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The World
Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell dismissed fears that the recent rise in long-term borrowing costs could be unhealthy for the US recovery, saying markets had adjusted in an “orderly” manner to a brighter economic outlook. During Senate testimony, Powell sought to stamp out concerns that the economy could overheat as a result of Joe Biden’s $1.9tn fiscal stimulus package. (Financial Times)
Resurgent economies, led by the U.S., and a burst of demand for consumer goods are heaping pressure on already strained supply chains. Shortages have been most pressing in the automobile industry, where manufacturers have been forced to cut back production in response to limited supplies of semiconductors. But difficulties in securing raw materials and other inputs have been worsened by a series of significant disruptions. (Wall Street Journal)
The fate of 29m AstraZeneca vaccine doses in Italy sparked finger pointing and recriminations as the EU warned that the company was far short of meeting its latest supply target. The European Commission called on AstraZeneca to explain the origin and intended destination of a stockpile identified by Italian authorities at the Anagni finishing plant. (Financial Times)
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering adding France to the red list from which most travel was effectively banned but warned of “very serious disruption” to trade. (The Times)
Vice President Harris will be in charge of efforts to reduce illegal immigration by finding ways to improve conditions in Central American countries, as the administration struggles to confront a surge of migrants at the country’s southern border. (New York Times)
Senior White House officials are visiting Mexico and Guatemala in a bid to curtail a surge of migrants at the U.S. southern border that is raising pressure for the Biden administration to take more aggressive measures. The meetings come as apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border are on pace to hit highs not seen in 20 years. (Wall Street Journal)
A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows declining support for providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants — including among Democrats. 43% of voters overall believe that undocumented immigrants who are currently living in the U.S. should have a pathway to citizenship — down 14 points since January. Among Democrats, support for a pathway dropped from 72% to 57% over that period; just one in four Republicans backed the idea, down 10 percentage points. (Politico)
North Korea may have launched a ballistic missile, Japan's defense ministry said, while South Korea's military reported an "unidentified projectile" was fired off the peninsula's east coast into the sea. North Korea's ballistic missiles are banned under United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and if the launch is confirmed, it would represent the first ballistic-missile test launch under Biden. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Frantic efforts are under way to unblock the Suez Canal after one of the world’s largest container ships ran aground, severing a vital trade artery and threatening to disrupt global shipments for days. The Ever Given container ship, which is almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall, is wedged across the southern end of the canal. Every day, about 50 vessels sail through the 120-mile long Suez Canal. It is a key artery handling at least 10% of global seaborne trade and a similar amount of oil shipments. (Financial Times)
How to dislodge a 200,000-ton ship from a canal wall: The struggle to dislodge it is now turning the world’s attention to the work of SMIT Salvage, a legendary Dutch firm whose employees parachute themselves from one ship wreckage to the next, saving vessels often during violent storms. The company is synonymous with some of the most daring naval salvages, including lifting a sunken Russian nuclear submarine in 2001, and removing fuel from inside the Costa Concordia cruise ship after it ran aground in Italy in 2012. (Bloomberg)
What happens next? This depends heavily on how long before ships can start moving as normal. There are alternative routes. In fact, because of the increase in piracy off the coast of Somalia, some companies have already been taking the long way around Africa, via the Cape of Good Hope. And shrinking sea ice, while a worrying sign of climate change, has made some previously impassable passages in the Arctic an option. But these options add time and distance to journeys. One immediate effect was a rise in oil futures of 1.3% when news of the grounding emerged. (New Scientist)
VA Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill banning the death penalty, making Virginia the first of the old Confederate states to do so. Over the past 400 years, Virginia has executed more prisoners than any other state. It is the second-most-prolific death-penalty state of the modern era, behind Texas. (Washington Post)
