📈 UP UP UP

Wall Street was on a tear again Thursday, with tech stocks leading the charge. The Nasdaq scored the biggest gains of the day, rising 2.5%. Both the Dow and S&P 500 notched new record highs.

The sun was out, the stimulus was signed, and investors had a spring in their step, which is pretty much their default state lately. Despite some recent turbulence, Wall Street’s been flying high for the past year...

FLASHBACK
That’s thanks largely to the Federal Reserve, which staged an unprecedented intervention a year ago when the economy and the financial markets were in chaos.

To keep the system from bottoming out, the Fed gave the big banks get out of jail free cards — essentially telling them they wouldn't be penalized for bulking up on ultra-safe US Treasuries and taking in a surge of deposits. A year ago this week, we saw the biggest point drop ever for the Dow.

But now, suspense is building about how long those waivers are good for. The rules they circumvent were put in place for reason — specifically to avoid a repeat of the 2008 crisis.

Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren want the Fed to let the exemption lapse as scheduled at the end of March. They fear big banks are using the pandemic as an excuse to weaken the post-2008 crisis rules. On the opposite side you’ve got JPMorgan and Citigroup, which are (surprise!) calling for the Fed to consider making the waiver permanent.

My colleague Matt Egan explains why some are worried about “taper tantrum 2.0."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Academics should be able to critique these companies without repercussion.

—Timnit Gebru, former co-leader of Google's ethical AI team

Gebru said she was fired by Google after criticizing its approach to minority hiring and the biases built into today's artificial intelligence systems. Her ousting made waves in the AI and tech industry, writes CNN Business' Rachel Metz. Read all the details.

👑 WICKER THRONES

Every moment of Oprah's sit-down interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry has been devoured, scrutinized, replayed, analyzed and reanalyzed since it aired in the US Sunday.

The clothes? Flawless. Setting? Heaven.

Even the patio furniture caused a stir. In just a few days, the wicker and acacia Burchett Outdoor Club Chairs the trio sat in were completely sold out online.

It’s like Bernie’s mittens all over again.

The woven thrones upon which the Duke and Duchess sat as they lobbed verbal grenades at Buckingham Palace retail for $554 per set. No one was more surprised by the run on the chairs than the company that makes them.

"The furniture has grown beyond set dressing and become part of the story," said a spokesperson for Christopher Knight Brands. “Though we are grateful for the notoriety … we remain surprised."

In a fun twist, Christopher Knight Brands is the furniture company owned by Christopher Knight, the actor who played middle brother Peter Brady in "The Brady Bunch.”

(Hmm… A large white family held up as a model of idealized, outdated social conventions. A spectacle of unity clinging to relevance in an era of postcolonial revolution. Tune in next week for my TED Talk, Tudor and Brady: Houses in Crisis.)

NUMBER OF THE DAY

$69.3 million

This digital artwork known as a Non-Fungible Token, or NFT, became the first of its kind to be sold at a major auction house. The bidding for “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” — a collage of 5,000 images that took 13 years to make and exists as a jpg file — began at just $100 and closed at $69,346,250 during an online auction by Christie's on Thursday.

The record-breaking sale catapults the creator, Mike Winkelmann, who goes by Beeple, into the ranks of the most expensive living artists, just below David Hockney and Jeff Koons. (Photo credit: Beeple/Christies)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

🚨Netflix, just chill? The streaming giant is testing a new feature that could help it crack down on password sharing. (More like Narc-flix amirite?)

🌎Maps update: Google Maps rolled out several new features Thursday, including one that lets you draw in missing roads, rename streets or delete incorrect roads. (What could go wrong?)

🎧RIP Ikea catalog: The Swedish retailer is transforming its annual bible-sized catalog into a nearly four-hour podcast. (Finally, I'll learn how to pronounce product names like FLÄRDFULL and YTTERLIG.)

💰Rich people: Legendary investor Warren Buffett is now worth $100 billion thanks to Berkshire Hathaway shares surging 15% so far this year. (Yay capitalism, I guess.)