Lyft, armed with a fresh billion from Google’s venture investment arm (CapitalG), is looking seriously at a 2018 IPO. The CapG money raises Lyft’s valuation from $6.9 billion to more than $10 billion – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Stitch Fix, on the other hand, isn’t waiting. The “fashion in a box” e-commerce company filed yesterday to go public – Fortune
Lord & Taylor is nearing a deal with Wal-Mart that “would be the first step in creating an online mall that shoppers could access from Wal-Mart’s website.” The move is seen as an important element of a larger Wal-Mart strategy to challenge Amazon’s online dominance – WSJ
Nissan announced yesterday that it’s suspending all Japanese-based production after discovering that “uncertified technicians had conducted vehicle inspections even after a previous disclosure of the practice led to a major recall.” The news adds to a disastrous stretch for the Japanese auto industry with the fallout from Takata and Kobe Steel failures still spreading – NYTimes
The Journal explores an interesting feature of the 2017 stock market rally—far less trading than in previous bull runs – WSJ
Red Kite Mgmt, the world’s largest metals hedge fund, has sued Barclays over alleged copper market abuse that it claims cost it more than ¾ of a billion dollars between 2010 and 2013 – Bloomberg
Former Dean Foods chair Thomas C. Davis has been sentenced to 2 years in lockup for his role in passing insider information to Vegas gambler Billy Walters in a scheme that implicated PGA star Phil Mickelson – WSJ and Law360
Streetwise suggests that cryptocurrency enthusiasts would do well to learn from several of China’s biggest bubble bursts over the past 25 years or so – WSJ
In other digital token news, the CFTC announced this week that it will consider the tokens issued in ICOs to be commodities, thus bringing the offerings within the agency’s ambit and putting it “on par” with the SEC’s approach to regulating the ICO market – Law360
Some pretty fantastic scientific sleuthing has helped establish a strong link between volcanic eruptions (and resulting climatic changes) and a series of bloody revolts by Egyptians against the ruling Greeks – NYTimes
Have a great weekend.