fortune--2020-06-29--When does the extra $600 in federal unemployment end? What to know before it expires

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The CARES Act passed in March set aside an additional $600 per week in unemployment insurance (UI) as a financial cushion for the tens millions of Americans who would soon lose their jobs during the pandemic.
Americans receive the extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits on top of their state benefits. But that extra $600 benefit recedes at the end of July unless the federal government extends it.
That means millions of Americans are about to take a $600 weekly—$2,400 per month—cut in pay. That financial blow to unemployed American’s finances comes as the unemployment rate sits at 13.3%, and 59% of CEOs tell Fortune they’ve implemented hiring freezes since the onset of the pandemic. Despite an improving economy, it’s still a terrible time to be looking for work.
Here’s what jobless Americans need to know before the $600 federal unemployment bonus ends in July.
When will I get my final $600 federal unemployment bonus?
The $600 benefit is available for weeks ending on or before July 31, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That means the last week jobless Americans are eligible for the benefit is the week ending Saturday, July 25.
That comes as a surprise to many jobless Americans: Several states’ websites had incorrectly listed the week of July 31 as the final week of the benefit. Some states, including New York, have since corrected that error.
I’m still waiting on my claim, can I get back-paid the $600 weekly bonuses?
Eligible individuals will receive retroactive payments of the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefits, in addition to their state benefits, based on their determined date of eligibility. Americans still stuck in unemployment backlogs can get these retroactive checks, going back as far as March 29 for the $600 bonus. Several jobless Americans have told Fortune they received the retroactive money in one lump sum check after their application was approved.
Will there be an extension of the extra $600 in unemployment?
In May, Democrats in the House included an extension of the benefits through January 2021 in the $3 trillion relief package they approved. But that bill is opposed by Senate Republicans. And it is looking unlikely an extension will get passed before the end of July.
Many on the political left see extending the unemployment bonus as critical to keeping families and the economy stable through the pandemic. Meanwhile, many business leaders and conservative representatives point to a paper from University of Chicago researchers that finds 7 in 10 jobless Americans are receiving more in unemployment benefits than they did while working. They claim these generous benefits will deter workers from returning to jobs and slowdown the recovery.
Support among the general public for extending the $600 bonus unemployment benefit isn’t strong. A Fortune-SurveyMonkey of 4,109 U.S. adults between May 20–26, found 37% of U.S. adults support that extension, including 20% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats.
How many Americans are going to lose the $600 federal unemployment checks?
As of Thursday, 19.5 million Americans are still on the unemployment rolls. While that is down 5.4 million from the 24.9 million peak during the week of May 9, it still means tens of millions of Americans are about to lose $600 per week in earnings.
What Pandemic Unemployment Assistance provisions remain past July?
Though the additional $600 in weekly unemployment benefits is slated to expire at the end of July, other provisions of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance will remain through the end of the year. That includes the expansion of who is eligible for UI, like part-timers and independent contractors, and the extension to 39 weeks of benefits for anyone who is added to the unemployment rolls before the end of the year.


fortune--2020-07-01--Fox News fires daytime anchor Ed Henry after sexual misconduct allegation

Fintechs aren ’ t the answer for financial justice , says one lender

Fox News on Wednesday fired daytime news anchor Ed Henry after an investigation of sexual misconduct in the workplace.
The network said it had received a complaint last Thursday from an attorney about the misconduct. An outside investigator was hired and, based on the results of that probe, Fox fired Henry.
Henry, who co-anchored “America’s Newsroom” between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon on weekdays, had slowly rehabilitated his career on Fox following a four-month leave of absence that ended in 2016. That followed published reports of an extramarital affair that he had conducted with a Las Vegas cocktail waitress.
Fox offered no details of the complaint that resulted in Henry’s firing, only to say that it happened “years ago.” Henry could not immediately be reached for comment.
The alleged victim is represented by noted sexual harassment attorney Douglas Wigdor. He also would not provide any details of the case.
Henry’s former co-anchor, Sandra Smith, announced the firing on the air. Fox said she’ll continue in her role with rotating co-anchors until a full-time replacement is hired.
Henry, a former White House correspondent for Fox, was only recently elevated to the role on “America’s Newsroom.” He got the job after Bill Hemmer moved to Shepard Smith’s afternoon time slot.
In a memo to staff, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace reminded employees of Fox’s 2017 overhaul of its human resources operation and the avenues they can follow with a sexual harassment complaint.
Fox’s late former chairman, Roger Ailes, was fired in 2016 following harassment allegations made by former anchor Gretchen Carlson. Prime-time anchor Bill O’Reilly lost his job a year later following the revelations of settlements reached with women who had complaints about his behavior.


fortune--2020-07-01--Postmates plays the field

Postmates plays the field

After dropping its bid for Grubhub, Uber is now reportedly seeking to acquire food delivery company Postmates.
But Postmates is not making the process straightforward. A blank check company led by investment banker Michael Klein has reportedly made an acquisition offer to the company — and Postmates has very much sought to take matters into its own hands: Though interest in the company had waned pre-pandemic, it is now reportedly reviving plans for an initial public offering in a move that could give Postmates a different benchmark on pricing and put pressure on buyers… if public market investors land on its side.
Postmates was last valued at $2.4 billion in September.
At any rate, consolidation in the food delivery market has been a long time coming, even pre-pandemic. The trend will continue, whether or not Postmates decides to sell.
What now, stimulus? There was a mad dash for the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program aimed at keeping the lights on at small businesses. So who would have expected cash would be left on the table?
Except that’s what happened: Some $130 billion of the program was still waiting for applicants even while it expired yesterday, on June 30. In a surprise move, the U.S. Senate passed on Tuesday an extension to the program, which some small businesses had avoided over the unclear guidance, pushing the expiration to August 8. The House and President Donald Trump will still need to sign off on the law.
That comes as hopes of a V-shaped recovery fade as reopenings are correlating with a surge in Covid-19 cases. For a good read about the economic recovery (that puts it in the alphabetical terms that we’ve used to define the charts), here’s a piece on a K-shaped recovery—which brings to light the socioeconomic and racial divides that are being magnified as a result of a pandemic that has razed storefront businesses but boosted many tech companies.
VENTURES DEALS
- Discord, a San Francisco-based chat app popular among gamers, raised $100 million in funding. Index Ventures led the round.
- Evidation Health, a San Mateo, Calif.-based medical research platform, raised $45 million in Series D funding. B Capital Group led the round and was joined by investors including McKesson Ventures and Section 32 as well as existing investors Revelation Partners, Rethink Impact, and SV Health Investors.
- Kitu Life, the startup behind Super Coffee, raised $25 million in funding that values it at $200 million. Skyview Capital led the round. Read more.
- Elementary Robotics, a Los Angeles-based hardware and software platform for machine learning in manufacturing and logistics industries, raised $12.7 million in Series A funding. Threshold Ventures led the round.
- Protaryx, a Baltimore, Md.-based company developing access to the left atrium for transcatheter cardiac procedures, raised $3.2 million in seed funding and $5.1 million in Series A financing led by Ajax Health and was joined by investors including University of Maryland Ventures.
- Beckley Psytech, which is developing psychedelic drugs for treating psychiatric and neurological disease, raised $3.8 million in seed funding. Investors include Canadian businessman Greg Bailey and British entrepreneur Jim Mellon.
- Neo.tax, a company that helps startups secure R&D research credits from the federal government, raised $3 million in seed funding from Andy McLoughlin at Uncork Capital and Mike Maples at Floodgate, with Michael Ma at Liquid 2 Ventures and Deena Shakir at Lux Capital participating. Read more.
- Intento, a Berkeley, Calif.-based AI integration platform, raised $3 million in seed funding. Flint Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Berkeley SkyDeck and SmartHub.
- Willa, a Los Angeles-based fintech startup for helping freelancers get paid on time, raised $3 million in seed funding. EQT Ventures led the round.
- Pattern89, an Indianapolis-based platform using AI to boost digital ad performance, raised $2 million in funding. Investors include Break Trail Ventures, Elevate Ventures, F&M Investments, High Alpha Capital, and Vitalize.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Inside Real Estate, backed by Lovell Minnick, acquired dashCMA DRAPER, a pricing tool for real estate agents. Financial terms weren't disclosed
- S4 Capital acquired Lens10, an Australian digital strategy and analytics consultancy, and merged it with MightyHive. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Salt Creek Capital acquired IT Assist, a provider of outsourced technology services and IT consulting to companies in the Philadelphia metro area. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Carrick Capital Partners acquired Flatiron School, a New York-based technical bootcamp, from Softbank-backed WeWork. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Apollo Global Management acquired Tech Data Corporation (Nasdaq: TECD), a Clearwater, Fla.-based technology distributor. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Chatterjee’s Haldia Petrochemicals and Rhône Capital acquired Lummus Technology, a Houston-based licensor of gas processing technologies, from McDermott International. The acquisition price was $2.7 billion.
- Mercer Global Advisors, backed by Genstar Capital, acquired Argosy Wealth Management, a Los Angeles-based wealth management company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHERS
- Suez SA plans to sell its continental Europe waste management businesses. The deal could raise as much as 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion), per Bloomberg. Read more.
- LiveXLive (NASDAQ: LIVX) is acquiring Napster, a player in the B2B music space. LiveXLive has also acquired PodcastOne, an advertiser-supported on-demand digital audio network. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
BREAKUPS, HANGUPS, AND BANKRUPTCIES
- Grupo Aeroméxico SAB, a Mexico City-based airline company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Read more.
- Byron, a UK-based burger chain backed by Three Hills Capital Partners, is headed for bankruptcy proceedings, per Sky News. Read more.
IPOS
- Jamf, a Minneapolis-based Apple device management company, filed to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. It posted revenue of $204 million in 2019 and a loss of $32.6 million. Vista Equity backs the firm. It has yet to choose an exchange. Read more.
- GS Acquisition Holdings II, Goldman Sachs’ second blank check company, raised $700 million in an offering of 70 million units priced at $10 apiece. It plans to list on the NYSE as “GSAH.U.” Read more.
- GO Acquisition, a New York-based blank check company founded by the co-founder of GLG Partners (Noam Gottesman) and the founder of Certares (Gregory O’Hara), filed to raise $500 million. It is targeting a company in the travel industry. Read more.
- Montrose Environmental Group, ae Irvine, Calif.-based provider of environmental assessment, filed to raise up to $160 million. It posted revenue of $233.9 million in 2019 and a loss of $23.6 million. Oaktree (17.2% pre-offering), CTEH Holdings (8.7%) and Yukon Environmental (8.4%) back the firm. It plans to list on the NYSE as “MEG.” Read more.
- DoubleDown Interactive, a South Korean developer of mobile and web-based games, plans to raise $86 million in an offering of 5.5 million ADSs priced at $15.60 apiece. It posted revenue of $273.6 million and income of $36.3 million in 2019. It plans to list on the Nasdaq as “DDI.” Read more.
EXITS
- Société Générale is acquiring Shine, a French neobank for young companies. Shine has raised from investors including Kima Ventures and Xange Private Equity. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Google acquired North, a Canadian maker of smart glasses. North has raised from Intel Capital and the Amazon Alexa Fund. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Cedar Gate Technologies, a portfolio company of GTCR, acquired Citra Health Solution, a healthcare workflow software provider, from Great Point Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
F+FS
- B Capital Group, a venture firm founded by Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin, raised $820 million vehicle for its second fund.
- Cendana Capital, a firm that invests in seed stage managers, raised $278 million in capital commitments: $218 million for its fourth flagship fund and $60 million to be managed on behalf of the University of Texas endowment. Read more.
PEOPLE
- Cherry Ventures added Sophia Bendz, Spotify's former global marketing director and Atomico partner, as a partner beginning September 1.


