memo to its board that Prop 1
Oregon Poised to Reverse Drug Decriminalization
could result in up to $1 billion
less for core mental-health BY JIM CARLTON On Friday, the Oregon Sen- Her office didn’t respond to a County, declared a joint state of a push to treatment.”
and prevention services ad- ate voted to make possession request for comment on the of emergency in January over Along with the bill recrimi-
ministered by its members As a firefighter-paramedic of small amounts of hard bill. what they described as a pub- nalizing drugs, Oregon legisla-
and risk the state’s federal in suburban Portland, Dacia drugs a misdemeanor punish- Backers of the 2020 ballot lic health and public safety tors passed a companion mea-
matching funds for a number Grayber has seen the ravages able by up to six months in measure, which passed with crisis in the city driven by sure allocating $211 million for
of Medicaid programs. But the of Oregon’s drug epidemic: jail. The bill, the result of 58% support, successfully con- fentanyl use. addiction treatment and other
group hasn’t taken a public fentanyl addicts stumbling months of discussions by law- vinced their fellow residents Residents, business owners support programs.
position on the measure. around like zombies or col- makers in both parties, passed of the left-leaning state that and law-enforcement officials Civil-rights groups still op-
Opponents have raised just lapsed in fetal positions. Last the state House on Thursday. decriminalization would mean have become infuriated, and a posed bringing back criminal
$1,000, while groups support- year she watched a young ad- Grayber, who is also a Dem- fewer nonviolent drug addicts poll last year found most peo- penalties, saying they unfairly
ing Prop 1 have raised $17.1 dict pass away with his 2- ocratic member of the state in prison and more in treat- ple wanted to make drug pos- target people of color. They
million, most of it from indi- year-old daughter curled up House, used her experience on ment. session a crime again. Advo- blamed the epidemic on a lack
vidual and corporate donors on his chest. the streets to explain why she But while the first part of cates said they would try to of funding for drug-treatment
and labor unions that are Like many people in the voted yes. the prediction proved true, put a measure on this year’s programs, affordable housing
longtime Newsom allies. state, Grayber thinks the prob- “I’ve worked so many over- the second didn’t. Without the ballot ending decriminaliza- and other needs.
According to the state’s lem has gotten worse since doses,” Grayber said in a threat of imprisonment, few tion if the legislature didn’t Khanh Pham, a Democratic
nonpartisan Legislative Ana- voters in 2020 passed a ballot speech to her fellow legisla- people have proved willing to act. lawmaker who voted against
lyst’s Office, the $2 billion in measure decriminalizing the tors before the bill passed the take advantage of the ex- “What we have tried to do the recriminalization bill, said
bond money earmarked for possession of all drugs. state House. “I came into this panded addiction services the is give law enforcement tools having law enforcement go af-
housing would produce up to Oregon’s political leaders building two weeks ago know- measure funded. Instead, pub- they need to intervene in the ter drug users again is a waste
4,350 units, about half reserved have reached the same conclu- ing that we had to do some- lic drug use has become ram- moment and hand [addicted of money.
for homeless veterans. The rest sion and are on the cusp of thing, because the status quo pant, as people can now people] off to the behavioral “This new misdemeanor
of the bond funds would go to- ending a three-year experi- of what we are doing is not smoke fentanyl and use other health mental world,” said system will divert scarce pub-
ward mental-health or drug- ment as the first and only working.” drugs on sidewalks with no Democratic State Rep. Jason lic dollars away from real so-
treatment infrastructure. state in the nation to allow Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek consequences. Kropf, co-chair of a committee lutions like increasing access
California’s homeless popu- people to freely use drugs has previously said she is Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted that produced the bill. “The to addiction treatment,” she
lation is estimated at 181,000, from heroin to cocaine to fen- open to restoring criminal Wheeler and Jessica Vega overarching goal is how do told colleagues on the House
nearly 30% of the U.S. total. tanyl. penalties for drug possession. Pederson, chair of Multnomah you sometimes give a little bit floor.
A4 | Monday, March 4, 2024 P W L C 10 11 12 H T G K R F A M 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 O I X X ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

U.S. NEWS

Biden Gets Over the past year has inflation moved

in the right or wrong direction?
If the 2024 election for president were held
today, for whom would you vote?
Republican Donald Trump
Over the past two years,
would you say the U.S.
economy has...
Over the past year, do you
think your personal financial
situation has moved in

Slight Boost
80%
the right or wrong direction?
40%
Wrong 60% 60%
Democrat Joe Biden

In Survey 60
Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
35 ...Gotten worse
Wrong

Right
9 40 40
Continued from Page One Independent Cornel West
40
hold a dim view of his steward- ...Gotten better
2
ship of the economy. Moreover,
his re-election prospects are Right Green Party candidate Jill Stein
20 20
weighed down by concerns 20 1
...Stayed the same
about his age and sharply neg-
Libertarian Lars Mapstead Don’t know
ative views of his leadership
1
overall, including his handling Don’t know Don’t know
of immigration and the war be- 0 Undecided 0 0
tween Israel and Hamas. 12 Aug. 2023 ’24 Aug. 2023 ’24
Aug. 2023 '24
Some 73% say Biden is too
old, at age 81, to stand for re- Sources: Wall Street Journal surveys, latest of 750 registered voters conducted Feb. 21-28, 2024 with a margin of error at +/-3.6 pct. pts. (inflation, economy, financial situation);
election, the same share as in Wall Street Journal survey of 1,500 registered voters conducted Feb. 21-28, 2024, with a margin of error at +/- 2.5 pct. pts. (vote)
an August Journal poll. By
comparison, 52% see Trump, their ability to do so across the 1960s. Inflation, at 3.1% in Jan- But personal views of

FROM LEFT: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES, MARIO TAMA/GETTY IMAGES

age 77, as too old to run for the country is unclear. The centrist uary, is far below the 9.1% of Trump and many of his poli-
White House, up 5 points from group No Labels has also been mid-2022. The new Journal cies are unfavorable. Some
August. Biden last week re- seeking ballot access in many survey suggests that views of 55% see him in a negative
ceived a clean bill of health in states and said it would decide the economy are moving to be light, and less than half see
his annual physical, with his Friday whether to back a so far more in line with those mea- him as mentally up to the job
doctor calling him “fit for unspecified “unity ticket” in sures of economic strength. of president.
duty.” November. Among other things, the di- While there is majority sup-
The Journal poll was con- Moreover, Kennedy, the en- minished economic anxiety port for building a wall along
ducted Feb. 21-28, just ahead of vironmental lawyer also known could make it easier for Biden the border with Mexico and
primaries in 15 states on Tues- for conspiratorial views, shows to win economy-focused voters for the widespread deporta-
day that will move Trump far the potential to take more vot- and to turn voter attention to tion of undocumented immi-
closer to securing the GOP ers from Trump than Biden, as other issues. grants—two of Trump’s signa-
nomination. The poll inter- his supporters favor Trump, “It’s not like they’re saying ture policies—other Trump
viewed 1,500 registered voters 47% to 30%, on the ballot that to us, ‘The economy is wonder- proposals fare poorly.
by cellphone and landline includes only the two major- ful; that’s why we must re-elect Some 51% oppose repealing
phones, with some respondents party candidates. Biden.’ They’re just not as con- and replacing the Affordable
reached by text and invited to Another unpredictable ele- cerned about it,” said Michael Some 73% say President Biden is too old to stand for re- Care Act, or Obamacare, with
take the survey online. ment: the criminal cases Bocian, a Democratic pollster election; 52% say that of Donald Trump. 39% supporting Trump’s call
When third-party candidates against Trump. If the former who conducted the Journal to do so. A majority opposes
are added to the ballot, Biden president is convicted on fed- survey with Republican Tony “Immigration is filling that from December. pardoning people convicted in
loses more support to those ad- eral charges of illegally retain- Fabrizio. “So, they’re turning to void” in voters’ attention, “and Some 38% approve of the the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the
ditional options than does ing classified documents or ef- other issues, which is net good immigration is Biden’s worst overall job Biden is doing as U.S. Capitol.
Trump. Trump’s lead over Bi- forts to overturn the 2020 for Biden at the end of the day. issue. And it actually has got- president, essentially un- Some 82% of voters in the
den grows from 2 points to 5 election result, voting choices But then he has to go win those ten a little worse,” Fabrizio changed from the 37% in De- survey oppose the idea of en-
points, 40% to 35%, with inde- would shift so that his 2-point issues.” said. cember, which was the lowest couraging Russia to invade
pendent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lead over Biden becomes a 4- A challenge for Biden is the Some 65% of voters disap- mark he has received in Jour- NATO allies if they haven’t
taking 9 points and 2 points or point deficit, the poll finds. growing voter focus on immi- prove of Biden’s handling of nal polling dating to late 2021. met the alliance’s targets for
less going to Green Party and Economists and business gration, an issue on which the border security, a high mark in The poll presents mixed spending money on their own
Libertarian candidates, and to owners have puzzled over why president gets low marks. Journal polls over the past two news for Trump. Some 43% militaries, a proposition that
Cornel West, the academic and consumer sentiment, while ris- Some 20% in the survey cited years, and 71% say develop- hold a favorable view of the Trump recently made.
activist running an indepen- ing in recent months, has immigration as most important ments in immigration and bor- former president, a high mark In a related question, voters
dent campaign. shown Americans to be more to their vote in the presidential der security are headed in the in Journal polling dating to late were evenly divided on
The independent and third- downbeat about the economy election, with 14% saying it is wrong direction. 2021, and 48% say they ap- whether the U.S. should con-
party candidates are wild cards than expected, given that un- the economy—a rare instance Views of Biden’s handling of prove of the job he did in the tinue its obligation under the
in the election. They are still employment has been below of any issue topping the econ- the Israel-Hamas war have also White House, 10 points more NATO treaty to defend those
taking steps to gain access to 4% for about two years, the omy as most prominent on vot- turned more negative, with favorable than Biden’s job-ap- allies if spending targets ha-
ballots in many states, and longest such stretch since the ers’ minds. 60% disapproving, up 8 points proval rating. ven’t been met.

Sympathy for Palestinians Grows as War Drags On

BY AARON ZITNER thy for the Palestinian people Do you think Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip in response to the and other aid to Gaza and Is- raeli people, compared with
amid Israel’s efforts to destroy Oct. 7 attack by Hamas have gone too far, not gone far enough, raeli plans to invade Rafah, 22% who said so in December.
WASHINGTON—A plurality Hamas, which have displaced or been about right? where more than one million The share saying the U.S. was
of American voters thinks Is- tens of thousands of Gaza resi- Palestinians, many of them dis- doing too little was unchanged,
rael has gone too far in re- dents and caused a humanitar- Gone too far placed, now live. at 25%.
sponding to the October at- ian crisis. 42% “The longer this goes on, An age gap in views of Israel
tacks by Hamas, and a growing The death toll in Gaza has there is a shift toward more seems to be narrowing, with
share believes the U.S. isn’t surpassed 30,000 people, Pal- Been about right sympathy toward the Palestin- older Democrats matching
doing enough to help the Pal- estinian health authorities say. ians and less toward Israel,” younger Democrats in their
estinian people, a new Wall The figures don’t distinguish 24 said Democratic pollster Mi- wariness of Israel’s actions.
Street Journal poll finds. between militants and civil- chael Bocian, who conducted Some 40% of Democrats under
Some 42% of voters in the ians. Not gone far enough the Journal poll with Republi- age 40 said the U.S. was doing
survey said Israel has gone too The war has created signifi- 19 can Tony Fabrizio. too much to help the Israeli
far in pursuing Hamas. A cant challenges for President In the new survey, 33% of people, compared with 33% of
smaller share, 19%, said Israel Biden both in domestic politics Don’t know/refused voters said the U.S. was doing Democrats ages 40 and older—
hasn’t gone far enough, and and in diplomacy. Some senior too little to help Palestinians, a 7-point difference. In Decem-
24% said Israel’s response to aides to the president have be- 15 up from 26% in the Journal’s ber, that gap had been 24
Hamas has been about right. come increasingly worried that December poll. About one- points.
The Palestinian militant his support for Israel’s war ef- Source: Wall Street Journal poll of 750 registered voters conducted Feb. 21-28, 2024 with a margin quarter of voters said the U.S. Among Democrats 40 and
group killed more than 1,200 fort will cost him votes in No- of error: +/- 3.6 pct. pts. was doing too much for Pales- older, 71% said Israel had gone
people in the Oct. 7 attacks, vember. tinians, with the same share too far in responding to Hamas.
according to Israel, and took The new poll found that with 31% approving of Biden’s Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin saying the U.S. was doing the Some 16% of Republicans say
more than 240 hostages. 60% of voters disapprove of actions. Netanyahu are strained and be- right amount. Israel has gone too far in re-
The poll, conducted Feb. Biden’s handling of the war, 8 Biden administration rela- coming more so amid severe Some 30% said the U.S. was sponding to Hamas, versus the
21-28, also found rising sympa- points more than in December, tions with the government of challenges in delivering food doing too much to help the Is- 70% of Democrats.

Macy’s transformation under its new

chief executive, Tony Spring,
who ascended to the top job
said it would close five stores,
ahead of the latest planned
cuts.)
sure thing. Macy’s has ex-
pressed doubts regarding Ark-
house’s and Brigade’s ability

Suitors Lift Feb. 4 after serving as the

company’s president and CEO-
elect for nearly a year. Spring
Macy’s shares initially
jumped on the news late last
month, but the stock has since
to finance their offer. The
company hasn’t offered up any
due-diligence information to

Their Offer previously spent more than

three decades with Bloom-
ingdale’s, the higher-end chain
traded back down, closing Fri-
day at $18.01—a far cry from a
high of $70 in 2015.
the investors nor has it agreed
to sign a nondisclosure agree-
ment, as they have requested.
of stores owned by Macy’s. Spring said on a conference Arkhouse Managing Part-
Continued from Page One He recently unveiled his vi- call with analysts last week ners Gavriel Kahane and Jona-
tially gain another avenue to sion for modernizing the de- that fiscal 2024 will be a thon Blackwell said they are
achieve a takeover. partment-store operator, “transition and investment” frustrated Macy’s has refused
Macy’s had more than $23 which includes closing about year. “We are moving swiftly to engage with them and re-
It’s not just about achieving your goals... billion in sales last year. It and 150 underperforming Macy’s and methodically,” he said. main committed to closing a
It’s about the path that gets you there. other major department-store stores—or about 30% of its to- UBS analyst Jay Sole said deal. Matt Perkal, a partner at
chains have been battered in tal—over the next three years. in a research note that “We Brigade, added that the new
recent years by stiff competi- The focus will now be on up- are not yet convinced this new offer is the “best path for-
tion and shifting shopping grading the remaining 350 plan will solve challenges,” ward” for shareholders and
patterns, leading to waves of Macy’s locations and adding adding that e-commerce behe- can be executed quickly.
consolidation and bankrupt- Bloomingdale’s shops and moth Amazon.com and off- “The notion that the plan
cies in the industry. Bluemercury beauty stores. price retailers will continue to we are proposing is not ac-
In 2020 alone, JCPenney, (In January, Macy’s eliminated eat into Macy’s market share. tionable is simply not true,”
Neiman Marcus and Lord & 13% of its corporate staff and A takeover is far from a Kahane and Blackwell said.
Taylor all filed for bankruptcy,
to later emerge as smaller or
digital-only players. Kohl’s
was close to a deal to be sold
in 2022, but later backed out.
More recently, Saks—owned
by Hudson’s Bay—has been
trying to scoop up Neiman
A place to become... A business leader, a teacher, an Marcus.
artist. If kids and teens can dream it, Boys & Girls Clubs can Legacy retailers such as
help them become it. Because at our Clubs, it’s not magic Macy’s have been burdened by
that makes dreams come true, it’s the people. Like our archaic stores and bulky web-
Youth Development Professionals who ensure our youth have sites, while younger shoppers
a place to feel physically and emotionally safe. A place to gravitate to digital-first
belong. A place to have fun. A place to learn and grow on their brands with nimbler opera-
path to a Great Future. tions. Coming out of the pan-
demic, more consumers are
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

choosing to head to local

shopping centers over subur-
ban malls traditionally an-
chored by department stores.
This year, Macy’s sees sales
falling between about 1% and
GreatFutures.org
4%.
Macy’s is in the midst of a The retailer plans to close about 150 underperforming Macy’s stores in the next three years.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * Monday, March 4, 2024 | A5

U.S. NEWS

Super Tuesday: What It Means, How It Will Work

BY ELIZA COLLINS have been voting by mail since pected to elect a Democrat to less of party.
AND JOHN MCCORMICK mid-January. fill its open Senate seat in
November, the primary has
Super Tuesday is the pri- become expensive and unpre- Run-up to Tuesday
mary season’s busiest day, California’s heft dictable, with four big-name While Tuesday is the main
when voters in 15 states cast Haley has been able to pick candidates vying for two prize, several states had prima-
ballots this week for their up delegates in four states so open spots. Democratic Rep. ries in the lead-up on the GOP
party’s nominee for president far despite not winning any of Adam Schiff is leading polls side. Michigan held its primary
and down-ballot races. It could them. The rules are becoming and is expected to get the Tuesday for both parties, but
also mark the end for Nikki increasingly challenging for first spot, but Democratic Republicans didn’t allocate all
Haley’s long-shot bid to stop her, especially in a two-person Rep. Katie Porter is running of their delegates, and the re-
Donald Trump from securing race. Trump has the opportu- neck-and-neck for second maining group was distributed
the Republican nomination. nity to start sweeping up en- place with Republican Steve to Trump Saturday via conven-

SCOTT EISEN/GETTY IMAGES

More than a third of all tire states’ delegate hauls. If Garvey, a former baseball tion. Trump also won Republi-
GOP delegates are up for he is able to win a majority of star; Rep. Barbara Lee, also a can contests in Idaho and Mis-
grabs: Most of the states voters in California, he will Democrat, lags behind the top souri Saturday, while Haley
Tuesday award them on a win all 169 delegates. three in polling. Under the secured her lone victory so far
winner-take-all basis, either The state also will be state’s open primary system, in the District of Columbia
statewide or by congressional closely watched because of its the top two vote-getters Sunday. North Dakota votes on
district, if one candidate gets spirited primary for U.S. Sen- Tuesday will face each other Monday. Democrats have no Nikki Haley, seen campaigning Sunday in Maine, has vowed to
a majority. Even strong sec- ate. While California is ex- in a November runoff, regard- primaries until Tuesday. continue her long-shot GOP presidential bid through Tuesday.
ond-place finishes for Haley
could result in no delegates.

The voting states

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas,

THE PRATT FOUNDATION

California, Colorado, Maine,
Massachusetts, Minnesota,
North Carolina, Oklahoma,

IS HONORED TO SUPPORT
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Ver-
mont, Virginia and American
Samoa will all hold nominating

THE AMERICAN AUSTRALIAN ALLIANCE

contests. (Alaska’s is only for
Republicans, while American
Samoa’s is just for Democrats.)

Effect on November
The only general-election
presidential battleground
state in Tuesday’s mix is
North Carolina. Analysts will
be watching how different de-
mographic groups in North
Carolina support Trump and
President Biden. The rapidly
growing state has a mix of ur-
ban, suburban and rural vot-
ers, as well as college towns.

What Haley needs

The former South Carolina
governor and United Nations
ambassador has committed to
campaigning through Super
Tuesday. She will have to as-
sess whether to keep soldiering
on, but has no campaign events
scheduled after Monday. Her
campaign says it raised $12
million in February, so she has
gas in the tank. As of Sunday,
however, her campaign didn’t
have any television ads booked
for this week or beyond.
It is hard to imagine Haley
finding enough support to
slow Trump’s march to the
nomination after she failed to
win any of the first five state
nominating contests. She
could be competitive in some
of the more moderate states in
play. In the days leading up to
Super Tuesday, she is focusing
on Minnesota, Colorado, Utah,
Virginia, North Carolina, Mas-
sachusetts, Vermont, Maine
and Texas. Some of those
states, such as Texas, aren’t
particularly moderate, but
they award some of their dele-
gates by congressional dis-
trict, which might allow Haley
to secure at least a few in ur-
ban or suburban areas.

Can Trump clinch?

Trump won’t be able to
quite claim the nomination af-
ter Super Tuesday, but he is al-
most certain to be close. By a
week or two later, following
contests from March 12
through 19, he is likely to have
the 1,215 delegates needed to
secure the nomination. The for-
mer president has increasingly
focused his attention on Biden.

Effect on Biden
The president to date has
won 206 delegates, which is all
but two awarded so far. While
he faces two primary challeng-
ers, neither has been a threat
or earned any delegates. The
two delegates he didn’t win
were associated with the “un- The Australian Ambassador to the United States and former prime minister Dr Kevin Rudd (left) and Pratt Industries Executive Chairman Anthony Pratt.
committed” vote in Michigan’s
primary last Tuesday, repre-
senting protests from those
angry over his support of Is-
rael’s military campaign
against Hamas despite the hu-
manitarian crisis in Gaza.
While Biden is expected to eas-
ily win all the states voting
Tuesday, efforts for additional
protest voting are playing out
in some of the coming states.
Organizers in Georgia, Vir-
ginia, North Carolina, Wash-
ington state and Minnesota
have tried to get voters to cast
protest ballots. However, not
all those states have an “un-
committed” option, so the pro-
tests could be lodged through
votes for other candidates.
Iowa Democrats, mean-
while, will finally report their
results after the national
party moved the state from its
traditional leadoff spot on the The Pratt Foundation is proud to sponsor work at the institutions above.
nominating calendar. They
A6 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

U.S. NEWS

Test for McConnell Successor: Trump Is Enjoying

A Winning Streak,
How to Bring in Big Money Except Financially
WASHINGTON—Plenty of
Senate Republicans appear ea- BY ALEX LEARY ing against him. He might
ger to take over Minority have to sell parts of his real-
Leader Mitch McConnell’s job Donald Trump has been on estate empire to do so. Last
corralling their ranks when he a hot streak, racking up politi- Wednesday, a judge rejected
steps down as leader. cal and legal wins as his foes, Trump’s request to halt a $355
from Nikki Haley to Jack Smith million judgment in the case
By Kristina Peterson, to Mitch McConnell, are suf- for now.
Anthony DeBarros fering setbacks or standing The sting isn’t just financial
and Jack Gillum down. Yet one big loss—in the but symbolic, cutting to the
New York civil-fraud case— core of Trump’s business-titan
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

But a tougher task may be could cost him the most. image. He has been more emo-
maintaining the powerful po- The former president last tionally invested in the New
litical apparatus the Kentucky week got what is expected to York case than in any other.
Republican fueled with fund- be a significant delay in the Trump has also been frus-
raising—$1.7 billion through federal case against him on al- trated and hit hard by a defa-
allied groups since 2015. legations that he plotted to mation case involving the
The top Senate Republican overturn the 2020 election, writer E. Jean Carroll. A fed-
since 2007, McConnell became when the Supreme Court eral jury in January ordered
a juggernaut fundraiser who agreed to consider his immu- him to pay more than $83 mil-
helped expand the role of nity claim, a blow to special lion in damages.
money in politics. Indepen- counsel Smith’s hopes for a Last week’s Supreme Court
dent political groups aligned speedy trial. A similar Georgia move, meanwhile, wasn’t a
with him helped Republicans case has taken a hit as Fulton verdict on Trump’s immunity
win Senate races and shape County District Attorney Fani claim—indeed, many scholars
the national debate around Sen. Mitch McConnell early on recognized the importance of having a Senate-focused PAC. Willis fights disqualification expect the court to reject
the Supreme Court and policy over a romantic relationship that—but it could buy him
issues like taxes. Now his GOP boost the next GOP leader’s Since its creation in 2015, Senate Republican leader. with her top deputy. valuable time and fits with an
colleagues are evaluating fundraising but won’t immedi- the Senate Leadership Fund, a Democrats said no amount On Friday, a Florida judge overall delay-tactic strategy in
whether the contenders to ately match the longtime rela- super PAC aligned with McCon- of fundraising prowess or po- presiding over a separate case the other cases he faces. Even
succeed him can replicate his tionships McConnell had cre- nell, has pulled in more than $1 litical savviness would enable involving Trump’s handling of if a trial for election interfer-
fundraising prowess and ated with Republican donors, billion, according to FEC fil- the next GOP leader to repair classified documents appeared ence is pushed to later this
steely political nerves. said Josh Holmes, one of his ings. Additional fundraising the rift within the party over likely to push back those pro- year, it could be to Trump’s
“Without question, it’s previous chiefs of staff. from a McConnell-aligned ad- Donald Trump, the party’s for- ceedings. advantage.
been invaluable—the fundrais- “There are many people vocacy group, One Nation, mer president likely 2024 Trump is on the verge of of- “Donald Trump craves the
ing network, the political op- around the country who sup- brings the total to nearly $1.7 nominee. ficially securing the Republi- limelight and loves to strike
eration he’s assembled,” said port his efforts because they billion, according to a state- “The Republican Party’s can presidential nomination, the pose of a victim and a
Sen. Todd Young (R., Ind.). think he’s been standing in the ment by Steven Law of the splitting up. So I don’t know with a huge cache of delegates martyr. Putting him on trial a
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, breach to prevent really cha- Senate Leadership Fund. The that there’s anybody—no mat- expected to go his way on Su- month or two before the elec-
a former Senate GOP whip, otic outcomes in a chaotic po- group has invested heavily in ter how powerful or strategic per Tuesday, diminishing his tion might be playing precisely
has been the top fundraiser litical environment,” said opposition research. or thoughtful they are—that challenger Haley’s already in- into his derangement script,”
this election cycle among the Holmes. “That’s a reputation “Leader McConnell has could keep that caucus to- finitesimal hopes. New swing- said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D.,
trio of veteran Republicans that’s earned, not inherited.” changed the scale of the game gether,” said Sen. Chris Mur- state polls show him beating Md.), who managed the House
considered top contenders to Still, Holmes said McCon- by his involvement and his phy (D., Conn.). President Biden. impeachment proceedings re-
succeed McConnell. nell would work to ensure the support of our work,” Law Unlike the National Repub- If Trump’s dominance over garding Trump’s role in the
Since January 2023, Cornyn next GOP leader could access said in an interview. lican Senatorial Committee, the GOP wasn’t already clear, Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the
has brought in roughly $10.7 that network and the political No changes are expected at the Senate Leadership Fund McConnell, the longtime Sen- Capitol.
million through his campaign infrastructure he has built. the Senate Leadership Fund has long been more willing to ate Republican leader and a A Trump spokeswoman,
committee and fundraising A longtime opponent of during this election cycle, and try to boost the prospects of Trump critic, said he would Karoline Leavitt, said, “Presi-
groups, excluding transfers campaign-finance regulations, the field of Senate candidates what it viewed as more elect- give up his post in November dent Trump remains laser-fo-
from other committees, ac- McConnell early on recognized is largely set for this fall, ac- able GOP candidates. For ex- as more of his colleagues side cused on winning in November
cording to Federal Election the importance of having a cording to people familiar with ample, in 2020, the group got with the former president on to make America great again.”
Commission filings. Senate Senate-focused political-action its operations. Many Republi- involved in Kansas to support issues including aid for Haley, for her part, has
Minority Whip John Thune committee, as super PACs cans are optimistic that they now-Sen. Roger Marshall in Ukraine. tried to hold on as the former
(R., S.D.) has brought in $7.5 emerged in the wake of the might be able to win enough the primary against fellow Re- The run of good luck has president builds an over-
million, while Senate GOP 2010 Supreme Court ruling on races in November to take con- publican Kris Kobach, the for- been marred by a mortal whelming lead in their contest.
Conference Chairman John Citizens United. The decision trol of the Senate. But the cali- mer secretary of state who threat to Trump’s fortune, as “He’s been lucky on multi-
Barrasso (R., Wyo.) hauled in allowed businesses and unions ber of GOP candidates and had lost a gubernatorial race he has to come up with hun- ple things,” Haley acknowl-
roughly $3.2 million. to spend freely on ads for or their chances in future contests in 2018 and was seen as a di- dreds of millions of dollars to edged Friday to reporters in
Ascending to the role will against candidates. will be influenced by the next visive candidate. satisfy a New York fraud rul- Washington.

ESG Is Out, Flows into publicly traded

ESG funds, quarterly
$25 billion
Street Journal in October that
he backtracked from the term
ESG because it had been polit-

‘Transition 20
icized and means something
different to every person.

Draped in Dazzle Investing’ In 15

BlackRock is focused on
meeting individual client de-
mands, climate-friendly or
otherwise, he said, adding that
10 investor surveys show that
INDULGE IN THE TIMELESS PAIRING OF
Continued from Page One most of its clients globally
LUSH SAPPHIRES AND ICY DIAMONDS it is directing billions of client 5 plan to put more money into
dollars toward infrastructure decarbonization investments.
projects that will help speed 0 To that end, BlackRock is
the transition from fossil fuels. no longer aggressively push-
“Transition investing is –5 ing companies to take action.
specific and concrete. Clients The asset manager voted
know what we’re talking –10 “Yes” on about 9% of share-
about,” said Mark Wiedman, 2021 ’22 ’23 holder resolutions involving
who is head of the global cli- Source: Morningstar environmental or social issues
ent business at BlackRock and in 2023, down from about 40%
a potential successor to Fink. same period. The funds have in 2021, according to ShareAc-
“ESG as a category is a vague raised nearly $500 billion in tion, a climate-advocacy group.

1,395
grab bag for many clients.” the past five years and BlackRock cited a rise in over-
$ BlackRock is joining inves- dwarfed the amount raised for reaching proposals lacking
tors such as Brookfield Asset traditional fossil-fuel funds, economic merit and compa-
Compare at $2,095 Management in betting on figures from Preqin show. nies’ progress on climate-re-
clean-energy infrastructure The criticism of Fink started lated disclosures.
projects. It doubled down with building in 2020, when he said BlackRock is trying to get
its recent $12.5 billion deal for BlackRock would be disposed back in the good graces of red
Global Infrastructure Partners, to vote against management states. The company hired a
a fund manager that owns and and boards at companies not global head of corporate af-
operates energy, transporta- making progress on sustain- fairs with experience working
tion, and waste and water ability-related practices. With for Republicans in Congress.
companies around the world. its colossal index-fund busi- Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a
Infrastructure investments ness, BlackRock wields vast Republican who had been a vo-
can offer steady returns and shareholder voting power. cal critic, shared a stage with
measurable benefits for fight- A year later, Fink upped the Fink and declared him “king of
ing climate change. They are ante when he wrote that Wall Street” at a February
in high demand with institu- BlackRock was “focused on ra- power-grid investment summit
tional clients such as pen- cial equity and social justice in Houston. Fink told attendees
sions, especially after 2022’s in our investment and stew- he could help Texas raise $10
climate law introduced rich ardship activities.” billion in private capital to
government subsidies for The backlash was swift. strengthen its power grid.
Finely crafted in sterling silver and full of eye-catching clean-energy projects. Even Berkshire Hathaway’s BlackRock’s diversified in-
sparkle, our fabulous 18" tennis necklace boasts The investments differ from Charlie Munger said: “I think frastructure fund also recently
many bets on publicly traded the world of Fink, but I am announced a $550 million in-
9.00 ct. t.w. round sapphires alternating with companies or ESG strategies not sure I want him to be my vestment in Occidental Petro-
that avoid fossil-fuel projects emperor.” Conservative activ- leum’s first big plant captur-
1.50 ct. t.w. round brilliant-cut diamonds. that end up being owned by ist Leonard Leo financed an ing carbon dioxide directly
someone else. BlackRock’s in- anti-ESG campaign. Republi- from the air in Texas.
frastructure funds have in- can presidential candidates Beyond that, BlackRock
Available in 20" $1,495 vested in solar power, natural took jabs, and some red states joined JPMorgan Chase and
gas made from food waste and sought to ban BlackRock. State Street in February in
Also in Ruby #948934 and Emerald #951162. cow manure and removing The rebuke had little to no backing away from the Climate
carbon from the atmosphere. measurable impact on Black- Action 100+, a coalition of fund
Another reason the ESG Rock’s business—but it marked managers pushing companies
movement failed to catch on an embarrassment for Fink, a to address climate issues. A
was because the funds strug- legend on Wall Street who co- spokesman said that the
gled to outpace the broader founded the company in 1988. group’s new strategy raises le-
market and show that they ac- Within BlackRock, some ex- gal considerations in the U.S.
tually benefited the planet. In- ecutives were uneasy about “ESG is unquestionably in a
vestors pulled about $13 bil- the letters and Fink’s public death spiral,” said Terrence
lion, or about 4% of assets, comments, according to people Keeley, who ran BlackRock’s
from publicly traded ESG familiar with the matter. Some official institutions group until
funds last year, according to remarks were made on the fly, 2022 and has since published
FREE EXPRESS SHIPPING — ORDER TODAY! Morningstar. BlackRock’s of- the people said, leaving execu- a book criticizing ESG invest-
To receive this special offer, use code: OPULENCE2 fering of mostly index-track- tives struggling to explain to ing. “BlackRock is logically
ing ESG funds posted inflows. clients what their boss meant. prioritizing decarbonization
1.800.556.7376 or visit ross-simons.com/opulence Investors poured about $75 BlackRock has since made a because it is a win-win-win.
Item #948924 billion into private renewable- U-turn and is trying to smooth Good for the environment,
energy and broad energy-sec- things over with its political good for investors and good
tor investment funds over the enemies. Fink told The Wall for BlackRock shareholders.”
A8 | Monday, March 4, 2024 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

WORLD NEWS
Negotiators Say Gaza Truce Could Be Near
Israel has agreed to Qatar from Sinwar said there Israel gave Hamas a Rama-
should be no rush to secure a dan deadline to return hos-
deal outlines, but hostage deal, said people fa- tages held in Gaza or face a
Hamas leader has miliar with the discussions. ground offensive in Rafah.
They said Sinwar was hoping Ramadan begins this year
been out of contact that an Israeli incursion into around March 10.
the southern Gaza town of Ra- Adding to the urgency for all
TEL AVIV—Hamas officials fah over Ramadan would push sides to strike a deal is the
are in Cairo for negotiations on Palestinians living in Israel need to stave off famine inside
a potential deal that would see and the West Bank to rise up Gaza. Up to 15 children have
the release of hostages in ex- against Israel. died from dehydration and
change for a temporary cease- Israel now also believes that malnutrition in recent days in
fire in Gaza, according to Egyp- Sinwar may prefer tensions to northern Gaza’s Kamal Adwan
tian officials, in a push to stop increase over Ramadan rather Hospital, Gaza’s health ministry
the fighting before the Muslim than achieve a pause in the said on Sunday.
holy month of Ramadan. fighting, according to the Is- Benny Gantz, a minister in
raeli official. Israel’s war cabinet and leading
By Summer Said, Israel has agreed to the political rival to Israeli Prime
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Dov Lieber and framework of a deal hammered Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,

Carrie Keller-Lynn out late last month in Paris by landed on Sunday in Washing-
U.S., Qatari, and Egyptian me- ton, where he plans to meet
Negotiators believe Hamas diators, Israeli and U.S. officials with Harris and national secu-
and Israel are making slow said. That framework includes rity adviser Jake Sullivan on
progress and could strike an a six-week pause in the fight- Monday.
agreement before Ramadan, ing and a major influx of aid Gantz will discuss the issue
Egyptian officials said. A senior into Gaza, but Hamas hasn’t of aid deliveries into Gaza as
Hamas official said that the yet provided a detailed re- well as push the U.S. adminis-
first week of Ramadan is a Palestinian children carried water containers on Sunday in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. sponse. tration to pressure Hamas to
more realistic target for a deal. Vice President Kamala Har- accept the framework for a
Israel has agreed to the out- rael made over the weekend. Is- ers it wants freed and how according to the Israeli official. ris urged Hamas to accept the hostage release and temporary
lines of a deal, according to an rael believes it is negotiating many for each hostage re- Another major challenge deal. “Given the immense scale cease-fire deal that was agreed
Israeli official and a U.S. offi- over the fate of some 40 hos- leased. remains: Hamas’s leader in of suffering in Gaza, there must to by Israel.
cial. But the Israeli official ex- tages who are sick, elderly or Israel decided on Sunday Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, hasn’t be an immediate cease-fire for The growing humanitarian
pressed concern over whether female, but it doesn’t know who not to send a senior delegation been in contact for at least a at least the next six weeks,” crisis and lack of aid has gar-
Hamas was sincere in reaching is still alive, the official said. to Cairo to participate in nego- week, raising concerns that she said on Sunday. “This will nered worldwide attention af-
an agreement after the delega- Hamas on Sunday also tiations after it was told by me- the man who can implement a get the hostages out and get a ter a deadly aid-delivery at-
tion in Cairo failed to provide a didn’t provide answers on two diators that Hamas officials deal won’t be reachable, Egyp- significant amount of aid in.” tempt on Thursday in which
list of living hostages and the key sticking points, according had arrived in the Egyptian tian and Qatari officials say. “Hamas claims it wants a Gaza health authorities say
status of their conditions—a to Egyptian and Israeli offi- capital without answers to sev- The latest message sent to cease-fire,” she added. “Well, more than 100 Palestinians
demand that mediators say Is- cials: which Palestinian prison- eral of Israel’s main demands, Hamas political leadership in there is a deal on the table.’’ were killed.

Claims Charities Are Tied to Hamas Split U.S., Israel

BY IAN TALLEY on Israel. Since then, they have ing to current and former well as a debate over Israeli When it comes to the mul- million a year from its chief
used sanctions to target Hamas Western officials. allegations linking United Na- titude of other organizations benefactor, Iran, as well as
WASHINGTON—An interna- financiers, currency exchanges The U.S. and others have tions Relief and Works Agency aiding Gaza, U.S. officials say revenue from a global invest-
tional push to disrupt Hamas and corporate networks, as acted against a number of the staff to Hamas. Washington they distinguish between real ment portfolio and donations
financing has hit a roadblock well as offering multimillion- organizations flagged by Is- and other Western capitals and fake charities, but are through nonprofit organiza-
over an effort to determine dollar bounties for information rael, said a senior U.S. official, suspended aid to Unrwa after cautious of overreach that tions abroad, Western officials
which charities are helping on financial facilitators. but in a lot of cases “allies Israel said 12 of the organiza- could target legitimate hu- said. But Israel’s military op-
the militant group and which But now, more than four have been asking for credible tion’s staffers were involved in manitarian nonprofits and eration has deprived Hamas of
are legitimate nonprofits rais- months later, the U.S. has yet evidence for a long time, but the Oct. 7 Hamas assault. play into Hamas propaganda. its biggest source of funding:
ing funds to address the hu- to act against many nonprofit are still waiting.” The U.S. intelligence commu- “When we have credible ev- the roughly $600 million a
manitarian crisis in Gaza, groups that Israel says are run The disagreement over the nity has found it likely that idence of sham charities that year the group collected in
Western officials said. by Hamas, including charities charities comes as the U.S. some Unrwa workers took part terrorists are using to raise or taxes in Gaza.
The U.S., Israel and more in the U.S. and Europe. These pushes for a cease-fire in Gaza in the attack but hasn’t sub- move funds, we will not hesi- As a result, foreign funding,
than a dozen allies created a groups have directed tens of in the midst of mounting Pal- stantiated claims that a large tate to designate them,” the including from charities, is
task force on terror financing millions of dollars to Gaza estinian deaths and a worsen- number of the agency’s workers senior U.S. official said. now critical for the group,
following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack since the war began, accord- ing humanitarian crisis, as are tied to the militant group. Hamas collects about $100 Western officials said.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | A9

WORLD NEWS

Migrants Share of foreign-born

in working-age population
2011 2021*
Share of U.K. National
Health Service staff
with non-U.K. nationality†
September 2022. Now, de-
mand is exploding. Von Un-
gern-Sternberg plans to bring

Drive Labor Australia 30% Nurses

All Staff
in about 140 Indian workers
this year. That number could
triple in the future, he said.

