New CBO projections suggest that even without additional Congressional aid, the “American economy will return to its pre-pandemic size by the middle of this year.” While encouraging, the report offers cold comfort for the millions who lost jobs as a result of Covid, as “it will be years before everyone thrown off the job by the pandemic is able to return to work” - NYTimes and WSJ

Robinhood reportedly raised an additional $2.4 billion from investors over the weekend in an effort to keep pace with the “surge of interest among amateur investors” and the corresponding increase in “the amount of money it deposits with the clearinghouse that processes its trades” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg

Its mounting legal troubles may prompt the platform to go back to that well a few more times – Law360

Despite the continuing uproar over the Reddit-investor set, stocks managed their “biggest rally in about 10 weeks” on Monday, with strategists largely agreeing “the recent explosion of speculative buying won’t derail the bull market in equities” - Bloomberg and MarketWatch

And GME? A slightly different Monday story, friends - MarketWatch and WSJ and Bloomberg

The next salvo in Facebook’s growing battle with Apple over privacy: an “in-app prompt” from Zuck & Co. “aimed at educating users about the handling of their data” - WSJ

Ten GOP Senators have prepared a $618 billion Covid relief measure as a counter to the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion proposal ahead of a meeting with the White House late yesterday. The plan omits “aid for state and local governments” and plans to raise “the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour” - WSJ

A hard look at the Fed’s record of “building a work force that looks like the population it is meant to serve,” even as the central bank finally shifts some of its “research and attention to racial economic outcomes and publicly champions inclusion.” As those of us in the law would recognize, Fed officials are quick to blame the economics pipeline, but the problem goes beyond that anodyne explanation - NYTimes

Ford has entered into a six-year agreement with Google under which the automaker will incorporate “Google’s suite of apps, including voice commands and navigation, in multimedia displays on all Ford models outside of China” starting in 2023 - WSJ and Bloomberg

And perhaps ready to help with that partnership are the Googlers formerly working in the Stadia division dedicated to making exclusive games, as Alphabet revealed plans to shutter the division intended to compete with PlayStation and Xbox - Bloomberg

Remember back in the day, when we could focus here on vital issues like where Amazon would choose to plant its HQ2 flag? Well, pandemic, insurrection, and economic volatility aside, the ‘Zon’s moving forward with plans for a major campus in the Arlington, Va. More here - WSJ

Don’t let the pandemic keep you from a meaningful BHM. These virtual museum experiences can help fill the gap - Mashable

Stay safe.