COVID-19 Gives Way to US Presidential Elections

COVID-19 as a topic in and of itself is giving way to a focus on a new coronavirus world and the consequences across all aspects of our lives. As we scan major economies, we see a new debt normal emerging that will resonate globally as economies regain their growth footing. While some tech products have become increasingly relevant in a COVID world, some tech startups have been less fortunate and are moving ahead aggressively with employee layoffs. The political realities of varying access to vote-by-mail and early voting state by state will play out in a new COVID light this November in the United States - how could this alter history? Explore these and more topics with us in today’s newsletter. Have a topic you would like Knoema to highlight? Contact us at [DataDriven@knoema.com](mailto:datadriven@knoema.com). From the Headlines Fiscal responses to COVID-19 in the United States and Europe vary from 4% to almost 20% of 2019 GDP. [New debt normal]( Since the beginning of February, stock prices of tech giants have outperformed gold. [Compare with gold]( The European Commission revised its spring economic growth forecast in July to reveal a deeper than expected economic contraction ahead. [Revised European forecast]( Data Driven Stories During the pandemic period, 524 startups around the world cut staff - a loss of 69,514 jobs. Around two-thirds of these job losses were in the United States. [Read on]( Looking ahead to the November US general election, to reduce COVID-19 health risks, many states are preparing for an increase in vote-by-mail. [Read on]( Have a friend or a colleague that loves data? [Get on a call]( Insights Around the Web US consumer card spending has held steady since mid June 2020 at about -10% year-over-year. Though current consumer card spending is 30 percentage points above its low of -40.6% on March 30, credit card spending data indicates that the US economic recovery has slowed. [J.P. Morgan]( Data indicates that coronavirus boosts robotization in Japan. For jobs that could be easily automated, there was a more than 30% year-on-year decline in availability in May and June 2020, while jobs that were not easily automated declined by just 10%. [Nikkei]( According to recent research 32-42% of COVID-induced layoffs in the US will be permanent, and one-tenth of all work days (one-fifth for office workers) will shift from business premises to residences in the post-pandemic world relative to the pre-pandemic situation. [The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics]( Alt Data “Fundamentals” This week we’re swapping out our usual Alt Data Discoveries for a “fundamentals” approach instead, fundamental investing, that is. For a quick read on the most popular alternative dataset categories and how to best utilize this data in a fundamental investment research process, click here [👇 Backhand Index Pointing Down Emoji] [10 Popular Alternative Data Categories for Investment Research]( New Data at Knoema Consumer Price Index of Argentina National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina Consumer price inflation decreased 42.8% YoY in June to the lowest inflation rate since September 2018. [More data]( Retail and Food Services Sales Value of U.S. United States Census Bureau Retail sales—a measure of purchases at stores, at restaurants and online—increased 7.5% MoM in June. [More data]( Stay well. Charles Poliacof CEO, Knoema [knoema.com]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Website]( Copyright © 2020 Knoema. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you are a registered Knoema user. Our mailing address is: Knoema 31 East 32nd Street 4th FloorNew York, NY 10016 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.