Jobs Report Friday again! Here’s what we’re looking for in the February numbers, which are expected to be relatively modest - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch and Bloomberg
Fed Chair Powell again promised central bank patience in supporting the fragile U.S. economy as it builds back after the pandemic, but investors didn’t totally take him at his word, with bond yields rising and stocks slumping after Powell’s webinar remarks on Thursday - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
As part of a bold effort to put money where the administration’s mouth is, the Treasury Department is allocating $9 billion for investment in minority communities through its Emergency Capital Investment Program—“an initial step in fulfilling its promise to ensure that those who have been hit hardest by the pandemic have access to loans as the economy recovers” - NYTimes
Details on the $1.9 trillion covid stimulus bill that the Senate is likely to take up this weekend and that could potentially become law as early as next week, from stimulus checks to vaccine funding to much-anticipated state and local aid – Bloomberg
New figures from Texas’ deep-freeze power crisis show that the state extended peak pricing for “more than a day longer than needed,” overcharging customers more than $16 billion in the process - WSJ and Bloomberg
After a Covid-caused lost year, China’s government has “promised a robust return to economic” prosperity and set a target of “over 6 percent” growth for the year ahead. That “commitment to relatively rapid economic growth” is being viewed as a “positive sign for the global economy,” as it affirms Beijing’s desire to “keep its economy humming rather than slowing down to address its ever-rising tide of debt” - NYTimes and WSJ
Here in the U.S., the CBO is warning that the long-term outlook for the U.S. federal budget deficit carriers with it significant concerns—especially as “interest costs rise and federal spending on health programs swells along with an aging population” - NYTimes
Ad-tech company The Trade Desk is managing to do the virtually unthinkable: challenge the Google goliath at its own digital ad game. The company made inroads against the Googs “by investing in online advertising segments like audio and streaming TV where Google hasn’t already cornered the market,” and the moves helped boost Trade Desk revenue by 26% in 2020 as compared to the year earlier - WSJ
How about this for the rare positive Amazon effect? When the ‘Zon raises worker wages, “low-wage workers at other businesses have seen significant wage growth since 2018, beyond what they otherwise might have expected, and not because of new-minimum wage laws” - NYTimes
Just two years after Apollo Global to Shutterfly private, the photo company is “in talks to go public through merger with a blank-check company” in a deal that would value Shutterfly between $4 and 5 billion - WSJ
Let me fully endorse this Vulture letter of recommendation for British comedian James Acaster, whom I stumbled across down a “Cats does Countdown” rabbithole and whom you may recognize from a priceless Celebrity Bake-off appearance - Vulture
Stay safe, and have a great weekend,
MDR
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