In the West Canada

Germany
25

20
From auto mechanics to con-
struction, local businesses are
clamoring for his young Indian
recruits. Chambers of handi-
Continued from Page One crafts across Germany are seek-
Migration Advisory Committee, U.K. 15 ing his help in starting similar
which advises the British gov- projects. The program also ben-
ernment on migration policy. U.S. 10 efits consumers by helping
The debate is likely to heat keep butchers’ costs low.
0% 10 20 30 2010 ’13 ’16 ’18 ’20 ’22
up further as Western societies Across the border in Swit-
teeter closer to a demographic Total factor productivity in agriculture, zerland, where Indian workers
abyss. For the first time since average annual growth rate 2001-10 2011-19 aren’t available, meat costs
World War II, the working-age nearly four times as much.
BAPTISTE SCHMITT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

population is shrinking across Australia However, Swiss business own-

advanced economies. The Euro- ers have also been experi-
pean Union’s working-age pop- Japan menting with new technolo-
ulation is expected to shrink by gies, including sausage-
one-fifth through 2050, accord- Korea vending machines known as
ing to a recent report by Ger- Wurstautomaten, which could
man insurer Allianz. U.K. reduce the need for small-
There are ways to offset scale butcher’s shops and ulti-
that trend, such as encouraging U.S. mately help bring prices down.
older workers to delay retire- –0.5% 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 Meanwhile, opposition to
ment. But importing foreign la- immigration is rising in Ger-
*2021 or most recent year available †As percentage of staff with known nationality
bor is often the easiest option, Sources: OECD (foreign-born, total factor productivity); many, which suggests the
given the supply of available Ankush Kankar is an apprentice auto mechanic in Germany. U.K. National Health Service (health service staff) butchers’ reliance on imported
workers in places such as Latin labor might not be sustainable.
America or Africa. tional Health Service’s nurses gration expert at the University selling raspberry-picking ro- Emmett, a farmer and official Support for the anti-immigrant
Immigration also provides a are from abroad, up from of Sydney, said some low-skilled bots, which stand 6 feet tall at the National Farmers’ Alternative for Germany party
rush of economic growth as around 14% in 2013. In Ger- migration is probably necessary with four plastic arms. Union, a trade group. recently hit a high of 23%.
migrants boost populations many, about 80% of slaughter- in the short term because of Yet for governments, pur- Some industries, including In Wisconsin, Rosenow, the
and spend money, even when house workers are migrants, skills shortages. Without it, suing overhauls that boost manufacturing and plantations, dairy farmer, said he is skepti-
it elicits blowback from con- unions estimated. some child-care services in Aus- productivity and allow weaker have since been allowed to hire cal of the automated milking
servative groups, as it has in Increased reliance on low- tralia would shut and vegeta- firms to die is a lot harder foreigners following appeals, machines that he said are ad-
the U.S. and Europe. skilled imported labor can bles would die in the fields. than increasing immigration, but the broader freeze on for- vertised in farm magazines.
Immigration is now running lead to weaker productivity Economic research suggests said Dan Andrews, a produc- eign workers remains in place. Some neighbors experimented
two to three times above pre- growth, which ultimately de- that an influx of high-skilled tivity expert at the with robots but went back to
pandemic levels across major termines how fast economies migrants, such as scientists OECD. “Some countries may human labor because the ro-
destination countries including can expand, some economic and engineers, can actually lift have taken the easy way out.” German debate bots constantly needed repairs,
Canada, Germany and the U.K. research suggests. firms’ produc- Hoping to The debates are also intensi- he said. Robots would also cost
In the U.S., 3.3 million more Labor-productivity growth tivity and boost accelerate auto- fying in Germany, where busi- twice as much as immigrant
migrants arrived than left last has been sluggish across ad- local workers’ mation in agri- nesses including butcher shops workers and be costly to main-
year, compared with a 2010s vanced economies in recent wages and em- Economists are culture, the in the foothills of the Black tain, he said. With immigrants,
average of around 900,000. years. In the U.S. and U.K. ployment op- divided on the U.K. govern- Forest are becoming more reli- “labor is no constraint.”
Three quarters of farmwork- farming sectors, productivity portunities. ment is pouring ant on imported labor. Onan Whitcomb, a dairy
ers and 30% of construction has flatlined for a decade or Economists economic money into Young people don’t want to farmer in Vermont, disagrees.
and mining workers in the U.S. longer. In Japan and South are more di- farm technol- train as butchers anymore, local He said that when he wanted to
today are migrants. Overall, im- Korea, which have more re- vided when it
impact of lower- ogy. It is also businesses said, because it is increase production he decided
migrants made up 18% of the strictive immigration policies, comes to lower- skilled migrants. considering unglamorous work, with low not to hire immigrant workers.
U.S. workforce in 2021, com- it increased by around 1.5% a skilled mi- abolishing rules pay. Labor shortages are one Instead, he spent $800,000 on
pared with 16% a decade ear- year, OECD data show. grants. Such that allow com- reason why the number of four Dutch-made milking ro-
lier, according to the Organiza- Finding the right balance workers are also panies to pay butcher shops has roughly bots. Milk production per cow
tion for Economic Cooperation between allowing some migra- more easily replaced, including migrant workers 20% less halved in the past two decades. has grown by 30% and the inci-
and Development, a Paris-based tion and avoiding overdepen- in industries that seem unlikely than the going rate for jobs, Three years ago, Handirk dence of mastitis, an inflamma-
club of mostly rich countries. dence is hard. In many indus- candidates for automation. prompting protests from von Ungern-Sternberg, an offi- tory disease, has declined by
tries, there is no obvious In the Czech Republic, farmers’ lobby groups. They cial at the local chamber of 80%, he said. Whitcomb said he
alternative to foreign workers. some farmers are using artifi- said farmers adopt technology handicrafts, started a pilot was able to cut 2.5 jobs, and
U.K. surge Going cold turkey would cial-intelligence-driven robots quickly if it is available, but project to recruit butchers’ the investment paid for itself in
Despite promising for de- send prices for products made to monitor and harvest straw- that robots are no good at apprentices in India, taking seven years.
cades to curb immigration, the from migrant labor higher. It berries. Israeli startup Tevel picking fruit and vegetables. advantage of a change in Ger- “We were milking 300
U.K. has seen a surge since its would also leave many people Aerobotics Technologies has “The technology that we man law that made it easier to cows and we went to 240, and
2020 exit from the EU, as in poorer countries with fewer developed fruit-picking are aiming for is five years hire low-skilled workers from we still made more” milk,
businesses seek out employ- options to pursue better lives. drones. Fieldwork Robotics, a away.…We were saying that outside the EU. The first batch Whitcomb said. “That’s hard
ees. More than 27% of the Na- Anna Boucher, a global mi- U.K. company, recently started five years ago,” said Martin of 13 young Indians arrived in to beat.”

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A10 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

FROM PAGE ONE

FROM LEFT: RAFA ARJONES/INFORMACION.ES/REUTERS; MAXYM MARUSENKO/NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Left, Spanish authorities
investigate the murder scene of a
former Russian helicopter pilot,
Maksim Kuzminov, above.
Kuzminov had defected to
Ukraine six months earlier.

Unsolved home near Barcelona.

Last month, Russian inde-
pendent media reported that
especially security officers, to
collaborate with Washington;
the videos generally attract
tions in Geneva before
resigning in protest two
months after the invasion and
Spanish, European and U.S. po-
lice and intelligence officials;
and Ukrainians involved in the
Caucuses—while undercover
intelligence operatives joined
them, rebuilding ranks de-

Deaths the 35-year old son of Igor

Sechin, Putin’s confidant and
chief executive of oil giant Ros-
tens of thousands of views.
The agency says it wouldn’t
keep making them if they
seeking refuge in Switzerland.
“My colleagues say, ‘What
can we do? If something hap-
operation to extract him and
his gunship from Russia. Re-
porters also reviewed Kuzmi-
pleted by diplomatic expul-
sions, European officials say.

Add Up neft, died at his Moscow lux-

ury apartment complex, known
as “Putin’s Friend’s House.”
weren’t persuading Russians to
step forward.
“I invite them to do what
pens, it happens,’” he said on a
video call in front of a plain
background. “Russian political
nov’s social-media feeds, now
littered with angry posts casti-
gating him for betrayal.
Choking on silver
The president, a former KGB
There are no obvious Krem- others have already done this thinking is getting simpler and The Kremlin didn’t return colonel, has long said he would
Continued from Page One lin fingerprints on these past 18 months and join hands simpler: If there is a problem,
requests for comment. When hunt down Russian defectors:
the gunship, he collected a deaths. Not so for another co- with us—our door is always let’s just eliminate him.” the state news agency asked “Whatever they got in return,
$500,000 reward and encour- hort, murdered in spectacular open,” British spy chief Rich- The operation to lure Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy those thirty pieces of silver,
aged his countrymen to follow operations planned like theater ard Moore told a Prague audi- Kuzminov was meant to be a chairman of the Security Coun- they will choke on them,” he
his example. productions scripted for maxi- ence in a rare speech last year. proof of concept, hatched by cil of Russia, about the murder, once told a hushed press con-
“When all this opens up be- mum public impact. Two “Their secrets will always be Ukraine’s military intelligence
he replied: “To a dog, a dog’s ference, after a reporter asked
fore you, your views will fun- months after launching an safe with us.” agency, the Main Directorate of
death.” him if he’d ever signed an or-
damentally change,” he said in aborted mutiny, the rogue France has welcomed Maria Intelligence of the Defense While Ukraine and its West- der to liquidate traitors living
an interview filmed and posted commander of the Wagner Dmitrieva, a doctor who Ministry, or HUR, as Ukraine’sern backers were designing op- in exile.
on YouTube by Ukraine’s De- mercenary group, Yevgeny worked for the Federal Secu- counteroffensive struggled anderations to recruit officers like Now, his spy services are
fense Ministry. “You’ll simply Prigozhin, was blown up at rity Services, or FSB. Gleb Kar- the embattled country reached Kuzminov, Russia’s FSB was becoming more brazen and
discover a world of colors.” 28,000 feet. His jet crashed akulov, an engineer on Putin’s for new methods. bolstering the architecture to creative in squashing dissent
Now Kuzminov—gunned into a patch of meadow about presidential guard, sneaked Over months that followed, stop them. abroad, U.S. and European in-
down in Villajoyosa, a coastal 40 miles from Putin’s lakeside away to an undisclosed loca- the ordinary pilot, from a de- The agency’s Third Director- telligence officials say. The
resort that translates as “Joy- residence. tion via Turkey last year. In a populating town thousands of ate for Military Counterintelli- boundaries between Russia’s
ful Town”—has become the Opposition leader Alexei Na- video interview with the Dos- miles from Moscow, became a gence, or DKVR—charged with three main intelligence agen-
latest name on a lengthening valny was poisoned with the sier Centre, a London-based in- test case of whether a high- preventing military defec- cies—the FSB, the GRU mili-
list of unsolved deaths of Rus- easily detectable nerve agent vestigative group funded by profile defector could stay tions—has swelled since the tary intelligence and SVR for-
sians who soured on Vladimir Novichok in 2020, then died Russian opposition figure alive in the comforts of West-war to become the largest divi- eign intelligence—are
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. suddenly in an Arctic prison Mikhail Khodorkovsky, he said ern Europe, surviving on the sion in the FSB, according to increasingly blurring, analysts
Spain hasn’t identified a sus- colony last month, just as a he was responsible for secur- money and new identity security analysts. Its mission say, making it more difficult
pect, although investigators deal to free him was coming ing the president’s private Ukraine awarded him. involves spying on one of the to know which is responsible
believe the murder was or- together. The Kremlin has said communications, and that he To reconstruct his defection
world’s largest militaries, for an operation.
dered by the Kremlin, an offi- the cause of his death is one accompanied Putin on more and killing, The Wall Street down to the unit level, in a “The services used to be
cial involved in the investiga- for medical authorities to es- than 180 trips. Journal spoke to the pilot’s country of 11 time zones. very separate but now they are
tion said. tablish. Few in the West buy Boris Bondarev was a diplo- neighbors and acquaintances Even before the recent ex- exchanging personnel and as-
Moscow hasn’t denied kill- that. “Make no mistake. Putin mat serving at Russia’s perma- in Spain—including witnesses pansion, the DVKR was vast: sets,” said Andrei Soldatov,
ing the pilot. “This traitor and is responsible for Navalny’s nent mission to the United Na- to his murder—as well as More than 20 of its agents who has been writing about
criminal became a moral death,” President Biden told watched over troops Russia’s security services for
corpse at the very moment reporters last month. at a single small air more than 20 years. “It’s just
when he planned his dirty and base housing just six like Stalin’s time,” he added,
terrible crime,” Sergey Narysh- aircraft in the Kaluga when the Soviet dictator cre-
kin, Russia’s foreign intelli- New spy war region, according to ated a new agency called
gence chief, told its state news The mafia-style assassina- leaked FSB docu- SMERSH, or “Death to Spies.”
agency TASS. tion of Kuzminov fits into an- ments from 2012 pub- They are also increasingly
other hidden undercurrent of lished on the Russian using foreign nationals in op-
the new spy war between Rus- investigative website erations.
Subversive ideas sia and the West. Since Putin’s Agentura. Last year, British law en-
Since the invasion of invasion, Ukraine and its This network of forcement arrested five Bulgar-
Ukraine, prominent Russians Western allies have ratcheted domestic and foreign ians accused of spying for
have died in unusual circum- up attempts to hollow out the intelligence agencies Moscow by, among other
stances on three continents. Russian state and military by has regained its con- things, keeping tabs on Rus-
Some were thought to harbor attracting a stream of defec- fidence and influence sian exiles in London.
politically subversive ideas, tors they hope could become a after the chaos at the In April 2023, Artem Uss, a
while others may have been torrent. beginning of the businessman and son of a close
caught up in run-of-the-mill The Kremlin, in turn, has Ukraine invasion, Eu- Putin ally, escaped from house
criminal warfare. Some may tried to hunt down its turn- ropean security ana- arrest in Italy with the help of
have actually died of natural coats, one after the next, to lysts say. Early on, a Serbian criminal gang and
causes. But there are enough deter more losses through the Putin had reportedly avoided extradition to the U.S.
of them that Wikipedia pub- morbid power of example. placed top FSB lead- He was being held on criminal
lishes a running list, at 51 In Ukraine, military intelli- ers under house ar- charges for violating sanctions
names, entitled “Suspicious gence set up a 24-hour “I rest for badly mis- on military technology. Uss
deaths of Russian business Want to Live” hotline for Rus- judging the Ukrainian said the charges were politi-
people (2022–2024).” sian soldiers who wished to resistance. European cally motivated.
Businessmen have been drop their arms and cross capitals ejected some Using foreign nationals is a
found hanged in London and over. More than 260 have de- 400 Russian diplo- return to the practices of the
drowned in Puerto Rico. A rul- serted ranks through it, while mats, many of whom Stalinist era, when a Spanish
DEFENCE INTELLIGENCE OF UKRAINE/REUTERS

ing-party boss fell from the another 26,000 have dialed in, were believed to be assassin, Ramon Mercader,
roof of an Indian hotel and a and daily calls briefly shot up spies. passed into Soviet spylore by
46-year-old deputy science some 70% after Kuzminov Putin later released burying an ice pick into the
minister died of an unex- went public in September, ac- the FSB bosses, opt- forehead of Leon Trotsky and
plained illness on a return cording to Petro Yatsenko, a ing not to purge the sending a clear message to
flight from Cuba. spokesman for Ukraine’s pris- ranks. He kept Rus- other enemies of the regime.
Spanish police are still in- oners of war department. sia’s borders open, al- To this day in Russia, “send-
vestigating the 2022 deaths of Those numbers couldn’t be in- lowing hundreds of ing a Mercader” means dis-
Sergey Protosenya, the former dependently verified. thousands of Russians patching a hit man.
deputy chairman at gas pro- The U.S. Central Intelligence to escape mobilization —Marcos Garcia Rey and
ducer Novatek JSC, and his Agency has produced three Ukraine intelligence officers inspect the helicopter handed over by by fleeing to Europe, Kate Vtorygina contributed to
wife and daughter in their videos encouraging Russians, Kuzminov in a screengrab from social-media video. Central Asia and the this article.

Clippy as a contractor for Microsoft in

the mid-1990s.
Clippy was one of 240 char-
By 2001, Clippy was given
the pink slip. That year, Micro-
soft focused an animated ad-
client said. “But it’s cool that
you created it.”
Today, Atteberry, now a chil-
appealing mix of being a bit
annoying but also alluring,” he
said. “He’s a bad boy, like
trademark its annoying-but-
lovable paper clip.
Clippy still pops up at Mi-

Makes a acters Atteberry and a group of

designers whipped up for Mi-
crosoft Bob, an attempt to
vertisement for Microsoft Of-
fice XP software on a single
selling point: No Clippy. “Next
dren’s-book author, has reas-
sessed his twisted metal cre-
ation. At a writer’s retreat
Christian…from ‘Fifty Shades
of Grey.’ ”
He sent a warning with the
crosoft. This past week, on a
visit to Microsoft’s San Fran-
cisco offices, Clippy was spot-

Comeback make Microsoft’s software

more human-friendly that
bombed in the mid-1990s. Mi-
to Microsoft Bob, you are the
most annoying thing in com-
puter history,” a user tells
recently, he was asked to bring
a 3-D model of Clippy so others
could get their picture taken
ebook: “Clippy gets up to some
pretty extreme stuff here, so
make sure you are 18+ and not
ted offering advice on a confer-
ence-room monitor on how to
get audiovisual support.
crosoft’s software developers Clippy, who was voiced by co- with him and the paper clip. opening this up on a work But navigating the branding
Continued from Page One found him condescending and median Gilbert Gottfried. Over two decades, Clippy computer.” waters of this historic chatbot
rized.” unhelpful, Atteberry said. After Clippy has remained You can buy Clippy earrings, isn’t without perils.
It wasn’t, and Bordoloi has “They all seemed to have bombed, Atte- among Micro- coffee mugs and T-shirts on Bordoloi, maker of the
since rebranded his chatbot as this huge disdain for Clippy.” berry was em- soft’s most rec- Etsy. For $10, get a 3-D-printed Clippy AI program, thinks Mi-
Paperclip, much to his chagrin. Internally, Microsoft devel- barrassed about Sweaters ognizable Clippy figurine. That is a hot crosoft made a mistake last
“They’re really just doing it for opers referred to him as TFC: his creation. He featuring Clippy brands. He’s item. Last fall, purchasing soft- year when it gave its latest AI
the name, which they don’t That F— Clown. In product ma- kept it out of popped up in ware company Order.co had technology the name Copilot.
use, and that’s basically unfair,” terials, he was given a name al- his design port- are listed for “The Simp- four of the figurines stolen “It just sounds kind of ge-
he said. most nobody used: Clippit. folio. “People sons,” “Satur- during a competitive Excel neric,” he said. “Clippy would
“Clippy isn’t just a paper Microsoft brought in Stan- did hate him.
hundreds of day Night Live” match at a Manhattan brewery. be a lot better.”
clip, he’s a legend,” said a Mi- ford University professors By- The press hated dollars on eBay. and “Family Starting in 2021, Microsoft Maybe, like so many revolu-
crosoft spokesperson. “He may ron Reeves and Clifford Nass to him. Every- Guy.” began campaigning in earnest tionaries, Clippy was just ahead
have been retired, but he never help with product development where you On Amazon, to take back Clippy. It started of his time.
gave up,” adding Clippy contin- and see what regular folks heard these he is the subject with a tweet. “If this gets 20k Stanford’s Reeves said
ues to be celebrated in memes, thought about the characters. slanderous things about Clippy, of an erotic ebook of fan fiction likes, we’ll replace the paper Clippy paved the way, showing
fan art and tattoos. In studies, Clippy ranked and I didn’t want to be tied to titled “Conquered by Clippy.” clip emoji in Microsoft 365 people want to interact with
For a character whose whole highly, Reeves said. him.” Its author, a London, On- with Clippy,” the company computers in a human way, as
purpose is to help, Clippy has But they weren’t crazy One day, Atteberry was at a tario, writer who goes by the promised and threatened. The seen with Amazon’s Alexa and
endured a lot of controversy. about his behavior. “Clippy was client’s office when Clippy pen name Leonard Delaney, tweet has 156,000 likes and Apple’s Siri. “I think the way AI
From the start, he was an inappropriate, impolite, not popped up on-screen. “I cre- said he wrote the ebook as a Clippy is part of Microsoft 365. is being marketed now is abso-
underdog, said Kevan Atte- very socially elegant,” Reeves ated that,” he said. “Most peo- more curvy follow to an erotic That same year, close to 25 lutely the revenge of Clippy.”
berry, the graphic artist who said. “Don’t interrupt people ple don’t like it.” story about Tetris blocks. years after Clippy’s introduc- —Tom Dotan contributed to
created Clippy, while working while they’re writing.” “I don’t like it either,” his “Clippy has that erotically tion, Microsoft filed papers to this article.
 PERSONAL JOURNAL.
© 2024 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | A11

BY JULIA CARPENTER

I
t is human nature to judge
your financial health against
your friends. Just know they
probably aren’t giving you a
full accounting.
How we measure up against
our friends and peers has an out-
size effect on our financial percep-
tion, economists and researchers
say—especially as people spend
more time scrolling social media.
These comparisons can make our
finances seem inadequate even
when things are going fairly well.
This effect is playing a part in
the disconnect leading many con-
sumers to feel dour about the
economy despite several promis-
ing factors, such as cooling infla-
tion, a strong labor market and a
U.S. economy that grew 3.1% over
the past year.
In some ways, the more down-
beat viewpoint reflects financial
realities. Millions of Americans are
paying more in rent, while food is
taking up a larger share of income
than it has in decades. But the dis-
connect is also exacerbated by our
friends and the way many of them
present only the rosiest view of
their finances and families on so-
cial media.
A recent report from Edelman
Financial Engines surveyed more
than 2,000 people regarding their
attitudes about their wealth.
Around a quarter said they feel
less satisfied with the amount of
money they have because of social
media, and a third said they have
spent more than they could afford
to “keep up with the Joneses” on
Instagram and other apps.

Feeling Broke? Blame It on

With two kids in college, Kris-
tie and Jeff Gleinig said they
couldn’t understand how people
they followed were going on glam-
orous vacations and making big-

Peer Pressure and Social Media

ticket purchases.
Kristie, a 51-year-old business
owner in Portland, Texas, said
that noticing this highlight reel
phenomenon then prompted her to
check that same impulse in her- We tend to measure our financial health based on our friends—and what they post
self. She started post-
ing less publicly on
social media and in-  As local business investors, ranking, they felt less need to fessor of marketing at the Univer-
stead kept her focus Stephanie and Trevor Bernhardt branch out and make other compar- sity of Michigan. I
on the health of their say they keep their focus on their isons, said Bernardo Candia Gonza- “There’s no objective answer to
local businesses— community and ‘tune out the noise.’ lez, a Ph.D. student at the University ‘Am I doing well? Or not?’” he
which managed to of California, Berkeley, and one of said. “On social media, it’s still
stay strong through the authors of the study. ‘birds of a feather flock together’
the pandemic—and ness. He soon found the images he “If you realize that your posi- in who we follow and who the al-
the progress she and saw overwhelmed him with feel- tion is good, then you want to gorithm presents to us. It’s very
Jeff made toward ings of inadequacy. brag about it,” Gonzalez said. “And much enforcing our worldview.”
their individual fi- “You can feel like a poor man if you realize that your position is Rather than constantly recali-
nancial goals, such as quickly,” she recalled him saying. not good, then you are ashamed.” brating their financial plan based on
financing their chil- “And I said, ‘you’re right. All those cues, Trevor said he and his
dren’s education. you’re getting is a glimpse of this ‘Tune out the noise’ wife try to treat their personal fi-
“It can give you a perfection.’ It makes you feel like Stephanie and Trevor Bernhardt, nances like they do their businesses:
narrow view,” she you’re not doing enough.” the 27-year-old owners of two fro- by analyzing a household version of
said of social media. As humans, we’re always dou- zen yogurt stores outside of India- a profit-and-loss statement.
“You have to proac- ble-checking how our own budget napolis, said they work hard to The Bernhardts joined their lo-
tively reach out and decisions and purchases match up “tune out the noise” of how the cal chamber of commerce. They
look beyond social to those we know. New research economy is doing on social media. said this helped them better bal-
media.” shows we are also always calibrat- “Maybe it sounds bad to say ance their focus on their individ-
ing how high our perceived in- that,” Trevor said. “Most people, ual businesses with the health of
FROM TOP: ALEX NABAUM; JENNA MEDJESKI

The comparison trap “It’s not always a super con- come is relative to them, too. when they’re talking about [the the greater community in which
Time on social media creates more scious decision,” Barrow said. “We The study looked at how differ- economy], they’re really only talk- those businesses participate.
opportunities to feel bad about know we can’t afford this but ent groups judged their own finan- ing about what they saw on a “I actually tend to be pessimis-
ourselves and our financial pic- we’re doing it out of this sense of cial well-being after learning where Facebook post or a TikTok or an tic, but what we’ve seen locally, I
ture, said Isabel Barrow, director jealousy.” they ranked within the peer group Instagram Reel.” feel hopeful,” Stephanie said. “Ev-
of financial planning at Edelman Nina O’Neal, a partner and in- in terms of income and debt load. Social media sometimes gives erything in our little local market
Financial Engines. The survey vestment adviser with AIM Advi- People were happier when they people the false impression that is pointing to the fact that things
found a strong link between over- sors, recalls discussing this dis- thought they were doing better your sphere of influence is larger are growing and developing, so
spending and time spent on social connect with a friend who was than their peer group. When they and more diverse than it actually we’re not scared to grow and de-
media, Barrow said. using Instagram to build his busi- felt that they were at the top of this is, said Scott Rick, associate pro- velop and build ourselves.”

New Covid Guidance

contagious.
At-home rapid tests
aren’t always reliable, ei-

Treats Virus Like Flu

ther. So if you test nega-
tive but you still have
symptoms, you should
test again in a few days.
The bottom line, says
spiratory viral] illnesses, including Parsonnet, is that you
YOUR influenza and RSV.” should try to protect your
HEALTH Plenty of Americans dropped family, friends and col-
SUMATHI Covid testing and isolation periods leagues when you are
REDDY long ago as the virus became more sick, no matter what you
routine. Many schools and work- have. Stay home if you
places hadn’t been enforcing the feel ill. If you have a

A
case of Covid no longer stricter CDC guidance, and some runny nose and cough,
means isolating for five days, states have already relaxed their test yourself and wear a
according to the latest guid- Covid guidance. mask, she says.
ance from the Centers for Disease Many doctors say that at this
Control and Prevention released Fri- point, common sense should guide When to go out
day. It’s the latest sign of the virus’s you. If you feel sick, stay home. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an
normalization four years after it up- When you’re feeling well enough to the flu,” said Jackson. “It still causes  If you have some symptoms of infectious-disease specialist at the
ended our lives. go out but still have some symp- more serious illness and leads to Covid, doctors say it’s a good idea University of California, San Fran-
You should now follow the same toms, it’s a good idea to wear a more lasting effects,” he said. to wear a mask indoors to cisco, says it is reasonable to follow
precautions with Covid as you take mask indoors to protect others. Be Public-health experts and physi- protect others. more relaxed isolation guidelines.
with the flu, according to new more cautious if you’re going to be cians note that Covid is still a dis- Now that so many of us have
guidelines from the CDC. That around more vulnerable people. ease that is cited as a cause of are less likely to spread the virus, been infected and reinfected, and
means staying home until you’ve Even if you’re not worried about death in more than 1,000 people a but it is possible to spread it with- gotten vaccinated at least once, our
gone a day with no fever and im- health risks, there’s still the disrup- week, according to CDC data. And out having symptoms, says Deepta immune defenses against the virus
proving symptoms. Take other pre- tion of getting sick. So if you have a long Covid, with symptoms that can Bhattacharya, a professor of immu- are stronger, he notes. And we have
cautions for the next five days, in- big trip coming up, an important job linger months and even years, nobiology at the University of Ari- more tools to fight it if we do get
cluding wearing a mask and limiting deadline looming or you just don’t hasn’t gone away. zona College of Medicine in Tucson. sick, including anti-viral medications.
close contact with others. want to juggle work and a sniffly When you are coughing and
Those are the same steps the kid, adjust your precautions to fit What your symptoms mean sneezing a lot, you tend to be more How often to vaccinate
CDC recommends for other respira- your tolerance level. The CDC’s latest guidance under- infectious, because you are emitting Most people should get a Covid
IRFAN KHAN/LOS ANGELES TIMES/GETTY IMAGES

tory viruses. scores that you’re most contagious lots of viral particles into the air. vaccine once a year, likely in the fall
“Covid-19 is still an important Just like the flu? early in your illness. But you can still spread it simply by around the same time as you get
public health threat, but it is not Covid-19 hospitalization and death “We want folks to recognize that breathing, without coughing or your flu shot, to bolster your im-
the emergency that it once was,” numbers are still higher than those the majority of virus spread is hap- sneezing. mune defenses for the winter when
said Dr. Brendan Jackson, who leads of the flu, but the gap has narrowed pening when you’re sickest and as Covid in general doesn’t usually cases rise.
the respiratory virus response for since the early days of the pan- the days go on less virus spreads,” cause a lot of fever, says Dr. Julie Older people should get vacci-
the CDC’s National Center for Im- demic. said CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen. Parsonnet, a professor of medicine nated more often.
munization and Respiratory Disease, However, public health officials However, assessing your symptoms and infectious-disease doctor at The CDC recently urged people
on Friday. cautioned that Covid still isn’t the isn’t a foolproof way to tell how Stanford. So the absence of fever 65 years and older to get a spring
“And its health impacts increas- same as the flu or other respiratory contagious you are. isn’t a dependable sign that you are booster at least four months after
ingly resemble those of other [re- viruses. “Let’s be clear. Covid-19 is not In general, asymptomatic people Covid-free, or that you aren’t their last dose.
A12 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

PERSONAL JOURNAL.
BY TE-PING CHEN

T
 Priya Parker advises companies
on how to improve their
he way we meet has gatherings, online and off.
changed radically in re-
cent years: It is more
online, with more brev-
ity and many more How will we see virtual
emojis. Is it better? meeting etiquette evolve?
Priya Parker, author of best- Cameras on or off?
selling book “The Art of Gather- For me, I prefer phone calls. Zoom
ing: How We Meet and Why It is high touch, but it’s quite drain-
Matters,” has spent the past de- ing, staring at our own face, not
cade advising corporate and non- having exact times for mirroring
profit leaders on how to improve back and forth. Leaders in the fu-
their gatherings, both online and ture will know that cameras on,
off. As companies try to navigate Zoom on, is the highest-value real
the world of hybrid work, with estate. The teams I work with de-
virtual meetings that straddle velop norms as to what’s a phone
peoples’ backyards and office call, what’s a Slack, and what’s a
conference rooms, Parker says Zoom. Zoom shouldn’t necessarily
new tools are revolutionizing be a default.
workplaces in ways we might not In the future, there will also be
have grasped. more norms around Zoom back-
The Wall Street Journal talked grounds, blurred versus not.
with Parker about how the ways Whether or not your background
that we do—and don’t—work is a fancy living room or a shoe-
alongside each other are trans- box apartment, it’s information
forming workplaces, how to create that does not ricochet equally. I
serendipity online and how lead- think we’ll look back at this time
ers should approach freewheeling and be shocked at the lack of care
communication tools like Slack. of what we asked employees to
show or not show without actually
How are hybrid and thinking about it.
virtual meetings changing
work culture? These days, workers are
All organizations basically have spending a lot of time
vibes and cultures. And a huge gathering in open forums like
part of remote and hybrid work is Slack. Do you see more
that we’ve killed the vibes, and so leaders trying to rein in such
our perceptions of each other, our spaces?
understanding of what our work Slack is the biggest Trojan horse—
is, our understanding of what the it basically shifted who gets to
workplace is, is now primarily create groups and what conversa-
through mediocre meetings. tions get to be about, forever. It
On Zoom, when everything is shifts power across a company to
muted, the signals that you get as everyone, and it increases com-
to whether or not a group is with plexity. It also can increase inclu-
you are deleted. It becomes a sion. When companies have reck-
sterile environment. You can’t onings, there are often private
hear people’s sighs, groans or Slack groups created by disenfran-
laughs. It destroys one of the core chised populations that have come
elements of group conversation, together.

Virtual Meetings Are

which is a feedback loop: call and There have been companies
response. that have tried to retroactively
There are legitimate concerns ban specific types of conversation
from senior leaders that much of and have had that deeply back-
what allows for new people to fire. Leaders need to think in a

Killing the Office Vibe

succeed in an organization is very deep way about the purpose
based on apprenticeship and in- of their organization and these
formal interactions—which in-per- tools, and the norms around how
son work provided. The mode of they use them. Why are we here
conversation that happens when on this Slack channel, and what
you’re not being watched by 20 Author Priya Parker on saving workplace culture in the hybrid era are the terms? It’s a conversation.
people [on a video meeting] is In most cases, just banning a tool
fundamentally different. You can doesn’t work.
absolutely design meaningful con- having appropriate icebreaker from their work is to feel like over who can be part of some-
nection through remote work, but questions at hand. Or chat rou- they’re building their skills, their thing, and practice more inten- What are your biggest
it’s a skill. lette. The important part is that work matters, they’re part of tional and chosen transparency. meeting pet peeves?
leaders also show up. something greater than them- When everybody is in their own
Is it possible to create There’s not a trick to getting selves, and that they like their In the next five to 10 years, Zoom, but three people happen to
serendipity online? Or does people to come online or come to team. Gathering well doesn’t need how will work gatherings find each other in the hallway and
the water-cooler effect only work. People go to where they feel to mean gathering lavishly. Al- change? decide to take the call together.
exist in person? needed, where they feel like their most the opposite—lavishness can I think we’ll see more intentional Then you have three people on
In the future, serendipity will ei- participation matters, where be a distraction. in-person gatherings. When your mute having their own party in
ther be designed or dead. The there’s relevancy. employees are saying, “Prove it to one window and everyone else is
great American cities were de- Are there any ways virtual me,” why we need to gather, you watching them. It’s very hard to
signed for run-ins, for bump-ins. So how can companies make meeting tools can actually be need to start putting resources in focus.
In the office, we have open floor people want to gather in more powerful? to prove it, with more respect Also meetings that start with
FERNANDO PALAFOX FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

plans, hallways and water coolers. person? Do we all do more There are conversations you can placed on facilitation skills. The logistics. People are asking, “Why
The digital office planners of the off-sites with cold plunges? absolutely have on Zoom that you time we have together is so sacred am I here?,” and someone’s saying,
21st century will equally be de- Make the time spent in person ex- can’t in person. In a 1,000-person and so expensive, so we need to “Well, before we get started, I just
signing for some of that spontane- cellent, helping people experience town hall on Zoom, you can actu- really deeply use it well. want to let you know there’s a car
ity and serendipity. the different conversations that ally get a lot of data by the chat We’ll also see much more so- in the parking lot with their lights
Some of the biggest progress I can happen, getting people to box, which is a completely differ- phistication in creating meaning- on.” Don’t miss your shot. Don’t
see is companies trying to help brainstorm in ways that are more ent dynamic than when you’re ful online connection, with more start with logistics, don’t end with
people brainstorm digitally. Some clunky online. There are ways to in-person. apps and tools that will allow for logistics.
organizations are experimenting use adventures like cold plunges There are absolutely meetings not just large-scale participation, And TBD calendar holds with
with starting every meeting, par- or shared experiences to build everybody should not be involved but circles of small groups and no agenda, no title. To me, the
ticularly with large groups, in trust, but it shouldn’t be a dis- in. But in the future, leaders will more intimate connections across biggest pet peeve is wasting peo-
spontaneous breakout rooms, and traction. What people want most have more discernment and choice the workplace. ple’s time.

