Who Are the Millions of Americans Locked Out of the Job Market?

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Danny Lewis (0:34)

President Trump says that, actually, ICE should keep using traffic stops to arrest immigrants. Plus, market volatility has put Wall Street's biggest banks on track for their best ever trading year.

And by most key metrics, the US labor market is doing great. So who are the millions of Americans struggling for months and even years to find work?

Norik Karakashian (0:55)

I've sent hundreds of job applications since early last year.

I don't know how many. Maybe I'm close to a thousand. Who knows?

Danny Lewis (1:02)

It's Wednesday, July 15th. I'm Danny Lewis for The Wall Street Journal, sitting in for Alex Ossola. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that moved the world today.

PayPal has received a takeover bid from payments company Stripe and buyout firm Advent International. People familiar with the matter say the proposed deal would value PayPal at around $53 billion, but there are no guarantees that PayPal will be receptive. The company is in the early stages of a turnaround plan under a new CEO. PayPal shares closed up 17%.

It's the stock's best day ever since it became an independent publicly traded company in 2015 That's when it was spun off from eBay. In Washington, President Trump says ICE should continue using traffic stops to arrest immigrants. The agency just this week had told officers that they shouldn't stop cars so they could arrest and question the people inside. That came after federal immigration officers shot and killed two people while they were driving in separate incidents in Maine and Texas. Traffic stops are one of the most common tools immigration officers use to arrest people, and halting them would make it harder for the administration to meet its internal arrest quotas. In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen said the department's number one goal is to keep officers safe and get criminals off the street. But he didn't directly address the president's announcement. The Homeland Security Department and the White House didn't respond to a request for comment.

And on Capitol Hill, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch was trying to convince lawmakers that President Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is dead and buried. Critics saw the fund as a money pot for the president's allies, and it's become a sticking point for key Republican senators, senators whose support Blanch needs to be confirmed as attorney general. During his confirmation hearing today, Blanch told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Justice Department would accept legislation to prevent the fund from being resurrected.

Todd Blanch (3:00)

It is a moot issue, meaning there is no weaponization fund, the weaponization fund is dead, it's not moving forward.

Danny Lewis (3:07)

However, Blanch says the text of the deal creating the fund has not been changed, and he acknowledged that Trump could theoretically sue the government for breach of contract for failing to create the fund.

BlackRock posted bumper quarterly results, and it made history as the first investment firm to manage more than $15 trillion in assets. The company took in $192 billion in new client money during the second quarter. That, plus booming stock markets, increased its assets under management by more than $1 trillion. And on a call with analysts, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink said he thinks the rally in stocks still has more room to run.

Larry Fink (3:45)

The US equity markets continue to climb to do highs, and returns are broadening beyond the US. I'm very optimistic on the outlook for global markets.

Danny Lewis (3:54)

BlackRock shares closed up 6.6%.

BlackRock's far from the only company benefiting from the stock market rally. Wall Street's biggest banks are on pace to have their best trading year ever. According to a slate of second quarter earnings released this week, their trading desks brought in gargantuan hauls. And a Wall Street Journal analysis found that the five largest investment banks are on track to log nearly $180 billion in trading revenue this year, if they continue at their current pace. WSJ reporter Ben Glickman joins us now to explain what's going on. Ben, how much is the current market benefiting big banks? Like who's coming out on top here?

Ben Glickman (4:30)

It's the big banks on Wall Street facilitating markets trades on behalf of clients. So that's JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley. This year has been so crazy for markets. We're hovering near all time highs, but we've also had huge dips. We've had a lot of shifting expectations around oil prices and geopolitical conflict. And if you're an investor, like a big hedge fund or mutual fund, your goal is to position yourself when things change.