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The World
Joe Biden’s inaugural address used the word ‘democracy’ more than any other president’s: “Democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.” (CNBC)
Biden signed 17 Executive Orders, including implementing a national mask mandate on federal property, revoking a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, asking agencies to extend moratoriums on evictions and on federal student loan payments, and reversing a travel ban from several largely Muslim and African countries. Biden has also halted construction of Trump’s border wall with Mexico. He also bolstered the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and revoked the plan to exclude noncitizens from the census count.(Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times)
Business leaders are warning they will fight moves to raise corporate taxes, tighten regulation and double the federal minimum wage under the Biden administration — even as they signaled strong support for the new president’s plans to tame the pandemic and stimulate the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P hit new highs on upbeat earnings. World leaders from the UK to France to Israel to Iran also weighed in, mostly (though not all) with comments focusing on building alliances. (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters)
68% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of his presidential transition and about four in 10 rate his Cabinet appointments as "outstanding" or "above average. Majorities view Biden (57%) and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (53%) favorably. (Gallup)
The UK has reported the highest number of daily deaths since the pandemic started. Germany is set to extend its lockdown, while adding further measures, including pressing companies to allow most employees to work from home. Slovakia will allow commuting to work only with a negative coronavirus test. France has imposed a nationwide 6 p.m. curfew. Italians are barred from traveling outside their home region for at least another month. Hong Kong is experiencing a fourth wave, as new infections are back in triple figures. (The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post)
German supermarket chain Aldi became the latest grocery sector company to offer incentives for U.S. employees getting a vaccine, saying it would give up to four hours of pay to those who choose to receive inoculations. The retailer has more than 2,000 stores in 37 U.S. states. (Reuters)
Vaccine Tourism: The vaccine shortage is putting Americans on the road in search for shots. Florida and ski resorts are seeing influx of vaccine tourists, including more than 36,000 out-of-staters snared recent doses in Florida. Former Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons is among them. He and his wife flew to Miami from New York this month when he found out that Florida was vaccinating people 65 and older “no questions asked,” said Parsons, 72, who initially didn’t qualify to receive the shot in New York. (Bloomberg)
With the Olympics only 6 months away, slow vaccine distribution is adding to Tokyo’s woes. Meanwhile, the EU wants to set up a mechanism that would allow the sharing of surplus vaccines with poorer neighboring states and Africa. In the U.S., schools need thousands of more teachers, full-time and substitute, to keep classrooms open, as Amazon sent a letter to Biden, saying it is ‘ready to assist’ with U.S. vaccination efforts. (Wall Street Journal, Reuters, New York Times, GeekWire)
Beijing announced sanctions against a slew of recently departed Trump administration officials, barring them from entering or doing business with the country, including: former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, and former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger. In total, 28 people were targeted by the measures, which also apply to the individuals’ immediate family members. The UK blasted Beijing over its threat to stop recognizing Hong Kong BN(O) passports. Meanwhile, a survey of 11 European countries showed most say the EU should be self-reliant and remain neutral in any conflict between the U.S. and China. (South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post-2)
The EU is not immune to “the danger to democracy” unleashed by Trump and must “rein in” the internet to prevent the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation, European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said. In Germany, QAnon is gaining momentum — and its most ardent followers are sticking with Donald Trump. In the UK, far-right extremists take over a land sales Facebook page. (The Times, Deutsche Welle, The Guardian)
Economy
