Forbes Daily: Bank Stocks Hit New Lows 💸

Good morning,

With birds chirping and trees starting to blossom, the (slightly) warmer weather might have you beginning to daydream about your summer getaways. One analyst has some good news for your wallet as you start trip planning.

Gas prices likely won’t return to their all-time high of surpassing $5 per gallon, and might not even reach $4 this summer, says GasBuddy head petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan. That’s despite rising demand and low gasoline inventories.

That means a lot more bang for your buck when considering locations within driving distance for your getaway list.

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BREAKING NEWS

At least 26 people are dead after tornadoes tore across Mississippi overnight Friday, according to state emergency officials, along with power outages and dozens of injuries. President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi early Sunday.

North Carolina-based First Citizens Bank said it will acquire Silicon Valley Bank and assume control of all its deposits and loans, weeks after the lender’s historical collapse and after the FDIC failed to find a buyer in an earlier auction.

BUSINESS + FINANCE

Bank of America led a group of bank stocks hitting multi-year lows Friday, continuing the bloodbath on the group as the sector-wide turmoil causes bank stocks big and small to shed value at a remarkable rate. The ten largest U.S. banks have lost $243 million in market value since March 8.

WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Hong Kong-based China dealmaker Weijian Shan, cofounder and chairman of PAG, has joined the billionaire ranks. Shan is one of the few private equity mavens in Hong Kong, where real estate tycoons and their families dot the city’s rich list, to have joined the three-comma club.

TECH + INNOVATION

With tech companies increasingly making two or more rounds of layoffs within a matter of months, the phenomenon of “rolling layoffs” is affecting remaining workers. The impact on employees, human resources experts say, can be distracting and increase anxiety, all the while creating a culture of “constant fear” for the survivors.

Tesla is experiencing something unusual for electric vehicle manufacturers: high inventory. An expert told us the company likely amped up production this quarter so buyers could take advantage of federal tax credits that Tesla vehicles aren’t expected to qualify for after March 31.

Despite worries that ChatGPT could make cheating easier, half of K-12 teachers report using it for tasks like grading and other administrative work. It’s easy to see the appeal of the tool — a 2022 survey found the typical teacher works 54 hours per week.

SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

During the week, Eugene Hall chases down tax cheats, identity thieves and other bad guys on a computer. On the weekend, he physically chases a different sort down the field as a three-time Super Bowl side judge. Meet the IRS special agent earning his stripes as an NFL referee.

LIFESTYLE

After roughly eight months of negotiations, Disney World and approximately 45,000 theme park workers have agreed to a $3-an-hour pay bump by the end of the year and raises of roughly 37% by 2026. The increase comes after Disney’s unionized park workers in February rejected a proposed $1-an-hour-per-year “best offer,” saying it wasn’t enough.

Between the Biden administration’s $1.2-trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $280-billion CHIPS and Sciences Act, new factories are slated for construction across the U.S., and likely no hospitality company is better suited to capitalize than Wyndham. The largest hotel franchisor in the world is positioning its new Echo Suites brand to serve a booming boots-and-hardhat market.

Daily Cover Story

Diamond Disruptor: Meet The Nerdy King Of Bargain Bling

TOPLINE Though they get little respect from the industry’s old guard, technologist Martin Roschiesen’s lab grown diamonds will soon flood the $85 billion fine jewelry market. As CEO and cofounder of Diamond Foundry, Roschiesen is looking ahead to an era of quantum computing, "Every chip in the future will use diamond wafers," he says.

But the path to making diamond semiconductors passes through an expertise in forging gem-quality stones. Diamond Foundry has tripled diamond output in the past year to five million carats, and intends to hit 20 million per year in 2025 — at that volume, they’ll be producing about 60% as many stones as giant De Beers Group, which mined 35 million carats last year, mostly from Botswana at a much higher cost.

Man-made diamonds have come a long way: the first specks were forged in the 1950s, and today billions of carats of man-made diamonds are used for industrial applications, but it’s taken decades to advance the technology to yield jewelry quality. From nothing a decade ago, lab-growns now make up 10% of the 125 million carat annual diamond jewelry trade, at prices often 80% less than natural diamonds.

WHY IT MATTERS In the same way environmentally conscious consumers are driving exponential growth in the market for plant-based foods, Diamond Foundry is betting that it can capture a new generation of jewelry buyers. Mined diamonds have a carbon dioxide footprint of about 170 kg/carat, versus 8 kg or less for lab-grown. Diamond Foundry aims to be zero-carbon, with reactors running on hydropower, and soon an entire factory powered by solar. “We plan to replace all of diamond mining in five years," Rocheisen says.

MORE Inside The Audacious Plan To Use 10,000 Nuclear Microreactors To Wean The World Off Coal

STRATEGY AND SUCCESS

Whether the 2023 tax season has you digging up old boxes of tax documents from storage or you’re otherwise curious how long you need to hang onto tax returns of the past and associated paperwork, we take a look at what the rules are when it comes to all those records and receipts. With differing rules for different kinds of docs, here’s how (and how long) you should hang onto old filings.

VIDEO

2023 Forbes Equal Pay Day Forum: Closing The Gap

QUIZ

King Charles III postponed his visit to France due to widespread protests in the country over what issue?

A. Covid-19 crowd restrictions

B. Gun control

C. Proposed pension reforms

D. Immigration policy

Check if you got it right here.

ACROSS THE NEWSROOM

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BEYOND THE NEWSROOM

• Join us virtually for the 2023 Forbes CIO Summit on April 12, 2023 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET as we gather some of the world’s top CIOs, CTOs, CDIOs and futurists for an amazing mind share focused on leadership, innovation and transformation. The summit is designed to inform, challenge and delight as we examine several key issues of importance to technology leaders.
• Join us at the 2023 Forbes Under 30 Summit in Botswana on April 23-26, 2023, This year includes performances by award-winning artists, conversations with top business leaders, exclusive networking with entrepreneurs from across the continent and the globe, plus game drives, a bush party and regional excursions. Register now.
• Looking ahead: The 2023 Forbes Future Of Work Summit will take place in New York and virtually on June 1. Here, we’ll explore the forthcoming impact of artificial intelligence, shifting dynamics between workers and employers, and more. Sign up to stay tuned for updates.

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