NEW YORK TIMES
Saturday
• The latest Labor Department numbers show the American job engine has slowed significantly, stranding millions who have yet to find work after being idled by the pandemic, and offering fresh evidence that the recovery is faltering.
• The US had one of the worst weeks since the pandemic began—as infections rise, underlying conditions are playing a pivotal role in who survives, and people in lower-income neighborhoods are experiencing higher exposure risk.
• Trump’s newly expanded regulation that blocks access to green cards for legal immigrants who are deemed likely to accept any government assistance is badly straining relief agencies and presenting a challenge to the incoming Biden administration.
• The FDA granted emergency authorization to a drug called baricitinib to treat a subset of Covid-19 patients in combination with the antiviral drug remdesivir, but the medical community has been skeptical of the benefits.
• Trump is moving ahead with end-of-term troop withdrawals from conflicts around the world and will pull American forces out of Somalia, where they have been trying to push back advances by Islamist insurgents in the Horn of Africa.
• A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully restore an Obama-era program designed to shield young, undocumented immigrants from deportation, dealing what could be a final blow to Trump’s long-fought effort to end the so-called DACA protections.
• The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether the Trump administration may impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, an issue that could become moot if the Biden administration eliminates them.
• A growing list of economists, business lobbyists, and advocacy groups are urging lawmakers to rally around the $908B stimulus package currently gaining bipartisan support in Congress, though it would fall short of doing everything needed to help businesses during the pandemic.
Sunday
• Despite Republican efforts to restrict voting, nearly 160M Americans went to the polls in the 2020 elections, by far the most in history and a level of turnout not seen in over a century, representing an extraordinary milestone of civic engagement.
• This holiday season, online shopping will strain the industry as never before: An estimated three billion packages will course through the nation’s shipping infrastructure, about 800M more than delivered last year.
• Somalia fears Trump’s decision to withdraw troops will be seen as a victory for Qaeda-linked militants and create the potential for further chaos at an especially delicate moment for the country and the region.
• Trump used a rally in Georgia for two Republican senators on Saturday to complain about his own election loss, insisting he would still prevail and, with notably less ardor, encouraging voters to re-elect David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Weekend
• Most of the jobs that were added in the US in November were in the transportation and warehousing industries that package, ship, and deliver goods to consumers, services which have growing increasingly necessary during the pandemic.
• Because postmasters general serve at the pleasure of the US Postal Service Board of Governors and can’t be fired by a president, Joe Biden will face difficulties getting rid of postmaster general Louis DeJoy, a Republican donor backed by a GOP majority on the board.
• The House voted to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, the first legislation of its kind to get a vote in the chamber, though it isn’t expected to move forward and become law because of a GOP-controlled Senate.
• Winter outbreaks of Covid-19 might be worsened by colder weather and drier indoor air that boost transmission, but it is too soon to know whether they will become truly seasonal, according to new research by scientists studying the disease.
• After White House-brokered talks, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, rival Gulf nations, have reached a tentative deal to end a yearslong feud that has fractured the Middle East, paving the way for broader regional meetings to resolve their differences.
• Cash holdings at nonfinancial companies grew to a record $2.1T at the end of June, according to a recent Moody’s report, a 30 percent increase from the previous year that has investors trying to predict how companies will use the money.
• Getting meetings with venture capitalists has become easier for startup founders during lockdown periods, an unexpected side-effect of the pandemic that has helped some minority tech founders gain ground.
• + BKS: Story reports on how chief James Daunt, who previously fixed UK book chain Waterstones, “has laid off once-powerful managers, overturned relationships with publishers and renovated stores in favor of a more local approach, including a focus on the smallest details.”
• Some Americans are heeding a rising call to support Black-owned businesses this holiday-shopping season, but economists cite limits in addressing economic inequality through shopping.
• H.O.T.S.: Payments stocks such as Afterpay, Sezzle, and Qudpay are getting a boost from retailers’ embrace of buy now, pay later options at checkout; “Investors need to look beyond the cash when restrictions are lifted on shareholder payouts from European banks”; The US employment picture is darkening even more than recent jobs figures suggest.
FINANCIAL TIMES
Weekend
• Front page story reports the Covid-19 surge is threatening the US recovery, and investors believe lackluster economic data will add urgency to government stimulus talks, though president-elect Biden still faces challenges even if a package passes.
• Researchers in China say they have matched Google by achieving quantum supremacy after building a computer capable of carrying out calculations trillions of times faster than the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
• The EU budget commission warned Poland and Hungary that Brussels is willing to cut them out of a €750B recovery fund and proceed without them if they continue to block the passage of an upcoming budget.
• Big Read story says that the collapse of UK retailers Debenhams and Arcadia will create even more empty stores in already struggling town centers, forcing town centers and high streets to reinvent themselves if they hope to continue having a purpose.
• Lex Column: Glencore has dug itself into some deep holes in recent years—but targeting zero emissions by 2050 may help it clean up; UK homebuilder Berkeley has benefited from the pandemic, which has brought investment opportunities; If there was ever at time for Warner Bros. to take a stand in the video streaming wars, it is now.
• Comment: Business leaders have an important role to play in advancing vaccine literacy and uptake in wider society, says Scott Razan—“The stakes are high and the situation could not be more serious.”
NEW YORK POST
Saturday
• Luminar Technologies chief Austin Russell, 25, became the country’s youngest self-made billionaire this when his company made its stock market debut left him with a paper net worth of $3.3B.
• AAPL co-founder Steve Wozniak launched a new company this week called Efforce, which hopes to use cryptocurrency and blockchain to make it cheaper and easier for companies to fund environmentally friendly projects.
Sunday
• A survey found that nearly 55 percent of New York City firefighters won’t take a coronavirus vaccine when they become available, a number that climbs to 70 percent for Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers.
• Columnist Charles Gasparino criticizes NDAQ’s push to diversity the boards of companies listed on its exchange, saying there is no logical reason to believe that adding women or minorities to boards will end illegal insider trading or other misdeeds.