Axios

The manufacturing sector has bounced back from its pandemic knockout. But as the economy reopens, factories can't keep up with orders.

Why it matters: The materials manufacturers need are hard to find and prices for them are soaring.

Roku on Monday announced that it is acquiring Nielsen's advanced TV advertising division as it works to help traditional television ad dollars migrate more quickly to streaming.

Why it matters: The deal will give Roku, the top smart TV operating system in the U.S., access to the technology it needs to help grow the digital TV advertising landscape broadly.

Rocket Lab, a company that has built its business on launching small satellites to space, is going public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Why it matters: The announcement comes after a number of other space companies — including Virgin Galactic, Astra and Momentus — have made plans to begin trading publicly via SPAC.

Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan on Monday accused President Biden of giving Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a "'one free murder' pass" after U.S. intelligence confirmed that he personally approved the killing of Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Why it matters: Biden has faced criticisms that the U.S. response to the finding — which includes sanctions on entities implicated in the murder but not on Bin Salman directly — does not square with his campaign pledge to make the Saudi regime “pay the price and make them, in fact, the pariah that they are.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday introduced a bill in the Senate that would impose a new tax on the assets of America's wealthiest individuals.

Why it matters: The plan, which Warren introduced along with Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) is similar to a proposal that was the centerpiece of Warren's campaign for the presidency in 2020.

Private equity is mimicking venture capital, banking on revenue growth instead of cost-cutting.

Why it matters: PE firms may struggle to maintain historical returns, particularly if the bull market slows its rampage and they're stuck with overpriced and overleveraged portfolios.

Skydio, a Redwood City, Calif.-based autonomous drone-maker, raised $170 million in Series D funding led by existing backer Andreessen Horowitz at a valuation north of $1 billion.

Why it matters: It comes just two months after drone-market dominator DJI was put on a U.S. national security blacklist, thus creating new opportunities for homegrown rivals. Plus, it's now notable that an AV unicorn like Skydio opted for a private financing instead of a SPAC.

ExxonMobil Monday morning announced two additions to its board as the oil giant faces pressure to boost financial performance and do more on climate.

Driving the news: Activist investor Jeffrey Ubben and Michael Angelakis, CEO of the investment company Atairos and a former senior Comcast Corp. official, are the board's two newest members.

While Fed chair Jerome Powell is brushing off the seismic rise in government bond yields and a corresponding decline in stock prices, a group of central bankers in the Pacific are starting to take action.

Driving the news: Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda told parliament on Friday the BOJ would not allow yields on government debt to continue rising further above the BOJ's 0% target.

President Biden expressed support for a union vote by Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama in a two-minute video posted on Twitter Sunday, though he did not name the tech giant specifically.

Why it matters: A vote by workers at the Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union would make the facility the first Amazon warehouse to unionize in the U.S., per NPR. The election will run through March 29.

Teneo, the global CEO advisory firm, will announce today that it has bought a "significant minority stake" in WestExec Advisors, and that former Sen. Chris Dodd today will become a senior adviser at Teneo.

Why it matters: The moves reflect shifting power centers in the Biden era. WestExec is among the firms with the very closest connections to the administration — Secretary of State Tony Blinken was a founder. And this shows New York-based Teneo making a big play in D.C.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is pushing to make bitcoin a part of his city's economic future, and in an interview with "Axios on HBO," he pushed back against the economic orthodoxy of people like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who say it's a bad idea.

Why it matters: Miami's inclusion of bitcoin as a way to pay city employees or as part of the city's emergency cash holdings, as Suarez has proposed, would add legitimacy to the cryptocurrency and further entrench it in the U.S. economic system.

President Trump's haphazard war on Chinese tech has left the Biden administration with a raft of unfinished business involving efforts to restrict Chinese firms and products in U.S. markets.

Why it matters: The Chinese and American tech industries are joined at the hip in many ways, and that interdependence has shaped decades of prosperity. But now security concerns and economic rivalries are wrenching them apart.

America has been hit by a series of catastrophic failures — and the only certainty is that more are on the way.

Why it matters: Our infrastructure is failing, and the less we invest in it now, the more it's going to continue to fail in the future.

The Golden Globes kicked off the 2021 awards season with a few awkward moments, including a buggy telecast, acceptance speeches made in pajamas and an awkward acknowledgment from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association about the group's lack of diversity.

Why it matters: Despite a few light and heartfelt moments, the telecast was a grim reminder of how much the pandemic has upended American lives and the entertainment industry over the past year.