What we’re reading (3/9)
“Americans' Inflation Expectations Hit A 7-year High As The Economic Recovery Picked Up, Fed Survey Finds” (Business Insider). “Consumers' median year-ahead inflation expectations rose to 3.1% in February from 3%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Survey of Consumer Expectations — the highest reading since July 2014. The higher expectations come as COVID-19 case counts dive and business activity sharply improves.”
“T-Mobile to Step Up Ad Targeting of Cellphone Customers” (Wall Street Journal). “T-Mobile US Inc. will automatically enroll its phone subscribers in an advertising program informed by their online activity, testing businesses’ appetite for information that other companies have restricted.”
“Why Bill Gates Is Worried About Bitcoin” (DealBook). “‘Bitcoin uses more electricity per transaction than any other method known to mankind,’ Bill Gates told Andrew, adding, ‘It’s not a great climate thing.’ Studies note that the annual carbon emissions from the electricity generated to mine and process the cryptocurrency equal the amount emitted by New Zealand or Argentina.”
“Chamber of Commerce Endorses Gary Gensler To Serve As SEC Chair” (Washington Post). “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business lobbying organization, is throwing its weight behind Gary Gensler, President Biden’s pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs partner who turned into an aggressive financial industry regulator and progressive darling, was expected to win confirmation thanks to his support among Democrats. But the business lobby’s imprimatur could help him draw some Republican support.”
“AT&T Says Rule Barring Selective Disclosures To Analysts Can’t Possibly Be Designed To Bar Selective Disclosures To Analysts” (Dealbreaker). “What information is ‘material’ under securities law involves a very large gray area. Whether or not a publicly-listed company is going to make or miss earnings estimates, however, seems pretty clearly in the black: It is, after all, the kind of thing investors look out for on a quarterly basis, and one that usually has some impact on the price of a company’s stock. And, five years ago, AT&T was very much about to miss, and for the third time in a row. That the company considered this material seems clear from the fact that it felt the need to do something to prevent it. That something was not find an extra $76 million in revenue and quick, but to call all of the analysts covering AT&T and to tell them the not-yet-public information that their earnings estimates were too damned high.”
