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The World
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a standalone federal agency under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight, stated: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history…There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” CISA Head Christopher Krebs expects to be fired. Meanwhile, Biden defeated Trump in Georgia, while Trump won North Carolina. Edison Research said Biden had won 306 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 232. (CISA, Reuters, Reuters-2)
Covid-19 modelers warn that talk of waves is misguided, as they instead see a meteoric rise in deaths: 20,000 to 25,000 in just the next two weeks, and 160,000 more by Feb. 1. Daily U.S. cases soared above 160,000, just eight days after the country had its first 100,000-case day. (STAT News)
N.Y.C.’s mayor warned that public schools could close as early as Monday if a positivity rate hits 3%. (NY Times)
California, Oregon and Washington governors issued a joint travel advisory urging people arriving to their states to self-quarantine for 14 days. All Minnesotans ages 18-35 urged to get tested. If Biden enacts mask mandates, lockdowns, Gov. Noem won't enforce them in South Dakota. (CNBC, Star Tribune, Argus Leader)
Chicago’s mayor issued a month-long stay-at-home advisory, followed quickly by suburban Cook County, while Detroit and Indianapolis public schools halted in-person instruction. The Ivy League canceled winter sports season, and delayed spring play. (Reuters, Chicago Tribune, ESPN)
Ireland leaders said Irish people abroad should not book flights home for Christmas yet, while Australia will not allow foreign students to enter. (Irish Times)
Costco ends medical exemption and will require all customers to wear a mask or face shield. (Washington Post)
One of the first Caribbean cruise ships since the pandemic began ended its trip early after at least five passengers tested positive. (ABC News)
More than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in wake of Trump’s campaign travel. (Washington Post)
Meanwhile, North Korean and Russian hackers are targeting Covid-19 vaccine researchers in U.S. and India. (South China Morning Post)
Chinese President Xi Jinping personally made the decision to halt the Ant Group IPO, after Jack Ma infuriated government leaders. The rebuke was the culmination of years of tense relations between China’s most celebrated entrepreneur and a government uneasy about his influence and the rapid growth of the digital-payments behemoth he controlled. (Wall Street Journal)
As Beijing formally congratulated Biden, China and the U.S. have revived stalled backchannel diplomacy. The semi-official communication channel is often conducted through former officials, think tanks and business leaders. Such communication had stopped in recent months. Meanwhile, in his first executive order since the election, President Trump banned Americans from investing in Chinese companies identified as having military ties, as China warned of action after Pompeo said Taiwan is not part of China. (South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asian Review, Reuters)
The U.S. backed down on TikTok: The Commerce Department won’t enforce its shut down order, in the latest sign of trouble for the Trump administration’s efforts to turn it into a U.S. company. The retreat follows federal court ruling against the government, which the U.S. appealed. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. election outcome has suddenly made things harder for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiations. His hardline approach was more credible when it appeared Trump might win re-election, because Trump had pledged to forge a US-UK trade agreement. Linking the UK more closely to the world's largest single economy gave Johnson leverage with Brussels. But President-elect Biden has made clear that he opposes any move to harden the Irish border and will not cut a trade deal unless Johnson backs down on that position. Biden's victory, therefore, has weakened Johnson's bargaining position with the EU—and negotiators on both sides of the English Channel know it. Meanwhile, Senior Adviser Dominic Cummings is to leave Downing Street by the end of the year, signaling an end to the dominance of the Vote Leave camp in Boris Johnson’s administration. (GZERO Media, The Times)
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the prospect of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden rejoining the Paris climate accord, saying countries now had a chance to “make our planet great again.” (Reuters)
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told the Federalist Society that the pandemic has resulted in previously “unimaginable” restrictions on individual liberty. The Supreme Court justice said he was not criticizing officials for their policy decisions and said before launching into a speech that he hoped his remarks would not be “twisted or misunderstood.” (Washington Post)