Count on Two-factor codes are

a necessary security
no longer supporting desktop apps
for Windows and older Macs start-

Two-Factor
layer but they are incon- ing March 19.
venient at best, and If you use a third-party password
hazardous at worst if manager for authentication codes,

Codes to you lose access to the

device that generates
you can get them on your computer
via your manager’s desktop app or

Offer Online
them. browser extension.
Lately, I’ve discov- If you are stuck getting codes on
ered better tools and your phone, remember this trick: If

Security practices that simplify

the 2FA process.
you have an iPhone and a Mac, you
can copy the code on your phone
then instantly paste on the Mac. Be
Have a backup sure Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are on, and
Verification codes by enable Handoff in settings. If you’re
PERSONAL text message are the using Android and a Windows PC or
TECHNOLOGY least secure form of Chromebook, you can use an equiva-
NICOLE 2FA, because cell-carrier lent feature, called Quick Share.
NGUYEN accounts are prone to attacks, said  Authy, a free authenticator addition to your authenticator app,
Trevor Hilligoss, vice president of se- app for iOS and Android, is my top and stash it in a safe place in the Share your secrets
curity firm SpyCloud Labs. That said, choice. Its key benefit is a pair of physical world where cybercriminals Another familiar scenario: Your

T
here’s a basic equation for on- if it’s your only option, you should recovery options: You can back up can’t get to it. spouse is logging on to pay the cable
line security: still use it. “Any 2FA is better than an encrypted version of your codes Password managers, such as bill, but you’re the one getting the
Long, unique passwords + no 2FA,” he said. to Authy servers by enabling the 1Password and Dashlane, can also account 2FA codes while sitting in a
two-factor authentication = safer A better bet is to set up an au- Backup Password option in set- generate verification codes which are meeting at work. There are secure—
money, work and personal data thenticator app to generate the tings. Or you can download the app backed up by your master password. and convenient—ways to share 2FA
With a password manager, that codes you need to sign in. on multiple devices, say your phone Relying on password managers with someone who needs access to
first component is easy. The soft- Log into a website and your tablet, and for everything is putting all your cy- your accounts.
ware can create a different hard-to- or app, then go into the same codes will bersecurity eggs in one basket, said You can add any accounts you co-
guess combination of numbers and settings. Under secu- show on both. Hilligoss. But if you protect your manage to a shared vault in a pass-
letters for each online account you rity, you should find Don’t treat  Google Authen- password-manager app with a word manager. Our three recom-
have. It also stores those gibberish two-factor or “multi- two-factor ticator is another free strong, unique master password, mended managers, 1Password,
passwords safely, then auto-fills factor” authentica- option for iOS and and create a long, complex pass- Dashlane and Bitwarden, all have en-
them in websites and apps when tion—and a bevy of authentication Android devices. You code for your phone and other de- crypted features for sharing pass-
you need them. All you need to do
is remember one master password.
options, including one
for authenticator or
—aka 2FA—as can back up codes to
your Google account,
vices, you’re well-protected. words, plus verification codes.
If you have Apple products up-
And that second component? You code-generator apps. optional. so you can set up the Other devices dated to the latest software, you can
typically see two-factor authentica- Typically, the next app on a new device You’re on your laptop, trying to log create a group to share passwords
tion—aka 2FA—as a time-sensitive screen will show a even if you don’t into Amazon. It asks for an authen- and verification codes in the built-in
code sent to you via text or gener- QR code. In your au- have your old one. tication code. You realize you left iCloud Keychain manager. Go to Set-
ated by an app when you’re logging thenticator app, add an account, However, you can’t run the app si- your phone, which has your authen- tings > Passwords.
in somewhere. In many cases, it’s a then scan the code. multaneously on multiple devices. ticator app, charging in the other If you have to text a code to
setting you need to turn on. Don’t One caveat: If you lose your Another highly secure, but some- room. Sigh. someone, make sure you do it via an
treat this as optional: Recent attacks phone—or forget to transfer your times cumbersome, way to handle Don’t get up. There’s a better way! encrypted method, such as iMessage,
on the Securities and Exchange authenticator app before trading 2FA: physical dongles called security My favorite authentication app, WhatsApp or Signal. Better yet, call
Commission’s official X account and your old phone in for a new one— keys. Major online services support Authy, works on any newer Mac your trusted recipient, and read the
thousands of accounts at 23andMe you could risk losing access to ac- these keys. Most password manag- computer with an M chip—denoting code out loud. Unless there’s a
might have been blocked had those counts. The trick is to pick an app ers do too. You can set the key up Apple silicon. Unfortunately, Twilio, hacker hiding behind your chair, that
ISTOCK

users enabled 2FA. with a backup plan. as a backup-verification method, in the app’s parent company, said it’s should be safe.
 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | A13

ARTS IN REVIEW
EXHIBITION REVIEW

Service Through a Roman Soldier’s Eyes

The British Museum mounts an expansive show exploring the people who were part of ancient Rome’s military machine

BY DOMINIC GREEN

L
London
ife in a Roman legion was
nasty, brutish and, pro-
viding a legionary sur-
vived his 25-year enlist-
ment, a long march to
citizenship and wealth.
“Legion,” now at the British Mu-
seum, is a superb exploration of
the men, women, children and
slaves who were part of Rome’s
military machine. Curated by the
British Museum’s Richard Abdy,
“Legion” traces the life of sword
and sandal through more than 200
objects across 10 spaces, with
loans from 28 lenders. Armies are
impersonal collectives, like the le-
gionaries’ tortuga, their “turtle” of
shields. “Legion” personalizes our
understanding with wall texts and
object labels bearing excerpts
from the letters of Claudius Teren-
tianus, a citizen who volunteered
in A.D. 111.
An atrium contains a bronze
head of emperor Augustus, who
professionalized the army as the
Roman republic became an em-
pire. The second space, “Joining
the Army,” has a papyrus list of
recruits from Egypt and a purse
with 27 silver denarii, a month’s
pay; similar to a Judean farm la-
borer’s wage in Jesus’ time, but
steadier. The marching wore out
Terentianus’ shoes every two
weeks. Then, as now, soldiers re-
quested better equipment from bronze masks that cav- Clockwise from left: gold coin sieve-like eye guards, and a talis-
home; Terentianus preferred felt alrymen wore in sport- featuring soldiers taking the oath man of Minerva for the horse’s
socks to the regulation red wool. ing competitions (an of service; cavalry sports helmet in forehead. “Aftermath” describes
On a gold coin from the third cen- Amazon, a Greek be- the form of an Amazon; and ‘The the massacres and enslavement
tury B.C., two soldiers take the sieging Troy, a curly- Meroë Head,’ a bronze of Augustus. that followed a Roman victory.
sacramentum (the oath of ser- haired Trojan youth), The papyrus sales receipt for Ab-
vice), touching their swords to a and the images that bas, a 7-year-old Mesopotamian
sacrificial piglet as they swear al- topped the sacred stan- the unit is stretched over a boy sold by one marine to another
legiance to the emperor. dard. The bronze draco, wooden frame, now curled with in A.D. 166, is more powerful than
In “Ranks and Roles,” Teren- an open-mouthed age. The handle behind the bronze the stylized marble statue of a fu-
tianus joins the marines at Alex- dragon’s head, was fitted with a and his trousers. Amid helmets, boss resembles that of an old-fash- rious barbarian prisoner.
andria, the Egyptian port of origin windsock so that it whistled as swords, scabbards, armor and ioned suitcase. Military domesticity returns in
for the grain that made Rome’s though alive. The silver effigy of leather tunics, the highlight of In “Battle,” we see a replica the eighth space, “Fort Life.” Le-
daily bread. We see the tombstone Galba was defaced by the legionar- “Dressing for Battle” is the world’s portable catapult and a cataphract gionaries on remote frontiers
of Genialis the imaginifer, the ies after his death in the civil war only intact scutum (shield). Found (horse armor) set: a blanket of made unofficial families with local
bearer of the emperor’s image, of A.D. 69. at Dura-Europos, Syria, and lent iron scales, a leather face armor, women and slaves. We see lice
who died in Germany, age 35, and Terentianus transferred to a le- by the Yale University Art Gallery, combs, children’s
the skeleton of the marine who gion and shipped out for Syria, it is uncannily vivid. Red-painted shoes, cups carved
fell face down on the beach as he asking his father to send a sword, leather customized with the yel- with the names of
supervised the evacuation of Her- two spears, a beaver-skin cloak, low, green and black highlights of their successive own-
culaneum after Vesu- ers, glass intaglio
vius erupted in A.D. 79. gems, a gaming board
As in the “Sword of from the bath house,
Honor” trilogy (whose and a list of goods,
author, the latter-day perhaps a shopping
marine Evelyn Waugh, list, from Vindolanda
was also stationed at camp at Hadrian’s
Alexandria), promo- Wall, where Claudia
tions and postings de- Severa invites her
pended on connections friends to celebrate
and string-pulling. In her birthday on the
the fourth space, “Pro- barbarian fringe. In-
motion,” Terentianus’ stead of martial glory,
father, Pausanius, the funeral monu-
writes a papyrus re- ments record home-
questing his son’s spun cosmopolitan-
transfer to the cavalry. ism. Regina (“Queen”)
Request denied. the freewoman dies at
Like Terentianus, we Arbeia (the “place of
see but cannot touch the Arabs”) in north-
decorated bronze horse ern England, where a
armor, a giant cornu sculptor, presumably
horn for blasting out Syrian, carves a la-
marching orders, the ment in the Palmy-
rene language be-
neath a Latin
Clockwise from right: inscription. Three-
an intact Roman year-old Vacia holds a
legionary shield (left); bunch of grapes. The
the ‘Sword of Tiberius’; daughter of Crescens
and an installation view the standard bearer
of ‘Legion: Life in the banquets in perpetu-
Roman Army.’ ity, attended by a fe-
male retainer.
In “Enforcers of
Occupation,” mer-
chants complain about being
beaten by soldiers. Britain’s only
crucified skeleton has a rusty nail
in his right ankle. Two soldiers
were probably patrolling the stra-
tegic road from Dover to London—
and probably murdered—before
their jumbled remains were
jammed into a pit at Canterbury.
In “Revolts,” we see iron neck and
wrist shackles, and the most com-
plete surviving articulated cuirass
of armor, excavated from the Teu-
toburg Forest, where German
tribes slaughtered three legions in
A.D. 9. A helmet is reconstructed
from fragments after Boudica’s
Iceni warriors destroyed the camp
at Colchester in the revolt of A.D.
60-61. “Leaving the Army,” the
10th and final zone, shows papy-
TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM (4); PETER NICHOLLS/GETTY IMAGES (2)

rus records of land purchases,

bronze diplomas for discharge and
citizenship, and part of Hadrian’s
legal tract on veterans’ rights.
Terentius, after campaigning in
Syria and repressing a “Jewish tu-
mult” at Alexandria, retired in
A.D. 137 as a “man of means” with
10 years’ bonus pay. Half of his
comrades did not survive.

Legion: Life in the Roman Army

British Museum, through June 23

Mr. Green is a Journal contributor

and a fellow of the Royal
Historical Society.
A14 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

SPORTS
Caitlin Clark Is Turning Pro
BY RACHEL BACHMAN lately, according to Matt Powell, a
longtime shoe-industry analyst.

A
s Caitlin Clark approached “She is a once-in-a-generation
the end of her senior season player,” Powell said. “I think this is
at Iowa, one in which she
has set the NCAA scoring record
She could have stayed at Iowa. Instead, she is entering the WNBA draft. an opportunity for brands to really
get after the women’s side of the
and established herself as the big- business, which they really con-
gest star in college basketball, she tinue to fail at.”
faced an unusual decision. A representative of Excel Sports
Should she come back to col- Management, which represents
lege for another year? Clark, declined to comment on her
Because of her unique status as sponsorship deals and other de-
a basketball supernova who tails of her decision-making pro-
started college during the pan- cess.
demic, Clark had the option to re- Powell said it makes sense for
turn to Iowa for a fifth season, as Clark to go to the WNBA now.
allowed under an NCAA exception, She’s accomplished nearly every-
or to leave college basketball be- thing a college player can, includ-
hind and enter the April 15 WNBA ing setting the NCAA women’s ca-
draft. reer scoring record and breaking
The conventional wisdom was Pete Maravich’s NCAA men’s scor-
that Clark should stay in college, ing record of 3,667 set at LSU in
where she plays in front of sold- 1967-70.
out crowds, collects piles of money “I have a feeling that she’s go-
from her name, image and likeness ing to be transformative to the
deals, and sets TV viewership re- league,” Powell said. “So I think
cords. that’s a better place for her.”
Women’s college basketball
viewership has surged in recent Basketball
years, with the Iowa-LSU final last Clark leads the nation in scor-
year drawing nearly 10 million ing (32.2 points) and assists (8.7),
viewers on ABC. The WNBA Finals’ and has achieved a level of domi-
decisive Game 4 last season, by nance matched by few college
comparison, drew 889,000 viewers players. If she returned to Iowa
on ESPN. next year, her oldest friends on the
Bathing in women’s college bas- team would be gone and she would
ketball’s rapidly rising profile be playing with teenagers barely
made Clark a household name, and old enough to vote.
she should extend that glow for In the WNBA, meanwhile, Clark
another year, the thinking went. will be teaming up with and play-
Instead, on Thursday afternoon, ing against some of the world’s
Clark announced on social media best players.
that she’s leaving college basket- The Indiana Fever has the No. 1
ball to go pro. pick in the draft and is a lock to
Sunday’s game against No. 2 take Clark. In Indianapolis, she’ll
Ohio State was Clark’s last game play alongside two strong inside
for Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Caitlin Clark had the option to return to Iowa for a fifth season but decided to enter the WNBA draft. players: 2023 WNBA Rookie of the
Although Clark’s choice might Year Aliyah Boston, and NaLyssa
seem surprising, the reasons for Smith, a member of the 2022
her to go have been mounting, and Yet the CEO of Iowa’s main marketing deals and other bonuses she’s certain to add sponsors when WNBA All-Rookie team.
range from the financial to the booster collective told The Wall for winning league awards. she goes to the WNBA.
personal. Street Journal that Clark “hasn’t Love
taken a dime” of its money. Brad Sponsors Shoes Normally, Clark’s romantic rela-
Salary Heinrichs, CEO of the Swarm col- Clark will make more from Clark has been one of a handful tionship would be irrelevant—but
From a distance, it seems that lective, reasoned that such sponsorship deals than she will of women’s or men’s college bas- not in this case. Clark is dating
Clark could make more money in amounts would be “small pota- from the league. The question is ketball players with an individual Connor McCaffery, a former Iowa
college. She’s benefiting from toes” compared with what Clark is whether her college sponsors will shoe deal—hers being with Nike. guard and a son of Iowa men’s
sponsorship deals now that college already making from corporate drop Clark when she goes to the That deal is now expiring, and basketball coach Fran McCaffery.
players are allowed to make NIL sponsorship deals. WNBA, which generally draws she’s in line for a big increase. On Jan. 22, Clark’s birthday, Mc-
money, and she has access to In the WNBA, meanwhile, the fewer TV viewers than the top In addition to Nike, Adidas, Caffery posted a photo of the two
Iowa’s booster collective, which base rookie salary is just $76,535 women’s college basketball Puma, and Under Armour have of them on his Instagram page
also raises money through dona- for a player selected in the top games? also been in the mix to sign her, with a message that ended: “I ad-

JEFFREY BECKER/REUTERS
tions to pay athletes. Such collec- four. But Clark is in line to make The answer appears to be a re- according to a person familiar with mire you in every way and I love
tives have funneled millions of dol- bonuses that far exceed that sounding no. Clark’s top spon- the situation. The suggested bid you.”
lars to high-profile college athletes amount. She can make up to sors—Gatorade, Hy-Vee and State for those brands, that person said, As it happens, McCaffery works
nationwide, sometimes in pay- $250,000 a year by serving as a Farm—told The Wall Street Jour- is $3 million a year—more than as a team assistant for the Indiana
ments that approximate profes- marketing ambassador for the nal they’ll maintain their partner- the $1 million to $2 million that Pacers. Their ownership also owns
sional salaries. league, up to $100,000 for team ships with Clark into the pros. And NBA rookies have been getting the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.

The WSJ Daily Crossword | Edited by Mike Shenk

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 30 Timber wolf
32 Seizure of
Red Bull Swerves Scandal
13 14 15 power BY JOSHUA ROBINSON The clean sweep went pear to impact Red Bull’s
16 17 33 Rounds at a only some way toward offset- dominance on the track ei-
range Max Verstappen had ting the bubbling controversy ther as no other team ap-
18 19 20 spent weeks doing his best around Horner and the team, pears to have its act quite
34 Cardholder’s
to ignore the drama unfold- which has emerged as a together yet. Mercedes was
burden
21 22 23 24 25 ing within his own Red Bull greater threat to the Red Bull off the pace, as George Rus-
35 One of the team. While his boss Chris- dynasty than any of its rivals sell and Lewis Hamilton ran
26 27 woodwinds tian Horner was being inves- in Formula One cars. The 50- into overheating and reli-
tigated for inappropriate and year-old team principal was ability problems that left
28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 36 Wonkish coercive behavior toward a accused last month of con- them in fifth and seventh,
sort female employee—a case ducting himself inappropri- respectively. And despite a
38 39 40 41 37 Lumber camp that leaves Horner’s future ately, but cleared by an inter- promising display in pre-
tools on a knife edge—Verstappen nal investigation on season testing, Ferrari
42 43 44 insisted that the only thing Wednesday. Around 24 hours couldn’t keep up with the
39 Gym weight he cared about were matters later, however, a cache of defending champions. Carlos
45 46 47 41 Single out on track. messages and photos pur- Sainz took third, while
On Saturday in Bahrain, he portedly sent to the employee Charles Leclerc came fourth
48 49 50 43 Job detail, showed that Red Bull was still by Horner was emailed anon- after struggling with a brake
for short able to conduct business as ymously to hundreds of jour- issue for much of the race.
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 usual, at least in one respect. nalists and figures inside the “It was impossible to
44 Rock’s
Clapton Verstappen took the check- sport, including F1 CEO Ste- drive properly,” he said.
58 59 60 61 ered flag of the year’s first fano Domenicali, Mercedes Verstappen, for his part,
49 Egypt’s Grand Prix more than 20 sec- team principal Toto Wolff, may have forgotten how it
62 63 64 pyramids, for onds ahead of anyone else. It Verstappen, and Verstappen’s feels to drive an underper-
example was his eighth race victory in father, Jos. forming car. Red Bulls have
65 66 67 a row, dating back to last sea- It hasn’t been possible to won 75% of all races since
50 Disloyal
son, and an ominous signal to verify the authenticity of the the start of the 2021 season
51 Button the rest of the sport: barely messages. and there’s nothing to sug-
OUTSOURCING | By Mike Shenk alternative three months after wrapping That didn’t prevent gest this year will be any
Across 38 General 66 Spot for 17 Montevideo’s 52 The Bruins’ up his third consecutive Horner, who denies any different. With 24 Grands
feeling skiers nat. sch. world title, he’s already the wrongdoing, from carrying Prix on the calendar, the
1 Palm stems favorite to cruise to a fourth. out his regular race-day du- 2024 campaign will be the
used as 40 One of the 67 December 22 Eat late 53 Having no “It was just super enjoy- ties on Saturday. He took his longest in F1 history. But for
furniture Montagues holiday 23 Classic car in legal force able to drive today, we really normal seat on the pit wall anyone not driving a Red
material 41 Alpine goat Down a Beach Boys stayed out of trouble and it’s and congratulated Verstap- Bull, it may feel even longer.
54 Many a jazz
7 Regional 1 Kelly of talk song a great start to the year—it pen over the radio after he “It’s always very special
42 Headmaster group
groups of couldn’t have been better,” crossed the finish line. to have these kinds of days
at Hogwarts TV 24 Show
animal life 55 Croaky voice Verstappen said. Horner also made a point of because they don’t happen
2 Modify for a hunger, in a As if to underline how appearing in the pit lane that often, that it just all
45 Walk heavily 56 Beige
13 Half-baked different way powerful the Red Bull design alongside his wife, the for- goes perfect,” Verstappen
46 Cook’s vessel medium 57 Give out continues to be, Verstap- mer Spice Girl Geri Halli- said. “You are at one with
15 Distortion 25 Watering
from heat or 47 Marsh plants 3 River near hole, on this hands pen’s teammate Sergio Perez well. the car and everything just
dampness the Vatican side of the finished second. The situation didn’t ap- feels great.”
48 Wager 58 “So that’s
pond your sneaky
16 Retro hip beer 50 Shark feature 4 Situation that
could go 28 It’s sold plan!”
18 Orangutans 51 Outsourced, either way with a Magic 61 Make
and gorillas and what Mouse Easter eggs,
19 Distinct age happened to 5 Lawyer:
Abbr. 29 Lounge lazily say
the circled
20 Ages and ages
letters in this 6 Pen point Previous Puzzle’s Solution
21 Person living puzzle C A M A G E R E B E C C A
7 Substantially
off of family A S U N D E R E X I L I N G
58 At an earlier 8 Melber of
wealth, P A T E L L A V A L MO N T
time MSNBC O P E R A L U M E T
disparagingly
V I R T U E S R A T E
59 Wall art 9 Cheery
26 Watering S P A Y O A R S R E D I D
hole, on the 60 Like some tea 10 Tycoon E L L S A L E S T EW E D
N I L P R E D A T E A S I
other side of and coffee
the pond 11 Extreme S A U C E S A L A S R O E
62 Room on a suffering E N D OW TWO S S E N D
S T E M W H A T H U H
27 Mob squealer Clue board
12 Capitol Bldg. O H H E Y B A L S A
28 Ailing 63 Perfect group E D F R I E S C O O K I E S
CLIVE ROSE/GETTY IMAGES

happiness A U R O R A E P L A Y S A T
31 Bullfighter on 14 Staff leader? T E A S E T S L E T P R O
horseback 64 Skirmish 15 Gradually The contest answer is ALREADY. Seven
answers contain three-letter abbreviations of
35 Words before 65 October reduce the days of the week. As suggested by the
dime or roll birthstone dependency answer PREDATE and the title, the letters
preceding those abbreviations spell the
▶ Solve this puzzle online and discuss it at WSJ.com/Puzzles. contest answer. Max Verstappen, left, and Christian Horner celebrate after the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | A15

OPINION
Profit Can Be Your Purpose BOOKSHELF | By Mark P. Mills

More than
half of recent
The Rise and Fall of Juul.” Em-
ployees were gleeful to work
“menu anxiety” and “decision
fatigue.” Even the Yale Jour-
to the impossible-to-ditch cell-
phone bill. Any advice?
Digging
For Minerals
college gradu- for a company whose mission nal of Biology and Medicine Help is on the way. The
ates are in is to “improve the lives of the suggests we face “a psycho- Muse, which labels itself “the
jobs that world’s one billion adult smok- logical condition of ‘systemic first values-based career plat-
don’t require ers by eliminating cigarettes.” uncertainty.’ ” But life re- form,” writes of “4 ways to
their degrees, Spoiler: It didn’t end well. Juul quires decisions. find purpose in any job.” Do
INSIDE
the Journal ended up introducing young- Last year the Harvard tell. First, “dial up the texture
VIEW
reported re- sters to nicotine and addicting Business Review said that of experience.” Very touchy-
The War Below
By Andy
cently. I think many who never smoked. Af- Generation Z is “a purpose- feely and, to me, meaningless. By Ernest Scheyder
Kessler
that’s on ter the company blew up, an driven generation” and has Next, “know what fuels you.” One Signal/Atria, 384 pages, $30
“purpose.” It employee wrote, “Looking for “disillusionment with the es- Sandwiches with the crusts

C
isn’t about work anymore— new opportunities out there tablishment and capitalism.” cut off? Third, “Leave a room ivilization would not exist were it not for miners. Every
work now requires meaning, with companies that actually Maybe stop paying them and better than when you found year the world’s oldest industry supplies hundreds of
purpose. Many under 35 seem care about their employees see how long that lasts. A it.” A sanitation mission? And megatons of the primary metals and minerals that are
to need their careers to pro- and are truly mission focused. 2021 Gallup poll said that on finally, “consider a simpler essential to all subsequent industries—from medical devices
vide psychic rewards for them The work environment here is legacy,” which I read as: For- to kitchen appliances, aircraft, toys, power plants, computers
to get out of bed every morn- truly toxic.” Truly! get all this purpose nonsense and cars. Hence it’s consequential when the governments of
ing. Give me a break. Then there’s the “authentic Why do Millennials and get a real job that pro- Europe and the U.S. implement policies requiring that global
A McKinsey study shows self” and “bring your whole vides valuable goods or ser- mining expand, and soon, by 400% to 7,000%.
that 70% of employees said self to work” thing. As op- and Gen Zers want vices to customers. Only half Those policies are meant to force a transition away from
“their sense of purpose is de- posed to half? Or someone their work to provide seem to get this and will carry the oil, natural gas and coal that supply 80% of global energy.
fined by their work” and that else’s self? Mike Robbins, who the other half. But it’s an unavoidable fact that building the favored transi-
“employers need to help meet wrote the book “Bring Your psychic rewards? How you live your life is up tion machines—wind turbines, solar panels, electric cars—
this need.” Really? Don’t em- Whole Self to Work,” suggests to you. If you want a purpose will require astonishing quantities of minerals to produce the
ployers provide paychecks? A we “allow ourselves to be or mission, by all means, go same amount of energy. That reality is the “bug not a
McKinsey partner noted that truly seen.” Truly! In Decem- Gen Z (those born 1997-2012) work for a nonprofit. But for- feature” of so-called green energy.
“millennials, even more so, are ber 2021, Roz Brewer, CEO of and Millennial (1981-96) wish profit companies have scale Of course, our planet is resource-rich. The theoretical
likely to see their work as Walgreens Boots Alliance, told lists were employers who and a much bigger impact on magnitude of Earth’s mineral abundance could supply any
their life calling.” PwC even Harvard Business Review that care about their well-being society. They end hunger, pro- imaginable demand for
has a chief purpose and inclu- bringing her whole self to and are ethical, open, diverse vide shelter, educate workers centuries to come. That isn’t
sion officer. We need a genera- work was a key to her success. and inclusive. Nothing about and invent the future. Their the challenge. Instead, it’s
tional intervention. In August 2023, she stepped learning or progress. I re- profits measure success in de- timing. The last time global
Looking for work now is down as CEO of the debt- cently had lunch with a suc- lighting customers. Profits are mining production expanded at
about finding your passion. laden, overstretched firm. cessful three-time Silicon Val- purpose, though saying that to this scale it took place across
My true passion was to bat Motivational speaker Tony ley CEO. She joked that “if I those who don’t understand eight decades—from 1940 to
cleanup for the St. Louis Car- Robbins suggests you develop had to manage Gen Zers, I capitalism is like sunlight to the present—not the one or
dinals. Oh well. Instead I “a life vision statement.” In a think I’d kill myself.” vampires. Providing what a two decades the transitionists
found a job where I could hurry? Copy someone else’s I often hear Gen Zers say customer needs is exactly imagine.
learn something and eventu- Pinterest vision board. Others “this is my journey.” Well, if what contributes to the The other challenge involves
ally contribute. I know, so talk about “living intention- that’s your journey, you didn’t world’s well-being and creates people. Mining has always been
old-fashioned. ally,” which digital coaching get very far. According to the societal wealth. Be warned: as much about people as it has
Companies today need to platform BetterUp defines as Journal, more than half of Things like “purpose” usually about geology, technology and
be “mission oriented.” That “making choices based on those under 25 live at home get thrown to the curb when money. In “The War Below:
mission could be at cross-pur- your personal values, beliefs, and 60% of 18- to 34-year-olds layoffs accelerate into reces- Lithium, Copper, and the Global
poses with reality, no matter and goals.” Choices? Heck, no receive financial assistance sions. In the meantime, enjoy Battle to Power Our Lives,” Ernest
how good it sounds. Watch the one can decide what to do from their parents. As an your journey. Scheyder highlights the myriad difficulties faced by the
Netflix docuseries “Big Vape: anymore. I often hear about empty nester, I’ve got it down Write to kessler@wsj.com. people who build mines, as well as those hurt by or opposed
to them. As Mr. Scheyder notes, mining is “dirty work.”
That’s no invective; it’s just reality.

A CPAC Hero Threatens a Latin Democracy Mr. Scheyder, a journalist, travels from Arizona to
Minnesota, from Nevada to Idaho, from Washington, D.C., to
Bolivia to document the views of those who are for or
Far-left con- FMLN party, formed by Marx- control of the lawmaking body. some 7,000 prisoners held in against mining. He’s sympathetic to the cultural, historical,
gressional ist guerrillas after the 1992 Congress is now expected to “pretrial detention” as proof of aesthetic and environmental constraints that are unavoidable
Democrats, peace accords. His political ca- rubber-stamp constitutional a fair system. Those who say and often intractable when mining is at stake. He focuses on
like Massa- reer was launched by its high- reforms that will lock up the they were arbitrarily held for the social and political dynamics that accompany big mining
chusetts Sen. est leadership, and in 2015 he one-party state. Celebrating months in overcrowded dun- projects because, as he writes, there’s “no way around the
Elizabeth rose to become mayor of San the effectiveness of the gerry- geons and beaten by guards fact that mines are gargantuan creations that maim the
AMERICAS Warren and Salvador. mandering, Mr. Bukele said, “It dispute that claim. Earth’s surface.” He makes clear that his goal isn’t to ques-
Missouri Rep. Mr. Bukele was elected will be the first time in a coun- Law-and-order sweeps have tion the need for more mines but to understand “whether
By Mary
Cori Bush, president in 2019 on the try that just one party exists created a climate of intimida- these lands should be dug up in an attempt to defuse climate
Anastasia
want to add ticket of the Grand Alliance in a completely democratic tion, fear and self-censorship change,” especially when some lands are considered sacred
O’Grady
four seats to for National Unity party, or system.” among government critics and by their neighbors and inhabitants.
the U.S. Su- GANA, which was founded by journalists, many of whom Mr. Scheyder guides us through the troubled history of
preme Court so they can pack former President Tony Saca now live outside the country. mining and revisits some of the conflicts associated with
the bench with justices who when he was kicked out of the U.S. conservatives It isn’t even clear that the re- mining over the centuries. The example that begins and ends
favor their politics. President center-right Arena party for pression explains the reduc- his book is a small buckwheat plant in Nevada, on the site of
Biden has proclaimed a federal corruption allegations. In cheer as El Salvador’s tion in the number of murders. a proposed mine, that leads him to ask: “What matters more,
bailout for student borrowers, 2021 Mr. Bukele’s New Ideas Nayib Bukele tramples The Bukele high court has the plant or the lithium beneath it?”
even though the executive has party and its smaller allies been denying U.S. extradition He highlights America’s schizophrenic approach to
no such authority. Prosecutors, won a supermajority in con- the rule of law. requests for gang leaders, add- mining—especially the current administration’s policies. He
judges and politicians who dis- gress. On the same day that ing to allegations last year by notes the millions of dollars of federal grants that have been
like Donald Trump are using the new legislature was sworn Washington that the drop in offered to help some favored mines while the same adminis-
their offices to persecute him. in, it removed four of five jus- His vice president is less homicide rates is part of a tration cancels permits that took years and millions of dol-
Supporters of Mr. Trump tices of the Supreme Court’s careful. “To these people who government negotiation with lars in private money to pursue.
rightly object to the politiciza- constitutional chamber who say that democracy is being gang honchos. Such political and social impediments to expanding mining
tion of independent institu- were less than halfway dismantled, my answer is yes; People feel safer, which has are what frame “The War Below.” This is not a book for
tions. Yet at the Conservative through their nine-year we are not dismantling it, we boosted Mr. Bukele’s popular- learning about mining technology or the feasibility of transi-
Political Action Conference in terms. The new legislature are eliminating it, we are re- ity. But he isn’t the world’s tion. Mr. Scheyder accepts the claims, however flawed, that,
Maryland last month, many also prematurely removed the placing it with something first politician to brand ma- for example, “personal automobiles that burn gasoline or die-
from the same crowd cheered independent attorney general new,” Félix Ulloa said ahead of joritarianism as democracy. sel fuel are making the planet warmer” and that a minerals-
wildly for Nayib Bukele. He is and replaced him with a mal- voting day. Nor is he the first permitted to centric energy transition would mitigate that. Even so, one
the El Salvador president who leable prosecutor. The last two years provide trample a constitution in ex- suspects that Mr. Scheyder, along with others who subscribe
has used his power to pack his Mr. Bukele’s handpicked more than a hint of what Mr. change for promises of a bet- to the transition narrative, doesn’t fully appreciate the scale
country’s high court, eliminate court gave him the green light Ulloa has in mind. In March ter future. Cuba’s Fidel Castro, of minerals production and disruption proposed.
due process, do away with to run for re-election even 2022 Mr. Bukele suspended Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and
transparency in public con- though the constitution bars a civil liberties under a state of Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega
tracts, and go after political president from serving consec- emergency. Two years later the come to mind. Governments seek an expansion of global
enemies. utive terms. This isn’t the only emergency remains in place. If El Salvador’s president is mining as part of the transition away from
The U.S. may be strong reason critics are snickering Police and soldiers have used exceedingly popular, as he
enough to withstand the aspi- about his Feb. 4 victory. An extraordinary powers to round claims, he could use his politi- oil and coal. It’s a disruptive undertaking.
rations of Democrats who re- electoral tribunal submissive up more than 75,000 mostly cal capital to build indepen-
sent checks on their power. to the president gave him 82% poor young men who, because dent institutions supporting
But Mr. Bukele is steamrolling of the vote. Turnout was only of their economic status, fit the pluralism, the market economy Global mining today involves excavating and moving a
El Salvador’s frail democracy 48%, a fact missing from most stereotype of gang members. and civil liberties. Instead he quantity of rock each year equivalent to the tonnage of 7,000
while many Americans who news stories. Under a law passed last sum- is engaged in an authoritarian Great Pyramids. Transition aspirations would require a
claim to revere the rule of law Salvadorans voted for con- mer by the Bukele-controlled crackdown designed to annihi- tonnage north of 50,000 pyramids annually. Juxtapose that
egg him on. Florida Sen. gress the same day. One ex- congress, up to 900 defendants late his political opposition reality with Mr. Scheyder’s observation that “despite
Marco Rubiois a big fan. tremely troubling development can be convicted in a single and secure absolute power. It attempts to find alternate ways to produce metals for the
The Salvadoran president is was the gerrymandering of the trial. In August the minister of won’t end well. green energy transition,” there is “no way around the fact
a former member of the leftist districts to ensure two-thirds justice cited the release of Write to O’Grady@wsj.com. that mining is loud, dangerous, and disruptive and will
remain so for the foreseeable future.”
Count me among those who believe technology can

IRS Agents Shouldn’t Work From Home overcome many such challenges. But progress in industrial
domains takes far more time than most forecasters or gov-
ernments expect. Meanwhile, as Mr. Scheyder notes, China
By Ron Estes Internal Revenue Service, if all suggesting IRS staff were steps to increase our trend to- has become the dominant global supplier of energy minerals
IRS employees had fully re- more effective at their jobs be- ward more on-site work.” and controls roughly 80% of the world’s electric-vehicle

D
uring the pandemic, turned to the office after ref- fore the pandemic. Based on complaints my of- battery market.
businesses relied on erencing a Government Ac- In the February hearing, I fice has received, however, Mr. Scheyder touches only briefly on a lynchpin issue: the
telework to continue countability Office report that told Mr. Werfel about a car 50% may not be sufficient. need for more miners in America. He writes that in 2023 a
operations. Now that the pan- found most federal agencies dealership in my district that Taxpayers are stuck with major copper-mine expansion project in Arizona failed not
demic is over, businesses are using 25% or less of build- had tried to file electronically delayed resolutions when the because of regulations or protests but “because the company
should be making data-driven ing capacity at their headquar- its nonemployee compensation agency isn’t as effective. The didn’t have enough workers.” Much of the existing workforce
decisions about remote work, ters. “Everyone’s working,” he forms through the IRS’s Infor- time a taxpayer spends on the is aging out. Meanwhile, the number of students pursuing
and so should the federal said. “It’s 50% on-site versus mation Returns Intake System. phone, chasing paperwork or mining engineering in America has collapsed. Last year the
government. 50% working in some remote The portal repeatedly crashed dealing with technical glitches U.S. saw 600 such enrollments, while China had more than
While some companies have while the dealership’s staff takes away from productivity. one million. It’s telling, though, that Mr. Scheyder’s book
flourished by allowing employ- tried to upload the forms, Some might argue that tele- begins and ends with the story of a botanist, not an engineer.
ees to work remotely, results Since the pandemic, causing delays up to the Jan. working, with reduced over- If there was any silver lining to the global lockdowns of
are mixed. A 2023 Stanford In- 31 deadline. One woman tried head, offers a tax-saving bene- 2020, it was our reawakening to the importance of work
stitute for Economic Policy Re- my constituents have calling the IRIS help desk sev- fit, but that’s realized only if deemed “essential,” the kinds of jobs for the “work-from-
search paper cited several reported far more eral times but never got past the agency is providing ade- somewheres,” positions in which if people don’t show
studies with wide-ranging the automated voice system. quate customer service. The up—notably in supply chains—cascades of essential prod-
findings on remote and hybrid service complaints. It appears that our hearing IRS isn’t. ucts or services cease to exist. Now comes a similar
work: productivity down 8% to struck a nerve with the IRS. There’s no alternative to reawakening about mining, with books and articles writ-
19% in one study, up 10% in an- News outlets including the the IRS. Unlike a business with ten by the “work-from-anywheres.”
other. With such inconsistent location.” He said this is in Federal News Network re- competition and the incentive Mr. Scheyder introduces his book by noting that he previ-
data, it’s incumbent on indi- line with a governmentwide ported that on the day of the to improve, it will likely con- ously reported on “another energy transition—the U.S. shale
vidual businesses to determine standard of 50% on-site work. hearing, Mr. Werfel emailed tinue to put higher priority on revolution,” and that his new assignment to follow the story
how best to attract workers I asked because my office Washington-based IRS em- employees’ comfort than on of minerals was a chance to cover a second “revolution.” But
and meet customers’ needs. staff in Wichita, Kan., regu- ployees that they would need providing Americans with this is what the news media seldom mentions: The rise in
Enter the federal govern- larly assist constituents who to return to the office for half good, timely service. That American privately funded oil-and-gas shale production has
ment, the largest employer in are experiencing delayed re- of their workdays in any given means it is up to Congress to added 150% as much energy supply as the combined output
the U.S. with nearly three mil- sponses and challenges when month starting May 5: “Ulti- hold the agency accountable. from all the world’s subsidized wind and solar sources.
lion employees. In a Feb. 15 working with federal agencies. mately, to ensure ongoing
House Ways and Means Com- My office opened more than alignment with the 50% on- Mr. Estes, a Republican, Mr. Mills, a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Founda-
mittee hearing, I asked Daniel three times as many IRS-re- site mandate for teleworkers, represents Kansas’ Fourth tion, is a partner at Montrose Lane, an energy fund, and the
Werfel, commissioner of the lated cases in 2023 as in 2019, we need to take the necessary Congressional District. author of “The Cloud Revolution.”
A16 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

OPINION
REVIEW & OUTLOOK LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Biden Family Depositions The ‘Good Germans’ and the Tragedy of War
Ian Brunskill, in his review of the which saw devastating Allied bomb-

H
ouse Republicans have released tran- merely coincidental bonding moments—doesn’t
scripts of their depositions with Hunter everyone put dad on speakerphone during busi- book “Out of the Darkness” (Book- ing of German cities, “Many Germans
shelf, Feb. 27), an engrossing study saw themselves as victims; the other
and James Biden, and we’ve read them ness meetings? He said the “big guy” email was
of the German people from 1942 to victims—their victims—could be
so you don’t have to trust what Mr. Gilliar engaging in “pie in 2022, raises a central question about overlooked.”
other papers don’t want to re- What we learned from the sky” dreams of working the complicity of people who live un- Perhaps before we get too caught
port. Far from Democratic 450 pages of testimony with a “former Vice President,” der a government engaged in evil ac- up in telling other countries how to
claims that they show nothing and that Hunter “shut it tivity. Mr. Brunskill observes that fight their own wars of survival, we
wrong, the testimony confirms with Hunter and James. down.” He explained that Joe the author, Frank Trentmann, should learn something about the his-
the story of political influence sojourning to Café Milano to “shows how so many men and tory of wars, including our own. War
peddling and family profiteer- say hi and order spaghetti was women [living in Germany during is a tragedy, no matter how justified,
ing. Even if he didn’t get a dime himself, Joe Bi- different than Joe coming “for” dinner. World War II] became perpetrators for those who are caught up in it. We
den willingly assisted his son Hunter and Hunter didn’t claim his Fifth Amendment or supporters of genocide by moral should be thoughtful before we are
brother James in schemes to cash in on the Bi- right not to answer questions, but he did reveal sleight of hand, deluding themselves judgmental of those who are forced
that they were acting ethically no to fight it.
den family name. a conveniently spotty memory. Hunter couldn’t
matter what they did.” CMDR. JAY PLAGER, USN (RET.)
i i i recall reading the famous “big guy” email, or Can the same be said of some un- Longboat Key, Fla.
Under hours of questioning, Hunter and James writing threatening texts, and he disclaimed known number of citizens caught up Mr. Plager is a senior judge of the
acknowledged unsavory facts revealed by prior knowledge of the origins of the $142,000 used in the war in Gaza? Mr. Brunskill ob- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
witnesses. Hunter finally admitted that former to buy him a luxury car. (Mr. Archer said it came serves that after World War II, Circuit.
partner James Gilliar was indeed referring to Joe from a Kazakhstan oligarch.)
when he envisioned an equity partnership that James claimed not to recall his specific inter-
included “10 held by H for the big guy” as part of actions with Mr. Bobulinski during the CEFC
a 2017 deal with Chinese energy company CEFC. deal, even as he insisted Mr. Bobulinski never What Higher Education Can Still Do for You
This is notable after years of Democratic claims met Joe—a claim contradicted by Hunter. Hunter
Higher education is grappling with room, such as through paid, full-time
that the laptop on which this email was found was blamed his faulty memory and bad behavior on
our role in helping students launch positions in industry, also known as
“Russian disinformation.” being “out of his mind” at times on alcohol and their careers (“Half of College Grads co-ops.
Hunter also confirmed former business part- drugs, yet he suggests his substance abuse never Are Underemployed,” U.S. News, Feb. Have students complete valuable
ner Tony Bobulinski’s testimony of a meeting caused him to cross ethical lines when it came 24). Good first jobs change lives, and industry credentials at the beginning
that same year in Los Angeles with Hunter, to his father. we can design colleges and universi- of their college careers, instead of af-
James, Tony and Joe—in the midst of the CEFC Joe’s involvement with CEFC and the “big guy” ties that prepare students to succeed ter graduation, so they can learn and
deal-making talks. He didn’t “contest” former email occurred shortly after he left the Vice Presi- in that first step of their careers, pav- earn.
partner Rob Walker’s testimony that Hunter in- dency. This suggests Joe thought his political ca- ing the way for lives of upward mo- Help students build the social
troduced Joe to the CEFC chairman at the Four reer might be over and was out to make money bility. Here are a few ways higher ed- capital they need to build relation-
Seasons hotel in New York. in the Beltway habit. That was his right, but then ucation can innovate to get students ships with professionals, do informa-
He conceded former partner Devon Archer’s why didn’t he say that in 2020? The facts from ready for careers: tional interviews and secure career
Turn the college curriculum up- opportunities.
testimony that Joe showed up at business din- the House investigation show he lied to the public
side-down. Let students take classes As people ask more questions
ners that Hunter hosted in Washington’s Café about the extent of his knowledge and involve- in a career-focused major in their about the value of a college educa-
Milano with Kazakhstan and Russian oligarchs, ment with the Hunter-James businesses. first year of college, instead of wait- tion, we can design our institutions
and that he put his father on speakerphone dur- The interviews verified that Hunter and ing until their third year to start a to be engines of opportunity. Stu-
ing other meetings. James made a bundle from their overseas work, major. This allows a student to get a dents are investing billions of dollars
Several witnesses have explained Hunter’s though both struggled to describe what they meaningful internship in year one in their education. We can put them
role as selling the Biden family “brand”—that is, provided in return. Both men failed to provide and potentially do six to 10 intern- in control of their futures.
his father’s influence in Washington. Mr. Archer, compelling explanations for their Escher-like fi- ships over four years. ALEX HERNANDEZ
who sat on the board of Ukrainian energy com- nancial accounts, which often involved odd pay- Give credit for career experiences President, Champlain College
pany Burisma with Hunter, told the committee: ments, wires and entities. The committee has that students gain outside the class- Burlington, Vt.
“Burisma would have gone out of business if it found more than $20 million from foreign
didn’t have the brand attached to it.” sources that went to Hunter, James and business
Mr. Bobulinski said Hunter’s speakerphone associates. An Unwanted Intrusion or a Life Lesson?
calls were engineered so Joe could impress i i i Jason Riley tells us a wonderful gratitude. I was a young college stu-
would-be clients, “enabling the transaction.” A Republicans plan to invite Hunter for a public story about Bill Walton shaving his dent in 1972. The town where I lived
recent Politico piece about James Biden’s ill- hearing, and they may move to impeach Presi- beard to play basketball in college for had a volunteer fire department, and
fated venture with a hospital operator cited ex- dent Biden. The latter won’t go anywhere in the coach John Wooden, and applies it to I had signed on. Our chief was Frank
ecutives who said James invoked Joe while Senate, and it could backfire politically by mobi- rules today for how high-school stu- C. Toste, a man short of stature but
“wooing potential business partners.” lizing Democrats in the President’s defense. dents wear their hair (“Bill Walton’s strong of heart. I had grown my hair
Yet even as the duo confirmed all this, they They’d accomplish more by educating the public Lesson for Darryl George,” Upward quite long, and the chief finally sat
want the public to believe that testimony by the about the Biden family’s influence peddling, and Mobility, Feb. 28). But college basket- me down to talk about it.
ball isn’t required or enforced by law. The bottom line was that I needed
same witnesses about influence peddling is dis- letting voters decide if they want to reward it
Attendance in high school is manda- to cut my hair if I wanted to stay in
honest. Hunter said his father’s calls were with a second term. tory and enforced by law, at least for the department. It was a safety issue
the first few years. at the time, but his main issue was

Panic Time for Democrats The state shouldn’t prohibit hair-

cuts of one type or another and sus-
pend students from school for violat-
that I wore the department uniform
and represented the organization to
the public.

