Welcome to B-Day, the beginning of the grand cryptocurrency experiment for El Salvador, which “became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender on Tuesday.” Predictably, “the launch got off to a bumpy start online early” this morning - WSJ and Bloomberg and Marketplace
A new bill that passed the California House in May and is heading to the Senate this week would “require warehouse employers like Amazon to disclose productivity quota for workers, whose progress they often track using algorithms” and ban “any quota that prevents workers from taking state-mandated breaks or using the bathroom when needed.” Business groups have pushed back hard on the measure, and the Senate could water down some of the bill’s more stringent requirements - NYTimes
Those tracking the effect of the Delta variant on business need look no further than the travel industry to see how the rise in infections is throwing a wrench in what some had expected would be an autumn return to normalcy - WSJ
Chinese microblogging platform Weibo cited unauthorized fund-raising as the reason to shut down nearly two-dozen K-Pop fan accounts amidst a recent wave of “broader government crackdown on celebrity worship and online fan culture in China” - NYTimes
Elsewhere, Chinese President Xi Jinping is putting into words what the government action has already made quite clear: it’s now time to reverse the growing economic inequality in his country, and he won’t be shy about targeting the rich in order to do so - NYTimes
JD.com founder Richard Liu will “step back from day-to-day business to focus on longer-term strategy and mentoring young managers” at the Chinese e-commerce company as part of a series of recent moves that included the company naming its first president - WSJ and MarketWatch
Food giant KraftHeinz will pay the SEC $62 million “to resolve an investigation into years of alleged accounting improprieties and inflated earnings reports” while neither admitting nor denying the agency’s claims as part of the deal – Law360
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess kicked off the week by raising concerns that the chip shortage causing delays throughout the auto industry could be a fact of life for “months or even years” to come” - Bloomberg
An overview of the CFPB’s “expansive new data collection regime intended to help fight discrimination and promote equality in the $1.4 trillion small business lending market” that it released last week – Law360
Ryanair, the Irish low-cost carrier that’s Boeing’s “biggest customer outside of the U.S.,” is ending negotiations with the American planemaker “over a potential new order for the 737 MAX in a dispute over pricing.” The announcement ends 10 months of talks between the parties and delivers a blow to Boeing, which has been beset with production delays and safety problems for years - WSJ and MarketWatch
We’ve talked plenty here over the years about both the desperate search for yields and the questionable independence of rating agencies. So maybe it was inevitable that the former’s now pushing past the latter altogether, with some money managers rolling the dice on bonds that have no rating whatsoever (pointing out that they’re not necessarily “more likely to default” but rather are unrated because they “require[] more research,” are “less liquid” or are “more difficult to trade”) - WSJ
A Labor Day look from the Times at recent moves by some companies to introduce “wellness weeks” in an effort to address employee burnout and retain workers rather than unknowingly shove them out the door - NYTimes
Join us in embracing a bit of Tuesday Twee as we dip into Wes’ world in anticipation of the coming “French Dispatch” in late October - NewYorker
Stay safe, and get vaxxed,
MDR
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