Bidding Wars
What You Need To Know
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The World
Workers filed another 2.4 million unemployment claims last week, a slight drop-off in the wave of historically high weekly filings since the economic fallout. Over the span of nine weeks, more than 38 million Americans have filed unemployment claims. (Wall Street Journal, Washington Post)
U.S. senators are introducing a bipartisan bill to sanction Chinese officials and entities who enforce the new national-security laws in Hong Kong, and penalize banks that do business with the entities. China said it would impose new Hong Kong security laws, allowing Beijing to take aim at the protests posed a direct challenge to the Chinese Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping. (Wall Street Journal, New York Times)
The coronavirus is threatening China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an effort to finance nearly half a trillion dollars in new infrastructure across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. (Los Angeles Times)
Russia’s economy is on track to shrink by 5% in 2020 and the rouble will remain weak as the pandemic and low oil prices hit home, the economy ministry reported. (Reuters)
The U.S. will withdraw from the 35-nation Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, the Trump administration’s latest move to pull the country out of a major global treaty. (Reuters)
A growing number of local officials are writing their own reopening playbooks, defying state leaders in disputes that foretell months of new skirmishes. Meanwhile, the economic wreckagehit particularly hard in some key swing states. As well, COVID-19 death rates in Democratic areas are triple those in Republican ones. (Politico, Finance 202, Reuters)
Americans give higher ratings to South Korea and Germany than U.S. for dealing with coronavirus. (Pew Research Center)
Citigroup is considering opening suburban offices outside New York City. Meanwhile, 73% of major Asia-Pacific office markets recorded leasing activity declines in the four weeks to April 14. (Bloomberg, Nikkei Asian Review)
The University of California voted to phase out the SAT and ACT requirements, in a decision with major implications for the use of standardized tests in college admissions. (New York Times)
Economy
Bidding wars are back in housing market: While sales are way down, the lack of inventory has propped up prices and led to bidding wars. (Bloomberg)
Delinquencies on U.S. home loans surged by 1.6 million in April, the biggest one-month gain ever. Meanwhile, about 15 million credit-card accounts and 3 million auto loans didn’t get paid in April. (Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal)
Mall of America, the country’s biggest shopping mall, is delinquent on its $1.4 billion mortgage. (Financial Times)
U.S. hospitals saw operating margins on an EBITDA basis plummet 174% last month compared to April 2019 and 118% from March of this year as surgeries, emergency room visits and outpatient appointments declined drastically. (HealthcareDive)
The International Institute of Finance reports that China’s total domestic debt reached 317% of GDP in 1Q20, the largest quarterly rise on record. (China Banking News)
The richest Americans are the least likely to say they've had income loss during the outbreak, according to the latest results from the U.S. Census Bureau's new weekly survey. (Axios)
Technology
Mark Zuckerberg said that 50% of Facebook’s employees could be working remotely within the next five to 10 years, adding those employees may have their compensations adjusted based on their new locations. (CNBC)
Amazon moves Prime Day to fall. (Wall Street Journal)
John Krasinski's 'Some Good News' sells to ViacomCBS following massive bidding war. (Hollywood Reporter)
Snap’s Map Czar argues that in five years everyone will use location sharing. (The Information)
Apple and Google launched software allowing public health agencies to create contact tracing apps. Twenty-two countries and multiple states including Alabama, North Dakota and South Carolina have requested and been given access. (HealthcareDive)
Your iPhone is moving:
Smart Links
75-book summer reading list. (New York Times)
Kids—read these books during summer. (Wired)
Scientists reveal proof-of-concept bionic human eye. (Science Alert)
Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson explains the future of the dollar. (Foreign Affairs)
Wildlife thrives in closed US national parks. (The Guardian)
Pandemic response slashes carbon emissions. (Nature)
How the Covid-19 virus hijacks cells. (STATNews)
Good News
In response to coronavirus, a Harvard sophomore created a free tutoring service for low-income NYC students. (Chalkbeat)
It is a baby picture like no other: A maelstrom of gas and dust swirling around what is likely a newborn giant planet. This stunning portrait is a composite that could be the first direct evidence of the hellacious site of a planet’s birth. (Vice)
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