fortune--2020-07-01--Hollywood must adapt to remote work or suffer the consequences

The coronavirus has significantly impacted the entertainment industry—with virtually all film and TV productions halted in mid-March and thousands of crew members temporarily furloughed. California recently green-lighted film production on June 12, and New York last week entered phase 2 reopening for limited pre- and postproduction work. Big movie studios are still weeks and months away from actual film shooting, but these moves are big steps toward reviving the entertainment industry after more than three months of shutdown. The box office could still face up to a 60% loss compared with 2019, with global loss in box office revenue projected to be as high as $17 billion. At the same time, the demand for streaming services continues to surge as people seek new content to be entertained at home. Further, the release dates of major movies have been pushed back, from the latest James Bond film No Time to Die to Top Gun: Maverick.
It’s challenging enough to film with traditional methods while social distancing. But for many studios, the virus has also made it difficult to make creative decisions before the shoot, such as casting, set, and costume design. The same goes for postproduction tasks. These are all highly collaborative processes involving hundreds of professionals—from editors to sound engineers, Foley artists, colorists, and more during the marketing and promotion stage right up to distribution. Last-minute editing or approval change in one small scene could impact every version of the trailer and movie poster that follows.
Until recently, many movie studios have never made these types of decisions while working remotely. Now they have to.
It’s time for Hollywood to innovate
The entertainment business has been one of the last industries to fully leverage the shift to remote collaboration, which is now being dramatically accelerated by the coronavirus. There were good reasons for Hollywood’s reluctance. High-definition video and audio take up a lot of bandwidth, which can stall or freeze while working over the Internet. Collaboration tools are good for messaging and virtual meetings, but for visually complex development exercises like storyboarding for film sequencing, there were few quality options available.
As a result of past practices, Hollywood, for all its global reach, has frequently worked like a small town. While certain contributions to content creation have begun to be performed on a global basis, creative teams have tended to cluster in Los Angeles and, to a lesser extent, New York. And even when creative teams cluster in these production hubs they often endure commuting in hours of traffic, resulting in more Los Angelenos quitting their jobs because of commute times than residents of any other metropolitan area. They see less of their families and have heightened feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Hollywood is embracing digital transformation
We’ve seen what happens when filmmakers embrace digital transformation. Previously, teams used to spend time in one room for months on some of the simplest tasks. New virtual workspace technology is enabling leading Hollywood studios to make progress toward the goal of working 100% remotely, allowing them to complete preproduction, postproduction, and marketing and promotion at rates that are significantly faster than the prior way of working. (Peter Jackson’s company Bluescape is a visual collaboration platform that could benefit financially from increased remote collaboration in the film industry.)
Here are some other shifts that may significantly change how Hollywood works post-coronavirus:
The studio will increasingly be a mindset versus a physical location, as talent becomes less tied to geography. This will result in talent that is more dispersed, more productive, and cheaper to hire. We’ll also see more low-touch workflows, in contrast to studios who have people lined up in a control room doing the traditional editing and post processes.
New video storytelling forms will emerge. People are already getting creative with video, whether it’s virtual concerts or episodes of Saturday Night Live filmed completely at home. Even top TV shows are adopting videoconferencing. For example, NBC took it a step further in creating a Parks and Recreation reunion using Zoom.
The model for seeing movies may change, as demand surges for new content. Even before COVID-19, the industry was having heated conversations about video on demand and its impact on theatrical distribution. This will continue as Hollywood seeks more flexible solutions to adapt to increasing stay-at-home consumption. Universal Pictures, for example, recently launched Trolls World Tour online, grossing $200 million in retail fees without a theatrical release.
The pandemic is posing significant challenges for Hollywood, but the opportunity for creative industries to work differently will endure. Technology will solve broader challenges related to talent diversity, proximity, and inclusion, and usher in a new era of creative innovation—one with collaboration at scale. Those achievements are the type of movie magic we fully applaud.
Peter Jackson is CEO of Bluescape. Prior to Bluescape, he cofounded Ziploop Inc. (acquired by Snipp in October 2017); served on the boards of Eventbrite, DocuSign, and Kanjoya; took Intraware to IPO; and was president/COO of Dataflex following its acquisition of Granite Systems.
Kenneth Williams currently serves as executive director and CEO of the Entertainment Technology Center at the University of Southern California. He spent 18 years with Sony Pictures Entertainment—as treasurer of Columbia Pictures Entertainment and executive vice president of Sony Pictures Entertainment—culminating in his role as president of Sony’s digital studios division.


fortune--2020-07-01--It’s time to focus on the state of healthcare for Black women

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Amy McGrath wins her Kentucky primary, Hong Kong’s national security law goes into effect, and we consider updates on the ERA and the state of Black women’s health. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
– Two to take in. I’d like to direct your attention to a pair of very important—if very different!—stories on Fortune.com this morning.
The first comes from our colleague Maria Aspan, who has been tirelessly reporting on women’s health since she joined us last year. (If you haven’t seen it yet, I heartily recommend her recent investigation into the many dangers posted by breast implants; in the wake of her story, the FDA has increasingly cracked down on the makers of the devices.)
In her latest, Maria digs into the massive disparities in healthcare and outcomes for Black women—including the fact that, while Black women are less likely than white women to be diagnosed with breast cancer, they are 40% more likely to die from it. The story is filled with disturbing information—including stats about the minuscule numbers of Black women who are included in medical studies of the diseases they face. It’s important reading.
****
A less literal matter of life and death—but still one with wide-ranging impact, is the Equal Rights Amendment. Emma has a story looking at, looking why, decades after its inception, the ERA is back in the headlines.
As anyone who knows their history (or has been watching Mrs. America!) is aware, the ERA became the fulcrum of the culture wars over feminism in the ’70s, and failed to meet a Congressionally-imposed deadline to be ratified by 38 states by 1982. But some of its supporters never gave up—the Amendment has now hit that threshold, and is the subject of a lawsuit that will determine when the ’82 deadline was legitimate.
Emma’s story focuses on the amicus brief—signed by 93 organizations—in support of the ERA. The signatories include Apple, Google, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, PepsiCo, Hersey, the NFL, U.S. Soccer, and many more. Their argument is simple: equality is good for business. To read more about why corporate America is now backing this 40-plus-year-old amendment, read Emma’s full story here.
Kristen Bellstrom
kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com
@kayelbee
Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Close call. Amy McGrath won a close Democratic Senate primary in Kentucky that makes her her party's challenger to Sen. Mitch McConnell in November. McGrath was the more moderate candidate, coming out ahead of progressive Charles Booker. Time
- Taking effect. A new national security law, meant to quell pro-democracy protesters who objected to greater interference from mainland China and to the leadership of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, has now come into effect. The law is tailored to target protesters, experts say. Guardian
- Lord Mayor Chu. Hazel Chu is the ninth woman and first person of color elected Lord Mayor of Dublin out of 352 people who have held the role throughout history. The Green Party politician's deputy will be Mary Callaghan, a Social Democrat. RTÉ
- Coronavirus tragedy. Andrea High Bear was the first woman in federal prison to die from the coronavirus. Before she died, she gave birth while on a ventilator. This piece tells her story: Elle
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Former Bridgewater co-CEO Eileen Murray was elected chair of Finra, Wall Street’s self-regulatory arm. Bozoma Saint John will leave Endeavor and join Netflix as CMO. Karen Parkin resigned as global head of human resources at Adidas after employee complaints about company culture and lack of diversity; she said she was stepping down to "pave the way for change."
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Dealmaking queen. Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's "dealmaking king," has earned big by investing in Zoom. But Solina Chau, who is his longtime partner and heads a group that invests his personal wealth, made that bet. She's been behind many of his successful returns in the tech industry. Financial Times
- Bank on her. In 1960, Madeline McWhinney Dale became the first female officer of the Federal Reserve Bank; later, she was president of the First Women's Bank, the first bank largely owned and operated by women. The trailblazing banker died at 98 on June 19. New York Times
- China's crackdown. The Chinese government is taking radical steps to restrict its Muslim population—including forced IUDs, sterilization, and abortion. Many Uighur women sent to detention camps are there as punishment for having "too many" children. Associated Press
ON MY RADAR
Inside the Peloton community dedicated to Black women Zora
Awkwafina and Zendaya are among the 819 people invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Fortune
‘Black women are the architects of cuisine’ The Cut
PARTING WORDS
"Through our body language, there’s that sense of, ‘I see you, you see me.’"
-Madeline Maldonado, a New York restaurant beverage director, on the solidarity between people of color in the wine industry


fortune--2020-07-01--Warner vows to fight for legislation requiring campaigns to report foreign interference

