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The World
The pace of U.S. consumer price increases accelerated unexpectedly in June, challenging the view within the Fed and White House that high inflation during the recovery will be temporary. The C.P.I. rose last month at the fastest pace since August 2008, up 5.4% from the previous year — well above the 5% rise reported in May and the 4.9% increase that economists had forecast. On a monthly basis, data showed price gains of 0.9%, the biggest one-month jump since June 2008. (Financial Times)
Sticker shock on the menu: The price of eating out jumped 0.7% last month — a staggering pace not seen since 1981. Food from vending machines saw the biggest single-month cost jump on record. All six major grocery store food categories saw prices increase — with meat, fresh fruit and vegetables seeing the steepest hikes. (Axios)
Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee agreed to roughly $3.5 trillion in spending for their broad healthcare and antipoverty plan, determining the scope of the party’s expected efforts on education, climate change, child care and a host of other issues while it has control of Congress and the White House. The $3.5 trillion price falls short of a $6 trillion package previously sought by progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), the chairman of the Budget Committee who endorsed the deal. Democrats are pursuing a budget reconciliation to advance the bill through the 50-50 Senate without GOP support. (Wall Street Journal)
China’s imports and exports posted stronger-than-expected growth in June as global demand for Chinese goods remained solid and sporadic Covid-19 outbreaks in the country’s biggest export hub didn’t hit outbound shipments as much as expected. China’s exports increased 32.2% from a year earlier in dollar terms, accelerating from a 27.9% gain in May. (Wall Street Journal)
White House officials are discussing proposals for a digital trade agreement covering Indo-Pacific economies as the administration seeks ways to check China’s influence in the region. The deal could set out standards for the digital economy, including rules on the use of data, trade facilitation and electronic customs arrangements. (Bloomberg)
Singapore GDP rebounds 14.3% in 2Q21. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Investors turn ‘much less bullish’ on global growth and profits. Fund managers say economic peak has passed but remain optimistic on European rebound, poll shows. (Financial Times)
Violent mobs overwhelmed police and burnt and looted shops across South Africa, with dozens of people killed in a fifth day of rioting. The police made around 800 arrests. The turmoil, triggered by the jailing of Jacob Zuma, the former president, last week, forced the authorities to deploy the military on to the streets to try to restore peace and allow businesses to reopen, but to little effect. (The Times)
More Afghans are likely to flee their homes due to escalating violence, the U.N. refugee agency warned, as the Taliban take control of more territory in response to the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces. "Afghanistan is on the brink of another humanitarian crisis. This can be avoided. This should be avoided," Babar Baloch, spokesman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said. (Reuters)
The U.S. has seen a string of COVID-19 outbreaks tied to summer camps in recent weeks in places such as Texas, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and Kansas, in what some fear could be a preview of the upcoming school year. In some cases the outbreaks have spread from the camp to the broader community. (Associated Press)
Chicago added two states — Missouri and Arkansas — to its travel advisory after weeks without restrictions: ‘The COVID-19 pandemic is not over.’ Several more states are also at risk of joining the restricted list because of rising cases. (Chicago Tribune)
Israel’s Health Ministry informed health providers they may begin to administer a COVID booster shot to immunocompromised adults, making Israel the first country in the world to offer a third dose. (Times of Israel)
Australia extends Sydney lockdown as COVID-19 outbreak nears 900 infections. (Reuters)
President Biden called passing voting legislation ‘a national imperative’ and castigated voting restrictions based on ‘a big lie’. Biden said that the fight against restrictive voting laws was the “most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War” and called Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election “a big lie.” In an impassioned speech in Philadelphia, Biden called on Republicans “in Congress and states and cities and counties to stand up, for God’s sake.” “Help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our election and the sacred right to vote,” the president said in remarks at the National Constitution Center. “Have you no shame?” (Washington Post, New York Times)
More than 60 wildfires were burning across at least 10 states in the parched American west, with the largest, in Oregon, consuming an area nearly twice the size of Portland. The fires have torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate from Alaska to Wyoming. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires. The CA fires have burned more than 140,000 acres. (The Guardian, Los Angeles Times)
