Aaaand we’re back. Hope all have stayed safe and healthy. Let’s get to business. Friday’s Jobs Report saw the U.S. recovery thrown in reverse, with employers cutting 140,000 jobs in December amidst “rising coronavirus cases...more
1/11/2021
/ ATMs ,
Bitcoin ,
Boeing ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Suisse ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Facebook ,
Foreign Policy ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Theranos ,
Twitter ,
UK Brexit ,
Unemployment
The Fed’s Open Markets Committee meeting wrapped on Wednesday, and in remarks following the meeting, Fed Chair Powell called the case for fiscal policy right now “very, very strong,”—a not-so-subtle nudge to Congress to act...more
12/17/2020
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Apple ,
AT&T ,
Bitcoin ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Facebook ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Google ,
HBO ,
Infectious Diseases ,
iPhone Tracking ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Monopolization ,
Online Advertisements ,
Relief Measures ,
Roku ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
EU and British authorities unveiled new proposals this week to “crimp the power of ‘gatekeeper’ platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, which policymakers argue deserve more oversight given their outsize...more
12/16/2020
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Bonds ,
Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Counterfeit Goods Regulation ,
Cyber Espionage ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
FOMC ,
Google ,
Hate Speech ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internet Retailers ,
Investment Management ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Microsoft ,
Online Advertisements ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Relief Measures ,
Stock Markets ,
UK ,
Vanguard
The latest lame-duck Covid relief package proposal would trim about 150 billion dollars (and a number of key sticking points, including funds “to bolster state and local governments, and a temporary coronavirus liability...more
12/15/2020
/ Adidas ,
Algorithms ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Big Tech ,
Boeing ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
DoorDash ,
Facebook ,
Fannie Mae ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Freddie Mac ,
Gender Discrimination ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Google ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Ireland ,
Manufacturing Defects ,
Pinterest ,
Public Utilities Commission ,
Reddit ,
Reebok ,
Relief Measures ,
Search Engines ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Trade Wars ,
Twitter ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Uber ,
WhatsApp ,
YouTube
Because too much of a good thing is always trouble (especially on Wall Street), market watchers are warning of a new tech bubble after Airbnb’s monster IPO on Thursday. The home-sharing app’s shares rose more than 112% to...more
12/11/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Apple ,
Big Tech ,
Bitcoin ,
Bonds ,
Competition ,
Cookies ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Data Privacy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Stimulus ,
France ,
Google ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
MassMutual ,
MasterCard ,
Online Platforms ,
Pornography ,
Trade Agreements ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Unemployment ,
Visa Inc
After an ill-fated multi-year effort to develop a self-driving car, Uber (which spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” on the project) is “handing the autonomous vehicle effort over to a Silicon Valley start-up”—Aurora—along...more
12/8/2020
/ Automotive Industry ,
Capital Raising ,
Common Stock ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dish Network ,
Driverless Cars ,
Failure to Comply ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FTC Act ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Loan Modifications ,
MasterCard ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Mortgage Servicers ,
Musical Sound Recordings ,
Pornography ,
Poultry ,
Price-Fixing ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Startups ,
Target ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing ,
Tesla ,
Theranos ,
TikTok ,
Uber ,
Visa Inc
Friday’s jobs report was not only 200,000 jobs below projections for November, but it marked the fifth straight month of a diminished pace of hiring in the United States and brought urgency to facing the reality that there...more
12/7/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Architecture ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Asset Purchase Agreements ,
Barnes and Noble ,
Bitcoin ,
Chick-Fil-A ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drones ,
E-Commerce ,
Employment Discrimination ,
ETFs ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Fuel Efficiency ,
Google ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Job Creation ,
Job Market ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Nissan ,
Price Gouging ,
Real Estate Development ,
Relief Measures ,
Retail Market ,
Unemployment ,
Vanguard
In yet another blow to the suffering movie theater industry, Warner Bros. announced on Thursday that all of its 2021 release calendar—including “big-budget extravaganzas like ‘Dune’ and ‘The Matrix 4’”—will arrive...more
12/4/2020
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Biden Administration ,
Capital One ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Exploration and Production Assets ,