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The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee vowed a fight on an annual defense bill Tuesday after Republicans again blocked his legislation requiring political campaigns to report foreign offers of assistance to the FBI.
“I fear the Senate is about to fail once again to protect our elections from foreign interference,” Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said on the Senate floor.
Warner said Republicans stripped his measure from an intelligence bill that’s being combined with the National Defense Authorization Act. Warner said he’ll press for a vote on whether to add his proposal as an amendment to make senators to go on record for or against it.
“In a different time, with a different president, this bill wouldn’t be controversial at all,” Warner said. When a foreign power offers to aid a campaign, “the appropriate response is not to say ‘thank you.’ The appropriate response is ‘call the FBI.’ What a sad statement about partisan politics in our country when we can’t even agree on that.”
Warner cited President Donald Trump’s calls for Ukraine and China to investigate Joe Biden and his son, or for Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s emails in 2016.
“We are under attack from adversaries who see this new area of cyber warfare and disinformation as a golden opportunity to undermine American democracy,” Warner said. “We cannot afford to have a system that allows presidential candidates to welcome this interference with open arms.”
He noted that some Republicans said Trump was wrong to seek Ukraine’s assistance in investigating the Bidens but didn’t vote to remove him from office during the impeachment trial.
“If we can’t trust the president of the United States and his campaign to do the right thing and report foreign interference, then we need to require it by law,” Warner said.


fortune--2020-07-01--Why Uber is so hungry to double down on the unprofitable business of food delivery

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Uber Technologies is reportedly in talks to buy Postmates for $2.6 billion, just a month after a proposed takeover of Grubhub fell through.
If combined, Uber Eats (22%) and Postmates (8%) would have a meal delivery market share of 30%, according to Second Measure data. That would be greater than Grubhub (23%), but still behind DoorDash (45%).
Food delivery apps like Uber Eats, Postmates, and Grubhub are all unprofitable. So why then is Uber Technologies—which is unprofitable and quickly burning up its billions in cash reserves—so hungry to add another unprofitable food delivery platform?
As Uber’s ride-hailing business sinks during the pandemic, it has been forced to lay off thousands of employees. But food delivery is actually benefiting from stay-at-home orders and the closure of most dine-in options. So it has no choice but to double down on meal delivery.
Since the onset of the pandemic, 23% of U.S. adults are ordering more from these platforms, according to a Fortune and Civis Analytics survey of 2,045 U.S. adults from May 22 to 27*. That’s a 39% uptick among people who already use the platforms. But the upswing varies greatly by age, with around 1 in 3 of U.S. adults under age 44 increasing online delivery orders, compared to 1 in 10 for Americans over 45.
The Fortune and Civis Analytics survey found that 58% of U.S. adults say they now use food delivery services, and analysts project many will continue once the pandemic recedes.
If Uber Eats and Postmates combine, it’s likely Uber could cut 20% to 25% of the combined company’s costs due to eliminating overlap, says Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities.
“I think if Uber does the Postmates deal, it could speed up profitability for Uber Eats by six to 12 months,” Ives told Fortune on Tuesday. And acquiring a bigger chunk of market share would help to make Uber Eats more competitive with industry leader DoorDash.
Ideally, Uber Eats would have combined with a bigger player, like Grubhub, which would have created even more scale and a faster route to profitability, Ives says. But after that fell through, Postmates became its last opportunity to make a deal.
“Uber is at the dance and looking for a partner. Postmates is the last available partner. Otherwise they’re going on the dance floor solo,” Ives says.
*Methodology: The Fortune-Civis Analytics survey was conducted among a national sample of 2,045 adults in the U.S. between May 22-27. The findings have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography.


fortune--2020-07-01--‘Zero chance’ of a ‘V’-shaped recovery as coronavirus cases soar again

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As states eased lockdowns in May, consumer spending saw a record increase and millions were rehired. For a moment, it looked like the economy had turned a corner and a “V”-shaped recovery was within reach.
But that was before cases of the deadly virus soared throughout Southern and Western states that had begun to reopen. Now, Texas has closed bars and reduced restaurant occupancy as the state hits max ICU capacity in some hospitals. And Florida has closed some beaches and restricted alcohol sales in bars, and some California counties are also closing bars again.
“I’d say zero chance [of a “V”-shaped recovery]. The real risk now is we start backsliding and start contracting again,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. The resurgence of the virus, he says, has eliminated the potential for a “V” (a steep drop followed by an equally sharp rebound).
On Tuesday, Bank of America put out a report with the headline “From a ‘V’ to an ‘L’ or ‘W.’” Arizona, Florida, Texas, South Carolina, and California—where confirmed COVID-19 cases are surging—account for 37% of U.S. GDP and could pull down nationwide economic growth, the Bank of America economists wrote.
“With a few notable exceptions, the reopening seems to have triggered an initial “V”-shaped recovery… Unfortunately, the reopening has come at a cost: The virus is back,” the report continued. “By the time the growth in the virus peaks, we assume roughly half of the country will be impacted. With half of the country slowly opening and half slowly closing, the economy could flatten out overall.”
On Friday the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the June unemployment rate—giving us a better understanding of the rate of recovery in June. Zandi told Fortune he projects the unemployment rate falling from 13.3% to 11.5%. If correct, it would mark the second consecutive month of a falling jobless rate after it peaked at 14.7% in April.
It took only two months for the jobless rate to go from a 50-year low of 3.5% in February to an 80-year high of 14.7% in April. But now, bouncing back sharply to make the other side of that “V” seems increasingly unlikely.


fortune--2020-07-01--Pizza Hut and Wendy’s operator files for bankruptcy, as COVID-19 puts pressure on struggling restaur

Pizza Hut and Wendy’s operator files for bankruptcy, as COVID-19 puts pressure on struggling restaurant sector

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NPC International Inc., the largest franchisee of Pizza Hut restaurants in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy after coronavirus-related shutdowns added to competitive pressures in the restaurant industry.
The closely held company sought Chapter 11 protection in the Southern District of Texas court on Wednesday. NPC opened its first Pizza Hut restaurant in 1962 and operates more than 1,225 Pizza Hut and over 385 Wendy’s stores across the U.S., according to its website.
NPC and Pizza Hut have struggled with rising labor and food costs while trying to expand delivery and move away from traditional dine-in restaurants. The Overland Park, Kansas-based company also faces cut-throat competition from rivals such as Domino’s Pizza Inc. and Papa John’s International Inc.
The company has $903 million in debt and has pre-negotiated a restructuring agreement with about 90% of its first lien lenders and 17% of second lien lenders. The plan is aimed at reducing the company’s debt, with first lien lenders taking equity and potentially participating in a new cash injection. It also includes the sale of at least part of the company’s restaurants, according to the filing.
The Chapter 11 filing doesn’t mean Pizza Hut and Wendy’s are going out of business. NPC can keep operating while it works out a plan to pay its bills and turn the business around, and the bankruptcy doesn’t affect the thousands of other Pizza Hut and Wendy’s outlets owned by other franchisees.
Ahead of the pandemic, NPC, backed by private investment firm Eldridge Industries LLC, brought in the help of restructuring advisers at law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges as well as investment bank Greenhill & Co. and operational adviser AlixPartners LLP, Bloomberg reported. Eldridge wrote off its equity investment in NPC last year.
Restaurants are facing new pressures with the temporary closures of locations across the country to stem the spread of coronavirus. The drain on revenue has been too much for some, causing them to file for bankruptcy protection. Recent filings include CEC Entertainment Inc., the parent of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza, and the U.S arm of Le Pain Quotidien. Greenwich, Connecticut-based Eldridge bought Le Pain Quotidien out of bankruptcy.
–With assistance from Davide Scigliuzzo and Luca Casiraghi.


fortune--2020-07-01--Hawaii’s storied Mauna Lani Resort reopens after $200 million remodel

