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The World
The Senate passed a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package with broad bipartisan support, advancing a central piece of President Biden’s economic agenda that would amount to one of the most substantial federal investments in roads, bridges and rail in decades. With 19 Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) joining all 50 Democrats to pass the bill 69 to 30, the legislation sailed through the Senate. The bill will face a more complicated path in the House, where Democrats have yoked the fate of the infrastructure effort to the passage of a broad $3.5 trillion antipoverty and climate effort.(Wall Street Journal)
The power of 10: Inside the ‘unlikely partnership’ that sealed an infrastructure win. (Politico)
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s support among state voters plummeted ahead of his resignation, as his job approval rating fell 16 points after state detailed allegations of sexual misconduct. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will be the first female governor in the state's history, and the first governor from Buffalo since Grover Cleveland became president in 1885. (Morning Consult, New York Times, Buffalo News)
Russian forces are participating in a regular Chinese military exercise for the first time, stoking concerns among western analysts that the two US adversaries are developing joint operational capabilities. Joint Western 2021, a drill in the western region of Ningxia involving more than 10,000 troops, focuses on early warning and reconnaissance, electronic warfare and joint attacks. (Financial Times)
Israelis aged 45+ could start getting COVID booster shots in coming days, as the number of new coronavirus infections surged to the highest levels since February. (Times of Israel, Financial Times)
North Korea did not answer routine calls on inter-Korean hotlines, South Korea said, hours after Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned the South and the U.S. over annual joint military drills set to begin this week. (Reuters)
A European Union official said the Taliban now controls 65% of Afghanistan after a string of gains as foreign forces pull out. (Reuters)
Southeast Asian countries that had widely rolled out Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines are turning away from the shots in favor of Western alternatives as they scramble to contain deadly outbreaks caused by the delta variant. The shift in a region where China vies with the U.S. for influence underscores the limits of Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy. Countries such as Indonesia and Thailand once bet heavily on China’s Sinovac, despite warnings from medical experts, but their health systems have come under intense strain as the delta variant tears through towns and cities. (Washington Post)
China approves mixed-use Covid-19 vaccine trials to start in autumn. U.S. firm Inovio’s DNA vaccine to be combined with Sinovac in bid to achieve a stronger immune response. Sinovac is also reporting an increase in antibody levels after a third booster shot of its vaccine. (South China Morning Post)
China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania in protest against the Baltic nation’s plan to establish a representative office of self-governed Taiwan. The Chinese foreign ministry denounced the decision as “severely undermining China’s sovereignty” and demanded that the Lithuanian government recall its ambassador. (Financial Times)
For the first time in the history of the country’s census-taking, the number of White people in the United States is widely expected to show a decline when the first racial breakdowns from the 2020 Census are reported this week. If the White decline is confirmed by the new data, that benchmark will have come about eight years earlier than previously projected. (Washington Post)
Economy
A clutch of investment banks cut their outlooks for Treasury yields after a rally this summer in the $22tn US government bond market blindsided much of Wall Street. The 10-year Treasury yield — a key reference point for assets around the world — sank to 1.13 per cent earlier in August as the price of the debt increased sharply. The moves came despite the vigorous economic recovery and signs the US central bank was edging closer to ending its crisis-era stimulus programs — factors that typically send yields rising. (Financial Times)
Progressive opposition to Jerome Powell is clouding his chances for a second term as Fed chairman. Members of President Biden’s economic team generally support a second term for Powell, but resistance is growing among progressive Democrats. (Wall Street Journal)
Senators working on the infrastructure bill thought it'd be a good idea to tap the fast-growing crypto industry to help pay for it. But then the crypto world said: Not so fast. The first major battle between crypto and the Washington establishment offered glimpses of the major issues at play — and how crypto can actually fight back. (Source Code)
Venmo to allow credit card holders to automatically buy cryptocurrency with their cash back — with no associated transaction fees. (TechCrunch)
Cryptocurrency exchanges target sport sponsorships: Inter Milan is the latest big tie-up as crypto companies seek to expand their audiences. (Financial Times)
Policy moves in Beijing are hitting Chinese corporate bonds and rippling across global markets through the U.S. and European money managers who loaded up on the securities in recent years. Emerging-markets investors have long been subject to such shocks, but Chinese bonds are now so widely held that swings in their prices are affecting even bond funds that don’t specialize in developing countries. (Wall Street Journal)
