The World
Sen. Joe Manchin struck a decisive blow to President Joe Biden’s sweeping social and climate spending bill, igniting a bitter clash with his own party's White House. His comments prompted an immediate war with the White House, who took personal aim at Manchin for what officials saw as a breach of trust. White House press secretary Jen Psaki released an unusually blunt statement saying that Manchin's comments "are at odds with his discussions this week with the President, with White House staff, and with his own public utterances." Top White House officials scrambled to call the senator and talk him out of what he was about to do. “We tried to head him off,” a senior White House official told Playbook, but Manchin “refused to take a call from White House staff.” (Politico)
Manchin's opposition to the Build Back Better Act prompted Goldman Sachs to swiftly dim its US economic outlook. The Wall Street firm told clients it no longer assumes President Joe Biden's signature legislation will get through the narrowly divided Congress, citing the West Virginia Democrat's announcement that he's a "no" on the $1.75 trillion bill. Citing the "apparent demise" of Build Back Better, Goldman Sachs now expects GDP to grow at an annualized pace of 2% in the first quarter, down from 3% previously. The bank also trimmed its GDP forecasts for the second quarter to 3% (from 3.5% previously) and the third quarter to 2.75% (compared with 3% previously). It specifically pointed to the expiration of the child tax credit and the lack of the other new spending that had been anticipated. (CNN)
Central banks worry that Omicron could sustain inflation, as the variant is seen as having less effect on growth, but putting more pressure on prices than previous waves. (Wall Street Journal)
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker tested positive for COVID-19. The Democrats said they had been fully vaccinated with two doses and a booster and their symptoms were mild. (Associated Press)
The NHL stopped teams from crossing the Canadian border and shut down operations of a sixth team in hopes of salvaging the season as COVID-19 outbreaks spread across the league. The Detroit Red Wings were added to the list of teams told to shut down operations, joining the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins. (Associated Press)
Israeli ministers are expected to approve the recommendation to bar travel to the United States, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Canada, Morocco, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey from December 22. (Times of Israel)
Omicron surge pushes elite colleges back into 2020 mode. (Axios)
Pro-Beijing candidates swept to victory in an overhauled "patriots"-only legislative election in Hong Kong that was deemed regressive by critics, with turnout hitting a record low amid a crackdown on the city's freedoms by China. The turnout of 30.2%, was almost half that of the previous legislative poll in 2016, with the latest results showing almost all of the seats being taken by pro-Beijing and pro-establishment candidates. (Reuters)
Chilean leftist Gabriel Boric won the country's presidential runoff election, capping a major revival for the country's progressive left that has been on the rise since widespread protests roiled the Andean country two years ago. (Reuters)
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said NATO will discuss Russia's proposals for the alliance's military affairs on its eastern border, but it will not permit Moscow to "dictate" its security affairs. Moscow’s demands included withdrawing NATO's enhanced forward presence battalions from the Baltic states which had previously been occupied by Russia in Soviet times, as well as Poland, where Moscow had asserted leverage when Warsaw was a communist satellite state under Soviet tutelage. Additionally, Moscow seeks a legal guarantee that NATO will abandon military endeavors in Eastern Europe and Ukraine, basically giving Russia a de facto veto over Ukraine's membership in NATO. (Deutsche Welle)
From the end of this year, foreigners working in Russia, their family members living in Russia and any foreigner who wants to stay in the country for an extended period of time have to be tested every three months for infectious diseases, including syphilis, HIV, leprosy, tuberculosis, and COVID-19. They are also required to take a drug test and must submit their fingerprints and a biometric photo to the authorities. Children over 6 to be tested for drugs and syphilis. The new rules will also apply to all children over the age of 6. Foreign business associations are appealing to Moscow to revise the rules. (Deutsche Welle)
Economy
Lumber prices have shot up again in a rise reminiscent of a year ago, when high-climbing wood prices warned of the hinky supply lines and broad inflation to come. Futures for January delivery ended Friday at $1,089.10 per thousand board feet, twice the price for a prompt delivery in mid-November. Cash prices are way up as well. Pricing service Random Lengths said that its framing composite index, which tracks on-the-spot sales, has jumped 65% since October, to $915. A $129 gain this week was the biggest on record, eclipsing a $124 jump in May, when lumber prices crested at all-time highs. (Wall Street Journal)
China’s central bank cut a benchmark lending rate for the first time since April 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. The People’s Bank of China lowered the one-year loan prime rate to 3.8%, down from 3.85%. The five-year loan prime rate remained unchanged from the prior month at 4.65%. The LPR affects lending rates for corporate and household loans. (CNBC)
Airlines have begun planning for possible flight disruptions from a new fifth-generation cellular service slated to go live early next year. The early steps by airlines are a response to a FAA order earlier this month. The directive outlined potential restrictions on landing in bad weather in up to 46 of the country’s largest metropolitan areas, where the new wireless service is scheduled to roll out starting Jan. 5. (Wall Street Journal)
JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a $125 million penalty for allowing employees on Wall Street to use smartphone apps to get around federal record-keeping laws. (UPI)
Technology
Scams were once again the largest form of cryptocurrency-based crime by transaction volume, with over $7.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency taken from victims worldwide. That represents a rise of 81% compared to 2020, a year in which scamming activity dropped significantly compared to 2019, in large part due to the absence of any large-scale Ponzi schemes. That changed in 2021 with Finiko, a Ponzi scheme primarily targeting Russian speakers throughout Eastern Europe, netting more than $1.1 billion from victims. Another change that contributed to 2021’s increase in scam revenue: the emergence of rug pulls, a relatively new scam type particularly common in the DeFi ecosystem, in which the developers of a cryptocurrency project — typically a new token — abandon it unexpectedly, taking users’ funds with them. (Chainalysis)
After one day of being dark, YouTube TV and Disney reached a deal which will see more than 17 Disney-owned channels, including local ABC affiliates, Disney Channel, and ESPN return to the service. YouTube TV says they will maintain their $64.99 price with all channels remaining as part of the base tier, while giving all members a $15 credit as a result of the carriage dispute. (The Streamable)
Spider-Man crushed the pandemic box office record with $253M open: AMC Entertainment said nearly 1.1 million people watched "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in its U.S. theaters, a record opening for a movie across the company's theaters in December. (Axios, Reuters)
TikTok is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) to launch TikTok Kitchens, a delivery-only service that will cook up some of the trendiest recipes on the app. TikTok and VDC will reportedly open around 300 locations across the US to start, but plan on expanding to around 1,000 by the end of 2022. TikTok Kitchens will operate out of existing restaurants — it’s essentially a ghost kitchen service. (The Verge)
Smart Links
The ESG financing revolution is on: How entrepreneurs can ride the wave. (Forbes)
NYU is top-ranked — in loans that alumni and parents struggle to repay. (Wall Street Journal)
Bank of Montreal is in advanced talks to buy BNP Paribas’s U.S. unit. (Wall Street Journal)
What’s the future of outdoor dining in New York? (New York Times)
The shortest-lived public companies of the past decade. (Crunchbase)