Google has threatened to pull its search engine from the entirety of the Australian continent “if the government approved legislation that would force tech companies to pay for journalism shared on their platforms.” Facebook made a similar threat to “block users in Australia from posting or sharing links to news if the bill passed.” Aussie politicians deemed the warnings akin to blackmail - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Yesterday’s jobless numbers—another 900,000 joining the ranks of the newly unemployed—continue to hammer home the economic impact of the untamed coronavirus in the United States. Jobless claims are “higher than in any previous recession for records tracing back to 1967” - WSJ and NYTimes
Among those will soon be 1900 in-store Instacart employees who “complete consumers’ orders at stores and hand them over to other for delivery.” The company is shifting focus to “having workers both fulfill and deliver orders” - WSJ
The UK’s IG Group is buying U.S. brokerage and financial media firm Tastytrade Inc. in a $1 billion deal that’s part of IG’s effort to “capitalize on the boom in options trading by small investors” - WSJ
Between a surging virus and the harsh reality of real live Brexit, 2021’s already been a bear for Britain. The exception so far? Britain’s stock market, which “has posted a strong start to the year, jumping more than 6 percent in the first week” thank, in part, to investors’ newfound love for value stocks - NYTimes
UK automakers? Well, that’s a different story. Publicly, they’re praising the departure from the EU. But putting their money where their mouths are when it comes to investments—that’s proving to be a different story - Bloomberg
Another day, another record close for the Nasdaq, as Big Tech stocks continue to boom ahead of Q4 earnings reports in the coming weeks - WSJ
A Vatican court has convicted former longtime Vatican Bank president Angelo Caloia (and his onetime lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo) of “embezzlement and money laundering, sending a strong signal that the church was determined to get its financial house in order.” The duo was sentenced to nearly 9 years on prison and will be made to pay the bank more than $24 million in damages - NYTimes
Color us not surprised, but Bitcoin’s big rally has stalled out. The cryptocurrency is “on track to slide more than 19% this week,” with some cautioning that “a sustained drop below $30,000 could presage further losses in the wake of last year’s 300% surge” - Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Pouring one out for Alphabet’s internet-in-the-sky Loon project, which has not-so-gently crashed to the ground - NYTimes and Bloomberg and Mashable
Americans are staying in their homes for longer periods of time, a “big reason why the inventory of homes for sale is at record lows and prices are near all-time highs.” That reality, driven in part by Covid-19-related fears of job losses and the inherent germiness of the selling process, ran smack into an increasing number of Americans looking for larger homes “where they could work remotely more easily” - WSJ
Dealbook assesses the growing chasm between the economic reality for Wall Street vs. Main Street these days - NYTimes
A bit of “Hamilton” treatment for Dr. Yellen, courtesy of Minnesota’s very own Doomtree collective member Dessa (and the good people at Marketplace)? You betcha – Marketplace
Have a great weekend, and stay safe out there,
MDR
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