The U.S. market is improving, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs. For some perspective, “[t]he economy shed 22.1 million jobs combined in March and April.” So, we have a ways to go before we’ve fully recovered. WSJ and NYTimes and Bloomberg
On that news, equities ticked up with the S&P 500 Index climbing 2.3%; the Bloomberg Dollar Sport Index fell 0.3%; the yield on 10-year Treasuries jumped seven basis point to 0.91%; and West Texas Intermediate crude increased 4.1% to $38.93 a barrel. Bloomberg
Amazon.com Inc. is having an issue providing adequate amounts of sick leave to its employees suffering from COVID-19 or needing to stay home to care for their children or elderly relatives. Bloomberg
Google stated that campaign staffers working for both Trump and Biden’s presidential campaigns “have been targeted with online attacks” by Iran and China.” None seem to have been successful. WSJ
Elon Musk took a shot at Amazon.com Inc.’s founder Jeff Bezos after Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing rejected the submission of a book questioning whether the coronavirus is as deadly as public health experts say. As usual, Mr. Musk delivered his jab using Twitter. “’This is insane @JeffBezos,’ Mr. Musk initially tweeted, criticizing Amazon’s decision. … ‘Time to break up Amazon. Monopolies are wrong!’ Mr. Musk added in an intensifying battle between two business titans who both seek to dominate key markets on Earth and in outer space.” WSJ
A California federal judge has scoffed at Facebook’s proposed $550 million biometric privacy settlement with a class of Illinois users Thursday; the judge may grant preliminary approval, but he has reservations about the amount—a deal that gives users just 1.25% of what they “could be entitled to under the Prairie State’s biometric privacy law.” Law360
Texas’ Fourth Court of Appeals reversed a “$740 million trade secrets theft and fraud judgment for real estate analytics company HouseCanary against rival Amrock, holding flawed jury instructions require a new trial.” Law360
A New York federal judge threatened to call the Trump administration’s top agency lawyers into court if they “drag their feet in a freedom-of-information case claiming the president suppressed free speech at the CDC” as the pandemic set in. Law360
Stamp collecting is back in. Who said millennials couldn’t get off their phones?
