The markets: All the major U.S. stock indexes declined yesterday. The S&P 500 is down nearly 3% over the last 30 days. Asian, European and UK stocks were down in early trading as markets digested the affect of rising energy prices now that Ukraine is cutting the supply of Russian gas to Europe. But U.S. stock futures drifted up before the opening bell.
Today: The FBI says there is no link between the attacks in Las Vegas and New Orleans, but there are a few coincidences that authorities will be trying to figure out. Both men used the Turo app to obtain vehicles used in the attacks. Both previously served in the Army, at the same base. Both served in Afghanistan. And, of course, both conducted their attacks on the same day. Security at CES in Las Vegas will be tighter than normal this year.
Europe takes the lead in tech policy, again
Good morning. In two weeks, any company that provides financial services in the European Union or serves EU companies in that sector will have to comply with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). Think of it as a stress test to measure a company’s cybersecurity and operational infrastructure to reduce the risk of one incident causing a systemic failure. Much like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that passed in Europe several years ago, the new legislation could become the de facto standard for companies elsewhere. That’s food for thought at a time when federal regulation in the U.S. is likely to be scaled back under the Trump Administration, and protectionist policies could increase.
I’ve been speaking about the implications of this potential regulatory divergence with leaders like Andrew Rubin, the CEO of Illumio, a security company based in California. As he notes, “prior to GDPR, everybody collected any data they wanted about you, used it for anything, sold it to anyone and let anybody access it … Now, everybody has essentially adopted [the same] set of rules and regulations around privacy.”
Regulation has the potential to do as much harm as good. But in an era where no company is safe from hostile nation-state actors, terrorists, thieves and other hackers, it’s worth noting that Europe is once again pursuing a strategy to become the global standard in tech regulation. Recent additions include the Digital Markets Act and the EU A.I. Act.
For leaders like FIS CEO Stephanie Ferris, whom I highlighted yesterday, that’s not ideal. “We’re ceding rules and regulations to the European Union and letting them take the lead,” says Ferris. “Most people would like to see regulation just applied logically and not irrationally.”
Illumio’s Rubin, meanwhile, is heartened by the focus of the new EU act. “The fact that Europe went down the road of looking at operational resilience instead of cybersecurity in itself tells you that they're leaning in the right direction,” he says. “We are pivoting to a world where we've decided that the core strategy for cyber security is zero trust … and recovery.”
Also on the radar:
Three years on, the FBI has no idea who the mysterious pipe bomber was who set explosives near Democratic Party offices prior to the January 6 insurrection. Investigators released a new video estimating the suspect’s height.
Bitcoin: There are two major proposals in front of The Trump Administration to make the federal government a buyer or semipermanent holder of a very large amount of bitcoin.
South Korea’s impeached president successfully evaded arrest, again. Investigators — who have a legal warrant — failed to apprehend president Yoon Suk Yeol in day 4 of an extraordinary standoff at the presidential palace.
US Steel: President Biden is expected to announce today that he will block the $14 billion proposed takeover by Japan’s Nippon Steel, on national security grounds.
Allstate CEO Tom Wilson appeared in a video following the Vegas and New Orleans attacks calling for unity. “We also need to be stronger together by overcoming an addiction to divisiveness and negativity,” he said. The statement immediately drew fire on social media.
From the analysts:
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Goldman Sachs’ Samantha Dart says Ukraine cutting off Russian gas will be less impactful than people think: “The main tightening driver of NW European gas fundamentals this winter is in our view colder-than-average weather currently forecast for the next two weeks, aided by low wind power and Norwegian production outages observed in December,” according to a note seen by Fortune.
- Wells Fargo’s Colin M. Langan and team were unimpressed by Tesla’s recent sales numbers: “TSLA failed to meet FY consensus of 1.8M deliveries. The stock likely trades down given the volume decline despite financing promos,” according to a note seen by Fortune.
More news below.
Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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