Friday's Fast Five: Week of 5.19

Commercial Real-Estate Woes Run Deeper Than in Past Downturns (The Wall Street Journal): Commercial real estate has experienced its share of busts in recent decades. This one is different. Landlords are contending simultaneously with a cyclical market downturn and with secular changes in the way people work, live and shop. The sudden surge in interest rates caused property values to fall, while the rise of remote work and e-commerce are reducing demand for office and retail space. 

OpenAI’s Sam Altman Urges A.I. Regulation in Senate Hearing (The New York Times): The tech executive and lawmakers agreed that new A.I. systems must be regulated. Just how that would happen is not yet clear.

The Places We Could Go  (Eye on the Market - JP Morgan Podcast): Chairman of Market and Investment Strategy for J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Michael Cembalest, discusses Q1 and Q2 data, leading indicators for where the US is headed for the balance of the year.

World watches U.S. debt ceiling debate as deadline looms (Washington Post): Most nations don’t have a fixed debt ceiling. But Washington’s fight over raising the cap carries global implications.

Can the World Make an Electric Car Battery Without China? (The New York Times): Even by 2030, China will make more than twice as many batteries as every other country combined, according to estimates from Benchmark Minerals, a consulting group. Here’s how China controls each step of lithium-ion battery production, from getting the raw materials out of the ground to making the cars, and why these advantages are likely to last.