My Two-for-Tuesday morning train WFH reads:
• From Apple to Visa, the business world is imposing its own sanctions on Russia: Most private companies aren’t legally bound to exit Russia, but the PR is terrible if they stay. (Los Angeles Times) see also How are the Big Sanctions hurting Russia so far? Let’s take a look at the two most important areas that Russia will feel the pain: Consumer lifestyles and defense manufacturing. (Noahpinion)
• War in the time of crypto In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which side is crypto helping? Both. (Vox)
• There’s Blood in the Streets Tech stocks are getting vaporized. Amazon fell 5.6% today, wiping out all the gains going back to July 2020. Netflix and Facebook are trading at the same level they were at in 2018. The three strongest names in the group, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, are finally losing their bids. All are in correction territory. (Irrelevant Investor) see also Investors Started Dialing Down Expectations Long Before Ukraine The Russian invasion intensifies fears of slowing growth and rising inflation. (Businessweek)
• Realtors to conservatives living in liberal areas: Try Idaho To capitalize on that trend, a growing number of real estate companies are advertising themselves to people on the right, saying they can take them out of liberal bastions like Seattle and San Francisco and find them homes in places like rural Idaho. (AP)
• The Coder Supply Chain Runs Through Ukraine Big tech (Apple and Google), big banks (Citi and JPMorgan) and carmakers (Daimler and BMW) all rely on Ukrainian code.(Bloomberg) see also Ukraine’s Tech Workers Log Off, Take Shelter Companies that depend on the country’s tech workforce struggle to keep communication lines open (Wall Street Journal)
• Overcharge Car Buyers Now, and the Industry Will Pay Later Automakers finally have pricing power. As Rivian discovered, that doesn’t mean they should use it. (Bloomberg)
• Why the Chinese Internet Is Cheering Russia’s Invasion As the world overwhelmingly condemns the assault on Ukraine, online opinion in China is mostly pro-Russia, pro-war and pro-Putin. (New York Times) but see As Russia’s isolation grows, China hints at limits of friendship Chinese state-owned financial institutions have been quietly distancing themselves from Russia’s beleaguered economy. (Al Jazeera)
• The Second Tragedy of Sandy Hook: A new book tells the story of the hoaxers who tortured the parents of victims—and the court battle that brought down their ringleader, Alex Jones. (Slate)
• TikTok is Russia’s newest weapon in arsenal for anti-Ukraine propaganda Across the internet, there’s been a rapid uptick in suspicious accounts spreading anti-Ukrainian content, according to a report from Cyabra, an Israeli tech company that works to detect disinformation. (USA Today) see also To discuss Ukraine, many head to TikTok People are watching the events in Ukraine unfold on TikTok. (The Hustle)
• Putin’s Hollywood pals – the stars who snuggled up to the Russian dictator: From Leonardo DiCaprio to Steven Seagal, Tinseltown’s biggest names were once happy to hang out with the invading president. Are they all now cringing? Not entirely. (The Guardian)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with David Kotok, who co-founded Cumberland Advisors in 1973. The firm manages $4 billion in assets. Kotok is Program Chairman of the Global Interdependence Center (GIC), and was on the Treasury Transition Teams for New Jersey Governors Tom Kean and Christine Whitman, but is probably best known as the creator of Camp Kotok. His recent research includes the Economic Consequences of Pandemics, and What Long Covid Means for Financial Markets.
U.S. Public Sees Russia-Ukraine Conflict as Critical Threat
Source: Gallup