Facebook ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Huawei ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Internet Streaming ,
Job Market ,
Lame Duck Session ,
Movies ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Paris Agreement ,
Podcasts ,
Russia ,
Ryanair ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Unemployment ,
Warner Brothers Entertainment
Tuesday’s Senate Committee hearing with Fed Chair Powell and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin showed the growing rift between the two over their views of “challenges facing the United States economy in the months ahead.” ...more
12/2/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
BlackRock ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disney ,
Economic Downturn ,
Entrepreneurs ,
European Central Bank ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Hewlett-Packard ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Lame Duck Session ,
Microchip Technology ,
Recovery Plans ,
Salesforce ,
Slack ,
TikTok ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury
Mere months after an announced major investment in start-up electric truck company Nikola (and the subsequent claims that the company had “exaggerated its capabilities), General Motors announced this week that it had...more
12/1/2020
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Biden Administration ,
Big Tech ,
Bitcoin ,
Business Valuations ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
DoorDash ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Facebook ,
FCC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
GAO ,
General Motors ,
Hydrogen Power ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Nasdaq ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Retail Sales ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Startups ,
Unemployment
Bay area business software powerhouse Salesforce is “in advanced talks to buy Slack Technologies,” the “buzzy newcomer on a mission to replace office email.” A deal could be announced as early as tomorrow, and it would mark...more
11/30/2020
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
E-Commerce ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Elon Musk ,
Exploration and Production Assets ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Junk Bonds ,
Mobile Apps ,
National Security ,
OPEC ,
OxyContin ,
Popular ,
Purdue Pharma ,
Russia ,
S&P ,
Salesforce ,
Slack ,
Tesla ,
TikTok ,
Vaccinations ,
Zappos
Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen is “poised to become the first female Treasury secretary and one of few people to ever have wielded economic power from the White House, the Federal Reserve and the president’s cabinet.” If...more
11/24/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
BlackRock ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
E-Commerce ,
Economic Downturn ,
Elon Musk ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Distress ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Relations ,
Fuel Efficiency ,
General Motors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Janet Yellen ,
Macy's ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Retailers ,
Tesla ,
Trump Administration ,
Visa Inc
The G-20 held a virtual summit this weekend, and discussions about taming the pandemic and addressing “the global economic damage it has wrought dominated” the meeting....more
11/23/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Black Friday ,
Chapter 11 ,
China ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
France ,
G20 ,
Guitar Center ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Infrastructure ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Refineries ,
Retailers ,
Student Loans
BuzzFeed has struck a deal with Verizon Media to acquire HuffPost, a mash-up that “would join a pair of digital-media giants that have found themselves searching for readers and revenue as they have fallen prey to some of the...more
11/20/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
BuzzFeed ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Digital Media ,
Economic Downturn ,
Fannie Mae ,
Federal Loans ,
Federal Reserve ,
FHFA ,
Freddie Mac ,
General Motors ,
Housing Market ,
Huffington Post ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Securities Violations ,
Trump Administration ,
Unemployment ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Verizon ,
Video Games
The FAA has once again given Boeing the green light to send its troubled 737 Max models into the sky, “20 months after it was grounded following two fatal crashes blamed on faulty software and a host of company and government...more
11/19/2020
/ Aircraft ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Apple ,
Aviation Industry ,
Boeing ,
Coca Cola ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discrimination ,
E-Commerce ,
Economic Downturn ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Glass Ceiling ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Google ,
Infectious Diseases ,
iPhone ,
IRS ,
Jeffrey Epstein ,
Layoffs ,
MLB ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Prices ,
Target ,
Tax Court ,
Victoria Secret
In a major shift (and with antitrust regulators breathing down its neck), Apple is halving the App Store fee it charges developers (from 30% to 15%) who produce “as much as $1 million in annual revenue from their apps and...more
11/18/2020
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Violations ,
App Store ,
Apple ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Downturn ,
Federal Reserve ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Mark Zuckerberg ,
Mars ,
Pharmacies ,
Retail Sales ,
Trading Platforms ,
Vaccinations
