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The World
The U.S. economic recovery is accelerating as stimulus money, Covid-19 vaccinations and business re-openings spur a spring surge in consumer spending, a sharp pullback in layoffs and a bounceback in factory output: Global equities reached new heights and Treasuries rallied sharply, following the release of upbeat economic data in the U.S. and reassurances that the Federal Reserve will continue to support financial markets. March retail sales rose by the most in 10 months while the number of Americans filing for new unemployment benefits fell by 193,000 last week to 576,000, beating economists’ expectations for 700,000 new claims. (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. announced new sanctions on Russia and formally blamed the country’s premier intelligence agency for the hacking operation that breached American government agencies and the nation’s largest companies. President Biden announced sanctions on 32 entities and individuals for disinformation efforts and for carrying out Moscow’s interference in the 2020 presidential election. Ten Russian diplomats were expelled from the Russian Embassy in Washington. The U.S. also joined with European partners to impose sanctions on eight people and entities associated with Russia’s occupation of Crimea. (New York Times)
The Biden administration said it didn’t have solid intelligence that Russia had offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill U.S. troops. The administration said U.S. intelligence had only “low to moderate confidence” in the reports. (Wall Street Journal)
Britain joined the U.S. in accusing Russia’s foreign intelligence service of conducting a series of cyberattacks and attempting to influence democratic elections. The Foreign Office said it was “highly likely” that Russia’s foreign spy agency was responsible for the SolarWinds hack and meddling in elections. (The Times)
Why it's so hard to review the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? Data. Or specifically, a lack of it. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine counts for only 7.5 million of America’s 195 million shots delivered. But the real issue is that the U.S. has a fragmented healthcare system, so there’s no comprehensive way to assess risks and benefits for different groups who have received the vaccine. Instead, regulators hope clinicians will hear about the pause and proactively report cases they hadn’t previously connected to vaccinations. (MIT Technology Review)
British researchers said there is a much higher risk of brain blood clots from Covid-19 infection than there is from vaccines against the disease. (Reuters)
38 states reported an increase during the past week in the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19, as a spring wave has driven hospitalizations above 47,000, the highest since March 4. (Washington Post)
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said it is likely that people who receive Covid-19 vaccines will need booster shots within a year afterward, and then annual vaccinations, to maintain protection against the virus as it evolves. (Wall Street Journal)
Médecins Sans Frontières says Brazil’s Covid-19 response is the worst in the world. (The Guardian)
President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will present a united front on Taiwan, China's most sensitive territorial issue, in a summit meeting today. Biden and Suga are expected to agree on a joint statement on the Chinese claimed but democratically ruled island. Meanwhile, Taiwan's airspace sees increase in Chinese military incursions. (Reuters, Statista)
Nicholas Burns, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and career diplomat, is in the final stages of vetting to serve as President Biden’s ambassador to China. The U.S. relationship with China will be the most critical — and consequential — of Biden's presidency. (Axios)
China’s economic growth surged to 18.3% over a year earlier in 1Q21 but an explosive rebound in factory and consumer activity following the coronavirus pandemic is leveling off. The figures reported Friday were magnified by comparison with early 2020, when the world’s second-largest economy suffered its deepest contraction in decades. Growth compared with 4Q20, when a recovery was under way, was only 0.6%, among the past decade’s lowest. (Associated Press)
For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, consumer confidence in China shot higher than its pre-pandemic level. Morning Consult’s Index of Consumer Sentiment in China read 156.85 for the first 13 days of April, up 2.36 points from March. This compares with the pre-pandemic figure of 153.14 for the month of October 2019. April’s increase builds on the 5.54-point improvement in March, the second-largest monthly increase over the past 18 months. (Morning Consult)
Economy
Citigroup put its consumer operations in 13 markets across Asia and eastern Europe up for sale, appeasing investors who have pressured the bank to boost profitability. It will offload its consumer franchises in Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Citi said it would focus its business on wealth management in those regions through four hubs: Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and London. CEO Jane Fraser: “We have decided that we are going to double down on wealth.” Citigroup posted higher earnings for 1Q21; Bank of America’s profit doubled. (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal)
US covid contract details are a “trade secret”—according to the contractors: Companies taking millions of dollars from the US government to fight the pandemic are using exemptions to hide travel expenses, labor costs—and even why they’re qualified for the job. The redactions cite a rule in the Freedom of Information Act referred to as Exemption 4, which allows companies to hide “commercial information” from the public. The contractor, rather than the government, decides what is considered sensitive information. (MIT Technology Review)
Amazon is introducing a new private label food brand, called Aplenty, reports StoreBrands. The line includes products across confections, salty snacks, cookies, crackers, frozen foods, condiments, sauces, seasonings, baking mixes, and other pantry goods. This follow’s Target’s introduction of Favorite Day, a line of indulgent items, last month. (Specialty Foods)
Small business owners are less confident about their ability to get a loan — a drop-off that's worst among Hispanic-owned businesses, according to a new survey by Quickbooks. A separate Fed study found Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses were half as likely as white counterparts to be approved for a non-emergency loan in the past year, despite similar credit risk. (Axios, Quickbooks, Federal Reserve Bank)
Technology
In his final letter to shareholders as CEO, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos revealed that the tech giant's Prime service now has over 200 million subscribers. That's up 50 million from the beginning of 2020. Bezos noted that the net profit for Amazon in 2020 was $21.3 billion. He also said: “It’s clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees.” (Cnet, CNBC)
How the chip shortage got so bad -- and why it's so hard to fix: The supply crunch became a pressing issue for governments when it began to hit automakers earlier this year. The U.S., Japan and Germany started pressuring Asia's key chipmaking economies — South Korea and Taiwan — to prioritize automotive chips, even at the expense of other customers, including smartphone makers and computer manufacturers. Political pressure to prioritize automakers' needs only further squeezed the supply chain. One result of this chaos is that the already fierce competition in the tech industry has grown even more cutthroat. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Intel, Nvidia, TSMC execs agree: Chip shortage could last into 2023. (Ars Technica)
Europe seeks to limit use of AI in society: The use of facial recognition for surveillance, or algorithms that manipulate human behavior, will be banned under proposed EU regulations on artificial intelligence. The wide-ranging proposals, which were leaked ahead of their official publication, also promised tough new rules for what they deem high-risk AI. That includes algorithms used by the police and in recruitment. (BBC News)
Alibaba does not expect any material impact from the antitrust crackdown in China that will push it to overhaul how it deals with merchants, its CEO said, after regulators fined the e-commerce giant $2.75 billion for abusing market dominance. Shares in Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd rose as much as 9% in Hong Kong trade as a key source of uncertainty for the company was removed, and on relief the fine and steps ordered were not more onerous. (Reuters)
Apple vs. Facebook: Why iOS 14.5 started a big tech fight. A new privacy feature in Apple’s iOS 14.5 requires apps to request permission to track you. And Facebook isn’t happy about it. (Wall Street Journal)
Smart Links
Airline executives cast doubt on European summer vacations with borders still closed. (CNBC)
Here are the states where retirement savers have the biggest nest eggs. (CNBC)
165 new cancer genes identified with the help of machine learning. (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft)
Garry Kasparov launches a community-first chess platform. (TechCrunch)
People may trust computers more than humans. (University of Georgia)
College transfer enrollment still lagging this spring. (Higher Ed Dive)
Reuters puts its website behind a paywall. (New York Times)
Google Earth’s historical 3D time lapses show the ravages of climate change. (The Verge)