U.S. Stocks Deepen Losses

Catch Up Quick

• Foreign direct investment between the U.S. and China fell to a ~9 year low

• Nikola founder Trevor Milton has stepped down as executive chairman

• Deutsche Bank & JPMorgan shares drop amid reports of moving suspicious funds

• Wall Street forecasts show sustained economic growth through 2021 and beyond

• A majority of college students say returning to campus was a bad decision (Axios)

• ByteDance says it will own 80% of TikTok Global, the U.S. based TikTok company

• U.S. stock indexes closed lower for the third straight week last week

• Total Americans receiving unemployment benefits is still nearly 30M

• Microsoft is set to acquire Bethesda parent ZeniMax for $7.5B

• Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87

Monday Insight

• The Trump administration is scheduled to sell $7B in weapons to Taiwan— this is yet another recent demonstration of the U.S. opting to utilize hard power in an effort to oppose China and its growing global presence, which, along with the trade war and Tik Tok drama, is something that investors ought to keep an eye on

Thought of the Day

• As many compare current technology valuations to those of the dot-com bubble era, Facebook ($FB) in particular faces a plethora of material risks

• Not only did Kim Karashian (alongside other notable celebrities) vow to freeze her Instagram account to protest the alleged spread of hate, but the Facebook subsidiary is also being sued for spying on users through their iPhone cameras

• Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission is gearing up to file an official antitrust lawsuit against Facebook by year-end with aims to formally challenge the company’s dominant position in social media

• While previously positioned as both a pandemic winner from a user engagement perspective and a vital asset in the upcoming presidential election, Zuckerberg’s online empire has a rocky road ahead

The Bottom Line

• As big tech continues to encroach on our everyday lives, it is evident that ethical boundaries will be crossed, as the trade off between technological capability and privacy escalates

• While current legislation is far behind that needed to effectively monitor and control this societal metamorphosis, it’s even more concerning that lacking governmental knowledge on the topic renders it impossible to fix this

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Thanks For Reading :)