The World
Moody’s Analytics concludes that a Democratic sweep of the White House and Congress would produce 7.4 million more jobs and a faster economic recovery than if President Trump retains power: “In this scenario, the economy is expected to create 18.6 million jobs during Biden’s term as president, and the economy returns to full employment, with unemployment of just over 4%, by the second half of 2022.” Goldman Sachs and Oxford Economics conclude that even a slimmed version of Biden’s program would mean a faster rally back to prepandemic conditions. Meanwhile, as investors anticipate Biden election win, a Survation study suggests a Trump victory could jolt stocks higher. (Finance 202, Moody’s Analytics, Financial Times)
AstraZeneca got partial immunity in its low-cost EU vaccine deal, as a full lockdown is recommended for Madrid, new record cases emerge in France, and an Iceland cluster was traced to French tourists — while more than 80% of Britons don’t heed self-isolation rules. Israel went under lockdown as daily cases topped 8,000. Meanwhile, the American farm has become the virus’ unseen hot zone: Fruit growers blocked testing of seasonal farmworkers and told those who caught the coronavirus to keep it quiet — and county and state officials were largely unable to stop them. (Reuters, The Guardian, Jerusalem Post, Washington Post)
Japanese Prime Minister Suga and Chinese President Xi agreed to high level — including person-to-person — contacts on bilateral and international problems, but did not discuss Xi's postponed state visit in their first telephone conference. Meanwhile, the head of the U.S. Marine Corps called for a redistribution of American military resources in the western Pacific in response to the growing China threat. (Nikkei Asian Review, South China Morning Post)
Palestinian funding from Arab countries has dropped by 85% in 2020, as Ramallah has received no aid from Arab countries since March. (Jerusalem Post)
The number of British entrepreneurs looking to “buy” citizenship from countries offering visa-free access to the European Union has risen sharply, as prospects of a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the bloc darken. (Reuters)
California has endured its worst fire year in recorded history, but conditions could worsen as the peak traditional fire season arrives with another heat wave bearing down. Recently, some of California’s worst blazes have ignited in October, November and even December. Meanwhile, research shows global warming is driving California wildfire trends. (Los Angeles Times, BBC News)
61% of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College, a six-percentage point uptick since April 2019. This preference is driven by 89% of Democrats and 68% of independents, while just 23% of Republicans share this view. (Gallup)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. (Washington Post)
Economy
FTSE Russell will add Chinese government debt to its key indexes, which could attract more than $100 billion of foreign capital, while investors are fleeing U.S. junk bond funds as concern for the economy grows. The asset class suffered its worst weekly outflow since March. Meanwhile, pensions have been moving away from stocks in recent years, but now that the Federal Reserve signaled that interest rates likely will remain low, some pensions are looking to boost their equities bets. (Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal-2)
Venmo tells conned customers to pay up: Some customers face a choice: Deal with debt collectors or pay a debt they say they don’t owe. Meanwhile, a cryptocurrency pioneer explains why China’s digital currency payments systems are widely seen as the most advanced in the world. (Wall Street Journal, BBC News)
New York topped the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), while London retained the second spot, but the capital made some ground closing the gap between the two, gaining 24 points leaving only a four point difference. (Yahoo Finance)
PitchBook Universities: 2020. Which university programs produce the most entrepreneurs that go on to garner venture funding? (Axios, Pitchbook 2020 Rankings)
Is happiness at work really attainable? Simón Cohen, founder of Henco Logistics, transformed a small Mexican logistics company into a major player within the industry. Cohen credits the firm’s focus on employee happiness as the key ingredient to its success — an approach he developed following a personal crisis. Meanwhile, when executives introduce process changes, resistance often comes not from cognitive analytical disagreement but from a much squishier place: emotions. Executive coach Niall McShane, who has worked with both Olympic athletes and C-Suite teams, offers a template for getting to the root of the problem. (Harvard Business School, Chief Executive)
Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, is working from tents in the forest. (Fortune)
Technology
Amazon’s fall hardware event: The 13 biggest announcements. Highlights include new Echo devices, Ring updates, and even Amazon’s cloud gaming service. Meanwhile, Amazon is giving its own hardware products a competitive edge by restricting how rival makers of smart speakers, doorbells and other devices advertise on Amazon’s e-commerce marketplace. (The Verge, Wall Street Journal)
Facebook opened a new fight with Apple over messaging, calling for the option to make its Messenger app the default messaging tool on iPhones. (The Information)
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believes interactive entertainment will be a key technology in the next 10 years and that gamers who use Microsoft products expect the company to make titles like those made by the studios he's bought. Nadella and Xbox head Phil Spencer discussed further acquisitions, how to keep making hits and what happened with TikTok. (Cnet)
Google will help employees pay off student loans, matching up to $2,500 annually as a new company benefit for full-time employees starting in 2021. (CNBC)
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek pledged €1 billion of personal resources to help build a European Tech Moonshot ecosystem. The goal: More Europeans supercompanies. Meanwhile, controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI — which has built a database of more than 3 billion images taken from Facebook, Instagram, and the world’s largest social networking platforms — raised $8.6 million in a recent fundraising round. (Protocol, BuzzFeed News)
Smart Links
Variety CMO: Virtual events success means they’ll continue post-pandemic. (Morning Consult)
Americans know more about civics than they did a year ago. (Wall Street Journal)
Rumors of cities’ deaths greatly exaggerated? Cities beat suburbs at inspiring cutting-edge innovations. (Science Daily)
A neighborhood’s race affects home values more now than in 1980. (CityLab)
Time travel is mathematically possible (execution is a different matter). (Science Daily)
Rio postponed its carnival; NYC’s Times Square NYE celebration will be virtual. (France24, CNN)
Wholesale tea leaves prices have jumped 50% since March. (Wall Street Journal)