The World
As Congress and the Trump administration remain deadlocked, 70% of Americans support an additional stimulus payment to all qualified adults. Meanwhile, U.S. workers' worries about setbacks to their employment have spiked: 27% now say they are worried they will be laid off from their jobs, up from 15% a year ago. (Franklin Templeton/Gallup, Gallup)
China demanded that India withdraw “illegally trespassing” troops, as the foreign ministry says Chinese border soldiers have never crossed the line of actual control that separates the two sides along the disputed border. In Texas, 15 Chinese researchers must leave the country after the University of North Texas cut ties with the Chinese Scholarship Council that funds them. The U.S. said it’s weighing more restrictions on Chinese students in the “coming weeks and months.” Separately, China is expected to at least double its nuclear warheads over the next decade from the low 200s now and is nearing the ability to launch nuclear strikes by land, air and sea. (Caixin Global, Denton Record-Chronicle, South China Morning News, Reuters)
How would Biden’s trade policy on China differ from Trump’s? Americans feel more negative about China than ever before, yet healthy trade ties with the world’s No 2 economy remain surprisingly popular among U.S. voters. Biden faces challenge in differentiating his China trade policy from Trump’s, with ex-White House aides expecting tactical changes rather than an overhaul. (South China Morning Post)
The Kremlin’s international television outlet RT sent dozens of reporters and cameramen to Minsk to fill roles at Belarusian state media after many staff and leading presenters resigned in protest. In the Middle East, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman carried out another purge of his cousins, this time sacking a senior military officer and his son. (The Times-1, The Times-2)
August was the deadliest month of the pandemic in California, even as the state makes steady progress. At least 3,707 deaths connected to COVID-19 were reported in August, an 18% increase over July. Germany’s health minister was jeered, spat at and targeted by homophobic abuse as the countrywide protests of a vocal minority of people against restrictions has taken on an increasingly aggressive tone. (Los Angeles Times, The Guardian)
New York City is delaying sending students back to classrooms by 11 days to give teachers more time to prepare. (AP)
Alabama football coach Nick Saban marched against social injustices and police brutality with dozens of football players along his side through the university. LSU football players did the same last Friday. The University of South Carolina football program, led by head coach Will Muschamp, decided to cancel all football operations for yesterday to focus on an on-campus demonstration for racial justice. (Axios, LSU Reveille, Daily Gamecock)
Economy
The U.S. dollar came under renewed pressure as the euro briefly topped $1.20. The U.S. currency has tumbled more than 10% since it hit high during the market tumult in March. U.S. manufacturing activity accelerated to a nearly two-year high in August aided by a surge in new orders, but employment at factories continued to lag. China’s manufacturing activity expanded in August at the fastest pace in nearly a decade, the Caixin/Markit survey shows. ((Financial Times, Reuters, CNBC, Caixin Global)
U.S. property insurers have won a flurry of judicial rulings backing up rejections of claims for businesses’ lost income during government-ordered shutdowns, dimming policyholders’ hopes of payments. In recent weeks, insurers have won more rulings than policyholders as the courts begin to work through more than 1,000 Covid-19 business-interruption coverage disputes. (Wall Street Journal)
Mutual funds managed by women are outperforming those managed by men this year as higher relative exposure to technology names drives performance, according to new research from Goldman Sachs. The firm found that 43% of women-managed funds — as defined by those with at least one third of portfolio manager positions held by women — have outperformed their benchmark this year, compared with just 41% of those managed by men. Adjusting for volatility, the median fund with all women portfolio managers has returned more than double that of the typical all-male managed fund. (CNBC)
On concentration screens in horizontal merger review: Concentration measures such as the post-merger Herfindahl-Hirschman index as well as the merger-induced change in the index are usually key determinants in the review of horizontal mergers by competition agencies and courts. This column studies whether the magnitude of the efficiencies required for a merger not to hurt consumers may be related to the change and the level of the Herfindahl-Hirschman index. On the basis of theoretical analysis substantiated by empirical evidence, it finds that while the critical level of efficiencies depends on the change in the index, it is independent of level of the index. Hence current guidelines should be changed so as to emphasise the change more and the level less. (VOXeu.org)
Technology
Apple and Google announced that future versions of the iOS and Android operating systems will include the companies’ Covid-19 notification system that previously required users to install an app. (CNBC)
Podcast advertising is “surging back,” as the number of U.S. podcast advertisers increased +18% from January to June 2020. Meanwhile, Edison Research reports that we’re listening to podcasts for an extra half-hour a week. (PodNews, Edison Research)
Nielsen will include out-of-home (OOH) ratings for television with its linear TV ratings for the fall TV season beginning today. The changes could help boost TV network viewership numbers substantially for sports and other types of programming typically viewed outside of the home — including bars, restaurants and workplaces. (Axios)
Amazon was certified by the the FAA to operate as a drone airline, designating Amazon Prime Air an “air carrier” and allowing Amazon to begin its first commercial deliveries in the U.S. under a trial program. (Bloomberg)
Zoom raised its full-year outlook for a second time during the pandemic, cementing its position as one of the biggest corporate winners from the shift to working from home and remote schooling. (Wall Street Journal)
Facebook users in Australia could lose their ability to share news on the social network, the company is warning. The threat results from a proposed law from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that would require Facebook and other tech companies to pay publishers for their content. Facebook maintains that news content “is not a significant source of revenue” and that such a law “ignores the financial value we bring publishers.” (Engadget)
Smart Links
Apple's $2tn-plus value overtakes the entire FTSE 100. (The Guardian)
NFL assumes oversight of investigation into Washington Football Team workplace. (Washington Post)
L.L. Bean CEO says demand for snow shoes, sleds already spiking. (CNBC)
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative backs Indian education startup Eruditus in $113 million fundraise. (TechCrunch)
What do political databases know about you? (MIT Technology Review)
The birth of the USPS and the politics of postal reform. (MIT Press)
Will a Covid-19 vaccine change the future of medical research? (Freakonomics)