Weekend Papers Summary
NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday
• Despite the modest rate of hiring in April, there are strong signals that the economy is returning to health as infections ebb, vaccinations continue, restrictions lift, and businesses reopen—and economists predict a big expansion sometime this year.
• Friday’s disappointing jobs report raises questions about President Biden’s strategy to revive the economy, with business groups and Republicans warning that his policies are causing a labor shortage and the potential for runaway inflation.
• The Justice Department under Trump secretly obtained the phone records for three reporters at The Washington Post from the early months of the Trump administration, the newspaper disclosed on Friday.
• Four former Minneapolis police officers were indicted on federal charges of violating the civil rights of George Floyd, a rare instance of the Justice Department seeking charges after a local conviction but before the rest of the case has played out.
• The WHO’s declaration that a vaccine made by China’s Sinopharm is a safe and reliable way to fight the virus marks a significant step toward clearing up doubts about it, after little late-phase clinical trial data was disclosed by Beijing and the company.
• In England, prime minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party scored decisive victories in regional elections, leaving the opposition Labour Party struggling, but the populist forces behind the wins are also driving a Scottish independence movement.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meeting with counterparts from China and Russia, said that the US would “push back forcefully” against breakers of international rules, even as he acknowledged such violations under the Trump administration.
• For the first time in more than a century, California recorded a net loss in population last year, a demographic reversal caused by the deadly toll of the coronavirus and declining immigration and birthrates.
• Though a chip shortage is causing trouble for all sorts of industries, the semiconductor field is entering a surprising new era of creativity, as industry giants and start-ups with funding from venture capitalists seek innovations.
Sunday
• One of the nation’s largest pipelines, which carries refined gasoline and jet fuel from Texas to New York, was forced to shut down after being hit by ransomware, a reminder of the vulnerability of US energy infrastructure to cyberattacks.
• Florida and four other states are poised to allow college athletes to make endorsement deals, and with universities in other states anxious about losing recruits, the NCAA may allow all schools to do the same.
• +/- NCLH: The cruise company is threatening to keep its ships out of Florida ports after the state enacted legislation that prohibits businesses from requiring proof of vaccination against Covid-19 in exchange for services.
• The Biden administration and its allies are pushing the notion that caring for children, the sick, and the elderly is just as crucial to a functioning economy as any road, electric grid, or building, part of an effort to boost funding for this so-called human infrastructure.
• To the extent that the Dow Jones industrial average measures the stock market’s affection for a president, its early report card says the market loves President Biden’s first days in office considerably more than it loved Trump’s, says columnist Jeff Sommer.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Weekend
• “Friday’s lackluster jobs report added fuel to efforts in Florida and elsewhere to reduce access to unemployment benefits that some state and industry leaders say have kept people from returning to the workforce.”
• TSLA chief Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been building a company town in Boca Chica, Florida, pressuring locals to sell their properties and talking of incorporating the town—a move that could give it eminent domain to seize houses.
• Friction between food retailers and suppliers is mounting—large buyers such as WMT and SYY are fining suppliers over infractions like late or incomplete orders, but producers and distributors say labor shortages and supply constraints are the problem.
• The Justice Department proposed a new rule Friday aimed at curbing ghost guns that are assembled from kits sold without background checks and which lack the serial numbers law enforcement relies on to solve crimes.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent letters to hospitals, warning them to make prices public under a rule that went into effect earlier this year, after many failed to comply with the regulations.
• China’s post-coronavirus recovery has been strong but uneven, but new data suggests the world’s second-largest economy is rebalancing as consumer spending—the weak link so far in the recovery—picks up steam.
• Veterans of financial bubbles see much that is familiar about the present: Stock valuations are their richest since the dot-com bubble, home prices are back to pre-financial crisis highs, and risky companies can borrow at the lowest rates on record.
• China’s big three telecoms—China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom—lost their appeals against being kicked off the New York Stock Exchange, which moved to delist them to comply with a Trump-era investment ban.
• H.O.T.S.: Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies are now worth a combined $2T, but as with gold, it’s hard to determine what valuation they should carry, since they don’t provide an income stream and aren’t fundamentally useful.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Weekend
• The WHO’s approval of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine means it could be used in countries suffering from major surges in the virus, including India and Brazil, and the move gives the company a boost despite lingering doubts about its shot.
• French president Emmanuel Macron said the debate over intellectual property for vaccines is less important than existing barriers to the exports of vaccines and their ingredients, and the need to develop voluntary plans for countries to share doses.
• “The ethics of giving Covid-19 vaccines to children has provoked argument, with no simple answers, and how governments response will be a crucial factor in shaping who receives the next billion doses.”
• Big Read piece says “Plant-based milk drinks have become a $17B consumer market—multinational companies are joining dozens of startups by investing in products that mix food science with shifting consumer tastes.”
• Lex Column: Activist investor Edward Bramson has given up on his attempt to oust BCS chief Jes Staley and break up the bank, a plan that never entirely made sense; Without its media unit, the rich valuation at which Singapore Press trades to local developers may narrow; INTU, maker of Turbo Tax, is poised to benefit from “tax return pain” in the US.
• Comment: “When it comes to inflation, how much fortitude does the Federal Reserve have?” asks Sebastian Mallaby. “Millions of Americans are sitting on a mountain of dry powder that could set the economy alight.”
NEW YORK POST
Saturday
• Starting next week, the New York Stock Exchange said it will allow more traders and employees back onto its trading floor in lower Manhattan—they can remove masks at their stations, but must wear them everywhere else.
Sunday
• Virgin Hyperloop is developing the technology for passenger pods that will hurtle at speeds of up to 750 miles an hour through almost air-free vacuum tunnels using magnetic levitation, and they could be commercially viable by 2027.