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Statue of Italy journalist defaced amid wave of anti-racist demonstrations across much of Europe
June 15, 2020 Read in Browser TOGETHER WITHGood morning. Let’s start keeping track of “news that wouldn’t have been news in 2019.” Here’s our first entry: This weekend, New Zealand hosted a rugby match with nearly 20,000 people.- Honorable mention: France will let people sit inside its bars and restaurants starting today.
MARKETS YTD PERFORMANCE
NASDAQ9,588.81+ 6.87%S&P3,041.31- 5.86%DJIA25,605.54- 10.28%GOLD1,737.30+ 14.30%10-YR0.704%- 121.60 bpsOIL36.56- 40.27%*As of market close- Nation: Atlanta’s police chief resigned after an officer fatally shot a Black man, Rayshard Brooks, outside a Wendy’s location Friday night. Following the incident, one police officer was fired and another was placed on administrative duty. Protests erupted—the Wendy's was set on fire—and the city’s mayor said she didn't believe the use of deadly force was justified.
- Economy: Systemic racism and high unemployment among minority communities hurt economic growth in the U.S., Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan told CBS yesterday. “And so I think we’re right to focus on this and bore in on this,” he said of the Fed’s role in focusing on inequality.
ECONOMY
The Fight Over $600/Week
GiphyRight now, Americans without a job receive an extra $600/week in unemployment benefits from the federal government—one of the hallmarks of the $2.2 trillion economic relief package Congress passed in March.But if White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has his way, those will stop flowing. The reason?- Kudlow said yesterday the extra $600 creates a disincentive for Americans to get a job. “I mean, we're paying people not to work. It's better than their salaries would get," he told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
- “The jobs are coming back and we don’t want to interfere with that process.”
By “jobs are coming back,” Kudlow was referring to the surprising data for May that showed the economy added 2.5 million jobs and the unemployment rate dipped.The debate over relief funds is heating up
Many Democrats want to keep the extra $600/week rolling past the July 31 expiration date, arguing it’s necessary to support the 21 million Americans who are still without a job. They say it’s not a matter of people not wanting to return to work...it’s that their jobs have completely disappeared.Republicans are more likely to favor programs that try to directly nudge people to get back into the workforce. Senator Rob Portman, for example, floated a “back-to-work” bonus, an idea Kudlow endorsed yesterday.Big picture
Kudlow predicts a V-shaped economic recovery from the coronavirus (a quick, dramatic fall followed by quick, dramatic rise), but other policymakers are painting a different story. Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated last week the economy is in a hole it’ll take years to dig out of.One factor that could slow down any rebound is the reason we’re in this hole to begin with—the coronavirus itself. States including Arizona, California, Florida, and North Carolina all reported record numbers of new cases in the last three days, per Reuters, even as New York claimed it “tamed the beast.”Jason Miller/Getty ImagesQuicken Loans has confidentially filed for an IPO, per multiple reports, and is aiming to trade publicly as soon as next month.What Quicken Loans is: the largest mortgage lender in the U.S. It funded $146 billion in mortgages in 2019, and it could be valued at tens of billions on the public market—making it potentially the biggest IPO this year.And how is business? Really good, all things considered. Despite the coronavirus-induced recession, mortgage rates dipped to a record average low of 2.97% last week. And with rates that low, homeowners have been stampeding to refinance.- In April, Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner told CNBC that March was the “biggest closing month in our company’s history.”
And you can’t write a story about Quicken Loans without mentioning Dan Gilbert, the company’s billionaire founder and owner. Gilbert, who is also the majority owner and chairman of the Cleveland Cavaliers, had a stroke in May 2019—but he’s rehabbing.Bottom line: A public Quicken could set the tone for valuations for fintech disruptors, including the stock trading app Robinhood and the British banking app Revolut, Julian Hebron writes in HousingWire.TOURISM
Europe's Big Test
Xinhua/ via Getty ImagesToday and tomorrow, many major European countries will open their borders to other EU countries and wait, patiently, for any sign of travelers.While France, Germany, and others are lifting restrictions on EU travelers, tourists from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the U.S. will—for now—only be able to tap into the romance of Europe through repeated viewings of The Italian Job.- That’s a problem for European countries, which count on tourists from China, the U.S., and Russia for a big chunk of spending.
Big picture: European officials must balance public health considerations with kickstarting the continent’s vital tourism economy. France is the world’s top tourist destination, and the industry accounts for more than 12% of Spain’s GDP and employment.Bottom line: Like in the U.S., many tourism leaders expect European vacations to be more local this summer...and the next summer, and the next summer. The president of Italy’s association of travel and tourism told the FT she doesn’t expect the country to reach 2019’s international tourist levels until 2023.SPONSORED BY HINT WATER
H2Oh Yes Please More Tasty Water
Hint Water is legit. They told us they made plain old water taste just like real fruit, and they didn’t use any sweeteners to do it. We thought that was too good to be true.H2WHOA were we wrong.Most drinks that taste this good aren’t good for you. But Hint Water—which is mouth-wateringly delectable—has no calories, sugar, diet-sweeteners, or preservatives. It’s a drink that is as good for you as it is good, which is to say, very.Hint mixes all the life-giving benefits of traditional H2O with the pleasure of drinking a soda. It’s a great routine refresher. Whether you go with Watermelon, Blackberry, Cherry, or another fruity flavor, keeping some Hint around the home will amp up the quarantine monotony.New customers: Here’s an offer as mouth-watering as Hint itself:Get 36 bottles for $36—that’s $1 per bottle for the English majors—delivered straight to your door with free shipping.CULTURE
NBA Players Question Restart
Smart take from the WSJ: If you’re looking for a collision point among all the issues the U.S. is facing right now—the coronavirus health emergency, an economic recession, and a sweeping movement demanding racial justice—the NBA might be your best bet.The league plans to restart the season in late July at the Disney campus in Orlando, where 22 teams would enter a quarantined “bubble” before resuming play. This weekend, however, several players—led by Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving—expressed concerns that playing basketball would distract from the more important Black Lives Matter agenda.- As one “widely respected NBA player” told ESPN, “Once we start playing basketball again, the news will turn from systemic racism to who did what in the game last night.”
- Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers countered on Instagram that resuming play could allow players to collect salaries and financially power the BLM movement.
The $$$ on the line: NBA players would stand to lose $1.2 billion in salary this season, ESPN writes—and they’re already losing about $300 million.MEDIA
"Say Their Names"
New YorkerThis week's New Yorker cover by Kadir Nelson.CALENDAR
The Week Ahead
It's the last *official* week of spring.Monday: Start thinking more seriously about Father's Day giftsTuesday: Retail sales; Jerome Powell Senate testimony; Oracle earningsWednesday: Housing starts; Jerome Powell House testimony; new Fortnite season; Premier League resumesThursday: Jobless claims; Kroger earningsFriday: JuneteenthWHAT ELSE IS BREWING
- MTA: The number of subway riders in NYC increased 19% during the first week of a phased reopening plan.
- Beijing reinstituted lockdown measures after discovering dozens of new COVID-19 cases linked to a major food market.
- Sushant Singh Rajput, a 34-year-old Bollywood star, was found dead at his home in Mumbai.
- Warner Bros. pushed back the release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984.
- Fox News removed a digitally altered photo claiming to depict protests in Seattle.
BREW'S BETS
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Sample clue: Suffering from "I" strain? (Nine letters).Find out the answer and play this week's crossword here.June 15, 2020 Read in Browser June 15, 2020 Read in Browser
