The Biden Administration has nominated prominent Google critic Jonathan Kanter to lead the DOJ’s antitrust division. Kanter is “a longtime antitrust lawyer who has represented companies that argue they have been harmed by the conduct of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which dominates internet search and advertising” - WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360 and NYTimes

The Dow bounced back on Tuesday, gaining back a solid chunk of Monday’s losses, while the Nasdaq and S&P500 managed to erase them completely. It appears that enthusiasm about buying the dip helped steady the field after yesterday’s drop - WSJ and MarketWatch

Still, that Jekyll/Hyde look isn’t restricted to markets. The U.S. economy on the whole is experiencing a similar identity crisis, where pay hikes, travel, and GDP growth share headlines with inflation, employment well below pre-pandemic levels, and bond markets that are freaking out - NYTimes

Now that hiring is finally coming back online after this past Covid year, low-wage workers are finding themselves in the unusual position of having options, including a newfound ability to “wait for a better deal.” Here’s how the numbers break down (and no, it’s not all about added unemployment benefits)  - NYTimes

While Netflix membership growth beat expectations, new data suggests that Disney’s streaming efforts are cutting into Netflix’s dominance in that arena, with research showing that the ‘Flix’s share of “worldwide demand interest” falling below 50 percent for the first time in Q2 as content-rich rivals like Disney continue to chip into the industry leader - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

Banking regulators announced this week that they’d collaborate to “modernize rules governing how banks lend hundreds of billions of dollars annually in lower-income communities” and would, in the process, scrap efforts by the last administration to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act - WSJ and Law360

Checking back in with the Tesla/Solar City investor action in Delaware, which saw Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm testify on Monday that the Solar City purchase was not “wired” for approval or “driven by company CEO Elon Musk’s hefty stake in both companies” – Law360

Event-management company Cvent Inc. is finalizing a deal to merge with SPAC company Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. in order to take the company public. The agreement values the PE-owned Cvent at “more than $5 billion including debt” - WSJ

The first of what will be many musings on Fed Chair Powell’s odds of reappointment as his term nears its February terminus. Current thinking: reappointment likely but “not a lock” - WSJ

To be honest, I didn’t really know that the UNESCO people could actually remove a place of its World Heritage site status. But, as Liverpool just proved, a bit too much renewal can have unintended consequences - NYTimes

Stay safe and get vaxxed,
MDR