Tech News
Why lowering the yield on 10-year bonds is more important to Trump than the stock market or interest rates

- The Trump administration has talked a lot about the yield on the 10-year Treasury, the benchmark for rates on mortgages and other common types of loans, as the president pledges to bring down borrowing costs for Americans. Data suggests more households are exposed to changes in interest rates than swings in the stock market, but the effect of tariffs on inflation might ultimately be the most impactful economic issue for voters.
Donald Trump loved to brag about the stock market at the start of his first stint in the Oval Office. But as share prices tumble amid his on-again, off-again tariff threats and mounting recession fears, the president has indicated he’s no longer using the S&P 500, which closed in correction territory on Thursday after the index dropped 10% from its high in mid-February, as a yardstick during his second term.
Instead, the new administration, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has been much more vocal about the bond market and Trump’s pledge to lower borrowing costs for Americans. Bessent has said the president’s focus is on seeing a decline in the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, the benchmark for rates in the country’s nearly $12.6 trillion mortgage market, many corporate bonds, and the government’s own interest payments.
“We’re focused on the real economy. Can we create an environment where there are long-term gains in the market and long-term gains for the American people?” Bessent told CNBC Thursday. “I’m not concerned about a little bit of volatility over three weeks.”
Regardless of Trump’s true feelings, the data suggests Americans are more exposed to changes in interest rates than swings in the stock market. While just about six in 10 Americans report owning stock, according to a 2023 Gallup poll, nearly 80% of American households have some type of debt, according to the Federal Reserve. The 10-year yield has fallen roughly 50 basis points since the week before Trump’s inauguration, though it ticked up to 4.30% Friday morning.
“More voters are impacted by interest rates than the S&P,” political strategist and venture investor Bradley Tusk told Fortune. “But inflation dwarfs both of them.”
It’s clear markets are no fan of tariff uncertainty, though stocks bounced back a bit Friday morning. It remains to be seen whether more protectionist measures will result in slower growth, higher prices, both (the worst-case scenario), or neither. Even as many Americans have presumably seen the value of their 401k and other retirement plans drop in recent weeks, there are signs the decline in yields is already having an impact.
Mortgage rates fell for a month-and-a-half before Freddie Mac’s weekly estimate ticked slightly higher Thursday, though the agency said the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has fallen to 6.65% after surpassing the 7% threshold in early January.
“Despite this minor bump, rates are still at their lowest levels of the year and if they continue to fall, could provide a welcome boost as the spring housing market kicks off,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist of multiple listing service Bright MLS, wrote in a note Thursday.
Lower mortgage payments may not address the nation’s structural housing deficit, but they could prod homeowners who have felt “locked in” to rates they obtained before borrowing costs spiked in 2022. Mortgage loan application volume increased 11% last week, according to an index calculated by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Why Trump is eyeing the 10-year Treasury
Long-term yields are highly correlated with the Federal Reserve’s overnight lending rate for banks, which allows the central bank’s decisions to be transmitted throughout the economy. The relationship isn’t perfect, however, because the market for free-floating assets like the 10-year Treasury is also based on other factors, explained Matt Sheridan, lead portfolio manager for income strategies at AllianceBernstein. Expectations for economic growth, inflation, and fiscal policy also play a role, he said.
Yields, which represent an investor’s annual return, fall as bond prices rise—and vice versa. That tends to happen if investors believe the Fed will be forced to cut rates, which makes the higher payments on existing bonds more attractive relative to new debt.
Conversely, if concern about the government’s debt burden increases, investors might demand a higher return. Over the last few months, Sheridan said, fixed-income investors have worried less about the federal deficit and are now more anxious about the economy. Initially, many traders believed Trump would be focused on pro-growth aspects of his agenda like tax cuts and deregulation.
“I think investors were a little bit surprised the new administration is prioritizing tariffs,” he said.
A White House spokesperson said the bond market’s minor rally reflected the new administration’s efforts to restore “fiscal stability and confidence.”
