* * * * * THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXVI NO. 143 WSJ.com HHHH $4 .00

One decade after the settlement, Coke’s ef-fort looked like an unqualified success. By2010, Black employees held 15% of executiveroles in the U.S., up from 1.5% in 1998, shortlybefore the lawsuit was filed.

Two decades after the settlement, thatprogress has reversed. The share of Black ex-ecutives is back down to 8%, according tocompany data. And the representation ofBlack employees among Coke’s U.S. salariedstaff is now 15%, or 5 percentage points lowerthan where it stood in 2000.

“We didn’t keep our eye on the North Star,”said Valerie Love, who joined Coke last yearto lead HR for North America.

In the wake of protests that swept acrossthe country this year after George Floyd waskilled in police custody, more companies, in-

PleaseturntopageA10

BY JENNIFER MALONEY AND LAUREN WEB

DJIA 30154.54 g 44.77 0.1% NASDAQ 12658.19 À 0.5% STOXX600 396.08 À 0.8% 10-YR. TREAS. unch , yield 0.920% OIL $47.82 À $0.20 GOLD $1,856.10 À $3.80 EURO $1.2201 YEN 103.46

ShoppersCut BackSpendingAs CovidSpreadsNovember data show1.1% drop on month,suggesting recovery isslowing from summer

WASHINGTON—U.S. prosecu-tors are expected to unsealcharges against a suspect theyallege was a top bomb makerfor the late Libyan dictatorMoammar Gadhafi and assem-bled the device that blew up PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie,Scotland, in 1988, opening a newchapter in one of the world’slongest and most sprawling ter-

down the toilet.Now, many fear the tradi-

tional snow day may be melt-ing away.

Remote learning need notstop for the snow storm ex-pected to wallop the North-east this week. Kids who re-turned to school buildings this

fall can switch back to onlineclasses if the weather becomestoo hazardous.

New York City Mayor Billde Blasio said students in thenation’s largest district willhave school online, “whetherthey’re happy about it or not.”

PleaseturntopageA10

Children have long soughtto summon a snow day whenstorms are in the offing, act-ing on superstitions such aswearing pajamas inside out,hiding spoons under their pil-lows or flushing ice cubes

BY LESLIE BROD

The Pandemic Melts the Snow Dayi i i

Remote classes go on, despite weather, causing flurry of complaints

Negro Leagues Finally Reach aMajor Milestone

OUT, THEN IN: Major League Baseball said it was elevating the Negro Leagues from 1920-48 to major-league status, amove that recognizes the sport’s long-excluded Black pioneers, such as Josh Gibson, shown being tagged out in 1944. A14

BETT

MANNARCH

IVE/G

ETT

YIM

AGES

LIFE IN COVIDPeople adjust theirholiday traditions tocope with thepandemic. A12-13

YEAR IN REVIEWA look back at theevents of 2020 andthoughts on what’s

ahead. R1-20

Twenty years ago, Coca-Cola Co. agreed topay $192.5 million to settle a race-discrimina-tion class-action lawsuit, one of the largestsuch settlements in U.S. history. Though thecompany didn’t admit the allegations hadmerit, Steve Bucherati, the soda giant’s firstdirector of workplace fairness after the law-suit, said the facts were irrefutable.

“Make no mistake about it,” the former hu-man-resources executive said. “Coke was 100%discriminating against Black employees.”

In November 2000, Coke agreed to imple-ment far-reaching changes to its hiring, pro-motion and compensation practices. It alsovowed to become what it called the “goldstandard” of fairness, with a workplace thatoffered opportunities for all.

U.S. Prepares to ChargeLockerbie Bomb Suspect

rorism investigations.The Justice Department is

expected to unseal a criminalcomplaint against Abu AgilaMohammad Masud, who is cur-rently held by Libyan authori-ties, in the coming days and toseek his extradition for trial oncharges in U.S. federal court, se-nior department officials said.

The bombing, just beforeChristmas 1988, killed 270 peo-ple, including 190 Americans,

PleaseturntopageA6

BY SADIE GURMANAND ARUNA VISWANATHA

The holiday shopping sea-son got off to a muted start asU.S. consumers reined in No-vember spending amid a surgein coronavirus infections andnew business restrictions insome states.

U.S. retail sales, a measureof purchases at stores, restau-rants and online, dropped aseasonally adjusted 1.1% in No-vember from the prior month,the Commerce Departmentsaid on Wednesday. Octobersales were revised to a declineof 0.1% from an earlier esti-mate of a 0.3% increase. Saleswere up by 4.1% in Novemberwhen compared with the samemonth a year ago.

Restaurants, departmentstores and car dealerships re-ported sharp sales declines inNovember. Clothing and furni-ture sales fell, too. Purchasesof groceries and building ma-terials increased, along withonline sales.

The November and Octoberdrops marked the end of sev-eral months of growth in retailspending after sharp declinesthis year when the coronaviruspandemic triggered wide-

PleaseturntopageA2

BY HARRIET TORRY

Coke’s Elusive Goal: BoostingIts Black Employees

Two decades after historic lawsuit, its diversity efforts have lost ground

WASHINGTON—Ten statessued Google, accusing thesearch giant of running an ille-gal digital-advertising monop-oly and enlisting rival FacebookInc. in an ad auction-riggingdeal code-named after charac-ters from “Star Wars.”

The complaint, filed in U.S.District Court in Texas onWednesday, alleges Facebookemerged in 2017 as a powerful

new rival to Google, challengingthe Alphabet Inc. unit’s estab-lished dominance in online ad-vertising.

Google responded by initiat-ing a deal in which Facebookwould curtail its competitivemoves, in return for guaranteedspecial treatment in Google-runad auctions, the lawsuit claims.

Google’s internal code namefor Facebook deal referencedcharacters from Star Wars, ac-cording to the suit, which re-dacted specifics. A person fa-

miliar with the matter said thecode name was “Jedi Blue,” af-ter the imaginary Jedi knights.

“Google is a trillion-dollarmonopoly brazenly abusing itsmonopolistic power, going sofar as to induce senior Facebookexecutives to agree to a con-tractual scheme that under-mines the heart of [the] com-petitive process,” said TexasAttorney General Ken Paxton,who led the suit.

The accusations opened up afresh front of criticism for both

tech giants, each of which facefederal antitrust lawsuits filedin recent weeks.

Facebook had no immediatecomment on the allegations.Google denied engaging in anyanticompetitive behavior andrepeated its stance that it oper-ates in highly competitive mar-kets.

“Attorney General Paxton’sPleaseturntopageA4

BY JOHN D. MCKINNONAND RYAN TRACY

States Allege Google Cut DealWith Facebook toRigAdMarket

WASHINGTON—Congressio-nal leaders closed in on aroughly $900 billion coronavi-rus-relief deal that includes an-other round of direct paymentsto households, said lawmakerswho aimed to pass the aidpackage before the week’s end.

After months of gridlock, theemerging agreement repre-sented a breakthrough at a crit-ical time in the pandemic, withdistribution of a vaccine underway but hospitalizations hittingrecords and a new round ofbusiness restrictions weighingon the economy.

The package under discus-sion was expected to include,along with direct checks, $300a week in enhanced unemploy-ment insurance, funding forvaccine distribution, schools,small businesses, health-careproviders and rental assistance,and other relief measures.

Its size, at just under $900billion, marked a compromisebetween the two parties’stances: more than the roughly$500 billion Republicans had

PleaseturntopageA4

BY KRISTINA PETERSONAND ANDREW DUEHREN

CongressGets CloseTo Deal forVirus Aid

� U.S. growth decelerates butremains solid.............................. A2

� Heard on the Street: A bridgefor retailers until spring.... B12

� Californians balk at newlockdown orders....................... A3

� Vaccine takers undeterred byside effects................................. A7

� Facebook joins fight againstApple............................................... B1

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CONTENTSBusiness News...... B3Crossword.............. A14Equities....................... B9Heard on Street. B12Markets..................... B11Opinion.............. A15-17

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What’sNews

� Congressional leaderswere closing in on a roughly$900 billion coronavirus re-lief deal expected to includeanother round of direct pay-ments to households feelingthe pain of the pandemic’sbattering of the economy. A1�U.S. prosecutors are ex-pected to unseal chargesagainst a suspect they allegeassembled the device thatblew up Pan Am Flight 103over Scotland in 1988. A1� The Supreme Courtagreed to decide whetherthe NCAA violated federalantitrust law by maintain-ing tight limits on compen-sating college athletes. A3� Federal prosecutorscharged a Kenyan man withplotting an attack in thestyle of Sept. 11 at the direc-tion of a terrorist group. A3�A formerTrump adminis-tration cybersecurity officialtold a Senate panel that alle-gations that voting equip-mentwasmanipulated duringthe election are baseless.A4� The FDA saidmoredoses of the Covid-19 vac-cine than expected can beextracted from each vial,boosting the supply. A7�A French court convicted14 people of helping carryout the 2015 terrorist at-tacks on a satirical weeklyand a kosher grocery. A8� China said its space vehi-cle returned to Earth withmoon fragments it gatheredon its mission. A9� Germany moved closerto allowing the use of Hua-wei’s technology in 5G mo-bile networks. A9

The holiday shopping sea-son got off to amuted

start as U.S. consumersreined in November spendingamid a surge in coronavirusinfections and new businessrestrictions in some states.A1� Ten states sued Google,accusing the search giant ofrunning an illegal digital ad-vertising monopoly and en-listing rival Facebook in anad auction-rigging deal. A1�Massachusetts regulatorsalleged trading platform op-erator Robinhoodmarketedto inexperienced investorsand failed to implement con-trols to protect them. B1� Facebook said it wouldassist the company behindvideogame “Fortnite” inits high-profile legal battlewith Apple. B1�Amazonworkers at anAl-abamawarehousewon ap-proval to hold a unionizationvote, the first such electionsince 2014 at the company.B2� Roku reached a deal withAT&T’s WarnerMedia tocarry the HBO Max stream-ing service, ending aneight-month standoff. B3�The U.S. Treasury labeledSwitzerland and Vietnam ascurrencymanipulators. A8�MSCI will strip its in-dexes of stocks in sevenChinese companies thatthe U.S. government sayshelp China’s military. B4� The Nasdaq rose 0.5%to a record close, and theS&P added 0.2% while theDow slipped 0.1%. B11� Bitcoin surged above$20,000 for the first timein its 12-year history. B11

Business&Finance

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The last name of reporterAlison Sider was misspelled asSlider in the contributions lineof a Page One article Mondayabout the vaccine-supply chain.

A chart with a Dec. 10 U.S.News article about immigrationshowed the number of familyunits, which are migrants trav-eling as families, detained atthe Mexican border. The chartmislabeled the data as families.Also, the name of U.S. Customsand Border Protection wasgiven incorrectly as U.S. Cus-toms and Border Patrol in the

chart’s source line.

A Dec. 10 Business Newsarticle about M.B.A.s. incor-rectly said that Jeff Bezos, Am-azon.com Inc.’s longtime head,has criticized M.B.A.s. in thepast.

Notice to readersWall Street Journal staff

members are working remotelyduring the pandemic. For theforeseeable future, please sendreader comments only by emailor phone, using the contactsbelow, not via U.S. Mail.

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CORRECTIONS� AMPLIFICATIONS

ity for the economy,” JamesKnightley, an economist at INGFinancial Markets LLC, said.Mr. Knightley expects grossdomestic product to contractabout 1.2% in the first quarterof 2021 after increasingaround 1.5% to 2% in thefourth quarter. Mr. Knightleysaid he “can’t see containmentmeasures wound down mean-ingfully until vaccination is ata critical mass.”

U.S. shoppers spent lessthan last year over a five-daystretch including Black Fridayand Cyber Monday as in-creased online shopping wasoffset by fewer people visitingphysical stores during thepandemic. People spent an av-erage of just under $312 onholiday-related purchasesfrom Thanksgiving to CyberMonday, down 14% from 2019though on par with 2018, ac-cording to a survey by the Na-tional Retail Federation andProsper Insights & Analytics.

The NRF on Wednesdaysaid it continues to expect hol-iday sales will increase at least

3.6%, with at least 20% growthfor online shopping.

Retailers also pushed anearlier start to the holidayseason, both to limit crowds atstores and to ease pressure onsupply chains by avoiding pre-

holiday order bottlenecks.Other data show spending

has continued to lag since theThanksgiving holiday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’stracker of 30 million creditand debit cardholders re-

spread business closures.“Anywhere there’s crowds,

people stayed away,” saidJoshua Shapiro, chief U.S.economist at consulting firmMaria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. “Itunderscores the difficulty heretill the vaccine is widely dis-tributed.”

The retail-sales report andother readings on the U.S.economy suggest the recoveryis slowing after a burst ofgrowth over the summer.

Hiring growth eased in No-vember while worker filingsfor unemployment benefits re-cently increased. Surveys offactories and service-industrycompanies released onWednesday separately showedU.S. output grew at a solidpace in early December, but atthe weakest pace in aboutthree months.

U.S. home-builder confi-dence fell in December from anall-time high, breaking a seven-month streak of gains, the Na-tional Association of HomeBuilders reported Wednesday.

Lawmakers in Congresswere close to a $900 billiondeal on Wednesday to providea fresh round of economicstimulus that was expected toinclude enhanced unemploy-ment insurance and anotherround of direct payments tohouseholds, people familiarwith the talks said.

“We’ve got to be braced fora period of two, three, fourmonths of extreme vulnerabil-

ContinuedfromPageOne

U.S. NEWS

The Fed has been buying$80 billion in Treasurys and$40 billion in mortgage bonds amonth since June while pledg-ing to maintain those purchases“over coming months.” OnWednesday, the central bankstated those purchases wouldcontinue “until substantial fur-ther progress has been made”toward broader employmentand inflation goals. Officialsdon’t expect to reach thosegoals for years, according toprojections they releasedWednesday.

“Together these measureswill ensure that monetary pol-icy will continue to deliverpowerful support for the econ-omy until the recovery is com-plete,” Fed Chairman JeromePowell said at a news confer-ence Wednesday.

The projections show mostofficials thought they wouldhold short-term rates near zerofor least three more years de-spite a somewhat more opti-

mistic economic outlook thanthey had in September, beforedrug makers had developedhighly effective vaccines.

Many officials projectedsuch low rates would be neededeven though they projected in-flation would be at the Fed’s 2%target and unemploymentwould fall below 4% by the endof 2023. Those projections re-flect a change in the centralbank’s framework adopted thissummer that took a more re-laxed view toward inflation.

Mr. Powell said the centralbank expected to see some one-time increases in prices ofgoods and services due to a re-bound in activity from the pan-demic next year but that theywere unlikely by themselves tocreate self-sustaining inflation-ary forces.

“It’s not going to be easy tohave inflation move up,” saidMr. Powell. “We’re honest withourselves and with you in the[projections] that even with the

very high level of accommoda-tion that we’re providing…itwill take some time.”