Ed. note: This story was reported, written, and edited prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The remarkably dry weather and white sand beaches of Hawaii Island’s Kohala Coast have long attracted the most luxurious of resorts, and since 1983, the Mauna Lani Resort stood among them as an icon of the coast. After a group of investors purchased the resort for $225 million in 2017, it brought on California-based luxury specialist Auberge Resorts Collection to overhaul the space, closing the resort in October 2018. In January, the storied 37-year-old resort reopened under new ownership following a 14-month closure and $200 million remodel.
Pointing like an arrow out toward the beach so as to maximize the ocean views from its 333 rooms, the remodeled hotel keeps the resort’s long-running focus on Hawaiian culture, while updating the atmosphere. “It was all about opening it up and creating a gathering place,” says Chris White, executive director of marketing at Mauna Lani. The entire multi-floor lobby has been opened up, the registration desk moved out of a back corner, and instead of descending to a dark, dank bottom-floor pond, the central staircase leads to a light-filled atrium featuring a 100-year-old carved canoe and an open seating area.
The Gathering Place—located below the lobby—is the resort’s central meeting spot, weaving together contemporary and cultural design elements. Courtesy of Mauna Lani Auberge
“Spending the money was the easy part,” White says of the remodel, which added an adults-only infinity pool, along with the sand-bottomed kids pool, and the general use one. The hard part was bringing in activities that allowed them to build on the hotel’s longtime foundation of Hawaiian culture. Danny Akaka Jr., or “Uncle Danny,” has run the hotel’s cultural program for 36 years and continues to do so, only instead of a ground-floor office that White describes as “the cupboard under the stairs,” the Hale I’ike (House of Knowledge) program now runs in the open space opposite the lobby and a ground-floor area featuring a map of the island inlaid in tiles.
Related: The foodie haven in Hawaii you need to know about now
Among the starkest differences—and biggest improvements—are the grounds. Access to many parts of the resort, including the CanoeHouse restaurant, originally required weaving along footpaths between more fishponds. Now, a lawn dotted with firepits and chairs for after-dinner drinks connects the resort to the outbuilding, and only a few ponds remain to play host to the resident honu (sea turtles). While removing ponds, though, the updated Mauna Lani increased its dedication to the turtle programming, adding a second marine biologist to its staff. Visitors can help care for the turtles, which are part of a preservation program with Sea Life Park on Oahu.
The ultimate hideaway, the adult pool features an infinity-edge design, luxury cabanas, and contemporary furnishings. Courtesy of Mauna Lani Auberge
But even as the much of the hotel’s remodel focuses on traditional culture, many of the newest amenities seem geared toward modern culture: In June, the resort will open a 1,700-square-foot Goop store, selling nearly all of the Gwyneth Paltrow lifestyle brand’s products. And while the tennis center and lap pool are still located off-site, Mauna Lani added a small five-room spa designed for shorter treatments and longer hours. And there is a gym with CrossFit-style equipment on an outdoor patio, standard machines and weights inside (an app creates personalized workouts designed for the equipment available), and Peloton bikes that can be used within the gym or moved upon request into individual guest rooms.
The guest rooms, however, are not the most inviting part of the grounds. Without a far more major overhaul, the structure of the building focuses the rooms on panoramic views, while keeping the hallways and portions of the room fairly dark. (The lack of space also means that bathrooms come furnished with roomy showers rather than bathtubs.) Given the region’s consistent sunshine and that few people come to Hawaii to stay in their room or take long baths, these end up being fairly minor quibbles.
Each of the guest rooms comes with a furnished lanai balcony offering mountain and ocean views. Courtesy of Mauna Lani Auberge
After all, just outside the lobby, white sand stretches into the Pacific. There, a surf shack houses the water sports programs—snorkeling, canoeing, surf lessons, stand-up paddleboarding, and beach workouts—right from the edge of the beach, and also serves casual lunches.
The other lunch spot on the property will be a food truck serving poke bowls, though that hasn’t set up quite yet. The Hā Bar sits between the pools and serves light bites throughout the day, as well as excellent cocktails based on local produce like lilikoi (passion fruit) and ube (purple sweet potato). The Market, which serves coffee in the lower lobby in the morning, operates a full-service café and also carries a truly impressive stock of local products: Beyond the usual tourist-friendly beers, chocolate, and honey, there’s also locally made goat cheese, teas, art, and sunscreen. The dedication to local traditions and style extends to the flagship restaurant of the hotel, the CanoeHouse, all of which makes the HāLani, an open-air spot on the ground floor, an odd outlier among the offerings, serving up a menu of food from around the Mediterranean.
CanoeHouse, the resort’s iconic oceanfront restaurant. Courtesy of Mauna Lani Auberge
A stroll through the lower lobby—where musicians play each afternoon—out the other side of the building brings diners to the CanoeHouse’s outbuilding. When the Mauna Lani Resort opened in 1983, Peter Merriman was one of the first cooks, before quickly moving to executive chef. Later, he’d open Merriman’s and pioneer the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement. In the decades since Merriman’s departure, the resort has kept up its culinary reputation, and the latest version of the CanoeHouse comes from chef Matt Raso, who previously worked as executive chef for various locations of Nobu and weaves his Japanese cooking background through Big Island ingredients.
While the entrées retain some of the less enticing elements of hotel restaurants (flashy ingredients, unexciting flavors), the small plates demonstrate much of the same balance between local tradition and modern style that the hotel’s remodel does. Slices of Kona kampachi get smoked over hay and seared at the table; local corn comes in tempura; taro leaves and smoked pork scent the steamed clams; and an order of the crisp, fluffy, and buttery pull-apart bread does a killer job soaking up the broth left behind by garlicky prawns.
The Great Lawn is the intersection connecting the beach, pools, and restaurants. Courtesy of Mauna Lani Auberge
A waitress smiles in approval at the use of the bread. This menu is new to her, but the restaurant isn’t: She’s been there since the day CanoeHouse opened in 1989. The local community was understandably upset by the layoffs before the closure of the hotel. Post remodel, the resort rehired 280 of the 320 previous staff, plus another 200 new employees. One could argue it mirrors the remodel: mostly the same, but injected with a little new energy.
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fortune--2020-07-01--Hong Kong wakes up to confusion and arrests as National Security law goes into force

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Hong Kong woke up to a new reality on Wednesday, after China began enforcing a sweeping security law that could reshape the financial hub’s character 23 years after it took control of the former British colony.
The law’s tough provisions went beyond what many investors, democracy advocates and even pro-Beijing politicians feared, prompting warnings that it would cast a chilling effect over free speech and political activities related to Hong Kong. Leaders in Beijing and Hong Kong did nothing to allay those worries during briefings to explain the 35-page law unveiled as it came into effect late Tuesday, even as thousands hit the streets in defiance.
“The law is a ‘sword of Damocles’ hanging above extremely few criminals who are severely endangering national security,” Zhang Xiaoming, the deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told reporters Wednesday in Beijing. “The law will deter foreign forces who try to interfere with Hong Kong affairs. The law is a turning point to put Hong Kong back on its track.”
The law’s vague language generated confusion about what activities were allowed, adding uncertainty for some businesses that flocked to Hong Kong in part because of its independent British-inspired legal system. While some investors said the measure would bring stability following sometimes-violent protests last year, others expected to see a flight of capital and talent to places that uphold the rule of law. Markets were closed for a public holiday.
The Trump administration vowed additional “strong actions” if Beijing didn’t reverse course, potentially inflicting more damage on a city facing its deepest recession on record with unemployment at a 15-year high. The U.K. accused Beijing of going back on its promise in a 1984 treaty to preserve Hong Kong’s “high degree of autonomy.”
“The feeling is that, all of a sudden, the ‘one country, two systems’ arrangement has disappeared and Hong Kong is truly just another part of China,” said Charles Mok, a member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council who represents the information technology industry. “It’s ironic that passing this national security law may make the international community feel that Hong Kong is less secure.”
First Arrests
Police on Wednesday quickly boasted of their first seven arrests under the law—including a protester with a Hong Kong independence flag—out of 180 people taken into custody. They used tear gas, water cannons and pepper spray balls to quell protests that erupted downtown, where demonstrators carrying umbrellas and American flags clashed with officers.
Prominent activists, including former student leader Joshua Wong, joined the protests even while cutting ties with political groups Tuesday in an apparent attempt to avoid implicating each other. Pro-democracy lawmakers have expressed concern the law will be used to bar them from seeking office in a legislative election in September.
“We don’t know if there will be any more opportunities for us to go on the streets for the same cause,” said a 31-year-old freelancer who gave his name as Law. “Maybe we won’t be able to protest ever again for the rest of our lives.”
The legislation passed by lawmakers in China and signed by President Xi Jinping allows for potential life sentences for crimes including subversion of state power and collusion with foreign forces. It extends to actions committed by anyone, whether or not they are Hong Kong residents, anywhere in the world and appears to cover even non-violent tactics employed by protesters in a wave of unrest that gripped the former British colony last year.
For instance, Zhang said that those who travel overseas to seek sanctions against China could be prosecuted under the collusion provision. He also said people who spread “malicious rumors,” such as allegations that riot police killed passengers during a controversial sweep of train station in August, could be liable under provisions against “provoking hatred” against the government.
In a speech to mark the anniversary, Chief Executive Carrie Lam called it the “most important development” in relations between Hong Kong and China’s central government since the city’s handover. In a 70-minute press briefing, she and members of her team provided little clarity on what would be considered an offense under the law.
“I want to emphasize, the maximum penalty of principle offenders of the four crimes is life imprisonment, so don’t challenge the law,” said John Lee, Hong Kong’s security secretary. “Please do not try to test our bottom line.”
Highlights from Hong Kong’s national security law: – All four crimes carry maximum sentences of life.
– Applies to actions after the law’s implementation.
– Covers Hong Kong residents or companies and non-residents anywhere.
– Terrorism charges include “serious disruption” of transportation networks.
– Collusion provision includes advocates of foreign sanctions.
– Subversion includes overthrowing Hong Kong government organs and attacking its offices.
– Violators are barred from seeking or holding public office for an unspecified period.
– Gives Beijing power to prosecute “complex” cases relating to foreign influence or other “serious circumstances.”
– Allows closed trials in cases involving state secrets or other subjects “not fit for open trial.”
– Allows justice minister to opt out of jury trials in some cases.
– Grants immunity to Chinese agents performing duties in Hong Kong.
– Calls for stronger “management” of news agencies and foreign NGOs.
President Donald Trump warned last month that if Beijing didn’t back down the U.S. would start rolling back Hong Kong’s preferential trade status, while the U.K. and Taiwan have offered new paths to residency for the city’s inhabitants. On Monday, the Trump administration made it harder to export sensitive American technology to Hong Kong, and lawmakers are considering easing the rules for residents to enter the U.S. as refugees.
“There is broad, bipartisan concern about the behavior of the government in Beijing,” U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican who is sponsoring legislation that could target banks that deal with officials responsible for eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy, told Bloomberg Television.
China didn’t publish the full draft law before its passage or allow a public debate, which is required under the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution. The process also bypassed Hong Kong’s elected Legislative Council, and Lam said earlier she hadn’t seen a draft of the law.
“Laws that would have fundamental differences to our way of life have been passed thousands of miles away by people we know nothing about, with contents of this legislation which we know nothing about,” pro-democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok said at an evening briefing Tuesday. “That’s no way to treat a civilized, educated international city such as Hong Kong, but this is it. The way they’ve done it is the most ruthless, undignified assault on the freedom, human rights and the rule of law of Hong Kong.”
–With assistance from Peter Martin, Sharon Chen, Jing Li and Lucille Liu.


