Evening Briefing: Americas
Bloomberg Evening Briefing Americas
View in browser
Bloomberg

Payments by importers of US customs duties rose to a record $16.5 billion for goods received in April as the full weight of President Donald Trump’s tariffs came down on companies. But if the levies—currently the subject of lawsuits asserting they’re illegal—are upheld and continue at their present rate, the Republican’s pledge that they will pay for record GOP tax cuts will come up short.

The new levies being collected consist largely of a 10% baseline tariff for most of the world, a 25% duty on steel and aluminum and 25% on autos. The tariff rate on China was about 20% when Trump took office, hit a high of 145% and is now 51%.

With monthly collections for April now accounted for, the Treasury will bring in at least $22.3 billion in customs duties and other excise taxes this month, data show. Measured in dollar terms rather than as a share of GDP, that would be a monthly record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. David E. Rovella

What You Need to Know Today

US Long-Term Borrowing Costs Surge Over Deficit Concerns 
Bond investors are demanding more and more compensation to hold long-dated US debt as global markets grow anxious.

Boeing has reached a tentative agreement with the US Justice Department that would allow the planemaker to avoid criminal charges for two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jets more than six years ago. The crashes of Boeing’s planes killed 346 people and began years of crises and scandals at the embattled company. The settlement was disclosed in a federal court filing Friday, just weeks before a trial was set to start June 23 in Fort Worth, Texas. It calls for the company to pay more than $1.1 billion and strengthen quality and safety measures, Trump administration lawyers said. It’s a stunning turnaround in the long-running legal case. Just last year, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal conspiracy. But that deal was rejected in December by US District Judge Reed O’Connor, who has been overseeing the case since 2021. 

Relatives of Boeing crash victims stand with photos of their loved ones prior to a Senate subcommittee hearing last year. A Boeing quality inspector alleged the planemaker lost track of hundreds of faulty parts, some of which he said may have been installed on new 737 Max planes. Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg

The US dollar slumped to its lowest level since 2023 as new tariff threats from Trump and the risk of a widening fiscal deficit drag on the currency’s appeal. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell as much as 0.8% on Friday, extending a more-than-7% decline since the beginning of the year. The dollar is down for a fourth day in five after Trump’s latest threats of tariffs added to investor concern about the impact of his trade policies on the world’s top economy. Meanwhile, hedge funds, asset managers and other speculative traders continued to bet against the dollar.


Jane Street Group generated more than $2.3 billion in net revenue from equity derivatives last year in India, where its lucrative trading strategies have sparked a probe by regulators. The trading haul was a sharp surge from 2023, underscoring the country’s growing importance to the firm’s global expansion. India accounted for more than a tenth of the New York-based giant’s record $20.5 billion in net trading revenue last year.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is investigating the company’s derivatives trades after some market participants alleged manipulation by the firm, Bloomberg reported last week. A separate probe by the National Stock Exchange was closed last month after a reply from the company’s India trading partner.

The world’s largest derivatives market by contracts traded, the NSE has seen global high-frequency trading and market-making firms from Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities to Optiver expand in recent years. A retail investor-led boom has seen options premiums surge 11-fold in the five years to March 2025.


Canada’s economy may be in the early stages of a recession, according to forecasters, as unemployment rises and exports fall because of the US trade war. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg say output will shrink 1% on an annualized basis in the second quarter and 0.1% in the third quarter, a technical recession. Exports are tumbling—they will drop 7.4% on an annualized basis in the current quarter, forecasters estimate, after Trump’s tariff threats caused US importers to pull forward their shipments earlier in the year.


Salesforce is said to be in talks to acquire software company Informatica, rebooting a potential deal that fell through last year. If an accord is reached, it could be announced as soon as next week. Shares in Informatica rose as much as 28% on Friday for their biggest intraday gain. The stock closed up 17.5% in New York, giving the company a market value of about $6.8 billion. Salesforce finished the session 3.6% lower for a market capitalization of around $262 billion. Cloud Software Group, formerly known as Citrix Systems, has been interested in the asset, too.

A deal would represent one of Salesforce’s biggest-ever acquisitions. Informatica, which helps customers manage their data in the cloud, has long been a potential takeover target. San Francisco-based Salesforce held talks to buy the company just over a year ago, Bloomberg News reported at the time. The talks cooled with the parties struggling to agree to terms.


Meloni Has Reason to Hope Moody’s Will Bring Italy Back From Brink of Junk

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

Harvard
“Unlawful” Trump Foreign Student Ban Halted by Court in Less Than 24 Hours
Steel
Trump Says He Backs US Steel, Nippon Deal After National Security Review
Trade Wars
The Latest US Tariff Threats, Just in Time for the Weekend
Europe
Here’s What’s in the EU Trade Proposal Trump Just Rejected
Markets Wrap
Latest Trade War Saber-Rattling Sends Stocks Down
Law Firms
Four Senior Litigators Flee Paul Weiss After Firm’s Trump Concession
Tax Avoidance
Heir to $27 Billion Bharti Fortune Joins UK Wealth Exodus

For Your Commute

Beef Supplies Shrink as Summer Nears
As the Memorial Day holiday signals the unofficial start of outdoor grilling season, it might be time to consider changing your diet.

The Bloomberg Evening Briefing Americas will return on May 27.

More fr