T
he bedwetter caucus is back, to borrow vorably than they do Mr. Biden’s. ing the policy unless it can really He was civil but direct. I was ap-
the dismissive phrase from Barack Most important, Mr. Biden is viewed even show this is needed. Restrictions on palled, of course. I was young and
Obama strategist David Plouffe about more unfavorably than Mr. Trump in the polls mandatory education should be scru- thought that I knew it all. I was in
Democrats who fret about (59% to 57% unfavorable in the tinized more carefully than those on college, right?
President Biden’s re-election Biden is losing to Fox survey, which is Mr. Bi- basketball players. I didn’t like it, but I cut my hair.
PROF. MICHAEL J. BROYDE Being a firefighter meant more to me
odds. A spate of pre-Super Trump in every poll as den’s best showing). This is
Emory University School of Law than my hair, and in fact more than
Tuesday polls suggest that fret- hard to do considering that Atlanta going to college. I remember vividly
ting could soon turn to wailing Super Tuesday arrives. Mr. Trump never cracked 50% Chief Toste saying, “You will miss
and gnashing of teeth. approval in the Gallup poll Mr. Riley’s column brings to mind this old man when I am gone.” I
Four major polls rolled during his Presidency. In the a flood of memories and profound didn’t believe him at the time.
out in the past few days, and Mr. Biden is los- 2020 campaign, Mr. Biden never trailed Mr. I learned a lesson from him that
ing to Donald Trump in all of them. He’s down Trump in polling averages. day. He’s been gone a long time. I still
two points in a head-to-head matchup in the This is a perilous position for the incumbent Minority Voters Do Not miss him.
Wall Street Journal and Fox News surveys, this close to the election. Democrats are count- JAMES S. CHRISTIAN
Belong to the Democrats Marana, Ariz.
more if you include third- or fourth-party ing on a boffo State of the Union speech this
candidates. He’s down five points in the Si- week, the public giving him more credit for the There are two injustices at work in
Wisconsin Democrats’ new gerryman- Mr. Riley tells a story about Mr.
ena-New York Times poll, and he’s getting economy as inflation eases, the abortion issue,
dered maps. (“Wisconsin’s Progres- Walton’s beard in reference to Mr.
crushed in the swing states in the Bloomberg a friendly press, and Mr. Trump’s well-known sive Coup,” Review & Outlook, Feb. George, a young black man who got
News survey. capacity for self-destruction, perhaps including 21). The first is the blatant attempt to suspended for having long hair. Well,
Worse is the public mood. A quarter or less a felony conviction. prevent Republicans from winning a I’m a lily-white 70-year-old man. That
of Americans think the country is moving in the But collars are tightening among our friends legislative majority. The second is the young man’s hair shouldn’t even be
right direction, and they think Mr. Biden’s Pres- on the left. If the polls are this bad for Mr. Biden assumption behind the maps—that an issue. Kids have a tough enough
idency has done more harm than good. They in June or July, the pressure will rise for the identity politics is key to victory. time in school without these ridicu-
think Mr. Biden is too old to be President, and President to do what’s best for the country and Wisconsin Democrats have largely lous constraints that school adminis-
they view Mr. Trump’s Presidency far more fa- yield to a younger nominee. designed their maps to spread out ur- trations place on them. Schools need
ban voters across suburban and even to focus on teaching kids and not
rural districts. Since urban voters are worrying about the clothes they’re
Georgia Fights the Big Labor Fix more likely to be minorities, Demo-
crats’ hope is that black and brown
wearing or the length of their hair.
CHARLES DALEO
voters will swing these races their San Diego

P
resident Biden has kept his promise to for Hyundai and Rivian, both of which received way. Wisconsin Democrats believe ur-
tilt the organizing field at companies to- as much as $1.5 billion in state subsidies for ban minorities won’t vote Republican.
ward Big Labor, but states are playing electric-vehicle plants in the Peach State, and Republicans have long failed to Hamas Started This War
defense on behalf of individual may be looking to expand their sustain engagement with minority
Israel’s Daniel Hagari clearly sum-
workers. Georgia wants to pro- Employers could lose deals in coming years. communities, often accepting the
marizes Hamas’s distorted use of me-
tect its growing number of After the bill passed the Democratic assumption that minori-
auto workers by making sure
tax breaks if they deny state Senate last month, the ties belong to the left. Yet the left’s
dia to document its brutality (“The
Media-Savvy Murderers of Hamas,”
they can’t be forced into a workers a secret vote. AFL-CIO denounced the check embrace of identity politics isn’t
op-ed, Feb. 26). Kudos for printing this
about lifting them up, whereas con-
union without a secret-ballot on card check as a solution in more than four months into the war.
servative ideals reflect a deep respect
election. search of a problem. But the for minorities’ talent, ambition and
The world needs to be reminded that
Gov. Brian Kemp is backing a bill that dis- unions can’t keep a straight story about why Hamas’s inhumane deeds on Oct. 7
desire to achieve the American
courages companies from allowing card check, they want card check. Labor organizers claim were the trigger that started the war.
dream. Republicans must take that
one of the ways a union can organize a work- to have overwhelming support at every plant HARRIET WOLPOFF
message to the communities that
San Diego
place. Card check denies employees of a secret- and warehouse, but they apparently don’t think Democrats take for granted.
ballot vote on whether they want to adopt the that support will survive behind the voting- JOHN TILLMAN
union; it automatically recognizes the union if booth curtains. President, American Culture Project
a majority of employees sign cards pledging to Democrats in Congress know card check Golf, Ill. Pepper ...
join. That gives union advocates the opening gives unions a better shot at gaining new mem- And Salt
to pressure peers who won’t sign the cards into bers, and they’re pushing companies to allow it.
voting yes. Thirty-three Senators sent a letter to nonunion Try to Keep Them Straight THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Employers are free to allow card-check elec- car makers in January in which they suggested I’m glad Peggy Noonan distin-
tions, but Georgia wants to give them a reason to that the companies could lose federal green-en- guishes Presidents Biden and Trump
resist. The bill would deny state tax incentives to ergy subsidies if they express opposition to with the nicknames “Ol’ Cranky” and
any company that blesses a union without a for- unionization. “Ol’ Crazy” (“Ol’ Cranky and the State
of the Union,” Declarations, Feb. 24).
mal and secret-ballot election. Like nearly every Unions also have support from the agency
If she had used “Ol’ Whiny,” “Ol’
state these days, Georgia has showered billions that’s supposed to play referee. The National La- Braggy” or “Ol’ Fibby,” I wouldn’t
of dollars on companies that pledge to invest and bor Relations Board issued a ruling last year know which one she was referring to.
create jobs. Now lawmakers want to condition that makes card check the default if an employer MARK D. KEMP
that cash on protecting labor freedom. takes more than two weeks to request a formal Cypress, Calif.
That could shift the outlook for a pair of auto union election. The fix is in for card check, all
makers being pressured to roll over for union the way from Washington.
Letters intended for publication should
organizers. The United Auto Workers launched The Georgia bill is modeled after one enacted be emailed to wsj.ltrs@wsj.com. Please
its latest campaign to organize southern plants in Tennessee last year. If unions keep up their include your city, state and telephone
last year, and it has called publicly for employers demand for unfair votes, expect more states to number. All letters are subject to
to drop their resistance to card check. But the give companies an incentive to resist the Demo- editing, and unpublished letters cannot “Looks like another crazy week for
be acknowledged.
Georgia bill could make giving in a costly move cratic-union pressure campaign. keeping your homeowners insurance.”
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | A17

OPINION

The Fed’s Latest Problem: A Strong Economy

By Mickey D. Levy they estimate to be roughly 0.5%. longer-run natural rate of interest.

T
But persistent economic strength Based on this, the Fed’s current
he economy is looking up, calls into question whether current thinking is that it will need to cut
and that’s a challenge for monetary policy really is restrictive rates to avoid becoming inadver-
the Federal Reserve. The and whether the natural rate of in- tently too tight. But the natural real
pandemic shock prompted terest is so low. Real gross domestic rate is unobservable, and estimates
excessive monetary and product grew 3.1% over the past of it are iffy. If the Fed’s assessment
fiscal responses, generating infla- year, far higher than the Fed’s 1.8% is wrong and real rates have risen,
tion. The Fed responded with ag- estimate of sustainable potential easing interest rates now would re-
gressive rate hikes that reduced in- growth. The unemployment rate, sult in too-high inflation.
flation within reach of its 2% currently 3.7%, has remained well The Fed is wisely signaling that
longer-run target. Now that the below the Fed’s 4.1% estimate of the cutting rates now may be prema-
economy is growing and productiv- longer-run natural rate of unem- ture. The central bank can’t specu-
ity is improving, the central bank’s ployment, or full employment. Con- late. It needs to gain a better under-
task is to adjust monetary policy to sumer spending has been fueled by standing of the supply side of the
reflect the higher real interest rates job growth and wage gains that are economy and how current innova-
that naturally accompany higher ex- lifting disposable personal income. tions are affecting it, rather than fo-
pected rates of return on capital. Soaring household net worth is rais- cusing primarily on how monetary

CHAD CROWE
ing the propensity to spend. Stimu- policy affects demand management.
lative fiscal policies, including infra- The Fed has a poor track record
Improving productivity structure spending and an array of of identifying real shifts in the
tax credits, are increasing govern- economy. An exception was Chair-
and better-than-expected ment and business investment. Heightened labor mobility and The higher expected rates of re- man Alan Greenspan. In the
growth make it risky to cut Beyond these nuts and bolts of work-at-home flexibility are increas- turn on capital have lifted real in- mid-1990s, he correctly diagnosed
GDP growth are factors lifting pro- ing worker productivity and creat- terest rates. We’ve seen this sce- the productivity boom and pushed
interest rates too much. ductivity, such as technology, ing opportunities, while businesses nario before. In the 1990s, economic back on colleagues who argued that
heightened labor mobility and busi- are using labor more efficiently. Ap- growth driven by a boom in produc- raising rates was necessary because
ness formation. Generative artifi- plications to establish businesses tivity and strong labor-force expan- the low unemployment rate would
The Fed characterizes its current cial-intelligence computing and ma- have climbed. sion was accompanied by high real push up inflation. Mr. Greenspan’s
monetary policy as restrictive, chine learning are increasing It’s premature to say that a sus- rates. Then, the federal-funds rate judgment extended the economic
meaning it will slow the economy efficiencies in healthcare, manufac- tained pickup in productivity is un- averaged 3% above inflation when expansion.
below its 1.8% estimate of potential turing, an array of service indus- folding, but all the factors seem to real bond yields were high. High real interest rates and
growth and reduce inflation to 2%. tries and social-media applications. be coalescing. At the same time, the Fed researchers have estimated strong economic growth are posi-
Its assessment is based on its cur- Microsoft, Google and Apple are labor force is near an all-time high that the longer-run natural rate of tive complements. Today, the Fed
rent interest rate target of 5.25% to leading the AI boom, and Nvidia and and is certain to get a sizable boost interest has been in a decadeslong needs to push back on calls to lower
5.5%, which is roughly 2.5 percent- other accelerator chip manufactur- from new immigrants. The combina- decline. That’s understandable. Fol- rates and instead learn more about
age points above the 2.8% core PCE ers are enabling it. Thousands of tion points to stronger potential lowing the 1990s, real interest rates how innovation is influencing real
inflation excluding food and energy. smaller firms and startups are de- economic growth. This isn’t lost on were negative for most of the post- economic performance.
That is the highest inflation-ad- veloping and implementing AI appli- the stock market, which is looking financial-crisis expansion while eco-
justed rate since before the 2008-09 cations. The rise in software and beyond the tired debate about re- nomic growth was lackluster and in- Mr. Levy is a visiting scholar at
financial crisis and higher than Fed R&D as a share of total business cession versus soft landing and flation below 2%. Following the the Hoover Institution and a mem-
researchers’ estimates of the longer- fixed investment is transforming the pricing in favorable longer-run pros- pandemic, the Fed’s latest research ber of the Shadow Open Market
run natural rate of interest, which U.S. economy. pects for the economy and profits. reconfirmed low estimates of the Committee.

Letitia James Sacrifices the Rule of Law to Get Trump

New York isn’t Ms. James ran for office in 2018 writing. Yet Ms. James bizarrely ar- have given a broad sweep to the $114,553.04 in interest to the state
Venezuela, but its on the promise of taking down Mr. gued that banks have somehow state’s fraud law. each day he doesn’t cough up the
political system is Trump. That she turned up evidence been victimized by Mr. Trump’s al- The state trial judge, Arthur En- moolah. It could be argued that the
going the way of of inflated assets on financial state- leged misrepresentations even goron, ruled on Feb. 16 that Mr. grossly inflated penalties against Mr.
Caracas. Whatever ments he provided banks to obtain though they made money from the Trump’s false financial statements, Trump constitute ill-gotten gains for
Donald Trump’s fi- loans should have come as no sur- loans. no matter whether they harmed any- the state. Mr. Trump enjoys playing
nancial transgres- prise given his penchant for puffery. Because she couldn’t demonstrate one, deserve to be punished. He re- the victim, and Ms. James is more
LIFE
sions, they pale in But her investigation into his vast that banks relied on Mr. Trump’s quired Mr. Trump to “disgorge” $355 than enabling him.
SCIENCE
comparison with business dealings failed to produce misrepresentations—a critical ele- million in “ill-gotten gains.” How did If the judgment isn’t stayed or
By Allysia
Attorney General evidence of fraud. he come up with this figure? Finan- sharply reduced, Mr. Trump will
Finley
Letitia James’s des- No bank claimed to have lost cial legerdemain. have no choice but to dump his
ecration of the law money by lending to Mr. Trump, or Her dubious civil fraud Ms. James hired a financial ex- properties in a fire sale. Yet it’s
in service of destroying a political to have been deceived by his finan- pert, who assessed the “interest rate doubtful Ms. James actually wants
opponent. cial legerdemain. Nor did any wit- suit is more damaging savings” that Mr. Trump supposedly to seize those assets. That would re-
Last week, a New York appellate nesses at trial say his alleged mis- to the market’s integrity netted as the difference between quire the state to operate and main-
court rejected Mr. Trump’s petition representations changed its loan what he paid and what he would tain them before auctioning them
to stay a legally dubious $454 mil- terms or prices. Ms. James’s 2022 than his conduct is. have paid on his loans had his state- off, which it is manifestly incapable
lion civil fraud judgment while he lawsuit lacked any evidence that Mr. ments been accurate. The judge then of doing. New York City public hous-
appealed the verdict. Ms. James is Trump profited from any alleged tacked on the profit Mr. Trump pu- ing, Q.E.D.
threatening to seize Mr. Trump’s wrongdoing. ment of common-law fraud—she tatively made on properties for Mr. Trump’s lawyers rightly argue
properties if he doesn’t pay up by A former Deutsche Bank risk rested her case on a sweeping state which he submitted false financial that the state is trampling the rule
March 25. His appeal suggests he manager testified at trial last year civil fraud law known as Executive statements. of law by “unwinding complex com-
lacks the liquid assets to do so and that the bank’s loan decisions were Law Section 63(12). The statute sub- On top of that, Judge Engoron mercial transactions between so-
might be forced to sell or mortgage based on its own analysis, not Mr. stantially mirrors federal criminal added roughly $99 million in “pre- phisticated parties” even when no-
properties. Trump’s word. Banks know regula- fraud statutes. judgment interest” dating back to body has been harmed. What’s to
It would be one thing if Ms. tors can punish them for failing to Yet in the interest of limiting March 4, 2019—the day the attorney stop the attorney general from doing
James were seeking restitution for do due diligence when underwriting freewheeling prosecutions, federal general launched her investigation— the same whenever she disagrees
victims. She isn’t because there are loans. courts require proof of property to punish Mr. Trump’s “corrupt in- with how a bank or business has val-
none. Instead she’s seeking financial Before the 2007-08 housing loss or damage to prove fraud. The tent or desire for personal profit.” ued an asset?
penalties against Mr. Trump, which meltdown, banks qualified borrow- U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year Who cares that the lawsuit was mo- Ms. James says punishing Mr.
Democrats in Albany will spend on ers for larger loans than they could in Ciminelli v. U.S.—a case involving tivated by Ms. James’s desire for po- Trump is necessary to preserve the
rewarding government unions and afford, often based on inaccurate fi- New York public corruption—that litical gain and government profit? integrity of the financial market-
other political allies. This is the stuff nancial records. Regulators later misrepresentations aren’t enough. Ms. James last week jeered that place. But she’s doing more damage
of banana republics. dunned them for slipshod under- New York courts, on the other hand, Mr. Trump owes an additional than Mr. Trump is.

Netanyahu’s Bold, Realistic Plan for ‘the Day After Hamas’

By Daniel Pipes Palestinian Authority, which rules One, conducted by the Washing- cursing Hamas leaders, and pro- their present squalor, even if that
most of the West Bank and seeks ton Institute for Near East Policy in claiming: “The people want to end means working with Jerusalem.

P
rime Minister Benjamin Ne- Israel’s destruction. Second, many mid-2023, found that 61% wish that the war. . . . We want to live!” Israel, therefore, can reasonably
tanyahu last month presented Israelis and Palestinians alike insist more Israeli jobs were offered to Hamas’s stealing of humanitarian expect to find many cooperative Ga-
Israel’s security cabinet with that Jerusalem won’t find those those living in Gaza and the West aid has likewise reportedly pro- zans ready to establish a new gov-
a short document: “The Day After “local actors” to work with. Bank. Sixty-two percent want voked local anger and tension. erning authority capable of taking
Hamas.” Its key passage states that Yet Mr. Netanyahu’s plan, and Hamas to preserve the cease-fire The same resistance has begun on a range of tasks, from policing,
Jerusalem plans to work primarily the optimism implicit in it, is cor- with Israel, and 67% believe that to break through in popular media. utilities, municipal services and ad-
with Gazans to rebuild their terri- rect. The proposal envisages a de- “the Palestinians should focus on Live interviews of Gazans on Arab ministration to communications,
tory. “Civil affairs and responsibil- cent Gaza run by decent Gazans. practical matters, . . . not on big po- teaching and urban planning.
ity for public order will be based on That isn’t inconceivable. It recog- litical plans or resistance options.” A decent Gaza will require tough
local actors with ‘management ex- nizes that Gazans have endured 17 Seventy-two percent say “Hamas Gazans appear ready to Israeli military rule, overseeing a
perience,’ ” it says, and “not identi- years of unique hell: exploitation has been unable to improve the tough police state along the lines of
fied with countries or organizations by their rulers as cannon fodder lives of Palestinians in Gaza,” and rebuke the terrorists and what exists in Egypt and Jordan. In
supporting terrorism” or receiving for public-relations purposes. Un- 82% agree that “Palestinians should work with Israel to create those countries, citizens can lead
payments from them. like other dictatorial regimes, push harder to replace their own normal lives so long as they stay
In a step toward this program of which sacrifice soldiers for battle- political leaders with more effective a new governing body. out of trouble and refrain from crit-
self-rule, the Israeli military has be- field gains, Hamas sacrifices civil- and less corrupt ones.” Eighty-seven icizing the ruler. Under such condi-
gun an informal pilot program of ians for political support. The more percent find that “many people are tions, Gaza could become decent
what it calls “humanitarian pock- misery Gazans endure, the more more preoccupied with their per- media networks often inadvertently and economically viable. As others
ets” in parts of north Gaza cleared convincingly Hamas can accuse Is- sonal lives than with politics.” broadcast sentiment critical of such as Singapore and Dubai have
of Hamas. These local governing rael of aggression and the wider The second survey, taken by Arab Hamas and its state backers. In a shown, democracy isn’t necessary
bodies consist of community lead- and more vehement its global back- Barometer days before the war be- Nov. 5 interview with Al Jazeera, an for such a project to succeed.
ers, whose duties will include dis- ing becomes. gan, found that “the vast majority elderly, wounded man said of If the Israelis have the acumen
tributing humanitarian aid and re- A trove of evidence, however, of Gazans have been frustrated with Hamas members: “They can go to and stamina to make this happen,
vising school curricula. suggests that Gazans reject being the armed group’s ineffective gov- hell and hide there.” The journalist they will have retrieved something
The concept of Israelis working used as pawns in the terror group’s ernance as they endure extreme cut him off. positive out of tragedy.
with Gazans is brave, bold and con- strategy. Two surveys taken before economic hardship.” These and other data points indi-
tested. It faces two main criticisms. Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre signal These findings have been borne cate that many Gazans want to be Mr. Pipes is president of the Mid-
First, the U.S. and other govern- that Gazans want to live normal out on the ground. Since Oct. 7, liberated from Hamas. However dle East Forum and author, most
ments want to hand Gaza to the lives. videos have shown crowds of Ga- hostile to the Jewish state, they recently, of “Islamism vs. the West:
zans chanting “Down with Hamas,” desperately want to move on from 35 Years of Geopolitical Struggle.”

Notable & Quotable: Biden as Reagan?

PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY DOW JONES & COMPANY
Lachlan Murdoch
Executive Chairman, News Corp
Rupert Murdoch Robert Thomson
Chairman Emeritus, News Corp Chief Executive Officer, News Corp From “ ‘Nightmare in America’: immigrants, people of different pared to four years ago, America
Emma Tucker Almar Latour How Biden’s Ad Team Should Attack faiths, political opponents, even at is stronger, safer, and kinder.
Editor in Chief Chief Executive Officer and Publisher Trump” by Bill Scher for the Wash- times political allies, our country For a story to resonate it needs
Liz Harris, Managing Editor DOW JONES MANAGEMENT: ington Monthly, Feb. 29: was falling apart. We were turning to not just be true, but feel true.
Charles Forelle, Deputy Editor in Chief Daniel Bernard, Chief Experience Officer; on each other, and democracy itself That Trump is a divisive person who
Elena Cherney, News; David Crow, Executive Editor; Mae M. Cheng, EVP, General Manager, Leadership;
Chip Cummins, Newswires; Andrew Dowell, Asia; David Cho, Barron’s Editor in Chief; Jason P. Conti, As Reagan [in 1984] portrayed an hung by a thread. divided America meets both criteria.
Taneth Evans, Associate Editor; Brent Jones, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer; America of recent past marked by Then just like Reagan, Biden can Many of Trump’s own supporters
Dianne DeSevo, Chief People Officer; Jared DiPalma,
Culture, Training & Outreach; Alex Martin, Print
Chief Financial Officer; Frank Filippo, Chief
inflation and declining global influ- pivot. Over multicultural scenes of acknowledge it, to either lament or
& Writing; Michael W. Miller, Features &
Transformation Officer; Artem Fishman, Chief ence, Biden could narrate an ad over cooperative workers and happy fam- revel in it. Whatever divisions pres-
Weekend; Prabha Natarajan, Professional Products;
Bruce Orwall, Enterprise; Philana Patterson,
Technology Officer; David Martin, Chief Revenue a montage of riots from both the ilies, Biden could say: ently remain, after the last 37
Officer, Business Intelligence; Dan Shar, EVP,
Audio; Amanda Wills, Video General Manager, Wealth & Investing; Ashok Sinha, summer of 2020 and the January 6 But then we rediscovered the months of calm, moral leadership,
SVP, Head of Communications; Josh Stinchcomb, insurrection: love of democracy that binds us as the national temperature has indis-
Paul A. Gigot
Editor of the Editorial Page
EVP & Chief Revenue Officer, WSJ | Barron’s This was America in 2020: liter- a nation. We found ways to bridge putably simmered. An ad campaign
Group; Sherry Weiss, Chief Marketing Officer
Gerard Baker, Editor at Large
EDITORIAL AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS:
ally on fire. After four years of a our differences and rebuild our that ties Trump’s hateful approach
1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y., 10036 president spewing hatred toward economy after the pandemic. We to politics to the 2020 unrest is not
Telephone 1-800-DOWJONES business leaders, soldiers, athletes, have more work to do, but com- going to fail any fact checks.
A18 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

WORLD NEWS

Russian Tape Reveals Berlin’s Arms Plan

In leaked recording, The leak now makes it less targets including ammunition
likely that Germany will de- depots and the Kerch Bridge.
German generals liver the weapon, politicians Ukraine operates similar
discuss how Kyiv and analysts said. Western missiles—the British
Following the leaks, Rus- Storm Shadow and France’s
could use missiles sian officials attacked Ger- SCALP. Kyiv has used them to
many for discussing detailed hit the bridge but failed to do
BY BOJAN PANCEVSKI attacks on Russian targets and lasting damage. Experts say
threatened with retaliation the more powerful and further-
BERLIN—Germany’s air- should Berlin become part of reaching Taurus, a German-
force commander gathered his the war effort. Swedish air-launched missile,
top officers for a secret meet- The leak was very serious could knock down the bridge.
ing in February to discuss the and would be investigated German officers in the re-
possible delivery of his coun- “very meticulously, very inten- cording indicated that they had
try’s most powerful guided sively and very quickly,” Scholz analyzed in great detail how to
missiles to Ukraine. told reporters during a visit to attack that key piece of infra-
The long-range weapons the Vatican on Saturday. structure, and said it would
could be used to destroy the Defense Minister Boris Pis- take 10 to 20 Taurus missiles
Kerch Bridge, which links Rus- torius on Sunday said he had to evade Russian air defenses

DANIEL REINHARDT/ZUMA PRESS

sia to the occupied Ukrainian launched an investigation into and destroy the bridge.
peninsula of Crimea, the Ger- what he called a hybrid attack “There is no real reason to
man officers said. by Russia aimed at spreading say we can’t do this; it only de-
What they didn’t know: disinformation. WebEx was pends on the political red lines,”
Russian spies recorded their suitable for communications Gen. Gerhartz is heard saying.
conversation, which revealed below a certain confidentiality Destroying the bridge linking
classified details about West- level, he said, and the investi- Russia to Crimea would be stra-
ern involvement in Ukraine. A Gen. Gerhartz, shown last year, talked about how Germany could get Ukraine Taurus missiles. gation would establish tegically and politically impor-
38-minute audio tape of the whether the officers breached tant but Ukraine would likely
discussion was posted online rus long-range cruise missiles with Germany’s North Atlantic Last week, Scholz said Tau- that protocol. Pistorius said be unable to follow up with a
late Friday by the head of Rus- should they be sent to Treaty Organization allies. rus missiles can’t be given to Russian President Vladimir Pu- ground offensive, he said.
sian state-run broadcaster RT. Ukraine. German leader Olaf It was also the latest in a Kyiv because they would require tin’s propaganda machine was “This will not change the
Senior German officials con- Scholz has declined to send string of incidents highlighting German troops to help operate using the leak to falsely claim course of the war, we must be
firmed the authenticity of the the Taurus despite pleas from German vulnerability to Rus- them. Officers in the leaked call, that Germany was getting di- clear about that,” Gen. Ger-
recording to The Wall Street Kyiv and pressure within his sian spying. A senior officer in however, discussed how Ukrai- rectly involved in the war. hartz is heard saying.
Journal and said the meeting own government. Germany’s BND foreign intelli- nians could be trained to use “This is designed to divide A spokeswoman for the
took place on the commercial Also in the recording were gence service was recently ar- the system on their own. us and undermine our deter- Russian Foreign Ministry said
platform WebEx, an online officials saying Britain, France rested on allegations that he Scholz has long been under mination.…We mustn’t play Moscow had demanded imme-
conferencing tool, which isn’t and the U.S. keep troops in was spying for Moscow. international and domestic into Putin’s hands,” he said. diate answers from Berlin.
encrypted to the armed forces’ Ukraine to help operate so- Officials familiar with the pressure to deliver the In the recording, Germany’s “Our historic adversaries,
standard for confidential com- phisticated Western weapons German investigation of the weapon. Britain at one point air-force chief, Gen. Ingo Ger- the Germans, have once again
munication. One officer dialed systems, something those audiotape leak said WebEx is offered to take over and de- hartz, tasked top aides with turned into our archenemies,”
in with his cellphone from a countries have denied. widely used by the military and liver the system in order to preparing a presentation for Russia’s former President and
Singapore hotel room. The leak delivered a propa- other sensitive departments in help the chancellor maintain the defense minister on how Prime Minister Dmitry Medve-
The meeting focused on ganda win for the Kremlin, the German government. “This his policy that Germany must Germany could deliver the dev, now vice-chair of the
how Germany might organize sparked a furor in Germany should be a wake-up call,” one not directly be drawn into Taurus to Ukraine—and how Russian Security Council,
delivery and operation of Tau- and could strain relationships senior official said. military operations. Kyiv could use it to destroy posted on social media.

Iran Courted Sudan for Naval Base U.K.-Owned Ship Hit

BY NICHOLAS BARIYO tens of thousands of people,
By Houthi Missile Sinks
AND BENOIT FAUCON displaced millions and trig-
gered one of the world’s worst BY BENOIT FAUCON vasion of Gaza, though many
Iran unsuccessfully pressed humanitarian crises. of the vessels have no connec-
Sudan to let it build a perma- “Sudan bought drones from A British-owned ship struck tion to Israel.
nent naval base on the African Iran because we needed more on Feb. 18 by Yemen’s Iran- Cleaning up any damage to
country’s Red Sea coast, some- accurate weapons, to reduce backed Houthi forces has sunk the Red Sea and its coastal ar-
thing that would have allowed the loss of human life and re- into the Red Sea, U.K. and Ye- eas from the Rubymar’s fertil-
Tehran to monitor maritime spect the international hu- men officials said on Saturday, izer cargo will be complicated
IRANIAN PRESIDENCY/SHUTTERSTOCK

traffic to and from the Suez manitarian law,” Mohamed threatening to cause an envi- by the continued threat from
Canal and Israel, a senior Suda- said. ronmental disaster with its the Houthis.
nese intelligence official said. The explosive drones have cargo of fertilizer. “There won’t be anyone to
Iran has supplied Sudan’s helped Burhan reverse losses A Houthi missile strike had help under missile threat,”
military with explosive drones against the RSF, according to blown a hole in the cargo ves- said Ami Daniel, chief execu-
to use in its fight with a rebel regional officials and analysts sel, Rubymar, which was ship- tive of maritime artificial-in-
warlord and offered to provide following the fighting. In re- ping 22,000 metric tons of telligence provider Windward.
a helicopter-carrying warship cent weeks, the government Saudi fertilizer to Bulgaria. Even before the Rubymar
if Sudan had granted permis- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, right, met with Sudan’s has regained control of impor- That evening, the crew was lost, the attack on the
sion for the base, said Ahmad acting foreign minister, Ali Al-Sadiq Ali, in Tehran last month. tant areas of Khartoum and abandoned the vessel, flagged ship had caused an 18-mile oil
Hasan Mohamed, an intelli- Omdurman, its twin city in Belize, and it vanished into slick, according to the U.S.
gence adviser to Sudan’s mili- attacks are aimed at punishing itary junta, Gen. Abdel Fattah across the Nile. the sea late Friday after tak- Central Command, which is
tary leader. Israel and its allies for the al-Burhan, initiated a rap- The Biden administration ing on water for two weeks. responsible for U.S. military
“The Iranians said they fighting in Gaza. Iran’s re- prochement with the U.S. in an has accused both the Suda- The Houthis have carried operations in the Middle East.
wanted to use the base for in- gional rivals, Israel, Egypt and effort to end international nese military and the RSF of out more than 60 attacks in Roy Khoury, chief executive of
telligence gathering,” Mo- Saudi Arabia, all have direct sanctions. He also moved to committing war crimes. The the Red Sea region, upending Blue Fleet Group, the ship-
hamed said in an interview. access to the waterway. normalize relations with Israel. U.S. alleges the RSF also has the shipping industry’s ability management company operat-
“They also wanted to station Iran has also been sending Iran’s request to build a committed crimes against hu- to travel through one of the ing the ship in Beirut, said he
warships there.” He said Khar- increasingly sophisticated base highlights how regional manity, including murder, world’s busiest commercial had been struggling to bring
toum turned down Iran’s pro- weapons to its Houthi allies in powers are seeking to take ad- rape and ethnic cleansing in waterways, which connects salvaging companies to tow or
posal to avoid alienating the Yemen, enhancing their ability vantage of Sudan’s 10-month- the Darfur region in western Asia to Europe and beyond at least repair it because they
U.S. and Israel. to attack merchant vessels old civil war to gain a foothold Sudan. through Egypt’s Suez Canal. were concerned about operat-
A spokesman for Iran’s mis- and disrupt international in the country, a strategic U.N. officials have criticized The U.S. and its allies have ing in a war zone.
sion to the United Nations in commerce despite weeks of crossroads between the Mid- Sudan for aerial bombing of sent warships to the Red Sea, Ahmed Bin Mubarak, prime
New York declined to com- U.S.-led airstrikes. A U.S.-led dle East and sub-Saharan Af- civilian neighborhoods and de- and the U.S. and the U.K. have minister of the internationally
ment. multinational force has also rica with a 400-mile Red Sea priving Sudanese civilians of conducted airstrikes against recognized Yemeni govern-
A naval base on the Red been deployed to protect sea- coastline. desperately needed humani- the Houthis in Yemen to deter ment in Aden, which has been
Sea would allow Tehran to borne traffic. Sudan’s military has been tarian aid. U.N. agencies have the group from more attacks engaged in a war with the
tighten its grip on one of the Sudan had close ties with fighting the paramilitary also accused the RSF of atroc- on the shipping industry. Houthis for a decade, said on
world’s busiest shipping lanes, Iran and its Palestinian ally Rapid Support Forces, led by ities, including ethnically mo- But the Houthis have X that the environmental di-
where it is helping Yemen- Hamas under longtime strong- Burhan’s former second-in- tivated attacks in Darfur. proved resilient, saying they saster caused by the fertilizer
based Houthi rebels launch at- man Omar al-Bashir. After command, Lt. Gen. Mohamed Sudan’s military and the will continue to attack what cargo sinking “threatens the
tacks on commercial vessels. Bashir’s ouster in a 2019 coup, Hamdan Dagalo, since mid- RSF have denied the U.S. and they say are ships connected lives of our people and gener-
Iran and the Houthis say the the leader of the country’s mil- April. The conflict has killed U.N. accusations. to Israel in response to its in- ations for decades.”

