Good morning. US stock futures rose in Friday morning trading as investors kept an eye on Washington and debt ceiling negotiations.

"Anything that helps make addicts out of occasional traders should be avoided as if it were the bubonic plague"

Edwin Lefevre

Top News

IMF cautions against US default 

WHAT: The International Monetary Fund seems to be a bit worried about the ongoing standoff in Washington over raising the US government's debt limit. According to the IMF, a US default would have "very serious repercussions" for both the US and global economy, one consequence of which would result in borrowing costs rising sharply.      

WHY: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that a default on payments could come as early as June 1 if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling.  

Big Pharma fights back against drug price plan  

WHAT: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has some tough words for the US government's plan to negotiate drug prices for its Medicare health program. Bourla referred to the move as "negotiation with a gun to your head", adding that he expects drugmakers to sue to in an attempt to halt the process.    

WHY: The pharmaceutical industry says the attempt at drug pricing reform, passed last year as part of the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act, will result in a loss of profits that will force drugmakers to pull back on developing groundbreaking new treatments.     

Tight energy supplies likely across US this summer  

WHAT: In the words of Maroon 5, "this summer's gonna hurt like a..." across several parts of the US according to a notice published by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). NERC is forecasting that many parts of the country are at risk of facing energy shortfalls as Americans crank up demand for air conditioning.   

WHY: NERC has become more aggressive in warning about reliability concerns in recent years after power grid operators were forced to impose rotating outages in California in 2020 and Texas in 2021.   

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In Other News

New Twitter CEO on deck

WHAT: Looks like Elon Musk is about the demit office as "Chief Twit." Musk, current CEO of the social media giant announced via a tweet he hired a new CEO to steer the Twitter ship and that the individual would be taking up the position within the next six weeks.     

WHY: Musk, back in November said he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company.        

Adidas offloads Yeezy inventory  

WHAT: After months of playing tug-o-war with unsold Yeezy shoes, Adidas announced plans to sell of a portion of the remaining inventory and donate the proceeds to charity. Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said the company spent months trying to determine the fate of the remaining inventory and after speaking to various NGOs, decided giving to charity was the best option.     

WHY: Adidas cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West in October 2022 following his antisemitic comments on social media and in interviews.       

Those streaming prices? Yea, they're going up! 

WHAT: Buckle up Disney+ subscribers because things just got real! Disney CEO Bob Iger said price increases will be coming soon to the company's streaming service. "The pricing changes we've already implemented have proven successful and we plan to set a higher price for our ad-free tier later this year to better reflect the value of our content offerings" Iger said as he delivered remarks during Disney's quarterly earnings call.    

WHY: Iger has consistently reaffirmed Disney's outlook of reaching streaming profitability by 2024, noting that the company faces a challenging road ahead to get their.   

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