As forecast, consumer prices rose dramatically in March, hitting the 8.5% mark. Fuel prices led the way thanks to “a recent surge in gas costs tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” but less volatile core prices were also up 6.5% last month, a tenth of a percent higher than the month before. An overall monthly slowing, however, has some economists tentatively viewing March’s CPI figures as “something of a peak” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Marketplace
Of course, don’t let all of the focus on inflation distract you from the rising shrinkflation epidemic - WSJ
Apple CEO Tim Cook pushed back on antitrust measures making their way through Congress at the moment by raising the specter of harm to “user security and privacy,” warning that the proposed legislation “would have the unintended consequence of making iPhones less safe, putting users at risk to ‘data hungry’ companies looking to sidestep its privacy features” - WSJ and TechCrunch and Law360
Notable PE firm Silver Lake is “leading a $150 million funding round for Genies, an avatar technology company that provides digital tools for users to create and sell online characters, clothes, spaces and social experiences” in the latest move that suggests traditional finance companies are intrigued by the prospects of the metaverse - NYTimes
After a year of high-profile crackdowns on homegrown Big Tech and private capital aimed at “narrow[ing] social inequalities],” Beijing appears to be “putting its campaign on the back burner” in a “tacit acknowledge[ment]” that President Xi’s focus on “common prosperity” rankled the private sector “at a time when China’s outlook is increasingly clouded” - NYTimes
Boeing has begun its rebound, if Q1 results are any indication, revealing that it sold “145 planes in the first three months of the year, after accounting for canceled orders.” As important for the troubled American planemaker, nearly all of those orders “were for the 737 Max, which regained its spot as the star of Boeing’s commercial fleet after emerging from a prolonged crisis more than a year ago” - NYTimes
Bloomberg’s turn to ask the hard questions about the suspicious pattern of spikes in warrant trading that have “curious[ly]” preceded a great number of blank-check company merger announcements - Bloomberg
Following the withdrawal of initial White House pick Sarah Bloom Raskin for the Fed’s top banking regulator, the Biden Administration is giving strong consideration to former Treasury Department official Michael Barr to fill the role. Barr helped “craft the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act” and is “expected to win the backing of Sen. Sherrod Brown . . . the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee” - WSJ
The CFPB has filed an action against credit-reporting firm TransUnion and its former head of consumer sales, John Danaher, “for violating a 2017 order to stop using deceptive tactics to lure customers into recurring subscription payments.” TransUnion reportedly ran ads on the official site “where consumers can obtain one free credit report a year” that, “when clicked, diverted people to sign-up for paid credit monitoring” - NYTimes and Law360
A former OppenheimerFunds quant will spend the next 33 months in prison for his role in an insider trading scheme that netted him $8.5 million over a span of 5 years - Bloomberg and Law360
Capital Group’s simultaneous dumping of big stakes in German lenders Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank on Tuesday send shares of both tumbling during trading yesterday. Capital Group didn’t offer an explanation for its big sales - WSJ
Charm City’s not exactly immune from a bit of malfeasance. But mess with its salt boxes? Well, that’s another matter altogether - NewYorker
We’re heading into an Easter/Passover break for the next few days, so stay safe, and we’ll see you back here next week.
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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