“President Trump has been committed to restoring our nation’s fiscal credibility, which was undermined by the previous administration’s reckless spending,” Harrison Fields, deputy press secretary and special assistant to the president, said in a statement.
Marko Papic, chief strategist at BCA Research, said it’s wrong to suggest Trump wasn’t willing to look past equity volatility during his first term. After all, despite the president citing the stock market’s performance every 35 hours during his first year and change in office, per Politico, the S&P 500 declined 6% in 2018 as Trump launched a first trade war with China.
“President Trump tweets about the stock prices when they go up,” Papic said, “and he doesn’t when they go down.”
Some demographics that tend to have lower exposure to the stock market have also appeared to gravitate to Trump, who bested Harris and his own 2020 performance in November among voters without a college degree and those making less than $100,000.
“They probably don’t care about the stock market, but they [also may not be] in the market to buy a new home,” said Tusk, who served as campaign manager for former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“But what they do do is buy groceries,” he added, “or they might want to buy a new truck.”
Auto loans aside, that’s why inflation and potential price increases from tariffs, he said, are the economic issues that loom largest.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Tech News
Intel’s new CEO gets pay package valued at about $69 million

Incoming Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan, who was named to the position this week, will receive compensation valued at about $69 million if he reaches targets over the coming years.
The package includes a salary of $1 million, plus a 200% performance-based bonus, the chipmaker said in a filing Friday. It also includes $66 million in long-term equity awards and stock options and new-hire incentives.
Separately, Tan agreed to buy $25 million in Intel shares in the first 30 days of taking the job. “Lip-Bu’s purchase reflects his belief in Intel and commitment to creating shareholder value,” the company said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Intel announced Tan was filling the role left vacant when the board ousted his predecessor, Pat Gelsinger. The semiconductor industry veteran, who previously served as an Intel board member, is tasked with trying to return the company to the forefront of an industry that it dominated for decades.
Tan, 65, will assume the role on March 18, the company said Wednesday. He will rejoin the board as well after stepping down in August 2024.
Intel’s stock has rallied this year, gaining 20%, including a surge of 15% on Thursday following the announcement of Tan’s appointment.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Tech News
Trump’s staff cuts at federal agencies overseeing US dams could put public safety at risk, critics warn

Trump administration workforce cuts at federal agencies overseeing U.S. dams are threatening their ability to provide reliable electricity, supply farmers with water and protect communities from floods, employees and industry experts warn.
The Bureau of Reclamation provides water and hydropower to the public in 17 western states. Nearly 400 agency workers have been cut through the Trump reduction plan, an administration official said.
“Reductions-in-force” memos have also been sent to current workers, and more layoffs are expected. The cuts included workers at the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest hydropower generator in North America, according to two fired staffers interviewed by The Associated Press.
“Without these dam operators, engineers, hydrologists, geologists, researchers, emergency managers and other experts, there is a serious potential for heightened risk to public safety and economic or environmental damage,” Lori Spragens, executive director of the Kentucky-based Association of Dam Safety Officials, told the AP.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said federal workforce reductions will ensure disaster responses are not bogged down by bureaucracy and bloat.
”A more efficient workforce means more timely access to resources for all Americans,” she said by email.
But a bureau hydrologist said they need people on the job to ensure the dams are working properly.
“These are complex systems,” said the worker in the Midwest, who is still employed but spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of possible retaliation.
Workers keep dams safe by monitoring data, identifying weaknesses and doing site exams to check for cracks and seepage.
“As we scramble to get these screenings, as we lose institutional knowledge from people leaving or early retirement, we limit our ability to ensure public safety,” the worker added. “Having people available to respond to operational emergencies is critical. Cuts in staff threaten our ability to do this effectively.”
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the administration to rehire fired probationary workers, but a Trump spokesperson said they would fight back, leaving unclear whether any would return.
