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The World
Americans are borrowing again, in some cases at levels not seen in more than a decade. Consumer demand for auto loans and leases, general-purpose credit cards and personal loans was up 39% in April compared with the same period last year, according to credit-reporting firm Equifax. It was also up 11% compared with April 2019, according to Equifax, which measured how often lenders checked consumers’ credit reports to make loan decisions. Lenders are meeting the moment. Equifax said lenders extended a record number of auto loans and leases in March, the latest month for which data are available. They also bumped up credit-card originations, issuing more general-purpose credit cards than any other March on record. (Wall Street Journal)
The Biden administration is set as early as today to add more than 10 Chinese companies to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang. The U.S. Commerce Department action will follow its announcement last month adding five other companies and other Chinese entities to the blacklist. (Reuters)
U.S. signals it’s still not ready to cross Beijing’s red lines over Taiwan: Recent comments by senior White House official Kurt Campbell restating US opposition to independence show the limits of Washington’s support for the island. Beijing has repeatedly insisted such a move would mean war and Xi Jinping recently vowed to crush any attempts to stop reunification. (South China Morning Post)
A powerful agency that China’s President Xi Jinping set up to police the internet is taking on a new role: regulating U.S.-listed Chinese companies. The Cyberspace Administration of China, which reports to a central leadership group chaired by Xi, is taking a lead role in Beijing’s just-announced push to strengthen interagency oversight of companies listed overseas. For future overseas stock sales, the cyber watchdog could conceivably block a plan that is seen as threatening Chinese security. It also highlights Xi’s escalating effort to control the private corporate sector—especially technology firms with reams of valuable data. (Wall Street Journal)
Pfizer will seek U.S. authorization for a third dose of its Covid-19 vaccine, saying that another shot within 12 months could dramatically boost immunity and maybe help ward off the latest worrisome coronavirus mutant. Pfizer’s Dr. Mikael Dolsten said that early data from the company’s booster study suggests people’s antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose, compared to their second dose months earlier. (STAT News)
The Tokyo Olympics will be held without spectators at venues in the capital and three surrounding prefectures, the organizing committee decided, as the city enters a fourth state of emergency after a surge in COVID-19 infections. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City impose COVID lockdowns: Many flights suspended, and Vietnam tells public to stay home. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Vaccinated Britons rush to book quarantine-free holidays in amber list countries: Airlines reported a five-fold rise in bookings for foreign travel yesterday after the government approved quarantine-free holidays in amber countries in ten days’ time. (The Times)
99.2% of U.S. Covid deaths in June were unvaccinated, says Fauci. (The Guardian)
COVID-19 infections are rising again in parts of Illinois; Minnesota COVID-19 vaccination incentives fall short. (Chicago Tribune, StarTribune)
President Biden vigorously defended his decision to end America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, asserting that the U.S. can no longer afford the human cost or strategic distraction of a conflict that he said had strayed far from its initial mission. “Let me ask those who want us to stay: How many more?” Biden said. “How many thousands more American daughters and sons are you willing to risk?” (New York Times)
China a ‘welcome friend’ for reconstruction in Afghanistan: Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen says the group welcomes Chinese investments in reconstruction and would guarantee the safety of investors and workers. The US withdrawal from Afghanistan has emboldened the Taliban and there are growing concerns about the Kabul government’s ability to stay in power. (South China Morning Post)
America leaves Afghanistan on the brink of collapse. Afghan troops are tottering as the Taliban come roaring back. (The Economist)
The political storm in Haiti intensified as two competing prime ministers claimed the right to run the country, setting up an extraordinary power struggle over who had the legal authority to govern after the brazen assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in his home the day before. Haiti’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, says he has taken command of the police and the army, declaring a “state of siege” that essentially put the country under martial law. But constitutional experts questioned his right to impose it, and his claim to power was quickly challenged by a rival. (New York Times)
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Jordanian King Abdullah II met in secret last week at the crown palace in Amman, in the first summit between the countries’ leaders in over three years. Bennett, who took office less than a month ago, traveled to meet Abdullah last Tuesday, a day after he spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi. (Times of Israel)
The FDA, under heavy criticism over its decision last month to approve Biogen's Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm, has revised the medicine's prescribing information in an effort to focus treatment on the type of patients included in clinical testing. The June 7 approval of Aduhelm was made more controversial by the agency's decision to clear the drug for broad use, even though Biogen's studies only enrolled patients with mild Alzheimer's. The new labeling more closely matches those criteria, instructing doctors to treat patients with "mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia." (Healthcare Dive)
Coal supplied 23% of U.S. electricity production from the start of the year through mid-June, up from 17% in the same period of 2020. (Wall Street Journal)
Goldman Sachs PAC is still not giving out political donations. They reported no expenditures in June. The finance giant paused its contributions after the Jan. 6 attacks. (Punchbowl News)
Toyota said it would halt donations to Republicans who tried to overturn Biden’s election victory after a weeks-long public pressure campaign forced the carmaker to perform an abrupt U-turn. (Financial Times)
