| | | | | | | Presented By BlackRock® | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Jul 07, 2022 | | Hello Thursday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,496 words ... 5½ mins. Edited by Noah Bressner. | | | | | | 🔎 1 big thing: Tomorrow's recession clues | | President Biden speaks in Cleveland yesterday. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters The White House is bracing for tomorrow's jobs report, which will bear closely watched clues about what's next for the U.S. economy. - Why it matters: Late last year, release of the Consumer Price Index supplanted the employment report as each month's most anticipated data dump. Now, with the Fed trying to navigate between growth and inflation, the jobs numbers once again are front-burner, Axios' Hans Nichols and Neil Irwin write.
The shorthand: "Jobs day" is the new "CPI day." (Flashback from Dec. ... "CPI: The new jobs number.") Austan Goolsbee, one of former President Obama's chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers, told us: "The jobs numbers are some of the most immediate, real-time indicators of the economy so are the first place we look for signs of recession." - Some data in the jobs report provide a "better estimate of inflationary pressure than the direct measures of inflation itself," Goolsbee said.
Between the lines: Tomorrow's numbers carry risks for President Biden either way. - If the numbers show a combination of massive job creation and wages rising more rapidly, the Fed likely would lean more into its interest-rate raising campaign — creating higher risk of a recession later in the year or in 2023.
- But if the numbers disappoint in a major way — with net job losses or a meaningful rise in the unemployment rate — that will fuel worries a recession has already begun.
Share this story. |     | | | | | | 2. 🇬🇧 Breaking: Boris out |  | | | Defiant in this morning's papers, Boris is now defeated. | | | | Boris Johnson will announce his resignation as British Prime Minister today, after he was abandoned by ministers and Conservative Party lawmakers who said he was no longer fit to govern, Reuters reports. - With eight ministers, including two secretaries of state, resigning in the last two hours, an isolated and powerless Johnson was set to bow to the inevitable and declare he will step down.
- His Downing Street office said Johnson will make a statement to the country later today.
The intrigue: Johnson plans to try to stay until the autumn as a caretaker while conservatives elect a new leader. The process could take about two months. - But critics, including Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, are already arguing that isn't sustainable, given the huge number of vacancies in his government, BBC says.
 Data: Axios research. Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios 🤯 You know you're in trouble when ... BBC, Sky News and CNN International are all featuring running tallies of how many members of your government have quit this week. - Last night, BBC had 38. Today, right before word of Johnson's capitulation, CNN counted 54.
Here's the cover for the issue of The Economist closing today. | | | | | | | | 3. U.S. turns up TikTok heat |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | Both parties are warning about the danger of the Chinese government accessing TikTok data, reports Kerry Flynn of Axios Pro: Media Deals. - Why it matters: The short-video network survived a death sentence from former President Trump, and has grown into an increasingly influential social-media channel. But its rise has been dogged from the start by questions around its ownership by a Chinese parent company.
Senate Intelligence Committee leaders this week asked the FTC to investigate concerns that TikTok's data practices and corporate governance pose privacy and security risks for Americans. - The request, signed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), cited a BuzzFeed News investigation ("Leaked Audio From 80 Internal TikTok Meetings Shows That US User Data Has Been Repeatedly Accessed From China") that seemed to contradict TikTok's testimony to the committee last year.
Zoom out: TikTok is China's first major success at building a platform outside its domestic market — one that now poses a challenge to U.S.-based market leaders, including Facebook and YouTube. - The network, fueled by a highly effective algorithm, feeds users an endless stream of addictive short videos.
- But TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has faced a long series of controversies focused on concerns over user data, security and the company's statements to U.S. authorities on those issues.
Our thought bubble, from Axios' Ashley Gold: The bipartisan letter shows that many on Capitol Hill believe TikTok could have lied under oath about its data practices. - An FTC investigation would move slowly, but could ultimately result in fines and require TikTok to adopt more secure practices.
Share this story. | | | | | | | | A message from BlackRock® | | Invested in the future of first responders | | |  | | | | We're proud to manage the pensions of those who serve others. All across the country, we're helping Americans invest for their future. Meet Joshua, one of the hundreds of thousands of first responders whose retirement plan assets are managed by BlackRock. Learn more. | | | | | | 4. 📷 1,000 words | | Image: ICEYE This GIF, which Axios' Andrew Freedman spotted from the earth-observation data company ICEYE, shows floods rising in Australia from June 30 to July 4, via synthetic aperture radar satellites. - The darker the blue, the deeper the water.