China's public and private sectors are set to spend $1.6 trillion through 2025 to develop next-generation infrastructure, including the 5G network and electric-vehicle charging stations. Meanwhile, one thing is missing from China’s otherwise remarkable economic recovery: a strong rebound in consumer spending. Its growth remains highly unbalanced, relying heavily on exports of manufactured goods to the U.S. and elsewhere. Domestic consumption has lagged, with retail sales shrinking 3.9% in 2020 from the previous year and demand for imported goods falling slightly. (Nikkei Asian Review, Wall Street Journal)
Morgan Stanley’s earnings jumped 51% in 4Q20, sending profits at the US bank to a record annual high and capping a strong results season across Wall Street driven by a boom in trading and fundraising. Meanwhile, United Airlines posted a 4Q20 loss and warned sales would continue to suffer in the early part of 2021 as the coronavirus pandemic drags on. (Financial Times, CNBC)
M&A valuations boomed in 2H20 with total global deal volumes and values increasing by 18% and 94%, respectively compared to 1H20. In addition, deal volumes and values were up compared to 2H19. The higher deal values were partly due to an increase in megadeals ($5 billion+), with 56 megadeals in 2H20 compared to 27 in the first half. The tech and telecom sub-sectors saw the highest growth in 2H20, with tech deal volumes up 34% and values up 118%., and telecom up 15% and almost 300%. Regionally, deal volumes increased by 20% in the Americas, 17% in EMEA and 17% in Asia Pacific between the first and second half of 2020. (PwC)
The pound hit an 8-month high against the euro on UK economy hopes, as UBS said post-Brexit bureaucracy facing Britain’s services sector could be equivalent to imposing a tariff of as much as 26%. Meanwhile, commercial real estate debt is being sustained by Central Bank bond buying, leaving some concerned that the policy is obscuring potential long-term pain inflicted by the lockdowns. (Financial Times, The Times, Wall Street Journal)
Business makes the case for a post-Trump reset: A group of company leaders and former policymakers argue that “globalism” isn’t an epithet. Instead, they argue, it is the way forward. A provocative memo being circulated among policymakers on both sides of the aisle and the Biden team. The memo comes from an under-the-radar group of global boldfaced names that act as a private advisory committee to JPMorgan Chase. Among others, they include Tony Blair, the former British prime minister; Condoleezza Rice and Henry Kissinger, two former secretaries of state; Robert Gates, the former secretary of defense; Alex Gorsky, chief executive of Johnson & Johnson; Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH; and Joseph C. Tsai, executive vice chairman of Alibaba. The resulting document is a manifesto of sorts calling for a reset, a return to the pre-Trump days. It seeks to turn back the clock to a time when being called a globalist wasn’t an epithet, but acknowledges the failures of globalism and seeks to correct them. (New York Times)
Technology
Does deplatforming work? “[Deplatforming] is working, but it’s very much a short term solution to a very complex problem,” says Joan Donovan, research director at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center. Jonathon Morgan, CEO of Yonder, a company that tracks misinformation campaigns, agrees. “In the coming months we can expect online disinformation campaigns to get more creative, more desperate, and harder to predict,” he says. “The spike in usage of messaging platforms like Telegram and Signal will be temporary. Most users will either settle on platforms with a social experience, like Gab, MeWe, or Parler, if it returns, or will migrate back to Twitter and Facebook.” (Fast Company)
Silicon Valley investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, which once courted attention from the news media, is ramping up its own media efforts. The firm plans to expand its publication of content related to technology and business on its website through an opinion section that publishes articles from outside contributors. The firm currently has two editorial roles open to helm the new efforts. It is in search of an executive editor and an opinions editor. (The Information)
Financial technology start-up Plaid plans to more than double its European workforce this year, even after scrapping a deal to be acquired by Visa amid U.S. antitrust concerns. (CNBC)
The launch of rebranded streaming service Paramount+ has been set by ViacomCBS. It will go live in the U.S. and Latin America on March 4, the Nordics on March 25 and Australia by the middle of the year. (Deadline)
Smart Links
51% of U.S. households face retirement insecurity. (Wall Street Journal)
Why empty office buildings still devour energy (hint: pre-pandemic leases). (Fast Company)
Jack Ma made his first public appearance since Ant’s cancelled IPO. (Financial Times)
Google is investigating the actions of another top AI ethicist. (Axios)
Tesla fourth-quarter registrations in California jumped 63%. (Reuters)
Madrid is the European city with the most deaths linked to traffic emissions. (The Times)
At the inauguration of the 46th U.S. President, a 22 year old stole the show (full text of “The Hill We Climb”). (Los Angeles Times, New York Times, NPR)