The heads of 14 California water and power agencies sent a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Interior last month warning that eliminating workers with “specialized knowledge” in operating and maintaining aging infrastructure “could negatively impact our water delivery system and threaten public health and safety.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also operates dams nationwide. Matt Rabe, a spokesman, declined to say how many workers left through early buyouts, but said the agency hasn’t been told to reduce its workforce.
But Neil Maunu, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, said it learned more than 150 Army Corps workers in Portland, Oregon, were told they would be terminated and they expect to lose about 600 more in the Pacific Northwest.
The firings include “district chiefs down to operators on vessels” and people critical to safe river navigation, he said.
Their last day is not known. The Corps was told to provide a plan to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management by March 14, Maunu said.
Several other federal agencies that help ensure dams run safely also have faced layoffs and closures. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is laying off 10% of its workforce and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Dam Safety Review Board was disbanded in January.
The cuts come at a time when the nation’s dams need expert attention.
An AP review of Army Corps data last year showed at least 4,000 dams are in poor or unsatisfactory condition and could kill people or harm the environment if they failed. They require inspections, maintenance and emergency repairs to avoid catastrophes, the AP found.
Heavy rain damaged the spillway at California’s Oroville Dam in 2017, forcing nearly 190,000 residents to evacuate, and Michigan’s Edenville Dam breached in storms in 2020, the AP found.
Stephanie Duclos, a Bureau of Reclamation probationary worker fired at the Grand Coulee Dam, said she was among a dozen workers initially terminated. The dam across the Columbia River in central Washington state generates electricity for millions of homes and supplies water to a 27-mile-long (43-kilometer) reservoir that irrigates the Columbia Basin Project.
“This is a big infrastructure,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of people to run it.”
Some fired employees had worked there for decades but were in a probation status due to a position switch. Duclos was an assistant for program managers who organized training and was a liaison with human resources. The only person doing that job, she fears how others will cover the work.
“You’re going to get employee burnout” in the workers left behind, she said.
Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who pushed a bipartisan effort to ensure the National Dam Safety Program was authorized through 2028, said, “the safety and efficacy of our dams is a national security priority.
“Americans deserve better, and I will work to make sure this administration is held accountable for their reckless actions,” Padilla said.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Tech News
4 foods a top nutrition expert avoids at all costs, and one sweet treat he eats regularly

Tim Spector admits he used to have a Pringles problem. The salty, melt-in-your-mouth snack was a weak spot for the professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London and gut health expert.
“I could taste the chemicals on them,” he tells Fortune, “but at the same time there was something that made me addicted to eating them.”
Now, Spector is well-versed in the world of ultra-processed foods as the co-founder of ZOE, a UK-based nutrition company known for its gut health testing, and the author of multiple books including The Diet Myth and Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well.
Spector optimizes his diet with nutrition, longevity, and gut health in mind.
4 foods he never eats
1. Ultra-processed salty snacks
While Spector used to love indulging in Pringles and Cheetos, those crunchy, salty snacks are no longer a part of his diet, and top the list of foods he avoids.
“It’s the food industry that’s pushed us into this snack culture,” Spector says. Many ultra-processed snack foods are “hyper-palatable,” he adds, which make them easy to overeat.
The mixture of fat, sugars, and salt combined with a texture that almost dissolves in your mouth can make it hard to stop eating, not to mention their overly processed nature that can potentially threaten your health. That rapidly dissolving texture also disperses something like a Pringle or a Cheeto into the bloodstream much quicker, avoiding the body’s mechanisms that make you feel full, Spector says.
2. Sugary breakfast cereals
Spector steers clear of sugar-packed cereals that are “totally artificially created…that have 20 to 30 ingredients,” and look nothing like the foods they’re made from.
“You sort of feel this chemical rush as you’re eating them,” he says.
Spector recalls being a kid and loving the sugar rush of a chocolatey cereal so much, that he’d eat it to the point of nausea.
“It’s not ever something you’d find in nature,” he says. While a nice, sweet banana might be tasty, he says, that doesn’t mean you’d want to eat five in a row.