As we thought, stocks rallied on Monday thanks to Moderna’s news of promising results for its Covid-19 vaccine, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting new record highs....more
11/18/2020
/ AirBnB ,
Bank of America ,
Biden Administration ,
CARES Act ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dow Jones ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Policy ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Home Depot ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Moderna Inc. ,
News Corp ,
Putative Class Actions ,
S&P ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla ,
Vaccinations ,
Viacom ,
Wells Fargo
Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group has reached a deal worth some $11.6 billion to buy the U.S. operations of BBVA, a Spanish lender. The mash-up, “one of the biggest banking deals since the 2008 financial crisis,”...more
11/16/2020
/ Administrative Resignation ,
Asia Pacific ,
Bank of England ,
Barclays ,
Berkshire Hathaway ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cross-Selling ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection Authority ,
DoorDash ,
Event Tickets ,
Financial Institutions ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Moderna Inc. ,
Operation Warp Speed ,
Personal Data ,
Pfizer ,
PNC ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Share Buybacks ,
Student Loans ,
UK ,
Vaccinations ,
Wells Fargo ,
White Collar Crimes
Thursday’s unemployment figures showed technically falling claims (down to 723,000 new claims for state benefits) but “remained above records set in previous recessions,” as the number of “laid-off and furloughed workers...more
11/13/2020
/ Alibaba ,
China ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Ford Motor ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Race Relations ,
Relief Measures ,
TikTok ,
Twitter ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Unemployment ,
Vaccinations
TikTok parent ByteDance, flying under the radar as other recent events have shoved the White House’s battle with the company to the back burner, has “asked a U.S. appeals court for additional time to work out a potential...more
11/12/2020
/ Alibaba ,
Apple ,
Biden Administration ,
Boeing ,
Casinos ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
E-Commerce ,
EU ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Job Creation ,
Silicon Valley ,
Social Media ,
TikTok ,
Unemployment
The European Union has unveiled a new antitrust probe and accompanying charges against Amazon over alleged the “use of non-public business data from independent sellers on its marketplace that could benefit the company’s own...more
11/11/2020
/ Aircraft ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Apple ,
Biden Administration ,
Big Tech ,
Boeing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Data Protection ,
Dow Jones ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Markets ,
Food Supply ,
Infectious Diseases ,
iPhone ,
Junk Bonds ,
Labor Law Violations ,
McDonalds ,
Nasdaq ,
Retaliatory Tariffs ,
S&P ,
SoftBank ,
Stock Prices ,
Vaccinations ,
WTO ,
Zoom®
So . . . . Nice, quiet week while we were gone, right?
Wall Street forecasts are always dicey, but it sure looks like Pfizer’s solid vaccine news (along with this weekend’s newfound presidential certainty) could make for...more
11/9/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
CARES Act ,
China ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
CVS ,
Deregulation ,
Economic Downturn ,
Financial Fraud ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Lame Duck Session ,
Libor ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Pfizer ,
Stock Prices ,
Student Loans ,
Trump Administration ,
Unemployment ,
Vaccinations ,
Warren Buffett
Breaking down Thursday’s GDP report, which—as expected—was gangbusters in isolation but in context shows U.S. economic output “3.5 percent below where it was in the last pre-pandemic quarter, equivalent to a severe recession...more
10/30/2020
/ Ability-to-Repay ,
Chrysler ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Development ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Fiat ,
Financial Markets ,
GDP ,
Housing Market ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Layoffs ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Netflix ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Stock Prices ,
Trump Administration ,
Unemployment
Wall Street had another come-to-Jesus day over the troubling recent Covid trends, as surging cases throughout the U.S. and across Europe drove markets to their worst performance since June....more
10/30/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Apple ,
Boeing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Downturn ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Markets ,
Google ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
iPhone ,
Layoffs ,
Oil Prices ,
PayPal ,
Qualcomm ,
Stock Prices ,
Tiffany and Company ,
Trump Administration ,
Twitter
A handful of tech’s biggest leaders—the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, and Google, to be precise—descend upon the Hill today for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on content monitoring and Section 230, the “slim and powerful...more
10/28/2020
/ Business Closures ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Growth ,
Facebook ,
Financial Stimulus ,
GDP ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Google ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Mobile Apps ,
Netherlands ,
Tiffany and Company ,
Trump Administration ,
Twitter ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Uber ,
User-Generated Content ,
Visa Inc