The Fed’s May meeting minutes dropped on Wednesday, and they confirmed the central bank’s intent to “move ‘expeditiously’ to bring down the most rapid pace of inflation in 40 years, with most participants expecting as many as...more
Chinese central bankers unexpectedly cut a benchmark interest rate today, an “unexpected policy shift” in an era of rate hikes that “economists said would likely help the country’s moribund housing market but bring only...more
The Federal Reserve made good on Wednesday of months of rate-hike foreshadowing, announcing a half-percentage-point increase in interest rates and detailing a plan to shrink the central bank’s “massive bond holdings.” In...more
Netflix disappointed in Q1, posting its first loss of subscribers—some 200k—in over 10 years and predicting more departures in the coming months. The news sent Netflix shares spiraling down in after-hours trading and gives...more
JetBlue has made a last-minute $3.6 billion offer to buy Spirit Airlines, “throwing a wrench into Spirit’s plan to merge with Frontier Airlines and create a behemoth budget carrier.” The offer appears calculated to help...more
The Fed delivered on its well-telegraphed plan to raise interest rates as soon as next month in an effort to combat inflation. The central bank has been easing its bond-buying program and appears ready to reduce its balance...more
The release of the Fed’s December meeting minutes (and its discussion of a quickened pace of rate hikes) was all it took to rattle markets, with the S&P 500 dropping nearly 2% on Wednesday—“its biggest drop in weeks.”...more
The Federal Reserve wrapped its September Open Market Committee meetings on Wednesday with the anticipated news that it would soon start to slowly taper its asset purchasing and is prepared to raise interest rates as early as...more
As we anticipated, Fed Chair Powell—appearing virtually at the annual Jackson Hole gathering of Fed officials and watchers—signaled the possibility of central bank bond-purchase tapering as early as this year. More notable,...more
Fed officials wrapped their June meeting yesterday with the news that “they expected to raise interest rates from rock bottom sooner than they had previously forecast.” That translates to a potential two incremental increases...more
6/17/2021
/ Affordable Housing ,
Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Clean Energy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Federal Reserve ,
Interest Rates ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Merger Controls ,
Microsoft ,
Real Estate Development ,
Rebranding ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Victoria Secret
PE firm CVC Capital Partners has made an unsolicited bid to acquire Japan’s Toshiba Corp. “in a deal that could be valued at more than $20 billion if completed.” The proposal, which would need Japanese government approval...more
4/8/2021
/ Airlines ,
Bonds ,
Credit Cards ,
DoorDash ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hong Kong ,
IKEA ,
Interest Rates ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Microchip Technology ,
Retail Market ,
Supply Chain ,
Target ,
Tax Reform ,
Toshiba ,
Toyota
The latest and greatest from Fed Chair Powell as the Fed’s March Open Markets Committee meeting wrapped yesterday, including a markets-pleasing assurance that better-than-expected economic growth wasn’t enough to push the...more
3/18/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Aircraft ,
Biden Administration ,
Boeing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disney ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
GameStop ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Interest Rates ,
IRS ,
Retail Investors ,
Stock Trades ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Returns
With Wednesday’s passage in the House, the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill is heading to President Biden’s desk for an anticipated Friday signature, “cementing one of the largest injections of federal aid since the Great...more
3/11/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Biden Administration ,
BuzzFeed ,
Capital Markets ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dow Jones ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
General Electric ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rates ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Relief Measures ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Prices
After more than half a year without a leader, the WTO is poised to welcome its “first woman and first African” to the role in the form of Nigerian economist and former finance minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. ...more
2/16/2021
/ American Express ,
Apple ,
Biden Administration ,
Big Tech ,
Bristol-Myers Squibb ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Cards ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Downturn ,
Facebook ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fraudulent Marketing ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Google ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Infrastructure ,
Interest Rates ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Nissan ,
OCC ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Recovery Plans ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Sanofi ,
Severe Weather ,
Small Business ,
Tesla ,
White Collar Crimes ,
WTO
After months of drama that we dutifully catalogued right here, the U.S. plan to “force the sale of TikTok’s American operations” to Oracle and Walmart “has been shelved indefinitely.” The forced sale has “languished since...more
2/10/2021
/ Abuse of Discretion ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Biden Administration ,
China ,
Commercial Leases ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Branding ,
Eli Lilly ,
FCC ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Huawei ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Interest Rates ,
Main Street Lending Programs ,
Mobile Apps ,
National Security ,
Oracle ,
Poverty ,
Race Relations ,
Relief Measures ,
Salesforce ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Media ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
TikTok ,
Wal-Mart ,
Workplace Romances
GameStop’s continuing surge this week has gone from something of a lark to a collective small-trader effort to stick it to Wall Street hedge funds and institutionalists, with share-price fundamentals discarded entirely in...more
1/28/2021
/ Apple ,
Bitcoin ,
Boeing ,
Chrysler ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Downturn ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fiat ,
Financial Markets ,
GameStop ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rates ,
iPhone ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Market Manipulation ,
Netflix ,
Quarterly Report ,
Reddit ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Short Selling ,
Stock Prices
A new bill that has now passed the House would further increase oversight of “Chinese companies listed on American stock markets, the latest attempt by the United States to scrutinize financial ties with China.” The law...more
12/3/2020
/ CARES Act ,
China ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Corporations ,
Google ,
Interest Rates ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Listing Rules ,