With interest rates pinnednear zero, the asset purchaseshave become the primary leverwith which officials could dialup or down their stimulus.

The goal of the Fed’s newguidance is to avoid the kind ofmarket backlash that occurredin 2013, when then-ChairmanBen Bernanke suggested thecentral bank might soon taperits asset purchases. Investorsthought the Fed was accelerat-ing its plans to raise interestrates, sparking a sudden per-centage-point jump in the 10-year Treasury yield.

Some analysts have said thatcommunicating the Fed’s inten-tions earlier would reduce thechance of any perception laterthat it was abruptly tighteningmonetary policy.

WASHINGTON—Federal Re-serve officials put the finaltouches Wednesday on amonthslong effort to clarifytheir plans to support the econ-omy for longer than they havefollowing prior downturns, con-cluding one of the most activeyears in the central bank’s his-tory.

Fed officials slashed theirshort-term interest rate to nearzero in March as the coronavi-rus pandemic disrupted finan-cial markets and the economy.They also launched an array ofemergency lending programsand began large-scale pur-chases of government debt andmortgage securities.

On Wednesday, officials up-dated their formal guidancearound how long those pur-chases would continue, comple-menting an earlier pledge inSeptember that set a higher barto raise interest rates.

BY NICK TIMIRAOS

Fed Reinforces Stimulus Will BeOpen-Ended to Spur Recovery

turers were historically upbeatregarding the outlook for out-put over the coming year, de-spite pandemic and economicuncertainty dampening expec-tations compared to thoseseen in November,” IHS Markitsaid.

In Europe, some restric-tions have eased. Surveys ofpurchasing managers Wednes-day showed the economysteadied in early December asfactory output continued toincrease. But further setbacksappear likely until the corona-virus pandemic is contained.

The Europe surveys foundbusinesses were encouragedby the prospect of a wide-spread deployment of effectivevaccines in 2021, and cut jobsat the slowest pace since thepandemic began.

Rising infections haveweighed on Europe’s econo-mies since September, withgovernments having imposednew restrictions since mid-Oc-tober.

The U.S. economy lost a bitof momentum in December asit endured a rise in virus in-fections, while Europe’s econ-omy steadied as some restric-tions were eased.

Surveys of factories andservice-industry companiesshowed U.S. output grew at asolid pace early this month,the forecasting firm IHSMarkit said Wednesday. Butthe growth was the weakest inabout three months. An indexof manufacturing activityslipped to 56.5, while a mea-sure of service-sector activityfell to 55.3.

A figure above 50 indicatesthe industry is expanding, asmeasured by factors such asproduct sales, hiring and out-put.

So far, the world’s largesteconomy appears to be weath-ering the latest restrictions.

“Encouragingly, manufac-

BY PAUL HANNONAND JOSH MITCHELL

U.S. Growth SlipsBut Remains Solid

corded a 3.5% decline inspending from a year earlierin the week through Dec. 12.Credit- and debit-card datacollected by research firm Af-finity Solutions and researchgroup Opportunity Insightsshowed that overall spendingwas down 1.7% in the weekended Dec. 6 compared withJanuary levels.

Anthony Dukes, professor ofmarketing at the University ofSouthern California MarshallSchool of Business, expects re-tailers to suffer as the countryfaces the latest wave ofCovid-19 infections, and “moreshakeouts of smaller busi-nesses and dinosaur depart-ment stores will continue.”

He said demand should pickup in the spring as vaccina-tions lead to an easing of so-cial-distancing measures.“Once we can do what we cando, people will be glad to getout,” Mr. Dukes said.

Retailers with significantonline sales, particularly those

with products catering to con-sumers working from home,have performed better thanbusinesses that rely on in-per-son interaction.

Lululemon Athletica Inc.last week reported a jump insales and profit, as pandemic-weary shoppers snapped up itsathletic apparel and othercomfortable clothing, thoughit offered a less rosy outlookas Covid-19 surged.

Carlo Castronovo, owner ofGiusseppe’s Pizza & ItalianCuisine in Old Bridge, N.J.,said the pandemic means“business is lower than it’sever been but we’re stayingafloat,” as curbside pickup andhome delivery have been “asavior for sure.”

“It’s tough, mainly becauseeveryone’s nervous,” said Mr.Castronovo. Normally at thistime of year the restaurantwould be catering holiday par-ties, “five trays of this and sixtrays of that—that’s definitelyended,” he said.

ShoppersRein InSpending

2013 ’15 ’17 ’19

400

425

450

475

500

525

$550billion

Total retail andfood service sales

Source: Commerce DepartmentNote: Seasonally adjusted

April$412.8billion

November$546.5 billion

The National Retail Federation continues to expect holiday saleswill rise at least 3.6%, with at least 20% growth online.

MARK

MAKE

LA/R

EUTE

RS

� Heard on the Street: Fedkeeps foot on the gas........ B12

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U.S. NEWS

WASHINGTON—The Su-preme Court agreed to decidewhether the National CollegiateAthletic Association violatedfederal antitrust law by main-taining tight limits on compen-sating college athletes, a casethat could determine the futureshape of college sports.

The court, in a brief written

order Wednesday, said it wouldhear the NCAA’s appeal oflower-court rulings that foundthe association unlawfully lim-ited competition for college ath-letes by restricting the kinds ofcompensation they could re-ceive related to their education.

Those rulings cleared theway for college athletes to re-ceive an expanded range of edu-cation-related benefits, such aslaptop computers or musical in-struments, study-abroad pro-grams, internships and paid-forgraduate school. The rulingsdidn’t lift NCAA limits on ath-lete compensation unrelated toeducation.

The Supreme Court is step-ping into a legal and politicalfight that has subsequently ex-panded dramatically and is nownot just about athlete compen-sation, but also control of themultibillion-dollar college-sports industry.

In the years since formerWest Virginia University run-ning back Shawne Alston andother former Division I athletesfiled their suit, states havebrought unprecedented pres-sure on the NCAA to allow di-rect compensation to athletesfor the use of their names, im-ages or likenesses. In response,the NCAA tore up its decades-long definition of amateurismand conceded that it will allowsome endorsement money toflow to college athletes startingin the 2021-22 school year.

With both sides ready for abruising fight over the parame-ters of the new compensationorder, which could involve mil-lions of dollars for some collegeathletes, Congress is showing anunprecedented level of interestin the association. Several dif-ferent groups of lawmakers arereadying bills that would estab-lish a new federal set of rulesfor intercollegiate athletics. Theoutcome of that tussle could ei-ther favor the more restrictiveNCAA view or the more expan-sive view from states such asCalifornia, which has led thechallenge.

The Supreme Court is likelyto hear arguments in thespring, with a decision expectedby the end of June.

In 2019, U.S. District JudgeClaudia Wilken in Oakland, Ca-lif., said the NCAA had a legiti-mate interest in adopting rulesthat maintain a distinction be-tween student-athletes andprofessionals who receive un-limited cash payments. But theNCAA’s restrictions on educa-tion-related compensation, sheruled, went too far and weren’tnecessary for “preserving con-sumer demand for Division Ibasketball and FBS football.”

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Courtof Appeals affirmed that rulingin May. The NCAA, in its peti-tion to the high court, saidthose rulings deprived the asso-ciation of the leeway it needs toadminister intercollegiate ath-letics and would “fundamentallytransform the century-old insti-tution of NCAA sports, blurringthe traditional line between col-lege and professional athletes.”

By Brent Kendall,Louise Radnofskyand Laine Higgins

High CourtTakes CaseOn CollegeAthletes

senior al-Shabaab commanderwho was also responsible forplanning a 2019 attack at aNairobi hotel.

“This chilling callback tothe horrific attacks of Septem-ber 11, 2001, is a stark re-minder that terrorist groupslike al Shabaab remain com-mitted to killing U.S. citizensand attacking the UnitedStates,” acting Manhattan U.S.Attorney Audrey Strauss saidin a statement.

Prosecutors charged Mr.Abdullah with providing mate-rial support to a designatedforeign terrorist organization,conspiring to murder U.S. na-tionals, conspiring to commitaircraft piracy and other

crimes. He faces up to life inprison.

Mr. Abdullah was arrestedin the Philippines on localcharges in July 2019 andtransferred to U.S. law en-forcement Tuesday.

He pleaded not guiltyWednesday in federal court inManhattan. A lawyer for Mr.Abdullah declined to com-ment.

From 2017 to 2019, Mr. Ab-dullah trained as a pilot at aflight school in the Philip-pines, ultimately completingthe tests needed to obtain hislicense, according to an in-dictment unsealed Wednesday.

He also researched securityon commercial airliners, how

to breach a cockpit door andinformation about the tallestbuilding in a major U.S. city,the indictment says. He vis-ited a website with jihadistpropaganda about the Sept. 11attacks, prosecutors said.

Al-Shabaab—“the youth,”in Arabic—rose from thechaos that ensued after U.S.troops left Somalia in 1993,when 18 American servicemembers were killed in a gun-battle in the capital, Mogadi-shu.

At its peak, al-Shabaab con-trolled Mogadishu, and effec-tively served as the nation’sgovernment. In 2008, the U.S.listed al-Shabaab as a terror-ist group.

NEW YORK—Federal prose-cutors in Manhattan charged aKenyan man with plotting tostage an attack in the style ofSept. 11 at the direction of al-Shabaab, a terrorist groupthat serves as al Qaeda’s prin-cipal wing in East Africa.

Cholo Abdi Abdullah, 30years old, traveled to the Phil-ippines in 2016 to train as apilot and researched how tohijack an aircraft in prepara-tion for crashing a commercialaircraft into a building in theU.S., Manhattan federal prose-cutors said.

They said he acted at thedirection of an unidentified

BY CORINNE RAMEY

Kenyan Man Charged in 9/11-Style Plot

Travis Fisher, co-owner of the Beer Baron, stands outside his restaurant in Pleasanton, Calif.

ground in San Francisco,where Michaela Mulkerrins lettwo 6-year-old girls climb on amock jet plane despite bigsigns the facility was off lim-its. “I think kids need to play,”said the 18-year-old babysitter.

A dozen state legislatorssent a letter on Dec. 4 to Mr.Newsom urging him to reopenplaygrounds, citing researchshowing low transmissionrisks. “It is necessary for the

mental and physical health ofchildren to have opportunitiesto expend their physical en-ergy and play,” the lawmakerswrote.

Last week, the CaliforniaHealth and Human ServicesAgency allowed the play-grounds to reopen.

Meanwhile, restaurants andhair and beauty salons haveargued that the state govern-ment is unfairly singling themout, even as big-box stores likeHome Depot stay open.

“We are the sacrificiallambs to the Covid gods, be-cause we are not as politicallyinfluential as the multinationalretail stores,” said Fred Jones,legal counsel for the Profes-sional Beauty Federation ofCalifornia. He estimates thatone-fifth of his organization’s53,000 member businesseshave closed this year.

Eric Sergeinko, health offi-cer of Mariposa County in theSierra Nevada, said there arefewer health concerns associ-ated with retail stores, be-cause people spend far lesstime there than in restaurantsor hair and nail salons. “Thelonger you are with someone,the more risk,” he said.

Many restaurant owners saythey believe the risk ofCovid-19 transmission fromoutdoor dining is low, and it istheir only option in order tostay afloat.

In the Bay Area city ofPleasanton, the Beer Baronstopped letting customers useits outdoor patio last week af-ter a local official warned fineswould result, said co-ownerTravis Fisher. That dried upthe $600 in weekly tips serverMichael Pavlakis was earning.

“It sucks, man,” he said out-side the empty establishmentlast week.

DANVILLE, Calif.—RodneyWorth has had to shut downfive of his seven restaurants inthe Bay Area as sales plum-meted while he complied withCalifornia’s lockdown orders.

In order to help save theother two, he recently decidedto flout the spirit, if not theletter, of the state’s latest banon outdoor dining. He leftchairs and tables outside hisrestaurant Peasant and Pearand had customers pick uptheir own food at a receptiondesk, rather than serving it tothem, because takeout is stilllegally allowed.

“I’ve never broken a law inmy life, but I’m in survivalmode right now,” Mr. Worthsaid during the lunch hour lastThursday as a table of dinerssat nearby in this leafy SanFrancisco suburb, where otherrestaurants have also beenskirting the ban.

California has imposedsome of the strictest rules inthe nation to try to curb thespread of the coronavirus.With cases skyrocketing andhospital intensive care units ator nearing capacity, Demo-cratic Gov. Gavin Newsom onDec. 3 announced new lock-down orders that banned out-door dining for the secondtime this year in most of thestate and shut down personal-care services such as hair andnail salons, as well as play-grounds.

California on Wednesdayreported 41,081 new Covid-19cases that officials said arepart of an ongoing surge,breaking the prior record of35,468 cases reported in a sin-gle day. The 14-day averagepositivity rate is 11%, versus4.7% one month ago.

The latest clampdown af-fects three of five regions inwhich officials have dividedthe state: Southern California,the Central Valley and greaterSacramento. Bay Area countiesdecided to implement identicalrestrictions on their own. Onlylargely rural Northern Califor-nia, which contains 1.7% of thestate’s 40 million people, isunaffected.

The new rules have trig-gered a fierce backlash aimedlargely at Mr. Newsom andcentered on claims that someof the shutdown rules are in-consistent and ineffective. Cal-ifornia officials say the rulespartly aim to reduce the num-ber of trips people make out oftheir homes that lead togreater spread of the disease.

The pushback was evidentlast week at the Larsen Play-

BY JIM CARLTONAND TALAL ANSARI

Californians Balk at Restrictions

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tinuing and that no final agree-ment had been reached.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D., Calif.), Senate MinorityLeader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.),House Minority Leader KevinMcCarthy (R., Calif.) and Mr.McConnell met multiple timeson Tuesday, talking late into thenight, and continued their nego-tiations on Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin joined the two meet-ings by phone. The Trump ad-ministration has previouslyproposed sending $600 checks.

“We made major headwaytoward hammering out a tar-geted pandemic-relief packagethat would be able to pass both

chambers with bipartisan ma-jorities,” Mr. McConnell said onthe Senate floor on Wednesday.Mr. McConnell had called lastweek for leaving behind thetwo most contentious issues.

“We are very close. We’remaking really good progress,”Mr. Schumer said, noting thatDemocrats had persuaded Re-publicans to add a secondround of direct checks. “Theydidn’t want to write the stimu-lus checks, we’re fighting hardfor that.”

Mr. Schumer told SenateDemocrats that the bill wouldalso include $25 billion for anew emergency rental assis-tance program, according to a

Democrat familiar with the dis-cussion. Mr. Schumer saidDemocrats would seek furtheraid next year with the new ad-ministration.

Democrats said on Tuesdaythat states and local govern-ments would need more helpnext year to keep paying thesalaries of police officers andteachers, among other effectsof the budget shortfalls.

President-elect Joe Bidenapplauded the emerging dealon Wednesday but reiteratedthat he viewed it as a downpayment on additional aid thatwould be required next year.