PAKISTAN INDIA WORLD WATCH

Sharif Confirmed Billionaire Hosts
As Prime Minister Global Celebrities
Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif What do Meta CEO Mark
pledged to focus on the coun- Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump,
try’s debt-laden economy af- Microsoft co-founder Bill
ter he was confirmed as Gates and Rihanna have in
prime minister on Sunday, common? They all were in In-
amid protests by opposition dia this weekend to attend
lawmakers following an elec- the lavish pre-wedding festiv-
tion marred by allegations of ities of Anant Ambani, the
rigging. youngest son of Asia’s richest
Sharif emerged as the next billionaire, Reliance Industries
prime minister after half a chairman Mukesh Ambani,
dozen parties forged a coalition whose net worth is esti-
last month, when no party won mated at more than $100 bil-
a majority of parliamentary lion.
seats in the Feb. 8 poll, accord- Anant Ambani, 28, is mar-
ing to official results. rying Radhika Merchant, 29,
Candidates associated who is also the child of a ty-
with former Prime Minister coon. Her father, Viren Mer-
Imran Khan, whose popularity chant, heads Encore Health-
soared after his ouster from care, a pharmaceutical and
office in 2022, won the most consumer healthcare com-
seats in the election, in what pany.
analysts described as a revolt The normally quiet coastal
by voters against the influ- Gujarat town of Jamnagar
ence of the country’s power- hosted some 1,000 VIP
ful army in the politics of the guests from around the
nuclear-armed nation. world. The themed events in-
Political experts and politi- cluded a formal cocktail on
cians say Khan lost the sup- Friday and a private concert
port of the army as he tried performance by Rihanna.
to assert himself as the Family members and stars
ULF PALM/ZUMA PRESS

country’s leader. The army like Bollywood icon Shahrukh

denies any involvement in Khan performed dance rou-
Khan’s ouster, and has said it tines. Walt Disney CEO Bob
abides by Pakistan’s constitu- Iger was in town for the fes-
tion. tivities.
—Saeed Shah —Rajesh Roy POLE POSITION: Skiers take part in Vasaloppet, an annual long distance cross-country ski race, in Salen, Sweden.
 BUSINESS & FINANCE
© 2024 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved.

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* ** *

S&P FIN g 0.07% S&P IT À 2.51%

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
DJ TRANS g 0.56% WSJ $ IDX À 0.01% 2–YR. TREAS. yield 4.531%
Monday, March 4, 2024 | B1
NIKKEI 39910.82 À 2.08% See more at WSJ.com/Markets

China Races to Front in EV Output Nvidia’s

Surge Stirs
Country’s carmakers
are envy of the world
New and updated EV releases in China* hatchbacks that all share man-
BYD
ufacturing and digital architec-
ture with other Geely brands
Talk of
through production such as Polestar and Smart.
A Bubble
TOYOTA VOLKSWAGEN TESLA XPENG NIO
Backed by generous govern-
speed, tech offerings ment stimulus policies, China
now sells the most EVs in the
China is speeding ahead in world. Its carmakers are heav- BY CHARLEY GRANT
the electric-vehicle race. Rid- ily customer-focused, empha-
ing the nation’s EV boom, up- sizing software and digital Nvidia’s meteoric surge has
2017 ’23 2017 ’23 2017 ’23 2017 ’23 2017 ’23 2017 ’23
start automakers have eclipsed technology, from driver-assis- helped push the stock market
foreign rivals to develop cars tance functions to in-car en- to record highs. It also has
faster, push the boundaries of Number of new passenger-car models in China, 2020-23 Average years in market† tertainment. some on Wall Street saying the
smart tech and swamp con- The slowdown in demand “B-word.”
80 models 5 years
sumers with choice. for EVs—even in China—is Rising enthusiasm for artifi-
Non- spurring Chinese carmakers to cial intelligence has made
By Selina Cheng in Gas Plug-in hybrids & All- Chinese constantly update and release Nvidia’s chips a must-have
extended-range electric 4 brands new models. Cars launched last product, and transformed
Hong Kong and Yoko 60
Kubota in Beijing year contributed to 90% of Nvidia into the market’s hottest
Chinese China’s passenger-car sales stock. The surge has some Wall
Chinese automakers are 3 growth, according to the coun- Street professionals wondering
legacy
around 30% quicker in develop- 40 brands try’s passenger-car association. whether AI mania is morphing
ment than legacy manufactur- Because Chinese buyers into a classic stock bubble.
ers, industry executives say, 2 tend to prefer new or recently The stock has risen more
largely because they have up- Chinese released cars, the cars have a than sevenfold since Oct. 14,
ended global practices built 20 EV short shelf life. Domestic EV 2022, and Nvidia is now the
1 brands
around decades of making com- makers offer models for sale third-most valuable U.S. com-
plex combustion-engine cars. for an average of 1.3 years be- pany, with a market value
They work on many stages of fore they are updated or re- above $2 trillion. The chip
development at once. They are 0 0 freshed, compared with 4.2 maker added nearly $280 bil-
willing to substitute traditional 2020 ’23 2020 ’23 2020 ’23 2015 ’20 ’23 years for foreign brands, ac- lion in value in two trading ses-
suppliers for smaller, faster *Excludes models with limited sales numbers. Data for 2023 are through September. Tesla’s count includes made-in-China launches of existing
cording to an analysis by con- sions after reporting blowout
ones. They run more virtual vehicles in 2020 and 2021. †Weighted average sulting firm AlixPartners. fourth-quarter results on Feb.
tests instead of time-consum- Sources: Automobility (new vehicles); China Passenger Car Association (new models); S&P Global Mobility via AlixPartners (years) In a reversal of industry 21. It took 180 trading days for
ing mechanical ones. And they convention, many global car- Nvidia’s value to rise to $2 tril-
are redefining when a car is world with cheap cars as de- reason: It puts out cars with share will be much bigger,” makers are now looking to lion from $1 trillion; it took
ready to sell on the market. mand for EVs slows. latent technology such as a said Mark Zhou, the head of learn from Chinese rivals. more than 500 trading days for
Foreign carmakers openly NIO, one of China’s leading, spare chip that allows it to NIO’s product committee. Tesla’s Elon Musk and Ford Apple and Microsoft to reach
admit they are chasing the though cash-burning, electric- frequently add new features Zeekr, an EV venture from chief executive Jim Farley that milestone.
game, increasingly wary of vehicle startups, takes less through software updates. decades-old auto giant Geely, have both said their biggest Nvidia has become one of
Chinese rivals they once con- than 36 months from the start “The faster you can intro- can develop vehicles from future threats will be Chinese. the most popular stocks among
sidered also-rans. China’s of a project to delivery to cus- duce a new technology to the scratch in as fast as 24 months. Volkswagen and Nissan are everyday investors. Of the 59
prowess, combined with its tomers, compared with market, provided that it’s a re- It rapidly releases different adopting some Chinese ways Wall Street analysts who cover
global ambitions, is also stok- roughly four years for many liable technology, then the models ranging from SUVs, to be speedier. the stock, 54 rate shares a buy
ing fears it could flood the traditional carmakers. One chance for you to gain market multipurpose vehicles, and Please turn to page B2 or outperform, according to
FactSet. Other chip stocks have
come along for the ride. The

‘Dune: Part Two’ Helps Hollywood End Box-Office Dry Spell PHLX Semiconductor Index
climbed 18% this year. Ad-
vanced Micro Devices gained
37%, while Lam Research and
Broadcom each rose 25%.
The Nasdaq Composite on
Thursday set its first new high
since 2021, while the S&P 500
has already notched 15 record
closes in 2024. Both indexes
have risen in 16 of the past 18
weeks, bringing their year-to-
date advances to 8.4% and 7.7%.
“We’re getting a lot of calls
from clients about AI stocks,”
said Emerson Ham III, senior
partner at Sound View Wealth
Advisors, who has recom-
mended chip stocks for his cli-
ents since 2018. “Whenever
anything goes too well, I get
nervous. We’re having conver-
sations with clients about tak-
ing some cream off the top.”
Others were more blunt:
“The current AI bubble is big-
ger than the 1990s tech bub-
WARNER BROS/EVERETT COLLECTION

ble,” wrote Torsten Slok, chief

economist at Apollo, in a note
to clients last week.
Bulls and bears on the
stock agree on one thing:
Nvidia’s rise is accompanied
by blowout profits. That sets
the enthusiasm over AI apart
The sci-fi sequel starring Timothée Chalamet earned $81.5 million in its opening weekend. The total box office had its first $100 million weekend since January. B3 Please turn to page B2

How to Invest in a Bull Market, INSIDE Conflict Threatens

According to Everyday Investors Key Internet Cables
BY DREW FITZGERALD the cargo ship Rubymar,
BY HARDIKA SINGH rates, whereas cash will likely which was abandoned by its
start to lose its appeal. Tech- Conflict in the Middle East crew after it came under
Exuberance is back in mar- nology and other growth is drawing fresh attention to Houthi attack on Feb. 18. The
kets. A frenzy over artificial- stocks are particularly sensi- one of the internet’s deepest disabled ship had been drift-
intelligence technology has tive to changes in interest vulnerabilities: the Red Sea. ing in the area for more than
stoked a monster run in rates because they are often Most internet traffic be- a week even after it dropped
Nvidia shares. Major stock in- valued based on expectations tween Europe and East Asia its anchor. It later sank.
dexes are clinching repeated of growth far into the future. runs through undersea cables Yemen’s Houthi-backed
records. And even bitcoin is “At the time I felt safe, but TECHNOLOGY that funnel into the narrow telecom ministry in San’a is-
threatening to set a new high. after seeing that things were It’s Elon Musk vs. strait at the southern end of sued a statement denying re-
Financial advisers caution working out a lot better in the Red Sea. That chokepoint sponsibility for the subma-
clients not to let a fear of stocks, I just decided to dump
everyone else in the has long posed risks for tele- rine-cable failures and
missing out drive their deci- it in there,” Buchanan says. battle over artificial com infrastructure because of repeating that the govern-
sion-making. They encourage “While it has been good so intelligence’s future. B4 its busy ship traffic, which ment is “keen to keep all sub-
JORDAN BUCHANAN

them to diversify their hold- far this year, I don’t think raises the likelihood of an ac- marine telecom cables…away
ings and stick with dollar- we’ve really ignited the fire cidental anchor drop striking from any possible risks.” The
cost averaging—investing a that’s gonna take place once a cable. Attacks by Iran- ministry didn’t comment on
fixed amount of money at they start dropping interest backed Houthis in Yemen have the Rubymar attack.
regular intervals—because at- Jordan Buchanan rates.” made the area more danger- Mauritius-based cable
tempts to predict a market Stocks have historically ous. owner Seacom, which owns
CHRISTOPH DERNBACH/DPA/ZUMA PRESS

top or bottom rarely pay off. tioned in Virginia Beach, Va., outpaced other assets over The latest warning sign one of the damaged lines, said
Nonetheless, stock-market opted not to renew his certifi- time. The S&P 500 has re- came Feb. 24, when three sub- fixing it will demand “a fair
records often happen in clus- cate of deposit when it ma- turned more than 10% annu- marine internet cables run- amount of logistics coordina-
ters, they say, and this rally tured in January, even though ally, including dividends, ac- ning through the region sud- tion.” Its head of marketing,
appears to be missing some he could have gotten a 5% cording to data from Ned denly dropped service in some Claudia Ferro, said repairs
of the classic ingredients of a yield. Instead, he plopped Davis Research going back of their markets. The cuts should start early in the sec-
market bubble. That might $10,000 into Nvidia, Super 100 years. In comparison, weren’t enough to disconnect ond quarter, though complica-
suggest the market has more Micro Computer, Ama- corporate bonds and Trea- any country but instantly tions from permitting, re-
room to run. zon.com and Microsoft, surys advanced 5.5% and 5.1%, worsened web service in In- gional unrest and weather
We talked to four individ- among other stocks. His port- respectively, and gold has dia, Pakistan and parts of conditions could move that
ual investors about how they folio is up 17% this year, out- added 4.7%. HEARD ON East Africa, said Doug Ma- timeline.
are adjusting their playbooks. pacing the tech-heavy Nasdaq Buchanan’s optimism is THE STREET dory, director of internet “Our team thinks it is plau-
Composite’s 8.4% advance. shared by others. Charles analysis at network research sible that it could have been
Buchanan says he expects Schwab says bullishness
Apple plays a costly firm Kentik. affected by anchor damage,
Cash can be costly growth stocks will jump even among everyday investors is game of catch-up with It wasn’t immediately clear but this has not been con-
Jordan Buchanan, a 35- higher once the Federal Re- at the highest level since its its rivals in AI. B12 what caused the cutoffs. Some firmed yet,” Ferro said.
year-old Navy officer sta- serve begins cutting interest Please turn to page B10 telecom experts pointed to Please turn to page B2
B2 | Monday, March 4, 2024 * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSES BUSINESS & FINANCE

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople in
today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A B1 P
Chinese EVs
Race to
Adobe.....................................B5,B10 General Motors........................B3 Palantir Technologies......B10
Advanced Micro Devices..B1 Global Infrastructure Panasonic Holdings..............B3
Alibaba Group...........................B5 Partners......................................A6 PayPal..............................................B5
GSK.....................................................B5

The Front
Alphabet....................B5,B10,B12 R
Amazon.com..............B1,B5,B12 H Riot Platforms.......................B10
AMC Entertainment.........B10 Home Depot...............................B5 Roche................................................B5
Apple.....................B1,B5,B10,B12
I S
Arbor Realty Trust.............B10
Arkhouse Management.....A1 Intel....................................................B3 Salesforce......................................B5 Continued from page B1
Invesco BulletShares 2024 Samsung Electronics..........B3
Arm Holdings..........................B10
Corporate Bond ETF.......B5 Sanofi...............................................B5
Global automakers risk fall-
ASML Holding..........................B5 ing behind in the technology if
AstraZeneca................................B5 iShares iBonds Dec 2024 SAP.....................................................B5
Term Corporate ETF.......B5 Shopify............................................B5 they scale back investments as
B
iShares Preferred & Income State Street................................A6 Chinese rivals ramp up. Apple
Baidu.........................................B2,B5 Securities ETF.......................B5 Super Micro Computer has scrapped its EV project and
Barrick Gold.............................B10 B1,B10
Berkshire Hathaway............A6
J Musk said that Tesla will ship
JPMorgan Chase....................A6
T its updated Roadster starting
BlackRock.......................................A1
Taiwan Semiconductor next year, after years of delay.
Boeing..............................................A3 L

ZOEY ZHANG/REUTERS
Manufacturing......................B3
Boyd Gaming.............................B2 Lam Research............................B1 Target...............................................B5
The share of EVs among global
Brigade Capital LG Energy Solution..............B3 Tencent............................................B5 car sales is expected to reach
Management...........................A1 Lockheed Martin....................A3 as high as 40% by 2027 despite
Tesla.........................B1,B4,B5,B10
Broadcom.......................................B1 LVMH Moët Hennessy Twilio.................................................B5 the recent slowdown.
Brookfield Asset
Management..........................A6
Louis Vuitton.........................B5 U Volkswagen is now part-
L’Oréal..............................................B5
C UBS Group.................................B12 nering with Chinese compa- Zeekr creates vehicles from scratch in as little as 24 months. Its hatchback crossover Zeekr X.
M United Microelectronics...A2 nies as it looks to speed up its
CleanSpark.................................B10
Costco Wholesale..................B5
Macy’s...............................................A1 V processes. Its China business teams and 3-D printed proto- NIO’s next update will allow from important software to the
Marathon Digital.................B10 head noted it took the com- types allow engineers to go the vehicle to automatically digital vehicle operating sys-
Vimeo...............................................B5
D Meta Platforms.............B5,B12
Micron Technology...............A2
Volkswagen.................................B2 pany nearly four years to get a through loops of trial and er- start or stop the car depend- tems that executives liken to
Dropbox..........................................B5
Microsoft.......A1,B1,B4,B5,B12 W new product to the market, ror much quicker, executives ing on the traffic signal. the nerve center of smartcars.
F
N Walmart.........................................B5 compared with little more at Zeekr and NIO said. “If the minimum viable EV startup XPeng last year
Flaherty & Crumrine X than 2½ years for local manu- There is no need to wait for product will allow us to take introduced the SEPA2.0, which
Preferred & Income Netflix...............................................B5
Securities Fund....................B5 NIO.......................................................B1 XPeng...............................................B2 facturers. hardware parts to be com- the lead over other competi- combines features including
Ford Motor...................................B1 Northrop Grumman.............A3 Y Global carmakers including pleted to develop assisted tors, that’s attractive enough the operating system, driver-
Fortinet.........................................B10 Novartis..........................................B5 Yangtze Memory Ford and Nissan are now mov- driving and powertrain con- for our users,” Zhou said. assistance software and bat-
Fujian Jinhua Integrated Novo Nordisk.............................B5 Technologies...........................A2 ing to use their China facto- trol software, said Zhu Ling, a tery pack design for use
Circuit...........................................A2 Nvidia...............................B1,B5,B12 Z ries to make cars for export vice president of Zeekr. across all models. XPeng says
G O Zoom Video around the world. China sur- JiYue, an EV brand created Speedy suppliers it shortens research-and-de-
Geely Automobile Holdings Occidental Petroleum.........A6 Communications.................B5 passed Japan as the world’s by Geely and Chinese tech gi- NIO is churning out new velopment cycles by around
top auto exporter last year. ant Baidu, can finish product models even as its losses 20%.
Concerns about China-made design in six months, said CEO mount and the company laid Figuring out software on
INDEX TO PEOPLE cars are increasing. On Thurs-
day, the Biden administration
Joe Xia. He visits the design
studio almost every week,
off 10% of its staff late last
year.
cars and making them gel well
with hardware is one area
said it would investigate for- bringing employees from Global carmakers typically where traditional carmakers
A Grode, Josh..................................B3 T eign car technologies, citing sales, marketing, manufactur- won’t approve new suppliers such as Volkswagen and Toy-
Altman, Sam..............................B4 K Tomasson, Kris.........................B2 potential national security ing, product development and without a lengthy vetting pro- ota have struggled.
B Kahane, Gavriel.......................A4 Tseng, Brandon........................A3 risks from China. The Euro- software. Any design feature cess, industry executives say. XPeng’s approach is in part
Blackwell, Jonathon.............A4 Kuzminov, Maxim...................A1 U pean Union is conducting an changes can be understood by Chinese ones will rope suppli- possible because the carmaker
C L Umeda, Hirokazu....................B3 antisubsidy probe into China’s all so they can make relevant ers in early when conceiving develops software in-house
Cortright, Clare.........................A3 Leo, Leonard...............................A6 V EV makers. changes, he said. a car to avoid back and forth alongside vehicle hardware,
D M Villeneuve, Denis....................B3 German and Japanese car- later. said Brian Gu, the carmaker’s
Dergarabedian, Paul.............B3 Musk, Elon............................B1,B4 W makers have well-defined In the case of BYD, delivery co-president. For global car-
DiPofi, Vince...............................B3
P Wiedman, Mark.......................A6 Innovate and learn standards and guidelines for time from a Japanese mold makers, the software-develop-
F-G X Not all of the ways China is every step in car manufactur- supplier has been cut to ment job was traditionally
Parker, Priya.............................A12
Farley, Jim.....................................B1
Fink, Larry.....................................A1
Perkal, Matt................................A4 Xia, Joe............................................B2 moving ahead are innovations. ing and development, but around six months from at done by external suppliers.
Fung, Baron..............................B12 S Z Automakers in the country are these are barriers to moving least a year since it bought Volkswagen last year obtained
Gelfond, Rich..............................B3 Swan, Allan.................................B3 Zhu Ling.........................................B2 adopting and pushing forward quickly, said Christoph Weber, the company more than a de- a stake in XPeng to partner in
ideas from Tesla, such as fo- the China gen- cade ago. BYD vehicle development and
cusing on upgrading car fea- eral manager did so by in- technology.

Nvidia co-chief investment officer at

LVW Advisors.
Others question whether
tures through software up-
dates. Tesla has been ousted
as the world’s top EV seller by
for AutoForm,
a Swiss com-
pany that
Executives are
more willing to
volving experts
from the sup-
plier to advise Startup spirit
Stirs Talk Nvidia can maintain its torrid
pace of growth. Analysts polled
by FactSet expect $107 billion
China’s BYD.
China’s EV boom is so re-
cent that it remains to be seen
makes simula-
tion software
for car manu-
push new
products to the
on molding
from the early
stage and set
Many Chinese EV makers
operate more like startups
than legacy automakers. They

Of Bubble in revenue for the fiscal year

that ends in January, up from
$60.9 billion last year. They
whether there are any trade-
offs between faster develop-
ment and vehicle safety and
facturing.
NIO, the EV
maker that was
market sooner.
its design ear-
lier in the de-
velopment pro-
have a smaller number of em-
ployees who say they tend to
work longer hours. Executives
worry that demand for chips quality. Chinese carmakers in- once dubbed cess. are more willing to override
Continued from page B1 from large tech companies sist they make no compro- China’s Tesla When Zeekr standard processes to push
from speculative manias of might not hold up in the years mises, but some in the indus- killer, has changed when a car was designing the Zeekr X, a new products to the market
the recent past, such as block- ahead. Nvidia said one buyer try say their focus is on is deemed ready for market. It premium hatchback crossover sooner, experts in the industry
chain stocks. accounted for nearly a fifth of seeking growth first, whereas classifies its releases as “min- with an in-car fridge to keep say, even if it could be harder
In the most recent quarter, sales last year. Others fret fresh legacy carmakers foster a ro- imum viable products.” That drinks cool, it first sourced to fence in risks and costs
Nvidia earned a profit of $12.29 competition will emerge from bust system around meeting means they have more ad- the appliance from a well- when things go wrong.
billion, up from $680 million in other chip makers, resulting in safety and quality standards. vanced chips, cameras or sen- known manufacturer. But the At NIO, the next model’s
the three months that ended in fewer sales or lower margins. As Chinese carmakers have sors than its software can supplier’s quote was too ex- design emerges from various
October 2022. Gross profit mar- “I think people are forget- moved to produce software- support at the time. Engi- pensive and delivery would be pitches sent in by its car de-
gins rose to nearly 76%, from ting this is a boom-and-bust driven smart EVs, many devel- neers continue to develop too slow, said Zhu. The com- signers based in Munich and
53.6% over that same period. company,” said Fred Hickey, opment steps are taken in par- tech and later send over-the- pany picked a smaller manu- in China. CEO William Li at-
As a result, the stock has be- editor of the High-Tech Strat- allel, executives say. air updates to drivers that ex- facturer that specializes in tends weekly design meetings
come cheaper by some mea- egist. He is betting against Traditionally, making gas- ploit unused capabilities. outdoor fridges and was able with the help of identical clay
sures: Nvidia trades at 32 times Nvidia through long-dated put powered cars was a linear NIO’s ES7 SUV carried four to deliver within a year in- mock-ups in both countries
its expected earnings over the options purchased after last process—from design to engi- Nvidia Orin chips when it was stead of two. and calls the shots on the final
next 12 months, according to month’s earnings report, he neering to manufacturing, released in June 2022, but “In the age of EVs, whether design for all future models.
FactSet. The two-year price-to- said. Nvidia shares have fallen each step had to be completed only three were in use. The your car is launched six This is different from many
earnings average is 38 times. 50% or more on 14 occasions and validated before the next. fourth chip was activated last months earlier or later, the Western carmakers, where de-
The S&P 500’s multiple is 20.6. since it went public in 1999, Chinese EV companies year to boost computing market condition is totally dif- sign options are sent through
“We can’t call it a specula- according to Dow Jones Mar- heavily use simulation soft- speed, so a traffic light signal ferent,” Zhu said. different departments for re-
tive mania because it trades at ket Data. Most recently, the ware to create virtual proto- appears on the car screen China’s carmakers are in- view, a much lengthier pro-
lower P/E than it did a year stock fell 56% over a two- types and run tests in more it- with a real-time countdown. creasingly standardizing their cess, said NIO’s design chief
ago. Nvidia is talking the talk month period in 2018 and erations and in faster time. Another update means the car models to cut time. Beyond tra- Kris Tomasson, who previ-
and walking the walk,” said again over an eight-month pe- Virtual parts and mock-ups sends a notification when a ditional mechanical platforms, ously worked with Ford and
Joseph Zappia, principal and riod ending in 2022. can be worked on between traffic signal turns green. they standardize everything BMW.

Internet Submarine
ubma
u
ubmarin
bm
marin
arin
rin
ne cabl
cables
ables
JORDAN IRAQ
KUWAIT
KUW
UWA
UW
WA
W A
AIT
ITT
IRAN

Cables Are Persian

Gulf

Threatened SAUDI
BAHRAIN
BA
A RA
AHRAIN
AHRA
AIN
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N

CONGRATULATIONS
EGYPT ARABIA Riyadh QATAR
QA
ATAR
Muscat
Mus
scat
Continued from page B1 U.A.E.
U.A
A .E.
Cable ships’ lumbering
speed makes draping new Jeddah
ddah OMAN
OM
lines near contested waters a
dangerous and expensive task.
The cost to insure some cable
Founders
ships near Yemen surged ear-
lier this year to as much as
Mike Cherkasky and
M
Major internet underwater
$150,000 a day, according to SUDAN
UDAN ccables funnel through Michael Beber, CEO
people familiar with the mat- Red
ter. ERITREA
RIT REA
A
Sea tthe Bab
Ba al-Mandeb Strait
Brandon Daniels and
Yemen’s nearly decadelong
civil war further complicates
Asmara
A ara
Asma San’a
YEMEN the entire Exiger team
matters. Houthi rebels control
much of the western portion
on the transaction with
of the country along the Red
Sea, while the country’s inter-
Gulf of Aden Arabian
Sea Carlyle and Insight Partners
nationally recognized govern- ETHIOPIA
THIOPIA DJIBOUTI D
Djibouti
Djibo
jibo
jib
jibou
oouti
uuti
ti and your next phase of
ment holds the east. Compa-
nies building cables in the continued success!
region have sought licenses Ababa
Addis Ababa
from regulators on both sides SOMALIA
of the conflict to avoid antag-
onizing either authority, other Source: TeleGeography Providing growth equity
people familiar with the mat-
ter say. tercontinental data traffic Committee, a U.K.-based in- bia, for instance, could skirt and an Approach to
The mounting cost of doing moves by sea, according to dustry group. the waters around Yemen al- Building Value (ABV) for
business also threatens tech network research firm Tele- “Having alternative paths together. But many national
giants’ efforts to expand the Geography. Submarine cables around congested areas such regulators charge high fees or technology-enabled businesses
internet. The Google-backed can be simpler and less ex- as the Red Sea has always impose other hurdles that
Blue-Raman system and Face- pensive to build than overland been important, though per- make sticking to tried-and-
book’s 2Africa cable both pass routes, but going underwater haps magnified in times of true routes more attractive.
through the region and re- comes with its own risks. Ca- conflict,” ICPC general man- “The industry, as with any
main under construction. Two ble operators report about 150 ager Ryan Wopschall said. industry, reacts to the condi-
more telecom-company- service faults a year, mostly Several internet companies tions set upon it, and routing
backed projects also are caused by accidental damage have considered ways to di- in Yemen waters is a result of
scheduled to build lines from fishing and anchor drag- versify their connections be- this,” Wopschall said.
through the Red Sea. ging, according to the Inter- tween Europe, Africa and —Benoit Faucon
Most of the internet’s in- national Cable Protection Asia. Routes across Saudi Ara- contributed to this article.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | B3

BUSINESS NEWS

Asian Manufacturers Hit Snags in U.S.

Efforts to build cure more funding, some ana-
lysts and government officials
plants stateside are say.
disrupted by high “It’s true that the cost of
materials has gone up. It’s
costs, other troubles also true that building costs
and environmental standards
BY RIVER DAVIS are higher in the U.S. than
some other popular manufac-
When Panasonic last year turing destinations,” said Greg
raised the first steel beam on LeRoy, executive director of
a new $4 billion electric-vehi- Good Jobs First, a nonprofit
cle battery plant in Kansas, research group that is often
the company might not have critical of subsidies.
realized how prophetic its “But are companies not
opening remarks would be. getting enough money to off-
“This first piece of steel is set all that? Sounds like croco-
so much more than simply a dile tears to me,” LeRoy said.
piece of material,” Allan Swan, In many cases, states have
president of Panasonic Energy competed with each other to
in North America, said at the lure new projects, resulting in
time. substantial incentives for big-
He was right: The metal has name foreign and domestic
turned into a symbol of the manufacturers. Panasonic’s

CHARLIE RIEDEL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

high costs plaguing Panasonic Kansas plant is in line to re-
and other Asian manufactur- ceive around $1.27 billion in
ers building factories in the state and local subsidies on
U.S. Steel prices have risen top of billions of dollars in
more than 70% since 2020, federal incentives, according
one reason Panasonic has to data compiled by Good Jobs
burned through a large por- First.
tion of its initial budget for In Kansas, officials praised
the plant, people involved in Workers assembled the framework of a $4 billion Panasonic electric-vehicle battery plant in May 2023, near DeSoto, Kan. Panasonic’s plant as the
the project said. state’s biggest-ever economic-
The U.S. is trying to lure the IRA, difficulties have having to wait more than 100 ways that we hadn’t antici- faster-than-expected cash development project. The bat-
more East Asia industrial gi- emerged that have led compa- weeks to get deliveries of pated,” said Kenneth Simon- burn in Kansas has made it tery facility is expected to
ants, even as they face chal- nies to delay existing projects components such as switch- son, chief economist at the hard for the company to move generate $2.5 billion in eco-
lenges. and hold off from new ones. gear and transformers that Associated General Contrac- forward quickly with building nomic activity and more than
Taiwan chip maker Taiwan “A year ago, it was, ‘Let’s help regulate and transmit tors of America, a construc- another similar plant in North 20,000 jobs.
Semiconductor Manufactur- get to market,’ ” said Vince electricity for factories, people tion-industry trade group. America. The problem for some for-
ing Co. has delayed the open- DiPofi, chief executive of in the industry say. Simonson’s group has Panasonic had eyed Okla- eign manufacturers lured to
ing of two chip plants in Ari- SSOE, an Ohio-based architec- Adding to the challenges flagged soaring costs in many homa for its third EV-battery the U.S. by Biden administra-
zona, South Korea’s LG ture and engineering firm that are higher costs. At the end of goods and services that facto- plant in the U.S., but it said tion subsidy programs is that
Energy scrapped plans for a designs U.S. facilities for over- last year, prices related to the ries need, such as lumber, ply- late last year that the state they mapped out initial bud-
battery plant in Indiana, and seas and domestic clients. construction of new industrial wood and truck transporta- was no longer a candidate. In gets based on prices before
Samsung Electronics is re- “Now people are taking a step buildings were roughly one- tion. February, Panasonic’s chief fi- the construction boom, people
portedly racking up billions of back.” third higher than they were Last year, LG Energy nancial officer, Hirokazu Um- with knowledge of their oper-
dollars in added costs at a Supply chains for the parts three years earlier, according scrapped plans for a fourth EV eda, said the company was fo- ations say.
semiconductor plant it is needed in battery and semi- to the U.S. Bureau of Labor battery plant it was going to cusing on taming costs and Simonson, from the con-
building in Texas. conductor plants have tradi- Statistics. build with General Motors in making its existing factories struction-industry trade
With its Inflation Reduction tionally been centered in East Asian companies aren’t the Indiana after hitting cost more efficient. group, said he believed infla-
Act, the Chips and Science Act Asia. To meet the subsidy re- only ones affected. Intel is de- overruns at three other bat- He said it wouldn’t an- tion would prove transitory
and other programs, the Biden quirements in the U.S. legisla- laying a $20 billion chip-man- tery facilities it was building nounce an additional EV-bat- and conditions would smooth
administration sought to lure tion, companies in Japan, ufacturing project in Ohio ow- in the U.S. Construction and tery plant by this month, pre- out over the next few years.
Asian companies to bring South Korea and Taiwan have ing to market challenges and a material costs were the reason viously the target date for a “You will see projects can-
their manufacturing expertise had to find U.S. suppliers for a slow rollout of U.S. govern- behind Samsung’s higher out- decision. celed, paused and pushed
to the U.S. large portion of those materi- ment grant money, The Wall lays at its chip plant under Others say subsidies more back. Some will lower their
The administration suc- als and components. Street Journal reported. construction in Taylor, Texas, than offset challenges associ- capacity and others will get
ceeded in triggering a building In recent months, the sud- “The attempt to develop Reuters reported. Samsung ated with building in the U.S. built according to original
boom. But a year and a half den influx of demand has at new industries in the U.S. has declined to comment. Companies’ complaints may plans at a much higher cost,”
after President Biden signed times resulted in customers upended supply chains in People at Panasonic say its be a negotiation tactic to se- he said.

‘Dune’ Sequel
Leads to Year’s
Best Weekend
BY ROBBIE WHELAN for 22.7% of ticket sales for
“Dune: Part Two,” the com-
Hollywood was waiting for pany’s largest percentage
a savior. In “Dune: Part Two,” ever, and at $18.5 million in
the latest installment of direc- box-office gross, represented
WARNER BROS/EVERETT COLLECTION

tor Denis Villeneuve’s science- IMAX’s largest March opening

fiction epic, it may have found ever. In New York City, 15
one. morning IMAX showings of
The “Dune” sequel, distrib- the “Dune” sequel were sold
uted by Warner Bros. and an- out.
chored by a glittery cast of “You can’t get a ticket until
next-generation movie stars three weeks from now,” said
including Timothée Chalamet, Rich Gelfond, IMAX’s chief ex-
Zendaya, Austin Butler and ecutive, who called the movie The strong showing of ‘Dune: Part Two’ led the domestic box office to its first $100 million weekend since January.
Florence Pugh, sold $81.5 mil- a “massive cultural moment.”
lion worth of tickets in the Based on the 1965 novel by Ridley Scott. In 1984, cult di- which produced “Dune: Part audience. When you saw them Part Two” came Paramount’s
U.S. and Canada. The strong Frank Herbert and set thou- rector David Lynch directed a Two,” especially because sci- out there promoting the “Bob Marley: One Love,” the
showing led the domestic box sands of years in the future version starring Kyle Ma- ence fiction isn’t considered movie, you saw that they re- biopic of the reggae star,
office to its first $100 million during an age of space explo- cLachlan in the lead role and the most accessible genre to ally liked being with each which added $7.4 million to its
weekend since January, when ration and colonization, featuring music by the rock mass audiences. other, you really felt the domestic total gross of $82.8
a musical version of “Mean “Dune: Part Two” focuses on band Toto. The movie under- “We needed the Zendayas chemistry.” million. Lionsgate’s “Ordinary
Girls” opened. Paul Atreides, played by Cha- performed at the box office. and the Timothées and the Comscore estimated that all Angels,” a faith-based film
Going into the weekend, lamet, the scion of a royal The first Villeneuve “Dune” Austins and the Florences out movies in theaters this week- about a Kentucky community’s
2024’s total box-office sales family that has been deci- movie seemed destined to there,” Grode said. “They’re end grossed $112 million, the lifesaving efforts during a
trailed those of 2023 by 20%, mated by war and betrayal. meet the same fate, as it was going to be the ones who are highest domestic weekend to- 1994 snowstorm, added $3.8
according to box office tracker Atreides is stranded on the released in September of 2021, going to talk to the non-sci-fi tal of the year. Behind “Dune: million to a $12.6 million total.
Comscore. After the weekend, desert planet of Arrakis, an near the height of a surge in
tickets sales this year lag be- inhospitable landscape Covid-19 cases. Jason Kilar,
hind 2023 by 13%. plagued by sandstorms and then-chief of WarnerMedia,
“‘Dune: Part Two’ couldn’t gigantic sandworms that de- then parent of the studio that
have come at a better time for vour any who intrude on its distributed the movie, made
movie theaters,” said Paul dunes. Himself a messianic the controversial decision to
Dergarabedian, Comscore’s se- figure, Atreides must win the release “Dune,” along with the
nior media analyst. “The
much-talked-about box-office
momentum that has been
trust of the Fremen, a local
population involved in a long-
standing insurgency against
rest of its movie slate, simul-
taneously in theaters and on
the streaming service then
Jump on this
sorely lacking thus far in ’24
gets a jump-start.”
The movie delivered strong
results for IMAX, the large-
the outsiders who come to ex-
tract the planet’s supply of
“spice,” a hallucinogenic pow-
der that helps facilitate space
known as HBO Max.
Villeneuve criticized the
decision, known internally at
WarnerMedia as “Project Pop-
one today.
format theater owner that travel. corn,” and the leadership of
provides filmmakers with “Dune” has for half a cen- his talent agency sent the stu-
technology that allows them tury been a white whale for a dio a letter calling it “the epit- Open an HIGH YIELD SAVINGS

4.75
to shoot scenes in high-resolu- series of Hollywood directors, ome of a self-interested corpo-
account today at
tion for the largest screens.
IMAX screens accounted
including Arthur P. Jacobs,
Alejandro Jodorowsky and
rate maneuver intended to
benefit your company while
synchronybank.com/wj
%
APY*
wreaking havoc on the indus-
Estimated Box-Office Figures, Through Sunday try.”
Sales, In Millions The movie went on to gross
Film Distributor Weekend* Cumulative % Change $108.9 million in domestic No monthly fees
theaters and $433.8 million
1.
Dune: Part
Warner Bros. $81.5 $81.5 — worldwide.
No minimum balance
Two
The sequel also ran into
Bob Marley: timing problems. Originally
2. Paramount $7.4 $82.8 -45
One Love set to be released in Novem-
Ordinary ber, while Hollywood actors
3. Lionsgate $3.9 $12.6 -38
Angels were on strike and unavailable *ANNUAL PERCENTAGE YIELD (APY): APY is accurate as of 1/1/24. APY is subject to
4. Madame Web Sony $3.2 $40.4 -46 to promote the film, its pro- change at any time without notice. Offer applies to personal accounts only. Fees may
ducers decided to delay the reduce earnings. For High Yield Savings accounts, the rate may change after the account
The Chosen: movie’s release until March. is opened. Visit synchronybank.com for current rates, terms and account requirements.
5. Season 4 Fathom Events $3.2 $3.9 — The decision proved conse-
Episodes 7-8 quential, said Josh Grode, CEO © 2024 Synchrony Bank
*Friday, Saturday and Sunday in North American theaters Source: Comscore of Legendary Entertainment,
B4 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

TECHNOLOGY WSJ.com/Tech

TIM HIGGINS

Musk vs. Everyone: A New Fight in AI

T
he AI wars have lions in hardware to have a
begun, and the hu- seat at the adult table rather
mans are throwing than the kiddies’ table and
the first punches. next year it’s probably in the
Elon Musk in the tens of billions of hardware
past week or so has been to remain at the adults’ ta-
working to make it all about ble.”
his nascent xAI against the

T
Big Dogs. he expense behind cre-
The billionaire through ating the technology is
tweets and litigation is fram- what necessitated Ope-
ing his rivals as fundamen- nAI’s evolution as an organi-
tally flawed and unworthy: zation beyond being a simple
Google is woke, Microsoft is not-for-profit, Altman has
overreaching and Sam Alt- said.
man is two-faced. OpenAI concluded it
Musk isn’t messing wasn’t equipped to operate

MICHAEL KOVAC/GETTY IMAGES FOR VANITY FAIR

around when it comes to as a not-for-profit because it
what he has described as the was becoming too costly for
“civilizational risk” that AI the amounts of computer
carries if it falls into the power needed to train the
wrong hands—or the poten- software that mimics the
tial fortunes it could create way humans think.
for whoever cracks the cod- “No one wanted to fund
ing to breathe humanlike this in any way,” Altman told
reasoning into machines. The Wall Street Journal last
A 35-page complaint filed year. “It was a really hard
in a San Francisco court late time.”
Thursday is built on what Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and Sam Altman, now head of OpenAI, in 2015, before Musk parted with OpenAI in 2018. The solution was to create
Musk describes as the hypoc- a for-profit arm. This struc-
risy of Altman. According to where he is chief executive, the OpenAI lawsuit, Musk would *allow* him to fix it,” Around the same time, ture allowed Altman to raise
the lawsuit, when Altman to develop humanoid robots. was on X doing his best to Musk said. “Unless those Musk was also complaining the billions of dollars he be-
and Musk started OpenAI When announcing xAI in highlight weaknesses in both who caused this are exited in numerous tweets about lieved was needed to carry
years ago they agreed it July, Musk said his prefer- Google and Microsoft. from Google, nothing will buying a new computer only on the mission, including
would be a not-for-profit en- ence, after years of warning He amplified criticisms change, except to make the to find that he was being commitments for as much as
tity to counter the greed of about the dangers of the that Google’s AI chatbot, bias less obvious and more asked to create a Microsoft $13 billion from Microsoft,
Google—only to have OpenAI, technology, would have been dubbed Gemini, was giving pernicious.” account, which, he claimed, giving the technology giant
under Altman’s control, later a pause in developing ad- responses around race and “means giving their AI ac- effectively a 49% stake in the

G
pivot toward moneymaking vanced versions of AI that ethnicity that seemed to oogle Chief Executive cess to my account.” earnings of OpenAI’s for-
ventures with Microsoft. seek to achieve—what he some users as overly politi- Sundar Pichai told his He later added that “since profit arm.
Musk parted with OpenAI in calls—digital superintelli- cally correct and, in some staff the chatbot’s re- they now require that you And Musk isn’t the only
2018 after a dispute. gence. cases, laughably wrong when sponses were unacceptable use their services just to use one claiming the moral high
He said such hope it came to history, such as and pledged to “fix it at your computer, @Microsoft ground. Altman has framed

T
he lawsuit claims that “doesn’t seem realistic.” showing Nazi-era German scale.” can effectively shut off your his efforts in a similar way,
OpenAI and Altman— Instead, Musk is offering soldiers as being racially di- All of the attention was computer!” worrying about what could
by doing deals with up xAI as an alternative to verse. worse than just bad head- As Musk casts aspersions happen if AI is deployed
Microsoft—have chosen to rivals, which he has accused “Given that the Gemini AI lines for Google. on Google and Microsoft, his recklessly.
use their AI technology “not of having liberal biases. He will be at the heart of every “Gemini is not just a PR lawsuit reopens questions Neither man’s take, per-
for the benefit of humanity, describes his effort as seek- Google product and YouTube, disaster—worse, it’s a re- about Altman’s ambitions— haps, is that surprising. The
but as proprietary technol- ing good and being “maxi- this is extremely alarming!” cruiting disaster,” tweeted questions OpenAI had hoped burgeoning field of AI is full
ogy to maximize profits for mally curious.” Musk tweeted this past Lulu Cheng Meservey, a to move past. Late last year, of heady thoughts, including
literally the largest company “There’s some value to week. longtime tech executive and Altman was briefly fired as a question that carries hues
in the world.” there being multiple players That tweet was one of former chief communications CEO by the company’s board, of godlike hubris: Does an AI
No mention was made in in the AI space,” Musk said several criticisms he posted officer at Activision Blizzard. which said it had lost confi- take on the image of its
the lawsuit of Musk’s own AI last month during a public that eventually, according to “Imagine being a researcher dence in him, only to be maker?
ambitions separate from event on his social-media Musk, brought a call from a who worked long and hard brought back amid pressure It’s a debate Musk wel-
OpenAI, such as his founding platform, X. “You don’t want high-ranking Google execu- on Gemini Pro 1.5 to have the from Microsoft. comes.
of xAI last year as a rival or it to be just a monopoly or tive to assure him steps were technical accomplishment be Musk also has acknowl- “If that is true, in whose
its launch of its own chatbot duopoly.” being taken to fix things. overshadowed by this non- edged the spending war to image would you want the
called Grok to compete Think Coke vs. Pepsi but “My response to him was sense. Why would new top fund AI companies’ develop- AI to be made?” Musk asked
against Altman’s ChatGPT. with robot minds at stake. that I doubted that Google’s talent accept a job offer from ment, saying recently it will last month. “People should
Or Musk’s work at Tesla, And, in the days before woke bureaucratic blob a place like that?” take “at least single digit bil- think about that.”