Judy Shelton is primed to join the Federal Reserve with a vote next week on confirming President Trump’s controversial pick. Shelton until recently advocated a return to the gold standard, arguing it would make “America’s money great again,” and backed higher interest rates, then backed off those positions in an apparent attempt to keep pace with Trump’s opinions. She has questioned the need for the Fed, and as Trump attacked it for not heeding his policy preferences, she argued for a less independent central bank. But with the end of Trump’s presidency now looming, Senate Republicans are setting aside their reservations. (Finance 202)
America has become so polarized that presidential bellwether counties—those that consistently back the national winner, switching between parties in the process—are nearing extinction. From 1980 through 2016, 19 of the nation’s more than 3,000 counties voted for the eventual president in every election. Only one of them, Washington state’s Clallam County, backed President-elect Joe Biden last week. Other counties that had been bellwethers all the way back to the 1950s ended their runs by backing President Trump instead of the Democrat. (Wall Street Journal)
“Does NATO have the right posture today to respond effectively to a Russia that doesn’t seem very deterred in a lot of their activities, especially in their own near-abroad, but also in their willingness to interfere in the sovereignty of NATO allies?” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg responds. (GZERO Media)
Economy
Home prices rose in every corner of the U.S. during 3Q20. This broad-based rally for single-family homes marked the first time since 1980 that every metro area tracked posted an annual price increase in the same quarter. (Wall Street Journal)
America’s mid-sized companies are faring better than industry watchers feared, as private equity owners step in to help tide them over. Sponsors have provided more cash to portfolio companies compared to the 2008 crisis, with a view that keeping businesses afloat will be more advantageous than potential restructurings or lender takeovers. (Bloomberg)
Grocery shoppers are gravitating toward premium products such as specialty chocolate and gourmet pasta sauce as coronavirus cases rise. Sales of premium and superpremium packaged goods grew by 1.7% at retailers year over year for the 26 weeks ended Oct. 4. (CNBC)
Goldman Sachs released its latest Marquee QuickPoll survey of more than 1,000 institutional investor clients: Many market participants continue to expect a significant fiscal package next year. About 45% of respondents expect a stimulus package of about $1 trillion that's closer in size to the Republican proposals, while 29% expect a $1.5 trillion package that's more in line with what the House Democrats have proposed. Investors' response to their favorite asset class this month: 40% selected developed market equities as their favorite "long" asset class, while 29% cited developed market bonds as their favorite "short" investment. (Goldman Sachs)
Technology
macOS Big Sur launch appears to cause temporary slowdown in even non-Big Sur Macs: Apps taking minutes to launch, stuttering and non-responsiveness throughout macOS, and more. The issues seemed to begin close to the time when Apple began rolling out the new version of macOS, Big Sur — but it affected users of other versions of macOS, like Catalina and Mojave. Other Apple services faced slowdowns, outages, and odd behavior, too, including Apple Pay, Messages, and even Apple TV devices. (ArsTechnica)
Disney+ now has 73.7 million subscribers, putting it well ahead of its original goal of 60 to 90 million by 2024. Disney+ could also get another growth push from further international expansion; India alone already accounts for 25% of all subscribers, and the service launches in Latin America on Tuesday. (Protocol)
Scientists long dreamed about the possibilities of mRNA vaccines. Now, the technology is on the brink of government approval. Its path there, paved with eureka moments in the lab and an unprecedented flow of biotech cash, began three decades ago with an obscure scientist who refused to quit. (STAT News)
The new PlayStation and Xbox are arriving during a pandemic gaming gold rush: Gamers worldwide are expected to spend a record $175 billion on software alone in 2020, up from $146 billion a year ago. In the U.S., gamers spent $33.7 billion across hardware, accessories and content through September. Sony is projected to sell 8.5 million PS5s and Microsoft 6.5 million of the Xbox Series X and the smaller, cheaper Series S through March. (New York Times, Newzoo)
Smart Links
Goldman Sachs’s 60 new partners are the happiest people on Wall Street today. (Wall Street Journal, Goldman Sachs full list)
Miami Marlins hire Kim Ng as MLB's first female, first Asian American GM. (Miami Herald)
Biden chief of staff pick Klain has had a long career in venture capital. (New York Times)
Gun sales expected to set new records after Biden's White House win. (CNN)
Companies are getting creative with holiday party planning. (Wired UK)
WeWork burns through another $500m in 3Q20. (Financial Times)
Why the polls got it wrong: The kind of people who answer polls are really weird, and it’s ruining polling. (Vox)
Flying cars in Orlando? The first U.S. 'air taxi' hub is coming by 2025. (Orlando Weekly)