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The World
President Biden told Democrats that he believed they could secure a deal on a new tax-and-spending proposal between $1.75 trillion and $1.9 trillion, far less than some in the party initially sought, even as some lawmakers later maintained it still would allow them to accomplish broad swaths of their vast economic agenda. The early outline — shared at least with liberal lawmakers in the House — appeared to offer one potential avenue for the White House to broker a truce among Democrats’ warring left-leaning and moderate factions. The potential new price range marks a significant reduction from the $3.5 trillion that some Democrats initially pursued under a budget agreement chiefly brokered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). But it is closer to the number that centrists, especially Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), had outlined in recent months. (Washington Post)
The European Commission will take steps to punish Poland for challenging the supremacy of EU law, its head has vowed as she condemned Warsaw for “calling into question the foundations of the European Union”. Ursula von der Leyen, commission president, said Brussels had three tools to hit back at Poland, ranging from a legal challenge, to a formal sanction that could withhold tens of billions of euros in EU funds, and a political process that has the power to strip the country of bloc membership rights. “We cannot and we will not allow our common values to be put at risk. The commission will act,” von der Leyen told the European parliament in a strongly critical speech, as Poland’s prime minister listened in the chamber. (Financial Times)
Britons face new taxes or reduced public spending to pay for the country’s rapid transition to net zero, the Treasury warned, as splits emerged at the top of government over the costs of decarbonization. Boris Johnson pledged that Britain could meet its ambitious net zero targets “without so much as a hair shirt in sight” as he set out a cross-government plan to realise the country’s climate change ambitions. (The Times)
The IMF slashed this year's economic growth forecast for Asia and warned that a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections, supply chain disruptions and inflation pressures pose downside risks to the outlook. China's economy will grow by 8.0% this year and 5.6% in 2022, but the recovery remains "unbalanced" as repeated coronavirus outbreaks and fiscal tightening weigh on consumption, it said. (Reuters)
North Korea test-fired a new, smaller ballistic missile from a submarine, state media confirmed on Wednesday, a move that analysts said could be aimed at more quickly fielding an operational missile submarine. (Reuters)
More companies mandate vaccine ahead of deadline: General Electric, Union Pacific and other large U.S. employers are imposing Covid-19 vaccine mandates for their workers to comply with a Dec. 8 deadline set by the Biden administration for companies that are federal contractors. (Wall Street Journal)
Tennis players who haven’t received a Covid-19 vaccination are unlikely to get a visa to enter the country for the Australian Open in Melbourne in January, according to the political leader of the state which hosts the season-opening major. (Associated Press)
Many counties across the country’s northernmost regions are experiencing rising cases as colder weather arrives. The top five states in new daily cases per capita are led by Alaska, which is logging the highest daily average. The next four states, with at least 67 cases per 100,000 people, are Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Idaho. The five states with the fastest rising caseloads are Vermont, Colorado, New Hampshire, Michigan and Minnesota. (New York Times)
U.S. approval ratings rally from record lows: As of early August 2021, across 46 countries and territories, median approval of U.S. leadership stood at 49%. This rating is up from the 30% median approval at the end of Donald Trump's presidency and matches the rating during former President Barack Obama's first year in office in 2009. However, while the 49% median approval rating for U.S. leadership so far under Biden compares favorably with ratings during the Obama administration, the 36% disapproval rating is also higher than any of those under Obama. Still, disapproval under Biden is seven percentage points lower than the final disapproval rating under Trump -- a record-high 44%. (Gallup)
Economy
Citi limits noontime calls and meetings to fight office burnout. It's another step in CEO Jane Fraser’s push to ease workers back into the office. (Bloomberg)
U.S. public companies added the most diverse slate of new directors on record to their boards over the past year, with a surge of Black nominees and elevated numbers of women and first-time directors, according to two new studies. The gains were uneven, with about half of public-company boards adding no new members and smaller companies lagging behind their bigger counterparts, according to one of the studies. In addition, more companies of all sizes have started disclosing the racial and ethnic makeup of their boards. The second study found that a third of new independent board members for S&P 500 companies identifying director demographics were Black, up from 11% the year before, and 7% were Latino, up from 3%. With the new arrivals, a little over three-quarters of S&P 500 board members were white and 70% were men. (Wall Street Journal)
Shares of the first U.S. bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund rose in their trading debut. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, ticker “BITO,” jumped 4.8% to close at $41.94. The fund tracks CME bitcoin futures, or contracts speculating on the future price of bitcoin, rather than the crypto itself. The price of bitcoin jumped more than 4% to $64,206.51, about 1% from its all-time high from April 14 of $64,899. (CNBC)
