Netflix disappointed in Q1, posting its first loss of subscribers—some 200k—in over 10 years and predicting more departures in the coming months. The news sent Netflix shares spiraling down in after-hours trading and gives some cotext for the ‘flix’s recent announcement that it would be ferreting out password sharing in an effort “to monetize those freeloading households” - BusinessInsider and NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Marketplace
With that fresh trouble in mind, why the streaming giants, after years of objecting to commercials on their platforms, are “having a change of heart.” [Short answer: market pressure and cold hard cash] - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Better.com—the mortgage lender whose CEO gained infamy in December for firing 900 workers over Zoom—just can’t quit cutting. After laying off 3,000 more employees in March, the company announced another round of layoffs this week, citing “turbulence in the housing market as a reason for the contraction” - NYTimes and WSJ
So, is that turbulence real? Well, rising rates may soon start cooling a red hot U.S. housing market, but “there are real questions about whether any pullback in demand will be sufficient to slow rapid home price growth in a market that has suffered from chronic undersupply” - NYTimes
And while housing is a ready example of an industry affected by rising rates, don’t overlook what rising interest will mean for the debt-heavy low-rated companies that borrowed to the hilt to fund their PE-led takeovers, a feature of the leveraged buyout boom in recent years - WSJ
A solid start to earnings season helped juice markets on Tuesday after a down day to start the week. That optimism may prove short lived, however, after Netflix’s rough results - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
An ALJ ruled this week that Amazon must reinstate “and pay lost wages to a worker the company ‘unlawfully’ fired two years ago after a protest at its fulfillment center on Staten Island” at the same facility that recently became the first Amazon warehouse in the U.S. to unionize. The ALJ agreed with the NLRB’s argument that the termination “was retaliation for protesting safety conditions, which is protected by federal labor law” - NYTimes and Mashable
In an effort to “insulate its operations from weather disruptions and prevent the kind of cascading cancellations that have marred its operation recently,” Spirit Airlines is preemptively cutting back on some flights in the coming months. The low-cost carrier “plans to reduce flying by 5% to 6% in June after making smaller adjustments in April and May” - WSJ
Some Fed officials are bandying about a 75 bp rate hike—the most hawkish increase in nearly 20 years—if “inflation further spirals out of control,” though the suggestion is as likely a play to soften the blow of a 50 basis point increase that Chair Powell has already acknowledged as it is a real possibility - Bloomberg
Exploring Bloomberg CityLab’s new “Quarantine Atlas” offering, a project that’s assembled 65 of the reader-created pandemic maps and accompanying essays to “reflect on life during Covid-19” and consider “how Covid has reshaped the places we live” - Bloomberg
Stay safe,
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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