DOJ officials are investigating whether some activist investors—including “prominent short sellers . . . Carson Block and Andrew Left”—crossed lines in their efforts to expose “companies with shoddy or even fraudulent operations” and veered into stock price manipulation through spoofing and scalping efforts - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Speaking of activists, Third Point’s Daniel Loeb went on the record this week with his view that there’s “roughly $1 trillion in untapped value” at Amazon, which Third Point counts among its biggest holdings. Loeb has not yet indicated a desire to “pursue an activist campaign at Amazon,” but his focus on the independent value of Amazon’s core e-commerce business and its cloud unit could be a sign of things to come - WSJ
Also in ‘zon news, the e-retainer has resolved a long-running dispute with Visa over payment fees, and it will no longer “charge customers who use Visa cards on its site in Singapore and Australia an extra fee” or “turn off Visa credit cards from amazon.co.uk” - Bloomberg and WSJ and MarketWatch and TechCrunch
Wednesday’s release of the Fed’s January meeting minutes showed that the central bank’s serious concerns about widespread inflation prompted officials to “begin scaling back their support for the economy faster than they previously had anticipated,” a decision eased by what’s remained a “strong labor market” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Yes, yes, yes. Inflation, inflation, inflation. But, we’ve also got strong retail spending, as January’s figures—released yesterday—confirmed. After a “sharp decline” in December, retail sales rose 3.8% in January, “even as stores shortened their hours or closed as a surge in Covid-19 infections led to widespread staffing shortages” - NYTimes and WSJ
Following blowback from advertisers and other tech platforms alike after Apple’s recent efforts to cut down on unwanted data sharing on its devices, Google promised this week that its own forthcoming privacy measures “would not be as disruptive” to the market. Google also promised to give companies using its Android software at least 2 years before it fully implements its new system meant to improver users’ privacy - NYTimes and WSJ
Testimony from an already-convicted player in the massive Goldman Sachs-centered Malaysian 1MDB scandal in Brooklyn federal court this week painted a picture of a scheme that “was laid out a decade ago inside the apartment of a flamboyant Asian businessman”—Jho Low—who “remains on the run.” In the hot seat now is Roger Ng, a former Goldman partner who the prosecution is hoping to “draw . . . into the center of the brazen scheme to loot the 1MDB Fund” - NYTimes and WSJ and Law360
Because why visit Disney when you can live it, Big Mouse unveiled plans for residential communities it’s dubbing “Storyliving” that its in-house Imagineers will help design—the first of which is set for Rancho Mirage, CA - WSJ
Stay safe, and get boosted,
MDR
The Robins Kaplan Financial Daily Dose features top stories and latest news headlines in financial markets, banking, securities and technology topics.
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