Stung recently by the collapse of Greensill Capital and Archegos Capital Mgmt (the latter alone which cost it more than $5.5 billion), Credit Suisse recently “dissolved a longstanding personal lending relationship” with Masa...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
Fresh off her Senate approval as newest commissioner to the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan—“a prominent critic of Big Tech”—has been named chair of the Commission. President Biden’s decision to make the 32-year-old Khan...more
6/16/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Administrative Appointments ,
Aircraft ,
Biden Administration ,
China ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
FTC Commissioners ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Insider Trading ,
Kodak ,
Lumber Industry ,
McGraw Hill ,
Retail Sales ,
Silicon Valley ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Subsidies ,
Tariffs
Ailing e-truck startup Lordstown Motors found itself facing more challenges on Monday, as founder & CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigned “after an investigation by the company’s board,” just weeks after the...more
6/15/2021
/ 5G Network ,
Airbus ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Boeing ,
China ,
Debt ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Elon Musk ,
G7 ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
International Trade Disputes ,
Junk Bonds ,
NASA ,
Outer Space ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Recessions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subsidies
The Times digs into what it’s calling private equity’s “conquer[ing of] the American tax system”—where “slight-of-hand tax-avoidance strategies” are so “aggressive” and pervasive that “at least three private equity officials...more
6/14/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Bitcoin ,
Classified Information ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Exxon Mobil ,
FBI ,
Gag Orders ,
Hackers ,
Internet Retailers ,
Lumber Industry ,
McDonalds ,
Microsoft ,
Pipelines ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Avoidance
Thursday’s highly anticipated Consumer Price Index update showed that prices “rose in May at the fastest rate since 2008, a bigger jump than economists had expected.” The 5% increase comes as prices “are rising for many goods...more
6/11/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Biden Administration ,
Coding ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Electronic Arts ,
Hackers ,
Infrastructure ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Ransomware ,
Sharing Economy ,
Starbucks ,
Supply Chain
After years of protests, lobbying, and legal battles, TC Energy—the Canadian pipeline company behind the embattled Keystone XL pipeline project that “would have carried petroleum from Canadian tar sands to Nebraska”—announced...more
6/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FBI ,
GameStop ,
Gig Economy ,
High Net-Worth ,
Internet Memes ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
Lyft ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Mobile Apps ,
National Security ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Ransomware ,
Royal Dutch Petroleum ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Prices ,
The Hague ,
TikTok ,
Uber ,
Wealth Tax
Electric truck-maker Lordstown (that “aimed to revive a shuttered General Motors factory in Ohio”) revealed this week in a regulatory filing that it does “not have enough cash to start commercial production of its electric...more
6/9/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Berkshire Hathaway ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Credit Cards ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Foreign Currency ,
High Net-Worth ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
IRS ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Online Banking ,
Renault-Nissan ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Startups ,
Tax Evasion
In a rare cyber win for the good guys (at least one that’s publicly acknowledged), the DOJ revealed on Monday that it “had seized much of the ransom that a major U.S. pipeline operator had paid last month to a Russian hacking...more
6/8/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Apple ,
Commodities ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Wallets ,
Hackers ,
Insider Trading ,
Internet Memes ,
Jeff Bezos ,
Oil & Gas ,
Outer Space ,
Pipelines ,
Private Equity ,
Ransomware ,
Russia ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla
This weekend saw groundbreaking action by the G-7 nations on the Biden administration’s proposal for a new global minimum tax of at least 15% “that companies would have to pay regardless of where they locate their...more
6/7/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Bitcoin Mining ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
G7 ,
Google ,
Job Creation ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Medical Supplies ,
Online Advertisements ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Tax Reform ,
Unemployment
Jobs Report Friday again, and after a big miss on April’s rather lackluster numbers, all eyes will be on May’s figures. Lots to watch for here....more
6/4/2021
/ Activist Investors ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Capital Raising ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Economic Growth ,
Facebook ,
General Motors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Internet Memes ,
Job Creation ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Theranos ,
Unemployment
The Federal Reserve’s “first-ever foray into the corporate bond market” will wrap up by the end of the year, with the central bank pledging to sell off all of the ETF-investments and direct bond holdings it began purchasing...more
6/3/2021