“We’re going to have to re-visit that. Many state and local

governments, including mine,are still in really tough shape,”said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D.,N.J.), co-chairman of the Prob-lem Solvers Caucus, a biparti-san group of 50 House lawmak-ers involved in crafting aproposal that congressionalleaders used as the basis oftheir negotiations. But “afternine months of absolute stale-mate, when people are hurt-ing…something is better thannothing,” he said.

Lawmakers have only a fewdays to complete the aid pack-age and spending bill and ap-prove them in both chambers.Lawmakers and aides said theywere making good progress

percent of the ad dollars other-wise flowing to the countlessonline publishers and contentproducers like online newspa-pers, cooking websites andblogs who survive by sellingadvertisements on their web-sites and apps,” the suit says.

The suit added that thisadded cost “is ultimately borneby American consumersthrough higher prices andlower quality on the goods, ser-vices and information thosebusinesses provide.”

The suit also targets Googlefor allegedly influencing an ini-tiative for developing mobile

webpages, known as Acceler-ated Mobile Pages, or AMP, toeffectively force publishers toadopt a format that wouldmake it harder to use alterna-tive ad technologies on thosepages. The suit alleges thatGoogle came up with a secretprogram to harm publishers,code-named in reference to the“Star Wars” franchise, with theprecise name redacted in thecomplaint.

The program appeared to al-low publishers more freedom tochoose between exchanges thatmatch the buyers and sellers ofdigital ads, the lawsuit alleged.

But it says that Google “se-cretly let its own exchange win,even when another exchangesubmitted a higher bid.” Theprogram was “designed…toavoid competition and the pro-gram consequently hurt pub-lishers,” according to the suit,citing an internal Google com-munication.

Google has consistently dis-puted claims that it dominatesthe so-called ad tech sector. “Tosuggest that the ad tech sectoris lacking competition is simplynot true,” it said in a blog postlast year. “To the contrary, theindustry is famously crowded.

completing the full-year spend-ing bill. The package is ex-pected to pass the House first,then arrive in the Senate.

Congressional leaders hopeto keep the package’s total costat around $900 billion andwere working to see how itscomponents fit together.

They were discussing reduc-ing the period of enhanced un-employment insurance to 10weeks from 16 weeks to pay forthe second round of directchecks, people familiar with thediscussions said. Congressionalleaders were also discussingwhether to include $90 billionin aid for the Federal Emer-gency Management Agency.

Lawmakers said the checks’amount was likely to be lessthan $1,200.

“That’s progress. It’s notwhere I would like it to be or Ithink it should be,” said Sen.Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), who hasbeen pushing with Sen. BernieSanders (I., Vt.) to add anotherround of $1,200 checks.

For weeks, Democrats hadsought to include funding forstate and local governmentsfacing budget shortfalls aftermonths of pandemic-relatedclosures and economic fallout.Republicans had resisted, say-ing not all states needed aid.

Meanwhile, Mr. McConnelland GOP lawmakers had pushedfor legal protections for busi-nesses, schools and nonprofitsoperating during the pandemic,saying liability limits wouldhelp the economy fully reopen.Democrats said they were con-cerned that the GOP proposalswent too far and wouldn’t in-centivize businesses to takeprecautions to protect workers.

Democratic and GOP leadershave said Congress shouldn’tadjourn until they have passeda coronavirus aid package.

backed and less than the $2.4trillion bill Democrats passed inthe House this year.

“We’re still talking and Ithink we’re going to get there,”Senate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell (R., Ky.) saidWednesday.

Although much of the agree-ment mirrored a proposalcrafted by a bipartisan group,congressional leaders werehaggling over other elements ofthe sprawling package theyhoped to pass later in the week.Lawmakers expect to attach theaid bill to a full-year spendingbill needed to keep the govern-ment running after its currentfunding expires at 12:01 a.m.Saturday.

The aid package under dis-cussion was expected to ex-clude the two thorniest issues:funding for state and local gov-ernments and liability protec-tions for businesses and otherentities operating during thepandemic, lawmakers said.

But congressional leaderswere expected to add a secondround of direct checks, likely ofa smaller size than the initialround, which provided $1,200to individuals and $500 per de-pendent this year. Senate Ma-jority Whip John Thune (R.,S.D.) told reporters on Wednes-day that he expected the checkswould be in the $600 to $700range per individual.

Congressional aides notedthat the negotiations were con-

ContinuedfromPageOne

CongressGets CloserTo Aid Deal

an unlawful web of exclusion-ary and interlocking businessagreements that shut out com-petitors.

Wednesday’s complainttraces back more than a de-cade, alleging that Google qui-etly built up and defended itsdominance in the market fordigital ads, beginning with itsacquisition of the ad-technol-ogy firm DoubleClick in 2008.

Many of the accusations in-volve Google’s ad-tech soft-ware, which is used to buy andsell ads on sites across the web.Google owns the dominant toolat every link in the complexchain between online publish-ers and advertisers, giving itunique power over the moneti-zation of digital content. It alsoowns key platforms for reach-ing consumers, such as You-Tube.

The suit accuses Google ofillegally “tying” these productsto one another, leveraging itspower in one part of the adver-tising chain to force publishersor advertisers to use anotherGoogle-owned tool.

The claims echo past con-cerns from advertising-technol-ogy companies and news pub-lishers. They say Googlecreated a system rife with con-flicts of interest, in which itused its superior data advan-tage and unique dominance inthe marketplace to give prefer-ence to its own tools and steermoney to its own properties.

Google “now uses its im-mense market power to extracta very high tax of [REDACTED]

There are thousands of compa-nies, large and small, workingtogether and in competitionwith each other to power digi-tal advertising across the web,each with different specialtiesand technologies.”

According to the lawsuit,Google went to great lengths topreserve its market power.When Facebook emerged as athreat, “Google made overturesto Facebook,” the lawsuit says.

The two parties entered intothe “Jedi Blue” deal. Facebookwithdrew as a direct threat inreturn for Google giving Face-book “information, speed andother advantages in the auc-tions that Google runs” forpublishers’ mobile advertising,the lawsuit says. “The partiesagree on [REDACTED] for howoften Facebook would [RE-DACTED] publishers’ auctions—literally manipulating the auc-tion with [REDACTED] for howoften Facebook would bid andwin,” the suit says.

The lawsuit seeks monetarydamages from Google and asksthe court to restrain Google’sbehavior, including via “struc-tural relief to restore competi-tive conditions in the relevantmarkets.” States joining in theTexas-led case include Arkan-sas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky,Mississippi, Missouri, NorthDakota, South Dakota and Utah.

David Chavern, CEO of theNews Media Alliance trade as-sociation, welcomed the states’suit.

—Keach Hageycontributed to this article.

ad tech claims are meritless,yet he’s gone ahead in spite ofall the facts. We’ve invested instate-of-the-art ad tech ser-vices that help businesses andbenefit consumers,” a Googlespokesperson said. “We willstrongly defend ourselvesfrom his baseless claims incourt.”

Nine other attorneys gen-eral, all Republicans like Mr.Paxton, joined the lawsuit. No-ticeably absent were Democratswho had initially joined Texasin launching a bipartisan stateinvestigation of Google last fall,though it is possible morestates could join the suit later.A separate, bipartisan group ofstate attorneys general is pre-paring another antitrust law-suit against Google, which isexpected to target its searchbusiness and be filed as soon asThursday.

The Texas-led case containsallegations that aren’t ad-dressed in detail in a JusticeDepartment lawsuit filed Oct.20 against Google. The federalsuit focused on Google’s flag-ship search business, alleging itmaintains its status as gate-keeper to the internet through

ContinuedfromPageOne

GoogleFaces SuitOver Ads

the time to do so was limited.One question, Mr. Johnson

said, is “whether the level offraud would alter the outcomeof the election.” He added,“This year, in dozens of courtcases, through the certifica-tion process in each state andby the Electoral College vote,the conclusion has collectivelybeen reached that it wouldnot.”

Sen. Gary Peters (D., Mich.),the top Democrat on the com-mittee, criticized the hearing.“Whether intended or not, thishearing gives a platform toconspiracy theories and lies,and it’s a destructive exercisethat has no place in the UnitedStates Senate,” Mr. Peterssaid.

Mr. Krebs said CISA’s rolewas to secure voting systems

and to do so worked withstates, which administer elec-tions. He said one way theagency combated what it sawas misinformation during theelection was by creating awebsite called “Rumor Con-trol.” The website fact-checkedviral claims, including somepromoted by Mr. Trump.

—Lindsay Wisecontributed to this article.

U.S. NEWS

In a statement, Mr. Krebscited postelection claimsabout hackers, malicious al-gorithms that flipped votesand election equipment ven-dors’ foreign ties. He calledthem “wild and baseless” andtechnically inaccurate. Hetold the members of the Sen-ate Homeland Security andGovernmental Affairs Com-mittee that continuing toquestion the outcome of theelection is “ultimately corro-sive to the institutions thatsupport elections.”

Mr. Trump and some Re-publicans have alleged wide-spread fraud in the voting,and they have questionedPresident-elect Joe Biden’selection victory. While elec-tion officials say isolatedcases of fraud and clerical er-rors sometimes occur and areoften caught and corrected,Attorney General WilliamBarr said this month that noevidence has emerged offraud on a scale that couldhave led to a different out-

come this election.Mr. Trump and some Re-

publicans have alleged wide-spread fraud in the voting, de-spite no such evidence andlosses in dozens of courtcases, and they have ques-tioned Mr. Biden’s electionvictory.

Mr. Trump fired Mr. Krebsafter he endorsed a statementfrom a group of federal andstate election officials that theNov. 3 election was the mostsecure in U.S. history. Mr.Trump took aim againWednesday, tweeting: “ChrisKrebs was totally excoriatedand proven wrong at the Sen-ate Hearing on the Fraudulent2020 Election.”

During the hearing, Sen.Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), thecommittee chairman and oftena defender of Mr. Trump, de-scribed alleged election irreg-ularities and said he asked hisstaff to find out as much asthey could about how elec-tions are administered and se-curity controls, though he said

A former Trump adminis-tration cybersecurity officialtold a Senate panel that alle-gations that voting equipmentwas manipulated during the2020 election are baseless andthat spreading them under-mines confidence in the elec-tion outcome.

Christopher Krebs was thedirector of the Cybersecurityand Infrastructure SecurityAgency until President Trumpfired him last month becausehe said the election was se-cure. Mr. Krebs defended theelection’s security at a hearingWednesday called by Republi-cans to examine allegations ofvoting irregularities and criti-cized by Democrats as a forumfor unsubstantiated claims.

BY ALEXA CORSE

VotingWas Secure,Ex-Official TestifiesCybersecurity directorfired by Trump callsclaims of equipmenttampering ‘baseless’

Antitrust CasesPile Up for Big Tech

The list of U.S. antitrustcases against big technologycompanies is growing longerwith the announcement of alawsuit filed against Google onWednesday by a group of statesled by Texas. These are the ma-jor cases and investigations fac-ing Big Tech:

JUSTICE DEPARTMENTThe department sued Google

on Oct. 20, accusing the companyof using anticompetitive tacticsto preserve a monopoly for itsflagship search-engine business.

FEDERAL TRADECOMMISSION

The FTC sued Facebook Inc.

Dec. 9, accusing the social-me-dia giant of buying and freezingout small startups to chokecompetition. The suit demandsthat Facebook unwind its acqui-sitions of WhatsApp and Insta-gram.

STATE ATTORNEYS GENERALAlso on Dec. 9, Facebook

was sued by a coalition of 46states, along with the Districtof Columbia and Guam, over an-titrust concerns similar to thoseraised by the FTC. The statesallege that a lack of competi-tion has harmed consumers.

The Texas-led coalition ofstates that sued Google onWednesday allege the companymanipulated digital advertisingmarkets in violation of antitrustlaws.

Another group of state at-torneys general led by Colorado

is expected to file a separateantitrust case against Googleas soon as this week.

CONGRESSFollowing a lengthy investi-

gation, House Democrats re-cently concluded that Amazonholds monopoly powers overthird-party sellers on its siteand that Apple exerts monop-oly power through its AppStore. Those recommendationsand others targeting Facebookand Google could lead to legis-lative proposals.

Republican senators, mean-while, are moving to limit Section230 of the Communications De-cency Act, which largely shieldsdigital platforms from liability fortheir users’ online activities, al-leging the companies censor con-servative viewpoints.

—John D. McKinnon

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walked to his office after a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

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Christopher Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told aSenate panel that continued assaults on democracy and the election outcome are ‘ultimately corrosive.’

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | A5

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U.S. WATCH

sentence for bomb making, inconnection with a variety ofother crimes and no decision hadbeenmade about any extraditionrequest. A spokeswoman forScotland’s prosecution servicedeclined to comment.

Only one man—Abdel Basetal-Megrahi—was convicted byScottish judges of playing a rolein the attack, leaving many ofthe victims’ families saying theyfelt robbed of justice for thecrimes. Megrahi was releasedeight years after his 2001 con-viction on “compassionate

grounds” and he died in 2012.His family is appealing the

verdict, which was made by aspecial panel of judges without ajury. Some prominent Scottish ju-rists and family members of thevictims have questioned the evi-dence presented and the proce-dure used for the trial, which washeld at Camp Zeist in the Nether-lands in a bid to find a neutral lo-cale. U.K. prosecutors have ar-gued that the case was properlyprosecuted and U.S. law-enforce-ment authorities have supportedthe guilty verdict.

The case is also of personalsignificance to Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr, who had an-nounced U.S. charges againstMegrahi and another Libyan of-ficial in his first major pressconference in his first stint inthe job in 1991. He is expectedto unveil the new case at a pressconference in the next few days,officials said, in what will beone of his last official acts be-fore he steps down from thepost for a second time.

In announcing the case asacting attorney general in the

George H.W. Bush administra-tion in 1991, Mr. Barr said, “Wewill not rest until all those re-sponsible are brought to jus-tice.” The efforts to prosecutethe men drifted for years. Scot-tish prosecutors had brought aparallel case, and it wasn’t until1999—after years of wranglingamong the U.S., the U.K. andLibya—that the Gadhafi regimehanded over Megrahi andLamin Khalifah Fhimah. Mr.Fhimah was acquitted, and Me-grahi was given a life sentence.

Evidence in the Megrahi caseincluded the remains of cloth-ing from a suitcase thought tohave carried the bomb. Investi-gators traced the clothing to ashop in Malta, whose owneridentified Megrahi as the manwho purchased it. Investigatorsalso found remnants of athumb-size timer, which theytraced to a Swiss company thathad contacts with Libya.

Mr. Masud faces charges ofdestruction of an aircraft re-sulting in death and destruc-tion of a vehicle of interstatecommerce resulting in death.U.S. officials said he traveled toMalta just before the bombing,constructed the bomb thereand filled the suitcase withclothing before it was ulti-mately placed on Pan Am 103.

