The Upshot helps us understand exactly what’s been going on with the markets this week and what a late-bull-market reality means for the US (and global) economy – NYTimes [and Marketplace and Bloomberg]
Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has disclosed that its computer system was compromised “at least seven months ago, exposing the personal data and travel histories of as many as 9.4 million people.” The carrier has not revealed whether it has information about who was responsible for the hack or why it took so long to announce the breach – NYTimes and Law360
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital has announced a new 3.7% stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings, a return to the well after Ackman previously built and sold a stake in Hilton for a tidy profit in 2016-17. Pershing Square will reveal more about its intentions for Hilton in its Q3 investor letter and call – WSJ
The Times is out with an uncomfortable report on employment practices at Google that led executives accused of sexual misconduct either remaining at the company or being shown the door with millions of dollars to “soften the blow” on their way out. Among the most notable examples is “father of the Android,” Andy Rubin, who received a $90 million exit package and silence from the company on the circumstances surrounding his departure – NYTimes and Bloomberg
Meanwhile, the Journal pulls back the curtain at Netflix, a company whose embrace “radical candor and transparency” can, at its worst, “be ruthless, demoralizing and transparent to the point of dysfunctional.” Oh yeah, and on top of all of that, its number of subscribers has quadrupled in 5 years and its stock price is up more than 20-fold – WSJ
Former CFPB student loan ombudsman Seth Frotman is out with some new thoughts on the student loan debt crisis, calling it a problem “built on policy makers’ choices” a decrying the minimizing of the “consequences of America’s $1.5 trillion in student debt” and the associated “average folks’ struggle” – MarketWatch
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors has sued the OCC in D.C. federal court in an effort to halt the agency’s plans to issue “so-called fintech charters.” The Conference considers such plans “an unconstitutional attempt by the OCC to muscle in on regulatory territory belonging to states” – Law360
Newly revealed information shows that the Obama-era OCC secretly punished JPMorgan for violating banking rules (think London Whale Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, among other things) by preventing the bank from opening branches in new states – Bloomberg
The Council of Institutional Investors, a major investor group representing pension funds, endowments, and other large investors, has petitioned the NYSE and Nasdaq to require issuers to phase out “so-called dual-class share structures, which grant outsize voting power to company founders” within 7 years of IPOs, arguing that “unequal voting systems deprive shareholders of a say in corporate affairs” – Law360
ECB chief Mario Draghi had some basic advice for his fellow Italians on Thursday: “reduce the tone,” and try to avoid policies that will push up borrowing costs for a change – Bloomberg
Finnish telecom powerhouse Nokia is “starting to benefit from the shift to 5G technology,” and hopes to ride that wave back into mobile relevance, but it plans to cut thousands of jobs as part of major restructuring program to help get there – WSJ
Here’s a fascinating look at what the Met is doing to ensure that its collection–in all of its various forms—can reach an audience far beyond its New York walls – Mashable
Have a great weekend.