Mortgages ,
NLRB ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Refinancing ,
Salesforce ,
Securities Regulation ,
Slack ,
Surveillance ,
Theranos ,
UPS ,
Wall Street
A federal judge has delivered another win for TikTok over the weekend, temporarily blocking a White House ban “on new downloads of the video-sharing network, which would have gone into effect at 11:59 p.m. in Washington.” The...more
9/29/2020
/ Airplane Accidents ,
Alphabet Company ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Boeing ,
Business Licenses ,
China ,
Commerzbank ,
Data Collection ,
Deutsche Bank ,
E-Commerce ,
eBay ,
Export Controls ,
Federal Reserve ,
Infrastructure ,
Interest Rates ,
Mobile Apps ,
National Security ,
Rare Earth Metals ,
Semiconductors ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Social Media ,
Spoofing ,
Tax Planning ,
TikTok ,
Trump Administration ,
Uber ,
UK ,
Wire Fraud
Blaming a “U.S. move to impose tariffs on French goods,” luxury brand conglomerate LMVH is pulling out of a proposed $16 billion deal to buy jeweler Tiffany & Co. Tiffany is now suing to enforce the ill-fated agreement....more
9/9/2020
/ Activist Investors ,
Aircraft ,
Apple ,
Boeing ,
Breach of Contract ,
CARES Act ,
CFTC ,
Climate Change ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Electric Vehicles ,
EPIC ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Form 13F ,
France ,
General Motors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Interest Rates ,
iPhone ,
Joint Employers ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Luxury Goods ,
Nasdaq ,
Popular ,
Retail Market ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Startups ,
Tariffs ,
Tiffany and Company ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Wars ,
Trump Administration ,
UK Brexit
The European Union’s antitrust authority is reportedly within days of filing charges against Amazon for the company’s “treatment of third-party sellers,” the latest step in a “two-year probe into Amazon’s alleged mistreatment...more
6/11/2020
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Bid Rigging ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Stimulus ,
FinTech ,
Hertz ,
Insolvency ,
Interest Rates ,
NYSE ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Popular ,
Price-Fixing ,
Tyson Foods ,
Unemployment
The DOJ has begun the prosecutorial phase of its chicken price-fixing investigation with a one-count indictment accusing current and former senior execs at Pilgrim’s Pride and Claxton Poultry Farms—including their current...more
6/4/2020
/ Agribusiness ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Banks ,
Bias ,
Bonds ,
Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
European Central Bank ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Interest Rates ,
Layoffs ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Oracle ,
Overdraft Fees ,
Payday Loans ,
Price-Fixing ,
Relief Measures ,
Unemployment ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Vulnerable Victims ,
Warner Music Group
It’s all coming up Elon these days for Tesla and its stock. “Positive developments” from the electric carmaker’s battery suppliers helped goose shares even higher, ending the day at $780/share—a nearly 20% gain since Friday....more
2/4/2020
/ #MeToo ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bank of America ,
Bias ,
China ,
Citigroup ,
Competition ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Corporate Culture ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Elon Musk ,
EU ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Ford Motor ,
Fuel Efficiency ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Google ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Interest Rates ,
Merger Controls ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Oil & Gas ,
On-Demand Services ,
OPEC ,
Pay Gap ,
Personal Care Products ,
Popular ,
Public Health ,
Race Discrimination ,
Search Engines ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sharing Economy ,
Stock Prices ,
Supply and Demand ,
Tesla ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Visa Inc ,
Voluntary Dismissals ,
Wells Fargo
Facebook has agreed to pay $550 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit claiming that Zuck & Co.’s use of facial recognition technology violated Illinois’ biometric privacy law. Though the settlement is little more than “a...more
1/30/2020
/ Airplane Accidents ,
Apple ,
Automotive Industry ,
Aviation Industry ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Boeing ,
Broadcom ,
Canada ,
Class Action ,
Community Reinvestment Act ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Electronic Data Transmissions ,
EU ,
European Parliament ,
Facebook ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
FDIC ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Interest Rates ,
iPhone ,
Loans ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Mexico ,
Microchip Technology ,
OCC ,
Patent Infringement ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Pyramid Schemes ,
Quarterly Report ,
Smartphones ,
Social Media ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Statutory Violations ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wifi ,
Withdrawal Agreement
The OCC announced yesterday that it’s bringing enforcement actions against five former Wells Fargo bank executives as part of their alleged roles in the bank’s sales practices scandal. The agency further revealed that it’s...more
1/24/2020
/ Apple ,
Board of Directors ,
Bribery ,
Broadcom ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Corporate Executives ,
Credit Scores ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cross-Selling ,
Debt ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Central Bank ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Currency ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Interest Rates ,
Loans ,
Microchip Technology ,
OCC ,
Opioid ,
Pain Management ,
Physicians ,
Popular ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Public Health ,
Racketeering ,
Underwriting ,
Wells Fargo
Hackers who targeted airport currency exchange mainstay Travelex in a ransomware attack on New Year’s Eve have alerted British media that they possess 5 GB of sensitive customer data from the company “since gaining access to...more
1/10/2020
/ Aircraft Equipment ,
Airplane Accidents ,
Airports ,
Bailout ,
Barclays ,
Boeing ,
China ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Currency Exchange ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Economic Growth ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Failure to Comply ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Foreign Relations ,
Forex ,
Goldman Sachs ,
GrubHub ,
Hackers ,
Imports ,
Information Governance ,
Information Technology ,
Insurance Industry ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
Interest Rates ,
Internal Communications ,
Iran ,
Job Creation ,
Jobs Report ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Lloyds Banking Group ,
Mergers ,
Mining ,
On-Demand Services ,
Pending Legislation ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Retail Banks ,
Revenue ,
Stock Prices ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Negotiations ,
Trade Relations ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Unemployment ,
US Trade Policies ,
Wages