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The World
The Federal Reserve has begun to telegraph an eventual shift away from the easy-money policies as evidence builds of a robust economic recovery and mounting inflation. Several Fed officials said the central bank is closely watching developments and will adjust policy when necessary. Minutes from its April policy meeting reported that some Fed officials want to begin discussing a plan for reducing the Fed’s massive bond-buying program at a future meeting. Meanwhile, Randal K. Quarles, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision and regulation, said trying to choke off inflation could ‘constrain’ the recovery. (Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times)
Inequality in the U.S. is worsening by many measures — especially when it comes to employment. The Job Quality Index (JQI), a measurement of "high" to "low quality" jobs in the U.S. private sector, has fallen from 81.1 in 2007 to 80.5 last year. The 80.5 level signifies that 55% of workers were in low quality jobs versus 45% in high quality. (High quality means weekly wages above the national average for non-management production jobs and low means it's below.) The inequality shows drastic differences when broken down by race: 28% of Hispanic American workers held high quality jobs in 2020, compared with 29% of Black American workers, and 61% of Asian American workers. (Axios)
Covid-19 is reopening a rift between economies in the world’s richest and poorest nations. In the U.S., economists are forecasting a return to boomtime growth levels of the “roaring 20s”; China’s economy expanded at a record 18.3% in 12Q21; and the U.K. is growing faster than at any time since WWII. Yet across the developing world, where people are largely unvaccinated and governments are unable to afford sustained stimulus measures, economies are falling further behind, struggling to rebound from last year’s record contraction: “This has become the inequality virus,” said UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. (Wall Street Journal)
The Biden administration decided against sanctioning the company in charge of a Russian gas pipeline, just hours before Secretary of State Blinken sat down with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in the first face-to-face gathering of a Biden Cabinet member and their Russian counterpart. The decision drew criticism from Russia hawks in Congress who want the U.S. to block the multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 2 project because they say it gives Moscow leverage over U.S. allies in Europe. (Washington Post)
India recorded the world’s highest number of deaths from Covid-19 in a single day, reporting 4,529 deaths in the past 24 hours, topping the previous high set by the U.S. on Jan. 12, when it recorded 4,475 deaths. It was the ninth time this month that India has recorded more than 4,000 deaths in a single day. (Wall Street Journal)
The EU paved the way for vaccinated holidaymakers to return for the summer tourist season but the UK faces a potential hurdle because of the spread of a highly transmissible variant. Member states would have discretion to apply an “emergency brake” on visits from countries with variants “of concern or interest” — and the UK may fall into this category. The tentative EU agreement still needs formal ministerial approval and is a recommendation only. (Financial Times)
England’s National Health Service launched a “vaccine passport” which will serve as a digital credential for crossing borders. (MIT Technology Review)
Amazon said it will soon stop requiring face masks for fully vaccinated workers inside warehouses, except when required by law. To verify that workers are vaccinated, Amazon will require them to upload their vaccine information to an internal employee portal. (CNBC)
The UK government’s position on foreign holidays descended into farce as ministers gave conflicting advice over the resumption of international travel. (The Times)
A senior Hamas official said that he expected a cease-fire agreement within a day or two, while Israeli media has reported that Israeli officials do not expect the bombing to stop until Friday at the earliest. (New York Times)
Storms, floods, wildfires and droughts drove more than 30 million people from their homes last year, as rising temperatures wrought extra chaos on the climate, according to a report published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC). Together with wars and violence, which forced 9.8 million people to flee within their borders, extreme weather brought the number of new internal displacements in 2020 to 40.5 million people, according to the IDMC. The Geneva-based research organization estimates a record-breaking 55 million people were living displaced within their own country by the end of the year. That's twice the number of refugees in the world. (Deutsche Welle)
California could become first state to mandate biosecurity screening by mail-order DNA companies: California lawmakers today will vote on a bill that would require the state’s growing gene synthesis industry to adopt screening protocols to keep dangerous DNA out of the hands of the wrong people. The proposed legislation would be the first in the nation to tackle the biosecurity risks that accompany cheap and easy DNA writing technologies. (STAT News)
Americans’ views about the influence of the media in the country have shifted dramatically over the course of a year in which there was much discussion about the news media’s role during the election and post-election coverage, the COVID-19 pandemic and protests about racial justice. More Americans now say that news organizations are gaining influence than say their influence is waning, a stark contrast to just one year ago when the reverse was true. (Pew Research Center)
Economy
Bitcoin fell as much as 30% as investors turn against cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, ethereum, cardano and dogecoin all tumbled in price after China announced measures to block cryptocurrencies from being used as a form of payment in the country. The move saw bitcoin fall below $40,000 for the first time since February, while other leading cryptocurrencies saw their values drop by between 15 and 20%. The news from China means financial institutions and payments companies will no longer be allowed to provide services relating to cryptocurrency transactions. (Yahoo! Finance)
Restaurant reservations were up 46% in April compared with April 2019, according to the review site Yelp (and up 23,000% compared with April 2020 when most Americans began staying at home during the pandemic). Yelp’s competitor OpenTable paints a similarly rosy picture. In some states, restaurant traffic has blown by pre-pandemic levels, prompting industry experts to draw parallels between now and the Roaring ‘20s, which followed the 1918 influenza pandemic, bringing boom times for restaurants and other parts of the hospitality industry. (Washington Post)
WeWork has seen demand bounce back and inquiries from potential customers exceed what they were before nationwide lockdowns. Now, WeWork is again seeking to go public, this time with a new CEO, real estate veteran Sandeep Mathrani, and on the Nasdaq via a $9 billion merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, BowX Acquisition Corp. (Bloomberg)
Swedish oat-milk maker Oatly Group IPO priced at $17 a share, on the high end of expectations. Oatly’s stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq today. Meanwhile, Squarespace shares made their trading debut yesterday, falling well below where they were valued during the company’s latest fundraising round. (Wall Street Journal)
Ford Motor will halt or cut production at eight North American plants for varying periods of time through June due to an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips impacting the auto industry. Affected vehicles range from the Ford Mustang and Escape crossover to the highly profitable F-150 pickup and Bronco Sport SUV. (CNBC)
Over the past decade, Europeans working from home has been hovering around 5%, while the pandemic saw it rise to 12.3%. With a quarter of its employed residents usually working from home, Finland has the highest share of remote workers in the EU, followed by Luxembourg and Ireland. Home office rates are far lower in parts of Eastern Europe and it's practically unknown in Bulgaria and Romania where the share is just 1.2% and 2.5% respectively. (Statista)
Hiring troubles prompt some employers to eye automation and machines. From warehouses to oil fields, artificial intelligence, robots and advanced software are leaving a mark. (Washington Post)
Technology
Microsoft is finally retiring Internet Explorer next year, after more than 25 years. The aging web browser has largely been unused by most consumers for years, but Microsoft is putting the final nail in the Internet Explorer coffin on June 15th, 2022, by retiring it in favor of Microsoft Edge. (The Verge)
Twitch is making a big push to appeal to more viewers outside of the U.S. by slashing prices on subscriptions to its streamers’ channels. The move makes sense, given the wide gap between people who watch Twitch and those who want to pay for it regularly. (The Information)
The battle for high-powered silicon between the video-gaming and cryptocurrency worlds spilled into the open, as chipmaker Nvidia intervened to prevent its most popular graphics cards being used for crypto mining. The move was designed to ease an acute shortage facing video gamers and highlights the booming demand from cryptocurrency enthusiasts as prices spiked this year. (Financial Times)
iPad Pro (2021) review: Dream Screen. How much do you care about having a great screen? That, really, is the only question that matters with the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It has a new kind of display so good I think it is the best thing for watching movies that isn’t a high-end television. It starts at $1,099 for a 128GB version, but increased storage and accessories like a keyboard or the Apple Pencil can shoot the price up fairly quickly. Both the 12.9 and the smaller 11-inch iPad Pro (which starts at $799) feature Apple’s M1 processor and some other updated specs, all of which are excellent. (The Verge)
Smart Links
Stanford reverses plans to cut 11 athletic programs. (Inside Higher Ed)
ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming to step down as CEO. (Reuters)
29% of U.S. sellers plan to list for more than they think their homes are worth. (Mansion Global)
In Phoenix, million-dollar homes can’t sell fast enough. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. education system isn’t giving students what employers need. (Harvard Business Review)
Is B.M.I. a scam? (New York Times)
Antarctica gives birth to world’s largest iceberg. (Reuters)
Live Event
Today, 6 pm ET: Japan, the Pandemic, and the Olympics. (Harvard University)