PUBLIC HEALTH

Dr. Anthony Fauci (remember him?) said yesterday the U.S. was experiencing a “disturbing surge” in new coronavirus cases as business lockdowns ease and chin masks replace face masks as the summer’s hottest look.

Fauci and other top health officials were testifying before a House committee, where they reminded lawmakers that COVID-19 remains “the greatest public health crisis our nation and world have confronted in a century.”

The latest

According to a CNBC tracker of Johns Hopkins data, cases are growing by at least 5% in 26 states across the U.S., particularly in the Sun Belt. Morgan Stanley’s projections show that at the current rate of transmission, the epidemic has a doubling time of 52 days.

President Trump has attributed the rise in cases to increased testing. At Saturday’s rally in Tulsa, OK, Trump even said he told his staff to slow the rate of testing to keep the numbers down. 

• Aides later said he was joking, but yesterday Trump told reporters, “I don’t kid.” 

Kidding or not, more testing doesn’t fully capture the surge in new cases. FL Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was one of the first to relax business restrictions, said on Saturday that testing cannot explain the increase in cases in his state, stressing that bars needed to enforce social distancing restrictions. 

What now? 

A few states, like Maine and Louisiana, are putting some reopening plans on hold. And though the MLB finally said it would move forward with an abbreviated season, team training facilities in Arizona and Florida have been closed after cases were reported at some locations. 

• Disney World is still planning on opening next month, while the NBA is prepping for a restart in Orlando in late July. 

Bottom line: State and local officials have said that reinstituting business lockdowns remains the option of last resort—but they’ll do it if necessary.

MARKETS

Major Stock Indexes Don’t Hang Out Much Anymore

Once thick as thieves, the U.S.’ major stock indexes are forging their own paths, the WSJ reports. The Nasdaq is up almost 13% for the year, while the S&P 500 is down ~3% and the Dow is downer 8.4%. 

• The Nasdaq is the furthest it’s been from the other two Musketeers since 1983. The gap between the S&P and the Dow is the widest it’s been since 2002. 

Why’d they grow so distant? Part of the reason is that tech stocks are gangbusters, while many others are busted. The Nasdaq is much more weighted toward those surging tech stocks than the other two, which allowed it to catapult ahead. The infamous FAMGA group of tech giants account for about 40% of the Nasdaq, but only the AM part (Apple and Microsoft) appear in the Dow.  

+ The more you know: Most market watchers view the S&P as the broadest and therefore worthiest indicator. It comprises roughly 80% of the available market cap of U.S. stocks.

REGULATION

Wirecard Baffled BaFin

Wirecard’s meltdown is oozing from the company itself to Germany’s financial referees—particularly BaFin, the country’s top financial regulator. 

Roll the tape: Wirecard, a once-promising German fintech star, imploded over the past week after an auditor said it couldn’t seem to find about $2.1 billion that Wirecard claimed to have. It’s now considering undergoing a complete restructuring. 

• The latest update: Munich prosecutors have detained former CEO Markus Braun on suspicions of cooking the books. 

Now, some are slinging arrows at BaFin for failing to stop the suspected chicanery. Critics point to a period last year when BaFin temporarily banned shorting Wirecard stock (a popular activity), which the regulator had never done to a specific company before.

BaFin head Felix Hufeld responded Monday that 1) it had to pause shorts after allegations of insider trading at Wirecard emerged and 2) as a tech company, Wirecard wasn’t BaFin’s problem.

Bottom line: Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said he’s worried about Germany’s reputation as a financial Übermensch.

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ENVIRONMENT

Amazon Is Ready to Spend

When Microsoft pledges $1 billion to fund climate innovation, Jeff Bezos has one option: double it. 

Yesterday, Amazon announced a $2 billion venture fund to invest in clean tech that helps fight climate change. The company will spread investments across industries, from transportation and logistics to food and agriculture.

• Tip for aspirants: Bezos hates PowerPoints.

The backstory: After employees put the pressure on senior leadership last year, Amazon cofounded “The Climate Pledge” and set ambitious goals to be carbon neutral by 2040 and use 100% renewables by 2025. 

• Bezos is also putting his “world’s richest man”-sized wallet to use with the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund he announced in February. 

The messaging could use some work 

Because when you deliver about 10 billion items a year...your carbon footprint is about the size of Finland. 

Amazon’s CO₂ emissions increased 15% in 2019 to nearly 51.2 million metric tons, the company revealed yesterday. However, Amazon’s benchmark for success, carbon intensity (emissions per dollar of sales), fell 5%. 

Bottom line: Amazon has a long way to go to hit its ambitious climate goals.

MOBILITY

Somehow This Didn't Catch On

If your product’s signature user wears cargo shorts and matching family vacation tees, you might be missing the “it factor." After 20 years of trying to prove otherwise, Segway is finally calling it quits this July, Fast Company reports. 

Cue the highlight reel: When it launched, the two-wheeled scootin’ device was supposed to disrupt urban transport like the car did horse-drawn buggies. Steve Jobs said it was the biggest product since the PC. 

But at $5,000, no one bit. Inventor Dean Kamen expected up to 100,000 unit sales its first 13 months, but the Segway only sold about 140,000 in its history. 

• And Segways don't come with training wheels. Some cities banned Segways for easily spinning out of control and crashing.  

Kamen sold Segway in 2009 to investor Jim Heselden, who tragically died months later after driving his Segway off a cliff. It was sold again, then again to Chinese mobility company Ninebot. 

Segway may be done, but its legacy of angering commuters lives on. Segway’s core IP is central to Ninebot’s dominant e-scooter business.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• The EU may block American visitors when it relaxes border controls on July 1 because of the coronavirus threat they present.  
• Etsy stock hit an all-time high thanks in part to face mask sales. Shares have more than tripled in just over three months; learn more about the mask economy . 
• Dell is considering spinning off its ~$50 billion stake in VMware, the WSJ reports.
• TaskRabbit's CEO, Stacy Brown-Philpot, is stepping down. She's one of the few Black chief executives in Silicon Valley. 
• Twitter put a warning notice on a tweet from President Trump that threatened "serious force" against protesters. The company will also give its employees the day off on Election Day.

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ACRONYM TRIVIA

The business world is full of acronyms, but initial looks can be deceiving. We’ll give you a few terms...you have to determine whether they are acronyms or not. If they are, extra credit for knowing what each letter stands for. If they’re not acronyms, extra credit for making one up. 

Here we go. 

1. Siri 
2. CAPTCHA
3. Aflac
4. TJX
5. The Fed

ACRONYM TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Siri isn't an acronym
2. CAPTCHA is: Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
3. Aflac is: American Family Life Assurance Company
4. TJX isn't
5. The Fed isn't