A slumping tech sector pulled markets lower on Tuesday, “adding to a losing streak that has April shaping up to be Wall Street’s worst month in two years.” For the S&P 500, that translates into a nearly 8% decline for the month as “investors have confronted a long list of fears: that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates far more quickly than economists had anticipated; that rising prices and wages could erode corporate profits; and that renewed lockdowns in China could become another drag on the global economy” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Looking at you, Alphabet - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Some perspective on this trend in the cotext of a hot labor market, which reveals the historical reality that “times of low unemployment are correlated with somewhat subdued stock returns, while valuations trend higher during periods of high unemployment.” Analysts explain this seemingly contradictory phenomenon by reminding us that unemployment is a lagging indicator, while the market is generally a leading one - NYTimes
App-based stock trading company Robinhood is laying off some 9% of its 3800-person workforce after “essentially overhir[ing]” during the pandemic, “leading to duplicate roles and job functions and ‘more layers and complexity than are optimal’” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and TechCrunch
After a long (and seemingly unnecessary, given her current tenure) delay, the Senate has voted to confirm Fed Governor Lael Brainard as the central bank’s Vice Chair. Votes on the White House’s renomination of Fed Chair Powell to the bank’s top spot and on its picks for two open governor positions are expected in coming weeks - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Law360
Sure, Twitter’s big Musk sale made a ton of sense “based purely on the financials.” But when it comes to other stakeholders—the public, say—the move was an entirely different story - NYTimes
Also, warns the EU, don’t think that Elon’s whims will pass muster under the bloc’s new content moderation rules - WSJ
Ray-Ban parent EssilorLuxottica has sued JPMorgan, accusing the financial giant of “failing to notice that thieves had transferred more than $272 million out of one of its bank accounts in 2019” - WSJ and Law360
Color me unconvinced on the Metaverse (and definitely on Zuck’s version of it), but VR as a meaningful form of health therapy may be worth a closer look - NYTimes
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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