Some of the biggest chains in the U.S., including Target and Starbucks, will continue to require masks and limit capacity in Texas and Mississippi after the states lift coronavirus restrictions, Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: The Republican governors' move to reopen "100%" has divided the business community, with some welcoming the decision while others worry about risk of backslide on progress and put workers at risk.
Gas prices are hitting new post-pandemic highs across the country, but this isn't a story of America reopening. It's really just a function of the price of oil going up.
By the numbers: Gasoline cost $2.71 on average as of Monday, per the EIA. The highest average price was $3.59 in Los Angeles, while the lowest was $2.33 in Houston.
All of these prices represent the highest level seen since 2019.
The big picture: The price of crude oil reflects more than half of the cost of a gallon of gasoline. (The rest is refinery costs, distribution costs, and taxes.)
Demand for oil has actually been declining, per the New York Fed, but supply has been falling even faster, with the result that prices have now topped $64 for a barrel of Brent crude.
FedEx and UPS say their shipping networks are prepared to handle a faster-than-expected rollout of vaccines in the U.S.
Why it matters: President Biden's new accelerated timeline to provide enough doses for 300 million Americans to be vaccinated by the end of May — two months earlier than expected — depends not just on ramped-up production, but also on the ability of shipping giants to deliver more doses into communities.
The top business story of 2021 has been stock market democratization, as hoards of young investors have started using mobile apps to buy shares in everything from GameStop to Google.
Axios Re:Cap digs into this trend and questions whether Gen Z understands the risks with Lauren Simmons. She's the host of a new reality series, the youngest-ever female trader on the New York Stock Exchange and only the second Black female trader in its history.
Facebook will finally allow advertisers to resume running political and social issue ads in the U.S. on Thursday, according to a company update.
The big picture: Facebook and rival Google instituted political ad bans to slow the spread of misinformation and curb confusion around the presidential election and its aftermath.
Target increased its comparable sales in 2020 by a whopping $15 billion — 19.3% more than 2019. That's also more growth for Target than the last 11 years combined.
The bottom line: Shares of Target finished at $173 on Tuesday, after the company released its fourth quarter earnings. That's up from around $94 a share at the start of the pandemic.
Indie.vc, an effort launched six years ago to invest small amounts in bootstrapped businesses, announced on Tuesday that it’s winding down.
Why it matters: Venture capital, despite being the money of innovation, is rarely innovative itself. Indie.vc was an effort to break out of the tedium, so its failure is de facto disappointing.
ExxonMobil said Wednesday that its oil-and-gas development plans will create good returns even at modest oil prices as the company looks to win back investor confidence after several rocky years.
Driving the news: The company, just ahead of an investor presentation this morning, said its investments are designed to generate returns of over 30% and touted its spending reductions.
Google made clear Wednesday that after it finished phasing out third-party cookies over the next year or so, it won't introduce other forms of identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web.
Why it matters: The move comes amid increased scrutiny over the way tech giants use consumer data to reinforce their dominance, particularly around personalized advertising.
Four Olympic gold medalists are launching Togethxr, a media platform aimed at celebrating millennial and Gen Z female athletes.
The big picture: Togethxr's launch comes at an exciting time for women's sports, with ratings spikes (WNBA), female ownership groups (NWSL) and startup leagues (Athletes Unlimited) creating lots of buzz.
Even as global growth expectations increase and governments pile on fiscal spending measures central bankers are quietly restarting recession-era bond-buying programs.
Driving the news: Comments Tuesday from Fed governor Lael Brainard suggest the Fed may be jumping onboard the global monetary policy rethink and restarting a program used following the 2008 global financial crisis.
Americans' feelings about the economy are turning up, according to the latest confidence survey from Hamilton Place Strategies and CivicScience, provided first to Axios.
What happened: After two months of decreasing, economic sentiment climbed 2.2 points to 49.6, as COVID-19 cases, business restrictions and deaths continued to decline, while restaurant openings and vaccination numbers moved higher.
David Plouffe, an architect of President Obama's winning campaign and specialist in the intersection of grassroots and tech, joins Precision — and co-founders Stephanie Cutter and Teddy Goff — as "of counsel."
What they're saying: Cutter pointed to "David’s experience in creating and driving data-driven strategies and managing integrated campaigns."
We know unpaid internships keep scores of talented, cash-strapped students from gaining experience in industries like the arts and media, yet scores of internship opportunities continue to expect young people to work for free.
The big picture: Some 40% of internships at for-profit companies are unpaid. Many employers still see these summer jobs as a "rite of passage," but all they do is deepen class divides.
The pandemic exposedhow workplaces across America are inhospitable to parents. But it could also spur companies to make changes.
The big picture: Well over a million parents have left their jobs due to child care responsibilities during the pandemic. Now, companies — large and small — are attempting to reimagine workplace benefits and add flexibility to help those parents come back.
The Justice Department is being pressed to enforce its own demand that the U.S. arm of Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera register as a foreign agent.
Why it matters: The launch of Al Jazeera's new right-of-center U.S. media venture, Rightly, has refocused attention on the media company's alleged links to Doha, and DOJ's efforts to crack down on media outlets viewed as foreign interest mouthpieces.
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