The World
Job openings rose 10% in July to a pandemic high even though the rate of hiring saw a sharp slump. While job openings surged, actual hires tumbled more than 20% from just shy of 7 million in June to 5.8 million in July, as the number of people voluntarily quitting their jobs increased 344,000 to 2.9 million. (CNBC, Reuters)
The UK banned socializing with more than six people for the “foreseeable future” amid tougher rules for pubs and restaurants. All hospitality businesses will be legally required to take customers’ details for contact tracing. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s Phase 3 study at dozens of U.S. sites has been put on hold due to a suspected serious adverse reaction. The nature of the adverse reaction and when it happened were not known, though the participant is expected to recover. Separately, a group of international scientists questioned results from Russia’s vaccine study that were published in the Lancet medical journal, saying some findings appeared improbable and flagging concerns over seemingly identical levels of antibodies in a number of participants who were inoculated. (The Times, StatNews, Bloomberg)
Some of the world’s top brands have pulled out of Hong Kong’s prime shopping district: Prada, Rolex, Omega, La Perla, and Kiehl’s have all closed their stores in Causeway Bay. Meanwhile, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will promote Beijing’s new global data security initiative when he meets a senior European Commission (EC) official tomorrow to counter Washington’s efforts to curb Chinese tech globally. Separately, China appears to have deployed strategic bombers close to its border with India. (The Times, South China Morning Post-1, South China Morning Post-2)
Tech workers are fleeing Belarus as the one-time IT haven takes an authoritarian turn. Yandex and EPAM weigh some staff moves as protests continue, but the crackdown on protests and raids threaten Minsk’s high-tech hub. Meanwhile, Belarusian police raided the headquarters of the country’s opposition and arrested one of the last prominent activists still free in the country. (Bloomberg, The Times)
Wildfires led to helicopter rescues in California and destruction in Washington, as extreme weather battered the Western U.S., with fires along the Pacific Coast and snow falling in Colorado. California’s record-breaking fire season could get much worse, as powerful winds heighten the danger. In Greece, thousands fled as fire ripped through an overcrowded refugee camp in Lesbos. (New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Reuters)
Town vs. Gown: Counties and colleges are wrangling over Covid-19, as campus leaders in Kansas, Michigan and Texas face pressure from local health authorities to toughen restrictions and some push back. Meanwhile, several colleges face graduate student strikes or legal pushback around teaching requirements, including the University of Iowa and the University of Michigan. (Inside Higher Ed, EducationDive)
Yesterday we noted that Corporate America has a major coronavirus trust crisis, based on a new Edelman Trust Barometer survey. Today: How businesses should respond. 1) Partner with local governments and health authorities to remove the obstacles to confident return to work. 2) Consistently fill the information void by disseminating high-quality, reliable information from expert sources. 3) Follow public health mandates and stress to employees the importance of their individual responsibility to the greater good: wear a mask and physically distance. 4) Use data, insist on contact tracing and testing, even of asymptomatic people, and be as transparent as possible when an employee falls ill. 5) As business performance rebounds, restore salaries that were cut, pay bonuses for those that had strong performance despite Covid and promote those who have earned it. 6) Create a new position of Chief Public Health Officer. (Edelman Trust Barometer)
Economy
Private equity cannot afford to leave out ESG. Benefits include risk management and enhanced portfolio performance. But how should private equity firms effectively integrate ESG practices? They should: Adopt a Sustainable Finance Policy outlining commitment, practices, standards, and strategy towards ESG; integrate ESG in the investment cycle; and develop outreach strategies which include participating in ESG-related associations, work to secure proper labelling and certification for their ESG activities and products, and annually report on their ESG activities. (Private Equity Wire)
U.S. companies are ignoring President Trump’s threats to “decouple” from China and repatriate manufacturing. The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai found that fewer than 4% of respondents were relocating some production capacity back to the U.S. More than 70% had no plans to relocate any manufacturing despite higher tariffs from Trump’s trade war. (Financial Times)
France's LVMH is bailing on its $16.2 billion agreement to acquire U.S. luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co, saying the issue is the Trump administration’s threat to slap new tariffs on French luxury goods, which is being done in retaliation for France’s tax on U.S. tech companies. Tiffany’s countersued. (Axios, Financial Times)
Goldman Sachs joined JPMorgan in saying Wall Street workers will return to the office in rotations. Meanwhile, fewer than 10% of New York’s office workers had returned as of last month and just a quarter of major employers expect to bring their people back by the end of the year, according to a new survey. Only 54% of these companies say they will return by July 2021. Lease signings in the first eight months of the year were about half of what they were a year earlier, putting the office market on track for a 20-year low for the full year. (CNBC, New York Times)
Mortgage demand from homebuyers surged 40% from a year ago. Meanwhile, investment-grade corporate-bond issuance last month reached almost $108 billion, the most for any August on record. (CNBC, Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Apple doubled down in its legal battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games, filing a response and counterclaims alleging that the gaming company breached its contract with Apple and seeking damages. (CNBC)
Chromebook demand from schools and parents has been so intense that waits have stretched as long as five months. Even with shortages, Chrome operating system computers have gained market share throughout the pandemic and will likely do so for the rest of the year — which could influence a generation of new computer users. (The Information)
Amazon is continuing to fight the Department of Defense over a $10 billion contract, as the Pentagon has completed its review of the deal and determined once again that it was correct to award the entire project to Microsoft. (Ars Technica)
Chinese-owned social media from WeChat to TikTok are increasingly censoring content in the U.S. and elsewhere, taking practices honed for years behind the Great Firewall to an international audience. Most of the content censored on WeChat supported pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, as well as messages from the U.S. and U.K. embassies regarding its new national security law. (Bloomberg)
Based on 1.5 billion U.S. podcast downloads in August, Apple had 61.1% of all downloads, but when measured by total audience, Spotify is closing in on Apple. (PodNews)
Smart Links
Netflix’s Reed Hastings deems remote work “a pure negative.” (Wall Street Journal)
Amazon’s new Alexa partnership links your AT&T number to turn Echo into a phone. (The Verge)
Art market report shows the severe impact of Covid-19: Gallery sales fell by an average 36% in 1H20. (Financial Times)
Multinationals' supply chains account for a fifth of global emissions. (Science Daily)
Silver Lake leads $500 million investment round in Indian online learning giant Byju’s. (TechCrunch)
Tyson Foods pilots health clinics near facilities. (Specialty Foods)
The latest global university ranking was released by Times Higher Education.(Statista)