U.S. Jobless Claims Remain Near Lowest Levels Since Covid-19’s Onset – Wall Street Journal, 4/1/2021

• Filings for unemployment benefits rose last week but remained near their lowest levels since the pandemic’s onset, amid signs of a broader U.S. economic recovery.
• Workers filed 719,000 initial jobless claims, on a seasonally adjusted basis, in the week ended March 27, the Labor Department said Thursday. The increase followed a downward revision to 658,000 initial claims the prior week, the lowest point of the pandemic.
• The four-week moving average, which smooths out volatility in the numbers, fell to 719,000, its lowest point since the pandemic hit in March 2020.
• Still, the economy has much ground to regain on its path toward recovery. There were roughly 19 million continuing claims—a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits through regular state, pandemic-related and other programs—in the week ended March 6.

U.S. Manufacturing Surges Most Since 1983, Underscoring Rebound – Bloomberg, 4/1/2021

• U.S. manufacturing expanded in March at the fastest pace since 1983, catapulted by the firmest orders and production readings in 17 years. The data add to evidence of an economy poised to accelerate.
• A gauge of factory activity jumped to 64.7 from 60.8 a month earlier, according to Institute for Supply Management data released Thursday.
• The ISM’s measure of U.S. order backlogs climbed in March to the strongest reading in records back to 1993 and a gauge of supplier delivery times reached an almost 47-year high.
• At 85.6 in March, the group’s index of prices paid for inputs was little changed from February’s 86 reading that was the highest since July 2008.
• The ISM’s measure of factory employment improved to a more than three-year high of 59.6 in March from 54.4 a month earlier.
• Meanwhile, lean business inventories suggest robust output and orders to factories will be sustained in coming months. The ISM’s gauge of customer inventories dropped to the lowest in records back to 1997.

Mortgage Rates in the U.S. Increase for a Seventh Straight Week – Bloomberg, 4/1/2021

• The average for a 30-year loan was 3.18%, up from 3.17% last week and the highest since June, Freddie Mac data showed Thursday.
• Rates have increased from the record low of 2.65%, reached in early January. That’s made homes more expensive for buyers, many of whom have to stretch to afford a purchase as they compete for the slim supply of properties on the market.
• Borrowing costs may continue to rise, along with yields for the benchmark 10-year Treasuries, as the fresh federal stimulus and vaccination efforts boost optimism for an economic rebound.

Biden Infrastructure Plan Aims to Boost Economy’s Productivity Over Time – Wall Street Journal, 4/1/2021

• The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package enacted last month aimed to get the economy back on track fast. Now, officials are set on increasing the speed limit for the long term.
• The roughly $2.3 trillion spending proposal unveiled Wednesday would make investments in infrastructure over the coming decade that officials say would enhance the economy’s productivity, such as through public transportation upgrades that make it easier for commuters to get to their jobs, or rural broadband expansion that improves workplace technology.
• His proposal includes $621 billion to modernize transportation infrastructure, $300 billion to boost the manufacturing industry, $213 billion on retrofitting and building affordable housing and $100 billion to expand broadband access, among other investments.
• If the package’s higher spending was spread evenly across the eight years, it would amount to roughly $250 billion a year, or about 1% of annual GDP, according to a senior administration official.
• The tax provisions would raise about $125 billion, or 0.5% of GDP, a year, in corporate revenue over 15 years, the official said.

Rita Hart Drops Challenge to Narrow Loss in Iowa Congressional Race – Wall Street Journal, 4/1/2021

• Democratic House candidate Rita Hart said she was dropping the challenge to her narrow election loss in Iowa, after her effort drew increasing concern among Democrats on Capitol Hill.
• GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks took office in January after the Iowa State Board of Canvassers certified her victory over Ms. Hart. She won by just six votes out of the nearly 400,000 total votes cast, following a recount of the entire district.
• The House Administration Committee opted on party lines earlier in March to review the contest. It isn’t unusual for candidates to appeal to the House to review a race’s results under the Federal Contested Elections Act, but such efforts rarely succeed.
• If the process had continued, it could have resulted in a vote by the full House on the matter.
• Some Democrats were both privately and publicly expressing concern over having to vote on the result of the state-certified election in Iowa, after having objected to earlier efforts by GOP lawmakers to overturn President Donald Trump’s election defeat.

