Markets got the back-to-school blues on Monday, apparently deciding that a couple weeks of rallying was plenty and diving across the board to start the week. Despite the Fed doing its damnedest in recent months to convince traders it was serious about continuing to raise rates, the reality of the hikes apparently just took hold for some on the Street and caused a mini-Monday-freak-out - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
That performance (and what’s sure to be an interesting rest of the week) is making Fed Chair Powell’s remarks at the Fed’s Jackson Hole conference on Friday all the more intriguing - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
While we wait for that, the central bank’s presumably appreciating the fact that a “shrinking federal budget deficit” is helping allay concerns over the effect its quantitative tightening will have on markets. More on this complicated relationship from the Journal here - WSJ
Ford announced plans to cut upwards of 3,000 jobs as the storied automaker seeks to “reduce costs and become more competitive amid the auto industry’s transition to electric vehicles.” That figure includes roughly 2,000 salaried workers and an additional thousand that work at “agencies that work as part of Ford’s operations” - NYTimes and WSJ
Different industry, similar result for many Credit Suisse investment bankers, who are anticipating “deep cuts” in the coming months as the Swiss bank seems ready to acknowledge that, after “decades of dueling with the titans of Wall Street for a place among the bulge-bracket investment bank elite,” its i-banking days are “potentially over” - Bloomberg
Facing pressure from a nasty combo meal of “inflation, war in Europe and tensions with franchisees,” McDonald’s is mixing things up on its board of directors. The fast-food giant will say goodbye to 15-year board veteran Sheila Penrose and welcome three new directors—Marriott’s Anthony Capuano, J&J’s Jennifer Taubert, and Salesforce’s Amy Weaver—to the Board - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Interestingly, some of those same factors—inflation and Russian’s invasion of Ukraine—have also contributed to what’s proving to be the “worst year in decades” for the IPO market. So far this year, traditional IPOs have “raised only $5.1 billion all told,” compared to normal sums near $33 billion. Levels have not been this low since 2009, “when the U.S. was recovering from the depths of the financial crisis and the IPO market reopened near the end of the year” - WSJ
Elon Musk is dragging Twitter founder (and [ex-]buddy) Jack Dorsey into the Chancery Court battle with the social media company over Musk’s ill-fated $44B offer to become its new owner – Law360 and WSJ and TechCrunch
China’s adding climate-change-induced high temps and severe drought to its list of woes taking a bite out of an already slowing economy. The scorching hot temps and lack of rain have “crippled hydropower generation”—especially in the Sichuan Province, a “fast-growing industrial base in recent years”—that has “prompted the shutdown of many factories there” - NYTimes
Speaking of China, troubles there for Adidas are prominent enough to have driven CEO Kasper Rorsted into an early resignation. Rorsted has helmed the German-based company since 2016 and was scheduled to stay on until 2026, but poor performance in “its key China market recently” is driving him out of that role early - WSJ
HBO debuted its GOT prequel series, “House of the Dragon,” this past weekend. Hot takes abound, but we’ll choose to welcome it with a throwback to one of the best parts of the original series: “Game of Jones” - LateNight
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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