REAL ESTATE
Trump and Musk demand termination of federal office leases
One of the next moves in President Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations is using the agency that manages thousands of federal employee worksites around the country to cut down on office space. Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with the Associated Press by a GSA employee. The order seems to contradict Trump’s return-to-office mandate for federal employees, adding confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to find workspace, internet connections, and office building security credentials for employees who had been working remotely for years. But it may reflect the Trump administration’s belief that it won’t need as many offices due to its efforts to fire employees or encourage them to resign. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUCTION
Rare violin at New England Conservatory could become most expensive instrument ever sold
A violin made by the famed Antonio Stradivari in 1714 has the potential to become the most expensive musical instrument ever sold when it goes up for auction on Friday at Sotheby’s in New York. The auction house is estimating the value of the “Joachim-Ma Stradivarius’’ at $12 million to $18 million. If it sells at the top end of that range, it could best the $15.9 million paid in 2011 for another Stradivarius, the “Lady Blunt,’’ made in 1721 and named by Guinness World Records as the most expensive instrument ever sold at auction. Sotheby’s says the violin’s preservation is remarkable, and its ownership history extraordinary. It’s named for two of its famed owners — violin virtuosos Joseph Joachim of Hungary, who lived from 1831 to 1907, and Si-Hon Ma, who was born in China in 1926, moved to the United States in 1948, and died in 2009. It is believed that legendary composer Johannes Brahms was influenced by the Joachim-Ma when he wrote his “Violin Concerto in D Major’’ because of its rich, resonant tone, and that Joachim played that violin during the concerto’s 1879 premiere, according to Sotheby’s. Ma acquired the violin in 1969 and his estate gifted it to the New England Conservatory in Boston after his death. The conservatory is now putting the violin up for auction, with all the proceeds going to student scholarships. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
HEALTH CARE
Doctors sue over Trump health agencies’ removal of online data
A group representing thousands of US doctors is suing the Trump administration over the sudden removal of public health data from government websites, arguing it creates a “dangerous gap’’ in information available to track disease and diagnose patients. Doctors for America, a nonprofit membership organization, filed the case Tuesday in Washington federal court, the latest in a series of legal challenges to the fast and dramatic changes that President Trump and political appointees have made to federal agencies since he took office last month. The doctors group is seeking to restore websites and data taken down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and US Department of Health and Human Services since the end of January. They’re arguing that the Office of Personnel Management lacked legal authority to order the removal of information and that the agencies violated the law governing how they are supposed to ensure access to public information. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
WORK
Spain plans to cut workweek to improve work-life balance
Just days after Spain’s economy was revealed to be far outpacing its peers, Pedro Sanchez’s government has a new message for voters: stop working so much. In a move that risks invoking international stereotypes about the Mediterranean lifestyle, the premier and his Cabinet agreed on Tuesday that employees in the fourth-biggest member of the eurozone should now have a shorter week. The cap on hours will be 37.5 as of the start of next year, down from 40 at present, if the proposed law now passes through parliament. The measure was presented in Madrid as a victory for work-life balance — and so horrified business leaders that they walked out of talks on the matter. The change isn’t just “one more economic or labor variable,’’ Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Minister Yolanda Diaz told reporters. “It’s a project for the country, a measure which will modernize Spain.’’ — BLOOMBERG NEWS
MEDIA
Fox sales and profit surge
Fox Corp. shares rose as much as 6.9 percent to their highest level in almost six years after announcing quarterly sales and earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts, in part, on higher political ad spending. The company also revealed plans to launch a new streaming service before the end of the year. The media conglomerate controlled by the Murdoch family reported sales of $5.1 billion for its second fiscal quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $4.8 billion. Profit, at 96 cents per share after adjustments, surpassed Wall Street’s expectations of 64 cents per share for the period ending in December. Fox News saw strong ratings around the 2024 presidential election in November and was the most-watched channel on election night as nearly 10.3 million people tuned in to the network’s coverage of President Trump’s victory over former vice president Kamala Harris. Chief executive Lachlan Murdoch said on the company’s earnings call that Fox saw record political ad revenue of $400 million during the first half of fiscal 2025. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
Trump promised a cap on credit card interest rates. Here’s his chance.
Two senators plan to introduce a bill Tuesday to impose a tight cap on credit card interest rates, reviving a proposal that is sure to draw howls from banks and other lenders. A lid on credit card rates has been a white whale of sorts for consumer advocates and others for generations, with efforts falling short during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama. The idea received new life in September when President Trump, then on the campaign trail, said he supported a temporary 10 percent limit on credit card rates “while working Americans catch up.’’ That exact cap is contained in Tuesday’s legislation to amend the 1968 Truth in Lending Act, proposed by two senators who aren’t typically ideological allies: Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, and Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican. The average credit card interest rate is now more than 20 percent, according to Bankrate. The metric has risen over the past decade; at 22.8 percent in 2023, credit card companies were charging their highest rates since the Federal Reserve began collecting data in 1994. — NEW YORK TIMES
INSURANCE
State Farm seeks emergency Calif. rate hike after fires
State Farm, the largest home insurer in California, is asking for an emergency rate hike from state regulators as it warns that multibillion-dollar payouts from the Los Angeles wildfires threaten its balance sheet and the broader insurance market. The company is seeking a 22 percent average hike in rates for homeowners and 15 percent for renters and condominium owners, according to a letter Monday to California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. Insurance for rental dwellings needs to rise 38 percent, it said. The new rates would take effect May 1. “The importance of our ask for your immediate help to protect all Californians cannot be overstated,’’ State Farm said in the letter. Authorizing higher rates would send a crucial message to to “solvency regulators, rating agencies’’ and company leadership that the insurer “has a chance to begin rebuilding capital to sustain itself.’’ The insurer said its wildfire payouts have already topped $1 billion and are expected to rise further, putting “very significant pressure’’ on its financial strength and ability to pay claims. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
