This past week, the Big Apple went to investors to sell billions of dollars in municipal debt.

With Mamdani doing his best imitation of Fidel Castro, the city sold $2.3 billion — $300 million less than it had targeted.

Mind you, I’ve been covering NYC bond deals for decades.

For the most part, they’ve been what you might call boring — in a good way.

Even back under Mayor David Dinkins, when the city was reeling from the aftershocks of the 1987 stock market crash — not to mention Dinkins’ own spending largesse — the city’s bond sales remained mostly strong.

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Once the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and our near-default subsided in the minds of investors, NYC bond issues have frequently been “oversubscribed,” which in Wall Street lingo means there are more buyers than bonds available at auction.

That’s because of the heavy city and state tax burden and how city debt provides significant yields that are triple tax-free, and not least, the protections provided by something called the Financial Emergency Act of 1975, the state law designed to make sure that what went down in the 1970s never happens again.

The fact that the city had to scale back the latest bond issue because of the weakened demand indicates a particular investor animus to what Mamdani is doing, according to well-placed investors.

One broker who deals with super-rich people looking for tax breaks in municipal debt says many of his clients are staying away from NYC debt — simply because they don’t trust Mamdani.

“I’ve had clients that are selling them and others who don’t want to own them,” he said.

“That’s ­unusual because taxes might be ­going up. I don’t think they’re going to default, but it’s been difficult to make the sale.”

You wouldn’t know any of this based on the spin from the city and its bond underwriters on Wall Street.

Given the trauma the Iran conflict has produced in global markets, particularly the bond market off of which NYC debt is priced, the sale went swimmingly, they claimed.

Signal of confidence?

The “steady demand for the City’s municipal bonds in the face of market volatility is a clear signal of confidence from investors who know that our credit is strong,” city Comptroller Mark Levine said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

(A City Hall rep didn’t return a request for comment.)

Reality check: First, the city paid higher interest rates on those bonds than it did not too long ago, meaning it’s getting increasingly expensive to sell debt, when it used to be a cakewalk.

Recall that the state fiscal-crisis law, which provided significant safeguards for city bonds in good times and bad, was created when bankruptcy was looming and NYC couldn’t sell bonds for infrastructure; and cops were being laid off as were city workers.

The Emergency Act created a mechanism where investors wouldn’t be afraid to buy our debt because they received first dibs on city tax revenues.

That’s one reason Mamdani, for all his self-inflicted governing nuttiness, is still able to tap Wall Street when he needs to.

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If you believe the city will never default given the above, its bonds might seem like a good place to park money.

During times of fiscal distress when yields (their implied interest rates) rise and prices fall, you can make a few bucks rolling the dice on Mamdani.

But that gamble is growing increasingly dicey now that we have an avowed socialist for a mayor with plans to tax and spend the city into oblivion.

It’s also why rating agencies that grade city debt are increasingly worried that Mamdani’s budgeting won’t work.

Three agencies recently revised their outlook on the city’s debt to “negative” from “stable.”

And it’s why even the city comptroller is worried about Mamdani’s decision to raid rainy-day funds to try to get a balanced budget, which he must under the Financial Emergency Act.

If he ends the year with a deficit of just $100 million, Mamdani faces a state takeover of the city’s finances.

In other words, the city will be run out of Albany.

Mamdani wants to raise taxes, but a growing chorus of Dems, the governor included, know it’s like pushing on a string; people leave, as they have been doing, meaning there are fewer taxpayers to tax while the welfare rolls grow.

Then there’s the obvious incompetence coming from City Hall. It projected a 15% increase in Wall Street bonuses to pay for the mayor’s $127 billion budget but instead bonuses grew 9% from 2024.

With the likes of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs doing more hiring in places like Texas (which has no income tax) and low-taxed Utah, you can see how even that healthy increase will decline in the budget cycles ahead.

Put it all together and you can say there were buyers of city debt, but the reality is they’re demanding more for their money because they’re getting nervous — which they have every right to be.

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Another giant in the world-famous wine growing region is shutting down and slashing staff, making it the fourth since the start of 2026.

Jackson Family wines has stopped production at its Carneros Hill facility in Sonoma’s Carneros region, laying off more than a dozen employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed with California authorities on February 12. 

Communications director Sean Carrol told the SF Chronicle that Carnero’s Hill – previously owned by Buena Vista Winery – “served as overflow production capacity and was not tied to any specific brand.”

