Welcome back.  Let’s get caught up.

China’s latest response to the White House’s aluminum and steel tariff plans came in the form of a no-joke April 1 announcement of its own tariffs of roughly $3 billion in 128 U.S.-made products ranging from pork to wine and seamless steel pipes – NYTimes and WSJ and Marketplace and Law360

That announcement and lingering concern over/backlash towards the tech sector was NOT a helpful combination for stocks’ return from the Good Friday close – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

And it’s prompted vocal concern from American businesses, including many that would be impacted by China’s retaliatory moves – NYTimes

Saks and Lord & Taylor owner Hudson’s Bay Company has confirmed that hackers have stolen more than 5 million credit and debit card numbers from their customers thanks to software implanted into the cash register system at the stores that “siphoned card numbers” – NYTimes and Law360

Some Law360 analysis considers how Barclays’ “high-risk” RMBS strategy in which the bank “rejected an early settlement offer over allegedly misleading statements it made to investors” over RMBS worked out, ultimately leading to a mere $2 billion settlement with regulators (rather than the penalties of 2 to 8 times that figure for other big banks) – Law360

The Journal explores the staggering rise of private capital markets, which have “leapfrogged public markets to become the most popular way for companies to raise money in the U.S.” This popularity—in the form of $2.4 trillion last year alone—is in some ways “changing the very way companies run and operate” and at the same time shrinking public markets – WSJ

A busy communications M&A year continues, with Disney offering to buy Sky News in order to ease the regulatory path for Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of broadcaster Sky Plc [Bloomberg and WSJ] and CBS planning a “below-market bid” that would see it again joining forces with Viacom – Bloomberg and WSJ

Rising interest rates—a side effect of the generally booming U.S. economy—promise trouble ahead for some debt-laden Americans – Bloomberg

A Friday filing in New York’s Southern District accuses JPMorgan, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank and other banks of conspiring to fix the price of Mexican government bonds “that resulted in prices inflating 20 to 50 percent” – Law360

Let’s make a point to keep an eye on this nascent Zuck/Cook war of words, shall we? – WSJ and Bloomberg

Though high-school English teachers may cringe, true lovers of language can’t help but appreciate what some are dubbing a “new rulebook” for written English that millennials have helped create largely through their use of social media. The new approach is all about conveying “what body language, and tone and volume of voice can achieve in spoken English” – Mashable