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The World
Big Tech earnings-palooza arrived: (Axios)
Google’s parent Alphabet reported record results as the pandemic kept people at home, watching YouTube videos and clicking on web advertisements served up by the company. It also announced a $50bn share buyback program. That gave the tech giant a market capitalisation above $1.6tn for the first time. Only Apple, Microsoft and Amazon are larger. Gross revenue in the first three months of this year rose to $55.3bn, Alphabet said, up 34% from $41.2bn and easily outstripping expectations of $51.6bn. (Financial Times)
Microsoft extended its pandemic-fueled run of strong quarterly earnings, bringing the company near a $2 trillion valuation. (Wall Street Journal)
Up next: Earnings for Facebook and Apple (both today), along with Amazon (Thursday). (Axios)
Gallup's Economic Confidence Index registered a score of +2 in April, the first time it has been net positive since the pandemic began. (Gallup)
Four things to watch today when the Federal Open Market Committee wraps up its latest policy meeting and chair Jay Powell addresses his regular press conference: 1) An economic ‘inflection point’; 2) Substantial further progress? 3) Biden’s agenda; 4) Technical adjustments. (Financial Times)
President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress tonight will mark the first time the No. 1 and No. 2 people in the line of presidential succession — and sitting on the dais — are both women. (Axios)
There will be no designated survivor for the address, as with attendance limited, many Cabinet officials won't be in the Capitol for the speech. (Politico)
There are 535 members of Congress and usually 1,600 people in the chamber. Tonight, the number will be capped at 200 — and no guests allowed.
The Senate received 58 seats, which were evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
Biden also will take on a new role: salesman in chief. He plans to redouble efforts to convince voters - and by extension reluctant lawmakers - that collaborative effort and trillions in spending are the way to renovate the country and compete with China, administration officials and their allies, including in Congress, said in recent weeks. (Reuters)
China is set to report its first population decline since the famine that accompanied the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong’s disastrous economic policy in the late 1950s that caused the deaths of tens of millions of people. The latest Chinese census, which was completed in December but has yet to be made public, is expected to report the total population of the country at less than 1.4bn. In 2019, China’s population was reported to have exceeded the 1.4bn mark. (Financial Times)
In February, a selection panel named Seiko Hashimoto, Japan’s minister for gender equity and a seven-time Olympian, as Yoshiro Mori’s successor has head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee. Since she took over, the organizing committee has established a gender equality team headed by Mikako Kotani, Japan’s first female Olympic flag-bearer, and added 12 women to the committee’s executive board, raising its female representation above Hashimoto’s goal of 40%. Now Kotani says that the Tokyo committee will ask corporate sponsors of the postponed 2020 Games, which start on July 23, to set their own equality and inclusion targets. Kotani didn’t name names, but the companies behind the upcoming Olympics include some of Japan’s biggest firms, like Toyota, Nomura Holdings, Fujitsu, NEC Corp., and Canon. (Fortune)
The U.S. announced an easing in some coronavirus-related travel bans, allowing entry of students, academics and journalists from various countries, including China. Journalists, students and academics covered by exchange visitor programmes and travellers from Brazil, Britain, China, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area and South Africa who “provide vital support for critical infrastructure” may now qualify for a “national interest exception”, which would allow entry to the US. (South China Morning Post)
Australia will spend $580 million to upgrade four military bases in its north and expand war games with the U.S. (Reuters)
Citing ‘stunning progress’ on coronavirus, Biden lifts outdoor mask guidelines: The C.D.C. took a major step toward coaxing Americans into a post-pandemic world, relaxing the rules on mask wearing outdoors as coronavirus cases recede and people increasingly chafe against restrictions. The mask guidance is modest and carefully written: Americans who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear a mask outdoors while walking, running, hiking or biking alone, or when in small gatherings, including with members of their own households. Masks are still necessary in crowded outdoor venues like sports stadiums, the C.D.C. said. (Reuters, New York Times)
Coronavirus cases are surging in Oregon, as 15 counties will move to ‘extreme risk’ Covid-19 restrictions. (The Oregonian)
California water officials have moved to stop Nestlé from siphoning millions of gallons of water out of California’s San Bernardino forest, which it bottles and sells as Arrowhead brand water, as drought conditions worsen across the state. (The Guardian)
As more states introduce and consider their own data privacy bills, public support for Congress to pass a national standard is holding strong, with 83% of voters saying it should be a “top” or “important, but lower” congressional priority this year. (Morning Consult)
