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The World
The Biden administration and Hill Democrats are expected later this week to release an immigration reform bill. The “U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021” will include an earned pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, expands the refugee resettlement program and deploys more technology to the Southern border. There are additional protections that are being considered in the legislation, such as asylum processing in home countries for minors, expanded benefits for DREAMers and ending the public charge rule. (NBC News)
At least 23 have died from storm-related incidents — many in Texas, where DFW airport saw -2 degrees — as the state-run power grid agency “has no idea when Texas’ power outages will end,” leaving millions without power in freezing temperatures. In Texas, one power grid, run by ERCOT, is responsible for 90% of the state’s electricity and serves 26 million customers. In Austin, the energy agency said customers might be without heat for at least another day — if not longer, as officials call for investigation into ERCOT. Meanwhile, pipes are bursting and cities across the state — including Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Abilene and San Angelo — have issued boil-water notices or other water-related warnings. (Texas Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News)
The Texas grid got crushed because its operators didn’t see the need to prepare for cold weather, the Washington Post reports. When will Texans get power back? Officials don't know. ERCOT says while it's working to restore power to residents, it was also aiming to avoid a complete shutdown of the grid. Relatedly, energy prices jumped as the deep freeze boosted demand for fuel and hampered production. (Washington Post, Texas Tribune, CNBC)
Power outages hit North Dakota's rural co-ops as cold air woes persist in southern U.S. (Bismarck Tribune)
Beyond Texas, A Glimpse of America’s Future: Climate Change Means Trouble for Power Grids. Systems are designed to handle spikes in demand, but the wild and unpredictable weather linked to global warming will very likely push grids beyond their limits. (New York Times)
Investors raced for a slice of Italy’s first bond offering since Mario Draghi was sworn in as prime minister, allowing the country to sell 10-year debt at one of its lowest borrowing costs on record. The deal attracted €110bn in demand before the order book closed. (Financial Times)
Burma’s junta brought new criminal charges against Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s elected leader, as protesters blocked railway lines in the 11th day of demonstrations against the military coup. Suu Kyi has been charged under the country’s natural disaster law. (The Times)
China is now the EU’s biggest trading partner, as trade volume in goods hit US$710 billion in 2020, which coincided with Beijing and Brussels agreeing to an investment deal. However, scepticism includes concerns about over-dependence on China and fallout from Biden’s intent to counter a rising Beijing. (South China Morning Post)
Two more Chinese coast guard vessels entered Japan's territorial waters near the China-claimed Senkaku Islands, prompting Tokyo to lodge a protest over repeated intrusions following Beijing's enactment of a new law that allows its coast guard to use weapons against foreign ships. The two vessels intruded into the waters near the group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea at around 4:15 a.m., joining two other Chinese coast guard boats that had entered the waters Monday. (Kyoto News)
China is exploring limiting the export of rare earth minerals that are crucial for the manufacture of American F-35 fighter jets and other sophisticated weaponry, according to people involved in a government consultation. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last month proposed draft controls on the production and export of 17 rare earth minerals in China, which controls about 80 per cent of global supply. (Financial Times)
CVS Health plans to resume selling individual coverage in the Affordable Care Act exchanges in 2022 due to shifting market conditions spurred by COVID-19 and the new Democratic administration in Washington. CEO Karen Lynch, who replaced long-time chief exec Larry Merlo this month, said the ACA marketplaces have stabilized and are once again attractive to CVS and its payer arm, Aetna. Aetna left the exchanges four years ago due to rising costs and political uncertainty. (Healthcare Dive)
About 36% of non-elderly adults and 29% of children in the U.S. have delayed or foregone care because of concerns of being exposed to COVID-19 or providers limiting services due to the pandemic. (Healthcare Dive)
Spotify is launching a Work From Anywhere program for all employees, noting “Part of our DNA has always been controlled chaos”: (Spotify)
My Work Mode: Employees will be able to work full time from home, the office, or a combination of the two. The exact mix of home and office work mode is a decision each employee and their manager make together.
Location choices: Spotify also will introduce more flexibility when it comes to what country and city each employee works from (with some limitations to address time zone difficulties, and regional entity laws in the initial rollout of this program). Here, our employees have the same “My Work Mode” flexibility, and if someone chooses a location that is not near a Spotify office, we will support them with a co-working space membership if they want to work from an office.
