The World
The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration said they will release information for small businesses that received at least $150,000 in PPP loans, after a week of bipartisan pushback against their desire to keep such data. (Axios)
China and the European Union gave differing accounts of a bilateral summit, with Beijing talking of consensus, while EU officials highlighted differences over market access and Hong Kong. The European Union is demanding that China redress an “unbalanced” trade and investment relationship and open its markets wider to European firms. Meanwhile, India said it would prohibit state-run telecom companies from buying Chinese equipment. (South China Morning Post, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg)
North Korea is preparing to bombard South Korea with millions of insulting leaflets dropped by balloon, in a further sign of rapidly deteriorating relations between the two countries. (The Times)
New York City is allowing companies to reopen offices today. But real-estate brokers and landlords expect only 10% to 20% of Manhattan’s office workers will return. Meanwhile, infectious disease experts are expressing alarm over the pace of new infections in several states in the South and Southwest, with one likening the spread in parts of the U.S. to a “forest fire.” WHO reports record daily increase in confirmed cases. (Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Reuters)
From Oxford to an Italian lab, one race for coronavirus vaccine is gaining backers: European countries are lining up behind the Oxford University project. Last week, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands struck a deal for 400 million doses of the experimental Oxford vaccine, which, if approved by regulators, would be produced by the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca. (Washington Post)
Large companies significantly increased cash and short-term investments as well as total debt—much more rapidly than they did in the preceding quarters. For S&P 500 companies, the median increase in cash and short-term investments was 13.9% in 1Q20, compared with less than 4.1% in the prior three quarters. (Wall Street Journal)
Vast federal aid capped a rise in poverty, studies find, though when the aid expires next month, families could again be vulnerable. Meanwhile, middle-income and rural families disproportionately grapple with child-care deserts. (New York Times, Washington Post)
Economy & Finance
U.S. banks are ‘swimming in money’ as deposits increase by $2 trillion. In April alone, deposits grew by $865 billion, more than the previous record for an entire year, meaning banks will likely lower their already paltry interest rates. (CNBC)
Detroit’s automakers are gearing up for full production as they race to make up for lost output and meet stronger-than-expected demand. Ford and Fiat Chrysler said they will resume pre-pandemic manufacturing schedules at U.S. plants from June 22. GM said it aims to be back to normal output levels by month’s end. (Bloomberg)
U.S. home-mortgage delinquencies climbed in May to the highest level since November 2011 as the pandemic’s toll on personal finances deepened. More than 8% of all U.S. mortgages were past due or in foreclosure. Meanwhile, May U.S. home sales dropped 9.7%. (Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal)
Mall operator Brookfield is skipping payments while demanding tenants pay up. (Financial Times)
Corporate venture capital (CVC) is booming, with more than $50 billion of CVC capital deployed in 2018, rising 400% between 2013 and 2018. This rise has been driven by two factors: 1) the tech landscape is moving at a faster pace and bigger companies know they need to innovate quicker to meet market demand; and 2) startups seeking CVC capital is growing as founders look beyond traditional venture funds. (TechCrunch)
Technology
Google's U.S. ad revenue is expected to decline in 2020, eMarketer says, the first decline since it started tracking Google’s ad revenue in 2008. (Wall Street Journal)
Microsoft’s UK arm paid up a £150 million dividend to its parent company as revenues at the US tech giant soared in Britain. (The Telegraph)
After reopening, Apple announced that it would close stores in 11 states. Meanwhile, Apple is holding a WWDC keynote today on the first day of its developer conference, and the company is expected to talk about a ton of software updates. Streaming live here at 1 pm ET: (Bloomberg, TechCrunch)
Facebook’s Month of Whiplash: The company was riding a wave of positive publicity during the coronavirus lockdown. Soon, Facebook was back in the doghouse. Meanwhile, Patagonia joined the Facebook advertising boycott over misinformation and hate speech, amid an analysis of how Zuckerberg forged an uneasy alliance with the Trump administration. (The Information, The Telegraph, New York Times)
Digital games revenue totaled $10.2B in May, down 3% from April’s record-breaking total of $10.5B. Digital console revenue fell 27% from April to May due to fewer new releases, but a 3% growth in mobile earnings offset this gap. (SuperData Research)
Smart Links
Bad Economy? Unleash Private Equity. (Wall Street Journal)
Who's bidding to be the next World Trade Organization chief? (Reuters)
Prevalence of living wills in U.S. up slightly. (Gallup)
Videoconferencing needs to improve. (Wired)
What’s next for Endeavor? (The Information)
Temperature hits 100 degrees in Russian Arctic town. (Los Angeles Times)