BWIB Finance Newsletter

A cyberattack forces the shutdown of Colonial Pipeline

Sources: NY Times, CNBC, WSJ

• Colonial Pipeline, one of the country’s largest gasoline and jet fuel pipelines, shut down 5,500 miles worth of pipeline. The company is responsible for transporting 2.5 million barrels of gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel per day. It provides fuel to airports, too.
• It was forced to shut down after hackers stole nearly 100GB of data from its computer systems, encrypted the data, and demanded ransom to unscramble it. The U.S. believes a criminal gang organization, DarkSide, was responsible for this attack.
• It announced on Monday, 5/10 that service will be fully restored by the end of this week.

Facebook’s “Instagram for kids” criticized

Source: Reuters

• Facebook is looking to explore a version of Instagram for kids under the age of 13, as Instagram currently doesn’t allow children any younger than 13 to create an account.
• 40 state attorney generals heavily criticized the decision by Facebook and urged the company to cancel its plans, saying the “use of social media can be detrimental to the health and well-being of children”.
• Child advocacy groups and experts have also called out the company’s decision.

JEDI cloud-computing project court fight could lead to an end for the project

Source: WSJ

• The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract gives Microsoft Corp. the right to build a large cloud-computing system for the US military to allow the Pentagon to consolidate all of its data systems.
• This contract was awarded to Microsoft over Amazon in 2019, but Amazon had filed a bid protest alleging that the Pentagon unfairly evaluated the 2 tech companies’ proposals and was influenced by political factors (Former President Trump).
• This prolonged litigation has delayed getting the technology to members who need it, and lawmakers are suggesting to include multiple companies in the project.

COVID-19

• CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bancel, said that he expects more COVID-19 variants to erupt in the near future. He says that booster shots will be necessary as the virus will not be going away soon. (Source: CNBC)
• A triple-mutant COVID variant from India is classified by the World Health Organization as a global health risk. The variant is called B.1.617 and has some ability to evade vaccines. (Source: CNBC)
• On Monday, May 10th, Pfizer’s COVID vaccine was approved by the FDA to be administered to teens ages 12–15 years old (just in time for summer camps and school). (Source: WSJ)
• Marriott International Inc. had a net loss of $11M last year due to COVID but is expecting and has seen a surge in demand. (Source: WSJ)

Commodities

• Steel-industry stocks have done very well in the last year as economies revive. Inflation might even help the industry if companies could increase the prices of their products. (Source: Barron’s)
• Copper shares have doubled in the past year. Analysts predict prices of copper shares will continue to rise since copper is a key material in charging stations and electric vehicles that use them. (Source: Barron’s)

Economy

• Investing magnate, Stanley Druckenmiller, says that Federal Reserve policies that are aimed at protecting the economy during the pandemic may end up doing more harm than good and may hurt the U.S. dollar in the long-term. The decision of the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low and buy high amounts bonds is a long-term risk. (Source: CNBC)
• As the U.S. economy is trying to recover from the damages of the pandemic, there is restraint in recovery because of scarcity of vital products and materials such as labor, semiconductors, and lumber and packaging materials. The restraint is raising fears of high inflation due to the fact that companies are having to increase prices amid low supply. (Source: CNBC)

Written By:

Director: Jacquline Ruan

Managers: Vaibhavi Bamane, Melissa Chen, Stacy Kim