Apple tipped the $2 trillion mark this week, the first U.S. company to reach that valuation milestone, doing so just 2 years after it first hit $1 trillion. That it’s done so in the middle of a pandemic only punctuates how the coronavirus crisis “has been a bonanza for the tech giants” – NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch and Marketplace

Here’s what that “bonanza” means, exactly – NYTimes

Details from the Fed’s July meeting minutes—released on Wednesday—show that the central bank again called out the need for Congress to act to support the U.S. economy, particularly as supplemental unemployment benefits were set to expire – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

The White House has very publicly weighed in on U.S. businesses this week, both in promoting Oracle as a potential TikTok buyer [NYTimes] and calling for the boycott of Goodyear over the tire maker’s stance on political attire at the workplace – WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

The Journal digs deeper into the stakes in the war between Uber/Lyft and the state of California, which has accused the companies of violating a new state law “that requires companies to treat workers as employees rather than independent contractors if they are controlled by their employer and contribute to its usual course of business” – WSJ

Yes, yes. I know and understand the current power of Robinhood on the markets and the inexplicably outsized influence of “cult retail investing figure Dave Portnoy.” But news of the Barstool Sports Guy potentially having Covid being the kind of news that “rattles investors”?  America.  That’s not a good look – Bloomberg

Airbnb is officially testing the public’s willingness to support its future in the face of a pandemic that’s crushed its business, announcing this week that it “had confidentially filed to go public, taking a key step toward one of the largest public market debuts in a generation of ‘sharing economy’ startups” – NYTimes and MarketWatch

J&J will drop a cool $6.5 billion to snap up Momenta Pharmaceuticals, a deal that gives the company “entry into a potentially big-selling new class of drugs to treat certain autoimmune diseases” – WSJ and MarketWatch

Canada’s Scotiabank has agreed to pay $127 million to the CFTC to resolve claims after “admitting to an eight-year spoofing scheme through which four of its traders rigged precious metals contracts to ‘trick other market participants’” – Law360

Interesting and entertaining installment of Planet Money’s Summer School series focusing on advertising and race in America, in large part through the experience of Tom Burrell—one of the first Black advertising executives – NPR

Stay safe.