/ Activist Investors ,
Blockchain ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Economic Development ,
ETFs ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Investment ,
International Labor Organization (ILO) ,
Job Creation ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Ransomware ,
Tariffs ,
Tyson Foods
JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, shuttered operations at locations throughout the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday after a ransomware attack that also impacted its Australian operations. The White House has confirmed that...more
6/2/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Asbestos ,
Cancer ,
Data Breach ,
Elon Musk ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Etsy ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internet Retailers ,
Johnson & Johnson ,
Kodak ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Oil Prices ,
Ransomware ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Supply Chain ,
Terms of Service ,
Vaccinations
In a significant departure from decades of restrictive population management efforts, China’s ruling party will now permit couples to have three children—“ending a two-child policy that has failed to raise the country’s...more
6/1/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beverage Manufacturers ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Economic Development ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Lyft ,
MGM ,
OECD ,
Open Source Software ,
Private Equity ,
Uber
Huge win yesterday for climate change activists who dealt ExxonMobil leadership a “stunning defeat” when shareholders “elected at least two board candidates nominated by activist investors who pledged to steer the company...more
The District of Columbia sued Amazon on Tuesday for allegedly “artificially raising prices for products around the web by abusing its monopoly power.” The lawsuit represents yet another sign that regulators “are increasingly...more
Amazon is nearing the final stages of a reported $9 billion deal to purchase MGM Holdings and its stable of big-name franchises (from James Bond to Rocky and The Pink Panther) in what would be Bezos & Co.’s second largest...more
Highlights [or lowlights, depending on how you think Timmy did] from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Friday testimony in defense of his company’s App Store to close out week 3 of the battle with Epic Games in federal court in Oakland...more
Sweden-based and celeb-backed oat milk company Oatly hit it big on its first day of public trading, with shares soaring 30% “as investors jumped at the chance to take part in rapid changes in the food industry driven by...more
5/21/2021
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Merger Agreements ,
Morgan Stanley ,
Multinationals ,
Plant Based Products ,
Railways ,
Ransomware ,
Tax Reform
A weeks long slide for Bitcoin and other cryptos turned into a “frenzied selloff” on Wednesday, crashing the digital currencies back to earth after what had been a pandemic year of impressive gains....more
5/20/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Federal Reserve ,
Ford Motor ,
Generic Drugs ,
Hedge Funds ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Martin Shkreli ,
McDonalds ,
Pipelines ,
Ransomware
JPMorgan Chase has elevated two execs, Jennifer Piepszak and Marianne Lake, to top spots as joint heads of the firm’s “sprawling” consumer and community banking division ...more
5/19/2021
/ Automotive Industry ,
Bank of America ,
Connected Items ,
Corporate Culture ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Energy Policy ,
Hertz ,
Infrastructure ,
Internet Memes ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Marketing ,
Motor Vehicles ,
Software ,
Stock Prices
Struggling movie studio mainstay MGM is shopping itself hard to Amazon in hopes that the prospect of bringing “James Bond, Rocky, RoboCop and other film and television properties into the e-commerce giant’s fold” is enough to...more
5/18/2021
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EPIC ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Kodak ,
Martin Act ,
MGM ,
Steel Industry ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Wars
AT&T made late-weekend waves with the announcement that it’s planning to spin off its WarnerMedia division (think HBO and CNN) and merge with Discovery’s “reality-TV empire” in a deal that could value the AT&T assets at...more
5/17/2021
/ Algorithms ,
Apple ,
AT&T ,
Big Tech ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
EPIC ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internet Memes ,
Masks ,
Movie Theaters ,
Pipelines ,
Ransomware
After a series of denials, it has emerged that Colonial Pipeline reportedly paid 75 Bitcoin (roughly $5 million) to recover its stolen data from last weekend’s ransomware attack. The move likely put a quicker end to the...more
5/14/2021
/ Air Quality Standards ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Bank of America ,
Big Tech ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Disney ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
Hackers ,
International Data Transfers ,
Ireland ,
McDonalds ,
Microchip Technology ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Unemployment ,
Wage and Hour
Stocks fell again on Wednesday, the third day of losses in a row, and bond yields rose, spurred on by a 4.2% CPI increase as compared to a year ago. Though analysts were expecting that surge ...more
5/13/2021
/ Amazon ,
Biden Administration ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Elon Musk ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
General Motors ,
Hackers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Mexico ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Pipelines ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla ,
Volvo