Tech stocks roared back on Tuesday just a day after the Nasdaq hit correction territory, as “buy-the-dip” won out and led to a nearly-4% jump for the tech-heavy index - WSJ and Bloomberg
Tesla, in particular, had a heckuva bounce-back - Bloomberg
And Bitcoin broke the $55k barrier for the first time - Bloomberg
President Biden is preparing to name antitrust scholar and “leading critic of the tech industry’s power” Lina Khan to a seat on the Federal Trade Commission—“the latest sign that the Biden administration planned to take an aggressive posture toward tech giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google” - NYTimes and Bloomberg and Mashable
Kia has recalled some 380,000 of its Sportage SUVs and sedans from 2017 to 2021 “over concerns that electronic components could short-circuit and cause fires in the engine compartments of certain models”—an action that came with a NHTSA warning urging owners to avoid parking in garages or near homes until repaired - NYTimes
The Upshot on the shift away from a generation of what was essentially Federal Reserve control of the U.S. economy, now that politicians are “taking the primary role for managing the ups and downs of the economy that they ceded for much of the last four decades, most notably in the period after the 2008 global financial crisis” - NYTimes
SPACs, meet volatility. Your union was long overdue - WSJ
Your midweek Greensill update includes some JPMorgan drama and the revelation that SoftBank poured $400M into the now-bankrupt tech fund just months ago, “deepening the potential losses” Masa Son and Co. will face in the startup’s collapse - WSJ
Luckily for the SoftBankers, a Coupang-induced windfall may soon be at hand - Bloomberg
Another check-in—this time on the Citi/Revlon accidental-payment incident—sees Citi “punishing investment firms that kept payments the bank accidentally sent to Revlon Inc. lenders by blocking them from certain new debt offerings led by the bank.” As they say, all’s fair in love and war and cosmetics-company investing . . . - Bloomberg
The quest to get PPP money into the hands of sole proprietors—among the most vulnerable small businesses—appears to remain an ill-fated exercise - NYTimes
ConAgra is reportedly in negotiations with JBS SA to deal its Hebrew National, Egg Beaters, and Odom’s Tennessee Pride brands for an estimated $700 million - WSJ
Big Day for the Big Mouse, as Disney+ tops 100 million subscribers, and landmark figure achieved in just 16 months - WSJ and MarketWatch
The House of Representatives has passed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which represents “the most significant expansion of labor rights since the New Deal” by “neutraliz[ing] right-to-work laws in 27 states and bolster[ing] workers’ ability to organize after years of eroding clout.” Though passing with some (tiny) Republican support in the House, the PRO Act is expected to fail in the Senate, “where 60 votes would be needed to advance it past a filibuster” - NYTimes and MarketWatch and Law360
Bidding a sad farewell to the snow day, a staple of my own Northern childhood, as a soon-to-be relic of the pre-Covid era of education - TheAtlantic
Stay safe.
