Fed Vice Chair Resigns in Wake of Trading Scandal

Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida is heading to the door earlier than planned in what appears to be continuing fallout from 2020 trades he made “as the central bank was poised to rescue financial markets.” Clarida corrected his 2020 financial disclosures in late December and revealed at least one trade that “[e]thics experts said . . . raised questions.” Clarida will resign Friday rather than at the end of the month as originally expected - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360

Fed Chair Powell may be asked to weigh in on Clarida’s departure while on the Hill today for the first of two days of confirmation hearings—first before the Senate Banking Committee and tomorrow before the House. Inflation is likely to dominate the discussion as well, and Powell will tell lawmakers that the central bank “will use their economic tools” to keep it from “becoming entrenched” - NYTimes and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

After diving to start the day, the Nasdaq  staged a “furious rally” to close out trading last night, wiping “out a drop that reached 2.7% at its worst to finish higher by 0.1%” and snapping a four-day skid in the process that saw investors beat up on tech stocks - Bloomberg and MarketWatch

A second Buffalo-area Starbucks is now unionized after the NLRB certified the results of a late-December vote there. Sbux has 10 days to appeal the ruling - NYTimes and Bloomberg

The SEC is reportedly working through a plan “to require more private companies to routinely disclose information about their finances and operations” as regulators “grow concerned about the lack of oversight of the private fundraising” that fueled the rise of unicorns” - WSJ

An NLRB administrative law judge appointed to serve as a special master assessing Google’s claim of attorney-client privilege in a labor dispute initiated by “former employees who say the company fired them because of their unionization efforts” has ordered the company to turn over a spate of documents (71 of 80 claimed privileged) due to “overreach” in privilege assertion - NYTimes

Take-Two Interactive, the gaming company responsible for Grand Theft Auto, is adding Zynga and its Words With Friends and FarmVille titles to its portfolio in an $11 billion cash-and-stock deal announced this week. The acquisition is one of the biggest ever in the gaming industry - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and TechCrunch

Airlines’ rough 2022 is continuing, with carriers canceling some 5,000 more flights over the weekend due to a bad mix of Omicron and nasty winter weather - NYTimes and WSJ

John Oliver has some problems with “The DaVinci Code,” 19 years after its debut.  He’s not wrong - LastWeekTonight

Stay safe, and get boosted,

MDR

The Robins Kaplan Financial Daily Dose features top stories and latest news headlines in financial markets, banking, securities and technology topics.