Western U.S. readies for scorching heat this weekend: Temperatures in the West are likely to be up to 25 degrees above average for this time of year. “This is a clear and present danger,” said Michael Wehner, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (Washington Post)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked people and businesses to voluntarily cut their water use by 15% amid a devastating drought. Meanwhile, the death toll from the record-breaking heatwave last week has risen to nearly 200, with health authorities reporting 116 deaths in Oregon and 78 in Washington state. (Los Angeles Times, The Guardian)
‘Heat dome’ probably killed 1bn marine animals on Canada coast, experts say. (The Guardian)
Economy
Stock markets dropped on rising concerns about prospects for the global economy, following days of sharp moves in government bonds that hinted at slower growth and inflation than previously expected. Equities fell first in Asia before the negative mood spread into Europe and then to Wall Street — a move analysts blamed on expectations that US economic growth is about to peak at the same time as signs emerge of a slowdown in China. (Financial Times)
Sens. Bill Hagerty and Chris Van Hollen called on the SEC to investigate whether Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-sharing company, misled American investors ahead of its IPO last week. The senators, who sit on the Senate banking committee, said they wanted the SEC to examine whether Didi was forthcoming enough about its contact with Chinese regulators prior to the listing of its shares. (Financial Times)
Ireland, the European base of many tech giants due to its 12.5% corporate tax rate, is fighting the new 15% global minimum tax rate agreed by 130 countries. At stake is Ireland’s low official corporate tax rate and a tax regime that helps global companies based there avoid paying taxes to other countries where they make profits, a setup that has put billions of euros into Ireland’s tax coffers and created hundreds of thousands of jobs. “Ireland is very much a tax haven operating in Europe, so it makes sense that Ireland will resist this as hard as they can,” said Alex Cobham, the chief executive of the Tax Justice Network. (New York Times)
Private-equity fundraising surged to $459 billion in 1H21, he highest sum for the period in at least the past five years and a 51% over last year. (Wall Street Journal)
Private equity emerges from pandemic in bullish mood: 97% of private equity professionals expect returns to exceed (67%) or match (31%) those achieved in 2020. This is especially true of smaller funds: 70% of those managing funds smaller than GBP1 billion expect to improve on last year’s performance, compared to 55% of those managing funds larger than GBP1 billion. The research finds that appetite for ‘bolt-on’ investments is high: 79% are intending to do so, indicating that GPs are seeing value in the market and are keen to take advantage. They expect bank loans/leverage (36%) and LP co-investments (25%) to be the two main sources of finance for these investments. (Private Equity Wire)
Dropbox is reopening its offices — but they’re not offices anymore. The newly "virtual first" company is doing away with desks and walls, and building more cafes and conference rooms. The spaces be used for many things: team meetings, group hangs, impromptu concerts, all-hands meetings and quarterly strategy sessions. But do not, under any circumstances, call them "offices." (Protocol)
Anger grows among some Google staff about “hypocritical” remote work decisions and transfers as senior exec Urs Hölzle announces plans to work from New Zealand. (CNET)
Internal memo shows Microsoft is giving a $1,500 pandemic bonus to all eligible employees in the US and internationally. (The Verge)
Technology
Australia's Federal Court reverses earlier ruling and allows Epic's antitrust case against Apple's App Store to proceed; Apple says it will appeal the judgment. (Australian Financial Review)
Grocery delivery app Instacart announced it has hired the head of Facebook’s app, Fidji Simo, as its new CEO, setting her up to be the first outsider to lead the start-up last valued at $39 billion. Simo, 35, and originally from France, is among the highest-ranking female executives at Facebook after COO Sheryl Sandberg and Chief Business Officer Marne Levine. (CNBC)
Podcasting trends from the Second Annual Stitcher Report: (Stitcher)
Times have certainly changed: Pre-pandemic, top listening hours aligned with peak commuting times, which have been replaced by a shift to lunchtime/early afternoon (11 a.m. — 2 p.m.). Similarly, household chores and gardening have replaced commuting as the primary activity that listeners do while listening to podcasts.
Generational favorites: Based on user “favorite” activity, younger generations gravitated to comedy and talk content (age 13–34), while news and politics did better with older generations (age 35+)
Celebrities turned to podcasting for connection when film production shut down: 22 of the top 200 podcasts in 2020 were hosted by celebrities, most notably Rob Lowe, Jason Bateman, and Zac Braff
In another blockbuster streaming deal with a major movie studio, Amazon’s Prime Video and IMDb TV have closed a licensing agreement with Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. Under the pact, Prime Video will have an exclusive pay-one window for Universal’s slate of live-action films in the U.S. starting with the studio’s 2022 theatrical release slate. This marks Prime Video‘s first exclusive U.S. pay rights deal with a major movie studio. (Deadline)
Steve Wozniak (in a Cameo!) said he's in favor of right-to-repair laws, even though Apple has been fighting them for years: "I believe that companies inhibit it because it gives the companies power, control over everything ... in a lot of people's minds power over others equates to money and profits. Hey: is it your computer, or is it some company's computer?" (Protocol)
Smart Links
Saudi Arabia funds new digital news platform in U.S., launches White House lobbying effort. (CNBC)
Square to make a hardware wallet for bitcoin. (The Verge)
NFL, Twitter expand partnership to include 20-plus Twitter Spaces live-audio chats next season. (Variety)
Telehealth use falls nationally for third month in a row. (Healthcare Dive)
USA Today launches subscription requirements to read its website. (USA Today)
Gig workers are prepping for a $100+ million battle against Uber, Lyft and DoorDash. (Protocol)