fortune--2020-07-01--The foodie haven in Hawaii you need to know about now

Ed. note: This story was reported, written, and edited prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Big Island attracts vacationers to its Kona coast with snorkeling and sunshine, and the rainy windward side tantalizes with the lush Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, waterfalls, and the famed Hilo farmers’ market. But in the high hills between the coasts, the island’s best food town quietly grows, produces, cooks, and sells the best food on Hawaii Island.
As the scenery along the half-hour drive up from the Kohala coast to Waimea winds away from black lava rocks into lush green hillsides, the sky often goes from cloudless blue to damp grayness. While the weather isn’t as idyllic, the chill and rain bring great food. This is cowboy country, where paniolos (Hawaiian ranchers) tend sheep and cattle. Small farms stretch out from the town, growing the fruits and vegetables that feed the island. It isn’t just the altitude that changes up here, but the attitude.
Cows grazing on the lower slopes of Mauna Kea on the Big Island, Hawaii. Getty Images
Even as the early closing time nears on a Friday night, Fish and the Hog buzzes with a kind of familiarity rarely seen in the touristy villages down the hill. The restaurant, which serves smoky barbecue and fresh-caught fish, each in a variety of styles, deftly weaves local ingredients and avoids the touristy pageantry of hotel-centric spots. There’s crack seed (dried plum powder) in the barbecue sauce amid sides of grilled pineapple, coleslaw, and cornbread. Fish comes in sandwich or taco form, but also in poke. The television in the corner displays surfing, but few people are watching as families gather at the tables, and folks at the bar weave in and out of each other’s conversations.
Related: Hawaii’s storied Mauna Lani Resort reopens after $200 million remodel
There are fewer tangible local ingredients down the road at the Big Island Brewhaus, but stopping by for a pint after dinner to listen to live music wafting in from the beer garden will make you feel far more at home in Waimea than any tropical fruit. The award-winning beers do sometimes incorporate coconut, Kona coffee, and other Big Island specialties. But the small-batch quality and small-town feel speak even louder of its local roots; it’s the people table-hopping and greeting old friends that give this place a friendly Hawaii atmosphere. Beers like the Overboard IPA are just bonuses.
Fresh, sweet lilikoi available at the farmers’ market. Courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA)/Dana Edmunds
Don’t overdo your Friday night, though: Saturday mornings in Waimea mean farmers’ market time. The tiny town of about 11,000 people supports four separate farmers’ markets. The two biggest are the Waimea Town farmers’ market at the Parker School, which features a wide variety of baked goods and prepared foods, and the Kamuela farmers’ market at the Pukalani Stables. The latter takes its name from the official name for the town (there’s another Waimea on Kauai, and the U.S. Postal Service only allows one town per state to have each name) and lays out a destination-worthy spread.
The Hilo farmers’ market is certainly the most famous on the island, long lauded for its maze of fresh fruit. But the Kamuela market offers a more manageable size with an also impressive selection. The breathing room allows time to chat with fruit vendors, to sample the various flavors of mochi, and to wait for the man selling wood-carved utensils to get change for a customer buying a buttery, softball-size avocado. Taste your way through locally grown fruits such as star apples, soursop, and lilikoi (passion fruit), and pick up tiny cocktail avocados or giant papayas, fresh taro, or local beef. Vendors set up shop with plenty of prepared foods for people looking for a little Saturday morning snack, including spicy Indian-style dal, breadfruit sourdough loaves, and vegan banana lassi made from macadamia nut yogurt.
A “farm tour” of Mala`ai, the culinary garden of Waimea Middle School and a one-acre organic outdoor living classroom. Courtesy of the Hawaii Tourism Board
On any other morning of the week, though, the breakfast choice is easy. (No, not the malasadas truck in front of the KTA supermarket; save those for after lunch.) This about the biggest breakfast you’ll ever eat—at Hawaiian Style Cafe. And those giant, dinner-plate-size pancakes? Those are considered a side dish here, so you don’t have to choose between them and the Spam omelet. A half-dozen varieties of the Hawaiian classic Loco Moco anchor the diner-style menu, but gems like the Pulehu ribs and the Kalua hash hide throughout.
The emphasis here might be on the size of the portions, but what makes it endearing is that every last bit of the mountain of mac salad in front of diners is surprisingly good—even if a lot of it ends up going home with them (or, if left behind, to the local hog farm, they don’t waste anything here). The only thing bigger than the pancakes is the wait, so make sure you plan for a little extra time before you need to eat.
Produce and flowers for sale at Kamuela farmers’ market. Courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA)/Dana Edmunds
The lines can be a good thing though, as Waimea, in general, is best enjoyed slowly with walks through the farmers’ markets or by taking the scenic route on Old Mamalahoa Highway into town from Hilo, or popping into shops while waiting for a table. But even if you’re rushing through on your way from one coast to the other, there’s a worthwhile food stop. Earl’s isn’t much more than a counter, but it’s a counter that serves up bento rolls that turn messy dishes like teriyaki beef, smoked pork, and Korean chicken into neat, lunch-size rolls fat with rice. A few hot dishes served over rice, Spam musubi, and some grab-and-go lunches complete the menu. Nothing takes more than a few minutes to pick up, and the prepackaged foods last long, making them the perfect thing to grab on your way out of town. Nobody on the plane home will have anything better to eat than your chicken katsu bento.
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fortune--2020-07-01--This newly revamped luxury hotel is the best reason to visit Siem Reap

Ed. note: This story was reported, written, and edited prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of these temples…erected by some ancient Michelangelo might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome.” So wrote the French explorer and naturalist Henri Mouhot of the staggering majesty of northern Cambodia’s Angkor—the world’s largest religious complex (at over 400 acres) and the seat of the Khmer kingdom from the ninth to 15th centuries.
Having explored the ruins beginning in 1859, Mouhot is credited with alerting the West to Angkor’s existence, spurring a new wave of visitors and leading the French to play a pivotal role in its preservation. Yet guests of the Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor might never know of him if not for a characteristically exceptional amenity delivered to their rooms: a delicate chocolate bird’s nest—a nod to his avid interest in ornithology—accompanied by a magnifying glass, signifying his exacting attention to detail in his exquisite, photo-like sketches of the temples.
The Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor first opened in 1932 to serve the growing wave of luxury travelers bound for the enchanting ruins of Angkor. Courtesy of Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor
A temple of luxury
Such singular gestures are the norm at Siem Reap’s most luxurious hotel, primely positioned just five miles from the Unesco-inscribed Angkor Archaeological Park. Having debuted in 1932, the 119-room resort reopened in October following a meticulous, six-month renovation that cemented its standing as northern Cambodia’s grande dame of hospitality.
The refurbishment seamlessly marries the Raffles’s storied history with chic modern updates. Carefully preserved elements like its original teak-and-wrought-iron birdcage elevator, floral-motif Art Deco railings—their intricate metalwork painstakingly restored—and black-and-white marble floors underscore the hotel’s enduring French Art Deco flavor. Au courant improvements to guest rooms include bathrooms redesigned with rain showers and Italian tiling, new hardwood floors, and Simmons pillow-top mattresses. Lighter, brighter common areas teem with oversize flower arrangements, richly patterned rugs, and chinoiserie accents, while the iconic swimming pool—Cambodia’s largest—and 15 acres of gardens provide a revitalizing respite after long hours hiking the temples.
The hotel’s 119 rooms boast lighter, brighter interiors, refurbished wood floors, and wholly redesigned bathrooms following the recent six-month renovation. Courtesy of Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor
Initially conceived in response to the dearth of accommodations for wealthy travelers bound for Angkor’s architectural marvels, the Raffles quickly lured the global cognoscenti with its soigné charm and world-class service. Charlie Chaplin and actress Paulette Goddard visited together in 1936—the same year British author H.W. Ponder described the hotel in her book, Cambodian Glory, as an “immense and dazzling white concrete palace that would look far more at home on the Côte d’Azur.”
Unparalleled adventures
These days, Raffles’s renowned hospitality partly manifests in a range of exclusive guest experiences. Jet-lagged or not, it’s worth rising at 4 a.m. for a sunrise tour of the sprawling stone city of Angkor by chauffeured Vespa scooter, the hotel’s most memorable adventure. Beginning with entry to Angkor Wat via secret passage well before dawn—when you’ll have the astounding monument virtually all to yourself—the exhilarating sojourn offers access to parts of the complex otherwise difficult to reach.
You won’t soon forget the spectacular sunrise over Angkor Wat—its sandstone towers silhouetted against a sky fading from amethyst to coral at daybreak—nor zipping through the dense jungle, wind in your hair, en route to Ta Prohm. Here, massive roots of aptly named strangler fig and banyan trees reach through temple walls and cascade over roofs like colossal streams of petrified lava, creating an almost surreal fusion of architecture and nature, while their soaring trunks and branches form a leafy canopy above the astonishing landscape.
The city of Angkor served as the seat of the Khmer kingdom—one of the largest and most sophisticated in the history of Southeast Asia—from the ninth to 15th centuries. Alexandra Kirkman
Later, after wandering the labyrinthine halls of the 12th century Bayon temple—its 216 huge, beatific faces of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist “lord who gazes down with compassion,” doing just that—you’ll jump back on your Vespa amid dragonflies dancing in the sunlight, the temple’s many eyes meeting yours during one last backward glance before returning to town.
To sample Siem Reap’s burgeoning culinary scene in sublime style, book the hotel’s Khmer culinary journey. The progressive dining experience begins with a drink at the Raffles’s atmospheric Elephant Bar, whose signature cocktail, Airavata—a fruity rum-and-coconut concoction—is named for the mythical white elephant ridden by Indra, the Hindu king of gods. From there, you’ll travel by tuk-tuk—armed in inimitable Raffles fashion with a chic rattan carryall from the concierge bearing bug repellent and a rechargeable fan—to three top-tier restaurants for a meal that celebrates the town’s slew of enticing dining options.
Raffles guests can explore the sprawling Angkor ruins by chauffeured Vespa as one of the hotel’s exclusive curated journeys. Courtesy of Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor
At Haven, a training restaurant for disadvantaged young Cambodians, you’ll enjoy a first course prepared by students enrolled in its free, 16-month work and life-skills program—complete with room, board, and medical care—after which they seek meaningful employment with the help of Haven’s founders. Tucking into tender chicken satays and fresh vegetable spring rolls in its low-lit tropical garden, you’ll relish how supporting a life-changing cause never tasted so delicious.
Next, at The Sugar Palm, an airy jewel box of an eatery fronted by lush greenery bedecked with hanging lanterns, “fish amok”—a Cambodian specialty of freshwater fish, spices, and coconut cream, blended and steamed to velvety perfection—wows, as does tender grilled eggplant topped with garlicky minced pork. Addictive black sticky rice pudding served on the elegant grass terrace at Mahob Khmer Cuisine rounds out a scrumptious evening.
A signature feature of the hotel, the heritage building’s original teak-and-wrought-iron birdcage elevator has been ferrying guests between floors since 1932. Courtesy of Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor
Artisanal traditions
A visit to Siem Reap is remiss without an amble through its bustling markets and ateliers, where you can often observe Cambodia’s gifted artisans at work. Standouts include the famous Old Market—whose stalls are crammed with stacks of colorful kramas—the country’s ubiquitous checkered cotton scarves—Buddha and Vishnu sculptures, and hand-painted postcards depicting Angkor’s wonders.
Meanwhile, the Made in Cambodia market showcases an array of beautifully made local goods like handwoven blankets, semiprecious-stone jewelry, and baby clothes. Located steps from the town’s eponymous river, the market’s raison d’être is to provide much-needed local jobs.
Artisans Angkor, a social enterprise that provides vocational training to young Cambodians in traditional arts and crafts like silk weaving and stone carving, employs 800 artisans across Siem Reap province. Alexandra Kirkman
Artisans Angkor, which offers vocational training in traditional arts and crafts to Cambodian young people, exemplifies another visionary social enterprise creating employment opportunities in a country where almost one-third of the population lives at near-poverty levels. Launched as an educational project in the late 1990s and now the largest employer in Siem Reap province, it teaches age-old skills including silk weaving and wood and stone carving to Cambodians ages 18 to 25, employing 800 artisans in 48 workshops.
At its inviting campus in the town center, you can take a free guided tour of its studios before heading to the sprawling-store-meets-gallery, where sumptuous silk scarves, delicate ceramics, and shiny lacquerware line the shelves. With shopping bags full of hand-hewn keepsakes (every $100 spent contributes over $21 to the Cambodian economy), you’ll then return to the Raffles’ rarefied embrace, where a lotus-flower-folding class and afternoon tea await.
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fortune--2020-07-01--A first-person look at sailing through Antarctica amid climate change