EUROPE & WORLD

Toyota Quarterly U.S. Sales Jump 22% as Car Buyers Storm Back – Bloomberg, 4/1/2021

• Toyota Motor’s first-quarter sales surged 22% from a year earlier in North America, signaling a healthy recovery from when Covid-19 shutdowns kept car buyers at home.
• Sales rose to 603,066 vehicles in the quarter, the Japanese automaker said by email Thursday. March sales jumped a gaudy 87% to almost 254,000, Toyota said in separate release, but that compares with a month when consumers had all but abandoned showrooms.
• The carmaker sold its most profitable vehicles in strong numbers. Deliveries of Toyota and Lexus trucks and sport utility vehicles surged more than 30% in the quarter, while those for passenger cars rose just 6.4% against weak figures last year.

Nio Q1, March Deliveries At Record, As EV Maker Stands Up To Industry-Wide Challenges – Yahoo Finance, 4/1/2021

• Nio delivered 7,257 cars for the month of March, the Chinese EV start-up said in a statement released Thursday. This represented a record monthly total and a 373% increase year-over-year.
• The quarterly number was at a record 20,060 vehicles, up 423% from the first quarter of 2020.
• The company said last week chip shortage is forcing it to shut down its Hefei plant for five days, beginning March 29.

TSMC to Invest $100 Billion to Increase Semiconductor Output – Wall Street Journal, 4/1/2021

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, a major chip supplier to Apple, said it would invest $100 billion over the next three years to increase production capacity as demand surges.
• In January, TSMC said it would spend $25 billion to $28 billion on developing advanced chips and building plant capacity in 2021.
• Other chip makers are also pouring money into increasing capacity. Intel recently said it would spend $20 billion on two new chip factories in the U.S., starting in 2024.
• Samsung plans to invest about $116 billion by 2030 to further diversify its semiconductor production.

China Approves Merger of Chemical Giants, Creating $150 Billion Company – Wall Street Journal, 4/1/2021

• China approved a merger between the country’s top two chemical companies, paving the way for another supersize state-run enterprise that Beijing hopes will become a dominant global player.
• Sinochem Group Co. and China National Chemical, also known as ChemChina, will be placed under a new holding company funded and overseen by a government body that holds state enterprises, according to a Sinochem statement Wednesday, confirming a Wall Street Journal article in December.
• The combination, which has been in the cards for years, would minimize competition between the two companies and create the world’s largest chemicals conglomerate with around 1 trillion yuan in annual revenue, equivalent to about $153 billion.
• The new holding-company structure was designed to avoid triggering a U.S. national-security review of ChemChina’s ownership of Swiss agro-giant Syngenta AG, the Journal reported.

Stellantis plans to triple electric vehicle sales in 2021: Elkann – Reuters, 4/1/2021

• Stellantis is looking at nearly tripling its global sales of electric vehicles this year, the head of holding company Exor, the carmaker’s main shareholder, said on Thursday.
• The world’s fourth largest carmaker targets global sales of 400,000 high voltage vehicles this year from 139,000 in 2020 thanks to the launch of 11 additional models, John Elkann, who also serves as Stellantis chairman, said in a letter to Exor shareholders.
• It plans to have fully-electric or hybrid versions of all of its vehicles available in Europe by 2025, broadly in line with plans of rivals such as Volkswagen and Renault-Nissan.

Godfather of Hong Kong Democracy Movement Convicted for Big 2019 Protest – Wall Street Journal, 4/1/2021

• Martin Lee, the 82-year-old lawyer credited with helping found Hong Kong’s democracy movement, and newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai were among seven veteran activists found guilty by a judge on charges related to a mass demonstration in 2019.
• The Thursday guilty verdicts raise the prospect of jail time for a prominent group of democracy campaigners who have been fighting to preserve the rule of law in the former British colony since before it was returned to China in the late 1990s.
• The trial is part of a wave of prosecutions under way in Hong Kong as China crushes dissent in the former British colony.
• Amid a continuing crackdown that worsened last year when China imposed a sweeping national security law, many of the city’s democracy campaigners are now either on trial, in jail or living in exile.

Factmonster – TODAY in HISTORY

• American forces landed on Okinawa during World War II. (1945)
• Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer. (1976)
• Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed Iran to be an Islamic Republic. (1979)