After obtaining informationfrom Scottish authorities about

the confession Mr. Masud hadprovided to a Libyan intelligenceofficer, U.S. investigators soughtto interview either Mr. Masudor his interrogator, officials fa-miliar with the matter said. Inthe spring, Federal Bureau of In-vestigation agents traveled toTunisia to interview the Libyanintelligence officer.

Kent Syverud, the chancellorof Syracuse University, whichwill hold its annual commemo-ration of the bombing on Mon-day’s anniversary, said the vic-tims would never be forgotten.“Like all of the families, friendsand loved ones of the victims,we eagerly await the day whenall those responsible arebrought to justice, no matterhow long it takes,” he said.

Aamer Anwar, a lawyer forthe Megrahi family, said of thenew U.S. charges: “It’s difficultnot to be cynical about the mo-tivations of the Americans.”

Libya has undergone a trans-formation since the originalprosecution. Gadhafi was over-thrown and killed in a popularrebellion backed by NATO air-strikes in 2011, and a democratictransition spiraled into civil war.Libya is split between an inter-nationally recognized govern-ment in Tripoli and a rival gov-ernment in the country’s east.

—Jared Malsincontributed to this article.

many of them returning homefrom Europe for the holiday. Thecomplaint raises the prospect ofa first U.S. trial related to the in-cident. Among the Americanswho died were 35 students fromSyracuse University in New York.

The bombing led U.S. law-makers to brand Libya as a statesponsor of terrorism and even-tually forced the Libyan govern-ment in 2003 to pay more than$1 billion as recompense to thefamilies of the victims.

The case, filed by prosecu-tors in the U.S. attorney’s officein Washington, D.C., is basedlargely on a confession that Mr.Masud gave to Libyan authori-ties in 2012, which was turnedover to Scottish authorities in2017, as well as travel and im-migration records of Mr.Masud, U.S. officials said.

MohammedAli Abdallah, a se-nior adviser to Libya’s U.S.-recog-nized government, said Libyanauthorities had questioned Mr.Masud, who is serving a 10-year

ContinuedfromPageOne

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Executions Fall toLowest Since 1991

The number of death sen-tences carried out in the pan-demic-stricken U.S. fell to a 29-year low in 2020, despite a risein executions of federal inmates.

The overall total of 17 execu-tions for 2020 was the lowestsince 1991 when 14 inmateswere put to death, according toan annual report by the DeathPenalty Information Center, a re-search organization critical ofthe death penalty. The numberof new death sentences imposedthis year—a total of 18 as ofmid-December—is the fewestsince capital punishment was re-instated in 1976, the report said.

Ten executions were carriedout under the federal death pen-

alty, the first time that the U.S.government performed more ci-vilian death sentences than thestates did combined.

At least 11 executions werehalted or delayed—throughstays, reprieves or reschedul-ings—because of coronavirus-re-lated precautions, according tothe center.

Ten states have abolishedcapital punishment since 2004.

Twenty-eight states still au-thorize capital punishment, but12 of them haven’t executedanyone in at least a decade, ac-cording to the Death Penalty In-formation Center.

President-elect Joe Biden, un-like President Trump, is a death-penalty opponent. The Democrat’scampaign platform called for re-placing capital punishment withlife sentences without parole.

—Jacob Gershman

NORTHEAST

Snowstorm ForecastTo Blanket Region

The East Coast’s first majorwinter storm of the year movedover Pennsylvania, New York andother Northeastern statesWednesday, with forecasters pre-dicting more than a foot of snowacross a swath of the region.

The storm caused icy condi-tions in parts of North Carolinaand Virginia, the NationalWeather Service said.

Bob Oravec, a weather ser-vice forecaster in College Park,Md., said it would be a high im-pact storm. “We haven’t reallyhad a lot of big storms the pastfew years” on the East Coast, hesaid. “Little bit of a change.”

The storm is hitting as statesare distributing the new corona-

virus vaccine to hospitals, and asshipping companies scramble todeliver an unusually high volumeof packages by Christmas. Onthe other hand, the large num-ber of people working and at-tending school remotely shouldlessen the traffic impact, Mr.Oravec said.

More than a foot of snow islikely in a band stretching acrosswestern Maryland, central andeastern Pennsylvania, northwestNew Jersey, southern New Yorkand southern New England, theweather service said. Parts ofPennsylvania and the Catskillscould get 18 to 24 inches.

The weather service said NewYork City would likely get 14inches of snow. The precipitationshould end by Thursday after-noon in Boston, which could seea foot of snow, Mr. Oravec said.

—Scott Calvert

HEALTH CARE

Covid-19 Expected toReshape Spending

The coronavirus pandemic willreshape health-care spending,even though its full impact on thesector isn’t yet known, the De-partment of Health and HumanServices said in a report thatfound health-care spending in-creased at a relatively slow pacein 2019 because of greater hospi-tal care and drug expenditures.

The report released Wednes-day showed U.S. health-carespending in 2019 rose 4.6% to$3.8 trillion, in line with the rela-tively slow 4.7% increase theprior year and in keeping with alargely stable pace since 2016.

Federal officials warned thatthe findings don’t include any ofthe effects of the coronavirus

pandemic on health-care spending.“Although the full impact of

the pandemic on the health-caresector is not yet known, it is cer-tain that it will have profoundconsequences on the provisionand consumption of health caregoods and services, as well as onthe payers, programs, and spon-sors that fund that care in 2020and perhaps beyond,” according tothe report from the Centers forMedicare and Medicaid Services.

Debate persists over how thepandemic might affect U.S. health-care spending, with some econo-mists predicting early on that thepace of growth will slow becauseof a drop-off in elective proce-dures and in-person medical care.

But the worsening pandemic,and more spending on hospital-izations, could have the oppositeeffect, others say.

—Stephanie Armour

FROM PAGE ONE

U.S. PlansLockerbieCharge

The bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland killed 270 people, 190 of them Americans.Prosecutors suspect a man, now in Libyan custody, of being the bomb maker in the 1988 attack.

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said Wednesday that somedoses destined for Alabamaand California became too coldand weren’t delivered.Thedoses were returned to Pfizer,and new doses were shipped,Gen. Perna said. He said federalofficials were working withPfizer to determine whethervaccines that arrive colder arestill safe to use.

In New Mexico on Tuesday,workers noticed a possibletemperature change with oneof the state’s 18 batches ofvaccines and discarded 75doses for the sake of safety,said a spokesman for Gov. Mi-chelle Lujan Grisham.

Delivery of Pfizer’s vaccinecould face an early setback asa winter storm began hittingthe East Coast on Wednesday.But shipping companies andlocal and state government of-ficials said they were preparedfor the region’s first majorsnowfall this year.

health authorities have beencounting on a vaccine’s arrivalto help bring an end to thepandemic and allow gatheringsand the reopening of schoolsand businesses. Pfizer and Bi-oNTech’s vaccine came in re-cord time, less than a year, andone from Moderna Inc. couldbe cleared by regulators laterthis week.

“I was always optimistic thatthis could be accomplished,”said Dr. Lloyd Minor, dean ofStanford University School ofMedicine, which expects to re-ceive 3,900 doses Friday.“These clinical trials have beendone very rigorously. They’vebeen done quickly, but they’vebeen done with enormous rigorand volumes of data.”

Federal officials say the roll-out, a complex process giventhe requirement to ship thevaccines at ultracold tempera-tures, has largely gone asplanned, although Gen. Perna

and Connecticut facilities Fri-day, then more broadly nextweek with the goal of reachingthe nation’s approximately15,600 nursing homes and29,000 assisted-living commu-nities.

West Virginia started givingthe shots to long-term-care fa-cilities Tuesday, with about 18sites getting the vaccine thatday, according to the West Vir-ginia Health Care Association,an industry group. Nursing-home staffers in at least a fewother places are getting shotsthis week, according to indus-try officials.

The pandemic has devas-tated long-term-care facilitiesin the U.S., with more than113,000 deaths so far, accordingto a Wall Street Journal tally.Cases and deaths have beenrising again recently in themidst of the broader increaseacross the U.S.

Public-health officials and

U.S. NEWS

A volunteer in Moderna’s Covid vaccine trial in Detroit in August. An FDA panel is set to review the shot's safety and efficacy Thursday.

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Daily U.S. CasesNear 200,000 Again

The U.S. added nearly200,000 newly reportedCovid-19 cases and set a recordfor hospitalizations for the 10thday in a row.

The nation reported 198,357new cases for Tuesday, accordingto a Wall Street Journal analysis

of data compiled by Johns Hop-kins University, up from Monday’s192,805 but down from the re-cord 233,133 reported for Friday.It was also lower than the219,772 cases reported a weekearlier on Dec. 8.

The number of cases re-ported each day tends to belower at the beginning of theweek and rise toward the end ofthe week, as fewer people aretested over the weekend.

There were 112,816 peoplehospitalized with the disease onTuesday, according to the CovidTracking Project, the 10th record-high day in a row. That includeda record 21,897 in intensive care.

Nationwide, nearly 16.8 millionpeople have been infected andmore than 307,000 have died, ac-cording to Johns Hopkins data.California reported its second-highest number of deaths in aday, with 276.

President-elect Joe Biden in-tends to publicly receive the coro-navirus vaccine as soon as nextweek, his transition team saidWednesday, as health officialsseek to overcome any doubtsabout its safety.

Vice President Mike Pence willget vaccinated Friday, the WhiteHouse said. His wife, Karen, andSurgeon General Jerome Adamswill also get the shot.

—Adam Martin

reported earlier by Politico.The news of the additional

cases came as the Covid-19pandemic continued tospread. The U.S. reportednearly 200,000 new coronavi-rus cases Wednesday, with thedaily death toll topping 3,000.

Another company, ModernaInc., is seeking FDA permis-sion to use its vaccine, and isgoing before an independentadvisory committee to theFDA Thursday. Moderna hassaid it expects to have 20 mil-lion doses available to ship inthe U.S. by then end of 2020,enough to inoculate about 10million people.

The initial round of ship-ments of the nation’s firstCovid-19 vaccines to states andhospitals was scheduled to fin-ish Wednesday, as long-term-care facilities and nursinghomes began receiving doses.

Pfizer Inc. began distribut-ing the shot it developed withGermany’s BioNTech SE onSunday, and 636 hospitals andvaccination sites were slated toreceive them by Wednesday.

A second round of ship-ments was slated to startThursday and finish Sunday,completing an initial 2.9 mil-lion tranche. Federal officialsalso said Wednesday that an-other tranche of two milliondoses would begin next week,with an identical amount threeweeks later for a booster shot.

Long-term-care facilities inFlorida and West Virginia havebegun administering the vac-cines, said Gen. Gustave Perna,chief operating officer of Oper-ation Warp Speed, the federalgovernment’s coronavirus-re-sponse program. He said Ohioand Connecticut are expectedto begin vaccinations in facili-ties Friday, with 1,100 facilitiesaround the country set to beginMonday.

At John Knox Village’s nurs-ing home in Pompano Beach,Fla., paramedics began givingshots Wednesday morning, andno adverse reactions were re-ported, according to MarkRaynor, director of health-careservices. He earlier said around90% of long-term nursing-homeresidents were expected to par-ticipate.

The Florida vaccination ef-fort, in Pinellas and Browardcounties, is one of severallaunching before the federallong-term-care program withCVS Health Corp. and Wal-greens Boots Alliance Inc.That national program is ex-pected to kick off in a few Ohio

BY JARED S. HOPKINS

First Drugs Reach Nursing Homes

fever compared with less than1% of the placebo group, and48% got chills versus 6% of pla-cebo recipients. Fatigue andheadaches were also more com-mon among vaccine recipients.

Pfizer’s vaccine, which usestechnology similar to Mod-erna’s, showed similar side ef-fects, according to data re-leased last week. Among itsvolunteers aged 18 to 55 receiv-ing their second dose, 15.8% gota fever, compared with 0.5% ofthe placebo group; 35% gotchills versus 4% of placebo re-cipients; and they also gotmore headaches and were morefatigued than those who gotthe placebo.

A health-care worker in Ju-neau, Alaska, was hospitalizedafter receiving the vaccineTuesday at Bartlett RegionalHospital, in what officials therecalled the first known case inthe U.S. of an allergic reactionto the shot.

The woman, whose namewasn’t released, recovered fromthe anaphylactic reaction after

being administered medicationand was expected to be dis-charged from the facility laterWednesday.

“She was very positivethroughout, except when shewas having an anaphylactic re-action,” Bartlett’s Dr. Noble An-derson said. “She was excitedshe got the first dose and disap-pointed she will not be gettingthe second dose.”

The episode comes after re-ports of allergic reactions in theU.K. after the vaccines were au-thorized. The woman in Alaskahas no history of allergies butsuffered a reaction that includedshortness of breath 10 minutesafter taking the vaccine, officialsof the Alaska Department ofHealth and Social Services said.

The worker took Benadryl af-ter the symptoms began, butwhen she didn’t improve, shewas admitted to the emergencyroom of Bartlett and was ad-ministered epinephrine throughintravenous drip as well as Pep-cid and Benadryl and kept over-night, they said. Officials said

the woman was off all medica-tions Wednesday.

Two of the first people vac-cinated last week with thePfizer shot in the U.K. had anallergic reaction following theinjection. Both recovered afterreceiving treatment.

Pfizer has said its vaccinewas generally well toleratedwith no serious safety concernsreported by the independentdata-monitoring committee.

In both the Pfizer and Mod-erna trials, most side effectswere reported as mild or mod-erate, and they occurred at alower rate in older volunteers.

“It’s a really good sign thatthere is a signal from yourbody that there is somethingdifferent inside you,” said PaulDuprex, director of the Centerfor Vaccine Research at theUniversity of Pittsburgh. “It’sbeing recognized by your im-mune system to make all im-portant SARS-CoV-2 antibod-ies.”

The FDA granted Pfizer’svaccine an emergency-use au-

thorization on Friday andhealth-care workers started re-ceiving the vaccine this week.

Brad Hoylman, a 55-year-oldstate senator from New York,spent the evening after his sec-ond Pfizer shot shivering undera pile of blankets as he ran a fe-ver around 102, had severebody aches and a splittingheadache. By the next morningthe symptoms were gone,though he felt fatigued for afew days. “It’s definitely worthgetting the shot,” said Mr.Hoylman. “It beats dying fromCovid.”

To reach herd immunity forCovid-19, public-health authori-ties estimate that 60% to 70%,but possibly as low as 50%, of agiven population would needantibodies to protect againstinfection. If Americans declineto be vaccinated in large num-bers for any reason, includingfear of side effects, it may costthe nation a chance to stampout the disease.

Amy Warren, a 48-year-oldnurse practitioner in Kansas

City, got chills, a fever and se-vere joint and muscle pain aftergetting her second dose ofModerna’s vaccine over thesummer as part of its Phase 2trial. Ms. Warren subsequentlytook tests that showed antibod-ies for Covid-19, she said, sug-gesting she got the experimen-tal vaccine.

