Comment on Japan's frail business mood, exports show economy straining under tax hike

After a weak start to earnings season from Netflix and Meta, tech companies saw their fortunes reverse to close out the week on a high note. Until late yesterday, major tech stocks were having a pretty rough few weeks. But thanks to premarket surges this morning from Google, Microsoft, and Snap, the final week of April could be a very good one for select tech giants.

Betting websites offer an easier way to bet against Trump: make a wager on the 2024 election. Rooting for Donald Trump to fail has rarely been this profitable. Just ask a hardy band of mostly amateur Wall Street investors who have collectively made tens of millions of dollars over the past month by betting that the stock price of his social media business—Truth Social—will keep dropping despite massive buying by Trump loyalists and wild swings that often mirror the candidate’s latest polls, court trials and outbursts on Trump Social itself.

Millions of lower-paid salaried workers who previously did not qualify for overtime will be eligible beginning this summer. Getting a salaried job is great until you realize your bosses may now believe they own your soul and don’t need to pay overtime for it. You are always on the clock in their minds.

The intended and unintended generative AI flooding Facebook and Instagram. Meta has flooded its social media platforms with artificial intelligence. Soon enough, Meta AI will be everywhere: In your Facebook news feed, Instagram search bar, and even your conversations with friends on Messenger. The company’s Llama 3 large language model is also perhaps the most powerful open-source model on the market (though its openness is an ongoing debate).

A new brewery with a familiar name is now open in Fort Collins. This week, Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project debuted its second location at 1611 S. College Ave., in the space formerly home to Black Bottle Brewery. It will host a grand opening the weekend of May 3, said co-owner Josh Grenz. Verboten took over Black Bottle’s lease in February and Grenz has since been working on a “cosmetic remodel” to update the bar tops, table tops and chairs.

Jordan and Taryn Bennett took advantage of low mortgage rates during the pandemic to snag a condo in the Uptown neighborhood. But they need more space with a dog in residence and a child on the way. Interest rates, rather than helping them, are blocking them this time around. The young couple, both 30, are turning to a newer type of housing product known as “build-to-rent,” or BTR, for some flexibility  They zeroed in on an infill townhome community called Dominic Row in Denver’s popular Highlands neighborhood, before deciding to move into a rental home near Sloans Lake. “People like us don’t want to go back into apartments.