Ed. note: This story was reported, written, and edited prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minutes before our ship pulled away from Ushuaia—a port town at the southernmost point of South America—my grumblings about the Drake Passage reached a fever pitch. For weeks, my mental and physical preparation were tested as I turned suitcase into pharmacy to quell my worries, angst, and seasickness. I feared, like many of us, the storied and treacherous waters that lead to the Antarctica Peninsula.
Relaying my anxieties to fellow passengers, a seasoned cruiser regaled that there is only one true medicine for seasickness: Champagne. On board Le Soléal, a 466-foot ship from French luxury cruise line Ponant, an endless flow of the fizzy remedy commenced the 10-day journey and sedated the near 200 explorers.
In my cabin, the whistling wind played through the sliding glass door while coffee mugs waltzed to the beat of the ocean swells. Waves crashed into the boat causing a startling shake, and passengers bobbed grudgingly to the lounge. “You know someone is drunk on a cruise because they’re walking straight,” one man joked as I noticed my zigzagging.
Captain David Marionneau-Châtel took to the intercom and promised an effortless navigation through the passage, joyfully adding that a massive albatross gracefully followed our trail. This would be the first of countless announcements encouraging (or better yet, begging) his passengers to bundle up and marvel at the spectacle unfolding outside. With two days at sea, the expedition crew—made up of historians, geologists, marine biologists, and ice experts—equipped us with red parkas, rubber boots, lectures, and the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) rules that dictate advocacy for the land. With a predicted 140,000 visitors entering in the coming two years (a season that only lasts October to March), a delicate footprint is of vital importance.
Spert Island Danielle Bernabe
Upon the first sight of land, I ripped open my curtains to the mesmerizing swirl of winds whipping flurries of sea mist into the air and waves hammering against volcanic rocks protruding from the sea. Antarctica is intimidating and exhilarating. The following day, the anchor dropped at Brown Bluff for our first continental landing. We bundled up like Ralphie Parker in A Christmas Story, a plump heap of layers that swiftly became our new norm. Inflatable motorboats transported us to the shoreline where penguins wobbled and stumbled on the terrain with the same clumsiness as we did. The pages of National Geographic came to life as these little creatures paraded nearby.
The itinerary presented two expeditions a day, flaunting the various geological forms of Antarctica. At Spert Island, we puttered through a celestial collection of razor-sharp cliffs carved by centuries of glaciers. It was menacing. The pelting snow left me breathless. Paulet Island cued us into a harsher life where carrion of gentoo penguins lay strewn alongside a glassy lake and passengers dabbed their noses with essential oils to cover the scent.
Port Charcot Danielle Bernabe
Port Charcot, also known as “Iceberg Gardens,” exhibited nature’s architectural genius; masses of ice on display like a museum. Gliding through them, my neck struggled to keep up with the quick shift of direction, trying to see everything all at once. A curious leopard seal slithered off a small berg to investigate the noise that had stirred it awake. It was us, a clamor of equally curious intruders whose puttering boat inched closer to glimpse at its monstrous size. It paced below with sinister intent before chomping on the edge. “It’s time to go,” a muffled voice demanded over the driver’s walkie-talkie.
We chased seven orcas on a hunt, giggled at congregating penguins, and observed expedition leaders reveling in equal excitement. The captain, with enduring delight, watched from the bridge as new sets of eyes witnessed the glory that brings him back time and again. After the outings, the Ponant crew welcomed us with grog (hot citrus and rum), hot cocoa laced with Baileys, or piping broth as we stripped away our layers and were debriefed. “We are stepping on land no one else has touched,” Sharon White of Sydney repeated after one journey. “The nature is unspoiled. There are no other humans around us.”
A gentoo penguin prepares to feed its baby on Danco Island, where pairs breed on high slopes. Danielle Bernabe
Interspersed between our expeditions (and pivotal to the routine) was the captain’s gentle voice, cutting off conversations to share the sighting of a humpback whale waving its fluke or a minke whale coyly nudging up against the bow. At the captain’s bidding, whatever we were doing, we rushed to watch the animal make a glorious display.
On our last day, we spent hours wandering through the placid waters of Paradise Bay, a glassy blanket studded with icy jewels. Glaciers cracked in the distance, and I grappled with Antarctica indeed existing on the same planet as us, and myself as a mere onlooker of a transcendent environment forever struggling to survive. “The wildlife here fight to find food, raise young, and avoid many very capable predators while dealing with possibly the most unforgiving environment on earth,” said Robert de Lima, a nature enthusiast from Florida. “To experience that was very humbling, and I am in awe of the strength and resilience of these amazing creatures.”
Overlooking Paradise Bay is Argentina’s Brown Station where scientists observe tides, iceberg drifts, and shifting weather conditions. Danielle Bernabe
Antarctica has an interesting way of presenting itself. When the light shifts, it becomes two different scenes. Hovering gray clouds allude to a bleak existence where animals prowl and cruel weather persists. But when the sun radiates, it’s a cheerful playground for porpoising penguins and basking seals. I swayed between similar darkness and light with tangled emotions of guilt and elation. Should I be here disturbing it?
In the captain’s last announcement, he explained that we are apt to better preserve what we understand. To fully understand Antarctica is to visit it, but to preserve it is to tread as if you’re tiptoeing into the nursery of a sleeping baby. Barreling back through the Drake Passage, I struggled to stay standing and to comprehend it all. The 20-foot swells and hurricane-force winds amplified the stark barrier between the absolute life-affirming environment I’d just experienced and the human reality that is on the brink of ruffling its feathers.
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fortune--2020-07-01--7 new books to read in July