Despite the possibility ofharsh side effects, Ms. Warrenstill recommends everyone getvaccinated. “Get the shot be-cause it can save your life andyour family’s life,” she textedfrom a beach in Mexico lastweek where she was vacation-ing. She felt safer traveling be-cause she was vaccinated, shewrote. She said she still prac-tices social distancing, wears amask and frequently washesher hands since it isn’t clearyet whether vaccinated peoplecan still catch and shed the vi-rus even if they are protectedfrom developing symptomsthemselves.

—Jared S. Hopkinscontributed to this article.

Jocelyn Edwards wasn’t sureshe got Moderna Inc.’s experi-mental Covid-19 vaccine or aplacebo when she received herfirst of two doses in August.Hours after the second shot,she said she was sure it wasthe genuine article.

“I woke up around midnightfreezing,” said the 68-year-oldretired nurse. “For the next 24hours I had intense chills, seri-ous neck pain, headache, all myjoints were aching.” She had afever that peaked at 102.4 andpoured out so much sweat thatshe lost 3 pounds, she said. Thefollowing day she woke up andfelt fine.

Ms. Edwards, like the other30,000 volunteers who tookpart in Phase 3 clinical trialsfor Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine,wasn’t told whether she got thevaccine or a placebo. However,she said a trial researcher attri-buted her symptoms to herbody mounting a strong im-mune response to what wasmost likely the vaccine. “It’sbetter having 36 hours of feel-ing really rough than gettingCovid,” she said.

Moderna declined to com-ment for this article.

As the first vaccine fromPfizer Inc. and BioNTechSE rolls out this week and thenext one from Moderna lookspoised to start reaching peoplesoon, some Americans have ex-pressed reservations about get-ting vaccinated. One concernhas been possible side effects.While the data show that someModerna and Pfizer trial volun-teers experienced side effects,even those who had harsh reac-tions recommend the shots.

A Food and Drug Adminis-tration advisory panel is set toreview the safety and efficacyof Moderna’s experimental vac-cine on Thursday. The companyreleased data Tuesday thatshowed that its shot is 94.1%effective at preventing Covid-19with certain symptoms. Thedata also show that after thesecond of two doses, abouttwice as many trial volunteersaged 18 to 64 who received thevaccine experienced side effectscompared with those injectedwith a placebo. About 17% got a

BY ROLFE WINKLER

Shot TakersUndeterred bySide Effects

0% 25 50

Fatigue

Headache

Joint pain

Fever

Vomiting*

MODERNAVACCINEPlacebo

0% 25 50

Fatigue

Headache

Joint pain

Fever†

Vomiting

Muscle pain

Muscle pain

PFIZER

Frequency of adversereactionswithin seven daysafter second dose of Covid-19vaccines, in clinical trials

*Including nausea †100.4°F or higherNote: For ages 18–64 for Moderna,18–55 for Pfizer Source: FDA

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif.

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WASHINGTON—The Foodand Drug Administration saysthere will be more doses ofthe Covid-19 vaccine fromPfizer Inc. and BioNTech SEthan expected, thanks to extrasupply in the vials and moreefficient syringes that helpmaximize the contents.

Instead of being able to ex-tract five doses from each vial,an FDA official said, clinicscan administer six or sevenper vial with the more effi-cient syringe. The phenome-non had recently been discov-ered by hospital pharmacistsadministering the vaccine, theofficial said.

With the added doses, thetotal supply of Pfizer Covid-19vaccines available for the U.S.public may be up to 16% morethan had earlier been stated,the official said.

The FDA official also saidpart of the reason for the ex-tra doses is that Pfizer hasbeen “extra generous” in howit filled the vials.

Pfizer has estimated thatthe total amount of vaccinedoses available by the end of2020 would be about 25 mil-lion. Because it is a two-doseregimen, that provides full in-oculations for about 12.5 mil-lion people.

David Kessler, a leadingmedical adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, said he hasrecently been in communica-tion with Pfizer, which toldhim that pharmacists need touse more of the more efficientsyringes.

“There is extra material inthere,” Dr. Kessler said.

The FDA plans to announcesoon precisely what syringesshould be used to achieve theextra efficiency.

The additional doses were

BY THOMAS M. BURTON

Vaccine Supply GetsAn Unexpected Boost

Twitter to DeleteMedical Falsehoods

Twitter Inc. is planning toremove posts that containwhat it deems harmful or mis-leading information aboutCovid-19 vaccines, in the techcompany’s latest effort to slowthe spread of false claims re-lated to the pandemic.

Twitter’s expanded policyannounced Wednesday aboutmisinformation follows the roll-out of the distribution of vac-cines that could end the pan-demic but that need criticaladoption to be broadly effective.

Under the new rules, Twit-ter said it would removetweets that suggest vaccinesare used to cause harm to pop-ulations; false claims about theadverse impacts of receivingvaccines; and posts that sug-gest Covid-19 isn’t serious andtherefore doesn’t warrant avaccine.

Twitter plans to begin en-forcing the new rules Monday.

—Georgia Wells

P2JW352000-5-A00700-1--------XA

A8 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

sprawling Rugu forest, whichspreads over three states andhundreds of miles.

December is the end of therainy season, when the canopyis densest. Security officials saythey intercepted communica-tion among the kidnappers thatthe boys had been separatedinto three groups on Monday,and could have been dividedinto smaller groups since then.The region is dotted with vil-lages and small settlements,making it hard to separate mili-tant and hostage from farmeror nomadic herders.

The hostage hunt is reminis-cent of the U.S.-led aerialsearch for more than 200schoolgirl hostages captured in2014, when American intelli-gence officials based in Ger-many pored over thousands ofhours of footage beamed infrom Global Hawk drones flyingover the Sambisa forest in Ni-geria’s northeast.

U.S. drones scoured a vastforest but spotted only onelarge group of young women itbelieved to be the Chibok hos-tages as they sat under a tree—an image that came to beknown as “the tree of life.” U.S.and U.K. officials concluded itwould be too dangerous to at-tack because Boko Haram coulduse the girls as shields.

President Muhammadu Bu-hari said on Saturday that theboys’ location had been pin-pointed and the army was ex-changing fire with the captors,but one senior intelligence offi-cial said the air force had com-plained it had never receivedthose coordinates.

Boko Haram has recruitedchildren from the earliest daysof its insurgency, first tappingthem as spies and couriers be-fore shifting toward front-linemobilization, according to Ni-geria’s military and HumanRights Watch.

“We are no longer fightingto win…the strategy is contain-ment and damage limitation,”said one senior Nigerian secu-rity official.

By sundown there had beenno updates from the federalgovernment, but the governorof Katsina, Amino Bello Masari,told the BBC that the estimatednumber of missing boys hadrisen from 333 to “between 330and 400” students and that au-thorities had pinpointed theirlocation.

Nigeria’s Defense Ministryhas said that a search-and-res-cue operation was under wayand security officials said sol-diers and intelligence officerswere combing the area, aidedby U.S. surveillance planes.

But eyes in the sky can onlyoffer limited help over the

French militaries have bases orprovide special-forces train-ing. Across northern Nigeria,the militants have been advanc-ing, overrunning dozens ofsmaller military bases and loot-

ing weapons. According to theU.S. Council on Foreign Rela-tions, the period since July2018 has been deadlier for Ni-geria’s security-service person-nel than any other time in thedecadelong conflict.

est land force—a strong U.S.counterterrorism ally—is strug-gling to contain a 10-year jihad-ist rebellion that has metasta-sized into a complexmultidimensional conflict ofoverlapping militant groups.

Boko Haram has expandedits sway from the northeast tothe northwest, brokering alli-ances with heavily armed crim-inal networks. The breakawayIslamic State West Africa prov-ince, or ISWAP, has been reju-venated by aid from IslamicState and the return of battle-hardened fighters from Libya,Syria and Iraq.

Nigeria-born jihadist fac-tions now control hundreds ofsquare miles of territory acrossfour countries around the LakeChad basin, a crossroads of Af-rica where the U.S., U.K. and

he also carried out this opera-tion. Thousands are spreadingthe word on social media witha new hashtag: #BringBackOur-Boys.

“This is shaping up to be an-other huge moment in the his-tory of Nigeria’s insurgency,”said Jacob Zenn, a specialist onBoko Haram at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundationthink tank. “After Chibok,Shekau not only knows how toconduct mass kidnapping oper-ations, but also how to hide thecaptives and then get mass-me-dia attention and leverage it tonegotiate.”

News of the new mass-school kidnapping comes as Ni-geria’s government continuesto insist the country’s insurgen-cies are “technically defeated.”The reality is that Africa’s larg-

Arab state to agree to openingdiplomatic relations with Israel.

Throughout the region,sympathy for the Palestiniansruns deep, reflected in recentprotests in Sudan and Mo-rocco against the normaliza-tion deals and campaigns call-ing for boycotts of Israeliproducts and institutions.

However, Israeli officialshave pointed to the new dealsand the warm reception Israe-lis have received in Dubai whentraveling for work or pleasure.

“It’s strange and funny thata simple photo with an Israelishould create all this contro-versy,” said Lior Ben Dor, anIsraeli diplomat responding tothe Ramadan controversy. “Weunderstand your solidarity asArabs with the Palestinian peo-ple, but do you really think

criticizing Mohamed Ramadanwill serve their cause?”

For ordinary Egyptians, acombination of opposition toIsrael’s treatment of the Pales-tinians, lingering hostility fromwhen the countries were atwar and antipathy from someofficials means that contactwith Israelis is rare. The tiesthat do exist often are secret.

The one direct flight fromCairo to Tel Aviv isn’t listed onpublic schedules in the Cairoairport and flies without anEgyptian flag. Exchanges be-tween Egyptian and Israeli ac-ademics, artists and membersof parliament are rare. Israelranked 27th among Egypt’strading partners as of 2018,according to World Bank data.Government-linked institutionsin Egypt, such as trade syndi-

cates, discourage their mem-bers from contact with Israelis.

This persists despite Egypt’scooperation with Israel on se-curity and President Abdel Fat-tah Al Sisi’s openness about hiswarm relationship with Israel’sPrime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu. The so-called coldpeace is the result of a dual ap-proach by Cairo in which it en-gages in a close relationship atthe top, but limits social andinstitutional ties, in part due tofear of losing public legitimacy.

The complicated relation-ship began soon after Cairomade peace with Israel in1979, following the October1973 war. The treaty allowedEgypt to regain control of theSinai Peninsula, which Israelhad previously captured in the1967 Six Day war.

WASHINGTON—The U.S.Treasury Department labeledSwitzerland and Vietnam ascurrency manipulators onWednesday, saying they inter-vened in foreign-exchangemarkets to limit appreciationof their currencies and gain anunfair trade advantage.

“The Treasury Departmenthas taken a strong step todayto safeguard economic growthand opportunity for Americanworkers and businesses,”Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin said.

BY KATE DAVIDSON

WORLD NEWS

Mr. Mnuchin’s statementaccompanied the Treasury’sforeign-exchange report,which addresses the currencypractices and macroeconomicpolicies of major U.S. tradingpartners. The report, typicallyreleased twice a year, is theTreasury’s primary vehicle forofficially designating countriesas currency manipulators.

The Treasury said it deter-mined that at least part of bothcountries’ foreign-exchange in-tervention over the past fouryears aimed to prevent effec-tive balance of payment adjust-ments. The agency said Viet-nam also sought to gain unfaircompetitive advantage in inter-national trade through its ex-change-rate management.

The Treasury Departmentuses three criteria to assess

whether a country manipu-lates its exchange rate: The ex-tent of active intervention incurrency markets; the size oftrade surpluses with the U.S.;and the size of the country’scurrent-account surplus, abroader measure of trade thatincludes investment incomeand other financial flows.

Both Vietnam and Switzer-land tripped all three criteria, asenior Treasury official said ona call with reporters Wednes-day. The Treasury had con-tacted officials in each countryto notify them of the comingdesignation, the official said.

The action by the Treasuryis mostly symbolic, requiringthe U.S. administration to con-sult with the InternationalMonetary Fund to try to elimi-nate the unfair advantage the

currency measures have givena country. By law, the designa-tions trigger negotiations thatcould eventually lead to theimposition of tariffs, but thereis no automatic penalty.

The agency added India,Taiwan and Thailand to a for-mal monitoring list reservedfor countries that “merit closeattention to their currencypractices and macroeconomicpolicies.” China, Japan, SouthKorea, Germany, Italy, Singa-pore and Malaysia remainedon the watch list, having beenplaced there in previous re-ports.

In its last report in January,the Treasury added Switzer-land to the formal monitoringlist. Switzerland has a largeand rising trade surplus withthe U.S. and has intervened re-

peatedly in its foreign-ex-change markets in recentyears. The Swiss NationalBank has said its foreign-ex-change market interventionsare motivated by monetary-policy considerations.

The Swiss National Banksaid that it “remains willing tointervene more strongly in theforeign exchange market,” cit-ing the country’s economic sit-uation and a Swiss franc thatis “still highly valued.”

“Switzerland does not en-gage in any form of currencymanipulation,” it said. For-eign-exchange market inter-ventions are necessary, it said,to “ensure appropriate mone-tary conditions and thereforeprice stability.”

Senior Treasury officialsacknowledged there may be

other reasons behind Switzer-land’s exchange-rate manage-ment, but noted that the coun-try’s current-account surpluswas still extremely large.

Vietnamese Embassy offi-cials in Washington couldn’tbe reached to comment.

The Treasury said in Augustit had determined that Viet-nam depressed its currency in2019, the first case the depart-ment weighed in on since newregulations took effect in Aprilallowing currency-focused tar-iffs. The administration in Oc-tober launched a separate in-vestigation into the tradepractices of Vietnam, faultingthe country for currency prac-tices and invoking the sametrade law the U.S. used in im-posing sweeping tariffs onChinese imports.

U.S. Labels Switzerland, Vietnam Trade CheatsTreasury accuses thetwo of unfairlyintervening incurrency markets

PARIS—A French court con-victed 14 people Wednesday ofhelping carry out the 2015 ter-rorist attacks on satiricalweekly Charlie Hebdo and akosher grocery store, asFrance sought to close one ofthe more painful chapters inits modern history.

The three-day shootingspree that killed 17 people inJanuary 2015 marked the startof a string of terrorist attacksthat would leave hundredsdead in the years to come. Po-lice killed all three of the gun-men who attacked CharlieHebdo and the grocer.

On Wednesday, Paris judgessentenced a network of peoplecharged with assisting themen. Three were convicted inabsentia, including HayatBoumeddiene, who marriedone of the gunmen and fled toSyria. She received a 30-yearsentence for belonging to aterrorist organization and fi-nancing terrorism.

