US ECONOMY & POLITICS

U.S. private payrolls miss expectations as COVID-19 cases mount – Reuters, 12/2/20

• U.S. private payrolls increased less than expected in November, likely hampered by soaring new COVID-19 infections and business restrictions, adding to signs of slowing economic activity as a turbulent year winds down.
• Private payrolls rose by 307,000 jobs last month after increasing 404,000 in October.
• Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private payrolls would rise by 410,000 in November.
• The slowdown in hiring last month was across all industries.
• The ADP report was released ahead of the government’s closely watched, and comprehensive, monthly employment report on Friday.
• According to a Reuters survey of economists, private nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 587,000 jobs in November after rising 906,000 in October.

Coronavirus Stimulus Talks Restart as Centrists Unveil Bipartisan Plan – Wall Street Journal, 12/1/20

• Lawmakers released a blitz of competing coronavirus relief proposals Tuesday, reigniting stalled talks as the pandemic surges across the country, but without any clear signs that Democratic and Republican leaders would be able to reach a consensus.
• A bipartisan group from the House and Senate unveiled a roughly $900 billion compromise proposal, offering one route between House Democrats’ last $2.4 trillion bill and Senate Republicans’ recent $650 billion proposal.
• Meanwhile, GOP and Democratic leaders traded new offers, as the looming expiration of some relief measures intensified the pace of year-end legislating.
• In an indication that GOP leaders weren’t yet ready to make major concessions, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) circulated a new plan to his caucus that he said reflected what President Trump would be willing to sign into law in the waning days of his administration, after speaking with White House officials.
• The new Republican offer, similar to the recent Senate GOP bill, includes more funding for small businesses, legal protections for entities operating during the pandemic and a one-month extension of expanded unemployment insurance programs that expire at the end of December.
• It doesn’t include additional funding for state and local governments, a priority of Democrats.
• There was no official price tag for the new GOP offer.

Trump Threatens to Veto Defense Bill if Tech Liability Shield Stands – Wall Street Journal, 12/1/20

• President Trump threatened to veto an annual defense-policy bill if it doesn’t include language revoking a provision that gives social-media companies broad immunity for the content they publish from users on their sites.
• Mr. Trump demanded on Tuesday night that Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act be repealed.
• Section 230 has given online companies broad immunity from legal liability for their users’ actions and wide latitude to police content on their sites.
• The president had previously threatened to veto the same defense bill, which includes a 3% pay raise for U.S. troops, over his opposition to language that would rename military bases honoring Confederate commanders.
• The legislation would authorize a total of $740 billion in fiscal year 2021 for the Defense Department’s and Energy Department’s national-security programs.

Biden says will not kill Phase 1 trade deal with China immediately: NYT – Reuters, 12/1/20

• Joe Biden will not immediately cancel the Phase 1 trade agreement that President Donald Trump struck with China nor take steps to remove tariffs on Chinese exports, the New York Times on Wednesday quoted the U.S. president-elect as saying.
• “I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs. I’m not going to prejudice my options,” President-elect Biden told Friedman.
• Biden said he would pursue policies targeting China’s “abusive practices,” such as “stealing intellectual property, dumping products, illegal subsidies to corporations” and forcing “tech transfers” from U.S. companies to Chinese counterparts.
• Under the Phase 1 agreement signed this year, China agreed to increase purchases of American products and services by at least $200 billion over 2020 and 2021.
• The deal also left in place 25% tariffs on a $250-billion array of Chinese industrial goods and components used by U.S. manufacturers, and China’s retaliatory levies on more than $100 billion in U.S. goods.

U.S. House seen approving bill blocking Chinese firms from U.S. markets – Reuters, 12/1/20

• The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass legislation this week that could prevent some Chinese companies from listing their shares on U.S. exchanges unless they adhere to U.S. auditing standards, congressional aides said.
• The bill would give Chinese companies such as Alibaba, tech firm Pinduoduo Inc. and oil giant PetroChina Co Ltd. three years to comply with U.S. rules before being removed from U.S. markets.
• The House is scheduled to vote on Wednesday evening on “The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act,” which bars securities of foreign companies from being listed on any U.S. exchange if they have failed to comply with the U.S. Public Accounting Oversight Board’s audits for three years in a row.
• Aides said there is bipartisan backing for the measure. Measures taking a harder line on Chinese business and trade practices generally pass Congress with large margins.

EUROPE & WORLD

Exclusive: China’s Ant considers Paytm stake sale amid tensions with India – sources – Reuters, 12/2/20

• Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is considering selling its 30% stake in Indian digital payment processor Paytm amid tensions between the two Asian neighbors and a toughening competitive landscape, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
• Financial details of the possible transaction have not been firmed up and Ant, the Alibaba-backed payments-to-consumer credit behemoth, has not launched a formal sale process yet, four people told Reuters.
• Both Ant and Paytm said that the information was incorrect. A Paytm spokesman said “there has been no discussion with any of our major shareholders ever, nor any plans, about selling their stake.”
• Ant’s possible exit from Paytm would mark another reversal for the Chinese company hot on the heels of the dramatic suspension of its $37 billion stock listing last month, which would have been the world’s largest.

Hyundai Motor to launch dedicated EV platform in major push into electric cars – Reuters, 12/2/20

• South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group said on Wednesday it will introduce an electric vehicle-only platform early next year that will use its own battery technology to cut production time and costs.
• Hyundai expects its dedicated Electric Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) will allow it to use its own battery module technology across various EV models and cut the number of components by 60%.
• An electric vehicle based on E-GMP will offer a driving range of 500 kms (310 miles) or more on a single charge, an improvement of at least 23% from the Kona EV, the longest driving range model among Hyundai’s EV lineups.
• However, Hyundai’s R&D chief Albert Biermann said the company doesn’t see the need to make its own battery cells and is content with cooperating with its suppliers including SK Innovation Co Ltd and LG Chem’s LG Energy Solution.

Exclusive: EU antitrust regulators to clear $27 billion LSE, Refinitiv deal – sources – Reuters, 12/2/20

• The London Stock Exchange is set to win EU antitrust approval for its $27 billion (20.2 billion pounds) acquisition of data analytics company Refinitiv, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
• The deal would make the LSE a major distributor and creator of market data. Last month it offered to allow rivals non-discriminatory access to clearing and data for 10 years as part of a package of concessions which included the sale of its Borsa Italiana operations to Euronext.
• The sources declined to provide details of any changes to the concessions.

Iran watchdog passes law on hardening nuclear stance, halting U.N. inspections – Reuters, 12/2/20

• Iran’s watchdog body approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt U.N. inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal if sanctions are not eased in a month.
• In retaliation for the killing last week of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, which Tehran has blamed on Israel, Iran’s hardline-dominated parliament on Tuesday approved the bill with a strong majority that will harden Iran’s nuclear stance.
• Under the new law, Tehran gives one month to the deal’s European parties to ease sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors, imposed after Washington quit the pact between Tehran and six powers in 2018.
• The law pushed by hardline lawmakers would make it harder for U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office on Jan. 20, to rejoin the agreement.

Factmonster – TODAY in HISTORY

• Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor of France in Paris by Pope Pius VII. (1804)
• President James Monroe outlined his famous doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere. (1823)
• The Senate voted to condemn Republican senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.” (1954)
• Enron Corp., under CEO Kenneth Lay, filed for bankruptcy. (2001)