How it works: ICEYE explains that "unlike traditional Earth imaging optical satellites, radar satellites can 'see' through the clouds and at night. Most of these images were taken while it was raining or at night." | | | | | | | | 5. 🧐 Dept. of Coincidences: Comey, McCabe audited |  | | | Via The New York Times | | | | Two enemies of former President Trump — James Comey, fired as FBI director, and Andrew McCabe, his deputy and acting successor — were both subjected to a rare and intrusive level of IRS audit, the N.Y. Times' Mike Schmidt scoops (subscription). - Why it matters: "Lightning strikes, and that's unusual, and that's what it's like being picked for one of these audits," said John Koskinen, IRS commissioner from 2013 to 2017. "The question is: Does lightning then strike again in the same area?"
After the "compliance research examination," which lasted more than a year, Comey and his wife, Patrice Comey, were found to have overpaid their 2017 federal income taxes — and got a $347 refund. - McCabe told The Times that the audit determined that he and his wife, Jill, owed a small amount of money, which they paid: "I have significant questions about how or why I was selected for this."
Trump told Schmidt through a spokeswoman: "I have no knowledge of this." | | | | | | | | 6. Apple's new Lockdown Mode | | Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios In announcing a new Lockdown Mode for iPhones, iPads and Macs, Apple has proved that it's possible to protect devices against even the most sophisticated attacks — but at a high cost in ease of use, Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried reports from the Bay Area. - Why it matters: Product design is all about tradeoffs. Tech companies are always trying to navigate them amid a cacophony of voices demanding they prioritize privacy ... or security ... or simplicity.
Apple's new protection is designed for dissidents, journalists, human rights workers or other targets of high-end spyware, notably NSO Group's Pegasus. - The new option — coming to Macs, iPads and iPhones with this year's fall software update — could make it much harder for attackers to access such phones. But it significantly complicates everyday tasks, from messaging to web browsing to video chat.
Zoom out: The debut of Lockdown Mode comes amid a larger conversation about the need for better protection of user data — not just from malicious attacks, but also from overzealous governments or data-gobbling companies. - Apple has made privacy a key focus of its marketing efforts, focusing on minimizing the amount of data it can access. It has done so by storing data on devices and encrypting sensitive information, including health data.
- Even Google, which relies extensively on user data to serve up ads, has added more user controls and last week announced plans to proactively delete certain location data.
How it works: Apple says Lockdown Mode, which can be turned on with a single change to user settings, is an "extreme, optional" protection to be used only by those who suspect they might be targeted for a sophisticated attack. - Most message-attachment types other than images are blocked.
- Requests for FaceTime calls or other invitations are blocked unless the phone owner has previously interacted with the person.
👀 What we're watching: In a post-Roe world where every piece of personal data could become a prosecutor's target, users will clamor for increasingly sweeping, effective and convenient tools to protect data. | | | | | | | | 7. 📺 Hutchinson ratings | | Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images The riveting testimony by former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson easily reached the largest live audience of any of the four other daytime hearings by the House Jan. 6 committee. - Her appearance last week was watched live by at least 13.17 million people, AP's David Bauder writes from Nielsen figures.
That's a 28% jump from the 10.25 million who watched the committee's previous daytime hearing (about the Trump Justice Department) — 23% over the average for the daytime hearings. - The first hearing, the only one in prime time, was seen by 19.4 million.
| | | | | | | | 8. 🍽️ Amazon Prime adds Grubhub | | Photo: Andrew Kelly/Reuters Amazon added a new perk to its Prime subscription service ahead of the two-day Prime Day sale that kicks off next Tuesday: - Prime members in the U.S. can get a free one-year Grubhub+ membership, typically $9.99 per month, Axios' Kelly Tyko reports.
The offer includes "unlimited, $0 food delivery fees on orders over $12." - After the free year of Grubhub+ ends, it will auto-renew at $9.99 a month until canceled, Amazon says in the fine print.
Share this story ... Read the release. | | | | | | | | A message from BlackRock® | | Invested in the future of retirees | | |  | | | | All across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. So, we are hard at work, helping them achieve financial freedom. At BlackRock, we are proud to manage the retirement plan assets of over 35 million Americans. Learn more. | | | | 📬 Invite your friends to sign up here for their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment