Peloton’s quarterly earnings report showed that the company’s early-pandemic boom times are now firmly behind it, as the connected fitness bike maker delivered losses of $757 million for the first three months of 2022—“far more than analysts were expecting.” New CEO Barry McCarthy stressed to shareholders that “turnarounds are hard work” in what felt like a plea for some slack after the rough report - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and TechCrunch
After a long delay and considerable procedural wrangling, the Senate finally voted to confirm Lisa Cook to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on a 51-50 vote, with VP Harris breaking the tie. Cook will be the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s Board of Governors – Law360 and AP and Bloomberg and NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch
Speaking of the Fed, many of its current and former officials are making the rounds and opening up with admissions that “they were too slow to respond to rapid inflation last year, a delay that is forcing” the central bank to “constrain the economy more abruptly now.” Though the Fed’s approach to policy-making—a consensus-driven process involving a large group of stakeholders—played a role in the delay, it’s also important to remember that the Fed’s “years dealing with tepid inflation” likely made “some hesitant to believe that rapidly rising prices would last” - NYTimes and Bloomberg
Meanwhile, President Biden noted that he’s considering cutting US tariffs on foreign imports imposed by the prior administration as part of an ongoing White House effort to attack inflation - Bloomberg
Markets were mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow closing slightly down but the Nasdaq and S&P 500 posting welcome gains after a three-day losing streak that took a bite out of all three indices - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Prompted by the recent Terra selloff, Treasury Secretary Yellen has renewed her prior calls for Congress to act to regulate stablecoins, the cryptos “purportedly pegged to the dollar,” as existing laws “don’t provide comprehensive standards for the new assets” - WSJ and Law360 and TechCrunch
On the “meteoric rise” of Bolt Financial, the payment business startup Ryan Breslow launched at age 19 that has soared to an $11 billion valuation—thanks, in part—to the founder’s penchant for “overstat[ing] its technological capability and misrepresent[ing] the number of merchants using its service.” So yeah, just Silicon Valley, right? Well, Breslow’s “abrupt[]” departure in January and a recently filed lawsuit by Authentic Brands Group, one of Bolt’s “biggest customers,” suggest that Bolt may be a bit beyond mere tech-world puffery - NYTimes
Apple announced this week that it’s discontinuing all production of iPods, the portable music (and eventually video) player that “helped revolutionize the music industry when it was introduced more than two decades ago.” Its existing iPod Touch version will now “only be available while supplies last” - WSJ and Bloomberg
Pfizer is plunking down $11.6 billion to obtain full ownership of Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co., the maker of the popular migraine drug Nurtec—a “potential blockbuster that analysts say could add billions of dollars in yearly sales to a big drugmaker facing several costly patent expirations in the coming years” - WSJ
Strawberry Fanta as a gift for the gods? Of course. Because “the shift from the profane to the sacred” through food and beverage has a long place in human history - 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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