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 JOURNAL REPORT
© 2024
0 Dow
ow Jones & Company. All
ll Rights Reserved.
Rese ved. NV S NG MONTHLY
INVESTING ON Monday, March 4, 2024 | B5

has a neutral monetary stance.

“The interest-rate risk is dimin-
ishing over time, hence making
preferred stock more appealing
for income-oriented investors,”
he says.
Preferred stocks have a simi-
lar profile to long-term bonds as
both have a par value (typically
$25 for preferred stock) and pay
income. Preferreds also sit higher
in the capital structure if a com-
pany liquidates, behind bonds
but before common stock.
Investors interested in owning
preferred stock can buy individ-
ual company shares, Conners
says, or they can look to ETFs
and closed-end funds. ETFs and
closed-end funds offer investors
diversification and potential
price appreciation if rates fall.
Closed-end funds issue a fixed
number of shares when they
launch and no new shares are
created; they trade at a discount
or premium to their net asset
value throughout the day.
Conners says he has used Fla-
herty & Crumrine Preferred &
Income Securities Fund (FFC), a
closed-end fund with a yield of
6.9% and trading at a 11.9% dis-
count. It uses leverage to boost
its yield.
A popular ETF is iShares Pre-
ferred & Income Securities ETF
(PFF), which has a yield of 6.5%.
Although preferred shares are
less volatile than common stock,
their prices will still move, so in-
vestors should accept that prices
could fall. Omar Qureshi, manag-

4 Ways to Lock In Yields Above 5%

ing partner with Hightower
Wealth Advisors in St. Louis,
says investors also must keep in
mind that like corporate bonds,
preferreds are subject to credit
With interest rates likely to fall, now is the time to act to preserve today’s higher income risk and duration risk. Duration
is a measure of interest-rate risk
tied to a bond’s or bond fund’s
maturity, yield and other factors.
BY DEBBIE CARLSON ble to those on certificates of de- may have stiff early-surrender invest the matured-bond pro- However, if rates fall, fund in-
posit but for longer periods. In charges that eat up anywhere ceeds once the fund is close to vestors could benefit from price

W
addition to competitive rates, from 5% to 8% of the value. Buy- maturity differ slightly between appreciation, he says.
ITH SOME MYGA earnings aren’t taxed until ers should invest money they the providers and the individual
money-market the money is taken out. don’t need to access immediately. fund type. Generally, proceeds
mutual funds and Terms range from two to 10 are invested in Treasury bills 4. Exchange-traded debt
high-yield savings years, and unlike other annuity and/or cash until the fund ma- Companies that issue preferred
accounts still products, buyers can invest as lit- 2. Defined-maturity ETFs tures at its predetermined end stock may also issue exchange-
sporting 5% yields, it is easy to be tle as $2,500. For example, as of These investments combine the date, such as 2024. traded debt, sometimes called
complacent and let cash sit. But Feb. 14, ImmediateAnnuities.com certainty of holding an individual Currently, Invesco Bullet- baby bonds because these are
with the Federal Reserve likely to listed a $10,000 five-year MYGA bond to its maturity with the Shares 2024 Corporate Bond smaller debt denominations and
begin cutting interest rates later from A-minus-rated Liberty Bank- transparency, liquidity and low ETF (BSCO) has a yield to matu- can be more accessible to individ-
this year—recent hot inflation ers Life for 5.4%, above the 4.6% costs of an exchange-traded fund. rity of 5.5%, while iShares iBo- ual investors. Similar to preferred
readings notwithstanding—such top rate for a five-year bank CD The funds generally pay monthly nds Dec 2024 Term Corporate stock, these are typically issued
high yields are likely to come listed on Bankrate.com. income, and when they mature, ETF (IBDP) yields 5.6%. in $25 denominations and can be
down quickly. James Sahagian, certified fi- the ETF liquidates and the owner Investors can purchase a sin- traded like stocks in a brokerage
To get ahead of Fed rate cuts nancial planner and managing di- is paid the net asset value on the gle fund, or buy several to create account, says Damon Southward,
whenever they may come, invest- rector of Ramapo Wealth Advi- number of shares that are a typical bond ladder. The funds’ chief market strategist at Brief-
ment managers are looking to sors at Steward Partners in owned. fees range between 0.07% to ing.com. He says recent deals
lock in yields for anywhere from Ramsey, N.J., says these high Christine Benz, director of 0.43% annually. have come to market with fixed
one to five years to preserve to- rates spurred him to buy more personal finance and retirement Ronnie Thompson, owner of but callable yields of 8% to 9%.
day’s higher income. “If you park fixed-rate annuities in the past planning at Morningstar, says True North Advisors in North- He likes baby bonds over pre-
in money-market funds, and the year than he has in the 25 years she thinks these products are ville, Mich., also appreciates that ferred shares at this moment be-
Fed at some point begins to he has been a financial adviser. good for individual investors. “It these are liquid, unlike individual cause of the higher yields and
lower policy rates, your yield is But they aren’t for everyone can be really difficult to be diver- bonds. “You would sell it at the the lower volatility versus the
just going to erode quickly,” says and there are risks potential buy- sified as a small bondholder buy- coupon rate at the time, and preferred stocks.
Thomas Urano, co-chief invest- ers should know about. ing individual corporate bonds, there’s no penalty. You may just Buyers can find baby bonds
ment officer at Sage Advisory First, these are insurance- whereas this addresses that is- lose out on some of the mature on their brokerage platform by
Services in Austin, Texas. company-backed products and sue,” she says of these ETFs. interest,” he says, if it is sold be- searching for bond IPOs to see
Depending on a person’s risk not covered by the Federal De- Invesco and BlackRock domi- fore the maturity date. recent issues, he says, as there
tolerance, time horizon and fi- posit Insurance Corp. Before buy- nate the area with their Bullet- aren’t any funds specializing in
nancial plan, investors have sev- ing these annuities, then, advis- Shares and iBond funds. Both is- baby bonds. Southward says that
eral paths they can take. Here are ers say that investors should suers offer ETFs for investment- 3. Preferred stocks although most of the recently is-
four relatively low-risk ways to check the insurers’ ratings and grade corporate, high-yield and Preferred stocks, which are con- sued debt has a five-year matu-
take advantage of higher yields. recommend that they stick with municipal bonds, while BlackRock sidered a hybrid between com- rity, much of it is callable in two
insurers rated A-minus or above. also offers funds holding U.S. mon stock and bonds, are an- years, meaning the company can
Ratings can be found on the dif- Treasurys and Treasury inflation- other option for investors, says redeem it before the maturity
1. MYGAs ferent ratings firms’ websites, protected securities. The funds Steven Conners, founder and date and pay investors the call
Multiyear guaranteed annuities, such as A.M. Best, or through hold hundreds of bonds, allocated president of Conners Wealth price, plus accrued interest.
or MYGAs as these fixed-rate an- many states’ insurance regula- according to their effective matu- Management in Scottsdale, Ariz.
nuities are commonly known, can tors. rity date. The diversification re- He says preferred stocks be- Debbie Carlson is a writer in
JON KRAUSE

be a good option for savers who Second, like most annuities, duces the impact of default risk. come more attractive when over- Chicago. She can be reached at
are looking for returns compara- these products are illiquid and The nuances of how the ETFs all inflation is falling and the Fed reports@wsj.com.

Once a Stock Trend

Has Been Named,
Its Best Days Are
Likely in the Past
BY DEREK HORSTMEYER we researched was:

O
• Watch—for retailers Walmart,
NCE A stock-market Amazon.com, Target, Costco
trend has been identified Wholesale and Home Depot.
and named—think
FAANG or the Magnifi- • FANG—for tech titans Facebook
cent Seven—the headiest gains parent Meta Platforms, Amazon,
are typically past. But riding a Netflix and Google parent Alpha-
trend after it has been named can bet.
deliver market-beating returns for
another year or so before the • FAANG—for Facebook, Amazon,
trade loses momentum and gives Apple (the second A after 2017),
back some of the gains. Netflix and Google.
To study the performance of
named stock-market trends, my • Granola—for big European com-
research assistants (Matthew panies GSK, Roche, Nestlé,
Rickard and Camila Marín Builes) L’Oréal, LVMH Moët Hennessy • MT SAAS—for cloud-computing • Cloud—for emerging cloud-com- cloud were omitted because of
and I did a deep-dive on eight Louis Vuitton, Novartis, Novo players Microsoft, Twilio, Sales- puting stocks, notably PayPal, overlap with other named trends,
named trends over the past 10 Nordisk, ASML Holding, Astra- force, Adobe, Amazon and Zoom Video Communications, Vi- and their inclusion wouldn’t have
years that were popularized by Zeneca, SAP and Sanofi. Shopify. meo, Dropbox, Alphabet, Adobe changed results.
the mainstream media and cov- and Salesforce
ALEX NABAUM

ered by more than three such • The Magnificent Seven—for tech • BAT—for Chinese tech firms Smaller named trends like From first mention
organizations. giants Nvidia, Tesla, Meta, Apple, Baidu, Alibaba Group and Ten- Mamaa (Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Next, we identified the first date
The final list of named trends Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft. cent. Amazon and Alphabet) and Em- Please turn to page B6
B6 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

JOURNAL REPORT | INVESTING MONTHLY

How to Avoid the ‘Survivor Trap’

Taxes often spike when a spouse dies. But there are several strategies to lessen the hit.
BY CHERYL WINOKUR MUNK occurred between the original burden, she says. bracket, outright or in trust, losses to offset ordinary income.
purchase and the spouse’s death. One way to increase charita- Mela says. What’s more, the Internal Reve-

S
Also, you would be taxed at long- ble contributions outside of sav- This accomplishes two things nue Service allows taxpayers to
POUSES WHO lose a term capital-gains rates, which are ings is by employing a qualified for the gift-giver. It lowers the carry forward unused losses in
loved one often are typically lower than the ordinary charitable distribution, or QCD, giver’s gross estate and lowers excess of $3,000 and there is no
blindsided when they rates paid on RMDs, Smith says. directly from a traditional IRA. the surviving spouse’s tax bill. limit on the amount or time
discover they have to Another strategy is to convert Up to $100,000 of an RMD can be You can gift up to $18,000 in frame.
pay higher taxes—a traditional individual retirement donated to charity tax-free, 2024 without triggering the gift-
situation known as accounts to Roth IRAs. You pay says Ekaterina Klimentova, a tax filing requirement. But even 5. Use an age disparity
the “survivor trap.” tax on the conversion, but RMDs partner in the New York office of if you exceed that, it only means Klimentova worked with a
But with careful planning, there aren’t required with Roth IRAs wealth-and-tax advisory firm a gift-tax reporting requirement woman in her 60s whose hus-
are ways to mitigate the band was in his 80s
blow. when he died. There
The survivor trap was a high RMD associ-
arises in the years after ated with his IRA. Had
a spouse dies, when the it remained an inherited
surviving spouse transi- IRA, the RMDs would
tions to filing as a single have continued based on
taxpayer and often sees a the age and life expec-
higher tax bill. Some- tancy of her deceased
times this occurs be- husband, amounting to
cause the changed filing about $70,000 a year of
status bumps a surviving distributions.
spouse into a higher tax The surviving spouse
bracket even if income was able to do a spousal
remains the same. In rollover IRA, and be-
other cases, spouses find cause of her age she
themselves ensnared be- didn’t have to take
cause filing single lowers RMDs, which eliminated
or eliminates certain tax a whole piece of ordi-
breaks that are available nary income from her
to married couples. tax return.
These realities tend to For a younger surviv-
hit especially hard dur- ing spouse, this option
ing retirement when the also affords the possibil-
annual withdrawals ity of contributing to
known as required mini- the IRA every year to
mum distributions, or the extent he or she has
RMDs, enter the picture. earned income. Plus, the
Surviving spouses can RMD itself may be
sidestep the trap to some smaller because of the
extent by planning ahead difference in calculation
or making strategic of RMD for IRA owners
moves as a widow or versus IRA beneficiaries.
widower, financial advis- Even if the spouses
ers say. The goal isn’t to are close in age, it may
avoid taxes completely, be a good idea to do it,
says Bill Smith, national as any extra year of tax-
director of tax technical deferred growth is valu-
services at CBIZ’s tax ad- able. But with spouses
visory group in Cleve- who are close in age,
land, but to manage the benefit is less, she
things so “a surviving says.
spouse isn’t crushed by
both a drop in income and an in- unless inherited from a non- Cerity Partners. If you choose and no actual taxes, unless you 6. Move
crease in taxes.” spouse. RMDs begin the year an this route, she cautions, you can’t exceed your lifetime exclusion A single spouse might also con-
Here are six strategies to help account holder reaches 73—rising itemize the contribution on your limit of $13.61 million, Mela says. sider selling the family home and
mitigate the survivor trap: to age 75 in 2033. tax return and you must follow moving to a state with lower in-
There are several consider- specific rules for QCDs or you 4. Capital loss harvesting come taxes, Mela says. Or maybe
1. Taxable accounts ations with a Roth conversion could face a tax hit. Investors who have capital gains you want to live part of the year
Financial professionals advise strategy, however, includ- Another potential tax-savings from selling securities, or who in Florida and partially in an-
couples to position certain in- ing the upfront tax bill, and when option is to compress the chari- own mutual funds that distribute other state. Moving to Florida for
vestments before retirement to the money could be needed, says table contributions capital gains, can at least a majority of the year
increase their flexibility to miti- Duncan Campbell, private-wealth you would normally use a capital-loss- could be a good choice because
gate a large tax hit after one practice leader at Chicago-based have made over two harvesting strat- there is no state income tax
spouse dies. Baker Tilly. years into one. With RMDs can egy within the there.
One way to do this is to make this strategy, you complicate taxes portfolio to offset There are caveats to changing
sure you have some investments 2. Charitable contributions itemize the year you the gains, says Mi- your home state for tax purposes,
within taxable accounts that Another move to consider is con- make the larger- for widows and chael Prinzo, man- so you don’t inadvertently wind
aren’t going to be subject to tributing more to charity so you than-normal contri- aging principal of up getting chased after by audi-
RMDs. You can use these invest- are able to itemize expenses and bution and take the
widowers. tax at accounting tors. For example, you have to
ments for income as needed, but bump up deductions, says Lisa standard deduction Plan ahead. firm CliftonLarson- show—with adequate documenta-
you aren’t forced to make with- M. Mela, a certified public ac- the following. Allen in Greenwood tion—that it is a legitimate move
drawals each year and can use countant who heads the trust Village, Colo. That and not something being done to
other strategies to minimize tax and estates practices at SAX in 3. Gifting is, sell losers to evade higher taxes. “They can be
consequences. Parsippany, N.J. A standard de- Another option to mitigate the help offset winners—and poten- really strict about that,” Mela
KIERSTEN ESSENPREIS

If you own stocks, for example, duction for a single person in survivor trap could be to gift cer- tially other income. says.
you won’t be taxed if you don’t 2024 is $14,600, so you have to tain income-producing assets, To the extent a spouse has net
sell. If you do sell, a spouse can have more than that in charitable like stocks, bonds or business in- capital losses that exceed capital Cheryl Winokur Munk is a writer
get a “step-up in basis,” which contributions and other itemiz- terests, to children or grandchil- gains from securities sales, he or in West Orange, N.J. She can be
eliminates the capital gain that able deductions to lower your tax dren who are in a lower tax she can use $3,000 of capital reached at reports@wsj.com.

When a Trend
Has a Name,
Worth the ride, until…
But even if you don’t have this
magical foresight, it still doesn’t
Name Game
Stock trends like the Magnificent Seven tend to notch their sharpest gains in More
Online
hurt to ride a trend once it has the two years before they are coined, but investors can still score market-

Its Best Days been coined. On average, once beating returns for about 12 months after a named trend's first mention.
the trend has been named and

Are Likely to looking ahead 12 months, an in- MT SAAS Cloud FAANG FANG WSJ.com/investingmonthly
120%
vestor can still earn about 13 per-

Be Behind It centage points in excess returns.

Yet 12 months following the
naming is about the best you can
100

80
• Retirement Rookies: Our
columnists share some of
Average of all their readers’ advice.
do as returns peak at this point on named trends
Continued from page B5 average and decrease a bit subse- 60
each trend was mentioned in the quently. From the 12-month mark
40
popular press. Then, for each to the 24-month mark after a
named trend we looked at the trend has been named, the average 20
stock returns around this date named trend lags behind the S&P
going back 24 months before the 500 by about 2 percentage points. 0
zero-date (date of first mention) When we look at the individ-
and 24 months after the zero- ual named trends, it might sur- –20
date. prise people that the two best
For each named trend, we use trades from the zero-date to the –40
an equal weighting to calculate 24-month mark in our sample –24 –12 0 12 24 –24 0 24 –24 0 24 –24 0 24 • Young Money: First, the
the return of the trade. So, for were the BAT and Cloud trends— Months relative weddings. Then, the lessons
instance for FAANG, we applied a both earning more than 60% in to date when trend from the divorces.
20% weight to Meta’s return, a excess return over the two-year is first named*
20% weight to Apple’s, a 20% period once they were coined by • Owning a second home can
weight to Amazon’s, 20% to Net- the press. BAT Magnificent Watch Granola be a tax trap if you’re not
120%
flix and 20% to Alphabet. Finally, On the other end, the MT Seven
careful. Here’s what to know.
we calculated the cumulative ex- SAAS trade did the worst, drop- 100
cess returns over time for each ping more than 95% in excess re-
named trend, where the excess turns over the two-year period 80
return is the return for the trade after being named.
minus the return on the S&P 500. All in all, this means your best 60
The first interesting finding: option is to jump on a named
40
When we look at the average of trend as soon as you first hear
all these eight named trends, we about it—provided you haven’t 20
see considerable price run-up be- been too late to the party—and
fore the trade being named. For ride the initial momentum, if it 0
the 24 months before the zero- happens. But if you get in past
PAUL BLOW; KIERSTEN ESSENPREIS

date, we see the average named the 12-month mark, the returns –20 • When stock analysts share
trend deliver 36% in excess re- might not be so magnificent. a name with a CEO, forecasts
turns. This means that if you –40
improve. It’s not coincidence.
magically knew about a new Derek Horstmeyer is a professor –24 –12 0 12 24 –24 0 24 –24 0 24 –24 0 24
named trend before it happened, of finance at Costello College of • Monthly Monitor: A review
Note: Magnificent Seven trade ends at month seven due to being coined in June 2023.
you could earn 36 percentage Business, George Mason Univer- *The X-axis is the month relative to when the trade gets first mentioned/coined in the press. The Y-axis is the of February’s market action,
points above the S&P 500 for the sity, in Fairfax, Va. He can be cumulative excess return for each named trade (’excess return’ is return of the trade minus the S&P 500 return) and a flashback to the 25th
two years before it was named. reached at reports@wsj.com. Source: Derek Horstmeyer, George Mason University anniversary of Dow 10000.
B8 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

MARKETS DIGEST
New to the Market Dow Jones Industrial Average S&P 500 Index
Last Year ago Last Year ago
Public Offerings of Stock 39087.38 t 44.15, or 0.11% last week Trailing P/E ratio 27.20 22.16 5137.08 s 48.28, or 0.95% last week Trailing P/E ratio * 22.85 17.80
High, low, open and close for each of P/E estimate * 18.74 17.32 High, low, open and close for each of P/E estimate * 20.98 18.01
IPOs in the U.S. Market the past 52 weeks Dividend yield 1.87 2.09 the past 52 weeks Dividend yield * 1.38 1.73
All-time high 39131.53, 02/23/24 All-time high 5137.08, 03/01/24
None expected this week
Lockup Expirations Current divisor 0.15265312230608
Below, companies whose officers and other insiders will become eligible 38800 5000
Week's high
to sell shares in their newly public companies for the first time. Such
DOWN UP
sales can move the stock’s price. Monday's open Friday's close

t
37400 4800
Lockup Offer Offer amt Through Lockup
expiration Issue date Symbol price($) ($ mil.) Friday (%) provision Friday's close Monday's open

t
65-day moving average
March 4 Sept. 6, ’23 Solowin Holdings SWIN 4.00 12.5 213.3 180 days 36000 4600
Week's low 65-day
Sources: Dealogic; Dow Jones Market Data moving average

IPO Scorecard 34600 4400

Performance of IPOs, most-recent listed first
% Chg From % Chg From
Friday's Offer 1st-day 33200 4200
Company SYMBOL Company SYMBOL Friday3s Offer 1st-day
IPO date/Offer price close ($) price close IPO date/Offer price close ($) price close
SolarMax Technology 4.88 22.0 –39.0 Legato Merger III 10.09 0.9 0.3 200-day moving average
200-day moving average 31800 4000
SMXT Feb. 27/$4.00 LEGT.UT Feb. 6/$10.00
DT Cloud Acquisition 10.15 1.5 0.3 Alto Neuroscience 14.88 –7.0 –28.1
DYCQU Feb. 21/$10.00 ANRO Feb. 2/$16.00 Bars measure the point change from Monday's open
Chromocell Therapeutics 3.65 –39.2 –24.0 Fractyl Health 10.07 –32.9 –21.6 30400 3800
CHRO Feb. 16/$6.00 GUTS Feb. 2/$15.00 M A M J J A S O N D J F M M A M J J A S O N D J F M
Unusual Machines 2.61 –34.8 –13.9 Amer Sports 17.66 35.8 31.8
Primary
UMAC Feb. 14/$4.00 AS Feb. 1/$13.00 NYSE weekly volume, in billions of shares market Composite

t
t
BBB Foods 21.28 21.6 11.7 FibroBiologics 13.00 62.5 –55.3 Scan this code
TBBB Feb. 9/$17.50 FBLG Jan. 31/$8.00 36
24 Get real-time U.S. stock quotes and track
Helix Acquisition II 10.40 4.0 2.1 ArriVent Biopharma 20.94 16.3 4.7
HLXB Feb. 9/$10.00 AVBP Jan. 26/$18.00 12 most-active stocks, new highs/lows, mutual
Metagenomi 12.00 –20.0 16.4 BrightSpring Health Services 8.95 –31.2 –18.6 0 funds and ETFs..
MGX Feb. 9/$15.00 BTSG Jan. 26/$13.00 M A M J J A S O N D J F Available free at WSJMarkets.com
Telomir Pharmaceuticals 9.05 29.3 81.0 Haoxi Health Technology 7.32 83.0 38.6
* Weekly P/E data based on as-reported earnings from Birinyi Associates Inc.; † Based on Nasdaq-100 Index
TELO Feb. 9/$7.00 HAO Jan. 26/$4.00
Kyverna Therapeutics 27.75
KYTX Feb. 8/$22.00
26.1 –7.5 CG Oncology
CGON Jan. 25/$19.00
43.98 131.5 18.3
Major U.S. Stock-Market Indexes Nasdaq Composite
American Heathcare REIT 13.68 14.0 3.5 Planet Image International 2.78 –30.5 –0.4 Latest Week 52-Week % chg s 278.12, or 1.74%
AHR Feb. 7/$12.00 YIBO Jan. 25/$4.00 High Low Close Net chg % chg Low Close (l) High %chg YTD 3-yr. ann.
Dow Jones
last week
Sources: Dow Jones Market Data; FactSet
Industrial Average 39245.89 38741.68 39087.38 -44.15 -0.11 31819.14 • 39131.53 17.1 3.7 7.4
Public and Private Borrowing Transportation Avg 15931.84 15666.32 15832.62 -88.40 -0.56 13444.01 • 16695.32 4.8 -0.4 5.2
16300
Utility Average 848.44 823.79 833.04 -16.01 -1.89 783.08 • 975.39 -9.1 -5.5 0.9
Treasurys Total Stock Market 51258.58 50437.76 51229.08 572.17 1.13 38697.55 • 51229.08 25.2 7.2 7.5
Monday, March 4 Thursday, March 7 Barron's 400 1129.70 1108.95 1129.59 23.79 2.15 881.58 • 1129.59 12.5 5.3 6.3 16100

Auction of 13 and 26 week bills; Auction of 4 and 8 week bills; Nasdaq Stock Market
announced on February 29; settles on March 7 announced on March 5; settles on March 12 15900
Nasdaq Composite 16302.24 15924.72 16274.94 278.12 1.74 11138.89 • 16274.94 39.2 8.4 6.2
Wednesday, March 6 Nasdaq-100 18333.26 17840.36 18302.91 365.30 2.04 11830.28 • 18302.91 48.9 8.8 11.3
Auction of 17 week bill; 15700
S&P
announced on March 5; settles on March 12 23 26 27 28 29 1
500 Index 5140.33 5057.29 5137.08 48.28 0.95 3855.76 • 5137.08 27.0 7.7 9.6 February
MidCap 400 2911.60 2847.27 2910.66 52.64 1.84 2326.82 • 2910.66 9.9 4.6 4.3 DJ US TSM
A Week in the Life of the DJIA SmallCap 600 1316.08 1291.02 1311.08 15.60 1.20 1068.80 • 1339.63 3.3 -0.5 -0.2
s 572.17, or 1.13%
A look at how the Dow Jones Industrial Average component stocks Other Indexes last week
did in the past week and how much each moved the index. The DJIA Russell 2000 2077.97 2011.87 2076.39 59.71 2.96 1636.94 • 2076.39 7.7 2.4 -3.0
lost 44.15 points, or 0.11%, on the week. A $1 change in the price of NYSE Composite 17738.14 17530.60 17728.27 112.24 0.64 14599.05 • 17728.27 12.8 5.2 5.0
any DJIA stock = 6.55-point change in the average. To date, a $1,000 Value Line 598.70 589.77 598.41 8.19 1.39 498.09 • 598.74 2.5 0.8 -2.0 51200
investment on Dec. 31 in each current DJIA stock component would NYSE Arca Biotech 5339.72 5168.83 5313.63 129.70 2.50 4544.40 • 5511.46 -1.7 -1.9 -3.0
have returned $31,425, or a gain of 4.75%, on the $30,000 NYSE Arca Pharma 1027.48 1001.71 1018.92 -5.02 -0.49 791.91 • 1023.94 25.1 12.0 14.1
investment, including reinvested dividends. 50900
KBW Bank 97.23 94.78 96.38 0.50 0.52 71.71 • 109.44 -11.9 0.4 -6.3
The Week’s Action
Pct Stock price Point chg $1,000 Invested(year-end '23)
PHLX§ Gold/Silver 109.04 102.60 108.65 1.93 1.81 102.94 • 144.37 -8.6 -13.6 -5.9
chg (%) change in average* Company Symbol Close $1,000 PHLX§ Oil Service 82.70 79.44 82.12 1.464 1.82 69.29 • 98.76 -11.0 -2.1 11.7 50600
8.22 24.08 157.74 Salesforce CRM $316.88 $1,204 PHLX§ Semiconductor 4950.26 4583.82 4929.58 314.55 6.822906.29 • 4929.58 62.8 18.1 15.9
3.96 12.82 83.98 Caterpillar CAT 336.70 1,144 Cboe Volatility 14.20 13.08 13.11 -0.64 -4.65 12.07 • 26.52 -29.1 5.3 -17.5 50300
3.91 4.21 27.58 Walt Disney DIS 111.95 1,240 23 26 27 28 29 1
3.36 12.49 81.82 Home Depot HD 384.45 1,109 Nasdaq PHLX Sources: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data February
2.38 5.10 33.41 American Express AXP 219.66 1,176
1.93 0.83 5.44 Intel INTC 43.82 875
1.85 3.23 21.16 Amazon.com AMZN 178.22 1,173 International Stock Indexes Commodities and
1.34 2.48 16.25 IBM IBM 188.20 1,161
Latest Week 52-Week Range YTD
Currencies
1.26 5.16 33.80 Microsoft MSFT 415.50 1,107 Region/Country Index Close % chg Low Close High % chg
0.71 1.30 8.52 JPMorgan Chase JPM 185.29 Last Week YTD
1,096
0.41 0.24 1.57 Walmart WMT 58.76 1,118
World MSCI ACWI 767.07 0.77 612.09 • 767.07 5.5 Close Net chg %Chg % chg

0.17 0.28 1.83 Johnson & Johnson JNJ 162.12 1,042

MSCI ACWI ex-USA 322.96 0.36 276.65 • 322.96 2.0 DJ Commodity 955.79 19.28 2.06 -0.21
–0.16 –0.44 –2.88 Visa V 283.16 1,090
MSCI World 3364.04 0.90 2638.46 • 3364.04 6.1 Refinitiv/CC CRB Index 277.11 6.28 2.32 5.03
–0.41 –0.83 –5.44 Boeing BA 200.00 767
MSCI Emerging Markets 1024.68 –0.35 910.91 • 1046.91 0.1 Crude oil, $ per barrel 79.97 3.48 4.55 11.61
–0.75 –2.95 –19.32 Goldman Sachs GS 388.10 1,013 Americas MSCI AC Americas 1942.71 0.96 1465.27 • 1942.71 7.1 Natural gas, $/MMBtu 1.835 0.136 8.00 -27.01
–0.78 –0.72 –4.72 3M MMM 91.86 854 Canada S&P/TSX Comp 21552.35 0.65 18737.39 • 21552.35 2.8 Gold, $ per troy oz. 2086.90 47.50 2.33 1.19
–0.94 –0.46 –3.01 Cisco CSCO 48.40 965 Latin Amer. MSCI EM Latin America 2532.73 –0.09 2067.22 • 2675.33 –4.9
U.S. Dollar Index 103.89 -0.05 -0.05 2.47
–0.97 –2.14 –14.02 Travelers TRV 218.82 1,149 Brazil Bovespa 129180.37 –0.18 97926.34 • 134193.72 –3.7
WSJ Dollar Index 98.48 0.01 0.01 2.76
–0.98 –1.96 –12.84 Honeywell HON 198.67 953 Chile S&P IPSA 3617.17 4.71 3048.00 • 3629.67 4.3
Euro, per dollar 0.9225 -0.0015 -0.17 1.82
–1.10 –0.62 –4.06 Dow DOW 55.77 1,030 Mexico S&P/BMV IPC 55536.32 –1.98 48197.88 • 58711.87 –3.2
Yen, per dollar 150.13 -0.39 -0.26 6.45
–1.13 –0.46 –3.01 Verizon VZ 40.20 1,084 EMEA STOXX Europe 600 497.58 0.07 429.58 • 497.58 3.9
U.K. pound, in dollars 1.27 -0.0019 -0.15 -0.62
–1.20
–1.35
–1.85
–2.18
–12.12
–14.28
Chevron
Procter & Gamble
CVX 152.81
158.85
1,035 STOXX Europe 50 4302.61 –0.15 3731.99 • 4309.26 5.1
PG 1,091 52-Week
–1.57 –2.86 –18.74 Apple AAPL 179.66 934
Eurozone Euro STOXX 500.86 0.35 420.65 • 500.86 5.6 Low Close(l) High % Chg

–1.92 –2.49 –16.31 Merck MRK 126.96 1,165

Euro STOXX 50 4894.86 0.46 4014.36 • 4894.86 8.3
DJ Commodity 930.59 1035.63 -7.06
Austria ATX 3378.58 –0.18 3020.72 • 3557.01 –1.6 l
–2.36 –7.02 –45.99 McDonald’s MCD 290.73 986
–2.73 –1.67 –10.94 Coca-Cola KO 59.53 1,010
Belgium Bel-20 3698.82 –0.23 3290.68 • 3885.05 –0.24 Refinitiv/CC CRB Index 253.85 l 290.29 0.75

–3.06 –8.85 –57.97 Amgen AMGN 280.33 981

France CAC 40 7934.17 –0.41 6795.38 • 7966.68 5.2 Crude oil, $ per barrel 66.74 l 93.68 0.36

–3.55 –3.75 –24.57 Nike NKE 101.88 942

Germany DAX 17735.07 1.81 14687.41 • 17735.07 5.9 Natural gas, $/MMBtu 1.576 l 3.575 -39.02
–7.15 –37.71 –247.03 UnitedHealth Group UNH 489.53 930
Greece Athex Composite 1422.75 0.67 1020.19 • 1424.77 10.0 Gold, $ per troy oz. 1812.70 l2086.90 12.95
Israel Tel Aviv 1947.07 1.70 1605.20 • 1947.07 4.4
107.00 -0.61
*Based on Composite price. DJIA is calculated on primary-market price.
Source: Dow Jones Market Data; FactSet.
Italy FTSE MIB 32934.29 0.71 25495 • 32934 8.5 U.S. Dollar Index 99.77 l

Netherlands AEX 854.10 –0.10 714.05 • 858.11 8.6 WSJ Dollar Index 94.60 l 100.92 1.00
Norway Oslo Bors All-Share 1474.50 0.99 1293.45 • 1543.44 –3.0 Euro, per dollar 0.8897 l 0.9555 -1.90
Portugal PSI 20 6199.59 –0.68 5724.12 • 6609.90 –3.1 Yen, per dollar 130.71 l 151.72 10.51
South Africa FTSE/JSE All-Share 72775.49 –1.94 69451.97 • 79294.76 –5.4 U.K. pound, in dollars 1.18 l 1.31 5.07
Spain IBEX 35 10064.70 –0.65 8719.3 • 10258.1 –0.4
Sweden OMX Stockholm 929.79 1.40 753.35 • 929.79 3.0 Go to WSJMarkets.com for free
Switzerland Swiss Market 11493.92 –0.02 10323.71 • 11595.25 3.2 access to real-time market data.
U.K. FTSE 100 7682.50 –0.31 7256.94 • 7947.11 –0.7
Asia-Pacific MSCI AC Asia Pacific 174.09 0.63 150.1 • 174.1 2.8
Australia S&P/ASX 200 7745.60 1.33 6772.9 • 7745.6 2.0
China Shanghai Composite 3027.02 0.74 2702.19 • 3395.00 1.8
Hong Kong Hang Seng 16589.44 –0.82 14961.18 • 20782.45 –2.7
India S&P BSE Sensex 73745.35 0.82 57527.10 • 73745.35 2.1
Japan NIKKEI 225 39910.82 2.08 26945.67 • 39910.82 19.3
Malaysia FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI 1538.02 –0.72 1374.64 • 1558.80 5.7
Singapore Straits Times 3135.76 –1.54 3053.36 • 3373.98 –3.2
South Korea KOSPI 2642.36 –0.95 2277.99 • 2680.26 –0.5
Taiwan TAIEX 18935.93 0.25 15221.12 • 18966.77 5.6
Source: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data

