Why CEOs are taking it slow with big decisions

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Good morning. Pope Francis, the 266th head of the Roman Catholic Church, died on Monday, just over 12 years after assuming the papacy. He was 88.

In today's newsletter, we're focusing on how more and more CEOs are using the word "pause" when they talk about their businesses.

What's on deck

Markets: Inside President Trump's ongoing feud with the Fed.

Tech: Nvidia is the OG hardcore tech company.

Business: Saudi Arabia's new airline plans to compete for first-class passengers.

But first, welcome to the great pause.

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The big story

The P-word

CEOs are slowing things down with one simple word: "pause."

From small firms to industry giants like Morgan Stanley, CEOs are hitting the brakes amid growing uncertainty.

For companies like Oxidizers, a pollution-control firm based near LA, this "pause" means holding off on major investments or hiring decisions until the full impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs becomes clearer.

Megan Gluth, the CEO of Catalynt Solutions, said her materials company is pausing contracts amid global instability.

Why has "pause" become the C-suite's new buzzword? It's a simple way to convey that companies are taking a beat before making weighty decisions that could appear rash in only a few months' time, BI's Tim Paradis writes.

But a lasting delay could become problematic.

Ted Pick, the CEO of Morgan Stanley, said pauses can go wrong. If adjusting to the new normal takes too long, companies' willingness to do deals and other normal activities could fade to where "the pause effectively becomes a relook and the books get put away."

A pause needs to be long enough for a breather, not long enough to get left behind.

3 things in markets

1. A timeline of Trump's beef with the Fed. Though Trump nominated Jerome Powell to his role in 2017, he's criticized the Fed chairman again and again over the years. Here are six times his ire has spilled into public view, including last week's outburst.

2. Wall Street is more diverse than you think. The average banker didn't go to Harvard and is less likely to be white than you may expect — unless they're the boss. See BI's demographic breakdown of modern Wall Street.

3. JPMorgan weighs in on Trump's trade war. The firm recently published new research saying it expects the US effective tariff rate to land between 10% and 20%, and that the US will narrowly avoid a recession. JPMorgan also had two recommendations for investors.

3 things in tech

1. Inside Nvidia's hardcore culture. Nvidia is known for its demanding work culture. The key is that basically every single person is directly accountable to Jensen Huang, the CEO's biographer Stephen Witt told BI. Here's how Huang steers the company.

2. The Cybertruck is coming to Saudi Arabia and Dubai. That's still a problem for Tesla. Taking the Cybertruck global is unlikely to do much to turn around Tesla's sales slump — or halt the "brand crisis tornado" that has turned some of the trucks into a target, BI's Tom Carter writes.

3. AMD's plan to take on Nvidia. AMD has had to play catch-up in the data center arena since Nvidia has a 10-year head start. Now that the AI training workload is more focused on inference, however, it's eyeing an opportunity to bite into Nvidia's market share.

3 things in business

1. Seat the rich. Saudi Arabia's new airline Riyadh Air plans to compete for first-class passengers. Its Business Elite tier suites have 32-inch TVs and seats that can be converted into double beds.

2. A data startup working with Formula 1 raised $5 million to expand betting on niche and emerging sports. ALT Sports Data's CMO broke down the company's business pillars that it says drive fan engagement.

3. Nightmare on Main Street. Trump imposed tariffs to encourage consumers to buy American. In reality, he's hurting the businesses he says he wants to help, small business owners told BI.

In other news

• Millennial parents are desperate for part-time work. America is penalizing them for it.
• The Pepperoni Price Index: what frozen pizza can tell us about the odds of a recession.
• My Temu order arrived safely, with no fees. But you might not be so lucky.
• DOGE isn't saving much money. So what is Elon Musk really up to?
• Beating the system or cheating it? I set out to learn the ethics of secretly working multiple remote jobs.
• Trump's plan to reshape America's schools is heating up.

What's happening today

• IMF and World Bank spring meetings week begins.
• Hearing in Google's antitrust case after judge ruled company is a monopolist.
• White House Easter Egg Roll. Breaking with tradition, this year's is corporate-sponsored and using real eggs.
• 129th Boston Marathon.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York City. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.