The World
Street protests over George Floyd’s death went global, as demonstrators in London, Berlin and Toronto called for an end to police brutality. In the Twin Cities, police arrested 150, including the driver who drove his tanker truck into a large crowd of protesters. In LA, county and National Guard troops patrolled for the first time since the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the 1992 riots. (Washington Post, Star Tribune, Los Angeles Times)
Company chiefs join outrage at police killings of African-Americans. Meanwhile, U.S. retailers closed some stores because of disruptions caused by the protests. Target, CVS, Apple and Walmart temporarily closed or limited hours at some locations. (Financial Times, ABC News)
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say the coronavirus outbreak has exacted a severe economic toll on their communities, but a majority of a divided country still says controlling the virus’s spread is more important than trying to restart the economy. In the starkest split, 57 percent of Americans overall and 81 percent of Democrats say trying to control the spread of the coronavirus is most important right now, even if it hurts the economy. A far smaller 27 percent of Republicans agree, while 66 percent of them say restarting the economy is more important, even if it hurts efforts to control the virus. (Washington Post-ABC News poll)
Nearly 90% of U.S. cities expect revenue shortfalls, according to a survey by the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. U.S. cities’ next dilemma: Cut essential services or take on more debt. (Wall Street Journal)
China said U.S. attempts to harm Chinese interests will be met with firm countermeasures, while accusing the U.S. of double standards for praising Hong Kong protesters as heroes but labelling them as rioters in America. Meanwhile, China told major state-run agricultural companies to pause purchases of some U.S. farm goods including soybeans as Beijing evaluates the ongoing tensions. (Reuters, South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post)
The U.S. and Japan held joint military exercises, as the allies keep watch on China's increasingly assertive maritime maneuvers in the East and South China seas amid the pandemic. (Nikkei Asian Review)
China’s barely begun economic recovery shows signs of stalling. Meanwhile, Europe may be over the worst of a coronavirus-driven downturn, but Asia’s pain deepened in May due to a slump in global trade, with export powerhouses Japan and South Korea seeing the sharpest falls in over a decade. (Wall Street Journal, Reuters)
Saudi Arabia’s net foreign reserves fell by about $21bn in April after Riyadh transferred billions of dollars to its sovereign wealth fund to finance its overseas spending spree, its second consecutive monthly decline. (Financial Times)
Russia's public vote on a set of constitutional amendments that would allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power through 2036 will take place on July 1. (Moscow Times)
Finance
Goldman Sachs rolled back its pessimistic outlook that the S&P 500 would slump to the 2,400 level -- over 20% below Friday’s 3,044 close -- and now see downside risks capped at 2,750. (Bloomberg)
Citigroup’s co-head of investment banking said financial markets were “way ahead of reality” with tougher times to come, warning corporate clients that they should raise as much money as they could before the pandemic’s true cost is factored in by investors. (Financial Times)
Nearly half (48.8%) of leading chief financial officers say the pandemic will have a “negative” impact on their companies in 2020, while another 39% say it will have a “very negative” impact. (CNBC)
Nearly two-thirds of publicly traded restaurants are at risk of bankruptcy. (Bloomberg)
Fascinating study: “Renationalization” of global supply chains does not in general make countries more resilient to pandemic-induced contractions in labor supply. (NBER Working Paper No. 27224)
A Goldman Sachs survey of 1,447 participants (55% women) found that 53% of their small businesses are now fully open. The small business owners surveyed "believe that only 63% of their revenue will return over the next six months." (Axios)
Technology
Global smartphone sales plummeted 20% in Q1. Samsung and Huawei and Oppo all saw double-digit drop-offs at 22.7%, 27.3% and 19.1%, while Apple declined 8.2%. (TechCrunch)
Tech deals nosedive nearly 70% during pandemic, but Bain predicts a sharp rebound. (CNBC)
China bets on $2tn high-tech infrastructure plan to spark economy, including 5G and AI. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Facebook employees critical of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision not to remove an inflammatory comment from President Donald Trump took their dissent public on Twitter, praising the rival social media firm for taking action and rebuking their own employer. (Reuters)
Smart Links
6 VCs share their bets on the future of work. (TechCrunch)
Five best science books this week. (Nature)
Who wants to run the deadliest big city in America? (Politico)
Vanuatu and Nunavut: No covid-19 cases. (Wired UK, Washington Post)
AI systems are worse at diagnosing disease when training data is skewed by sex. (STATNews)
Luxury blue paint pigment catalyses its own ‘disease.’ (Chemistry World)