Economy
Workers at fast-food restaurant chains in 15 cities around the US went on strike demanding a raise in their minimum wage to $15 an hour. The workers at McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s, joined by home care and nursing home workers, seek an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7.25, in what would be the first increase in since 2009. Strikes occurred in Charleston; Chicago; Flint and Detroit; Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina; Houston; Miami, Orlando, and Tampa; St. Louis; Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose; and Milwaukee. (The Guardian)
Bank of America clients with $614 billion combined are in the throes of an unprecedented frenzy of risk-taking, as more Wall Street banks sound the alarm on greed across markets. After a week which recorded the strongest-ever inflow into stocks, a record net 25% of investors surveyed by the investment bank this month are taking higher-than-normal risks. Cash levels slumped to the lowest since 2013, while optimism on cyclical risk assets rose to the highest since 2011. All this is being fueled by unprecedented optimism on the growth outlook, with 84% of fund managers expecting global corporate profits to improve over the next 12 months. For the first time in a year, investors say companies should focus on spending rather than improving their balance sheets. (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs to offer its investing know-how to the masses. The Wall Street firm is set to unveil Marcus Invest, a low-cost digital platform that allocates and automatically rebalances individuals’ wealth across portfolios of stocks and bonds based on the models developed by the firm’s investment-strategy committee. (Wall Street Journal)
Jack Dorsey and Jay Z invested 500 BTC to make Bitcoin ‘internet’s currency’. Meanwhile, Bitcoin rose above $50,000 for the first time, adding steam to a rally fuelled by signs that the world’s biggest cryptocurrency is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies. (TechCrunch, Reuters)
Rising demand for “sustainable” investment prompted managers to change the strategy or investment profile of 253 European funds in 2020, helping to push regional assets invested in funds with an environmental, social or governance tilt to a record €1.1tn by the end of December. In addition to the repurposed vehicles there were 505 new ESG fund launches in Europe over the year. (Financial Times)
2021 Promises a Fresh Wave of Defaults From Corporate China: A gap has opened up between rates on junk bonds from China and the U.S., fueling interest in higher-yielding Chinese debt. Property developers, which are a big part of the Chinese offshore bond market, could be one source of stress. (Wall Street Journal)
European banks are using the pandemic to clean house and make changes investors have wanted for years: slash jobs, shut branches and force customers online. (Wall Street Journal)
Zillow CEO warns the future of work could create a 'two-class system' where those who come into the office are viewed as better employees. (Business Insider)
SPAC News: (Axios)
Technology
Microsoft updated its unified Office mobile app to work on Apple’s iPad devices. The new Office app combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single application, and originally launched for iOS and Android back in 2019. Microsoft has been gradually improving it ever since, but it always ran in a windowed mode instead of a fully optimized iPad app. This new update means Office is now a full iPadOS app, with access to all of the regular tablet variants of Microsoft’s productivity suite. The app also bundles in some useful tools designed primarily for mobile tasks. These include the ability to quickly create PDFs or sign documents, converting images to text and tables, and more quick actions. (The Verge)
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, sued Amazon on Tuesday evening, arguing that the company provided inadequate safety protection for workers in New York City during the pandemic and retaliated against employees who raised concerns over the conditions. The case focuses on two Amazon facilities: a large warehouse on Staten Island and a delivery depot in Queens. (New York Times)
The North Dakota state senate voted 36-11 not to pass a bill that would have required app stores to enable software developers to use their own payment processing software and avoid fees charged by Apple and Google. The vote is a victory for Apple, which says that the App Store is a core part of its product and that its tight control over its rules keeps iPhone users safe from malware and scams. North Dakota’s bill is the first major U.S. state-level legislation to address the Apple and Google app stores, which take fees from app store sales up to 30%, including in-app purchases of digital items. (CNBC)
Australia’s government said Google and Facebook are nearing agreements to pay domestic media companies for news, in a sign a regulatory standoff may be softening. Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg held talks with Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Google counterpart Sundar Pichai over the weekend. Google and Facebook oppose planned Australian legislation forcing them to pay media companies for news, and Google has threatened to shut down its search engine if the law is enacted. Parliament will consider the legislation from this week, giving the internet giants an incentive to agree compensation terms for news companies before the law is passed. (Bloomberg)
Private-equity investments in technology soared in the final months of 2020 as investors sought to take advantage of a rise in corporate IT spending. Investors spent $65.17 billion last year on 2,138 private-equity deals with U.S.-based information technology companies, down from $72.47 billion over 2,007 deals in 2019 but far outpacing investments in any other sector. (Wall Street Journal)
You’ve been invited to Clubhouse; your privacy hasn’t. Clubhouse has millions of users, millions of dollars, and very few privacy options. “But what if you didn’t give Clubhouse access to your contacts, specifically because you didn’t want all or any of them to know you were there? I regret to inform you that Clubhouse has made it possible for them to know anyway, encourages them to follow you, and there isn’t much you can do about it. When I joined, I didn’t give Clubhouse access to my contacts; as has been my policy since childhood, only I may decide who enters my clubhouse. Nevertheless, a few minutes later, I had a bunch of followers from my contacts. Even worse: I got followers who weren’t in my contacts at all — but I was in theirs.” (Recode)
Inside WeChat’s struggle to slow down TikTok owner ByteDance. (The Information)
Smart Links
Jeff Bezos overtakes Elon Musk to reclaim spot as world’s richest person. (CNBC)
Harvard study gives airports high marks in COVID safety; key move: step back from crowds at unavoidable choke points like boarding gates and baggage claim. (Harvard Chan School)
Kabul’s groundwater reserves are running dry. (The Telegraph)
Look out Tesla, SAIC's $4,500 electric car takes China by storm. (Nikkei Asian Review)
U.S. hospitality industry has received over $18 billion in PPP loans. (Specialty Food)
IBM plans to get rid of its planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions from its operations by 2030. (The Verge)
How the brain helps us remember what we’ve seen. (MIT News)
Learn More (Today, 1 p.m. ET): Back to Work: Experts from Gallup and Carnegie Corporation of New York, along with government and business leaders, share new research on Americans' opinions on a jobs recovery program and how it could address the economic issues Americans face today. (Register)