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As corporate leaders increase their pronouncements about the future, there are still market economists who see stocks in the second half of this year and who say the US could sidestep a recession.

Longtime bull Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research, pointed to factors that are still returning to normal after the pandemic, including labor participation rates and demand for durable goods, which drove prices higher. As life continues to settle down, he said, the Fed may find it easier to battle inflation.

Yellen, in a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, continued to defend President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which Republicans have blamed for helping drive inflation to a four-decade high. "Senator, we're seeing high inflation in almost all developed countries around the world, and they have very different fiscal policies,"Yellen said. "It can't be the case that the bulk of the inflation we're experiencing reflects the impact of the ARP."

US consumer borrowing surged again in April, following a record jump a month earlier, fueled by rising prices and the continued strength of American consumers.

Total credit increased $38.1 billion from the prior month after a downwardly revised $47.3 billion gain in March, Federal Reserve figures showed Tuesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a $35 billion advance. The figures aren't adjusted for inflation. On an annualized basis, borrowing climbed 10.1%.

The US sent nearly three quarters of all its liquefied natural gas to Europe in the first four months of 2022, with daily shipments to the region more than tripling from last year's average, the US Energy Information Administration said Tuesday. Last year, the bloc was the destination for only a third of American supplies. The increase means the US now accounts for nearly half of Europe's LNG imports, about twice the share seen in 2021.

"I'm not sure exactly when that [IPO] is, but maybe it will be like — I don't know, just guessing — 3 or 4 years from now," Musk said at an all-hands meeting of the private company's employees on Thursday, according to an audio recording obtained by CNBC.

Musk emphasized, as he has previously, that the Starlink business needs to be "in a smooth sailing situation" with "good predictability." At that point, "I think spinning it off as a public company can make a lot of sense," the SpaceX CEO said.

"As the consequences of the war continue to mount and uncertainty about its long-term ramifications grows, we have now made the decision to carry out an orderly wind-down of IBM's business in Russia," Chief Executive Arvind Krishna wrote to employees.