“I now know what the food companies are trying to do,” Spector says. “They’ve got the right mix of the salt, the sugar, and the fat. They know how to light up that bit of my brain.”
One study found that foods high in fat and sugar—like many ultra-processed foods—can trigger a sense of reward and a dopamine response in the brain, making them harder to put down.
3. Low-fat yogurt
While the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend that Americans include low-fat dairy in their diets, Spector avoids low- or non-fat yogurt—and reaches for full-fat yogurt instead. Part of it is personal preference—he says he enjoys full-fat yogurt more—but it is also for health reasons.
“They’ve just substituted fat with cheaper starch from corn and added all sorts of flavorings and glues to make it feel like it’s still got that milk fat in it,” Spector says.
Additives aside, the processing of low-fat yogurt can also sometimes degrade the quality of the yogurt, he says, removing beneficial fat-soluble vitamins from the yogurt.
One study stated that fat-soluble vitamins like A and D are removed along with the fat during processing, but they are often added back in to restore the nutritional value—however, since those vitamins are fat-soluble, the body may have more difficulty absorbing them in the absence of fat.
4. Foods labeled ‘low-calorie, high-protein’
Whenever Spector sees a food that is advertised as “low-calorie, high-protein,” it immediately raises red flags. That includes foods like protein bars, powders, and other products infused with protein—which nowadays can include everything from cereals to ice cream.
“That just sends me a red alert that this product has been highly tampered with,” Spector says.
He explains that it’s cheap for companies to add protein to their products—even as they mark up the prices—as they play into the trend of people looking to eat high-protein, low-calorie diets.
Spector’s favorite sweet treat
Despite Spector’s frustration with the pervasiveness of ultra-processed foods in the American diet, he admits that there are some he’s happy to eat. His favorite is Lindt dark chocolate, which Spector considers ultra-processed because of the additive soy lecithin.
Many chocolate brands add the emulsifier soy lecithin, which gives it that velvety texture while binding the chocolate together. Soy lecithin is generally considered a safe additive. One study indicates it could have health benefits like lowering bad cholesterol, but there are concerns about the safety of genetically modified food and the process by which soy lecithin is extracted uses chemical solvents like hexane.
It’s hard to find a chocolate without soy lecithin, he says, “but overall that is a healthy product.”
Dark chocolate does have numerous benefits, as it is rich in flavonols, and important minerals, including iron, magnesium, zinc, copper and phosphorus which support immunity, bone health, and sleep quality.
And in a 2022 study, dark chocolate was found to boost mood due to the polyphenolic compounds in dark chocolate.
For more on nutrition:
- Top nutrition expert shares the No. 1 mistake he sees in American diets
- Just one simple dietary change could help you fight back against cancer and heart disease
- People are adding salt to their water in hopes of helping their hydration and digestion. Are the health benefits real?
- 4 best supplements for an energy boost, according to experts
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
-
Tech News3 months ago
How Costco’s formula for reaching uncertain consumers is pushing shares past $1,000 to all-time highs
-
Tech News3 months ago
Luigi Mangione hires top lawyer—whose husband is representing Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
-
Tech News3 months ago
Lego bricks have won over adults, growing its $10 billion toy market foothold—and there’s more to come
-
Tech News3 months ago
Quentin Tarantino thinks movies are still better than TV shows like Yellowstone
-
Tech News3 months ago
Inside the FOMC: Boston Fed President Susan Collins on changing her mind, teamwork, and the alchemy behind the base rate
-
Tech News3 months ago
Nancy Pelosi has hip replacement surgery at a US military hospital in Germany after falling at Battle of the Bulge ceremony
-
Tech News3 months ago
Trump and members of Congress want drones shot down while more are spotted near military facilities
-
Tech News3 months ago
Hundreds of OpenAI’s current and ex-employees are about to get a huge payday by cashing out up to $10 million each in a private stock sale