I guess the FTC has never heard of LVMH or Gucci/PMI day, bifurcated growth & inflation pressures still/Company comments

I'll chime in for a second here. In the mind of the FTC, the world should just stop changing now. Don't move, everything should stay in place and all companies should stay in their lane with no lateral/vertical movement. The market cap of Capri is all of about $4b and is there a more competitive industry than fashion? This attempt at blocking this deal is ridiculous. What they don't seem to understand too is the ripple effect this has on the entire private market funding ecosystem where many investor/VC funded companies end up getting bought by larger competitors because they need the help in taking their business to the next level. If every single deal is going to get blocked, whether public or private, irrespective of size and relevance, it clouds the exit strategy of private investors and could thus inhibit funding of new and exciting start ups. Also, is the FTC familiar with the European luxury powerhouses like LVMH and Kering that just maybe a bulked up US competitor would be a good thing on the competitive stage? Bureaucratic overkill is what this is. 

Global PMI's start to roll out today for April and economic growth is still being led by services while manufacturing remains in contraction. Also, pay attention to the commentary on inflation. 

The Eurozone services PMI rose to 52.9 from 51.5 with the French seeing its services PMI back above 50 at 50.5 while Germany's improved to 53.3 from 50.1. Both were better than expected. As for manufacturing, the region's PMI fell to 45.6 from 46.1 with Germany's in particular deeply below 50 still at 42.2 vs 41.9 in March. 

Highlighting the continued divergence in economic trends, "New orders for services rose in April at the fastest pace since May of last year, up for a 2nd straight month, but new orders for manufactured goods fell at an increased rate. The latter have now fallen continually for two years."

Just as the ECB is now comfortable enough with the trend in inflation to have them cut rates in June, S&P Global said "Price pressures intensified slightly in April, remaining elevated by pre-pandemic standards, with higher rates of inflation seen for both input costs and average selling prices. Average input costs across the goods and services sectors re-accelerated in April after having cooled in March, recording the joint-fastest increase seen over the past year."

On what can be recaptured via higher prices to the end customer, "Selling price inflation likewise accelerated in April, reviving from March's four month low to run well above the pre-pandemic long-run average and hint at stubborn inflation pressures." Manufacturing prices fell again but "prices levied by service providers rose at an increased rate, "continuing to climb at a strong pace by historical standards."