Despite an earlier White House promise to postpone, American and Chinese trade negotiators met via videoconference on Monday to discuss “the status of the trade deal both nations signed in January, a pact that continues to open up some commerce between the world’s largest economies even as the bilateral relationship deteriorates in other areas” – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Buzz about an [overstated] antibody-based treatment for serious coronavirus cases was all markets needed to jump on Monday, with all three major indices up between about .5 and 1.5% to kick off the week – WSJ and Bloomberg
Europe managed to avoid a spring and summer of layoffs as government-backed “furlough schemes . . . helped keep around a third of Europe’s workforce” in their jobs during pandemic-related lockdowns. But as those programs come to an end, a “tsunami of job cuts is about to hit Europe as companies prepare to carry out sweeping downsizing plans to offset a collapse in business from the outbreak” – NYTimes
The Journal lays out some of the data behind the tack some health and economic experts are forwarding: pursuing “more targeted restrictions and interventions” instead of widespread lockdowns in an effort to save lives and prevent infection while avoiding the reimposition of an “overly blunt and economically costly tool” – WSJ
Meanwhile, a new Federal Reserve study finds that the coronavirus outbreak—and the “collapse in demand as consumers sheltered in home to avoid infection”—has “more than offset any upward inflation pressures due to supply constraints in some sectors” – Bloomberg
In yet another sign of the changing U.S. economy, longtime Dow mainstays Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, and Raytheon are out of the index, to be replaced by Salesforce.com, Amgen, and Honeywell—moves “prompted by Apple Inc.’s planned four-to-one stock split announced last month” – WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Blackstone Group is ponying up $2.29 billion to buy the consumer health-care business of Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., a deal that’s part of Takeda’s efforts to shed up to $10 billion in assets “to pay down debt it incurred from the $58 billion acquisition of Shire PLC last year” – WSJ and Law360
So, what happens when Zoom goes down these days? Well, for starters, with so many students and teachers left in the dark, it’s more than just business news – NYTimes and WSJ and Mashable and Marketplace
Apple’s current battle with Fortnite developer Epic Games appears likely to have broader implications than the long-simmering two-party dispute. Instead, it’s “prompting other tech heavyweights such as Microsoft Corp. to step in, as the feud has escalated to a point where it could upend business at makers of videogames, Hollywood productions and virtual-reality simulations” – WSJ and MarketWatch
Because here in the midst of America’s second Gilded Age, of course we’re talking about a K-shaped recovery. Here’s what it means (with “unequal” as the key term) – Bloomberg
More on Ant Group’s move to go public, now that the “payment- and finance-focused sister company of the Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba” has filed paperwork to list in Hong Kong and Shanghai – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
How years of Amazon-driven fears helped big-box retailers like Target, Walmart, and Home Depot weather the pandemic better than smaller retailers or “those in weaker financial situations, such as department stores” – WSJ
On the rise of the “non-placeness” of many cities around the world (and what we can do about it if we act quickly enough) – The Atlantic
Stay safe.
