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The World
Stocks rose to records yesterday as investors wagered that a new round of stimulus spending would bolster the economy. The DJIA, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all ended the day at records. Meanwhile, oil prices edged up to their highest in 13 months as supply cuts by major producers and optimism over fuel demand recovery support energy markets. Bitcoin tops $47,000 for first time. (Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Reuters-2)
Spending by British consumers plunged in January at the fastest rate in seven months as the country went back into a tight COVID-19 lockdown. Meanwhile, Japan's households, firms continue to hoard cash as pandemic pain persists. (Reuters, Reuters-2)
The SARS-CoV-2 variant first detected in the UK is rapidly becoming the dominant strain in several countries and is doubling every 10 days in the U.S., according to new data. Meanwhile, South Africa suspended its roll-out of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID vaccine after a trial involving about 2,000 young, healthy people found that it was not sufficiently effective against mild to moderate disease. The U.K. government will provide $9.6 million to support a study investigating the possibility of using different Covid-19 vaccines for the two doses. (Medscape, MedRxIV, Science, CIDRAP)
France’s Labor Ministry says it will allow French employees to eat lunch at their desks in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus, a practice previously forbidden under Article R.4428-19 of the 3,324-page French labor code, or Code du Travail. (New York Times)
How West Virginia Became a Leader in the Vaccine Rollout: The more the state collaborates with those at the local, community level, the greater the vaccine uptake. In the U.S., 63% of adults say they have had or are likely to get the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it's made available to them. (The Atlantic, Axios/Ipsos)
As the U.S. rolls out the COVID-19 vaccine, a survey of U.S. workers finds that 1 in 5 employees are undecided about whether to take it. Further: Lower-ranking employees more uncertain about taking the vaccine; 45% of companies have not communicated a vaccination policy; 44% say plans to reopen the workplace are unknown; 28% of respondents say 7 to 12 months for the workplace to reopen; men report comfort returning to the workplace at two times the rate of women. (Conference Board)
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace warned of a growing threat of chemical and biological attacks, blaming a “breakdown of world order” as states ignore long-established international rules. (The Times)
The head of Burma’s junta made his first television appearance since seizing power to insist that “voter fraud” had justified the coup. The army imposed a curfew as Senior General Min Aung Hlaing assured people that “free and fair” elections would be held at an unspecified date. He echoed previous military insistence that the power grab was in line with the constitution. Meanwhile, Myanmar coup opponents vow to continue protest action. (The Times, Reuters)
North Korea maintained and developed its nuclear and ballistic missile programs throughout 2020 in violation of international sanctions, helping fund them with some $300 million stolen through cyber hacks, according to a confidential United Nations. (Reuters)
Germany, Sweden and Poland each expelled a member of Russian Embassy staff in retaliation for the Kremlin's expulsion of their own diplomats, which came after they were accused of attending "unlawful" rallies in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. (Axios)
Most of the public says they consider their individual environmental impact on a daily basis: About 3 in 4 adults say reducing their carbon emissions, water use, waste factors into daily behaviors, purchasing. (Morning Consult)
Parts of Europe and the UK are digging out after a significant snowstorm dropped up to 15 inches of snow in areas unaccustomed to the weather hazard. It was the first significant snowstorm in the Netherlands in 10 years. (Washington Post)
The Most Innovative Economies in the World: South Korea returned to first place in the latest Bloomberg Innovation Index, while the U.S. dropped out of a top 10 that features a cluster of European countries. Korea regained the crown from Germany, which dropped to fourth place. The Asian nation has now topped the index for seven of the nine years that it’s been published. Singapore and Switzerland each moved up one spot to rank second and third. (Bloomberg, Statista)
Economy
Women’s labor force participation rate hit a 33-year low in January. In January, another 275,000 women dropped out of the labor force, accounting for nearly 80% of all workers over the age 20 who left the workforce last month, according to a National Women’s Law Center analysis of the latest jobs report. This brings the total number of women who have left the labor force since February 2020 to more than 2.3 million, and it puts women’s labor force participate rate at 57%, the lowest it’s been since 1988, according to NWLC. By comparison, nearly 1.8 million men have left the labor force during this same time period. (CNBC, National Women’s Law Center)
The growing shift from reactive to preventive healthcare could rapidly decelerate health spending over the next two decades, according to a new report from Deloitte, running counter to much more dire predictions made before COVID-19. Previous CMS analyses estimate health spending will grow by 5.3% per year through 2028, which — if extrapolated out — means health spend will snowball to about a fourth of the gross domestic product by 2040. But Deloitte's predictive modeling based on the rise of digital health products and more consumer engagement in their health post-pandemic instead predicts health spending will reach $8.3 trillion by 2040, making up a much-lower 18.4% of the GDP. (Healthcare Dive)
Amid a volatile year for the health sector Kaiser Permanente was able to remain in the black, though the COVID-19 pandemic did hamper operating and net income, which fell nearly 19% and 15%, respectively, compared with 2019. (Healthcare Dive)
2020 was the year in which the perceived dichotomy between private equity and ESG was proven to be false. Funds can no longer rely on the notion that ESG is only an issue for public companies and their investors. GPs and their LPs not only want, but now need, to show their ESG credentials and compliance as their hands are forced by the implementation of regulation across the ESG universe. (Private Equity News)
FT Global MBA ranking 2021: Europe tops table but US dominates. American business schools make up half the top 100 as student demand holds up in the pandemic. Insead, based in France and Singapore, and the UK’s London Business School were first and second overall, ahead of Chicago: Booth in third place. However, half of the top 100 schools are based in the U.S., including seven of 14 in the highest tier of the ranking. (Financial Times)
America’s CEOs are increasingly convinced the Covid crisis will soon end. Those surveyed rated their confidence in future business conditions at 7.1/10 on average—a 2-year high. At 78%, the proportion of CEOs forecasting increasing revenues is now at its highest level since April of 2019. The proportion of CEOs planning to add to their workforce in the year ahead has reached a level unseen since September 2018. (Chief Executive)
Technology
Minneapolis police obtained a search warrant ordering Google to turn over sets of account data on vandals accused of sparking violence in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd last year. These so-called geofence warrants — or reverse-location warrants — are frequently directed at Google in large part because the search and advertising giant collects and stores vast databases of geolocation data on billions of account holders who have “location history” turned on. (TechCrunch)
Meditation and wellness podcasts are on the rise, says new data from Spotify. The company reports a 250% increase in people listening to meditation podcasts, and a 160% increase in people listening to wellness podcasts. (PodNews)
The Washington Post’s technology coverage saw a 40% growth in readership in 2020, and the paper is adding eight positions that will grow the team to 27 reporters, editors and video journalists. (Washington Post)
Mark Cuban is getting in on the audio and podcasting hype. Alongside co-founder Falon Fatemi, he’s planning to launch Fireside, a “next-gen podcast platform” that facilitates live conversation, according to an email sent to possible creator partners seen by The Verge. The app idea is similar to the buzzy live audio startup Clubhouse, except with the ability to natively record conversations. A source close to Fireside says the app plans to launch publicly this year. (The Verge)
The New Tech Stack for Virtual-First Care: After a record-breaking year for digital health, we’re (finally!) entering into a new golden era for tech-enabled healthcare. There has been an explosion of stand-alone, full-stack digital health startups that take the form of a virtual clinic and compete directly with traditional providers for patients. So what comprises the new tech stack for virtual-first care? Digital health companies have infrastructure needs in the following areas:
Care delivery services: e.g. clinical operations, virtual consults, ancillary services (e.g. labs, pharmacy)
Back office administration: e.g. revenue cycle, credentialing, supply chain management
Front office administration: e.g. scheduling, registration, payments and e-commerce, customer engagement
Today, each of these categories can be viewed as a micro-service where a digital health company might contract with multiple companies across these categories, or even create redundancy through multiple relationships within a category. In the future, the winners will likely expand their surface area to capture more value within a given box (the same way Truepill has expanded beyond pharmacy into telehealth and lab services). (a16z)
Smart Links
EV owners drive them much less than gas-powered cars. (Axios, NBER)
EV company with almost no revenue posts 3,000% gain in 8 months. (Bloomberg)
Reddit’s valuation doubles to $6 billion after funding round. (Wall Street Journal)
Healthcare lost 30K jobs in January in first setback since pandemic hit. (Healthcare Dive)
Moody's predicts continued demand for graduate programs. (HigherEd Dive)
Hackers post detailed patient medical records from two hospitals to the dark web. (NBC News)
Current spacesuits won’t cut it on the moon. So NASA made new ones. (MIT Technology Review)