NBA lands first cryptocurrency sponsorship with Coinbase. (CNBC)
NY investors take bigger bite of US venture pie from Silicon Valley: As more growth investors compete with VCs in startup investing, firms from the Big Apple are gaining traction. In fact, while Bay Area investors led roughly double the deal volume, that proportion began to change last year—and by 2021 the dollar amounts led by New York-based investors in U.S. startups is close to equal that of Bay Area investors. (Crunchbase)
The transaction value of B2B domestic payments across payment methods will exceed $54 trillion in 2023, up from $49 trillion in 2021, a new Juniper Research study finds. The research predicts a growth of 10%; reflecting a slow recovery in business activity following the impact of the pandemic. The research identified that while many businesses are now operating at pre-pandemic levels, the longer-term economic consequences of the pandemic are still restricting value growth. As such, leveraging payments automation to reduce manual work and boosting small business cashflow will be critical to recovery. (Juniper Research)
Amazon is aiming to hire 150,000 seasonal workers in the U.S., a move to get needed workers for the holidays against a tight labor market. The number of seasonal hires is more than the 100,000 Amazon announced last year and matches the number that rival Walmart said it would add this year. (Wall Street Journal)
Small U.S. cities dominated The Wall Street Journal/Realtor[dot]com Emerging Housing Markets Index in 3Q21, as high housing costs and remote-work opportunities drive many home buyers to seek out more living and outdoor space. Many smaller metro areas around the U.S. benefited in the past year from inward migration, as residents of bigger cities took advantage of remote work to seek cheaper housing and a different lifestyle. Vacation destinations also boomed. Elkhart, Ind., which bills itself as the RV capital of the world because its region is the country’s leading manufacturer of recreational vehicles, topped the housing index this quarter, followed by Rapid City, S.D., Topeka, Kan., Raleigh, N.C., and Jefferson City, Mo. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28, but could unveil sooner, is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more. (The Verge)
After many leaks, official teases, and months of waiting, Google has finally given its latest Pixel phones a formal launch. The new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are the latest high-end phones from the company that hasn’t traditionally been able to make much of a dent in the high-end phone market. Both are available for preorder and will begin shipping on October 28. There are a lot of things to cover with the new Pixels, but the most important place to start is this: $599 and $899. Those are the starting prices for the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, respectively. That pricing is aggressive compared to similar iPhones, Samsungs, or even OnePlus phones, especially when you consider that Google is providing 128GB of storage in both base models. (The Verge)
Only 52% of Black tech employees say they trust that their employers value inclusion and diversity, according to a new survey by /dev/color, a non-profit focused on Black technologists. 85% say they'd switch to another employer "that valued me as a Black employee more authentically." (Axios)
Amazon says third-party US sellers averaged $200K in sales in the year ended August 31, up YoY from $170K, amid scrutiny of boosting its own brands. (CNBC)
Netflix may be getting close to saturation in the streaming-video market. The company reported a slight pickup in subscriber growth globally in 3Q21, with the strongest results in the Asia-Pacific region. Subscriber numbers were basically flat in North America, where Netflix hasn’t grown meaningfully all year. The same is true for Latin America. And growth in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa region isn’t much stronger. The company is projecting that overall subscriber growth will pick up sharply in 4Q21, thanks to a strong programming lineup (including “Squid Game”). But Netflix’s numbers are the latest straw in the wind suggesting that growth in the broader streaming market may have slowed as the number of services has proliferated. At Disney, for instance, most of the growth at the Disney+ service is coming from its low-priced India service. (The Information)
Netflix and YouTube combined for 47% of “connected TV time spent” in June. That number is just 2% lower than the firm’s last report from 18 months ago. Think about that. Even with a raging pandemic and an explosion of streaming content, those two services are still sucking up half the oxygen in the room. (The Streamable)
The number of people employed in news and information-related publishing tripled between 2008 and 2020 to more than 142,000 people. The internet employs almost as many creators (200,000 full-time equivalent jobs) as the rest of the U.S. entertainment industry. The digital entertainment sector grew revenues and jobs by 13 times and four times, respectively, compared to 2008. (Axios, IAB)
Smart Links
U.S. propane market headed for ‘Armageddon’ this winter, IHS says. (Bloomberg)
It now costs $17 more, on average, than last year to fill up your car's gas tank in Massachusetts. (WBUR)
Study: Recycled lithium batteries as good as newly mined. (IEEE Spectrum)
Halloween candy sales up 48% YoY. (Specialty Foods)
Elon Musk will become a trillionaire with SpaceX, Morgan Stanley says. (Bloomberg)
These are the highest-rated UK employers for work-life balance: Glassdoor. (CNBC)
Beijing lights flame, to be first city to host summer, winter games. (Reuters)