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The World
Speaking to reporters in the East Room of the White House for his first formal news conference, Biden said he would do “everything in my power” to pass voting rights legislation now under consideration in the Senate. But when asked about ending the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to approve most legislation — one of the biggest obstacles to the voting rights bill and much of the rest of his agenda — the president was more cautious, suggesting he was open to change but not committing himself to it. Biden also doubled his goal for coronavirus vaccinations to 200m in his first 100 days in office. (New York Times, Financial Times)
On prioritization: “I’m a fairly practical guy. I want to get things done. I want to get them done consistent with what we promised the American people… Order it. Decide priorities… Successful presidents, better than me, have been successful, in large part, because they know how to time what they’re doing.”
On immigration: “The idea that I’m going to say, which I would never do, ‘If an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we’re just going to let him starve to death and stay on the other side’ — no previous administration did that either, except Trump. I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do it.”
On new voting laws: “It’s sick… It’s un-American... I am convinced that we’ll be able to stop this because it is the most pernicious thing. This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle. I mean, this is gigantic what they’re trying to do, and it cannot be sustained.”
On goals: “I’ve become a great respecter of fate in my life. I set a goal that’s in front of me to get things done for the people I care most about, which are hardworking, decent American people who are getting — really having it stuck to them. I want to change the paradigm…. We start to reward work, not just wealth. I want to change the paradigm.”
On China: “I see stiff competition with China. China has an overall goal, and I don’t criticise them for the goal, but they have an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world. That’s not going to happen on my watch, because the United States is going to continue to grow and expand.”
China announced sanctions on nine individuals and four entities in Britain that it said “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” about Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang, as tensions over its human rights record continued to escalate. The Chinese foreign ministry said the sanctions were in response to British sanctions on China over human rights issues in Xinjiang, in China’s far west. (South China Morning Post)
Taiwan aims to counter Chinese military pressure by building up its own forces with long-range missiles and stronger cyber defenses, according to its latest defense review. (Nikkei Asian Review)
Fears of significant disruption to global trade have risen after rescuers warned that the Suez Canal could remain blocked for “weeks” by the grounding of a giant container ship. Specialist dredgers arrived on Thursday to attempt to dig out and refloat the 220,000-tonne Ever Given after it became wedged across the canal during a sandstorm on Tuesday. Despite efforts to move the ship, as at 5pm London time satellite tracking showed the vessel was still stuck across the canal. (Financial Times)
With all votes counted, results showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had failed, for the fourth time in a row, to win a clear parliamentary majority. The results left both the premier and his political opponents once again without a clear path to forming a coalition government, and heralded enduring gridlock and a potential fifth election. (Times of Israel)
All California adults can get the Covid-19 vaccine next month. Residents who are at least 50 years old can get vaccines starting April 1, and those 16 and up will be eligible starting April 15. Florida will lower the age to 40 on Monday, then to all residents 18 and older a week later. All Minnesotans 16 and up to be COVID vaccine eligible March 30. In India, a massive second wave of infections is emerging, pitting the virus against the vaccine rollout, (Los Angeles Times, Tampa Bay Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Washington Post)
House lawmakers interrogated the chief executives of Google, Facebook and Twitter, escalating their calls for swift regulation of the tech industry. Lawmakers in five-minute intervals called out executives on a wide range of issues including extremism, misinformation, cyberbullying, climate change and the coronavirus. Many of the politicians attempted to force the chief executives to answer “yes” or “no,” cutting them off if they tried to explain how “nuanced” those issues are. The display demonstrated just how deep the desire in Washington goes to change how social media companies operate — while also underlining the lack of consensus on how exactly to do that. (Washington Post)
In the middle of Congress’ hearing, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted out a poll. It was just a question mark with two answers: yes and no. It was an obvious troll directed at the lawmakers’ questioning over the roles their platforms have played in spreading misinformation and inciting a violent insurrection at the US Capitol. With limited time for questioning, the members would interrupt the CEOs’ responses, asking for “yes” or “no” answers or nothing at all. (The Verge)
Economy
Robinhood Markets Inc is building a platform to “democratize” initial public offerings, including its own, that would allow users of its trading app to snap up shares alongside Wall Street funds. (Reuters)
GameStop snapped a five-day losing streak with a significant surge, as shares rose more than 50% and showed that their wild swings are not yet over. The stock slumped 33% in the prior session after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results. GameStop also disclosed it was considering selling more stock. (CNBC)
Bitcoin is dividing opinion on Wall Street, with a rush of investment banks expressing widely divergent views on the cryptocurrency boom. (Financial Times)
Citigroup said bitcoin “may be optimally positioned to become the preferred currency for global trade.”
