12 BARRON’S December 7, 2020
REVIEW
30,218.
Dow Industrials:+307.
Dow Global Index:+7.
0.97%
10-year treasury note:+0.
AMAZON THE BIG WINNER
High and Higher
November ended with the Dow indus-
trials up 11.8%, the best month since
January 1987, and the S&P 500 index
up 10.7%, its best Novembersince 1928.
Bitcoin hit a high, andZoom Videoset
a record quarterly increase; yet shares
fell, partly from fears of a postvaccine
normalization. Jobs grew inNovember,
but barely. Stocks hit new highs, then
ebbed, then hit new highs. For the
week, the Dow rose 1%, to 30,218.26;
the S&P 500 tacked on 1.7%, to
3699.12; and the Nasdaq Composite
advanced 2.1%, to 12464.23.
A Vaccine Beachhead
Modernaasked U.S. and European
regulators to approve the use of its
Covid-19 vaccine. The Food and Drug
Administration will meet on Dec. 10 to
review data on thePfizerandBioN-
Techvaccine, which the U.K. has al-
ready approved for emergency use, and
on Dec. 17, for Moderna’s. Authorities,
meanwhile, warned of a Covid surge on
top of a surge. California locked down
again. Hospitalizations set records, and
the death toll neared 280,000. Trump’s
coronavirus czar, Scott Atlas, resigned.
Debating Relief
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome
Powell appeared for two days of con-
gressional testimony. Front and cen-
ter: Covid relief. Mnuchin had refused
to extend five Fed lending measures
past Dec. 31; the Fed, in an unusual
rift, protested. Mnuchin insisted he
had no choice; Powell disagreed and
urged fiscal relief, which has been
bogged down in the Senate, although a
bipartisan group floated a $908 billion
relief bill that drew support.
TheNewEconTeam
Biden nominated Neera Tanden, chief
executive of the Center for American
Progress, to run the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget; Princeton labor
economist Cecilia Rouse to head the
Council of Economic Advisers; and
former Federal Reserve Chairwoman
Janet Yellen to be Treasury secretary.
President Trump, meanwhile, still
insisted the election was rigged, even
as Attorney General Bill Barr said
Online Owns
The Holidays
The initial data are in and Cyber Monday, the online ver-
sion of Black Friday, broke a record—though not by as
much as some predicted. Adobe says that Cyber Monday
sales hit $10.84 billion, rising more than 15% year over
year. That’s at the low end of the 15% to 35% range Adobe
projected, but still the largest online shopping day in U.S.
history. Adobe now expects $184 billion in holiday-season
online sales, down from a prior estimate of $189 billion.
Cyber Monday might just have lost some relevance in
pandemic 2020. Many now enjoy fast internet connec-
tions at home—making online shopping easier—and
fewer may have waited for Cyber Monday because of a
holiday-shopping season that began in October.
While Black Friday saw less discounting, especially
among in-demand retailers, Cyber Monday deals held
steady from 2019. Needham’s Rick Patel writes that
“many Cyber Monday promos were largely unchanged or
mixed from last year....Broadly, the changes in discount-
ing to last year were subtle.” He highlights increased dis-
counting forRevolveandTapestry’s Coach and Kate
Spade online, although discounting at full-price Coach,
Ralph Lauren,andAbercrombie & Fitchstores
seemed to have pulled back from 2019.
With so much shopping moving online,Amazon-
.comwas the big winner. The initial read from Numer-
ator shows that Amazon captured nearly $1 for every
$5 spent over the period and had the highest share
over the shopping weekend for the first time, deriving
more than half of e-commerce’s growth from higher-
income households.—Teresa Rivas
$277 T
Estimate of total global debt in
2020, up $15 trillion from 2019
17.6%
The percentage of workers
who had returned to offices
on Nov. 25, down from 27.4%
in mid-October
$
Amount spent by the average
shopper between Black Friday
and Cyber Monday, down 14%
from 2019, on par with 2018
45 %
Fall in personal bankruptcies
in November, a 14-year low.
Commercial bankruptcies
were up 40% for the month.
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THE NUMBERS
SHE SAID:
“It’s essential we
move with urgency.
Inaction will
produce a self-
reinforcing
downturn causing
yet more
devastation.”
Treasury Secretary-nominee Janet Yellen
there was no evidence of fraud.
China Cards
The House passed a bill banning listed
companies that won’t allow U.S. audits,
which may force some Chinese compa-
nies to exit, adding to the administration
pressure campaign on China.
Annals of Deal Making
S&P Globalsaid it would buyIHS
Markitfor $44 billion, all in stock, the
largest deal of the year...General Mo-
torsannounced it wouldn’t take an 11%
stake in electric-truck makerNikola,
but would retain a fuel-cell supply
agreement. Nikola also dropped plans
for its Badger truck...Salesforce.com
agreed to pay $27.7 billion for messaging
companySlack Technologies...
Airbnb’s initial-public-offering filing
valued it at $30 billion, and DoorDash’s,
at $32 billion...In a compromise, OPEC+
agreed to increase daily oil output by
500,000 barrels next month. Illustration by Elias Stein; Alex Wong/Getty Images