China's regulatory shakeup is causing even one of its biggest believers —SoftBank — to take pause."We don't have any doubts about the potential of China but again, new rules are being implemented, so until it gets settled, we want to wait and see," SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told analysts during the company's quarterly earnings presentation. While Chinese investments make up 23% of SoftBank's overall Vision Fund investments so far, only 11% of those made in the last quarter are in China, Son pointed out. (Pro Rata)
British MPs are calling for a ban on China’s Didi Chuxing over data privacy concerns. Lawmakers are concerned Beijing could compel Didi to hand over data under a law that requires Chinese firms to cooperate with state intelligence agencies The backlash is the latest in a number of U-turns and reviews concerning Chinese investments in the UK, including a ban on Huawei from Britain’s 5G roll-out. (South China Morning Post)
Google employees based in the same office before the pandemic could see different changes in pay if they switch to working from home permanently, with long commuters hit harder, according to a company pay calculator seen by Reuters. It is an experiment taking place across Silicon Valley, which often sets trends for other large employers. Facebook and Twitter also cut pay for remote employees who move to less expensive areas, while smaller companies including Reddit and Zillow have shifted to location-agnostic pay models, citing advantages when it comes to hiring, retention and diversity. (Reuters)
The number of available jobs since May has outnumbered Americans looking for work. One factor is a mismatch between where people want to work and which industries are hiring. (Wall Street Journal)
Oil plunged to an 11-week low, extending losses after the worst week since October, as new waves of COVID-19 threatened fuel demand. Futures fell below $66 a barrel in New York, while wilting timespreads showed the market is faltering. (Los Angeles Times)
The job of lead counsel on big-ticket M&A transactions is still overwhelmingly held by men, 30 years after women became roughly half of all law students. UC Davis law professor Afra Afsharipour examined the 100 biggest deals where U.S. companies were acquired for each year from 2014 to 2020. Overall, women served as lead partners on just 10.5% of those deals. That's about half the rate at which women make partner at law firms. (Axios, SSRN)
Technology
Apple plans a modest iPhone update — likely to be called the iPhone 13 line — with a smaller notch, faster refresh rate, and camera upgrades, including ProRes recording and video Portrait mode. This “Cinematic Video” feature is said to be one of three major new camera features coming to this year’s iPhones. The other two are support for ProRes video recording, and new editing options for photographs. (Bloomberg, The Verge)
The cost to place key ads on Amazon’s main marketplace has surged more than a third since the start of the pandemic, a sign of the intense demand among merchants to promote their wares on the platform. But the rapid rise in ad prices also raises the possibility that Amazon may be pricing itself out of the picture for many sellers. Consumer brands and third-party sellers saw the cost per click of sponsored product ads on Amazon average $1.22 in 2Q21, up from 90 cents at the start of the Covid-19 shutdowns. (The Information)
Google will no longer allow ad targeting of children based on their age, gender, or interests as part of a new series of measures designed to protect kids under 18 using its services, the company announced today. Other changes include a new option for anyone under the age of 18 to ask for their images to be removed from Google’s image results, while YouTube uploads from children will also gradually default to the most private setting. (The Verge)
China is overtaking the U.S. in artificial intelligence research, setting off alarm bells on the other side of the Pacific as the world's two largest economies jockey for AI supremacy. In 2020, China topped the U.S. for the first time in terms of the number of times an academic article on AI is cited by others, a measure of the quality of a study. Until recently, the U.S. had been far ahead of other countries in AI research. One reason China is coming on strong in AI is the ample data it generates. By 2030, an estimated 8 billion devices in China will be connected via the Internet of Things -- a vast network of physical objects linked via the internet. These devices, mounted on cars, infrastructure, robots and other instruments, generate a huge amount of data. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Fanatics, an online retailer of licensed sports merchandise, raised $325 million from MLB, Jay-Z, and Roc Nation, among others, at an $18 billion valuation. The financing comes as Fanatics is expanding its focus to include areas like digital products. Candy Digital, the NFT company it helped set up, will be part of Fanatics. (Pro Rata)
Primetime ratings for the Tokyo Olympic Games were down 42% from the 2016 Games. While several temporary factors likely impacted the low numbers, certain intensifying long-term trends also played a role: Streaming adoption in the U.S. is nearing ubiquity; Americans are sharply divided over politics at the Olympics; younger audiences are increasingly following along with the Games via new social media platforms like TikTok; Olympics ratings in general have been declining for years, as have ratings for other major sports events. (Axios)
Smart Links
U.S. Postal Service proposes holiday surcharges for businesses and individuals. (Wall Street Journal)
Air travel prices have barely budged in 25 years. (Wall Street Journal)
U.K. luxury housing price growth on track to beat original forecasts. (Mansion Global)
China's yuan likely to become Asia's central currency: Kenneth Rogoff. (Nikkei Asian Review)
IHG launches luxury hotel brand to keep pace with rivals. (Financial Times)
Kaiser Permanente's Q2 profit down one-third despite revenue climb. (Healthcare Dive)
Premier League players allowed to hug again during goal celebrations. (The Times)