Consumer Rates and Returns to Investor Benchmark Yields and Rates

Sound U.S. consumer rates

A consumer rate against its
Selected rates
30-year mortgage, Rate
Treasury yield curve Forex Race
Yield to maturity of current bills,
notes and bonds
Yen, euro vs. dollar; dollar vs.
major U.S. trading partners

Thinking
benchmark over the past year
Bankrate.com avg†: 7.42%
El Dorado Savings Bank 6.25% 6.00%
8.00% Tradeweb ICE 14%
South Lake Tahoe, CA 800-874-9779
Friday Close 5.00
Fidelity Bank Trust 6.25% 7 WSJ Dollar Index
6.75 t
t t
Dubuque, IA 563-557-2300 4.00
s
Audio storytelling on news you care 30-year fixed-rate
One year ago
mortgage 5.50 Farmers State Bank 6.38% 0
about, at home or on the go. 10-year Treasury
3.00
Marion, IA 319-390-2534 s
t note yield 4.25 –7 s Euro
Florence Savings Bank 6.38% 2.00
Yen
BROWSE OUR PODCA STS 3.00
Florence, MA 800-644-8261
1.00 –14
WSJ.com/listen MAM J J A S O ND J F M Macatawa Bank 6.50% 1 3 6 1 2 3 5 7 10 20 30 2023 2024
2023 2024 Zeeland, MI 616-748-9491 month(s) years
Yield/Rate (%) 52-Week Range (%) 3-yr chg maturity
Interest rate Last (l)Week ago Low 0 2 4 6 8 High (pct pts) Sources: Tradeweb ICE U.S. Treasury Close; Tullett Prebon; Dow Jones Market Data

Federal-funds rate target 5.25-5.50 5.25-5.50 4.50 l 5.50 5.25 Corporate Borrowing Rates and Yields
Prime rate* 8.50 8.50 7.75 l 8.50 5.25 Spread +/- Treasurys,
SOFR 5.32 5.30 4.55 l 5.40 5.31 Yield (%) in basis pts, 52-wk Range Total Return
Bond total return index Last Wk ago Last Low High 52-wk 3-yr
Money market, annual yield 0.51 0.51 0.46 l 0.64 0.43
Five-year CD, annual yield 2.86 2.86 2.76 l 2.87 2.41 U.S. Treasury, Bloomberg 4.380 4.480 3.20 -3.23
30-year mortgage, fixed† 7.42 7.50 6.75 l 8.28 4.12 U.S. Treasury Long, Bloomberg 4.440 4.490 -1.18 -9.37
15-year mortgage, fixed† 6.73 6.79 6.00 l 7.42 4.18 Aggregate, Bloomberg 4.840 4.920 42 39 62 4.34 -2.98
Jumbo mortgages, $766,550-plus† 7.49 7.58 6.79 l 8.33 4.16 Fixed-Rate MBS, Bloomberg 5.060 5.140 51 44 82 3.49 -3.22
Five-year adj mortgage (ARM)† 6.50 6.48 5.64 l 7.16 3.31 High Yield 100, ICE BofA 7.339 7.279 276 264 459 10.919 2.108
New-car loan, 48-month 7.88 7.86 6.75 l 7.88 3.85 Muni Master, ICE BofA 3.235 3.211 6 -9 9 5.262 -0.169
© 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 2DJ8105 Bankrate.com rates based on survey of over 4,800 online banks. *Base rate posted by 70% of the nation's largest EMBI Global, J.P. Morgan 7.396 7.497 309 307 421 9.613 -2.106
banks.† Excludes closing costs.
Sources: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data; Bankrate.com Sources: J.P. Morgan; S&P Dow Jones Indices; Bloomberg Fixed Income Indices; ICE BofA
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | B9

CLOSED-END FUNDS
Listed are the 300 largest closed-end funds as 52 wk 52 wk Prem12 Mo 52 wk Prem12 Mo
measured by assets. Closed-end funds sell a limited Prem Ttl Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld Prem Ttl Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld
number of shares and invest the proceeds in securities. Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret
Unlike open-end funds, closed-ends generally do not NuvFloatRateIncFd JFR 9.29 8.69 -6.5 11.1 InvescoMuOppTr VMO 11.04 9.63 -12.8 4.4 PIMCO Flexible Cr I;A-1 6.97 NA NA 10.5
buy their shares back from investors who wish to cash NuvSP500BuyIncFd BXMX 14.69 13.29 -9.5 7.3 High Yield Bond Funds InvescoMuTr VKQ NA 9.57 NA 4.5 The Private Shares;A 39.29 NA NA -4.6 PIMCO Flexible Cr I;A-2 6.97 NA NA 10.5
in their holdings. Instead, fund shares trade on a stock ReavesUtilityIncome UTG 25.92 26.16 +0.9 0.7 The Private Shares;I 39.95 NA NA -4.4
exchange. NA signifies that the information is not
abrdn Inc Credit Str ACP 7.06 6.83 -3.3 17.6 InvescoQual Inc IQI 11.12 9.61 -13.6 4.6 PIMCO Flexible Cr I;A-3 6.97 NA NA 10.2
available or not applicable. NS signifies funds not in Tortoise Enrgy Infra Crp TYG NA 29.38 NA 2.5 AllianceBernGlHiIncm AWF 11.15 10.52 -5.7 7.7 InvTrInvGrMu VGM 11.40 9.88 -13.3 4.3 The Private Shares;L 38.67 NA NA -4.8 PIMCO Flexible Cr I;A-4 6.97 NA NA 10.2
existence for the entire period. 12 month yield is Tortoise Midstream Enrgy NTG NA 36.40 NA 9.7 Allspring Income Oppty EAD 7.28 6.67 -8.4 8.8 InvescoValMunInc IIM 13.59 11.83 -13.0 4.6 Thirdline Real EstateI 10.13 NA NA 6.8 PIMCO Flexible Cr I;Inst 6.97 NA NA 11.0
computed by dividing income dividends paid (during VDivInt&PremStr NFJ 14.52 12.39 -14.7 11.1 Barings Glb SD HY Bd BGH 15.61 14.24 -8.8 10.0 MAINSTAY:MKDEFTRMUNOP MMD 17.10 16.47 -3.7 4.9 USQ Core Real Estate:I 23.58 NA NA -13.2 Other Domestic Taxable Bond Funds
the previous 12 months for periods ending at month-
end or during the previous 52 weeks for periods V Art Int&Tech Opps AIO NA 19.85 NA 26.2 BR Corporate HY HYT 9.66 9.78 +1.2 9.6 NeubrgrBrm NBH NA 10.39 NA 4.3 USQ Core Real Estate:IS 23.65 NA NA -13.1 AFA Private Credit;Fndr 9.48 NA NA 7.7
ending at any time other than month-end) by the Income & Preferred Stock Funds BlackRock Ltd Dur Inc BLW 14.03 14.12 +0.6 8.7 Nuveen AMT-Fr Mu Val NUW NA 13.67 NA 3.6 Versus Cap MMgr RE Inc:I 25.11 NA NA NE AFA Private Credit;Inst 9.50 NA NA 7.7
latest month-end market price adjusted for capital Dividend and Income BXSY 19.98 NA NA NA BNY Mellon Hi Yield Str DHF 2.69 2.35 -12.6 7.6 Nuveen AMT-Fr Qlty Mun I NEA 12.82 11.01 -14.1 4.1 Versus Capital Real Asst 27.55 NA NA 2.9 Alternative Credit Inc:A NA NA NA 7.2
gains distributions. Depending on the fund category,
either 12-month yield or total return is listed.
CalamosStratTot CSQ 16.47 15.99 -2.9 21.2 Brookfield Real Asst Inc RA NA 12.94 NA 6.3 Nuveen AMT-Fr Mu CI NVG 13.88 11.87 -14.5 4.5 Wildermuth:I 7.45 NA NA -37.4 Alternative Credit Inc:C NA NA NA 6.4
Source: Lipper CohenStrsLtdDurPref&Inc LDP 20.93 20.08 -4.1 9.8 CrSuisHighYld DHY 2.19 1.96 -10.5 9.5 Nuveen Dyn Muni Opp NDMO 11.14 10.95 -1.7 6.8 Income & Preferred Stock Funds Alternative Credit Inc:I NA NA NA 7.4
Friday, March 1, 2024 CohenStrsSelPref&Income PSF 20.82 19.66 -5.6 3.1 DoubleLine Inc Sol DSL 12.52 12.81 +2.3 10.4 Nuveen Mu Crdt Opps NMCO 11.68 10.58 -9.4 5.5 Alpha Alternative Assets 6.25 NA NA 2.6 Alternative Credit Inc:L NA NA NA 6.9
52 wk CohenStrsTaxAvPreSecs&I PTA 20.38 19.29 -5.3 9.0 DoubleLine Yld Opps DLY 16.07 15.87 -1.2 9.2 Nuv Muni Credit Income NZF 13.85 11.98 -13.5 4.6 Calamos L/S Eqty and DI CPZ 17.46 15.08 -13.6 2.5 Alternative Credit Inc:W NA NA NA 7.2
Prem Ttl FirstTrIntDurPref&Inc FPF 18.74 17.49 -6.7 7.5 First Tr Hi Inc Lng/Shrt FSD 12.63 11.80 -6.6 10.6 NuvMuniHiIncOpp NMZ 11.28 10.54 -6.6 5.1 Carlyle AlpInv Pvt Mkt:A NA NA NA NS Angel Oak Str Crdt:FI 20.90 NA NA 8.1
Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret JHanPrefInc HPI 15.99 16.50 +3.2 8.1 First Trust HY Opp:2027 FTHY 15.56 14.52 -6.7 10.6 Nuveen Muni Val NUV NA 8.69 NA 3.9 Flat Rock Opportunity 19.34 NA NA 14.7 Angel Oak Str Crdt:Inst 20.89 NA NA 8.1
JHPrefIncII HPF 15.85 16.57 +4.5 8.0 Franklin Univ FT 7.40 6.49 -12.3 7.8 Nuveen Quality Muni Inc NAD 13.23 11.31 -14.5 4.2 Lord Abbett Spec Sit I:A 9.27 NA NA 13.4 BR Credit Strat;A 8.62 NA NA 8.0
General Equity Funds HnckJPfdInco III HPS 14.27 15.09 +5.7 10.0 Lord Abbett Spec Sit I:I 9.27 NA NA 14.2
Adams Diversified Eq Inc ADX 22.40 19.24 -14.1 33.6 KKR Income Opportunities KIO NA 13.48 NA 10.8 Nuveen Sel TF NXP NA 14.54 NA 4.0 BR Credit Strat;Inst 8.60 NA NA 8.7
J Han Prm PDT 11.83 11.63 -1.7 -2.3 NeubHgYldStrt NHS 8.03 8.11 +1.0 13.4 PIMCO MuniInc PMF 9.61 9.58 -0.3 5.2 Variant Altrntv Inc:Inst 28.69 NA NA 9.3 BR Credit Strat;U 8.61 NA NA 8.0
Central Secs CET 49.35 39.17 -20.6 15.5 LMP CapInco SCD NA 14.28 NA 27.3 Variant Impact;Instl 28.25 NA NA 12.8
CohenStrsCEOppFd FOF 11.18 11.30 +1.1 9.1 New Amer Hi Inc HYB 8.22 7.29 -11.3 6.7 PIMCOMuniIncII PML 8.92 8.57 -3.9 5.5 BR Credit Strat;W 8.62 NA NA 8.0
Nuveen Pref & Inc Opp JPC 7.90 7.15 -9.5 4.8 Nuveen Global High Inc JGH 13.37 12.72 -4.9 9.7 Pimco Muni III PMX 8.21 7.51 -8.5 5.2 Convertible Sec's. Funds CION Ares Dvsfd Crdt;A NA NA NA 8.4
EVTxAdvDivIncm EVT 25.17 22.80 -9.4 4.1 Nuveen Pref & Inc Term JPI 19.49 18.91 -3.0 2.6 Calmos Dyn Conv and Inc CCD 19.50 21.32 +9.3 8.5
GabelliDiv&IncTr GDV 26.56 22.38 -15.7 10.1 PGIM Global High Yield GHY 12.96 11.69 -9.8 10.8 PioneerHilncAdv MAV 9.24 8.15 -11.8 4.3 CION Ares Dvsfd Crdt;C NA NA NA 7.6
Nuveen Var Rate P&I NPFD 19.87 17.46 -12.1 4.2 PGIM High Yield Bond ISD 13.86 12.94 -6.6 9.7 PionrMuniHiIncOppty MIO 12.69 11.00 -13.3 4.6 World Equity Funds CION Ares Dvsfd Crdt;I NA NA NA 8.6
Gabelli Equity Tr GAB 5.43 5.52 +1.7 4.4 TCW Strat Income TSI NA 4.66 NA -1.2 PGIM Sh Dur Hi Yld Opp SDHY 17.47 15.24 -12.8 8.5 PioneerMunHiIcm MHI 9.98 8.78 -12.0 4.1 ACAP Strategic:A 21.56 NA NA 33.5 CION Ares Dvsfd Crdt;L NA NA NA 8.1
GeneralAmer GAM 54.88 45.23 -17.6 24.5 Convertible Sec's. Funds PioneerHilncm PHT 8.13 NA NA NA Putnam Mgd Inc PMM 6.73 6.12 -9.1 4.7 ACAP Strategic:W 16.19 NA NA 34.5 CION Ares Dvsfd Crdt;U NA NA NA 7.9
JHancockTaxAdvDiv HTD 20.83 19.19 -7.9 -10.7 AdvntCnvrtbl&IncFd AVK 12.47 11.82 -5.2 8.5 CalamosGlbTotRet CGO 11.09 9.95 -10.3 19.7
Liberty All-Star Equity USA 7.00 6.82 -2.6 20.0 WstAstHIF II HIX NA 4.54 NA 13.1 Putnam Muni Opp PMO 11.49 10.16 -11.6 4.3 CION Ares Dvsfd Crdt:U2 NA NA NA 7.9
CalamosConvHi CHY 10.68 11.90 +11.4 7.2 Western Asset Hi Inc Opp HIO NA 3.92 NA 10.0 RiverNorth Flx Mu Inc II RFMZ 15.62 14.11 -9.7 7.4 Cantor Fitzgerald SI:C NA NA NA NS CION Ares Dvsfd Crdt;W NA NA NA 8.1
Liberty All-Star Growth ASG 5.99 5.47 -8.7 11.6 CalmosConvOp CHI 10.10 11.08 +9.7 3.0 Western Asset Hi Yld D O HYI NA 12.10 NA 9.4 RiverNorth Mgd Dur Mun I RMM 16.50 15.17 -8.1 7.2 Cantor Fitzgerald SI:I NA NA NA NS CNR Select Strategies 14.35 NA NA 0.0
Royce Micro-Cap Tr RMT 10.67 9.42 -11.7 8.3 V Conv & Inc NCV NA 3.24 NA -3.7 Other Domestic Taxable Bond Funds Western Asset Mgd Muni MMU NA 10.17 NA 4.4 Primark Priv Eq Inv:I 12.73 NA NA 12.9 First Eagle Crdt Opps A 23.63 NA NA 10.4
Royce Value Trust RVT 16.82 14.76 -12.2 9.9 V Conv & Inc II NCZ NA 2.88 NA 0.7 Allspring Multi-Sector ERC 10.04 9.41 -6.3 8.3 Single State Muni Bond Sweater Cashmere 21.01 NA NA 2.2 First Eagle Crdt Opps A2 23.54 NA NA 10.1
Source Capital SOR 44.74 41.58 -7.1 16.7 V Div Inc & Conv ACV NA 22.36 NA 20.7 Apollo Tactical Income AIF NA 15.34 NA 9.9 BlackRock CA Mun BFZ 13.06 11.75 -10.0 4.3 Thornburg Inc Bldr Opps TBLD 18.12 15.96 -11.9 12.4 First Eagle Crdt Opps I 23.49 NA NA 10.9
Sprott Focus Trust FUND 8.68 7.78 -10.4 -5.8 V Eqty & Conv Inc NIE NA 22.30 NA 23.7 VirtusTotalRetFd ZTR NA 5.29 NA NA
SRH Total Return STEW 18.72 14.82 -20.8 21.8 Ares Dynamic Crdt Alloc ARDC NA 13.98 NA 9.97 BR MH CA Qly Fd Inc MUC 12.72 11.05 -13.1 4.0 First Trust Private Cr;A NA NA NA NS
World Equity Funds BlackRock Mlt-Sctr Inc BIT 14.62 15.57 +6.5 9.5 BR MH NJ Qly MUJ 13.20 11.50 -12.9 4.2 Prem12 Mo First Trust Private Cr;I NA NA NA 8.4
Tri-Continental TY 34.16 29.86 -12.6 14.9 abrdn Emg Mkts Eq Inc AEF NA 5.10 NA 3.1
Specialized Equity Funds BlackRock Tax Muni Bd BBN 17.78 16.48 -7.3 7.0 BR MH NY Qly MHN 12.19 10.66 -12.6 4.0 Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld Franklin BSP Pvt Cr:A 10.36 NA NA 6.7
abrdn Glbl Dyn Div AGD NA 9.49 NA 7.6 DoubleLine:Oppor Crdt Fd DBL 15.11 15.25 +0.9 8.6 BR MuniYld MI Qly MIY 13.16 11.41 -13.3 3.9 Franklin BSP Pvt Cr:Adv 10.37 NA NA 7.2
abrdn Glb Prem Prop AWP 4.08 3.76 -7.8 0.7 U.S. Mortgage Bond Funds
abrdn Tot Dyn Div AOD NA 8.14 NA 8.1 EVLmtDurIncm EVV 10.60 9.82 -7.4 9.7 BR MuniYld NY Qly MYN 11.81 10.53 -10.8 3.9 FS Credit Income;A NA NA NA 8.5
abrdn Global Infra Inc ASGI 20.08 17.31 -13.8 6.2 Arca US Treasury NA NA NA NE
Allspring Gl Div Oppty EOD 5.40 4.58 -15.2 5.8 Franklin Ltd Dur Income FTF 7.14 6.28 -12.0 11.3 BlackRock NY Mun BNY 12.14 10.64 -12.4 3.8 FS Credit Income;I NA NA NA 8.7
Adams Natural Resources PEO 25.72 21.52 -16.3 4.3 Ellington Inc Opp:A 9.24 NA NA NA
BlackRock Cap Alloc Term BCAT 17.67 15.75 -10.9 16.2 FS Credit Opportunities FSCO NA 5.68 NA NS EVCAMuniBd EVM 10.45 9.21 -11.9 4.0 FS Credit Income;T NA NA NA 8.2
ASA Gold & Prec Met Ltd ASA 16.68 13.88 -16.8 -6.4 Ellington Inc Opp:M 9.11 NA NA NA
Calamos GloDynInc CHW 7.21 6.24 -13.5 11.8 J Han Investors JHI 14.69 13.15 -10.5 6.7 Eaton Vance NY Muni Bd ENX 10.86 9.90 -8.8 3.8 FS Credit Income;U NA NA NA 7.9
BR Enh C&I CII 20.79 19.70 -5.2 15.1 Loan Participation Funds
EV TxAdvGlbDivInc ETG 20.42 17.96 -12.0 19.2 MFS Charter MCR 6.86 6.34 -7.6 0.0 InvCaValMuIncTr VCV 11.39 9.76 -14.3 4.1 FS Credit Income;U-2 NA NA NA 8.2
BlackRock Energy & Res BGR 14.38 12.49 -13.1 3.2 1WS Credit Income;A2 NA NA NA 6.8
EtnVncTxAdvOpp ETO 27.38 24.79 -9.5 19.3 NuvCorePlusImpact NPCT NA 10.35 NA 9.7 InvPAValMuIncTr VPV NA 10.11 NA 3.6 GL Beyond Income 0.39 NA NA NE
BlackRock Eq Enh Div BDJ 9.00 8.07 -10.3 -3.0 1WS Credit Income;Inst NA NA NA 6.7
Gabelli Multimedia GGT 3.77 5.74 +52.3 19.2 Nuveen Taxable Muni Inc NBB NA 15.52 NA 5.2 InvTrInvGrNYMu VTN NA 10.54 NA 3.8 KKR CREDIT OPPTY;D NA NA NA 8.1
BlackRock Enh Glbl Div BOE 11.99 10.28 -14.3 9.5 Axonic Alternative Inc NA NA NA 8.8
GDL Fund GDL 10.16 7.87 -22.5 4.9 PIMCO Corp & Inc Oppty PTY 11.33 14.29 +26.1 9.99 Nuveen CA AMT-F Qual MI NKX 13.34 11.52 -13.6 4.4 AXONIC ALTERNATIVE INC;A NA NA NA NS KKR CREDIT OPPTY;I NA NA NA 8.3
BlackRock Enh Intl Div BGY 6.20 5.36 -13.5 5.9
Highland Global Alloc HGLB NA 7.79 NA -11.5 PIMCO Corp & Inc Strat PCN 11.62 13.48 +16.0 10.0 Nuveen CA Val NCA NA 8.74 NA 3.9 KKR CREDIT OPPTY;T NA NA NA 7.6
BlackRock ESG Cap All T ECAT 18.81 17.28 -8.1 29.6 Blackstone FR EI D NA NA NA 9.4
India Fund IFN NA 20.75 NA 47.7 PIMCOHilnco PHK 4.65 4.96 +6.7 11.6 NuveenCAQtyMuInc NAC 12.84 11.05 -13.9 4.2 KKR CREDIT OPPTY;U NA NA NA 7.6
BlackRock Hlth Sci Term BMEZ 18.77 16.51 -12.0 12.2 Blackstone FR EI I NA NA NA 9.7
Japan Smaller Cap JOF 9.46 7.93 -16.2 19.2 PIMCO IncmStrFd PFL 8.09 8.47 +4.7 11.5 NuvNJ Qual Muni Inc NXJ NA 12.05 NA 3.2 NIAGARAINCOMEOPPORTNTS NA NA NA NS
BlackRock Hlth Sciences BME 44.35 42.47 -4.2 8.3 Blackstone FR EI T NA NA NA 9.2
LazardGlbTotRetInc LGI 18.36 16.01 -12.8 10.0 PIMCO IncmStrFd II PFN 7.13 7.37 +3.4 11.6 Nuveen NY AMT/Fr Qual MI NRK NA 10.83 NA 4.0 Palmer Square Opp Inc 18.07 NA NA 9.1
BlackRock Innov&Gro Term BIGZ 9.30 8.11 -12.8 15.0 Blackstone FR EI T-I NA NA NA 9.2
Mexico MXF NA 18.12 NA 10.0 Putnam Prem Inc PPT 3.84 3.57 -7.0 8.7 Nuveen NY Qual Muni Inc NAN NA 10.95 NA 4.2 World Income Funds
BlackRock Res & Comm BCX 9.95 8.43 -15.3 -12.9 Blackstone FR EI U NA NA NA 9.2
Miller/Howard High Inc E HIE NA 10.66 NA 4.6 Western Asset Dvsfd Inc WDI NA 14.48 NA 10.3 Nuveen PA Qual Muni Inc NQP 13.61 11.65 -14.4 3.1 BlueBay Destra Itl E:A 23.65 NA NA 7.1
BlackRock Sci&Tech Term BSTZ 22.68 18.89 -16.7 15.6 Bluerock HI Inst Crd:A NA NA NA 12.8
MS ChinaShrFd CAF NA 12.39 NA -14.7 World Income Funds Nuveen VA Qlty Mun Inc NPV NA 10.99 NA 3.8 BlueBay Destra Itl E:I 23.68 NA NA 7.3
BlackRock Sci&Tech Trust BST 37.16 37.25 +0.2 25.9 Bluerock HI Inst Crd:C NA NA NA 12.8
MS India IIF 28.53 23.41 -17.9 32.8 abrdn AP IncFd FAX 3.03 2.72 -10.2 12.2 PIMCO CA PCQ NA 9.60 NA 4.5 BlueBay Destra Itl E:L 23.62 NA NA 6.8
BlackRock Utl Inf & Pwr BUI 21.67 20.94 -3.4 -0.8 Bluerock HI Inst Crd:F NA NA NA 12.8
MS CBRE Gl In Mg Term MEGI 13.99 12.65 -9.6 -2.4 MS EmMktDomDebt EDD 5.45 4.69 -13.9 1.8 PIMCOCAMuniII PCK NA 5.86 NA 4.3 BlueBay Destra Itl E:T 23.51 NA NA 6.6
CLEARBRIDGEENGYMDSOPP EMO NA 37.66 NA 33.1 Bluerock HI Inst Crd:I NA NA NA 12.8
New Germany GF NA 8.52 NA -8.3 PIMCO Access Income PAXS 15.14 15.50 +2.4 11.6 BNYM Alcntr Glb MS Cr Fd 92.25 NA NA NA Calamos-Aksia ACI:A 10.46 NA NA NS
CLEARBRIDGEMLP&MDSTMTR CTR NA 38.86 NA 37.7 52 wk
Nuveen Multi-Asset Inc NMAI 13.94 12.17 -12.7 10.3 PIMCO Dynamic Inc Strat PDX 23.49 20.27 -13.7 4.3 Prem Ttl Calamos-Aksia ACI:C 10.45 NA NA NS
ClearBridge MLP & Midstm CEM NA 42.81 NA 31.6 CliffwaterClFd;I 10.75 NA NA 10.7
Nuveen Rl Asst Inc & Gro JRI 13.21 11.49 -13.0 4.3 PIMCO Dynamic Income PDI 17.28 18.98 +9.8 13.8 Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Ret Calamos-Aksia ACI:I 10.46 NA NA NS
ChnStrInfr UTF 22.15 22.25 +0.5 -1.4 CliffwaterElFd;I NA NA NA 10.4
Templeton Dragon TDF 9.33 7.86 -15.8 -27.3 PIMCO Dynamic Inc Opp PDO 12.59 13.09 +4.0 11.7 Calamos-Aksia ACI:M 10.45 NA NA NS
Cohen&SteersQualInc RQI 12.75 12.01 -5.8 3.6 General Equity Funds CNR Strategic Credit 7.49 NA NA 21.1
Templeton Em Mkt EMF 13.55 11.58 -14.5 4.8 PIMCO Stratg Inc RCS 4.40 6.08 +38.2 10.1 Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:A NA NA NA 9.8
CohenStrs Real Est and I RLTY 15.92 14.16 -11.1 5.8 Alternative Strategies:I 17.12 NA NA -7.9 Floating-Rate Opps;A 10.17 NA NA NS
Cohen&Steers TotRet RFI 11.71 11.87 +1.4 -1.3 Prem12 Mo Templtn Glbl Inc SABA NA 3.71 NA 11.1 Floating-Rate Opps;I 10.16 NA NA NS Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:I NA NA NA 10.1
Fund (SYM) NAV Close /Disc Yld First Trust Hdg Strat;A NA NA NA N
CohenStrsREITPrefInc RNP 20.70 20.65 -0.2 5.3 Templeton Em Inc TEI 6.02 5.24 -13.0 10.7 First Trust Hdg Str;I NA NA NA N Floating-Rate Opps;U 10.17 NA NA NS Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:L NA NA NA 9.7
Columbia Sel Prm Tech Gr STK 30.62 33.88 +10.6 34.8 U.S. Mortgage Bond Funds WstAstEmergDebt EMD NA 9.16 NA 10.1 Specialized Equity Funds FedProj&TrFinanceTendr 10.01 NA NA 5.8 Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:M NA NA NA 9.5
DNP Select Income DNP 7.62 8.83 +15.9 -15.2 BlckRk Income BKT 12.34 11.85 -4.0 8.9 Western Asset Gl Cr D Op GDO NA 12.61 NA 9.6 Accordant ODCE Index;A 9.68 NA NA NS Flat Rock Core Income 20.68 NA NA 9.0 Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:N NA NA NA 10.3
Duff&Ph Uti&Infra Inc Fd DPG 10.36 9.16 -11.6 -26.8 Investment Grade Bond Funds National Muni Bond Funds Flat Rock Enhanced Inc 21.57 NA NA 8.4 Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:U NA NA NA 9.6
Accordant ODCE Index;I 9.69 NA NA NS
EtnVncEqtyInc EOI 18.70 18.19 -2.7 24.8 Angel Oak FS Inc Trm FINS 13.77 12.27 -10.9 10.0 AllBerNatlMunInc AFB NA 10.98 NA 3.6 InvDYCrOpp:A 11.16 NA NA 10.3 Carlyle Tact Pvt Cred:Y NA NA NA 9.98
Accordant ODCE Index;Y 9.69 NA NA NS
EtnVncEqtyIncoII EOS 21.51 20.34 -5.4 34.3 BlRck Core Bond BHK 10.74 10.51 -2.1 8.5 BlckRk Inv Q Mun BKN 13.12 12.14 -7.5 4.3 InvDYCrOpp:R6 11.17 NA NA 10.6 Fid MS Cr;A NA NA NA NS
BlackRock Muni 2030 Tgt BTT 23.94 21.04 -12.1 2.9
ARK Venture 27.69 NA NA 42.1
EVRskMnDvsEqInc ETJ 9.12 8.37 -8.2 16.0 BR Credit Alloc Inc BTZ 11.40 10.67 -6.4 9.4 InvDYCrOpp:Y 11.16 NA NA 10.5 Fid MS Cr;C NA NA NA NS
ArrowMark Financial Corp BANX NA 18.64 NA NA
ETnVncTxMgdBuyWrtInc ETB 14.75 13.58 -7.9 10.7 Insight Select Income INSI 17.47 15.76 -9.8 4.9 BlackRock Muni BFK 11.55 10.36 -10.3 4.1 Invesco Sr Loan A 5.86 NA NA 9.6 Fid MS Cr;I NA NA NA NS
BlackRock Muni II BLE 12.20 10.85 -11.1 4.2 CBRE GlbRlEst IGR 5.64 5.08 -9.9 -5.3 Fid MS Cr;L NA NA NA NS
EtnVncTxMgdBuyWrtOpp ETV 13.81 13.07 -5.4 8.8 InvescoBond VBF NA 15.59 NA 5.1 Invesco Sr Loan C 5.88 NA NA 8.8
BlckRk Muni Inc Qly BYM 12.75 11.42 -10.4 4.3 CIM RA&C A 23.69 NA NA -1.1 Jackson Credit Opps:I 10.23 NA NA NS
EvTxMnDvsEqInc ETY 13.90 13.18 -5.2 20.1 J Han Income JHS NA 10.79 NA 3.7 Invesco Sr Loan IB 5.86 NA NA 9.8
BR MuniAssets Fd MUA 11.49 11.07 -3.7 4.8 CIM RA&C C 23.04 NA NA -1.8 Lord Abbett Cred Opps Fd 8.93 NA NA 9.0
EtnVncTxMgdGlbB ETW 9.26 8.08 -12.7 9.5 MFS Intmdt MIN 2.87 2.71 -5.6 0.0 Invesco Sr Loan IC 5.86 NA NA 9.7
EVTxMnGblDvEqInc EXG 9.09 8.02 -11.8 12.6 Western Asset Inf-Lk Inc WIA NA 8.06 NA 11.1 BR MH Qly 2 MUE 11.63 10.02 -13.8 3.9 CIM RA&C I 23.91 NA NA -0.9 Invesco Sr Loan Y 5.86 NA NA 9.8 Lord Abbett Cred Opps Fd 8.94 NA NA 9.8
Ecofin S&S Impact Term TEAF NA 11.34 NA -4.5 Western Asset Inf-Lk O&I WIW NA 8.52 NA 10.6 BR MuniHoldngs MHD 13.67 12.01 -12.1 3.9 CIM RA&C L 23.45 NA NA -1.4 Lord Abbett FR Hi Inc:A 10.26 NA NA 9.7 Lord Abbett Crd Op:U 8.94 NA NA 9.0
First Trust Energy Inc G FEN 15.95 15.42 -3.3 21.6 Westn Asst IG Def Opp Tr IGI NA 17.14 NA 4.7 BR MuniVest Fd MVF 8.05 7.01 -12.9 4.0 Forum RE Income;I 9.53 NA NA 11.9 Lord Abbett FR Hi Inc:I 10.26 NA NA 10.2 Oaktree Dvsfd Income;D 9.04 NA NA 7.6
First Tr Enhanced Eq FFA 19.63 18.78 -4.3 19.6 Loan Participation Funds BR MuniVest 2 MVT 12.49 10.88 -12.9 4.0 Private Opps A NA NA NA NS Monachil Credit Income:I 10.04 NA NA 8.6 PIMCO Flexible EM I;Inst NA NA NA 7.1
FirstTrEnergyInfra FIF 17.46 16.96 -2.9 23.1 Apollo Senior Floating AFT NA 14.44 NA 10.7 BR MuniYield Fd MYD 12.25 11.24 -8.2 4.3 Private Opps I NA NA NA NS Nomura Alt Inc;I 10.01 NA NA 4.5 National Muni Bond Funds
FirstTrMLPEner&Inc FEI 9.46 9.14 -3.4 22.1 BR Debt Strategy DSU 10.85 11.12 +2.4 9.99 BR MuniYield Qlty MQY 13.29 12.36 -7.0 4.6 Private Opps SDR NA NA NA NS OFS Credit Company OCCI NA 7.29 NA NA Ecofin Tax-Exempt Prv Cr 8.40 NA NA 3.9
Gabelli Healthcare GRX 12.23 9.96 -18.6 2.8 BR F/R Inc Str FRA 13.22 12.85 -2.8 11.0 BR MuniYld Qlty2 MQT 11.72 10.50 -10.4 4.4 NexPointRlEstStrat;A 17.06 NA NA -8.1 SEI Alternative Income:F 10.13 NA NA NS Lind Cap Pt Mun Cred Inc 8.80 NA NA 6.1
Gab Utility GUT 2.74 5.44 +98.5 -5.0 BlackRock Floatng Rt Inc BGT 12.87 13.11 +1.9 10.6 BR MuniYld Qly 3 MYI 12.65 11.51 -9.0 4.6 NexPointRlEstStrat;C 17.28 NA NA -8.7 SEI Alternative Income:Y 10.13 NA NA NS Nuveen En HY Muni Bd:A1 7.45 NA NA 5.2
GAMCOGlGold&NatRes GGN 3.71 3.73 +0.5 11.3 BS SFR 2027 T BSL NA 14.26 NA 9.5 BNY Mellon Muni Bd Infra DMB 12.08 10.34 -14.4 4.2 NexPointRlEstStrat;Z 17.29 NA NA -7.8 Yieldstreet Alt Inc NA NA NA 6.4 Nuveen En HY Muni Bd:A2 7.46 NA NA 5.4
J Han Finl Opptys BTO 28.37 28.46 +0.3 -11.3 BS St Cr 2027 Tm BGB 12.74 11.84 -7.1 9.6 BNY Mellon Str Muni Bond DSM 6.73 5.78 -14.1 4.0 PIMCO Flexible REI;Inst 10.44 NA NA 9.2 High Yield Bond Funds Nuveen En HY Muni Bd:I 7.45 NA NA 5.9
Neuberger Brmn Enrgy I&I NML 8.22 7.01 -14.7 10.0 EtnVncFltRteInc EFT 13.33 13.28 -0.4 10.6 BNY Mellon Strat Muni LEO 7.00 6.03 -13.9 4.1 PREDEX;I 24.36 NA NA -14.2 Apollo Diversified Cd:A NA NA NA 9.0 PIMCO Flex Mun Inc;A-3 10.33 NA NA 3.5
Neuberger Nxt Gen Conn NBXG 14.31 11.98 -16.3 32.4 EV SenFlRtTr EFR 13.06 13.07 +0.1 10.2 DWS Muni Inc KTF NA 8.95 NA 3.4 PREDEX;T 24.46 NA NA -14.4 Apollo Diversified Cd:C NA NA NA 8.3 PIMCO Flex Mun Inc:A1 10.33 NA NA 3.7
NuvDow30DynOverwrite DIAX 16.56 14.60 -11.8 2.9 FT/Sr Fltg Rte Inc 2 FCT 11.03 10.14 -8.1 11.0 EVMuniBd EIM 11.51 10.41 -9.6 4.1 PREDEX;W 24.46 NA NA -14.4 Apollo Diversified Cd:F NA NA NA 11.9 PIMCO Flex Mun Inc;A2 10.33 NA NA 3.7
NuvCorEqAlpha JCE NA 13.98 NA 20.2 Highland Oppty & Income HFRO NA 6.53 NA 13.4 EVMuniIncm EVN 11.40 10.20 -10.5 4.7 Principal Real Asst A 25.14 NA NA 0.7 Apollo Diversified Cd:I NA NA NA 9.3 PIMCO Flex Mun Inc;Inst 10.33 NA NA 4.2
NuveenNasdaq100DynOv QQQX 26.38 24.21 -8.2 9.8 InvDYCrOpp:AX VTA 11.16 NA NA NA EVNatMuniOpp EOT 18.52 16.75 -9.6 4.4 Principal Real Asst Ins 25.24 NA NA 1.0 Apollo Diversified Cd:L NA NA NA 8.7 Single State Muni Bond
Nuv Real Est JRS 8.77 7.88 -10.1 2.8 InvSnrIncTr VVR NA 4.15 NA 11.7 InvAdvMuIncTrII VKI 9.88 8.56 -13.4 4.5 Principal Real Asst Y 25.50 NA NA 1.2 Apollo Diversified Cd:M NA NA NA 8.5 PIMCO CA FMI;A-1 10.29 NA NA 2.9
NuvS&P500DynOvFd SPXX 17.19 15.57 -9.4 5.8 Nuveen Credit Strat Inc JQC 5.92 5.57 -5.9 11.0 Invesco MuniOp OIA NA 6.28 NA 5.1 Redwood Rl Est;I 25.05 NA NA NS Opprtnstc Crdt Intrvl;I 11.86 NA NA 11.4 PIMCO CA FMI;Inst 10.29 NA NA 3.4

