Today’s Big Story

Should Shoppers Be Worried?

Big brands are concerned, consumer sentiment plunges and pandemic-level shortages might be coming

Well, it’s not surprising. We were all bracing for this, but now the data is catching up with the concern. Americans are still dreading a recession and rising inflation, even after President Donald Trump paused his massive tariff hike on 57 countries (a new 10% tariff remains in effect for all countries and 145% for China specifically). Consumer sentiment plunged 8% in April from the prior month, to a final reading of 52.2, the University of Michigan said in its latest survey released Friday.

And, in case, you need a reference: That sentiment is at its fourth-lowest level on records going back to 1952. “While this month’s deterioration was particularly strong for middle-income families, expectations worsened for vast swaths of the population across age, education, income, and political affiliation,” Joanne Hsu, the survey’s director, told CNN. “Consumers perceived risks to multiple aspects of the economy, in large part due to ongoing uncertainty around trade policy and the potential for a resurgence of inflation looming ahead.”

Concerns about higher prices combined with a weaker labor market suggest “consumers have really reflected—ahead of financial markets—the fears of stagflation,” KPMG’s chief economist Diane Swonk told the Wall Street Journal. “The Fed’s got to be nervous about the inflation expectations looking higher,” she added.

And NPR reports that the largest consumer conglomerates are cutting their financial forecasts for the year, predicting lower sales and profits than before. That includes Pepsi (which also owns Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats), Kimberly-Clark (which makes Kleenex, Huggies and Scott toilet paper) and Procter & Gamble (which makes Tide, Pampers and Charmin). Until recently, most consumer giants stuck to the word “uncertainty” to describe the future. Now, they've begun offering more specifics. Kimberly-Clark estimates that the trade war will add $300 million in new costs for the company. Procter & Gamble warned it may raise prices to offset new expenses and Chipotle has gone on record to say that anxious diners are cutting back on burrito bowls.

Speaking of cutting back, one of America’s biggest asset managers has warned that a fall in trade between the U.S. and China will lead to COVID-like shortages within weeks. Apollo Global Management, which manages about $700 billion of assets, said analysis of China shipping data showed container traffic from there to America is collapsing. The White House claims that scores of trade deals are close to completion but has yet to release details of any. In an interview with TIME magazine, Trump said that trade negotiations with foreign powers could be “finished” within “three to four weeks”. Most analysts think that is overly optimistic—Trump’s renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement took 18 months to complete during his first term.

Trump’s Messy Deportation Plan

Administration officials defend deportations involving U.S. citizen children

Three children who are U.S. citizens were deported to Honduras with their mothers last week, including a 4-year-old receiving treatment for metastatic cancer, according to the families’ attorneys and civil rights and immigration advocacy organizations. But Trump administration officials on Sunday defended the administration's aggressive crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the administration’s agenda of deportation but said that “of course” all people in the U.S. are entitled to due process. His comments come as the Trump administration has pressed the courts to allow the immediate deportations of immigrants it accuses of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the Alien Enemies Act without giving them a chance to plead their case before a judge.

Lawyers for both families said the mothers were not given an option to leave their children in the United States before they were deported. In the case of the 2-year-old, whose 11-year-old sibling was also sent to Honduras, a federal judge in Louisiana expressed concern that the administration had deported the American child against the wishes of her father, who remained in the country. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said on CBS News’ Face The Nation “the mother chose to take the children with her—when you enter the country legally, and you know you're here illegally, and you choose to have a U.S. citizen child, that's on you. That's not on this administration.”

YouTube Turns 20

With a milestone birthday and 20 billion views, platform is also rolling out a TV redesign

Two decades ago this month, the first video (a 19-second clip of the San Diego zoo) was uploaded to YouTube. Today, the platform is now a cornerstone of the modern media ecosystem. It’s where people go for music videos and four-hour-long hotel reviews. It is a platform for rising stars and conspiracy theorists. It’s a repository for vintage commercials and 10 hours of ambient noise. It has disrupted traditional television and given rise to a world of video creators who make content catering to every imaginable niche interest.

To give you one idea of how massive the Google-owned video site has become, YouTube says that more than 20 billion videos have been uploaded to date. To mark the milestone, the platform shared some wild stats: YouTube says that on average, there are over 20 million videos uploaded daily to the platform (as of March 2025). In 2024, YouTube users averaged over 100 million comments on videos on a daily basis—and creators “hearted” comments from an average of 10 million viewers per day. Last year, YouTube videos on average received over 3.5 billion likes from users per day. (In 2021, YouTube started hiding thumbs-down “dislikes” on videos.)

According to the Hollywood Reporter, YouTube is not just looking back. It will roll out a redesign of its TV app this summer, including “easier navigation, playback, quality tweaks, plus streamlined access to comments, channel info, and subscribing.” And YouTube TV, its multi-channel video service, will add a feature that has been requested for years: The ability for users to create their own multi-view, with up to four channels playing at once, including non-sports channels and offerings.

Rock Hall of Fame Inductees Unveiled

The class of 2025 includes OutKast, The White Stripes and Cyndi Lauper

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced the seven inductees that its voters selected from the 2025 ballot on Sunday night, along with six more musicians or executives who were directly selected by the hall’s board for induction. The total of 13 inductees represents a gamut that runs from early-’60s star Chubby Checker to turn-of-the-millennium favorites like the White Stripes.

According to Billboard, Chubby Checker, whose “The Twist” was a global smash in 1960, has been eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since the first class was inducted in 1986, but he was never even nominated until this year. Despite having been ignored for decades, he made it in his first time on the ballot.

Newly selected by the hall’s voters as members of the class of ’25: Cyndi Lauper, the White Stripes, Chubby Checker, Outkast, Bad Company, Soundgarden and Joe Cocker. Two more recording artists won induction into the hall despite not appearing on this year’s ballot, by a move of the board in a separate Musical Influence category: Salt-N-Pepa and Warren Zevon.

Give Her Something Unexpected

Don’t overthink it.