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The World
Joe Biden will make his case for a $1.9tn stimulus plan directly to the public on his first official trip outside of Washington since becoming president in a bid to pressure Congress into closing negotiations. Biden’s planned visit to Milwaukee today comes as he seeks to recapture the full attention of lawmakers for his economic agenda. Biden continues with a Thursday visit to a Pfizer vaccine plant and remarks via videoconference on Friday at the Munich security conference and a G7 meeting. (Financial Times)
Meanwhile, Biden and the Fed are leaving 1970s inflation fears behind. Administration and Fed officials argue that workers not getting enough stimulus help is a larger concern than potential spikes in consumer prices. (New York Times)
House Speaker Pelosi said Congress will establish an outside, independent commission to review the “facts and causes” related to the deadly 6 January insurrection. Pelosi said in a letter to members of Congress that the commission would be modeled on a similar one convened after 9/11. (The Guardian)
Russia hasn’t ruled out the idea of President Vladimir Putin talking to Tesla billionaire Elon Musk on social media app Clubhouse, according to multiple media reports. The Kremlin told reporters that the proposal was “interesting” but more details were needed. (CNBC)
International companies that want to participate in the Saudi government’s investment opportunities “will have to make a choice” and establish regional headquarters in the kingdom as of 2024 or they will not win government contracts, the Saudi finance minister said. (Reuters)
The Pfizer vaccine not only prevents infection but also reduces the risk of contracting a serious case of COVID-19, as new data showed 94% fewer symptomatic coronavirus cases and 92% fewer cases of serious illness among those who were vaccinated. (Jerusalem Post)
A rare deep freeze in Texas that raised demand for power forced the U.S. state’s electric grid operator to impose rotating blackouts that left nearly 3 million customers without electricity. San Antonio awoke to 9 degrees, with 6-7 inches of snow in the Hill Country. (Texas Tribune, Reuters, San Antonio News-Express)
Several top U.S. business schools are skipping popular M.B.A. rankings this year, upending an annual rite for programs and prospective students. Harvard Business School, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Columbia Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, among others, opted to skip the most recent rankings by the Economist and the Financial Times. Several schools said Covid-19 made it difficult to gather the data they must submit to be ranked. Overall, 62% of programs plan to participate in some rankings, while 10% don’t plan to cooperate for any lists this year. (Wall Street Journal)
Bill Gates released his new book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: “I wrote How to Avoid a Climate Disaster because I think we’re at a crucial moment. I’ve seen exciting progress in the more than 15 years that I’ve been learning about energy and climate change. The cost of renewable energy from the sun and wind has dropped dramatically. There’s more public support for taking big steps to avoid a climate disaster than ever before. And governments and companies around the world are setting ambitious goals for reducing emissions. What we need now is a plan that turns all this momentum into practical steps to achieve our big goals. That’s what How to Avoid a Climate Disaster is: a plan for eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.” (Gates Notes, Amazon)
Economy
Japan’s leading share index closed above 30,000 for the first time in more than 30 years as a broad rally in Asia boosted European markets. The Nikkei 225 was up 564.08 points, or 1.9%, to 30,084.15. The last time it was above 30,000 was August 1990. Economic output in Japan grew 3% from the third to the fourth quarter of 2020 as the country recorded a strong comeback from Covid-19. (The Times, Financial Times)
Investors’ near-insatiable demand for even the riskiest corporate debt is fueling a Wall Street lending boom, offering lifelines for struggling companies even as the coronavirus pandemic still drags on the economy. More than $13 billion of the debt issued since the beginning of the year had ratings triple-C or lower—the riskiest tier save for outright default—about twice the previous record pace. Despite the onslaught of new bonds, riskier companies can now borrow at interest rates once reserved for the safest type of debt. (Wall Street Journal)
Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, wants the companies it invests in globally to boost the number of women on their boards and to consider setting targets if fewer than 30% of their directors are female, top fund officials told Reuters. (Reuters)
Oil prices soared to their highest in about 13 months as vaccine rollouts promised to revive demand and producers kept supply reined in. Oil prices gained around 5% last week. (Reuters)
With agricultural prices soaring, metal prices hitting the highest in years and oil well above $50 a barrel, JPMorgan Chase is calling it: Commodities appear to have begun a new supercycle of years-long gains. A long-term boom across the commodities complex appears likely with Wall Street betting on a strong economic recovery from the pandemic and hedging against inflation. (Bloomberg)
Research on the power of online reviews: It turns out a product's first review can have an outsized effect on the item's future -- it can even cause the product to fail. Researchers looked at the influence of the first review after noticing the exact same products getting positive reviews on one retailer's website but negative reviews on others. They showed that the first review can affect a product's overall reviews for up to three years, influencing both the amount and the tone of later reviews: "The first review has the potential to sway the entire evolution path of online consumer reviews." The reason: When a product got a negative first review, fewer people were willing to take a chance on buying it, so it had fewer opportunities to receive positive reviews, creating a lingering impact from the first unhappy customer. (University of Florida)
Technology
This year's iPhone 13 lineup will include an always-on display with a 120Hz refresh rate, improved camera capabilities for astrophotography, stronger MagSafe magnets, and a finer matte finish on the back, according to leaker Max Weinbach. (MacRumors)
Clubhouse employs an unusually aggressive user onboarding process, pressuring users to upload contacts before ranking those contacts based on total connections — The app pressures you to upload your phone's contacts — and makes them visible in surprising ways. Meanwhile, Twitter’s Clubhouse clone “Spaces” is poised to give the hottest app on the planet a run for its money. (OneZero, OneZero-2)
Clubhouse, which centralizes creation and consumption into a feedback loop, will do for audio what Twitter, Stories, and TikTok did for text, images, and video. (Stratechery)
The alternative social network Parler has reopened after a month offline. The company announced in a press release that the site is now accessible for users with existing accounts and will accept new signups starting next week. It’s also announced a new interim CEO: Mark Meckler, who previously cofounded the right-wing group Tea Party Patriots. (The Verge)
The gaming industry is going through a period of great consolidation, with a few underlying factors: Central banks are dumping money into the economy, creating an overheated investment environment; studio acquisitions are a great way to secure content for subscription services; larger gaming companies have been performing extraordinarily well.
Market research firm DDM collected 2020 transaction data: Gaming industry investment reached a new high of $13.2 billion in 2020, up 77% from 2019; M&A volume reached a new high of 220 deals in 2020, a 33% year-over-year increase; things really started heating up in the fourth quarter of 2020, when 75 M&A deals took place, nearly double the number of deals made in Q4 2019. (Protocol, DDM)
Cinemas in South Korea are renting out their screens to gamers. (BBC News)
Smart Links
The president of Arizona State University invested in digital learning long before the pandemic struck. (Financial Times)
Ivy League sports are still on the sidelines. Wealthy alumni are not happy. (Wall Street Journal)
Why the $1.1 trillion live events industry is pivoting to vaccine logistics. (Marker)
Heating your outdoor patio? Propane prices have climbed more than 70% since late November. (Wall Street Journal)
U.K. broker expects London to become a younger city. (Mansion Global)
NTSB probes runway steering issues with Piper aircraft model. (Wall Street Journal)