Cash Prices Friday, March 1, 2024 ADVERTISEMENT

These prices reflect buying and selling of a variety of actual or “physical”
commodities in the marketplace—separate from the futures price on an
exchange, which reflects what the commodity might be worth in future
The Marketplace
To advertise: 800-366-3975 or WSJ.com/classifieds
months.
Friday Friday
Wool,64s,staple,Terr del-u,w n.a. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES CLASS ACTION
Energy
Grains and Feeds
Coal,C.Aplc.,12500Btu,1.2SO2-r,w 75.500
Coal,PwdrRvrBsn,8800Btu,0.8SO2-r,w 13.900 Bran,wheat middlings, KC-u,w 80
Corn,No. 2 yellow,Cent IL-bp,u 3.9200 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
Metals Corn gluten feed,Midwest-u,w 131.2 EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Corn gluten meal,Midwest-u,w 416.3 RICHMOND DIVISION
Gold, per troy oz
Engelhard industrial 2053.00
Cottonseed meal-u,w 355 Case: 3:21-cv-00444-DJN
Hominy feed,Cent IL-u,w 125 IN RE JAMES RIVER GROUP HOLDINGS, LTD.
Handy & Harman base 2049.80 SECURITIES LITIGATION CLASS ACTION
Meat-bonemeal,50% pro Mnpls-u,w 305
Handy & Harman fabricated 2275.28
Oats,No.2 milling,Mnpls-u 4.3175
LBMA Gold Price AM *2032.80
Rice, Long Grain Milled, No. 2 AR-u,w 36.25 SUMMARY NOTICE OF (I) PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION
LBMA Gold Price PM *2048.05
Sorghum,(Milo) No.2 Gulf-u n.a. AND PROPOSED SETTLEMENT; (II) SETTLEMENT HEARING; AND
Krugerrand,wholesale-e 2171.42
SoybeanMeal,Cent IL,rail,ton48%-u,w 355.50 (III) MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND LITIGATION EXPENSES
Maple Leaf-e 2192.30 Soybeans,No.1 yllw IL-bp,u 11.1800
American Eagle-e 2192.30 Wheat,Spring14%-pro Mnpls-u 8.2375
Mexican peso-e 2525.38 TO: All persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of James River Group Holdings,
Wheat,No.2 soft red,St.Louis-u 5.8375 Ltd. (“James River” or the “Company”) during the period from February 22, 2019 through October 25, 2021,
Austria crown-e 2049.56 Wheat - Hard - KC (USDA) $ per bu-u 6.0850
Austria phil-e 2192.30 inclusive (the “Class Period”), and who were damaged thereby (the “Settlement Class”)1:
Wheat,No.1soft white,Portld,OR-u 5.9750
Silver, troy oz.
Engelhard industrial 22.8000 Food PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. YOUR RIGHTS WILL BE AFFECTED BY A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
Handy & Harman base 23.1140 PENDING IN THIS COURT.
Beef,carcass equiv. index
Handy & Harman fabricated 28.8930 choice 1-3,600-900 lbs.-u 286.00 YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and an Order of the United
LBMA spot price *£17.6600 select 1-3,600-900 lbs.-u 274.46 States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (the “Court”), that the above-captioned securities class action (the “Action”)
(U.S.$ equivalent) *22.3400 Broilers, National comp wtd. avg.-u,w 1.2607 is pending in the Court.
Coins,wholesale $1,000 face-a 18572 Butter,AA Chicago-d 2.7575 YOU ARE ALSO NOTIFIED that Lead Plaintiffs Employees’ Retirement Fund of the City of Fort Worth d/b/a Fort Worth
Other metals Cheddar cheese,bbl,Chicago-d 165.00 Employees’ Retirement Fund and The City of Miami General Employees’ & Sanitation Employees’ Retirement Trust (together,
LBMA Platinum Price PM *887.0 Cheddar cheese,blk,Chicago-d 155.00 “Lead Plaintiffs”), on behalf of themselves and the Settlement Class, have reached a proposed settlement of the Action for
Platinum,Engelhard industrial 875.0 Milk,Nonfat dry,Chicago lb.-d 119.75 $30,000,000 in cash (the “Settlement”). If approved, the Settlement will resolve all claims in the Action.
Palladium,Engelhard industrial 946.0 Coffee,Brazilian,Comp-y 1.8673
Coffee,Colombian, NY-y 2.0767 The Action involves allegations that James River and certain of its senior officers violated federal securities laws. Lead
Aluminum, LME, $ per metric ton *2163.0 Plaintiffs allege, among other things, that James River and certain of its executives made material misrepresentations and omissions
Copper,Comex spot 3.8550 Eggs,large white,Chicago-u 3.0550 about James River’s financial condition and alleged systemic policy of under-reserving for claims during the Class Period in
Iron Ore, 62% Fe CFR China-s *117.1 Flour,hard winter KC-p 17.65 violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), and that the executive defendants
Steel, HRC USA, FOB Midwest Mill-s *840.0 Hams,17-20 lbs,Mid-US fob-u 0.85 controlled James River when the misstatements were made, in violation of Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act. Defendants2 deny
Hogs,Iowa-So. Minnesota-u 80.68 all allegations in the Action and deny any violations of the federal securities laws. Issues and defenses at issue in the Action
Battery/EV metals Pork bellies,12-14 lb MidUS-u n.a. included (i) whether Defendants made materially false statements or omissions; (ii) whether Defendants made the statements with the
BMI Lithium Carbonate, EXW China, =99.2%-v,w 13275 Pork loins,13-19 lb MidUS-u 1.0847 required state of mind; (iii) whether the alleged misstatements caused class members’ losses; and (iv) the amount of damages, if any.
BMI Lithium Hydroxide, EXW China, =56.5% -v,w 11675 Steers,Tex.-Okla. Choice-u 183.00
BMI Cobalt sulphate, EXW China, >20.5% -v,m 4413 A hearing will be held on May 24, 2024, at 11:00 a.m., before the Honorable David J. Novak of the United States District Court
Steers,feeder,Okla. City-u,w 294.50 for the Eastern District of Virginia, in person in Courtroom 6300 of the Spottswood W. Robinson III and Robert R. Merhige, Jr.,
BMI Nickel Sulphate, EXW China, >22%-v,m 3920 Federal Courthouse, 701 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219 to determine: (i) whether the proposed Settlement should be
BMIFlakeGraphite,FOBChina,-100Mesh,94-95%-v,m 538 Fats and Oils approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate; (ii) whether, for purposes of the proposed Settlement only, the Action should be
Fibers and Textiles Degummed corn oil, crude wtd. avg.-u,w n.a. certified as a class action on behalf of the Settlement Class, Lead Plaintiffs should be certified as Class Representatives for the
0.3650 Settlement Class, and Lead Counsel should be appointed as Class Counsel for the Settlement Class; (iii) whether the Action should
Burlap,10-oz,40-inch NY yd-n,w 0.7775
Grease,choice white,Chicago-h SEEKING INVESTMENT BANK be dismissed with prejudice against Defendants, and the Releases specified and described in the Stipulation (and in the Notice)
Lard,Chicago-u n.a. UNDERWRITER Patent Pending Cargo
Cotton,1 1/16 std lw-mdMphs-u 0.9282 should be granted; (iv) whether the proposed Plan of Allocation should be approved as fair and reasonable; and (v) whether Lead
Soybean oil,crude;Centl IL-u,w 0.4489 for Private Corporate Transshipment Counsel’s application for an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses should be approved.
Cotlook 'A' Index-t *107.00 Tallow,bleach;Chicago-h 0.4213 BIDBIRD® BONDS Inventions
Hides,hvy native steers piece fob-u n.a. Tallow,edible,Chicago-u n.a. - - - Solves - - - If you are a member of the Settlement Class, your rights will be affected by the pending Action and the Settlement,
and you may be entitled to share in the Net Settlement Fund. If you have not yet received the Notice and the Proof of Claim
PANAMA CANAL and Release Form (“Claim Form”), you may obtain copies of these documents by contacting the Claims Administrator at: James
KEY TO CODES: A=ask; B=bid; BP=country elevator bids to producers; C=corrected; D=CME; E=Manfra,Tordella & Drought Crisis. Locks Not Used. River Securities Litigation, c/o A.B. Data, Ltd., P.O. Box 173139, Milwaukee, WI 53217; (877) 495-0945;
Brookes; H=American Commodities Brokerage Co; info@JamesRiverSecuritiesLitigation.com. Copies of the Notice and Claim Form can also be downloaded from the Settlement
K=bi-weekly; M=monthly; N=nominal; n.a.=not quoted or not available; P=Sosland Publishing; R=SNL Energy; bidbird.co/canal +1 (602) 455-1480
website, www.JamesRiverSecuritiesLitigation.com.
S=Platts-TSI; T=Cotlook Limited; U=USDA; V=Benchmark Mineral Intelligence; W=weekly; Y=International
Coffee Organization; Z=not quoted. *Data as of 2/29 If you are a member of the Settlement Class, in order to be eligible to receive a payment from the Settlement, you must submit
Source: Dow Jones Market Data a Claim Form postmarked (if mailed) or online by no later than June 25, 2024. If you are a Settlement Class Member and do not
submit a proper Claim Form, you will not be eligible to receive a payment from the Settlement, but you will nevertheless be bound
by any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the Action.
Currencies If you are a member of the Settlement Class and wish to exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you must submit a request
for exclusion such that it is received no later than May 3, 2024, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice. If you
U.S.-dollar foreign-exchange rates in late New York trading properly exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you will not be bound by any judgments or orders entered by the Court in the
US$vs, US$vs, THE Action and you will not be eligible to receive a payment from the Settlement.

Country/currency
Fri YTDchg
in US$ per US$ (%) Country/currency
Fri YTDchg
in US$ per US$ (%) MARKETPLACE Any objections to the proposed Settlement, the proposed Plan of Allocation, or Lead Counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees and
expenses must be filed with the Court and delivered to Lead Counsel and Defendants’ Counsel such that they are received no later
Thailand baht .02796 35.770 4.0 than May 3, 2024, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the Notice.
Americas
Argentina peso .0012843.2500 4.3
Vietnam dong .00004056 24655 1.6 ADVERTISE TODAY Please do not contact the Court, the Office of the Clerk of the Court, Defendants, or their counsel regarding this notice.
Europe All questions about this notice, the proposed Settlement, or your eligibility to participate in the Settlement should be directed
Brazil real .2018 4.9548 2.1 to the Claims Administrator or Lead Counsel.
Canada dollar .7372 1.3565 2.4 Czech Rep. koruna .04276 23.387 4.5 (800) 366-3975 Requests for the Notice and Claim Form should be made to:
Chile peso .001034 966.98 10.5 Denmark krone .1454 6.8789 1.5 For more information visit:
Colombiapeso .000254 3941.65 1.7 Euro area euro 1.0841 .9225 1.8 wsj.com/classifieds James River Securities Litigation
Hungary forint .002750 363.60 4.8 c/o A.B. Data, Ltd.
Ecuador US dollar 1 1 unch P.O. Box 173139
Iceland krona .007241 138.10 1.5 Milwaukee, WI 53217
Mexico peso .0588 17.0162 0.3
Norway krone .0949 10.5413 3.6 (877) 495-0945
Uruguay peso .02560 39.0650 0.01
Poland zloty .2510 3.9836 1.2 info@JamesRiverSecuritiesLitigation.com
Asia-Pacific Sweden krona .0968 10.3329 2.3 www.JamesRiverSecuritiesLitigation.com
Australiadollar .6527 1.5321 4.4 Switzerland franc 1.1328 .8828 4.9
Inquiries, other than requests for the Notice and Claim Form, should be made to Lead Counsel:
China yuan .1390 7.1968 1.2 Turkey lira .0319 31.3516 6.4
Hong Kong dollar .1277 7.8283 0.2 Ukraine hryvnia .0262 38.1500 unch Rebecca Boon David R. Kaplan
India rupee .01207 82.849 –0.4 UK pound 1.2654 .7903 0.6 Jeremy P. Robinson Saxena White P.A.
Indonesia rupiah .0000636 15725 2.2 Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP 505 Lomas Santa Fe Drive
Middle East/Africa 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 44th Floor Suite 180
Japan yen .006661 150.13 6.4 Bahrain dinar 2.6532 .3769 –0.01 New York, NY 10020 Solana Beach, CA 92075
Kazakhstan tenge .002215 451.54 –0.8 Egypt pound .0324 30.8971 –0.1 (800) 380-8496 (858) 997-0860
Macau pataca .1240 8.0675 0.2 settlements@blbglaw.com settlements@saxenawhite.com
Israel shekel .2806 3.5634 –1.1
Malaysia ringgit .2107 4.7455 3.3 Kuwait dinar 3.2486 .3078 0.2 By Order of the Court
New Zealand dollar .6106 1.6377 3.5 Oman sul rial 2.5974 .3850 0.01
Pakistan rupee .00358 279.500 –0.6 Qatar rial .2747 3.641 –0.1
1 Certain persons and entities are excluded from the Settlement Class by definition, as set forth in the full Notice of (I) Pendency
Philippines peso .0178 56.110 1.3 Saudi Arabia riyal .2666 3.7504 0.01
of Class Action and Proposed Settlement; (II) Settlement Hearing; and (III) Motion for Attorneys’ Fees and Litigation Expenses (the
Singapore dollar .7439 1.3442 1.9 South Africa rand .0523 19.1136 4.5 “Notice”), available at www.JamesRiverSecuritiesLitigation.com.
South Korea won .0007508 1331.90 2.9
Close Net Chg % Chg YTD%Chg 2 Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the same meaning as in the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement
Sri Lanka rupee .0032431 308.35 –4.8 dated December 22, 2023 (“Stipulation”). The Stipulation can be viewed and/or obtained at
Taiwan dollar .03167 31.574 2.9 WSJ Dollar Index 98.48 –0.16–0.17 2.76 © 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. www.JamesRiverSecuritiesLitigation.com.
Sources: Tullett Prebon, Dow Jones Market Data All Rights Reserved.
B10 | Monday, March 4, 2024 NY * *** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

BUSINESS & FINANCE

How to greedy perspective,” Esters

says.
Esters also owns shares of
Index performance this year

7.5% Nasdaq Composite

This time around, Speegle
has learned to cut his losses
quickly to preserve his gains.
Nikkei 225
Invest in a Alphabet, Adobe and the
SPDR S&P 500 ETF but says
he expects to buy more value
5.0
S&P 500
Dow Jones
Industrial Average
When he is in a winning trade,
Speegle tries to add to that
position so he can capture the
Trades
Bull Market stocks over the next year.
Value stocks are typically
considered those that trade at
2.5
maximum potential.
Of course, being in a bull
market has made it easier as
Above
Continued from page B1
quarterly survey launched in
a low multiple of their book
value, or net worth. They of-
ten include shares of banks,
0
well.
“Before, we weren’t quite in
a bull market until a couple
40000 for
2021. More than half of re-
spondents say they are bull-
ish on the U.S. stock market,
oil companies and industrial
conglomerates.
Although Nvidia and Tesla
–2.5 months ago,” says Speegle,
whose portfolio is up 3% this
year.
First Time
up from 32% in the fourth top the list of the most popu- –5.0 He added: “We were get-
quarter of last year. lar stocks among individual Jan. 2024 Feb. March ting just a lot of choppy mar- BY KOSAKU NARIOKA
Bets that the economy has investors, there are signs that ket movements, where you
staved off a recession and the some are looking beyond the Share-price performance this year would get wiped out if you Japan’s benchmark stock
Fed will soon pivot to cutting “Magnificent Seven” group of weren’t proactive. It’s been a index rose above 40000 for
rates are fueling the eupho- big technology stocks. 250% lot easier to just follow the the first time, driven by
ria. The S&P 500 has climbed The share of Magnificent bullish trends.” higher corporate earnings and
7.7% to start 2024 and has Seven purchases as a percent- Super Micro Speegle expects stocks to a surge in chip-related stocks.
200
notched 15 closing records in age of total retail inflows has Computer keep hitting new highs. Early Monday, the Nikkei
the process. Nvidia shares declined to 28% recently, from History suggests that might 225 Stock Average was 1%
150
have led the way, up 66% af- nearly 45% early last year, be possible: Since 1957, the higher at 40301.15.
ter more than tripling last VandaTrack data show. S&P 500 has hit about 1,200 On Feb. 22, the index hit a
year. 100 record highs, but almost all of record for the first time in 34
Yet neither looks particu- Arm Holdings those new highs took place years, closing above the previ-
larly expensive. Nvidia trades Have fun 50 Nvidia during three major clusters, ous record reached at the
at 31 times its expected earn- Richard Stofan, a 33-year- Carson Investment Research height of the Japanese asset
ings over the next 12 months, old full-time day trader in Amazon.com data show. bubble in 1989. The index has
according to FactSet. Its two- Channahon, Ill., says he is be- 0 Marathon “Everybody loves the up- since renewed record highs
year average is 38 times. The ginning to dabble in more Digital Holdings side, everybody hates the several times. The Nikkei had
S&P 500’s multiple is about speculative stocks. –50 downside, but you can’t avoid climbed 19% so far this year
21, below its recent peak of This year, he has reallo- Jan. 2024 Feb. one without the other,” says through Friday, having risen
March
24 hit in September 2020. cated about one-third of his Ayako Yoshioka, senior portfo- 28% in 2023, driven by the re-
tech-stock portfolio—which Source: FactSet lio manager at Wealth En- turn of modest inflation, im-
includes the SPDR S&P 500 hancement Group. provements in corporate gov-
Don’t be too greedy ETF, Nvidia, Amazon.com, Ap- curities by everyday investors Entertainment Holdings dur- Yoshioka added: “It’s really ernance and a weaker yen,
Zachary Esters, a 33-year- ple and Alphabet. have been concentrated re- ing the meme-stock mania. about the kind of roller- which boosts the value of cor-
old recording artist and real- Stofan bought shares of cently in crypto and semicon- His gains in June 2021 to- coaster ride you’re willing to porate profits earned overseas
ity-TV cameraman in Nash- the small-cap-focused iShares ductor stocks, along with taled over $100,000, but he take. How smooth do you in yen terms. A surge in chip
ville, Tenn., says he put about Russell 2000 exchange-traded broad-market ETFs and Mag- lost it all in a month. want the ride to be?” stocks led the latest gains.
one-fifth of his portfolio into fund, SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, nificent Seven stocks, Vanda-
stocks he considers underval- Cathie Wood’s ARK Innova- Track data show.
ued when the tion ETF, along Speculative stocks typi- Borrowing Benchmarks | wsj.com/market-data/bonds/benchmarks
latest leg of the with Arm cally outperform when rates
rally began in Holdings, Pal- are low and investors are Money Rates
October. The S&P 500 antir, Super hungry for yield. If the Fed
March 1, 2024

Among his has climbed Micro Com- delays cutting rates or Key annual interest rates paid to borrow or lend money in U.S. and international markets. Rates below are a
recent stock puter and doesn’t reduce them as ag- guide to general levels but don’t always represent actual transactions.
purchases were 7.7% this year, Fortinet. gressively as investors hope, Inflation Week —52-WEEK— Week —52-WEEK—
Arbor Realty Near-record the highflying shares might
notching 15
Latest ago High Low Latest ago High Low
Jan. Index Chg From (%)
Trust and Bar- prices for bit- hit a roadblock. Stofan says level Dec. '23 Jan. '23 Britain 5.25 5.25 5.25 4.00 13 weeks 5.255 5.230 5.345 4.675
rick Gold. The closing records. coin embold- he isn’t too concerned and
U.S. consumer price index
Australia 4.35 4.35 4.35 3.35 26 weeks 5.130 5.100 5.350 4.620
real-estate ened him to would use that opportunity to Overnight repurchase Secondary market
All items 308.417 0.54 3.1
lender’s shares add to his buy the dip and scoop up U.S. 5.36 5.36 5.48 4.55
Fannie Mae
Core 313.623 0.55 3.9
have fallen 15% cryptocur- more shares.
U.S. government rates 30-year mortgage yields
this year and offer a 13% divi- rency exposure as well, and “They’re kind of like lot- International rates 30 days 6.452 6.505 7.495 5.496
dend yield, while the gold Stofan has scooped up shares tery tickets,” he says. “If we Discount 60 days 6.479 6.513 7.554 5.500
mining company’s stock has of crypto miners Riot Plat- were in a bear market, there’s Week 52-Week 5.50 5.50 5.50 4.75
Latest ago High Low Other short-term rates
dropped 15% and carries a forms, CleanSpark and Mar- no chance I’d be adding to my Federal funds
2.7% yield. athon Digital Holdings. speculative position.” Prime rates Effective rate 5.3300 5.3300 5.3500 4.5800 Week 52-Week
“To be completely 100% Bitcoin prices are hovering U.S. 8.50 8.50 8.50 7.75 High 5.6500 5.6500 5.6500 4.9000 Latest ago high low

risk-on in every portfolio is a near $62,000, a level not seen Canada 7.20 7.20 7.20 6.70 Low 5.3100 5.3100 5.3300 4.5500
Call money
bad mistake for any investor in more than two years. Protect your capital Japan 1.475 1.475 1.475 1.475 Bid
Offer
5.3300
5.3500
5.3100
5.3300
5.3300
5.3700
4.5700
4.5900 7.25 7.25 7.25 6.50
because that’s the same thing Stofan isn’t the only one Chase Speegle, a 38-year- Policy Rates
Treasury bill auction Commercial paper (AA financial)
as saying that ‘I am willing to crowding into hot stocks. old full-time day trader in Lit- Euro zone 4.50 4.50 4.50 3.00
Switzerland 2.25 2.25 2.25 1.50 4 weeks 5.285 5.285 5.840 3.190 90 days 5.22 n.a. 5.54 4.74
lose everything’ and that is a The top 20 most traded se- tleton, Colo., invested in AMC
Notes on data: Secured Overnight Financing Rate
U.S. prime rate is the base rate on corporate loans posted by at least 70% of the 10 largest U.S. banks, 5.32 5.30 5.40 4.55
and is effective July 27, 2023. Other prime rates aren’t directly comparable; lending practices vary
Value 52-Week
widely by location; Discount rate is effective July 27, 2023. Secured Overnight Financing Rate is as
of February 29, 2024. DTCC GCF Repo Index is Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.'s weighted average Latest Traded High Low
for overnight trades in applicable CUSIPs. Value traded is in billions of U.S. dollars. Federal-funds rates
are Tullett Prebon rates as of 5:30 p.m. ET. DTCC GCF Repo Index
Sources: Federal Reserve; Bureau of Labor Statistics; DTCC; FactSet; Treasury 5.358 25.300 5.504 4.561
Tullett Prebon Information, Ltd. MBS 5.367 35.710 5.689 4.571

Insider-Trading Spotlight
Trading by ‘insiders’ of a corporation, such as a company’s CEO, vice president or director, potentially conveys
new information about the prospects of a company. Insiders are required to report large trades to the SEC
within two business days. Here’s a look at the biggest individual trades by insiders, based on data received by
Refinitiv on March 1, and year-to-date stock performance of the company
KEY: B: beneficial owner of more than 10% of a security class CB: chairman CEO: chief executive officer CFO: chief financial officer
CO: chief operating officer D: director DO: director and beneficial owner GC: general counsel H: officer, director and beneficial owner
I: indirect transaction filed through a trust, insider spouse, minor child or other O: officer OD: officer and director P: president UT:
unknown VP: vice president Excludes pure options transactions

Biggest weekly individual trades

Based on reports filed with regulators this past week
No. of shrs in Price range ($) $ Value
Date(s) Company Symbol Insider Title trans (000s) in transaction (000s) Close ($) Ytd (%)

Buyers
Feb. 20-22 Maplebear CART R. Gupta DOI 2,020 27.74-29.95 57,656 33.17 41.3
Feb. 23-26 R. Gupta DOI 137 29.93-29.96 4,115
Feb. 27 Transocean RIG F. Mohn DOI 1,000 4.89 4,890 5.09 -19.8
Feb. 26 Sphere Entertainment SPHR J. Dolan CEO 59 41.08-41.59 2,441 44.29 30.4
Feb. 26 Ondas Holdings ONDS J. Popolo BI 1,786 1.12 2,000 1.27 -17.0
Feb. 22 Allegion ALLE J. Stone CEO 10 132.41 1,324 126.80 0.1
Feb. 26 Option Care Health OPCH H. Kraemer D 35 31.55 1,104 32.12 -4.7
Feb. 28 Sunnova Energy International NOVA A. Mohamed D 152 6.92 1,055 7.24 -52.5
Feb. 27 AMN Healthcare Services AMN C. Grace CEO 18 56.39-57.06 992 56.81 -24.1
Feb. 28 J. Knudson CFO 7 57.75 401
Feb. 22 Illumina ILMN J. Thaysen CEO 7 134.91-137.18 992 140.50 0.9
Feb. 27 National Health Investors NHI C. Swafford DI 10 58.69 587 57.70 3.3
Feb. 22 Malibu Boats MBUU M. Hooks ODI 13 42.82 535 43.77 -20.2
Feb. 27 A-Mark Precious Metals AMRK J. Ravich D 20 25.63 513 27.01 -10.7
Feb. 26-27 OPENLANE KAR K. Peter CEO 34 14.87-14.98 508 15.86 7.1
Feb. 27 Enphase Energy ENPH B. KothandaramanCEO 4 120.54 482 129.66 -1.9
Feb. 26 Goosehead Insurance GSHD M. Miller P 5 73.71-74.00 369 74.85 -1.3
Feb. 26 Pinstripes Holdings PNST A. Querciagrossa CFO 100 3.43 343 3.49 -68.0

Sellers
Feb. 21-23 Walmart WMT S. Walton DOI 8,824 173.51-177.44 1,545,744 58.76 11.8
Feb. 21-23 A. Walton BI 8,824 173.51-177.44 1,545,744
Feb. 21-23 J. Walton BI 8,824 173.40-177.44 1,544,626
Feb. 27 TransDigm Group TDG R. Small DI 254 1160.50 294,639 1183.27 17.0
Feb. 22 W. Howley DI 59 1165.00-1180.01 69,503
Feb. 27 HF Sinclair DINO C. Holding DOI 4,000 57.34 229,360 55.81 0.4
Feb. 26 Symbotic SYM J. Cohen BI 5,000 39.69 198,450 40.93 -20.3
Feb. 26 R. Cohen CEOI 5,000 39.69 191,613
Feb. 26 D. Ladensohn BI 2,085 39.69 82,765
Feb. 22-23 Apollo Global Management APO L. Black B 1,550 111.32-112.16 172,838 111.01 19.1
Feb. 29 TPG TPG D. Bonderman DO 1602* 41.64 66,695 44.96 4.1
Feb. 29 J. Coulter H 1352* 41.64 56,285
Feb. 29 J. Winkelried CEO 1051* 41.64 43,757
Feb. 23-26 Medpace Holdings MEDP A. Troendle CEOI 157 400.32-402.38 62,939 404.24 31.9
Feb. 21-22 A. Troendle CEOI 136 383.44-395.98 53,406
Feb. 23 NVIDIA NVDA H. Jones DI 65 805.74-823.72 53,032 822.79 66.1
Feb. 27 Coinbase Global COIN B. Armstrong CEOI 250 201.94-209.54 51,332 205.77 18.3
Feb. 9 Meta Platforms META M. Zuckerberg CEOI 97 468.10-473.08 45,602 502.30 41.9
* Half the transactions were indirect **Two day transaction
p - Pink Sheets

Buying and selling by sector

Based on actual transaction dates in reports received this past week

Sector Buying Selling Sector Buying Selling

Basic Industries 1,174,414 63,643,835 Finance 4,141,408 496,394,462
Capital Goods 382,027 162,094,541 Health care 4,405,834 257,430,599
Consumer durables 809,885 42,714,850 Public Utilities 100,895 4,923,181
Consumer non-durables 814,291 38,202,175 Technology 4,257,723 472,101,004
Consumer services 4,320,289 259,684,822 Transportation 0 34,535,331
Energy 7,307,088 70,811,503

Sources: Refinitiv; Dow Jones Market Data

 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, March 4, 2024 | B11

THE TICKER MARKETS

Chinese Gangs Use Crypto

To Launder Billions of Dollars
Tether, other tokens
let criminal groups
linked to the country
GABRIELA BHASKAR FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

to cover their tracks

BY WEILUN SOON
AND ELAINE YU

Chinese crime syndicates are

using cryptocurrencies to laun-
der billions of dollars, including
money raised from helping sup-
ply drugs to the U.S. or scam-
ming American victims.
Department-store chain Nordstrom reports results Tuesday. These gangs are exploiting
the decentralized nature of

LAM YIK/BLOOMBERG NEWS

MARKET EVENTS COMING THIS WEEK crypto markets to evade Chi-
nese and foreign authorities.
Monday They are using crypto to laun-
Refinan., previous Freddie Mac mortgage
der the profits of drug dealing
Earnings expected down 7.0% survey
Previous weekly averages and illegal gambling, and have
Estimate/Year Ago
30-year fixed 6.94% made huge amounts from in-
ContextLogic Wholesale inventories
15-year fixed 6.26% vestment scams that promise Beijing has for years taken a hard line against cryptocurrencies, forcing exchanges to shut down.
(2.21)/(3.97) Dec., previous up 0.4%
easy returns in crypto markets.
Gitlab 0.08/(0.03) Jan., exp. down 0.1%
Int’l trade deficit in Crypto addresses linked to a being done through cryptocur- dlebury Institute of Interna- 800 cases, shut down five un-
Nektar Therapeutics
billions group of suspected chemical rencies. That is a problem for tional Studies. derground banks used to help
(0.21)/(0.32) Earnings expected
Estimate/Year Ago Dec., previous $62.2 traders based in China received investigators, but it gives them The transnational nature of process payments, and uncov-
Abercrombie & Fitch Jan., expected $63.3 more than $37.8 million worth new ways to track money flows, these syndicates adds further ered about $4 billion of funds
Tuesday 2.83/0.81 of assets since 2018 in exchange since most crypto transfers are difficulty in catching criminals based on blockchain data, the
Factory orders Brown-Forman EIA report: natural gas for shipping a key ingredient of saved on a public ledger. or helping victims recover country’s police force said in
Dec., previous up 0.2% 0.56/0.21 Previous change in stocks in fentanyl, the research firm Scammers of several victims their assets, since it requires January. It worked with block-
Jan., exp. down 3.1% Campbell Soup
billions of cubic feet Chainalysis said in a report last in China and Florida shared the cooperation between officials chain analytics firm OKLink to
down 96 year. These shipments are often same two crypto-wallet ad- in different countries, say an- track the wallets, which allow
0.77/0.80
Earnings expected Descartes Systems sent to Central America and dresses, implying they are likely tifraud advocates. the storage and transfer of
Consumer Credit Mexico, where drug cartels use parts of the same group, ac- Beijing has for years taken a cryptocurrencies.
Estimate/Year Ago 0.37/0.34
CrowdStrike Dec., prev. up $1.6 bil. them to make the drug, which cording to a joint investigation hard line against cryptocurren- In late 2022, Chinese police
Foot Locker 0.32/0.97
0.82/0.47 Jan., exp. up $10.0 bil. is shipped to the U.S. published in January by Chain- cies, forcing exchanges to shut arrested 63 suspects linked to
Thor Industries
Franco-Nevada 0.67/0.50 Earnings expected In October, the U.S.’s Office Argos, a Singapore blockchain down, banning trading and jail- a criminal group that used
0.80/0.86 Estimate/Year Ago of Foreign Assets Control data platform, and Bitrace, a ing executives who previously cryptocurrencies to launder
Nordstrom 0.88/0.74 Broadcom 10.40/10.33 sanctioned a network of indi- China-based blockchain re- worked in the industry. In Jan- the equivalent of roughly $1.7
Nuvei 0.45/0.47 Thursday Burlington Stores viduals and companies based search group. One of those wal- uary, the powerful State Council billion in an operation span-
Ross Stores 1.66/1.31 3.30/2.96 in China over the manufactur- lets processed at least $20.7 said it would submit a revised ning 17 provinces.
Initial jobless claims Costco Wholesale ing and distribution of ingre- million of tokens since early anti-money-laundering law to Chinese prosecutors charged
Target 2.41/1.89
Previous 215,000 3.62/3.30 dients used in fentanyl and 2021, the report said. The study the country’s top lawmaking well-known crypto executives.
Expected 218,000 Kroger 1.13/0.99 other drugs. Some of those in- found the stolen funds from body for review. Addressing the Zhao Dong, founder of a major
Wednesday dividuals held crypto wallets those two addresses were de- role of crypto in money laun- over-the-counter crypto plat-
Unit labor costs to send and receive funds, the posited onto two major crypto dering is the most urgent issue, form in China called RenrenBit,
EIA status report
Previous change in stocks in
3rd qtr., prev. up 0.5% Friday Treasury Department said. exchanges, OKX and Huobi, now legal experts have said. was sentenced to seven years
millions of barrels 4th qtr. prelim., exp. Nonfarm payrolls Fentanyl use has been a called HTX. “Having a blanket ban on in prison in 2022 after provid-
Crude oil up 4.2 up 0.6% Jan., previous 353,000 rare area where the world’s It is tough for victims in the cryptocurrency exchanges is ing crypto-exchange services to
Gasoline down 2.8 Feb., expected 210,000 two superpowers have ap- U.S. to recover their money be- one thing, but it doesn’t seem an illicit business involved in
Distillates down 0.5 Productivity peared to be on the same side: cause many of them lose to be working,” said Rory overseas gambling and so-
3rd qtr., prev. up 3.2% Unemployment rate Chinese and U.S. officials $10,000 or less—too small for Doyle, head of financial crime called pig-butchering scams.
Mort. bankers indexes 4th qtr. prelim., exp. Jan., previous 3.7% agreed this year to work to- organizations such as the Fed- policy at financial-software Tether, a stablecoin pegged to
Purch., prev. down 5.0% up 3.1% Feb., expected 3.7% gether to tackle the issue. eral Bureau of Investigation to provider Fenergo. the U.S. dollar, has been used
These cases highlight the consider it a priority, said Jo- Chinese law-enforcement as a way for these groups to
* FactSet Estimates earnings-per-share estimates don’t include extraordinary items (Losses in paren-
theses) u Adjusted for stock split changing nature of money laun- nelle Still, adjunct professor in agencies across the country switch between different fiat
Note: Forecasts are from Dow Jones weekly survey of economists dering, which is increasingly blockchain analytics at the Mid- have investigated more than currencies, officials said.

Download now

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information on every listing?
Not really.

More real estate

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B12 | Monday, March 4, 2024 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

HEARD STREET ON
THE
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

Stock-Market FOMO Is Rational

Most market returns happen in periods of falling interest rates
Annualized inflation-adjusted return After rate falls After rate rises

Equity

History suggests that being uninvested when rates start falling is a bad idea U.S.
Bonds

If you have fear of missing out— funds is more than understandable. banks turn hawkish, eroding nomi-
or FOMO—when deciding whether But if you wait for rates to start nal gains. But most of it comes
to invest in stocks, it is because you coming down to buy riskier assets, from higher nominal returns in the Bills
might indeed miss out. you could be giving up on a lot of first place.
It is hard to shake the feeling gains. On Wednesday, Swiss bank For bonds, periods of rising rates 0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
that the market might be a bit UBS published the 2024 version of have delivered almost no returns.
frothy. Even as central bankers rein its Global Investment Returns Year- This was mostly because higher in- Equity
in expectations for rate cuts, inves- book, a compendium of very long- flation wiped them out.
tors have embraced bets on genera- run performance data that used to A raft of other research also U.K.
tive artificial intelligence. The Nas- be published by Credit Suisse. One shows that historically, most stock- Bonds
daq closed at a high on Thursday, key takeaway is that most returns market gains have come during
finally rising above the previous historically captured by investors only a few days, sometimes right
peak recorded on Nov. 19, 2021. The have come during times when offi- after central banks cut rates.
Bills
index climbed to another record on cials were lowering borrowing costs One caveat is that investors have
Friday. or leaving them unchanged after become aware of the historical
Even if the technology giants lowering them. precedent. Increasingly, the bond Note: Data for 1914-2023 (U.S.) and 1930-2023 (U.K.)
driving it higher aren’t riding a In the U.S., real annualized re- market is pricing in a much bigger Source: Dimson, Marsh & Staunton (UBS Global Investment Returns Yearbook 2024)
bubble, their lofty valuations make turns from equities during easing chunk of the expected decline in
it likely that future rewards for in- cycles have been 9.4%, compared rates before they actually happen, Rate-cutting may start later than rush of market optimism, even if
vesting will be lower. And the rest with 3% during tightening cycles. research by TS Lombard shows. investors previously thought, but it borrowing costs end up staying
of the equity market isn’t particu- Part of the difference in stock- This raises the possibility that is still likely to happen at some high for quite a while.
larly cheap either. So investors’ market performance between eas- stocks, too, have already enjoyed point this year. Judging by the Most investors may not be able
temptation to leave their cash ing and tightening cycles is due to much of the gains from monetary post-1995 period, sometimes it only to afford to lurk on the sidelines.
parked in deposits or money-market inflation being higher when central easing ahead of time. takes that initial easing to trigger a —Jon Sindreu

Apple Is Playing an Expensive Game of AI Catch-Up

Apple has finally parked its ex- big-tech competitors and has sive game of catch-up. Components S&P 500, it represented less than Dell’Oro. Those three also spent
pensive car dreams. The timing is turned chip maker Nvidia into the to power generative AI services— 8% of its annual revenue—among about nine times as much as Apple
good, as its other ambitions require third-most-valuable U.S. company— such as the GPU systems made by the lowest proportion of major tech on average on data center capex
a lot of gas in the tank. behind Apple and Microsoft. Nvidia—are expensive and hard to companies on the index. R&D last year, according to Dell’Oro ana-
Apple recently took the formal And Apple’s perceived lagging in come by of late, given soaring de- spending by Microsoft, Ama- lyst Baron Fung.
step of telling employees on its car the AI race has been costly, contrib- mand and production bottlenecks. zon.com, Alphabet and Meta last Of course, no one really knows
project—dubbed Project Titan—that uting to a nearly 7% decline in its And Apple will be competing for year averaged more than 17% of what exact form Apple’s AI efforts
it is shutting down the program stock price this year. those chips with the same big-tech their reported revenue. are going to take. The company
and redirecting its efforts toward But even a cheaper Apple has no peers that have been outspending Hence, Apple simply siphoning might just end up following the
generative artificial intelligence. shortage of resources. The company the company in some key ways. Ap- investment dollars from its car trend of other PC and smartphone
Neither is a terribly surprising produced nearly $107 billion in free ple’s total capital expenditures for project to AI might not be enough. makers by adding AI processors to
move. The car effort has been un- cash flow last year—the highest by the calendar year 2023 were about Particularly since many generative its gadgets. In a Feb. 20 note to cli-
der way for at least a decade with far among S&P 500 companies, ac- $9.6 billion—about one-third of AI services require the backbone of ents, Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein
various starts and stops but ulti- cording to data from S&P Global what Microsoft, Google parent Al- massive computing networks that said “even modest AI capabilities
mately made little sense for a com- Market Intelligence. It also has phabet and Facebook parent Meta Apple’s big tech rivals have spent could potentially stimulate incre-
pany with no experience in produc- nearly $65 billion in cash on its Platforms spent on average on years building out, due to their fo- mental iPhone upgraders,” in part
ing any form of vehicle—and books, net of debt. Those resources capex over the same period, accord- cus on corporate cloud computing. due to weak demand over the last
powerful reasons to avoid such a are what allowed Apple to chase ing to S&P Global Market Intelli- Apple has 26 data centers operating two cycles for Apple’s storied
low-margin business. such an ambitious dream like build- gence. globally compared with more than smartphone.
Generative AI, meanwhile, is the ing its own car without sparking an And while Apple’s total R&D out- 300 each for Microsoft, Google and A smarter Siri might actually be
hottest thing going in technology. It investor revolt. lay of just under $30 billion last Amazon, according to estimates worth buying.
is now the prime focus of Apple’s Apple, though, faces an expen- year was the fifth-highest in the from IT market-research firm —Dan Gallagher

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