The Jackson Family Wines confirmed the closure of the facility. Ilya S. Savenok

He added the site had “become underutilized,” allowing the company to consolidate.

Jackson Family Wines is known as one of the top US wine producers, the sixth largest wine company in the country.

The company is the sixth-largest wine producer in the country. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

It owns the Kendall-Jackson label and about 40 other brands, producing around six million cases a year, according to an industry review. More than 25 of those wineries are in the Golden State.

Last week, major winemaker Gallo announced the closure of a large production facility and the elimination of nearly 100 jobs across the wine growing region of Napa and Sonoma counties.

Considered the world’s largest winemaker by volume, Gallo filed a “warning” notice with the California Employment Development Department on Feb. 12, confirming it will permanently pull the cork on the Ranch Winery in St. Helena.

Jackson Family Wines owns the famed Kendall-Jackson label. Getty Images for NYCWFF

Gallo is also slashing staff at some of its other labels, including the Louis M. Martini Winery and the Orin Swift Tasting Room in St. Helena, as well as J Vineyards and Frei Ranch in Healdsburg.

“Gallo is aligning parts of our operations with our long‑term business strategy to ensure we remain well‑positioned for future success,” a spokesperson for the company told The Post.

“As part of this process, we made the difficult decision to reduce certain Wine Country operations. These changes are driven by market dynamics, evolving consumer demand, and available capacity across our wineries.”

Earlier this month, Foley Family Wines & Spirits shut down its production facility for the historic Central Coast winery Chalone.

Four major wine makers have announced closure of sites since the start of 2026. Neilson Barnard

In January, Constellation Brands notified more than 200 people at the Mission Bell Winery in Madera that they would be out of work. And Jean-Charles Boisset Collection closed two Napa Valley tasting rooms.

According to a recent report from Wine Business Monthly, there were 4,727 wineries in California in 2025. As of February 2026, there are 4,646.

The number of American adults who say they consume alcohol has fallen to 54%, according to an August 2025 Gallup poll.

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It was such a disgusting spectacle on so many levels: masked thugs parading up Sixth Avenue, chanting the antisemitic slogan “From the river to the sea” and “Israel does not exist,” terrorizing people as they left work.

Hundreds of protesters literally stopped traffic in the middle of rush hour so we could hear their warped version of history. 

The demo should provide a wake-up call to the city’s political class including its business leaders ahead of next month’s mayoral election, which is set to bring even more appalling behavior.

The fact that they remain largely asleep makes the situation New Yorkers face all the more horrifying. 

It must be noted that the protest necessitated a large police presence that diligently prevented an all-out riot given the volatile nature of the crowd.

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That night, I was scheduled to attend a concert at Carnegie Hall.

As I made my way uptown, dodging a series of near brawls between various factions of protesters, I struck up a conversation with a police officer and asked a question all New Yorkers should be asking themselves: “How is any of this legal?” 

City Hall is currently occupied by an ex-cop named Eric Adams, though not for much longer.

He just dropped out of the upcoming mayoral race because his manifold ethical lapses made him unelect­able even if he’s done a decent job reducing crime.

I say “decent” because the quality of life in this city remains abysmal; the subways remain unsafe; and homelessness ­rages on our streets. 

The reason the cops allowed that disgustingly nihilistic Oct. 7 protest stems from Adams’ crazy interpretation of the state constitution’s guarantees for the right of assembly. 

During the Giuliani years, you needed a permit and were relegated to designated areas.

When the leftist Bill de Blasio became mayor, the First Amendment and the state constitution’s speech protections meant anything goes, even if it means chanting “From the river to the sea” on Sixth ­Avenue. 

Grim outlook 

And it’s only going to get worse, which is something our city’s leadership class needs to understand — and fast.

Along with his ethical woes, Adams quit the campaign to consolidate support around a more moderate candidate for mayor and prevent the ­Israel-hating, avowed Marxist Zohran Mamdani from occupying City Hall after the Nov. 4 ballot. 

This week, Adams will likely ­endorse for mayor his fellow “moderate,” former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, though it will likely make almost no impact — and not just because Cuomo brings his own baggage.

The race is a three-way competition with the beret-wearing Guardian Angels founder, ­Republican Curtis Sliwa, sucking up around 15% of the vote, according to the latest polling. 

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That leaves Mamdani comfortably ahead in this increasingly leftist Democratic city, polling at 46% to Cuomo’s 33%. 

You would think that with less than a month before Election Day, Cuomo and Sliwa would come out swinging against the kooky communist frontrunner.

