The World
As the July 4 holiday weekend arrives in the U.S., patients suffering from covid-19 are rapidly filling hospitals across the South and West, with Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada and Arizona setting records for hospitalizations: South Florida clamps down while patients fill hospitals; Texas hospitals grapple with patient influxes; Arizona capacity shrinks. Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texans in most counties to wear masks in public. (Washington Post, Miami Herald, AZ Central, Texas Tribune, New York Times)
While 4.8 million U.S. jobs created in June, those were overwhelmingly people beginning to return to places where they had been temporarily laid off. The number of "permanent job losers" went up, not down, rising 25% in just one month to 2.8 million from 2.2 million. Unemployment stands at 11.1%, while the "full recall" unemployment rate, which assumes that 100% of temporarily laid-off workers return to their old jobs, is north of 7%. (Axios)
Chinese shares hit 5-year high on growing optimism over economy, as Hong Kong police file the first charges under its national security law and the official who quashed the 2011 protests is named Hong Kong national security chief. Meanwhile, China is braced for possible financial sanctions from the U.S., but still hopes to ease tensions. (Financial Times, Nikkei Asian Review, Financial Times, South China Morning Post)
Japanese tech company Fujitsu will cut its office space in Japan by half over the next three years, a move that may herald a new trend among large Japanese companies. (Nikkei Asian Review)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told a meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers Party the North had stopped the coronavirus from making inroads in the country. (Reuters)
Eurozone consumers are hoarding record amounts of cash. (Financial Times)
Economy & Finance
The pandemic did not stall 2Q20 Healthcare M&A as much as some expected. In fact, "significant uptick in M&A activity to be just ahead of us." During the quarter, 14 transactions were announced — a significant slowdown from 1Q20, which saw 29 transactions, but just slightly down from 2Q19, which had 19. (HealthcareDive)
The forces that will reshape American cities: The pandemic will likely accelerate the pull of the suburbs for families while pushing young people and businesses into more affordable urban areas. (CityLab)
A proposed new Labor Department rule would effectively ban pension-plan administrators from making any kind of ESG offering part of the default option in a 401(k) plan, and would discourage them from having any ESG options at all. (Axios)
Technology
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is taking steps to move a bigger portion of Uber’s engineering work to India. Since becoming CEO in 2017, Khosrowshahi has steadily pushed engineering jobs to India: About 15% of Uber’s engineering team, or about 600 people, is now in India, up from 80 engineers in 2017. (The Information)
India’s richest man takes on Zoom. (TechCrunch)
Tech start-up Anduril Industries was awarded a major border security contract to use artificial intelligence on an unprecedented scale, pairing the president’s giant steel barrier with the kind of “virtual wall” long favored by Democrats. (Washington Post)
There were 133,171 new shows in Apple Podcasts in June: The highest amount of new shows ever added in just one month. It brings the total amount of valid podcasts to over 1,250,000. However, the rate of new shows added daily has declined dramatically, suggesting the growth is beginning to slow. (PodNews)
Smart Links
A 28-year-old with no degree becomes a must-read on the economy. (BusinessWeek)
Pharrell Williams, Ron Conway teaming up for new venture fund. (The Information)
Private equity's Hong Kong decision. (Axios)
The Facebook boycott could just make Facebook stronger. (Politico)
Frozen entree consumption is falling back down to pre-coronavirus levels. (CivicScience)