7 new books to read in July

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An in-depth examination of the role of Black voters in the American electorate and the subsequent suppression of voting rights; an exploration of long-term friendships from the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend; and a gossipy (and sometimes sensational) behind-the-scenes look at celebrity culture from one of New York City’s premiere social columnists.
Here are some of the new books being published in July to consider picking up from your local bookstore or library this month.
Courtesy of Hachette
The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide by Zerlina Maxwell
Available July 7
Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, MSNBC political analyst and SiriusXM host Zerlina Maxwell breaks down the past and present problems with the Democratic Party. Essentially, they’re still doing it wrong. In The End of White Politics (Hachette), no subject is off the table as Maxwell dismantles the problems around “Bernie bros,” former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and white privilege, and social media activism. In the end, Maxwell’s book aims to serve as a blueprint for uniting the party ahead of November while empowering marginalized groups and explaining how progressives can lean into identity politics in a beneficial manner.
Courtesy of Amistad Press
Available July 7
Black voters were critical in the presidential election of Barack Obama in 2008, and they were instrumental in the 2018 midterm elections. Frankly, Black people have played a crucial role in every major American election—and yet this powerful voting bloc is not only dismissed but regularly sees its voting rights deprived throughout the country. Say It Louder! (Amistad Press) is an explosive examination of how America’s electoral map was designed to exclude Black voters, but paradoxically would likely cease to exist without them.
Courtesy of Abrams
The New Parisienne: The Women & Ideas Shaping Paris by Lindsey Tramuta
Available July 7
In a follow-up to her first book, The New Paris, American journalist (and Fortune contributor) Lindsey Tramuta explores the impact that the women of Paris have had on the City of Light while deconstructing idealized myths and stereotypes surrounding Parisian women (they’re not all white, extremely thin, and impossibly fashionable.) Featuring 50 activists, creators, educators, visionaries, and disrupters—from singer-songwriter Inna Modja to Mayor Anne Hidalgo—the book positions Paris as a blossoming cultural center of feminine power. For readers who want to use the book as an accompaniment when traveling to Paris, each section is capped off with the subject’s favorite destinations and women-owned businesses, including boutiques, artistic venues, bistros, and cafés.
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
Gatecrasher: How I Helped the Rich Become Famous and Ruin the World by Ben Widdicombe
Available July 7
Ben Widdicombe boasts that he’s the only writer to have worked for Page Six, TMZ, and the New York Times. In Gatecrasher (Simon & Schuster), New York’s self-described premiere gossip turned society writer spills the sensational stories that were previously too hot to print, from the Oscars and the Met Gala, to the Hamptons and Mar-a-Lago.
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman
Available July 14
Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, bring their droll but frank wit and personality to a book that chronicles their first decade in each other’s lives, from life-threatening health scares to getting fired from their dream jobs—and one unfortunate Thanksgiving dinner eaten in a car in a parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Big Friendship is meant to invite the reader to think about how your own bonds are formed, challenged, and preserved.
Courtesy of 37 Ink
Available July 14
Pre-pandemic, Miami received nearly 10 million tourists on average annually, all clamoring for spots on the pristine beaches and at some of the hottest nightclubs in the country. But the Floridian city wasn’t always this idyllic. The Year of Dangerous Days (37 Ink) chronicles one year in the city’s history, examining police brutality, a drug epidemic, an explosive refugee crisis, and a 150% murder rate increase over the course of 1980. Against all odds, Miami survived and became a much more vibrant city—one that was built on drug money and corruption, oozing severe ramifications for the rest of the country.
Courtesy of Ecco Press
Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey
Available July 28
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natasha Trethewey explores the profound experience of pain and loss. At age 19, Trethewey had her world turned upside down when her former stepfather shot and killed her mother. Tracing her mother’s history in the deeply segregated South and through her own girlhood as a “child of miscegenation” in Mississippi, Trethewey explores her sense of dislocation and displacement in the lead-up to the harrowing crime that took place on Memorial Drive in Atlanta in 1985.


fortune--2020-07-01--Sweden’s COVID-19 death toll has surpassed neighboring countries. Now the country is investigating

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Sweden’s government has initiated a commission to investigate its controversial approach to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sweden has taken a different path compared to most European countries by keeping much of society open and by recommending social distancing and self-isolation rather than imposing a blanket lockdown. That strategy has resulted in a much higher death rate than in neighboring countries, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The commission will evaluate the steps taken by the government and local authorities to limit the spread of the coronavirus, comparing them with what was done elsewhere.
The commission is due to deliver its final report in February 2022. Two preliminary reports will be submitted prior to that. The first, due on November 30, will look into the spread of the virus in health care centers and retirement homes. As of June 24, 3,612 people aged 70 or more living in care homes or receiving home care had died from Covid-19, according to data from the National Board of Health and Welfare. That represents 79% of the total deaths recorded up to that date.
Sweden’s top epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, has defended the country’s strategy, arguing that keeping much of society open while training people to observe distancing guidelines is the only realistic way to cope with the pandemic in the long run. Tegnell’s main concern is that strict lock-downs may temporarily contain the virus, but won’t prevent it from returning. He also says lockdowns come at an avoidable cost.
Read more: Swedish Covid Expert Says the World Still Doesn’t Understand
Still, Sweden’s relatively high infection rates mean its citizens are prevented from traveling to most countries.
The government’s handling of the pandemic has come under severe criticisms from the opposition, which has pushed for the commission to report back ahead of the next general election, due in September 2022.
The government on Tuesday appointed Mats Melin, a former president of Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court, as head of the commission.


fortune--2020-07-01--Purpose is driving these companies through crisis

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Good morning.
I spent an hour yesterday listening to a baker’s dozen of CEOs talk about how their company’s purpose has helped guide them through crisis. Three months ago, I had wondered whether the economic downturn would force business leaders to focus all their attention on the bottom line, and abandon broader goals. But this group, assembled by Fortune and McKinsey, insisted the crisis has done the opposite. They may not represent every CEO, or even the majority. But their passion is an indication that something different is afoot in business leadership. Some excerpts:
“I think the number one constituency that I serve is my employees, because I think the only sustainable advantage that a company has is the talent and passion of their employees. If you put employees first—and employees come to companies that have an inspiring mission and values—then you will serve customers better, and, ultimately, shareholders.”
—Dan Schulman, CEO, PayPal
“For Best Buy, this journey started by saying out loud: ‘The purpose of this company is not to make money.’ It is imperative to make money, but it is not the purpose. Our purpose is to enrich lives through technology.”
—Corie Barry, CEO, Best Buy
“When the s— hits the fan—whether it is COVID or social injustice—we look to our purpose to figure out what to do. Our purpose is to create world changing technologies that enrich the lives of every person on earth. That simple line helped us define fairly quickly what to do.”
—Bob Swan, CEO, Intel
“Like everybody else, we focused on our employees number one. The combination of pandemic and social injustice… 4people are desperate for information and support.”
—Margaret Keane, CEO, Synchrony
“The crisis brings out the best in a people-driven organization. We believe the social contract at work is a source of resilience. We don’t give this up in a time of crisis. It actually makes us stronger.”
—John Driscoll, CEO, CareCentrix
“Where employees… have a sense of purpose, they are four times more engaged, which means more productivity, which means less attrition, which means they are bringing to work creativity, thinking out of the box.”
—Bruce Simpson, McKinsey
“I think we have a unique opportunity, in part driven by the lack of leadership in our government, for companies to make a huge difference. It has become very common for people to say COVID is accelerating trends already in place. The trend of companies driving real societal change is absolutely huge. It’s literally like a snowball going downhill, picking up momentum.”
—Roger Crandall, CEO, MassMutual
More news below. And take a look at Shawn Tully’s piece on what basic math says about what shareholders can expect from Apple in the years ahead.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Hong Kong arrests
Just as Hong Kong marks 23 years since the end of British rule, police made their first arrests under the brand new security law imposed by Beijing. Two people have been detained, including one who was holding a pro-independence flag. BBC
A great quarter
Did you love Q2? No? Well, the stock markets did. Tuesday capped the best quarter for Wall Street since 1998, bouncing back from a rough first quarter in a turnaround of the likes last seen in the 1930s. That whiplash came as investors looked beyond enormous unemployment figures and pinned hopes to a turbo-charged recovery as lockdowns eased. Hmm. Fortune
'Wrong direction'
Dr. Anthony Fauci told senators Tuesday that the U.S. is "going in the wrong direction," with easing lockdowns in some regions putting the whole country at risk. With the country already reporting 40,000 cases a day, he said he would not be surprised if case levels reach 100,000 if there's no change. "I am very concerned," he added. AP
PizzaHut operator bankruptcy
NPC International, the largest franchisee of Wendy's and Pizza Hut, filed for bankruptcy, under pressure from COVID-19 lockdowns which have decimated the restaurant sector. The company has struggled to move towards delivery and away from traditional dine-in, as labor and food costs have risen. Bloomberg
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Wirecard's shareholder revolt
When Wirecard went bust, they brought the fortunes of retail investors—like 37-year-old Fabian Schmidt—down with them. Now, Fortune's Bernhard Warner writes that an epic shareholder revolt is brewing, as Schmidt and others look for answers and push for changes in how regulators oversee listed companies on their watch. Fortune
Simple Math
Fortune's Shawn Tully takes up the challenge of Apple, and finds that the stock has become so expensive that investors will be lucky to make plodding, mid-single-digit returns. "Apple was so appealing a few years ago because it was a slow-growth stalwart that was dirt cheap," he writes. "It’s still a slow-growth stalwart, but now it’s premium priced." Fortune
The Brexit cliff
A letter signed by more than 100 company chiefs, executives and business associations said it would be hugely damaging to the U.K.'s already struggling economy if the country leaves the EU without a trade deal by the end of next year. The U.K. is currently in a transition period of its multi-year exit from the EU. The letter told Prime Minister Boris Johnson that businesses simply don't have the time or capacity to prepare for big changes in trading rules, especially given COVID-19. FT
Adidas HR chief resigns
Karen Parkin told staff in a memo she will leave her position in order to "pave the way for change," but Black employees at the company say she has failed to address issues of discrimination and lack of representation within the company. Parkin once called racism "noise" that is only discussed in the U.S., but later said she regretted her word choice. WSJ
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by Katherine Dunn.


fortune--2020-07-01--These 3 REITs are pandemic ‘winners’ for investors, say portfolio managers

