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The World
Janet Yellen will lay out the case for Biden’s proposed $1.9tn relief package at her confirmation hearing as Treasury secretary today, arguing that “the smartest thing we can do is act big.” In prepared remarks obtained ahead of her appearance before the Senate finance committee, Yellen said the U.S. risked “a longer, more painful recession” and “long-term scarring” if it did not move quickly to inject more government spending into the economy. Meanwhile, a big question hangs over Yellen this week: How much debt is too much? (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal)
Biden will roll out a sweeping overhaul of nation’s immigration laws the day he is inaugurated, including an eight-year pathway to citizenship for immigrants without legal status and an expansion of refugee admissions, along with an enforcement plan that deploys technology to patrol the border. Biden also is expected to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit on his first day in office, quickly reversing Trump’s approval of a project to move oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico long opposed by environmentalists — as well as maintaining travel restrictions to the U.S. from Brazil and much of Europe. (Washington Post, New York Times)
Alexei Navalny called for extensive nationwide protests after he was detained on his return to Moscow and ordered to remain in jail for 30 days. It came despite demands from the US and the EU to release him, and calls from two EU member states for the bloc to impose new sanctions against Moscow if he is not swiftly released. The Russian opposition leader will be held at Matrosskaya Tishina, a notorious Moscow prison. Sergei Magnitsky, a whistleblowing lawyer, died there in 2009. “Don’t be afraid, take to the streets, not for me, but for your own future,” Navalny said in a video message smuggled out of his police cell. (The Times, Financial Times)
500,000 Americans are expected to be killed by Covid-19 before the end of February, in an acceleration of deaths expected to crest in March. CA became the first state to top 3 million cases, as a coronavirus variant first identified in Denmark has ripped through Northern California and L.A. County. The W.H.O. head warned the world was on the brink of “catastrophic moral failure,” as poor countries fall behind richer nations in accessing the vaccines needed to protect their populations against Covid-19. In Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu warned he will likely need to extend its current lockdown restrictions 10-14 days, despite its successful vaccination campaign. (The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, Times of Israel)
Chinese and Russian manufacturers are seeing growing appetite from foreign buyers for their vaccines as the international scramble for jabs intensifies, despite lingering concerns over incomplete trial data and the rigor of domestic approval processes. (Financial Times)
Suicide rates in Japan jumped in the second wave of the pandemic, particularly among women and children, even though they fell in the first wave when the government offered generous handouts to people. (Reuters)
North Korea appears to be taking steps toward a new test of a powerful submarine-launched missile, U.S. weapons experts said, as it steadily dials up the pressure on President-elect Biden. Meanwhile, China sanctioned U.S. lawmakers over Hong Kong and Taiwan moves. Beijing says it will target American personnel in response to Washington’s bans triggered by mass arrests in Hong Kong — that U.S efforts to forge stronger links with Taiwan will also be met with retaliatory action. (Washington Post, South China Morning Post)
Guatemalan troops with riot shields and truncheons forcibly cleared a road of hundreds of mostly Honduran migrants who had camped out overnight when authorities barred their caravan from advancing toward the U.S. (The Guardian)
Economy
More CFOs resigned from large U.S. companies in 2020 than in previous years, as the pandemic put pressure on corporate balance sheets and the executives who manage them. 37 companies in the S&P 500, including GM and HP, last year said that their CFOs would quit, up 27.6% from 2019. Average number of resignations over the past decade: about 25 a year. (Wall Street Journal)
Biden tapped Gary Gensler, the former Goldman Sachs investment banker and financial regulator during the Obama administration, to be the next SEC chair. Gensler’s selection was paired with the nomination of Rohit Chopra, an FTC commissioner, to be the next CFPB director, and both herald tougher policing of the financial services industry by Washington. (Financial Times)
China may seize the economic crown from the U.S. years early — as soon as 2028 — as the pandemic's aftereffects linger. Meanwhile, the Chinese economy grew at its fastest quarterly pace in two years in 4Q20 as the country raced ahead of its international rivals. Output expanded by 6.5% in the final quarter, up from 4.9% in the previous period and above forecasts of 6.1%. The economy grew by 2.3% over the year, China’s slowest annual growth rate since 1980. (Nikkei Asian Review, The Times)
China is set to post the fastest growth in Asia for ESG investments after the country boosted exchange-traded fund assets 18-fold in the past two years. China’s push for renewable energy and electric vehicles will spark more fund flows into ESG-related ETFs, contributing to a 20% growth in assets across Asia this year. (Bloomberg)
European companies hit by Covid-19 could issue “hybrid” shares to plug a predicted capital gap of up to 600 billion euros when government relief measures expire as vaccination programs are rolled out. (Reuters)
Tesla delivered its first made-in-China Model Y compact crossover vehicles, the latest milestone in the American company’s drive into the world’s largest market for electric cars. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Parler partially returned online with the help of a Russian-owned technology company. Yesterday, Parler’s website was reachable again, though only with a message from its chief executive saying he was working to restore functionality. Recode offers a longer take on how Parler could come back. (Reuters, Recode)
The U.S. notified Huawei suppliers, including chipmaker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply the telecommunications firm. (Reuters)
In Chicago, Jewel-Osco is piloting an automated pickup kiosk as online grocery shopping soars. A South Loop Jewel-Osco is the first grocer in the nation to pilot a new online shopping technology. (Chicago Tribune)
Smart Links
U-Haul ranks 50 states by migration growth (TN is No. 1). (U-Haul)
Productivity tips for procrastinators: Pandemic, WFH have sapped work motivation work for many. (Wall Street Journal)
The skills Deloitte looks for when it acquires IT service providers. (VentureBeat)
Why corporate America finally entered the political battlefield. (Marker)
Blockchain investment expected to grow in 2021. (Crunchbase)
The most anticipated movies of 2021 and how to watch them. (CNBC)
Virgin Orbit rocket reaches Earth orbit, adding an entrant to the commercial space race. (Washington Post)