Markets Rebound on Wild Monday, Confirming Volatility’s Hold

Markets pulled themselves back from the brink of a truly devastating Monday of trading to end the day, but their one-day fall of 3-4% yesterday suggests that the volatility that’s marked the first three weeks of 2022 may be here for a while - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

Even if the S&P 500 avoided closing in correction territory today, “dozens of tech stocks” are already firmly living in bear world, having dropped “more than 20 percent from their 52-week highs” - NYTimes and Bloomberg

And not making things easier on anyone: the Omicron variant, which—even as its wave crests in parts of the country—has led to economic disruptions, further supply chain issues, and labor shortages that only reinforce the current period of volatility - NYTimes and WSJ and Marketplace

A small collection of state AGs has accused Google in a Monday-filed lawsuit of misleading consumers by “continuing to track location information of users who had changed privacy settings to prevent the data collection. The suit also accused the search giant of pressuring “users to enable more location tracking, for example by claiming products would not function properly if the location services setting was disabled when in fact it was not needed to use the app” - NYTimes and WSJ and TechCrunch

So about that Facebook-promised free internet . . . . Those monthly charges are definitely tech glitches and not an old fashioned bait-and-switch, right Zuck? - WSJ

Activist investors, which have not made headlines in recent months, appear to be done biding their time, as the week kicked off with reports of activist stakes in Unilever, Peloton, and Kohl’s. Let the dance begin again - NYTimes and WSJ

After drawing serious market backlash, Nvidia is reportedly “preparing to abandon its purchase of Arm Ltd from SoftBank” as part of a proposed $40 billion deal announced back in September 2020. The FTC sued to stop the deal over antitrust concerns in December, and Chinese authorities had also expressed reservations. SoftBank will likely try to spin off Arm through an IPO in the coming months - Bloomberg

The Journal fills us in on the behind-the-scenes drama between Apollo co-founders Leon Black and Josh Harris that’s bubbled into a very public spat, with Black accusing Harris “of plotting his removal from Apollo in an act of revenge for being passed over to succeed Mr. Black as chief executive officer” - WSJ and Bloomberg

Troubled airplane maker Boeing, in hopes that its bets on other air-adjacent companies can help make up for its own dismal performance of late, graced self-flying electric air taxi startup Wisk Aero with an “additional $450 million investment”  - NYTimes and WSJ

The New Yorker on Ford’s audacious bid to chase down Tesla’s stranglehold on the EV market through its F-150 Lightning offering, which hits the roads this spring after spurring 200,000 deposits from would-be buyers - NewYorker

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.