Bank of America highlighted serious concerns about the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies, noting that bitcoin’s annual energy consumption rivals that of the Netherlands because of the energy intensive process of “mining” new coins. BofA analysts also said bitcoin was not a suitable hedge against rising inflation and its supply is controlled by a small collection of accounts, dubbed whales.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management wrote that cryptocurrencies are reaching the threshold of becoming an investable asset class, noting the evolving regulatory framework, improving liquidity conditions and growing interest from institutional investors have created conditions for cryptocurrencies to become part of mainstream institutional portfolios, similar to how gold markets emerged 45 years ago.
Goldman Sachs restarted its digital currency trading desk in March, a month after Bank of New York Mellon announced it would offer cryptocurrency custody services to its asset management clients.
An exchange that sought to list futures contracts on National Football League games withdrew its proposal, halting—at least for now—an unusual effort to connect the growing world of sports betting with financial markets. The exchange, ErisX, pulled its proposal just as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission faced a deadline to approve or disapprove it. (Wall Street Journal)
Americans' worry about the U.S. energy situation has risen sharply in the past year to a level not seen in nearly a decade. 73% of U.S. adults, up from 54% last year, say they worry about the availability and affordability of energy. Additionally, Gallup has measured recent highs in the percentage describing the energy situation as being "very serious" and predicting there will be a critical energy shortage in the next five years. Americans prefer the U.S. put more emphasis on developing energy from wind and solar power and less emphasis on production from coal. (Gallup)
Technology
Microsoft is in advanced talks to acquire messaging platform Discord for $10 billion or more, as the software giant seeks to deepen its consumer offerings. Microsoft and Discord are in exclusive talks and could complete a deal next month. (Wall Street Journal)
Jimmy Donaldson, known as “MrBeast” on YouTube, unveiled a new company called Creative Juice focused on providing equity-based financing for YouTube creators, including valuing and investing in YouTube channels. Creative Juice initially will focus on valuing and buying minority stakes in YouTube channels and supporting creators with mentorship. It’s part of a growing trend toward platforms aimed at meeting the financing needs of the creator economy by offering investors the chance to buy into creators’ future earnings in various forms. Donaldson is investing $2 million in a fund to invest in YouTube channels. (The Information)
What to know about the new AWS CEO: He's an AWS veteran; he went on to run AWS's Sales, Marketing and Support for more than a decade, helping prime AWS for the behemoth it would become; he helped nearly quadruple Tableau's value during his time as CEO; then he sold to Salesforce; Selipsky wasn't necessarily the betting favorite for this job; he has a long marketing background. (Protocol)
From Ben Thompson: Intel’s keynote delivered on almost every meaningful strategy change I have asked from Intel, from building out a foundry business to re-organizing the company (it’s not a split, but close) to explicitly addressing geopolitics to embracing modularity to channeling Andy Grove. Just as important, though, was the way in which Gelsinger delivered this news: he was transparent about how Intel had screwed up, demonstrated tremendous clarity of thought about Intel’s strategy, particularly in the Q&A, and was captivating and inspiring about why Intel’s best days were ahead of it. Of course a keynote is just a keynote — Intel has real work to do — but Gelsinger absolutely left the impression that if there is any chance of Intel delivering on his promises he will realize it. There is also the timing: Gelsinger has only been in the job for 37 days (38 today), yet is already delivering the most sweeping overhaul of Intel’s business since Andy Grove and Gordon Moore got the company out of memory thirty-five years ago. That is, frankly, the best execution that Intel has demonstrated in years. (Stratechery)
Smart Links
Weekend reading: How to prepare pets for your return to the office. (Wall Street Journal)
Cybersecurity startups eye improving the health of hospitals as attacks increase. (Crunchbase)
Apple bought the most AI companies from 2016 to 2020, with 25 acquisitions; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook collectively bought 60. (Global Data)
The New York Times sold an NFT for more than half a million dollars. (The Verge)
Archaeologists identify 3,200-year-old temple mural of spider god in Peru. (The Guardian)
France summoned China's ambassador after the Chinese Embassy called a French researcher a "mad hyena" on Twitter. (Reuters)
China’s hottest grocery startup, worth $8 billion, wants to build and online version of Costco. (The Information)