They do throw some jabs at him, but their attacks feel strangely muted. 

Where is their five-point plan to revive the economy while showing how a leftist like Mamdani will destroy what business is left through high taxes and defunding the police? 

And why didn’t either come out and say that NYC’s latest death-cult protest — something an anti-Zionist like Mamdani undoubtedly celebrated — would never happen under their watch? 

And where is the business community and its chief organizer, Kathy Wylde of the Partnership for New York City, screaming “Enough!”

They should be prodding Cuomo and Sliwa to get on the ball because of all that’s at stake. 

This city has a long history of ethnic parades, of course.

They’re organized around pride like the one on Monday celebrating the great, though much maligned, explorer Christopher ­Columbus. 

This was different.

Why are the cops allowing thugs to upend all forms of civility while they violently cheer wanton rape and murder? 

“You’re going to have to ask the city about that,” the cop responded before we shook hands and parted ways. 

Far left vision 

Mamdani, of course, hasn’t been muted about his vision: business-destroying taxes, leftist views on policing and the rest.

But at least he’s willing to fight for what he believes in and, barring something unforeseen, he’s going to be our next mayor. 

I managed to make my event at Carnegie Hall, a grand venue that speaks volumes about our great city, the wealth it created and the wealth creators who give back by funding the arts. 

Still, I couldn’t help but think while mingling with all those bankers and lawyers in attendance — no doubt, all members of the Partnership for New York City — how little they understand what’s about to happen to Gotham — and their responsibility for allowing it to occur.

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The Chicago-based airline, however, expects its earnings to suffer in the current quarter due to operational constraints at Newark airport near New York City — one of its largest hubs and among the busiest in the country.

United reported a 6 percentage point acceleration in overall travel demand and a double-digit acceleration in business bookings in the third quarter from the prior quarter.

United expects its earnings to suffer in the current quarter due to operational constraints at Newark airport near New York City – one of its largest hubs and among the busiest in the country. REUTERS

As a result, it now expects its full-year adjusted profit to come in the range of $9 a share to $11 a share. That compares with analysts’ expectations of $10.04 a share.

“The world is less uncertain today than it was during the first six months of 2025 and that gives us confidence about a strong finish to the year,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement.

United’s shares were down 1.6% in after-hours trading as its third-quarter profit estimate came in below Wall Street estimates.

The company expects an adjusted profit in the range of $2.25 a share to $2.75 per share in the quarter to end-September. The midpoint of the forecast is $2.50 per share, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $2.60, according to LSEG data.

It estimates a hit of 0.9 percentage point in the third quarter, compared with a 1.2 percentage point impact in the second quarter, due to the operational issues at Newark airport.

In April, United took an unusual step of offering two different earnings forecasts as President Trump’s trade war dented consumer and business confidence, making it harder for carriers to predict their business.

Industry executives say travel demand has stabilized since April. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post

Weak pricing power

Since then, industry executives say travel demand has stabilized. Passenger traffic in the US, however, is still down from a year ago, leading to a decline in airfares, government data shows.

The improvements in booking trends encouraged rival Delta Air Lines last week to reinstate its full-year profit outlook.

But the latest earnings reports show airlines are still grappling with weak pricing power. United’s yield, or average revenue earned from each paying passenger, was down in all geographies in the second quarter. The weakness was most pronounced in the US domestic market.

“The world is less uncertain today than it was during the first six months of 2025 and that gives us confidence about a strong finish to the year,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement. Getty Images

Echoing Delta, United said it expects the industry’s efforts to slash unprofitable flights to boost airfares in the second half of the year.

United’s second-quarter adjusted profit came in at $3.87 a share, topping analysts’ expectations of $3.81 a share.

The company will discuss its financial results on a call with analysts and investors on Thursday morning.

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Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’
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This week, with the tech world in chaos over President Trump’s tariffs, we look at how four specific companies are navigating the new day-to-day reality. Then, the A.I. researcher Daniel Kokotajlo returns to the show to discuss a new set of predictions for how artificial intelligence could transform the world in just the next few years and how we avoid the most dystopian outcomes. Finally, we explore whether Meta cheated on an important A.I. benchmark with its new Llama model.

Guest:

Additional Reading:

Credits

“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton and produced by Rachel Cohn and Whitney Jones. This episode was edited by Matt Collette. Engineering by Chris Wood and original music by Dan Powell and Rowan Niemisto. Fact-checking by Ena Alvarado. Our executive producer is Jen Poyant.

Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Pui-Wing Tam, Dahlia Haddad and Jeffrey Miranda.

The post Big Tech’s Tariff Chaos + A.I. 2027 + Llama Drama appeared first on Our Story Insight.

This time, maybe the stock market is the economy.

Financial markets around the world have plummeted in the days since President Trump announced sweeping tariffs, setting off a global trade war. The S&P 500 declined more than 10 percent in two days last week. It swung wildly on Monday amid news of further tariffs and rumors of delays, and ended lower again on Tuesday after another chaotic day of trading. Stock indexes in Asia and Europe have fallen sharply as well.

Experts often caution that the stock market can be a misleading measure of the broader economy. Share prices can move for a host of reasons — technological developments, shifts in consumer preferences, changes in tax or interest rate policy.

Sometimes, though, the markets carry an economic message — and in recent days, they have been speaking unusually clearly. Investors overwhelmingly believe that Mr. Trump’s tariffs, and retaliation from U.S. trading partners, will lead to higher prices, slower growth and possibly a global recession.

Plunging stock prices may not just reflect fears of a recession. They may also help cause one, as consumers pull back spending in response to their portfolios’ evaporating value.

A few days of turmoil might not matter much, said Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, a forecasting firm, “but if the drop in the stock market persists for a few weeks, a couple months, the economic costs begin to quickly mount.”

The direct effects of tariffs will fall hardest on low- and moderate-income consumers, who tend to spend more of their money on food, clothing and other goods subject to duties, and who have less savings to insulate them from higher prices. But market declines will be felt most acutely by higher earners, who own a disproportionate share of stocks and other investments.

Those wealthier households have played a crucial role in propping up consumer spending in recent years, as lower-income households have been squeezed by rising prices, high interest rates and slowing wage growth. Now higher earners, too, could become more cautious as their investments lose value.

“A friend stopped by my office today and said, ‘Well, I won’t be redoing my kitchen because my entire kitchen budget was wiped out in the stock market in the past three days,’” said Tara Sinclair, an economist at George Washington University.

Affluent households won’t be the only ones affected by tumbling stock prices. A majority of Americans own stocks either directly or through retirement accounts. And the segment owning shares of individual companies has risen in recent years, partly because of the meme-stock investing boom that began during the pandemic.

Mr. Sweet estimates that the “wealth effect” — the amount that households, in the aggregate, increase or decrease their spending in response to stock market changes — is four times what it was before the pandemic. That makes the economy more vulnerable to market declines.

“It’s hundreds of billions of dollars in potentially lost spending,” he said.

A decline in spending of that magnitude would ripple through the entire $30 trillion U.S. economy. Businesses have already grown more cautious about hiring and investment amid the uncertainty over tariffs and other policies. They have mostly resisted cutting jobs, but that could change quickly if sales begin to decline.

“That’s your transmission mechanism for a recession,” said Michael Gapen, chief U.S. economist for Morgan Stanley. “Weaker demand among higher-income households, and then businesses may engage in layoffs, and typically those layoffs hit lower- and moderate-income households again.”

The recent market moves suggest those fears are mounting. Shares of technology companies, automakers and other companies with global supply chains have suffered some of the biggest declines. But the losses haven’t been limited to companies most directly affected by tariffs. Shares of airlines, hotel operators and other companies that offer services to consumers with disposable incomes have also fallen.

“What we’re seeing is that it’s hitting big companies, it’s hitting small companies, it’s hitting everyone,” Ms. Sinclair said.

Oil prices, too, have fallen sharply. That suggests investors think economic activity — including travel, shipping and infrastructure investment — is likely to weaken, not just in the United States but worldwide. Indeed, other countries may be hit harder because exports make up a larger share of their economies.

“The rest of the world is much more levered to global trade than we are,” Mr. Gapen said. “It’s not a great recipe for global growth. It may even be more likely that you get a global recession than a U.S. recession.”

Many investors remain optimistic that Mr. Trump will reconsider his tariff plans before they lead to widespread layoffs or business failures. But even if he does, it isn’t clear whether the damage can be fully undone — partly because, after weeks of policy reversals, corporate leaders may not be confident that the tariff threat is fully behind them.

“Businesses have just an enormous number of questions and not many answers, and when that’s the situation they’re probably most comfortable taking shelter in the bunker,” Mr. Sweet said. “They pull back on hiring, and they pull back on investment in structures and equipment and software.”

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