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Technology stocks stabilised on Tuesday despite sharp declines more broadly across Wall Street, as investors weighed whether resurgent inflation could prompt central bankers to rethink current loose monetary policy.

The blue-chip S&P 500 index closed lower by 0.9 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite — whose largest constitute includes big tech groups Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Tesla — initially dropped 2 per cent before paring back most of those losses to end down 0.1 per cent as “buy the dip” investors re-emerged.

Asset manger Cathie Wood dismissed the prospect of a deeper bear market in technology shares at a monthly webinar with investors held on Tuesday. She said funds run by her firm, Ark Investment, which has become a bellwether for speculative tech stocks, had endured many big drops over the past five years.

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• US jobs data revealed a puzzling pair of facts: millions remain unemployed after losing work in the pandemic, but businesses say they can’t find enough people to hire. 

• A surge of new coronavirus infections has forced the Seychelles to reintroduce lockdown restrictions, despite more than 60 per cent of its population having been fully vaccinated.

• Slovakia’s health ministry on Tuesday said the country would stop giving first doses of the AstraZeneca jab against Covid-19, in the latest setback for the company’s vaccine rollout in Europe.

• Norway and Sweden’s vaccine rollouts have failed to engage at-risk migrant groups, who remain sceptical over safety.

• Economists have warned that the latest outbreak in India could have long-term ramifications for the country’s middle class, whose rising consumption was expected to be the country’s growth engine for many years.

In the news

China’s population grows at slowest rate in decades The country’s latest census showed the population grew 5.4 per cent to 1.41bn in the decade to 2020, the slowest expansion since Beijing began collecting data in 1953. The population added 5.8 per cent in the decade to 2010 and grew by double-digit percentage amounts between each of the previous censuses.

Israel vows more air strikes on Gaza Israel said it will increase both the intensity and frequency of its air strikes on Gaza, after rockets from militant group Hamas killed two Israelis and injured dozens more. “Hamas will receive blows here that it did not expect,” Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday evening.

The Queen sets out UK PM’s post-Covid agenda The monarch has set out more than 25 bills forming the legislative backbone of Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit, post-pandemic agenda, but there was controversy over key measures excluded from the package. Here’s an in-depth analysis highlighting the 25 new pieces of legislation.

AstraZeneca chief suffers investor rebellion Pascal Soriot endured a shareholder rebellion on pay after the company significantly increased his potential bonus for the second year in a row. Under the approved new policy, Soriot will be eligible for a bonus of up to 250% of his base salary.

UK regulator investigates collapsed Greensill The UK financial regulator is “formally investigating” Greensill Capital as documents released by a parliamentary committee showed that former prime minister David Cameron tried to lobby on the company’s behalf 56 times last spring.

Facebook faces German ban over WhatsApp data A German regulator has barred the social media company from processing any data from WhatsApp users, arguing that the messaging app’s new terms of service are illegal under European privacy law.

Billionaires back new $10bn crypto exchange Peter Thiel, Louis Bacon and Alan Howard are among the backers of a new cryptocurrency asset exchange that will bet heavily on decentralised finance radically shaping trading and investment in digital assets.

The day ahead

Economic indicators and central banks On Wednesday, the US Department of Labor’s core consumer price index for April will provide evidence on whether price pressures could become a mounting threat to the economic recovery. (FT)

Earnings Japan’s SoftBank Group is set to report a net profit of just over ¥4.9tn ($45bn) for the fiscal year that ended in March, becoming the world’s third most profitable company, after Apple and Saudi Aramco, based on recent annual results, Nikkei has learned. Commerzbank is also due to report on Wednesday. (Nikkei, FT)

UK GDP A new UK GDP estimate for March and Q1 numbers are set for Wednesday. Having weathered a lockdown-induced slowdown of 2.2% in January (a number that was better than expected), predictions for the quarter have been revised up twice. (Yahoo Finance)

Reader Q&A: The application of artificial intelligence in businesses and the public sector is causing huge ethical divisions. FT correspondents Madhumita Murgia and Kiran Stacey will answer readers’ questions on May 13.

What else we’re reading

Walmart vs Amazon: grocery battle Amazon’s ambitions to disrupt the $1.3tn US grocery market will define the next stage of a more than two-decade battle with Walmart. And it comes just as Walmart intensifies efforts to break Amazon’s broader ecommerce dominance. This article is the first part of an FT series examining the future of retail.

• Amazon set a corporate bond market record, raising $18.5bn across maturities ranging from two to 40 years at yields that approached those of US Treasuries.

Why haven’t UK house prices collapsed? If you are wondering why house prices continue to soar after the economy took a nosedive last year, you are not alone. Normally, these two correlate. But since the start of the pandemic, they have diverged markedly, writes Valentina Romei.

The struggle for the survival of US democracy President Joe Biden is playing for huge stakes, not just securing a strong post-Covid economic recovery or restoring the US position in the world as an ally, but protecting the core of democracy — peaceful acceptance of electoral outcomes, writes Martin Wolf.

US women consider parenting alone after coronavirus There is a whiff of carpe diem in the air, as Americans slowly return to normal life while vowing never to forget the lessons taught by the coronavirus pandemic. For many, these pandemic learnings have affected attitudes to procreation, writes Patti Waldmeir.

Djibouti thrives in ‘return to cold war’ With economic growth of up to 7 per cent forecast this year, double Africa’s average, and hefty Chinese investment in ports, free trade zones and a railway line to landlocked Ethiopia, Djibouti’s strategic location is helping to make it one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies.

Avoid inbox panic with a digital disconnect The slight anxiety of not knowing what is in your inbox can feel more stressful than quickly checking it the second you wake up. Now that offices are reopening, perhaps there is a way to moderate constant, unnecessary contact, writes Elaine Moore.

Video of the day

How the tourism industry can recover post-pandemic Three chief executives, representing the tourism, airline and luxury hotel sectors, discuss the future of travel in a post-Covid world, and how they will meet pent-up demand.