The World
First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell below 1 million for the first time since March 21, as the San Francisco Fed chief said some jobs may never come back. Meanwhile, the federal deficit more than tripled in the first 10 months of the fiscal year: The U.S. budget gap totaled $2.8 trillion from October through July, 224% bigger than the $867 billion gap during the same period a year earlier. The government has spent $5.6 trillion so far in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 51% more than a year earlier. (CNBC, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal)
Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic peace deal that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations. Reports indicate that Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank that it has been discussing annexing, while a senior Israeli official says annexation still going ahead, but is just suspended for a little while. (Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel)
Three American B-2 stealth bombers arrived in the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia amid Chinese live-firing naval exercises north of Taiwan, the first time the nuclear-capable strategic bombers arrived there since 2016. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called on “like-minded democracies” like the U.S. to help safeguard their security and urged Beijing to recognize Taiwan as a self-governed democracy. As U.S.-China tensions rise, Mexico has a message for the world's CEOs: Move here instead. In North Korea, satellite images reveal the main nuclear weapons research plant has been hit by the worst flooding for years. (The Times, South China Morning Post, Washington Post, The Times)
China’s military is playing a crucial part in the country’s search for a vaccine. One of the front-running vaccines, made by CanSino Biologics, is already being provided to soldiers in the People’s Liberation Army, even though safety testing is not complete. Efforts to combine civilian expertise and technologies with the military are part of the country’s ‘military–civil fusion’ campaign, which the coronavirus has helped to accelerate. (Financial Times)
India detected a record 67,000 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours — more than any other country in the world. Infections are surging in France, Germany and Spain, with Spain facing the worst coronavirus infection rate in Western Europe. As the U.S. recorded its deadliest day, the U.S. is cutting back on coronavirus testing: The number of tests performed each day is about 17% lower than at the end of July, with testing declining in hard-hit states. The NYT estimates that the true U.S. toll has already surpassed 200,000, as Millennials are feeling cautious again about resuming pre-pandemic activities. (Financial Times, BBC News, Axios, New York Times)
Wind and solar produced a record 10% of global electricity in 1H20 as the world's coal plant fleet ran at less than half its capacity. Despite a near-record drop in power demand due to the pandemic, renewables accounted for 1,129 terawatt-hours in January-June, compared with 992 in the first six months of 2019. (AFP, Axios)
Economy
American Airlines is preparing to scrap flights serving two-dozen medium and small cities as the expiration of federal aid that placed restrictions on carriers from cutting service approaches. Meanwhile, Amazon cut more than 1,200 delivery contract jobs. (CNBC, CNBC-2)
While a “pandemic real estate market” has arrived, millions of American homes could become unsellable – or could be sold at significant losses to their senior-citizen owners – between now and 2040, as baby boomers and members of Generation X will struggle to sell their homes as they become empty nesters and singles. The problem: Millions of millennials and Generation Z-ers may not be able to afford those homes, or may opt for smaller homes in walkable communities instead of distant suburbs. Meanwhile, NYC apartment rents plunged 10% in a July pandemic-fueled exodus. (Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy, Axios, Bloomberg)
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is plotting a new early-stage VC fund and has begun meeting with investors to raise money, following his departure from Initialized Capital, the early-stage investing fund he co-founded. (The Information)
The annual employment survey needs to be retired, argues the director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources. Understanding workplaces remains important, but workers don’t like the surveys and often won’t respond to them. And most companies don’t do anything with the results anyway. Instead, management has access to other data to monitor workplace morale far better and faster than an annual survey. Meanwhile, the age of presenteeism — the fear of leaving your desk — is over, according to PwC, as the shift to working from home has “bashed away presenteeism for ever.” (Wall Street Journal, The Times)
Technology
Apple is readying a series of bundles — including video, music, news, digital fitness classes and more — that will let customers subscribe to several digital services at a lower monthly price as the company seeks more customer loyalty with twist on Amazon Prime. The “Apple One” bundles are planned to launch as early as October alongside the next iPhone line. Meanwhile, Apple is nearing a $2 trillion in market cap. (Bloomberg, Reuters)
Chinese tech giant ByteDance censored content it perceived as critical of the Chinese government on its news aggregator app in Indonesia from 2018 to mid-2020. (Reuters)
Disney’s CEO is scrapping once-sacred businesses, using the Covid-19 crisis to transform Disney much faster than expected, all with an eye toward making the company an online juggernaut that reaches far more people worldwide: He closed more than 20 foreign TV channels, shut down the musical “Frozen,” closed a chain of English-language schools in China, and scaled back a $1 billion resort-technology project that has largely been replaced by a simple mobile-phone app. (Bloomberg)
A new filing shows where Microsoft really makes its money — its bread-and-butter is basic cloud services and server software for businesses — while revealing its M&A spending and adding Netflix, Hulu, Tencent to its list of rivals. (GeekWire)
Smart Links
Business travel is identified as driver of economic growth. (Harvard Kennedy School)
Machine learning can predict market behavior. (Science Daily)
The age of the “Everything Banker” is here: Get ready for odd jobs. (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Digital content is on track to equal half 'Earth's mass' by 2245. (Science Daily)
The state attorney general Google loves to hate. (Politico)
Security gap allows eavesdropping on mobile phone calls. (Science Daily)