F. King Alexander put in his letter of resignation as president of Oregon State University following mounting criticism. The Board of Trustees, under pressure to fire Alexander for his handling of sexual-misconduct allegations in his previous position at Louisiana State University, accepted his resignation. “Simply stated, Dr. Alexander no longer has the confidence of the OSU community,” Rani Borkar, chairwoman of Oregon State’s board. (The Daily Barometer, Chronicle of Higher Ed)
Economy
Solo female founders saw funding fall: U.S. startups overall raised a record $143 billion in 2020. Yet funding to startups founded solely by female entrepreneurs dropped 22 percent during the pandemic year, bringing in a total of just $3.2 billion. (Crunchbase)
The prospect of summer drivers crowding U.S. highways is powering steep gains in the price of gasoline, a sign of economic recovery and a boon for the pandemic-ravaged energy industry. Lifted by oil’s recovery and growing consumer demand, gasoline prices at pumps in the U.S. hit an average of $2.88 a gallon over the past week — a 30% increase over this time last year. (Wall Street Journal)
Data in the report ‘Impact investing and the rise of sustainable tech’ shows that impact technology companies are receiving a fast-increasing amount of private equity investment. As the sector matures, those raises are becoming larger and focused on later-stage companies: (Private Equity Wire)
Record investment levels: Impact companies have raised record levels of investment in Europe and North America in 2020, breaking USD10 billion for the first time
Growing funding rounds: Funding for impact companies has increased by 51% in 2020, with the average size of funding rounds increased by 80% in 2020
Software leads the way: Software companies have dominated funding rounds in this sub-sector – making up 45 per cent of all impact investment activity
Huge increase in M&A activity: M&A activity for impact companies also saw a record year in 2020 – reaching USD69.8 billion, with four mega deals representing USD36 billion
IPO watch: SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage Compass aims for $10B valuation on NYSE. Telegram raised over $1 billion in pre-IPO convertible bonds. (Crunchbase, TechCrunch)
The number of personal and business bankruptcies filed last year in the U.S. fell by nearly 30% from 2019. (Los Angeles Times)
Technology
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will tell lawmakers his plan for "thoughtful reform" of a key tech liability shield rests on requiring best practices for treating illegal content online. Tech giants are starting to embrace changes to the foundational law that shields platforms from liability from content users post as lawmakers from both parties threaten it. In written testimony ahead of today’s House hearing with Google, Twitter and Facebook CEOs, Zuckerberg suggested making Section 230 protections for certain types of unlawful content conditional on platforms' ability to meet best practices to fight the spread of the content. (Axios)
Apple says privacy is a “fundamental human right,” and shielding people’s privacy is the cornerstone of the company’s public relations. But those privacy concerns don’t necessarily apply to the workers who make its products. Apple recently told manufacturing partners that they can no longer collect biometric data such as fingerprints or facial scans of Apple employees who visit their facilities. However, the new rule doesn’t pertain to the more than 1 million workers employed by those manufacturers who make its products, many of whom must submit to these scans to enter areas where new Apple products are made. (The Information)
Amazon delivery drivers nationwide have to sign a "biometric consent" form that grants the tech behemoth permission to use AI-powered cameras to access drivers' location, movement, and biometric data. If the company’s delivery drivers — some 75,000 in the U.S. — refuse, they lose their jobs. The form requires drivers to agree to facial recognition and other biometric data collection within the trucks they drive. (Motherboard)
Anger with Nike erupted on Chinese social media after China’s netizens spotted a statement from the sporting goods giant saying it was “concerned” about reports of forced labour in Xinjiang and that it does not use cotton from the region. (Reuters)
WarnerMedia appears to be done with its 2021 experiment of releasing movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters. The company has struck a deal with the Regal theater chain under which Warner films will have a 45-day exclusive window, which means streaming release would be delayed by at least six weeks after films show up in theaters. (The Information, Variety)
WhatsApp for work: Slack is turning into a full-on messaging app. Rather than replacing email with chat, Slack now wants to replace the entire workplace. The final frontier for Slack, as it tries to reimagine the way millions of people communicate at work, is the text message. (Protocol)
Smart Links
10 ways office work will never be the same. (Recode)
Union-friendly states enjoy higher economic growth, individual earnings. (Cornell University)
Los Angeles outlines road map for 100% renewable energy. (Los Angeles Times)
People averaged 1.5 pounds of weight gain during pandemic. (JAMA)
Apple podcasts reached 2 million podcasts. (Podcast Industry Insights)
The best printers for the home — say goodbye to ink cartridges. (Wall Street Journal)