The World
Global equities are poised to complete their hottest August since 1986. Stocks have rallied 6.7% since July but some investors worry about autumn tumult. The S&P 500 is on track for its best August since 1984. Meanwhile, India’s economy contracted at its steepest pace on record of 23.9% in the June quarter. (Financial Times, Reuters)
Singapore is seeking to cut number of expatriates as the recession bites and the financial hub tightens regulations on employing foreign professionals. Meanwhile, new tensions flared along the disputed India-China border, as New Delhi says Beijing aims to 'unilaterally change facts' in Himalayan region. (Financial Times, Nikkei Asian Review)
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia imposed travel bans on President Alexander Lukashenko and 29 other Belarusian officials, after tens of thousands of people marched on the President’s palace, demanding he resign. In the Mediterranean, Turkey said that any attempt by Greece to expand its maritime border would be an “act of war” as it prepares for new military drills north of Cyprus this week. (Reuters, New York Times, The Times)
At 11:21 a.m. on Monday, an El Al Boeing 737-900 — the “Peace Plane” — took off from Tel Aviv and later landed in Abu Dhabi for the first-ever direct commercial flight from Israel to the UAE. (Times of Israel)
United Airlines is permanently ending flight change fees for most domestic tickets, the latest effort to boost demand. (Wall Street Journal)
A growing number of U.S. companies are pledging to give workers time off to vote in the presidential election this November, an effort that’s gaining steam despite the government’s reluctance to make election day a federal holiday. (Los Angeles Times)
Rival efforts are under way to launch a Fox News-style opinionated current affairs TV station in Britain to counter the BBC. The would-be networks see a perceived gap in the market for opinionated video output fuelled by growing distrust of the BBC among some parts of its audience, especially on the political right over culture war issues such as Brexit and whether Rule, Britannia! should be sung at the Last Night of the Proms. (The Guardian)
Economy
Clayton Dubilier & Rice will buy software maker Epicor Software Corp from KKR & Co in a $4.7 billion deal — the largest enterprise software deal so far in 2020. Austin, Texas-based Epicor is a provider of application software to mid-sized companies in retail, distribution and manufacturing sectors., and companies such as Epicor generate recurring revenue through business software sales. (Reuters, Axios)
M.B.A.s are usually swimming in job offers by now, but not this year. Traditional recruiters of business school graduates are nowhere to be found this fall, while a few tech companies are emerging with offers. Meanwhile, 2/3 of college students — roughly 13.3 million undergraduates — said they are now worried about their financial future. (Wall Street Journal, Wallet Hub)
U.S. remote workdays have doubled during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the UK’s drive to get people back to work appeared to be stalling, with most managers and professionals are choosing to work from home. 40% of people who normally drove to work were working from home all or part of the time. This rose to 54% among senior or middle managers and professionals. Trains carried only 28% of their normal passenger load. (Gallup, The Times)
To Prepare For Every Possible Outcome, Try Red Teaming: The U.S. Army operates in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous contexts (VUCA) where changes to plans are not only likely but is expected. General Eisenhower stated, “Plans are nothing – planning is everything,” conveying that the plan itself is less important than the process you go through to create that plan, wherein wisdom is gained. As VUCA often demands that plans change, it is thus critical that through a robust planning process the organization has created deep knowledge and understanding of the threats and opportunities to a plan and created a series of contingency plans. Gaining such wisdom requires a process to fully understand all of the plan’s internal and external stakeholders (business partners, competitors, employees, government actors, and other stakeholders, etc.), the operating environment, the competitive market dynamics, and all the ‘what if’ factors and events that might positively or negatively affect your plan during execution. Key components include: 1) Do a stakeholder audit; 2) Conduct stakeholder analysis; 3) Conduct Murphy’s law and Yhprum’s law analysis; 4) Identify and list known critical events and decision points; 5) Create contingency plans; 6) Create a list/matrix of leader’s critical information requirements; 7) Refine the COA. (Chief Executive)
Technology
TikTok has chosen a bidder for its U.S., New Zealand and Australian businesses, and could announce the deal as soon as Tuesday. Meanwhile, 40% of Americans back President Trump’s threat to ban TikTok if it is not sold to a U.S. buyer; 30% said they opposed the move, while another 30% said they didn’t know either way. Among Republicans, 69% said they supported the order; 21% of Democrats supported it.(CNBC, Reuters/Ipsos poll)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a swing at Apple, calling the iPhone maker's app store monopolistic and harmful to customers during a companywide meeting. “[Apple has] this unique stranglehold as a gatekeeper on what gets on phones,” Zuckerberg said to more than 50,000 employees via webcast. He added that Apple’s app store “blocks innovation, blocks competition” and “allows Apple to charge monopoly rents.” (Buzzfeed)
The White House is searching for a replacement for Federal Trade Commission Chair Joe Simons, a Republican who has publicly resisted President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on social media companies. (Politico)
400 million Indians might soon need to use facial recognition to access their bank accounts, as four banks are currently testing facial recognition systems for two-week trial periods. (OneZero)
Japanese convenience store chain begins testing remote controlled robot staff in Tokyo. (SoraNews24)
Smart Links
How Ant Group became the biggest fintech company in the world. (Marker)
The rise of work-from-home towns. (Bloomberg)
New platform for controlled delivery of key nanoscale drugs. (MIT News)
Arctic wildfires emit 35% more CO2 so far in 2020 than for whole of 2019. (The Guardian)
Chinese private rocket startup iSpace raises $172 million. (Pandaily)
How Amazon and McDonald’s use bundling to sell more of everything. (Marker)