Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the largest owner of local television stations in the United States, has asked its executive staff to contribute to the broadcasting giant's political action committee in order to support the conglomerate's push for deregulation in local media markets, per The Washington Post. Sinclair's executive staff includes the company's news directors at local stations — who hold important editorial roles.
Why it matters: As The Post writes, "[E]ncouraging the news directors of its many stations to contribute to its political effort, in the view of some experts, breaches a long-standing ethical obligation among journalists."
"For 15 months [after] the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, ... the stock market was a smooth, one-way trade: up 34%, with nary a significant pullback ... That beautiful ride is now over," Barron's writes in its cover story.
Why it matters: "A fast and vertiginous drop in February points to a material change in investor psychology, to cautious from enthusiastic."
If you own stocks, anywhere in the world, there’s a good chance that the markets’ wild ride this week upset your stomach. But, worried as you were, you probably felt some confidence that the U.S. and European economies are relatively stable, that governments in those places know what they're doing and are relatively transparent about it, and that markets would recover.
The big picture: Now consider a day in the (not-so-distant) future when a market meltdown begins not on Wall Street but in China. Imagine further that when that day comes, China is the largest economy on earth (by some measures, it already is). Will you be as confident in China’s leadership and markets are you are in the U.S. and Europe’s?
Cardlytics, an Atlanta-based marketing software company that scours personal transaction data to insert ads into online banking platforms, today raised just over $70 million in its IPO.
Why it matters: Several other companies pulled IPOs this week, due to market volatility.
There's been some speculation that the past week's stock market decline has been caused, at least in part, by worries over a government shutdown (which ultimately lasted about eight hours).
Bottom line: There is no compelling historical evidence that the markets react positively or negatively to government shutdowns. During the 18 government shutdowns since 1976 that included trading days, the markets went lower for nine and higher for nine — with an average S&P 500 change of just 0.5%.
Rob Porter's ex-wife, Jennifer Willoughby, appeared on CNN last night and NBC News' "Today" this morning to speak out against the former White House staff secretary's abusive behavior during their marriage. Porter's first ex-wife, Colbie Holderness, has yet to give a television interview, but has described her allegations to the Daily Mail and CNN.
"Nearly all the social media and online advertising companies posted strong fourth quarter earnings in the last week," writesThe Information's Tom Dotan.
Why it matters: "It raises the likelihood that the reason for the tough quarter for publishers was that Twitter and Snap sucked up much of the remaining oxygen that Facebook and Google hadn’t already consumed."
"Tech workers in Austin saw the sharpest salary increases, making 7 percent more on average last year than they did the year before, according to ... Hired, a job search marketplace," Recode reports.
The bottom line: "[W]ith cost of living adjustments, Austin tech workers made the most at $202,000 per year, followed by Los Angeles and Seattle, both at $182,000."
