The Daily Feather — No Inner Peace for U.S. Consumers

We are thrilled to have The White Lotus back on our TV screens every Sunday, fantasizing about exotic destinations while reveling in the misfortunes of the uber-rich the show so brilliantly satirizes. But for showrunner Mike White, this is not his first stellar work of television on HBO. Fourteen years ago, White worked with actress Laura Dern on Enlightened, telling the story of an executive who seeks spiritual healing at a Hawaiian retreat after having a meltdown at work. Thinking that months of meditating have transformed her into someone new, she goes home ready to put the pieces of her life back together. Upon returning to work at Abaddon Industries -- named after an “angel of the abyss” in the Book of Revelation -- HR refuses to give her old job back and demotes her to a dead-end data entry position in the building’s basement. From down below, she discovers the company has more than a few skeletons in its closet and hatches a plan with a coworker (played by Mike White himself) to bring these abuses to light.

A trio of skeletons fell out of the closet and shook markets on Friday, heralding the worst day for stocks thus far in 2025. University of Michigan’s final February data saw headline sentiment fall roughly 10%, January Existing Home Sales were abysmal, and S&P Global’s U.S. flash PMIs spooked investors as the Services sector put in its worst showing in two years. At one point during trading, the 10-year yield had fallen a full 10 bps to 4.41% before closing at 4.43%, nonetheless shattering the 4.5% threshold it’s been seemingly glued above.