Plus: Billionaire Marc Benioff’s Salesforce To Invest $1 Billion In Singapore |
Good morning,
It’s been five years since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the workplace has irreversibly changed.This week marked the anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of the pandemic, and in that time, we’ve gone from working from home to the Great Resignation to, now, the Great Detachment. It’s a period marked by declining employee engagement, satisfaction and choice, and at its core is “the manager squeeze,” according to Jim Harter of Gallup. “How people are managed on a daily basis is multiples more important” than hybrid work policies, he says. But managers face an increasingly difficult task of prioritizing efficiency while lacking the training and support to coach their direct reports.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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| There’s some good news in the battle against inflation: The consumer price index rose 2.8% year-over-year in February, better than economists expected. Still, that doesn’t take into account most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which economists predict will add to inflation. “This may be the calm CPI report before the storm,” writes Seema Shah, Principal Asset Management’s chief global strategist. JPMorgan analysts expect Tesla’s woes to continue, predicting the company’s weakest quarter for car deliveries since 2022 as Elon Musk’s divisive role in the Trump Administration drags on the EV maker’s performance. The analysts also said Tesla seems to have the most to lose among U.S. auto firms from the “shifting regulatory backdrop” under Trump, including the potential rollback of electric vehicle tax credits. |
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| | | Billionaire Marc Benioff’s Salesforce To Invest $1 Billion In Singapore |
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Salesforce, a cloud computing software company co-founded by billionaire Marc Benioff, plans to invest $1 billion in Singapore to accelerate the development of AI and the use of its AI-powered workplace platform Agentforce. Salesforce and Singapore Airlines also announced a collaboration to develop artificial intelligence-powered customer service applications for the airline industry. The five-year investment plan dovetails with Singapore’s National AI Strategy 2.0 and the nation’s ambition to be a driver of AI innovation, according to Benioff. “We are in an incredible new era of digital labor where every business will be transformed by autonomous agents that augment the work of humans, revolutionizing productivity and enabling every company to scale without limits,” Benioff said in a statement. “Singapore is at the forefront of this shift, and as the world’s largest provider of digital labor through our Agentforce platform, Salesforce is thrilled to expand our work.” The investment will help Singapore’s companies build digital workforces, bringing humans together with autonomous Agentforce agents to unlock new levels of productivity, according to Salesforce. Benioff, who owns 2% of Salesforce, has a $9.8 billion net worth based on Forbes real-time data. He was with software giant Oracle for 13 years as a protégé of Larry Ellison prior to starting Salesforce, a pioneer in hosting software online.
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Singapore has played a crucial role in driving Agentforce innovation and is a key growth market for Salesforce, according to the cloud computing company, which Benioff co-founded in 1999.
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Canada followed the European Union in announcing tens of billions of dollars worth of retaliatory tariffs against U.S. goods in response to President Donald Trump’s newly-imposed steel and aluminum import taxes. The retaliatory measures include tariffs on about $8.8 billion of steel products, $2.1 billion of aluminum products and $9.9 billion of other U.S. goods, according to Canada's finance minister, totaling about $20.7 billion in U.S. dollars. MORE: Chinese authorities summoned Walmart executives earlier this week over reports of the company asking its suppliers in the country to slash their prices to help the world’s largest retailer counteract the impact of Trump’s tariffs. Chinese state media outlet CCTV blasted the retailer, saying it was attempting to “shift the burden” of the tariffs on China to “Chinese suppliers and consumers.” |
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WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
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While the last three weeks have been punishing for the stock market, veteran wealth managers are sounding a similar refrain for long-term investors: don’t panic. Although some economists have noted an increased risk for a recession, history suggests changes in sentiment often happen much faster than investors expect. “About two-thirds of the time, the S&P 500 has recovered all that it lost after the shock in a month,” says Dave Donabedian, co-chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth U.S. “The punch line is don’t do knee-jerk selling.” |
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Americans have a largely negative view of Elon Musk, a new poll from CNN reveals, and a majority also disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy. Musk’s 35% approval rating is below Trump’s 45%, and more than 60% of respondents said Musk has neither the experience nor the judgement to carry out Trump’s sweeping changes to the federal government. MORE: A growing number of protests are targeting Tesla, some peaceful and some involving acts of vandalism like arson and gunfire, as anger against CEO Elon Musk builds. Trump called for the protestors to go through “hell” and be labeled as domestic terrorists, though there is no federal charge for domestic terrorism. The House Republican budget resolution to avoid a government shutdown Friday now faces a tough test in the Senate, where it does not appear to have enough Democratic votes to support it. Seven Senate Democrats would need to side with Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold to break the filibuster, but Democrats are reportedly weighing whether to shut down the government or approve the GOP-written bill they say gives the Trump Administration broad leeway to dictate government spending. |
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SpaceX canceled a ship launch Wednesday that is part of a mission to bring back two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station for nine months. The planned mission, which was scrubbed due to a “hydraulic ground issue,” was supposed to send a four-person crew to the ISS using SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, and it’s now unclear when the launch could be rescheduled for. |
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National Institutes of Health grants generated nearly $95 billion in economic activity around the country in fiscal year 2024, a new report found. It’s now under threat as the Trump Administration seeks to cut federal grant funding for research: |
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$36.94 billion
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The amount the NIH awarded in external grants to researchers across all 50 states and the District of Columbia in fiscal year 2024
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407,782
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The number of jobs those grant awards supported
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$2.56
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The return on investment for every $1 awarded
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It can be frustrating to miss out on a job opportunity, especially to someone who seems to have less experience or fewer accomplishments than you. But the hiring process is rarely as objective as you think. Instead of stewing in resentment, use the setback to fuel your job search, reflecting on what you can learn from the process. Resilience makes you more likely to find long-term success. |
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