Eight California State University campuses will give Apple iPads to incoming freshmen and transfer students, a technology initiative intended to help close the digital divide. (Los Angeles Times)
Economy
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted businesses to rapidly digitize their operations, leading to a surge in productivity in the U.S., Goldman Sachs analysts said. Since the health crisis began, annualized growth in output per hour has risen 3.1%, a big jump from the 1.4% growth recorded in the previous business cycle, the analysts said. (Reuters)
JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are benefiting from a boom in dealmaking activity just as trading revenues plunge from the record levels during the early stages of the pandemic. Both banks reported a surge in fees from advising on corporate acquisitions and IPOs during 2Q21, helping to offset declining returns from bond and stock trading. (Financial Times)
Apple and Goldman Sachs are working on a “buy now, pay later” service to let consumers pay for any Apple Pay purchase in installments, to rival Affirm and Pay Pal. (Bloomberg)
Younger employees fear being left behind by remote work: 40% of college students and recent graduates prefer fully in-person work, according to a new poll by Generation Lab, a polling and research firm that tracks trends affecting youth. Another 39% want a hybrid workplace, 19% want to work remotely and 3% say they have no preference. (Axios)
Funding to Black founders quadrupled in past year: While venture funding to Black startup entrepreneurs in the U.S. remains woefully small, Crunchbase numbers show a significant uptick over the past year that coincides with the racial justice movement that reignited across the country. Funding to Black entrepreneurs in the U.S. hit nearly $1.8 billion through the first half of 2021 — a more than fourfold increase compared to the same time frame last year. (Crunchbase)
Based on performance in 1H21, 2021 is shaping up to be a record-breaking year for private equity. In deals, exit activity, and fundraising, the industry its set to outpace previous highs, according to new data from PitchBook. In the second quarter of 2021, private equity deal making “continued at a frenetic pace,” the report said, with funds closing 3,708 deals worth an estimated total of $456.6 billion. For context, the entire year of 2020 saw 5,734 deals with a combined value of $711.6 billion. (Institutional Investor)
Record natural gas prices give power markets a jolt: Chinese demand, heat in the Pacific Northwest and drought in Brazil create pockets of scarcity for the key electricity-generating fuel. (Wall Street Journal)
Soaring coffee prices threaten to drive up costs at the breakfast table as the world’s biggest producer, Brazil, faces one of its worst droughts in almost a century. (Wall Street Journal)
Technology
Apple has asked suppliers to build up to 90M next-generation iPhones this year, up 20% YoY; this year's update will be more incremental than iPhone 12. (Bloomberg)
The free and open internet is under attack in countries around the world, Google boss Sundar Pichai warned. He says many countries are restricting the flow of information, and the model is often taken for granted. In an in-depth interview with the BBC, Pichai also addresses controversies around tax, privacy and data. And he argues artificial intelligence is more profound than fire, electricity or the internet. (BBC News)
Amazon gets the go-ahead to track your sleep with radar: The FCC gave the e-commerce giant clearance to create bedside radar devices meant to track how we toss and turn at night. And while Amazon’s putting the best face possible on the innovation, it’s still all about those ad dollars. (Gizmodo)
Ring’s end-to-end encryption for video streams is now available to US users and is currently rolling out globally. The opt-in feature makes it so that your video streams can only be viewed by you on an enrolled iOS or Android device, meaning that Ring can’t access that footage even if it wanted to. (The Verge)
Recent reports suggest that streamers are unlikely to report massive subscriber increases during upcoming earnings calls. Of Peacock's 42 million registered users, only 14 million people actively use the service per month. Of the 14 million, only about 20% pay for it. Disney+ subscriber growth has slowed meaningfully in recent months, with growth particularly slowing in North America. (Axios)
Disney's latest Marvel blockbuster, "Black Widow," not only set a new pandemic-era box office record this past weekend, it also proved that same-day streaming and theater movie releases will undoubtedly live on past the pandemic. The film brought in over $60 million from streaming sales, in addition to $158 million at the box office. (Axios)
Barry Diller says streaming services killed the movie business as he knew it. (CNBC)
Smart Links
Death rates are declining for many common cancers in the U.S. (STAT News)
3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. (Tufts University)
Women teaching internal medicine paid far less than men, study finds. (Healthcare Dive)
Rome moves to ban cruise vessels to Venice. (Wall Street Journal)
Drop standardized test scores from rankings, higher ed groups tell U.S. News. (Higher Ed Dive)
Number of colleges still accepting applications drops from pandemic high. (Higher Ed Dive)
The U.S. universities with the best pay for new graduates. (Statista)