Ali Riza Polat, a French-Turkish man, was sentenced tolife for aiding Amedy Coulibaly,the man who attacked the gro-cery store. His lawyer plans toappeal. Three others were con-victed on terror charges. Sevenwere found guilty of lessercrimes, such as belonging to acriminal enterprise.

BY NOEMIE BISSERBE

French CourtConvicts 14In CharlieHebdo Trial

Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’spresident from 1981 until hisoverthrow in 2011, maintainedthe peace treaty but did littleto promote contact betweenEgyptians and Israelis.

In recent years, more than adozen well-known Egyptianshave come under fire for deal-ing with Israelis, including thecountry’s top Muslim and Cop-tic Christian religious leaders,writers and artists.

Israelis argue that they facefewer challenges to culturalnormalization in the Gulf re-gion given the lack of pastwars between the countries.

Israel faces more popularresistance to normalizationelsewhere. In Sudan, the peacedeal is teetering due to domes-tic opposition. Morocco’s kingfaces political pressure not todeepen ties with Israel.

Israel also faces the chal-lenge of forging diplomaticties with autocratic govern-ments who may be at oddswith popular sentiment aboutthe Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Egypt’s president is a formergeneral who overthrew hiselected predecessor in a coup,while the Emirates is a federa-tion of absolute monarchies.

“The Israelis would be wor-ried if there were genuinelyelected democratic govern-ments in any of these places.That could threaten those re-lations,” said Khaled Elgindi, asenior fellow at the MiddleEast Institute in Washingtonand former adviser to the Pal-estinian leadership on negotia-tions with Israel.

Egyptian pop star MohamedRamadan posed for a photo ata party in Dubai in Novem-ber with a prominent Israelisinger. On his return home, apro-government lawyer suedhim for “insulting the Egyp-tian people.”

A semiofficial musiciansunion has suspended Mr. Ram-adan and Egypt’s journalismsyndicate launched a boycott ofthe singer. A TV series in whichhe was acting was canceled.

Mr. Ramadan has said hewasn’t aware of the singer’snationality. “Had I known, Iwould have certainly refusedto take the photo,” he wroteon Facebook last month.

Egypt was the first Arabcountry to recognize Israelmore than 40 years ago, butthe nation’s relationship withit shows the challenges oftranslating government ties,often driven by mutual secu-rity interests, into grass-rootsgoodwill. It also represents acautionary tale for Israelisseeking acceptance from thebroader Middle East and NorthAfrica through normalizing re-lationships with governments.

The United Arab Emiratesand Bahrain forged diplomaticrelations with Israel in Sep-tember, uniting against Iran ina U.S.-brokered deal thatmarked a broader diplomaticrealignment in the Middle East.

A month later Sudan agreedto normalize ties. In December,Morocco became the fourth

BY JARED MALSINAND AMIRA EL-FEKKI

Egypt’s ‘Cold Peace’ a Harbinger for Region

ISRAEL

TURKEY (1950)

EGYPT(1979) SAUDI

ARABIA

IRANIRAQ

SYRIAAFGHAN.

ALGERIA

LIBYA

TUNISIA

YEMEN

OMAN

PAK .

Regional countries that recognize Israel(year of recognition)

Regional countries that don’t recognize Israel

Regional countries ‛warming’ to Israel

JORDAN(1994)

MOROCCO(2020)

BAHRAIN(2020)

SUDAN(2020)

U.A .E .(2020)

KANKARA, Nigeria—Thesand-coated courtyard at theKankara Government ScienceSchool, once the setting forsoccer games and awards cere-monies, has in recent days be-come a grim assembly point forparents of more than 300 boyskidnapped in Nigeria’s largest-ever school abduction.

Dozens of grieving familieshave gathered at this all-boysboarding campus, gaunt anddrawn from lack of sleep, sincetheir sons were abducted bygunmen on Friday night anddriven into the dense forest be-yond the school’s pastel-coloredclassrooms. They have come todemand answers on how the ji-hadist group Boko Haram,which has claimed responsibil-ity for the attack, could haveventured so far from its strong-holds into this remote corner ofnorthwest Nigeria and seizedhundreds of their children.

“How could this have hap-pened?” asked Suwaiba Lawan,whose 15-year-old son is amongthe missing. “He loved it here.”Another mother, Jamila Salisusaid she had barely slept oreaten since her son, from thesame class, disappeared. “Thegovernment must negoti-ate,“ she said. “Give the terror-ists whatever they want so Ican see my son again.”

Six years after the kidnap-ping of 276 schoolgirls in thetown of Chibok ignited theglobal #BringBackOurGirlscampaign, the cries of school-children’s parents are againheard across Africa’s most-pop-ulous nation. Nigerian senators,celebrities and opposition lead-ers have reacted with horror tothe announcement by the BokoHaram leader AbubakarShekau—the man responsiblefor the Chibok abduction—that

BY JOE PARKINSONAND GBENGA AKINGBULE

Nigeria Struggles to Contain Jihadist Insurgency

A man whose son was among those taken by gunmen waits for news outside the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara.

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * * Thursday, December 17, 2020 | A9

WORLDWATCH

WORLD NEWS

transfer of captured moon ma-terial before firing off for a re-turn to Earth.

The Chang’e 5 probe,China’s third exploration onthe moon’s surface, had spent19 hours on the surface andused robotic equipment todrill about 2 feet deep to re-cover around 4.4 pounds ofrock and material. “Thesesamples will be studied to un-cover clues to the moon’s mul-tibillion-year history,” accord-ing to a report by CCTV, thestate broadcaster.

The China National SpaceAdministration’s updatesthroughout the mission havecited success with Chang’e 5’stricky maneuvers and pride in“retrieving China’s first samplesfrom an extraterrestrial body.”

Reports by Xinhua NewsAgency said that while on themoon the probe withstoodtemperatures exceeding 212degrees Fahrenheit and de-ployed technology such asdust- and rock-penetrating ra-dar. “Diverse samples at dif-ferent sites have been gath-ered,” Xinhua said, addingthat the material was vacuum-sealed for safe return to Earth.

A statement from ChinesePresident Xi Jinping called themission a success and a stepforward for the country’saerospace program.

China’s space program exe-cuted the final stage of an am-bitious mission to capturemoon fragments and returnthem to Earth, state media re-ported, as its space vehicletouched down in a northernChina landscape covered insnow.

The parachute landing earlyThursday local time amiddarkness in Inner Mongoliacame more than two weeks af-ter China landed its Chang’e 5probe on the moon on Dec. 1.The successful return of a lu-nar landing craft to Earth isthe world’s first since a Sovietmission in 1976.

China Central Televisioncoverage showed the craft in-tact and nestled in the snowyground and being approachedby helicopters. It took sometime after it touched down forground crews to locate theroughly 3-foot-wide capsule inthe dark and state media citedchallenges in getting vehiclesacross the flat expanse to re-trieve it.

China’s complicated Chang’e5 mission began on Nov. 24.The space vehicle included or-biter, lander and ascenderwith maneuvers that includedreuniting spacecraft 200 milesfrom the lunar surface for a

BY JAMES T. AREDDY

China’s Moon ProbeReturns to EarthWith Rock Samples

The Chang’e 5 probe is studied by a recovery crew Thursdayafter it parachuted onto a snowy expanse in northern China.

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BERLIN—The German gov-ernment moved closer to al-lowing the use of Huawei’stechnology in 5G mobile net-works, giving the Chinesecompany a small victory on aEuropean continent increas-ingly aligned with the Trumpadministration’s anti-Huaweiviews.

A bill approved by Chancel-lor Angela Merkel’s cabinetthat would allow Huawei’scontinued presence in Ger-many still requires parliamen-tary approval. But it alreadymarks a setback for the outgo-ing U.S. administration, whichhas lobbied European allies toreject Huawei’s technology.

The U.S. claims that Huaweigear is akin to a Trojan horsethat once inside critical infra-structure in the West can beused by China to spy and stealsensitive information, posing asecurity and economic threat tothe U.S. and its allies. The com-pany denies the allegations.

The White House argu-ments initially failed to swayEuropean governments, whichalso faced lobbying from wire-less carriers that said Huaweioften offered the most ad-vanced cellular-tower equip-ment at the lowest price. Butsentiments changed this year.European politicians, unper-suaded by Huawei’s argumentthat it is an employee-ownedcompany free of Beijing’s in-fluence, grew more wary ofthe Chinese government afterits crackdown on Hong Kong’sprotesters and its response tothe pandemic.

The European Union thisyear recommended that itsmembers restrict equipmentfrom high-risk 5G suppliers.The guidelines didn’t cite Hua-wei by name, but implement-ing them would effectively banthe company from the coun-tries. Several nations, includ-ing Finland, France, Poland,Romania and Sweden, havemoved to implement such re-strictions, though Huawei ischallenging the measures incourts across Europe.

The biggest victory in the

U.S. lobbying campaignagainst Huawei came in theU.K., which has banned thepurchase of Huawei’s technol-ogy beginning in January. Brit-ish officials said their decisioncould delay the rollout of 5Gwireless technology by severalyears. The U.K. is also requir-ing telecommunications com-panies to switch out Huaweitechnology from their net-works by 2027, a move that BTGroup PLC, the British tele-communications provider, hassaid would cost it about $670million.

Huawei, meanwhile, hasnotched victories in countriesincluding Hungary and nowGermany. But access to thosemarkets may be moot if theChinese company doesn’t sur-vive another prong of the U.S.campaign: Commerce Depart-ment restrictions that preventsemiconductor companiesaround the world from sellingHuawei the supplies it needsto make 5G equipment.

Huawei has said the restric-tions could affect its ability tomake smartphones, not 5Gequipment. Analysts and tele-com executives said that with-out access to such supplies,

Huawei might not be able tomake 5G cellular antennas—which each require several ad-vanced computer chips—thatare suitable for wireless carri-ers.

The U.S. is offering loans toforeign nations and wirelesscarriers to avoid Huawei andbuy instead from Huawei’s ma-jor competitors—Sweden’s Er-icsson AB, Finland’s NokiaCorp. and South Korea’s Sam-sung Electronics Co. U.S. offi-cials are also trying to spurAmerican startups to develop

5G-infrastructure technologyusing open-standard software.The U.S. offensive againstHuawei also has created anopening for Japanese telecom-equipment companies.

President-elect Joe Biden’stransition team declinedWednesday to comment on his

position on Huawei.Analysts and industry offi-

cials have predicted that Mr.Biden would keep many ofPresident Trump’s policies re-lated to Chinese technology inplace. During the campaign,Mr. Biden and his adviserssaid he was concerned aboutChina using technology to ad-vance state control, ratherthan empower citizens.

In light of German indus-try’s dependence on China—the country is Germany’s larg-est trade partner and thebiggest market for many Ger-man companies—Berlin hasbeen reluctant to saddle upwith Washington. Instead, ithas sought a middle groundthat would allow Huawei to dobusiness in Germany but withsufficient monitoring to ap-pease its wary U.S. ally.

Under the bill, networking-equipment vendors would haveto give assurances that theirgear is safe to use, makingthem financially liable for anybreach. The legislation alsowould require vendors and op-erators to give German securityagencies far-reaching technicaland legal means to monitor thenetwork’s integrity.

BY WILLIAM BOSTONAND STU WOO

Germany Cracks Door to Huawei

Germany is seeking a way to allow Huawei to operate in the country but with adequate monitoring.

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Network-securitybill is latest setbackfor U.S. effort to reinin Chinese company.

ON THE MARCH: Women—including relatives of farmers who are believed to have killed themselvesover debt—protested government measures to deregulate agricultural markets Wednesday in India.

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Talks Inch Forward,With Key Obstacle

Negotiators moved closer toagreement on the future rela-tionship between the U.K. andEuropean Union, officials fromboth sides said, but remained farapart on a major issue: accessby EU boats to British waters.

With just over two weeks toreach and ratify a deal on eco-nomic, trade and security issues,European Commission PresidentUrsula von der Leyen said it wasimpossible to say if an agree-ment is coming. Failure to do sowould mean from Jan. 1 tariffswould be applied on some trade.The U.K. sends 43% of its ex-ports to the bloc.

But in comments that echoedpeople involved in the talks, shenoted issues where the twohave narrowed or resolved dif-ferences tied to a central EU de-mand: that the U.K. commit tostandards on state aid and laborand environmental regulationonce Britain leaves the bloc. ButMrs. von der Leyen warned thaton fisheries, the divisions werestark. “We do not question theU.K.’s sovereignty on its ownwaters, but we ask for predict-ability and stability for our fish-ermen and our fisherwomen,”she said. “And in all honesty, itsometimes feels that we willnot be able to resolve this ques-tion.”

—Laurence Norman

FRANCE

Paris Fined for HiringToo Many Women

The city government of Parishas been dealt an unlikely pun-ishment: a fine of €90,000,equivalent to $110,000, for ap-pointing too many women to se-nior positions and breakingFrance’s gender-equality rules.

The offense dates back to2018, when Mayor Anne Hidalgoappointed 11 women and fivemen to her senior team at atime when governments aroundthe world were trying to in-crease female representation.But with 69% of the positionsgoing to women and 31% tomen, Paris broke national gov-ernment rules to promote equal-ity, which require that at least40% of new positions should beallocated to each gender.

A waiver was introduced in2019 if the new hires didn’t leadto a broader gender imbalance.That would seem to be the casefor Paris, where women accountfor just under a half of senior of-ficials in city hall. But the initialround of appointments predatedthe waiver, meaning the Parisgovernment was still on the hook.

Ms. Hidalgo told a meeting ofthe city council on Tuesday thatthe appointments helped givewomen a louder voice in govern-ment in France and, with tonguein cheek, said she was delightedto pay the fine.

—James Hookway

FRANCE

Court ConvictsEx-Vatican Envoy

A former Vatican envoy toFrance was found guilty of sex-ually assaulting five men, in anew case of such misconduct bya senior Catholic Church official.

Archbishop Luigi Ventura,who served as papal nuncio toFrance until December 2019, re-ceived a suspended eight-monthprison sentence in absentiafrom a court in Paris onWednesday for the assaults,which occurred in 2018 and2019.

The Holy See Press Officedidn’t respond to a request tocomment. An attempt to reachthe archbishop through the Vati-can wasn’t successful. The Vati-can spokesman has previouslysaid Archbishop Ventura as-serted his innocence.

—Francis X. Rocca

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A10 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

FROM PAGE ONE

you, your contribution or youropportunity to advance. We’rejust here to validate everyone,and not everyone has been vali-dated at work.’ ”

He emphasized to managersthat the work around diversityshould improve meritocracy atCoke, not dilute it. Mr. Buche-rati, who became chief diver-sity officer in 2004 and heldthe role until 2015, said he toldhiring managers: “The best per-son gets the job every time.Full stop.”

The company began apply-ing data analysis to employ-ment decisions, including com-pensation, reviews, promotionsand layoffs. Statistics raised redflags—for example, disparitiesin bonus or promotion recom-mendations. Mr. Bucherati saidhe and his team reviewed rec-ommendations, unit by unit,and questioned managers.