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When it comes to real estate investing, malls are out, data centers are in.
The real estate space has been a very mixed bag in 2020. Some REITs (real estate investment trusts) in the retail and hotel spaces have taken a beating amid the pandemic, with top names like Park Hotels & Resorts and mall owner Simon Property Group trading down over 50% for the year.
But some investors are seeing promise in other corners of the real estate space—and longtime trends are becoming increasingly evident in a few key REITs. Iman Brivanlou, lead portfolio manager of asset manager TCW’s High Income Equities and TCW Global REITs, says change rarely comes quickly to the asset class.
“Real estate is a really funny one because it’s broadly perceived as benign, very static. People don’t think it’s an evolving sector, but sure enough, like every other sector, it changes over time. It just takes a little bit longer for those other trends to manifest themselves in the real estate market,” Brivanlou tells Fortune.
As lead of TCW’s REITs, Brivanlou has kept an eye on emerging trends for quite some time—and now, he’s sticking with three main REIT spaces that are “winners” in the pandemic and are building on trends that “have legs,” he says: Brivanlou likes REITs in the industrial, data center, and tower spaces because they play into the shift from bricks and mortar to e-commerce (think industrial REITs with Amazon distribution centers), and capitalize on the move to work from home and mobile streaming. He suggests these stocks have “significant tailwinds behind them.
“A few years ago it was very clear there was going to be this big-mobility and big-data demand phenomenon…And yet it wasn’t until recently that you’re seeing it manifest itself in the real estate sector with the outperformance of these data centers and towers, and the backbone of that mobility, big-data theme that’s in the real estate sector,” says Brivanlou.
Digital Realty (DLR)
Among REITs in the data center space, Brivanlou likes Digital Realty. The REIT has soared nearly 19% so far this year, and remains one of the “winners” he likes moving forward. Brivanlou says data center REITs “continue to benefit from astronomical growth in data consumption,” and the rise of the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, and “big-data analytics is expected to continue and likely accelerate this trend,” he says.
Digital Realty is also a favorite of Lori Keith, who manages Parnassus’s $5.1 billion Mid Cap Fund. She told Fortune back in April that “everyone is online right now; everyone is at home accessing their applications. So the data center, in this case, [really has] that capacity and is going to continue to benefit.”
Plus, Keith believes the trend of work from home is “really going to be triggered more widely across many industries today, and that’s going to continue to drive traffic and need for very strong data center capacity.” Indeed, Brivanlou notes that “even when the pandemic is over, we’re not going to go back to similar real estate demand patterns that we had in 2019. The success of these work-from-home models is likely to stick,” he suggests.
All of that potential growth may come at a price, however, as Digital Realty is estimated to trade at around 115 times next 12 months’ earnings, according to S&P Global data.
Crown Castle International (CCI)
Meanwhile, the tower space also provides an interesting investment opportunity, Brivanlou argues, as the world shifts more and more toward 5G and using mobile devices. Crown Castle International is a favorite of Brivanlou’s, which he calls one of the “two primary winners” in the space (alongside American Tower). Crown Castle is up over 14% year to date, but it doesn’t come cheap: The REIT currently trades at around 90 times trailing earnings.
TCW’s Brivanlou suggests tower REITs are “poised to benefit from the growth of mobile data usage, which will spur further carrier investment into towers as 4G and 5G networks continue to be enhanced and deployed.” And he notes “mobile data traffic growth” is expected to more than quadruple by 2025.
Indeed, Dan Chung, the CEO and CIO of Fred Alger Management advisory firm, told Fortune in April that he likes how Crown Castle is “very well positioned” for long-term trends: “As we get more digital, more data being streamed, more videoconferences happening, and also more desire for all of that to be mobile or remote, you need more capacity in the network, and you need to make sure that the network is not only broad enough but dense enough,” he said.
Prologis (PLD)
And on the industrial side, Prologis is a standout for Brivanlou. The leading logistics and warehouse REIT owns many Amazon warehouses. Prologis grew revenues some 18.7% last year, and the stock is up about 3% for the year after recovering over 40% from a trough in March. Brivanlou believes industrial REITs like Prologis are “expected to deliver strong rent growth as they benefit from a supply/demand imbalance in the industry,” while “demand is poised to remain strong behind increased e-commerce adoption, an expected reshoring trend, and businesses maintaining higher inventory levels.”
With many of the pandemic-era trends likely to be solidified, for REITs in the data center, tower, and industrial spaces, Brivanlou makes an unlikely comparison: “That stuff is like Nasdaq—it’s up 10%, 15% year to date.”


fortune--2020-07-01--Stocks just notched a quarter for the record books. Here’s why the rest of the year is so uncertain

This is the web version of the Bull Sheet, Fortune’s no-BS daily newsletter on the markets. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.
Good morning, Bull Sheeters. We made it! Welcome to 2H.
The first half ended yesterday on a high note—in sheer defiance of all the unnerving geopolitical and pandemic news. There are escalating tensions between Hong Kong and Beijing, and between Washington and Beijing. And, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Congress yesterday that America is “going in the wrong direction.” Clearly, he wasn’t talking about the markets.
As long as we have tech stocks and gold, investors will be pretty content.
Let’s check in on today’s action.
Markets update
Asia
The major Asia indexes are mixed in afternoon trade. Shanghai is up ; the Nikkei is slipping and Hong Kong is closed for the holiday.
is up the is slipping and Hong Kong is closed for the holiday. The Chinese central government’s new national security law went into effect yesterday evening local time, and, not soon afterwards, Hong Kong police had made its first arrest : a man holding a flag declaring “Hong Kong Independence.” The matter is spilling across borders as it’s looking likely that Beijing will now slap “reciprocal” restrictions on U.S. media outlets operating in the country.
went into effect yesterday evening local time, and, not soon afterwards, had made : a man holding a flag declaring “Hong Kong Independence.” The matter is spilling across borders as it’s looking likely that Beijing will now slap “reciprocal” restrictions on U.S. media outlets operating in the country. Asia’s economy is expected to contract in 2020, “for the first time in living memory,” the IMF gloomily predicts.
Europe
The European bourses were mixed in light trade, with Germany’s Dax up 0.6% . Paris and London were down.
were mixed in light trade, with up . and were down. There’s more trouble in the skies today as Airbus announced its biggest restructuring in its history. 15,000 jobs must go to stabilize an epic cash burn. Norwegian Air , one of Boeing‘s best customers, canceled a huge order for 737 Max planes.
more trouble in the skies today as announced its biggest restructuring in its history. must go to stabilize an epic cash burn. , one of Boeing‘s best customers, canceled a huge order for 737 Max planes. Polls close today in Russia as Vladimir Putin seeks a constitutional overhaul to stay in power for another 16 years. He’s well on his way to getting his wish.
U.S.
The major averages closed out the quarter (and the half) on a high note yesterday. It was the best quarter for U.S. stocks in 22 years .
for U.S. stocks . Dr. Anthony Fauci wasn’t sounding bullish yesterday. He told a Senate committee that 100,000 new COVID cases per day is looking likely. The U.S., he said, “is going in the wrong direction .” The markets rallied afterwards.
per day is looking likely. The U.S., he said, “is going in the .” The markets rallied afterwards. Here’s a persuasive argument for extending the supplemental $600 weekly unemployment benefits: fail to do so, and the U.S. economy will head straight back into recession.
Elsewhere
Gold is up. Again.
is up. Again. The dollar is flat.
is flat. Crude is up.
Six months that shook the world
The first half of 2020 was brutal. Great Depression-like falls in employment. An unprecedented wave of bankruptcies. A global recession. More than a half-million COVID-19 deaths. But you know what? A lot of canny investors have made a lot of money in 2020.
That’s particularly true of the past quarter. As I mentioned above, Q2 2020 was the best quarter for U.S. stocks since Q4 1998.
The S&P 500 closed the quarter up 20%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed an impressive 18%, and the Nasdaq scored a whopping 31% quarterly gain.
But that’s only part of the story. The full first-half reveals where the big winners and losers of this pandemic can be found. I ran the numbers this morning… and found an asset that actually outperformed the Nasdaq.
If your portfolio is long on tech, you’re pretty happy this morning. The Nasdaq is one of the few major averages to be showing YTD gains (12.1%). For the year, the S&P is down roughly 4%. (More on that in a moment). And, despite a recent rally, both Japan’s Nikkei and Germany’s Dax are showing single-digit losses for 2020.
The big winners are tech (look at Apple, up nearly 25% YTD) and gold (17.4%).
Now, back to the S&P. The benchmark index is full of contrasts in 2020. As you know, the tech components are flying high. Meanwhile, energy (-37%) and finance (-24%) have been a huge drag.
Looking forward, the second half could be an even more volatile one than the first. The first major test of investor sentiment comes tomorrow with the June jobs report. And, further out, we have the elections.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the most cautious investors were to sit it out until the data improves and the political picture clears up.
***
Have a nice day, everyone. I’ll see you here tomorrow… And, a reminder: the U.S. markets are closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday, so there will be no Bull Sheet newsletter on Friday.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
A note from my Fortune colleagues on a timely new initiative:
Many companies are speaking out against racial injustices right now. But how do they fare in their own workplaces? Black employees in the corporate world, we want to hear from you: Please submit your anonymous thoughts and anecdotes here. https://bit.ly/WorkingWhileBlack
As always, you can write to bullsheet@fortune.com or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.
Today's reads
The Apple dilemma. This data point by Fortune's Shawn Tully blows my mind: "The iPhone maker climbed 62% to $362, beating the previous record and adding $600 billion to its valuation, approximately equal to the combined market caps of Netflix, Tesla, and Adobe." Tully digs into that valuation figure, and answers the big question: is it still a good share to buy, or simply too expensive?
Investors, revolt! The scandal behind Wirecard, the former darling of the Dax, is one for the ages. Billions have gone missing (if they ever existed in the first place). The former CEO was arrested. The company filed for insolvency. And, now shareholders are lining up to sue. I spoke to one such shareholder who shared the story of how he lost his shirt, and why he's not walking away without a fight.
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Market candy
Quote of the day
“Because people will make assumptions or because there’s a lack of knowledge, the one thing we can all expect is more volatility.”
That's JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, telling the Wall Street Journal why it's so tough this year to forecast how the markets will perform in the second half of 2020. Markets forecasting is always a difficult task, but coronavirus has thrown those calculations into disarray. Still, plenty of markets pros are weighing in with an opinion.