August 25, 2020

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

International Diplomacy

The US, Israel and the UAE announced a historic agreement earlier this month calling for the normalization of relations between the two Middle East countries. However, the agreement has already hit a stumbling block. The leaders of the two nations were set to travel to the US to sign the agreement in person (although we think the COVID outbreak is a great excuse to stay away from Washington), but the meeting was cancelled for other diplomatic reasons. The US had agreed to sell F-35 fighter jets to the UAE, and Israel is not too happy about this arrangement. Prime Minister Netanyahu voiced his concerns publicly, and the UAE canceled the photo op. Guessing Israel doesn’t mind opening diplomatic relations, but it would still prefer its neighbors to be unarmed.

The Hong Kong dollar has been pegged to the US Dollar since 1983 (at around 7.75 per USD). However, with the new security law and the recent push of China’s CCP into Hong Kong, there is some speculation that the peg may fall. In the meantime, Hong Kong is set to test a new digital currency. While the cryptocurrency is purely online, it is not linked to blockchain, but controlled by the Chinese government. The test of this new currency will begin to appear in digital wallets like Alipay and will be distributed by local banks. If the test works and locals are comfortable with the online only currency, China may have opened a door to keep Hong Kong an international financial center. (China was already the first major economy to push digital payments through its Tencent/WeChat and Alibaba/Alipay platforms, so digital commerce is not as foreign a concept as it is in the US.)The Giant Panda, MeiXiang, at the US National Zoo gave birth to her fourth cub last week, live on the Panda cam. While the new cub was born in the US, it will be sent back to China when it turns four years old (the sex of the panda has yet to be determined). China loans it pandas out to international zoos for about $1M a year, with the provision that any cubs are the property of China. Currently, there are about 50 pandas on loan across the world. (A four-year old bear was sent back from the National Zoo in late 2019.) While the Panda enclosure it still closed to the public, you can watch the Pandas on the live feed.

Thinking of traveling? Well, put Bali on the list of one more place that we can’t go to. Bali has decided to close the island to all foreign visitors for the remainder of the year. Indonesia is dealing with its own COVID infections, but closing down to tourists is expected to cost the nation more than $10B in tourism revenue.

Finance

While most of our non-existent summer vacations come to an end, the IPO market is beginning to heat up again. Ant Financial (Alibaba’s financial arm) filed this week for its mega-listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The IPO is expected to be one of the largest of all time, and will help to solidify Hong Kong’s home as a financial capital.

Asana, a B2B project management technology firm, filed for a direct listing although the tech firm seems to be following in the footsteps of most other tech firms when it comes to revenue (Asana has been losing money, spending to scale).

Snowflake, a cloud data provider, also filed to go public this week. Snowflake too is unprofitable but its growth has been exceptional.

Unity Software, a 3D game developer that licenses its software out to third party developers, also filed for an IPO, and is expected to raise upwards of $1B. Unity’s IPO comes at a unique time — when its chief rival, Epic Games, is in the midst of a battle with the App Store.

Apple was again in the news for two separate reasons. Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decided to rejigger the composition of its index due to Apple’s 4:1 stock split. As a result, Exxon is out, Salesforce is in, and Amgen will replace Pfizer. Apple also continues to have issues with how it regulates its App Store. Epic and Apple continue to sue each other over the 30% toll that Apple takes. Apple briefly tried the same with Wordpress (the free web platform) forcing it to charge for in-app purchases. Essentially Apple had to backtrack from attempting to take a bite out of every website on the open web. Other special arrangements are popping up as it relates to the App Store, including Amazon’s 15% deal for Prime memberships.

COVID Side Effects

While many US colleges have re-opened and then been forced to shut down or quarantine their entire campuses, the students at several college newspapers have been taking a stand. Some examples: Notre Dame’s student editorial had the headline" “Don’t make us write obituaries.” Purdue’s editors called on the college to stop protecting its image over its people, and UNC’s editorial summarized 2020 best: UNC has a clusterfk on its hands.”

Today was the first day of school for many K-12 in the US, and sounds like elementary school newspapers will be writing similar headlines. With a global Zoom outage and reports of teachers striking and quitting as the day began, we are not sure the school day went smoothly. We remember when all we were stressed about on day one was where our locker would be and were we wearing matching shoes.

German scientists wanted to study the risk of mass indoor gatherings, so they decided to throw a series of concerts. Each concert had successively stronger safety precautions, although all volunteers were tested for COVID before the event and given masks and trackers. While the results of the study are not expected for a few months, the organizers were pleased with the event itself. The performer was singer-songwriter Tim Bendzko, so we guess the organizers didn’t want any mosh pits, screaming or singing along.

At the start of the pandemic, the Trump administration threatened 3M (the maker of N95 masks), and told the company not to send any PPE to Canada. Canada had other plans, and has convinced the company to manufacture N95s in Ontario. Canada is propping up its supply chain for PPE and pharmaceuticals, as it found that many of its Chinese suppliers were low quality while the US supply was hard to come by (especially after US officials detained shipments of N95 masks headed for the border).

KFC changed its name a few years back, dropping the “fried” to become more inline with wellness and the trend toward healthier foods. Now the chain has decided to drop its tagline (finger licking good) in light of concerns about spreading COVID. The slogan has been in use for over 64 years, and may return post Corona. I guess for now we’ll have to deal with Colonel Sanders asking us to eat fried chicken with a knife and fork.

Wine sellers in Italy are bringing back the Renaissance tradition of wine holes: small windows where one glass of wine is sold at a time. In the past, these windows were an alternative to large taverns, while today, they have the benefit of social distancing. Some bars in the US are getting in on the mystery and creating secret cocktail windows, reminiscent of 1920s era speakeasies. One hotel in Charleston, has a wall of windows, where you press a button for service from a bartender, socially distanced on the other side.

Culture

Japan’s manhole covers have been getting an anime upgrade. A set of covers have been installed in honor of a new entertainment complex that focuses on Japanese popular culture. The covers also glow in the dark with an added benefit of lighting streets and helping to keep crime at bay.

One Swiss town got a weather upgrade: it was raining chocolate. The ventilation system of a Lindt chocolate factory malfunctioned, and a fine dusting of chocolate powder blanketed the town. We’ve heard that lower Manhattan often smells of maple syrup, but we’d prefer to have our own Willy Wonka moment, tongue out, dancing in the chocolate rain.

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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