What we’re reading (9/2)
“Google Won’t Be Forced To Sell Chrome After Judge Rules Divestment A ‘Poor Fit’ In Landmark Antitrust Case” (Yahoo! Finance). “Google won't be forced to sell Chrome after a federal district judge ruled divestment a ‘poor fit’ in a landmark antitrust case, but it will have to share data that helped it hold onto its search monopoly. The ruling from District of Columbia judge Amit Mehta sent Google's stock soaring by more than 8% in after-hours trading.”
“Analysis-Investors On Edge As September Reset Exposes Simmering US Market Risks” (Reuters). “Market participants have long fretted over frothy valuations in stocks and corporate bonds, even as signs of a slowing economy piled up this summer. At the same time, an escalating spat between Trump and the Federal Reserve raised concerns that political strong-arming of the U.S. central bank could rattle the U.S. Treasury market, even as markets had appeared to take that in stride in recent weeks. On Tuesday, those simmering anxieties boiled over, reignited by fresh doubts about the legality of Trump's tariffs that emerged over the holiday weekend. That pushed stocks and bonds down, with many in the market anticipating more turbulence ahead of a pivotal jobs report on Friday.”
“Eurozone Inflation Accelerates, Priming Continued Rate Pause By ECB” (Wall Street Journal). “Annual inflation picked up pace a little in the eurozone last month, cementing expectations that the European Central Bank will leave interest rates unchanged for a second-straight meeting next week. Consumer prices rose by 2.1% on year in August across the 20 nations that use the euro, European Union figures showed Tuesday. That marks an increase from the 2.0% rate of annual inflation booked in July. Core inflation, which strips out the more volatile shifts in the prices of energy and food, was unchanged at 2.3% on year last month.”
“Economy ‘On The Brink’ Of Recession By End Of Year, Moody’s Economist Warns” (Newsweek). “But to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, the warning signs—or ‘red indicators’—are showing up in every corner, from housing to employment to consumer prices. In an interview with Newsweek, Zandi said that his monthslong fears of a major economic downturn may soon come to a head, and that the U.S. economy could slip into a recession by the end of 2025.”
“Spin Magazine Sale Collapses After Buyer Doesn’t Wire The Money” (The Hollywood Reporter). “The wire transfer to seal the deal never went through, Spin CEO Jimmy Hutcheson says, a move that confounded the management team at the publisher as the window to close expired. Airtab’s Cunningham acknowledged the deadline for the deal, describing his company’s team as being cautious and needing to ‘confirm a few things’ but that his desire is still to come to terms on closing the sale. Spin staffers were informed of the deal falling through on Tuesday. Hutcheson describes the situation to THR as baffling, given the sign offs of all of the Next Management Partners’ investors on the deal, the monthslong process to closing, that Airtab had initiated the process of an acquisition and that, the exec claims, Airtab showed up to the deal close without sending cash (aside from a legal deposit).”