The task force’s work wasset to end in 2005. By then, anew CEO, company veteran E.Neville Isdell, had come out ofretirement to lead Coke. Mr. Is-dell asked the court to extendthe oversight by a year.

“We had complied but notcommitted,” Mr. Isdell said inan interview. Some at the com-pany viewed the task force as aburden, little more than a box-ticking exercise, he said. “Tome, we had to put the companyin a position where this wouldnever happen to the Coca-ColaCompany again,” he said.

Under the task force, Cokebegan requiring that candidateslates for open jobs include atleast one woman or minority.Executive pay was tied to in-creasing diversity among thesalaried workforce. Cokestepped up external recruitingand started an executive men-toring program that empha-sized retaining and promotingBlack employees. Every promo-tion, pay increase and layoffwas analyzed for fairness.

In annual surveys, employ-ees’ perceptions of fairness atCoke increased year by year. By2007, Coke ranked No. 4 on themagazine Diversity Inc.’s list oftop 50 companies for diversity.

The key to building supportinside Coke was framing the di-versity initiatives as a businessimperative, said Don Knauss,who ran the North Americabusiness under Mr. Isdell.

The company was engagedin a “battle royal,” he said, withPepsiCo and the company thencalled Cadbury Schweppes, andwas losing market share tothem in some categories. Mr.Knauss said he and othersspread the message that havingCoke’s leaders look like its con-sumers was “a necessary thingto do to win, and you all wantto win, don’t you?”

In 2007, Muhtar Kent, thecompany’s newly named presi-dent and heir apparent to Mr.Isdell, launched an initiative toaccelerate the company’s globalrecruitment and advancementof women. It would eventuallyaim to increase the share ofwomen in Coke’s leadershipranks, and all other levels ofthe company, to 50% by 2020.

was admirable, hurt the com-pany’s progress on minorities.“It should not be ‘either/or,’ ”he said. “It must be ‘and.’ ”

The company was unable tomaintain both priorities at once,some former executives said.

Over time, Coke changedsome of the policies that hadbeen implemented by the taskforce, which ended in 2006. Forexample, the company stoppedtying executive pay to increas-ing diversity in salaried jobs.

Mr. Kent said the companyduring his tenure was focusedon building and retaining a di-verse, global workforce. Henoted several high-profile Blackand Hispanic leaders he ap-pointed, including Kathy Wal-ler, who became the first Afri-can-American woman to serveas chief financial officer of aFortune 100 company. She hassince retired.

“Racial and gender diversityis critical to success in busi-ness,” Mr. Kent wrote in re-sponse to questions from TheWall Street Journal. “There isno doubt that I had more workto do; for example, in somecases our top diverse talentwas ultimately recruited away,and of course some also re-tired. This is an ongoing jour-ney for all.”

‘Leaky bucket’Robert Long, a Coke veteran

who in 2016 was the new headof global research and develop-ment, met a group of new hiresthat year at corporate head-quarters. “Around the tablethere was not one Black face,”he recalled. “The leadershipthat were doing the hiringdidn’t have the clear guidanceto make that a priority.”

After he voiced his concerns,subsequent meetings with newhires were more racially di-verse, he said. Mr. Long, nowCoke’s chief innovation officerand one of two Black executivesreporting directly to the CEO,plans to retire in February.

The company had meanwhilebecome “a leaky bucket” forBlack talent, said Andrew Da-vis, a Black executive who be-came Coke’s chief diversity andinclusion officer in 2016. SomeBlack professionals left becausethey felt they weren’t advanc-ing fast enough or that their in-fluence was limited, former ex-ecutives said.

A lot of the attrition was be-cause of the company’s culture,Mr. Davis said. Coke had at-tracted a more diverse work-force but needed to focus moreon building a culture wherepeople felt like they belonged,he said.

Senior managers who ar-rived from outside didn’t al-ways get coaching and supportto learn Coke’s culture and de-velop internal networks, ac-cording to a person involved inthe efforts.

“We were doing a good jobbringing people in, but therewasn’t a sense of, ‘I can seemyself here for the long haul,’ ”Mr. Davis said.

He left Coke in 2018 to be-

cluding Estée Lauder Cos. andMicrosoft Corp., are launchingefforts to diversify their work-forces, with special emphasison improving Black employ-ment.

Coke’s diversity push startedas an effort to address discrim-ination against Black employeesand broadened over the yearsto encompass gender and otherraces and groups. It says it isagain making a priority of ad-dressing the inequities faced byAfrican-Americans at the com-pany. The 20-year effort offerslessons for businesses strug-gling today with many of thesame challenges, including thedifficulty of instituting long-lasting change.

At Coke, a sense of compla-cency set in, especially afterthe company shifted to focuson gender diversity. A changein the way the company re-ported its diversity numbersmasked the backsliding onBlack employees, and a 2017 re-structuring contributed to asharp drop in the pipeline ofBlack talent. Retention was alsoweak. The company’s two-de-cade effort was described bycurrent and former executivesand employees, as well as taskforce members, lawyers andothers involved.

Coke is now planning tostart new initiatives in January,aimed at improving its hiringand promotion of Black execu-tives and employees.

Despite the decline, Cokestill outpaces most corporatepeers. Among U.S. companies,Black employees in 2018 held3.3% of executive and seniormanager roles, according todata from the Equal Employ-ment Opportunity Commission.In the food, beverage and to-bacco manufacturing indus-tries, that share was 4.9%.

At rival PepsiCo Inc., 6.3% ofU.S. executives are Black, ac-cording to data the companydisclosed in October. The com-pany said in June that it aimsto increase Black representa-tion in managerial roles by 30%by 2025, including the additionof at least 100 Black executives.

Landmark caseIn 1998, Linda Ingram, an

analyst at Coke’s Atlanta head-quarters, contacted civil-rightslawyer Cyrus Mehri. She toldhim a supervisor had called hera racial slur in front of her col-leagues, and, together, they dis-covered she was also paid lessthan her white peers. Shehelped Mr. Mehri connect withdozens of other Black employ-ees at Coke who described sim-ilar problems.

In April 1999, Ms. Ingramand three other plaintiffs fileda lawsuit alleging that Cokehad systematically discrimi-nated against Black employeesin salaries, performance evalua-tions, promotions and termina-tions. Coke disputed the allega-tions, but when a new chiefexecutive, Douglas Daft, tookover in early 2000, he commit-ted to settling the suit.

Coke agreed to pay $192.5million. Part of the money wentto more than 2,000 current andformer Black employees andinto bonus, pay-equity andtraining funds. The companysaid it would make significantchanges to its HR processesand submit to oversight froman external committee.

Coke created the director ofworkplace fairness role andtapped Mr. Bucherati, a whiteexecutive who ran HR for thecompany’s global marketing op-eration.

“In the days after the law-suit, white males were walkingon eggshells,” he said. “I said,‘We’re not here to invalidate

ContinuedfromPageOne

Officials dumping on thechance for snow days acrossthe country say students needto be in class to make up forlosing so much academic timeduring the pandemic. A pro-snow day camp has come outin force, saying families andteachers need the spontaneousthrill of an unexpected day off,

ContinuedfromPageOne

especially now.Some parents are threaten-

ing to cut off the internet sotheir children can be free tomake snow angels, build fortsand sip hot chocolate.

“Snow days should be sa-cred,” said David Valcin,school board chair in Salis-bury, Conn., which is expectingone. “Nature has thrown us tohell with Covid. Here we havea chance for nature to throwour children a snowball.”

The pleading for a snowday began as soon as the Na-tional Weather Service pre-dicted a major storm in themid-Atlantic and Northeast.

“I’m writing this letter to-day to beg all of you to please

stop. Knock it off. Stop textingme. Stop leaving notes on mywindshield,” superintendentStephen Tomlinson wrote in amessage on the district web-site Tuesday to students inBroadalbin-Perth CentralSchool District in upstate NewYork. “To those of you whohave offered me cash bribes,please know that my goingrate to call a snow day is $20,minimum.”

“r u serious about $20?”one student texted him, hesaid. “snow day tomorrow?PLEASE????” texted another.

Mr. Tomlinson, whose dis-trict is currently doing all-re-mote learning, promised thatif weather justifies a snow day,

the only assignment will beplaying outside. He fondly re-members snow days of hisyouth, when he built sleightrails with jumps that senthim flying over his youngersister, who gamely laid downas a prop. “Hopefully we’llgive children memories of asnow day and not a healthpandemic,” he said.

The Rhode Island Depart-ment of Education designatedinclement weather days as dis-tance learning days “to ensurethat instruction continues,” aspokesperson said.

In Wisconsin, the MadisonMetropolitan School Districttold parents that unless other-wise noted, remote learning

will continue uninterruptedduring storms. Most studentsand staff are working fromhome this quarter. Those stillreporting to school buildingsmight get a reprieve, but onlyif the weather hits severelows. According to a noticefrom the school district, “Wewill consider closing schoolsat negative 25 degrees.”

Whether to announce asnow day is a fraught issue forprincipals. If they call offschool, children are giddy butparents’ lives get disrupted. Ifforecasts prove wrong, notmuch snow piles up and theyhave canceled classes, someparents will be furious. In thedays of online learning, power

outages may be many stu-dents’ only hope.

“In general I take a dimview of calling snow days,”said Dan Gutekanst, superin-tendent of schools in Need-ham, Mass. He typically wakesup at 3 a.m. to decide by 5:30a.m. whether the roads aredangerous enough to warrantclosing. He said students areabout to have two weeks offfor winter break, so theyshould forge ahead with re-mote learning now, but if theyall seem exhausted and snowpounds the area in late Janu-ary or February, he might re-lent.

—Melanie Grayce Westcontributed to this article.

Coca-Cola is revamping initiatives to improve hiring and promotion of Black executives and employees. Below, Lori George Billingsley,the company’s chief diversity officer. Above, a delivery truck at a distribution warehouse in Jasper, Ind., in 2015.

come chief HR officer at homebuilder Lennar Corp.

In 2017, amid falling sales,Coke announced it would cut1,200 corporate staff aroundthe globe as part of an $800million cost-cutting initiative.

Coke ran an adverse-impactanalysis to make sure layoffsdidn’t disproportionately affectany racial group without justifi-cation and determined themoves were fair, the companyspokeswoman said. Coke alsoallowed layoffs to be appealed,she said.

Still, the layoffs, combinedwith voluntary departures ashigh-profile Black executiveswere hired away by other com-panies, contributed to a sharpdecline in Black employment atCoke, the spokeswoman said.The share of Black executivesfell by nearly half to 7% in 2017from 13% in 2016.

The layoffs undid years ofwork building a pipeline ofBlack talent, said Carolyn Jack-son, a former head of HR forCoke’s North America unit whoretired in 2016.

The cover of the AtlantaTribune, a magazine for Blackbusiness leaders, celebratedCoke in 2016 with a photo of 17of the company’s Black womenexecutives, and in early 2017with a similar photo of its Blackmale executives. Less than halfof those executives are still atthe company.

A new pledgeIn recent years, Coke has

added training for companyleaders on recognizing bias; anew HR position focusing ondiversity in executive recruit-ment; and an effort to recruittalent not just for current jobopenings but for their futurecareer paths at the company.

Next month, Coke is launch-ing a 10-year internal and ex-ternal talent-recruiting pro-gram for people of color withan emphasis on Black execu-tives. It will begin a trainingand development program, alsowith an emphasis on Black ex-ecutives, taking lessons fromthe success of its women’s lead-ership council. The companyhas also pledged to disclosedata each year showing its re-cord on paying employeesfairly.

Coke plans to set goals forBlack representation in execu-tive roles based on the avail-ability of candidates inside thecompany and the general laborpool, as well as on census datato mirror the markets wherethe company has large foot-prints, said Ms. George Billings-ley. Black people account for51% of the total population inAtlanta, where Coke wasfounded 134 years ago andwhere about half of its 10,000U.S. employees are based.

Meanwhile, Asian and His-panic representation has con-tinued to grow, with thosegroups making up 9% and 11%of executives, respectively, upfrom 5% and 6% in 2010. Cokehas increased its representationof women to 35% in top-payingjobs, though it hasn’t reachedits 2020 goal of gender parity.

Ms. Jackson, the former HRexecutive, and other former ex-ecutives said they worry thattoo few “champions” remain atthe company—senior leaderswho lived through the lawsuitand were committed to helpingfix the problem.

“It’s a historically stubbornissue,” said Bradley Gayton, aBlack executive who joinedCoke in September as generalcounsel. “What that’s going torequire is that all of us put ashoulder to the wheel here.”

After Mr. Floyd was killed,Coke’s current CEO, JamesQuincey, who took the helm in2017, held a video town hallwith employees. He describedthe company’s current repre-sentation of African-Americanleaders as “poor.”

“America hasn’t madeenough progress, corporateAmerica hasn’t made enoughprogress and nor has the Coca-Cola Company,” he said.

DiversityGoal EludesCoca-Cola

PandemicMelts theSnow Day

Mr. Kent has said he createdthe program because he real-ized women made about 70% ofthe purchasing decisions forCoke’s products but in 2008 oc-cupied just 23% of the com-pany’s executive roles.

The focus of the company’sdiversity work shifted to gender,several former executives said.Managers prioritized women forhires and promotions.

Mr. Kent created a women’sleadership council that begandeveloping a pipeline of womento rise through Coke’s ranks. Itpaired female executives withmentors, tracked women whowere “ready now” for promo-tion and aggressively recruitedsenior-level women from out-side the company. The initiativewould become one of the signa-ture projects of Mr. Kent’s ten-ure. He served as CEO from2008 to 2017 and as chairmanfrom 2009 to 2019.

After 2011, Coke discloseddetailed data on its gender-di-versity progress but stoppeddisclosing diversity data byrace. Instead, its annual reportsprovided a total percentage of“multicultural” employees,

which it defined as anyoneother than those who werewhite and non-Hispanic. Thosenumbers showed racial diver-sity at Coke improving.

Coke said it made thechange because the gender datawas global while the racial datawas specific to the U.S. Thecompany now believes thatgrouping multiple races and

ethnicities into one cohort “wasineffective and inaccurate,” be-cause it masked a backslidingin Black representation, accord-ing to Lori George Billingsley,Coke’s current chief diversityofficer.

Jonathan Mildenhall, a Blackmarketing executive whoworked at Coke from 2007 to2014, said the shift in focus togender diversity, which he said

Falling Back on Diversity at CokeAfter the settlement of a historic race-discrimination lawsuit in2000, Coke launched a program to add Black leaders andemployees. But the results have weakened in recent years.

Black executives as apercentage of U.S.-basedexecutives

Note: 2011 reflects Coca-Cola Enterprises acquisition.Sources: Court records; the company

Black employees as apercentage of U.S. salariedstaff

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‘Therewasn’t a senseof, “I can seemyselfhere for the longhaul.” ’

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | A10A

BY JIMMY VIELKIND

As residents of the NewYork metropolitan area bracedWednesday for a storm thatcould dump more than a footof snow in some parts, manyfound themselves realizingthey were without the essen-tials—from snow boots toshovels.

