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The World
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers sharply rebuked the Federal Reserve for its loose monetary policies, accusing the central bank of creating a “dangerous complacency” in financial markets and misreading the economy. Summers said monetary and fiscal policymakers had “underestimated the risks, very substantially, both to financial stability as well as to conventional inflation of protracted extremely low interest rates.” (Financial Times)
The pandemic hit less-educated workers hardest, a new Fed survey shows. Economic well-being fell sharply for people without a high-school degree in 2020, while rising for more-educated groups. (Wall Street Journal)
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel stopped work for the day, as did other Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and in Gaza, protesting violence against Arab Israelis, the unfolding Israeli military campaign targeting Hamas militants in Gaza and the looming eviction of several families from their homes in East Jerusalem. (New York Times)
France is pushing a resolution at the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which it plans to bring for a vote in the coming days if the fighting continues. (Axios)
Southeast Asia braces for pandemic surge: Thailand reported nearly 10,000 new cases, up from about 300 at the beginning of April. In Malaysia, new daily cases have tripled over the last month, rising to more than 4,500 last week. Vietnam is seeing a sharp increase as well, though the numbers are still small. Taiwan, once a covid success story, struggles with a vaccine shortage. (GZERO, Washington Post)
India is unlikely to resume major Covid vaccine exports until at least October as it diverts shots for domestic use, a delay set to worsen supply shortages from the global COVAX initiative. (Reuters)
Tokyo doctors are calling for cancelation of Olympic Games due to Covid-19, as a jump in infections has stoked alarm amid a shortage of medical staff and hospital beds in some areas of the Japanese capital, promoting the government to extend a third state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures until May 31. (Reuters)
TX Gov. Greg. Abbott said no public schools or government entities will be allowed to require masks. Starting Friday, any government entity that tries to impose a mask mandate can face a fine of up to $1,000. (Texas Tribune)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games over China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers proposed a $25 billion cash infusion into the nation's outdated naval shipyards to prepare for the great-power competition with China. (Financial Times, Nikkei Asian Review)
Spain’s prime minister threatened to use force to restore order in the north African territory of Ceuta, warning that a migrant “invasion” unleashed by Morocco posed a danger to his country and Europe. The army was deployed early yesterday after at least 8,000 people — 1,500 of them thought to be under the age of 18 — entered Ceuta illegally, some hurling stones at police blocking their entrance. (The Times)
Energy groups must stop all new oil and gas exploration projects from this year if global warming is to be kept in check, the International Energy Agency said. The proposal is part of a scenario outlined in a report on ways to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, a prerequisite to meet the Paris climate accord goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. (Financial Times, IEA)
Half of the world’s emissions cuts will require tech that isn’t commercially available. (MIT Technology Review)
Economy
JPMorgan Chase elevated two potential successors to chief executive Jamie Dimon. Veterans Marianne Lake, 51, and Jennifer Piepszak, 51, will become co-heads of the consumer and community banking unit, the bank’s largest division by revenue. Both are considered potential replacements for Dimon when he eventually steps down. Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo: “It looks like a two-woman race for the CEO job of JPMorgan.” (Financial Times)
Bank of America said it plans to raise its hourly minimum wage to $25 by 2025, putting it on track to surpass its big-bank peers during a time of worker shortages across the country. The bank said it is requiring all of its U.S. vendors to pay employees who are dedicated to the bank at least $15 an hour. (Wall Street Journal)
There's a growing backlog of homes that have been cleared to be built, but construction hasn't started yet, new data shows. Builders could be delaying new construction — Blame shortages and soaring costs for materials like lumber. April housing starts dropped a worse-than-expected 9.5% from the prior month, but coming off the highest level since 2006. (Axios)
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said customers “want to get out and shop.” Company executives said they expect the spending spree to continue, as U.S. consumers reemerge into the world. Store traffic rose in April — the first increase in a year. When customers shopped, they tended to buy more, too. The average ticket rose by 9.5% in 1Q21, even as overall transactions fell by about 3%. (CNBC)
Macy's — which struggled throughout the pandemic — posted a surprise 1Q21 profit. It also boosted its expectations for full-year profit. (Axios)
Brent crude oil hit $70 a barrel, reaching the highest level in two months. The international oil benchmark slumped below $20 a barrel last April as Covid-19 lockdowns hammered fuel demand. (Financial Times)
The chip shortage will force Toyota Motor to suspend operations on three production lines at two Japanese factories next month, cutting output by 20,000 autos. Meanwhile, Japan will pour cash into domestic chipmaking, following U.S. and China, generating a new growth strategy to bolster manufacturing technologies and supply chains. (Nikkei Asian Review, Nikkei Asian Review-2)
72% of U.S. white-collar workers are still working remotely. Meanwhile, Raytheon plans to cut office space by 25% as it embraces hybrid work. (Gallup, CNBC)
Technology
Google is announcing the latest beta for Android 12 at Google I/O. It has an entirely new design based on a system called “Material You,” featuring big, bubbly buttons, shifting colors, and smoother animations. It is “the biggest design change in Android’s history,” according to Sameer Samat, VP of product management, Android and Google Play. That might be a bit of hyperbole, especially considering how many design iterations Android has seen over the past decade, but it’s justified. (The Verge)
Google is launching a slate of new features for its Workspace productivity suite, starting with new “smart chips” that connect Google Docs to other products. Just like you can tag people with an @ symbol, starting today, you can use it to specialize links inside docs that hook up other files or meetings. They’re part of what Google is calling the “smart canvas,” a new initiative that promises to increase the cadence of product improvements for Workspace. (The Verge)
Being open to Amazon’s purchase of a studio, and opposed to AT&T’s acquisition of a media conglomerate (which I was from the beginning) isn’t based on some sort of bias against old-line firms versus tech firms; rather, it stems from an understanding that the Internet really is different from the analog world. (Stratechery)
The Desktop Is Cool Again: M1 iMac 24-Inch Review — Apple built a cool desktop computer for the iPhone era. An Apple M1 chip, an insanely thin design, a beautiful screen and a great webcam all bring the iMac into the modern age. (Wall Street Journal)
Apple is preparing to release several new Mac laptops and desktops with faster processors, new designs and improved connectivity to external devices, accelerating the company’s effort to replace Intel Corp. chips and leapfrog rival PC makers. The overhaul encompasses a broad range of Macs, including Apple’s higher-end laptop, the MacBook Pro; the laptop aimed at the mass market, the MacBook Air; and its desktop computers, the Mac Pro, iMac and Mac mini. Redesigned MacBook Pros are expected to debut as soon as early this summer. (Bloomberg)
Smart Links
More than 90% of Black Americans say they have been racially profiled while shopping. (The Guardian)
Alphabet was the most widely held stock for the largest ESG funds. (CNBC)
Amazon extends moratorium on police use of facial recognition software. (Reuters)
Derm Assist: Google launches AI health tool for skin conditions. (Financial Times)
New technology converts waste plastics to jet fuel in an hour. (Washington State University)
Proteins that predict future dementia, Alzheimer's risk, identified. (Johns Hopkins University)
Darwin’s Arch, a famed rock formation in the Galápagos, collapses; erosion caused the natural archway to fall into the sea. (New York Times)