In the first quarter this year, U.S. startups raised $69 billion from investors—41% more than the previous record, set in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The consumer-price index jumped 2.6% in the year ended March. The Fed expects inflation to rise temporarily this year because of growing demand fueled by increased vaccination rates, falling restrictions on businesses and trillions of dollars in federal pandemic relief programs.

Investors have borrowed a record $814 billion against their portfolios, up 49% from one year earlier. This marks the fastest annual increase since 2007, during the frothy period before the 2008 financial crisis. Before that, the last time investor borrowings had grown so rapidly was during the dot-com bubble in 1999.

BlackRock Inc. has raised $3 billion to invest in the private-equity secondary market. BlackRock Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions LP is among the largest debut funds ever raised to buy secondhand private equity stakes.

Women’s participation in the labor force slipped to 57%, the lowest it has been since 1988. More than 2.3 million women have dropped out of the labor force during the pandemic, compared with 1.8 million men.

While not cruising, Carnival Corp. told investors that it expected to burn through an average of $600 million in cash a month just to keep vessels maintained, sustain corporate operations and invest in preparations to return to sea.

Passenger volumes are 40% to 50% below pre-pandemic levels, but nearly 1.36 million people passed through U.S. airport-security checkpoints on Friday, the most in about a year.

The Federal Reserve reported that household net worth swelled to $122.9 trillion in the fourth quarter from $116.2 trillion in the third quarter and $111.4 trillion at the end of 2019.

American homeowners cashed out $152.7 billion in home equity last year, a 42% increase from 2019 and the most since 2007.

Apollo Global Management Inc. agreed to acquire Athene Holding Ltd. in an all-stock deal that values the annuity business at about $11 billion. The deal is expected to close in January 2022.