The World
The economy is tiptoeing back to life. The tentative thaw is showing up in measures of economic activity — from restaurant reservations to airline ticket purchases — that have been throttled. U.S. consumer confidence edges up in May, and new home sales unexpectedly rise in April. Of course, the upticks so far offer little clarity about the speed, scale and durability of a recovery. (Finance 202, Reuters, Pantheon Macroeconomics)
As the meat industry tries to get back to normal, workers are still getting sick — with warnings that grocery stores’ meat supplies could shrink 35 percent, prices could spike 20 percent and the impact could become even “more acute later this year.” Meanwhile, the Agriculture and Justice Departments are investigating whether the meatpacking industry is fixing or manipulating prices. (Washington Post, Politico)
Hong Kong is in shock as China goes for the “nuclear option’ — a willingness to alter the onetime British colony’s special status as a self-governing city. The Chinese foreign ministry said democracy protests are fanned by “terrorists” who pose an imminent threat to national security. (Wall Street Journal, The Times)
The U.S. signals a broader crackdown on the Chinese communications sector. Meanwhile, UK Ministers suspect it will be impossible to remove Huawei technology from Britain’s telecoms networks by 2023 despite mounting fears about security risks. (Politico, The Times)
Global trade flows tumbled in the first quarter, a preview of what could be the largest contraction in international commerce in decades. The steep drop shows the pitfalls of cross-border supply chains as multinationals strain to bridge new gaps in production. (Wall Street Journal)
China-India tensions mount as troop stand-offs along a disputed border cause speculation to swirl. (South China Morning Post)
Hungary aims to lift a state of emergency on June 20, as the government prepared a bill ending the power to rule by decree which drew international condemnation. (Reuters)
France and Germany lined up bailouts worth €14bn to take equity stakes in big industrial companies. Germany is set to take a 20% stake in Lufthansa. Britain drew up a similar plan to prop up strategic firms. (The Telegraph)
Savings rates are surging across Europe, fueling fears that consumers will not come to the rescue of the continent’s shrinking economy. (Financial Times)
Finance
Interest rates sit at their lowest level on record, but mortgage availability has tightened sharply. Meanwhile, U.S. home-price growth accelerated in March, as the Case-Shiller index rose 4.4% on an annual basis, the highest rate since December 2018. (Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal)
Private equity bets on post-Covid survivors with hybrid capital. (Euromoney)
Global merger & acquisition activity in the consumer and retail sector collapsed by over a third last year in what is the largest decrease since the 70% crash in deal value observed during the global financial crisis. (Consultancy)
As tensions with US boil, China hints at a weaker yuan. Beijing's central bank sets the reference rate against dollar at its lowest level since 2008. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Prices for commercial insurance are rising at rates not seen for almost two decades, with customer claims expected to exceed $100 billion. (Financial Times)
Rich countries are set to take on at least $17 trillion of extra public debt as they battle the economic consequences of the pandemic, according to the OECD. (Financial Times)
Technology
After 9 years, astronaut launches return to U.S. tomorrow with SpaceX. If successful, it could open a new era for the industry. Here’s how to watch it. (Atlas Obscura, MIT Technology Review, Wired)
Amazon is looking to invest in localized podcast content, like news and sports, as the company plans to buy more TV rights and have adjacent audio content. Amazon sees a strategic advantage in podcasts by leveraging Alexa voice tech to help users discover personalized content. (Axios)
Mark Zuckerberg is facing a rebellion by investors over his dual role as Facebook’s chairman and chief executive. A majority of its independent shareholders are expected to call for an independent chairman at Wednesday’s annual meeting. (The Times)
With concerts and music festivals cancelled, artists are flocking to virtual gaming platforms like Minecraft and Fortnite to give fans the next best thing to a live music experience. (Axios)
Smart Links
The tumultuous history of the U.S. Postal Service. (National Geographic)
How a grad student solved the epic Conway Knot Problem — in a week. (Quanta)
Hong Kong shows the future of eating out. (The Atlantic)
The future of supply chains. (Euromoney)
Momentum builds for sports reopening. (Wall Street Journal)