Deep Chill
What You Need To Know
Last Chance Tonight @ 7:30 pm: Exclusive membership live online event, Pelosi: The Most Powerful Woman in American Political History, A Conversation with Time’s Molly Ball. Register here.
Like the newsletter? During this trial period, you get the Founding Member Rate — 50% off the regular cost. Continued thanks to everyone who already has done so!
The World
Another 3.2 million people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, bringing the seven week total to more than 33 million. Meanwhile, 77 percent of laid-off workers believe they’ll get jobs back. (New York Times, Washington Post-Ipsos poll)
Small businesses in states hit hardest by economic fallout have gotten short shrift. For example, in New York, less than 20% of small businesses have been approved, while more than 55% in Nebraska expect PPP funding. States with the highest number of unemployment claims starting March 15 have seen no commensurate boost to their loan share. (The Finance 202, NY Fed)
Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as whites to have lost their jobs amid the shutdowns: 20% of Hispanic adults and 16% of blacks report being laid off or furloughed, compared with 11% of whites and 12% of workers of other races. (Washington Post)
U.S. airlines called federally mandated minimum service requirements “unsustainable” as passenger numbers fall to their lowest levels since the 1950s. (CNBC)
New research shows a rise in food insecurity without modern precedent. Among mothers with young children, nearly one-fifth say their children are not getting enough to eat, a rate three times as high as in 2008, during the worst of the Great Recession. (New York Times, The Hamilton Project)
A deep chill has fallen on U.S.-China relations, leaving fewer shared interests and a growing list of conflicts. Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to the U.S. writes a Washington Post op-ed: Ignoring the facts to blame China will only make things worse. (Wall Street Journal, Washington Post)
A gauge of Russian services fell to its lowest level since records began in 2001. (Bloomberg)
Despite misgivings about the "grave charges pending" in the bribery indictment, Israel’s High Court of Justice green-lighted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government. (Jerusalem Post)
University of Tennessee students will return to campus this fall. Meanwhile, colleges need students to decide, but students aren’t ready. (US News, Washington Post)
Axl Rose, Steven Mnuchin and the pandemic Twitter feud no one saw coming. (Washington Post)
Economy
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told a private audience: As bad as things have been for corporate America, they’re likely to get worse. Mass bankruptcies, empty planes, cautious consumers and a corporate tax rate increase to as high as 29% were part of a vision Fink sketched out. (Bloomberg)
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio sees the coronavirus pandemic causing a shift in the global order as momentous as that seen during the Great Depression and World War II from which China will emerge as the dominant power. (Nikkei Asian Review)
A massive drop in car sales sparks a new push in Congress to aid the auto industry. Meanwhile, used car dealer Carvana expands as coronavirus fuels U.S. demand for online sales. (Washington Post, Reuters)
Two of the country’s largest municipal borrowers — Illinois and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority — asked investors to buy bonds, a key test of the $3.8 trillion muni bond market. (Wall Street Journal)
Investors fear Italy is heading for 'junk' borrower status, as its top-quality rating hangs by a thread as Moody's decision looms. (Financial Times)
Technology
Zoom adds former National-Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to its board to help the startup become the ‘world’s most secure’ platform. (Wall Street Journal)
Facebook announced the first 20 members of its Oversight Board, an independent body that can overturn the company’s own content moderation decisions. (CNBC)
The U.S. Department of Commerce is close to allowing U.S. companies to work with China’s Huawei Technologies on setting standards for next generation 5G networks. (Reuters)
China’s WeChat monitors foreign users to refine censorship at home. Images and documents they send through the app are analyzed for taboo content. (Wall Street Journal)
A coalition of nonprofits and tech companies including Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a global real-time payments platform to help spread digital payments in developing countries. (Fortune)
Smart Links
12 novels that changed the way we live. (Washington Post)
Closest black hole to Earth found 'hiding in plain sight.' (National Geographic)
Bat 'super immunity' may explain how bats carry coronaviruses. (Science Daily)
How the internet kept running. (The Atlantic)
The glut drowning the oil market. (Wall Street Journal)
Good News
Colin O’Brady walked solo and unassisted across Antarctica. (The Guardian)
'The favour is returned': From the Potato Famine to COVID-19, 173 years on, Irish donors thank Native Americans. (RTE News)
Actor Courtney B. Vance reads the Gettysburg Address. You’ll want to hear him. (Harvard Gazette)
Thanks for reading. Did you like the newsletter? Why not subscribe now?