Economy
Private equity dealmaking in Europe came roaring back in 1Q21 as the region emerges from the Covid-19 crisis. The industry posted €158.8bn in total deal value in 1Q21, a 28.5% surge year-on-year. Hungry GPs rushing to put record levels of dry powder to work, the revival in the leveraged lending markets and sellers taking advantage of heightened valuations are now converging to set the stage for a lively year. The sector accounting for the greatest value of deals was IT with 24.7% of the total – up from the 20.5% it recorded in 1Q20. (Private Equity News)
JPMorgan calls US bankers back to the office from July. Chief executive Jamie Dimon has expressed his displeasure with work-from-home arrangements. (Financial Times)
How to navigate the post-pandemic office: Should companies require employees to be in the office on certain days? For a set number of days each week? How should those in the office accommodate colleagues working remotely? To help answer pressing questions like these, DealBook assembled advice from experts about where to start, how to avoid common pitfalls, and the most important things to consider when not everyone is working in the same place. (DealBook)
Nearly 1.5 million mothers are still missing from the workforce. (Wall Street Journal)
Workers want to stay put in the home office: 65% of pandemic remote workers said they wanted to keep working from home and 58% even said they would look for a new job if they would have to return to the office. Only 2% said they would prefer to return, while 11% said that remote work was not essential for them. At a third of respondents naming it as their preferred mode of working, the hybrid model that combines office and remote work was also popular. Respondents were pretty much in agreement about the biggest perks of working from home: Having no commute and saving money were named by 84% and 75% of remote workers, respectively. (Statista)
Developers are harnessing a growing obsession with data to improve office buildings in ways that could cut costs and streamline operations, saving owners millions of dollars annually. The field, known as property technology, or proptech, has become a booming sector in commercial real estate as property managers seek to use data collection and artificial intelligence to help control systems like heating, lighting, air quality and even the flow of workers. But this data collection is raising cybersecurity concerns: A 2021 Deloitte report found “cyberthreats are increasing in sophistication.” (New York Times, Deloitte)
Science has VCs chowing down on alt proteins: Funding to the space doubled year over year to hit nearly $2 billion in 2020, with another $600 million going into deals so far this year. Faux meat fans say we’re close to a point where even hardcore carnivores will find tempting options among plant-based, fermented, or cell-cultured proteins. (Crunchbase)
The Wall Street Journal collaborated with Realtor(dot)com to rank which housing markets are expected to provide both a strong return on investment—and are a nice place to live. No. 1? Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
The EU’s competition chief will later this week issue charges against Apple stating that its App Store rules break EU law, according to several people with direct knowledge of the situation. The charges relate to a complaint brought two years ago by Spotify that Apple takes 30% commission to distribute apps through its iPhone App Store and forbids apps from directing users to pay for subscriptions elsewhere. (Financial Times)
Apple's follow-up to its M1 chip has already gone into mass production, will be ready to ship in products slated for H2. The TSMC-made chipsets will replace Intel offerings in laptops set to launch in 2H. (Nikkei Asian Review)
China holds 35% of global 6G patents, according to a government report which urges China to "utilize its technological advantage in 5G to continue staying ahead." (Protocol)
Movie news: AMC stock has been rising. Altamont Capital Partners and Fortress Investment Group became almost certain to buy Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as no rival bidder emerged. Endeavor is set to go public later this week, aiming at a valuation north of $10 billion. It doesn't operate theaters, but it represents lots of movie stars and has a large live events business that would benefit from a return of in-person entertainment. (Axios)
How Netflix Fumbled India: Netflix has taken the world by storm, signing up more than 130 million subscribers outside the U.S. in the past decade, nearly twice as many as it has in North America. In most countries and regions—including Italy, the U.K., France, Spain and Latin America—Netflix has more subscribers than its main U.S. rival, Amazon Prime Video, according to Ampere, a London-based data and analytics firm. But in others, including India, Japan and Germany, Amazon has unexpectedly left Netflix in the dust. (The Information)
Smart Links
PwC to hire 10,000 Black And Latinx college students by 2026. (Forbes)
Why the New York Times is retiring the term ‘Op-Ed.’ (New York Times)
NBC’s News chief pushes streaming and bets on post-Trump story lines. (Wall Street Journal)
Facebook is to add a podcast player in its app, powered by Spotify. (PodNews)
Up to 20% of groundwater wells are in danger of running dry. (Bloomberg)
Amazon expands in-garage delivery service. (Specialty Food)
Best states for remote work. (Wallet Hub)
Live Event
Today, 12 pm ET: Vaccine Passports: A Path to the New Normal? (Harvard Law School)