Summer Friday on the brain

The head of Apple, the most valuable company in the world, sat down with Bloomberg Businessweek editor Megan Murphy: “I feel a responsibility as the CEO of an important company to grow jobs in the United States. We can do the most in advanced manufacturing. The likelihood of robotics absorbing an assembly-type thing fairly quickly is high. But in advanced manufacturing, there’s going to be a lot of jobs.”

Bitcoin plunged the most in more than two years. The digital currency sunk as much as 19 percent on Thursday, putting it on pace for its worst week since January 2015, following a record surge in price. Meanwhile, the selloff that has erased $250 billion from the value of tech shares is threatening to end the industry’s longest stretch of uptrend in more than two decades.

Robert Mueller’s expanding inquiry raises the stakes for Trump’s presidency. The special counsel’s move to investigate whether President Trump sought to get the FBI to back off from a probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn has angered the president. Members of Congress from both parties are warning Trump not to fire Mueller.

This $13 billion aircraft carrier has a problem with planes. The newest and costliest U.S. aircraft carrier, praised by Trump and delivered to the Navy on May 31 with fanfare, has been dogged by trouble with fundamentals: launching jets from its deck and catching them when they land.

The Fed chair sweepstakes show Yellen’s in a neck-and-neck race. The person most likely to be Federal Reserve chair when Janet Yellen’s term expires in February is… Janet Yellen, according to a Bloomberg poll of Fed watchers. Her nomination comes with two big caveats: It’s seen as possible, not probable, and the competition is close behind.

If Trump gets his way in overhauling banking regulations, it would free up some of the billions of dollars in capital that banks were forced to amass after the financial crisis. Less clear is what they’ll do with it. Trump would like banks to plow their windfall back into the economy. Some on Wall Street predict a lot will flow straight into the pockets of shareholders.

The summer Friday is on an upswing, according to a recent survey. As the hiring market for white-collar workers tightens, companies have turned to benefits as a way to attract and retain workers. It’s a lot cheaper for a company to offer a small token, such as letting employees leave early on Friday, than a raise. And come summer, nobody is actually working on Friday afternoons anyway…