Celtics’ Jaylen Brown out for season with injured left wrist

As if the Boston Celtics’ path toward enough an NBA championship did not already present numerous roadblocks.

The Celtics announced that All-Star guard Jaylen Brown will miss the rest of the season after doctors determined he will need surgery to repair ligament in his left wrist. Boston (35-33) enters Tuesday’s game against the Miami Heat (37-31) in seventh place with players missed a combined 182 games either due to injuries or the league’s health and safety protocols.

After losing three of their past four games, the Celtics trail the Heat by two games for the No. 6 seed, which would prevent the Celtics from needing to participate in the NBA’s play-in tournament to ensure a playoff berth.

That reality becomes more challenging considering Brown has represented one of the team’s positive developments this season. In his fifth NBA season, Brown became a first-time All-Star and finished with career highs in points (24.7), shooting percentage (48.1%) and assists (3.4). Brown was also credited for his leadership both with how he galvanized teammates and how he became one of the league’s most outspoken players on social justice issues.

SpaceX To Accept Cryptocurrency For Launching Lunar Mission

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will accept meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin as payment for their upcoming mission to the moon.

Canadian company Geometric Energy Corp. announced that DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon will involve Geometric Space Corporation mission management collaborating with SpaceX to launch a 40kg cubesat as a rideshare on a Falcon 9 lunar payload mission in first quarter of 2022.

“The payload will obtain lunar-spatial intelligence from sensors and cameras on-board with integrated communications and computational systems,” the company said in a statement.

“Having officially transacted with DOGE for a deal of this magnitude, Geometric Energy Corporation and SpaceX have solidified DOGE as a unit of account for lunar business in the space sector,” said Geometric Energy’s Chief Executive Officer Samuel Reid.

“This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce,” said SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero. “We’re excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!”

China April PPI +6.8% y/y, CPI +0.9% y/y

BEIJING, May 11 (Reuters) – China’s factory gate prices rose 6.8% from a year earlier in April, official data showed on Tuesday, reaching the highest level since October 2017 and beating analysts’ forecast.

The increase in the producer price index compared with a 6.5% rise tipped by a Reuters poll of analysts and a 4.4% rise in March.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.9% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a separate statement, compared with a 1.0% rise tipped by the Reuters poll and a 0.4% rise in March.

NortonLifeLock Outlines Long-term Growth Strategy

NortonLifeLock Inc. (NLOK) outlined long-term growth strategy. The company’s board has approved an incremental share repurchase authorization of $1.5 billion. Along with the current $274 million authorization remaining, the new authorization increases the total share repurchase remaining to about $1.8 billion. The authorization has no expiration date.

On a non-GAAP basis, the company expects earnings per share to be in the range of $1.65 to $1.75 and revenue growth of 8% to 10% for fiscal year 2022.

For Non-GAAP Long-Term Objectives 3-5 Years, the company expects earnings per share of about $3 and revenue growth of double-digits.

NortonLifeLock Q4 Profit Down

NortonLifeLock Inc. (NLOK), a global leader in consumer Cyber Safety, reported that its fourth-quarter net income declined to $194 million or $0.33 per share from $231 million or $0.36 per share in the prior year.

On a Non-GAAP basis, net income was $0.40 compared to $0.26 last year.

Revenue was $672 million, up from $614 million in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.38 per share and revenues of $659.96 million for the quarter. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking ahead for the first-quarter, the company expects non-GAAP earnings per share to be in the range of $0.40 to $0.42, and non-GAAP revenue of $680 million to $690 million, representing about 10% to 12% growth year-over-year. Wall Street currently is looking for the first-quarter earnings of $0.39 per share on annual revenues of $659.06 million.

NortonLifeLock’s board has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per common share to be paid on June 23, 2021, to all shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 09, 2021.

China’s census shows population growth slowed

• The average annual growth rate was 0.53% over the past 10 years, according to the results of the seventh national census released on Tuesday.
• The population survey, which was conducted late last year, was originally expected to be released in April.

BEIJING — China's once-a-decade census showed that the national population of the mainland was 1.41 billion people as of Nov. 1, 2020.

The average annual growth rate was 0.53% over the past 10 years, according to the results of the seventh national census, released Tuesday.

That's down from an average annual growth rate of 0.57% between 2000 and 2010.

The population survey, which was conducted late last year, was originally expected to be released in April.

In 2019, mainland China's population rose by 4.67 million to just over 1.4 billion people, according to official figures by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Several years ago, Chinese authorities began to roll back a decades-old "one-child policy" and allow people to have two children. But births continued to fall, dropping 15% in 2020 in a fourth straight year of decline.

Earlier this year, researchers with the People's Bank of China published a paper calling for the full removal of restrictions on childbirth. The paper also gave other suggestions for encouraging more births, while describing how China's aging population puts the country at an economic disadvantage to the U.S. and India.