“We’re scrambling,” saidNatacha Rousseau, a residentof Bridgewater, Conn., of herlast-minute shopping runs.

She was successful in hersearch for some items, such asde-icer for the driveway, butstill was trying to track downa pair of boots in her size.

The storm—a nor’easterthat could cover New YorkCity in 8 to 14 inches of snowand similarly affect areasacross the region by Thursday,according to the NationalWeather Service—is rare interms of its timing.

The city doesn’t typicallysee storms with more than afoot of snow before the startof winter, according toweather experts.

Rob Frydlewicz, a weatherblogger based in Manhattan,says such events happen onceabout every 30 to 40 years onaverage and can easily catchNew Yorkers off guard interms of preparedness.

He pointed to how a lesssevere mid-November storm in2018, which resulted in about6.5 inches of snow, causedcountless problems, includingtraffic tie-ups.

“It just shut the city down,”Mr. Frydlewicz said.

Records from the NationalWeather Service show that Nathaniel Garber Schoen, owner of Garber Hardware in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, unboxes shovels ahead of the storm. He sold 50 shovels on Tuesday alone.

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weeks, along with other cityhospitals, officials said.

“One of the toughest battlesin the United States of Amer-ica against the coronavirus

happened right here,” MayorBill de Blasio, a Democrat, saidbefore the vaccines were ad-ministered.

“For the rest of my life,

when I hear the wordsElmhurst Hospital, I’m gonnathink of heroes and I’m gonnathink about the battle thatwas fought and won.”

New York state lawmakersmay act this month to raisetaxes on high-income people, atop legislator said, as the stateconfronts a budget deficit ex-acerbated by the pandemic.

Assembly Speaker CarlHeastie told reporters Mondayhe wants to increase rates dur-ing a December session so theycould take effect in 2021. He isin talks about the matter withfellow Democrats, Gov. AndrewCuomo and Senate MajorityLeader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

A state official familiar withthe negotiations said senatorsare pushing to make higherrates retroactive to some ear-lier point in 2020. This wouldraise revenue to avoid up to$8 billion in unspecified cutsto education and social-servicefunding that state lawmakersauthorized in April as a place-holder in the current $178 bil-lion budget. That spendingplan was contingent on addi-tional federal funding that

billion a year, FPI estimated inthe same report.

Mr. Heastie said talks arefluid, adding that he was wor-ried that a retroactive increasewould be subject to a legalchallenge.

Ms. Stewart-Cousins saidshe was working with the As-sembly “to make sure what-ever action we take helps toaddress the severity of the cri-sis at hand.”

The state Assembly andSenate would have had toreach agreement on legislation

by Wednesday to vote on itand possibly override a guber-natorial veto before the newyear, Mr. Heastie said. If legis-lators and the governor reacha three-way agreement, theycould act as late as Dec. 31.

Last week, the governorsaid the state would need toincrease taxes regardless ofcongressional action. However,Mr. Cuomo said at a Mondaynews conference that anychanges to income taxesshould be made in the fullcontext of adjusting this year’s

GREATER NEW YORK

hasn’t materialized.Ms. Stewart-Cousins’s team

is willing to impose new levieson New Yorkers reporting $2million or more in annual in-come, the state official said. An-other official familiar with thetalks said Assembly negotiatorsare willing to increase taxes onpeople reporting annual incomeof at least $1 million.

Just more than half of theroughly $50 billion New Yorkcollects each year of personalincome taxes is paid by188,000 tax filers—the high-est-earning 2% of the state’stax base, according to thestate budget office.

New York state now taxespersonal income over$1,077,550 at a rate of 8.82%,and New York City levies anadditional tax. Assembly Dem-ocrats have for several yearsproposed enacting new brack-ets at $5 million, $10 millionand $100 million of income,which the labor-backed FiscalPolicy Institute estimated inMay would generate an addi-tional $2 billion of revenueeach fiscal year.

If income over $1 millionwere taxed at 10.75%, the ratejust adopted by New Jerseylawmakers, the state couldgenerate an additional $5.28

state budget and shouldn’t oc-cur until the state knows if itwill receive additional assis-tance from Congress.

Republican legislators saidthey are concerned about rais-ing taxes because New York al-ready has some of the highestlevies in the country. Businessgroups warn that increasingincome taxes will prompt NewYork’s wealthiest taxpayers torelocate to other states.

Advocates of tax increasessaid the number of New Yorktaxpayers reporting more than$1 million of income increasedafter state lawmakers raisedincome taxes in 2009 and saidconcerns about migrationaren’t justified. The number ofthese filers in New York, how-ever, grew by a smaller per-centage than for the nation asa whole between 2010 and2018, according to IRS data.

Kathryn Wylde, chief execu-tive of the business groupPartnership for New York City,said displacement caused bythe coronavirus pandemic aswell as new limits on theamount of state and localtaxes that can be deductedfrom a taxpayer’s federal in-come mean wealthy people aremore likely to move.

“There is a real danger that

a large number of New Yorkhigh earners who are workingremotely will not come back tothe city if their tax rate is go-ing to increase substantially,”she said. “New York is not assticky as it was even threeyears ago.”

But as the immediate pros-pects of additional state andlocal aid from Washingtondim, unions and progressivegroups are intensifying theircampaign for Albany lawmak-ers to adopt new revenuestreams. In addition to raisingincome taxes, they are advo-cating for taxes on financialtransactions and, for individu-als with net worth of $1 billionor more, a tax on unrealizedcapital gains.

State officials said an in-come-tax increase has themost immediate chance ofpassage but acknowledgedthat additional actions arepossible as part of the budgetfor New York state’s next fiscalyear, which begins April 1.

Mr. Cuomo’s budget officeis projecting an $8.7 billiondeficit for the coming fiscalyear, but if no recurring sav-ings are found to address the$8 billion gap in the currentfiscal year, next year’s deficitcould be more than $16 billion.

Lawmakers Weigh Tax Rise for WealthyN.Y. looks to imposeincrease on residentsreporting $2 million ormore in annual income

doses to be fully effective.The governor also said the

state’s Department of Finan-cial Services, which regulateshealth insurance companies,would issue a directive requir-ing plans to cover the entirecost of a vaccination.

“In New York state, no per-son will pay a penny for a vac-cination,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Two employees of ElmhurstHospital in Queens, one of thehardest-hit facilities when thevirus spread rapidly aroundthe city in the spring, were thefirst from the public-hospitalsystem to be vaccinated onWednesday.

They each represent a dif-ferent but vital part of thehospital’s system, and haveworked for decades atElmhurst. William Kelly is aservice aide in the hospital’senvironmental-services de-partment, and Veronica Del-gado is the lead physician as-sistant, among otherresponsibilities.

The vaccines were adminis-tered by Dr. Eric Wei, the hos-pital’s interim CEO, and Dr.Dave Chokshi, the city’s health

commissioner.At the peak of the virus in

March and April, Ms. Delgado,65 years old and from Astoria,Queens, coped with the stressand emotional toll by journal-ing and crying each night, shesaid in an interview.

The quick vaccine adminis-tration was painless, and felt“like that first bit of sunlightin the morning after a verylong, dark, and frighteningnight,” Ms. Delgado said.

“We don’t want to go thereagain,” she said of themonthslong battle against thevirus, which has killed morethan 24,000 people in the city.

Mr. Kelly, 62, from Jamaica,Queens, spent parts of thespring sleeping in the hospi-tal’s basement to quarantinefrom his family. He assistedmany departments as employ-ees scrambled to treat a surgeof patients.

“It was just a long, longfour months of this,” he said.“It was hectic but we gotthrough it.”

The hospital’s entire staff isexpected to receive the vac-cine over the next three

Staffers at New York City’spublic hospitals started receiv-ing the Covid-19 vaccine onWednesday, and Gov. AndrewCuomo said the state woulddesignate major hospital chainsin 10 regions of New York toserve as hubs for broader vac-cine administration.

The hospitals would thendevelop plans to distribute thevaccine to members of thegeneral public, starting withpeople who have underlyinghealth conditions and holdjobs as essential workers, hesaid.

New York state officialssaid Wednesday that they hadreceived 87,000 vaccine dosesfrom Pfizer Inc. and adminis-tered roughly 4,000 shots.

An additional shipment ofthe vaccine developed by Pfi-izer and BioNTech SE, totalingaround 80,000 doses, is ex-pected in the next several daysand will be distributed tonursing home residents andstaff, Mr. Cuomo said.

The vaccine requires two

BY KATIE HONANAND JIMMY VIELKIND

NYC Public HospitalsBoost Vaccine Distribution

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie wants to increase tax ratesduring a December session so they could take effect in 2021.

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New York City has seen 28storms with 12 or more inchesof snow since 1869, based ontotals gathered in Central Park.Of those, only five occurredbefore Dec. 21. The most re-cent was on Dec. 5-Dec. 7,2003, when 14 inches fell.

Compounding the prepared-ness situation might be thefact that New Yorkers haven’thad to deal with a majorsnowstorm for some time.

Last winter, 4.8 inches of

snow fell for the entire sea-son, according to the NationalWeather Service. That was thesmallest total since the winterof 2001-02, when 3.5 incheswere recorded.

All of which might explainthe rush that Garber Hardwarehas seen at its location inManhattan’s Chelsea neighbor-hood in the last few days. Thelocation reported its busiestday in its history on Tuesday,according to proprietor Na-

thaniel Garber Schoen.The demand was particu-

larly strong for shovels, saidMr. Schoen, who noted he soldabout 50 of them on Tuesdayalone.

He attributed it to the factthat many New Yorkers havebought cars during the pan-demic and are now realizingthey have to deal with the dig-ging out that accompanies anysnowstorm.

Mr. Schoen said he often

has to explain the realities ofsuch a post-storm process tohis customers.

“I know it’s their first time[buying a shovel] because theygrab these little plastic onesfor kids,” he said, adding thathe usually steers them tosomething much larger andsturdier.

Other New York businessesalso reported brisk sales in therun-up to the storm. JohnCatsimatidis, chief executive

of the Red Apple Group, theparent company of the Grist-edes and D’Agostino super-market chains, says his vol-ume was almost twice thenormal level on Tuesday, withitems across the board, frombatteries to food, in high de-mand.

The situation, he noted,wasn’t entirely atypical.

“New Yorkers wait till thelast minute,” he said of thepre-storm frenzy.

BY CHARLES PASSY

New Yorkers Rush to Stock Up Ahead of Early Snowstorm

Dr. Eric Wei administered a Covid-19 vaccine to William Kelly on Wednesday at Elmhurst Hospital.

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GREATERNEW YORKWATCH

MANHATTAN

Gunman Had PlannedTo Take Hostages

A man killed by police Sundayafter he opened fire on thesteps of the Cathedral of SaintJohn the Divine had a note in hispocket that said he had plannedto take hostages and use themas leverage to get U.S. aid forLatin America, a law-enforce-ment official said Wednesday.

Luis Vasquez, 52 years old,started shooting as people wereleaving a Christmas choral con-cert that had just ended outsidethe landmark cathedral.

Witnesses said they heardMr. Vasquez screaming, “Shootme! Kill me!” as police officers atthe event returned fire, killinghim. No one else was injured.

In the note he railed againstthe U.S. government’s treatmentof Latin America. He wrote of aU.S. regime that “has committedrobbery and more against thepeople of Latin America,” accord-ing to the official, who wasn’tauthorized to speak publicly anddid so on condition of anonymity.

—Associated Press

CONNECTICUT

Some Nursing HomesTo Get Vaccine Early

Up to five nursing homes couldbegin vaccinating staff and resi-dents sooner than the state’splanned Monday rollout for long-term care facilities, under a jointstate-federal initiative involvingConnecticut and three other states.

Connecticut officials are inthe process of working withlong-term care facilities acrossthe state, trying to identifywhich ones can be ready forvaccinations as soon as Friday,Gov. Ned Lamont’s communica-tions director confirmed.

The names of the particularnursing homes haven’t been re-leased and it is unclear howmany vaccine doses will initiallybe provided to these five facili-ties in Connecticut.

Hospital workers throughoutthe state began receiving theirdoses earlier this week.

—Associated Press

Deep cuts to New York’ssubway, bus and commuter-rail service were put on holdWednesday as the state Met-ropolitan Transportation Au-thority board approved a 2021budget.

MTA Chairman Patrick Foyewarned that the cuts, as wellas thousands of layoffs, couldstill be implemented if the fed-eral government doesn’t comethrough soon with $4.5 billionin aid.

“This isn’t a bluff,” he said.“This is real.”

The MTA, which is requiredby law to balance its budget,has suffered stark reductionsin ridership and losses of bil-lions of dollars in fare and taxrevenues because of the coro-navirus pandemic.

MTA officials warned thisyear that without a federalbailout they would need to cutsubway and bus service by upto 40% and commuter rail ser-vice by up to 50%.

Board members approved abudget that assumes a $4.5billion bailout will materializein 2021.

Even if the MTA receives abailout, officials project defi-cits totaling a further $8 bil-lion through 2024.

To balance this year’s bud-get, the authority relied on a$4 billion federal bailout inthe spring and on borrowingabout $3 billion from a short-term-lending program createdduring the pandemic by theFederal Reserve.

MTA finance director Rob-ert Foran said the authorityhoped to avoid further bor-

rowing to cover operatingcosts because debt repay-ments could drain the agency’sability to provide service fordecades. “It’s almost a last re-sort because of its lingeringongoing damage to the organi-zation,” Mr. Foran said.

The MTA’s 2021 budget ofjust over $17 billion is aboutthe same as its 2020 budget.

Mr. Foye, speaking at anews conference after themeeting, said the authority

had worked to reduce costs bycontrolling overtime, consult-ing and other expenses.“We’ve done our part,” hesaid. “And we’re not done.”

The MTA, which employsabout 68,000 workers, runstwo of the nation’s largestcommuter rail systems, as wellas New York City’s subway andbus systems. Before the pan-demic, the authority carriedabout 8 million riders on anaverage weekday.

The authority has sus-pended subway service be-tween 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. for thefirst time in the agency’s his-tory so that cars can becleaned and disinfected. Otherthan that, it continues to runalmost full mass-transit ser-vice, even though weekday busridership is down 50% andsubway ridership is down 70%.

Commuter rail ridership isdown more than 75%. Author-ity officials said Wednesdaythey planned to cut service onthe Long Island Rail Road toabout 75% of pre-pandemiclevels in January because oflow ridership. Metro-NorthRailroad, which is operatingservice at about 65% of pre-pandemic levels, won’t change.

MTA leaders had hoped asecond federal bailout wouldcome through in 2020, but ne-gotiations stalled in Congress.

Federal lawmakers onWednesday inched closer to abailout that is likely to includemoney for transit agencies.

Several MTA board mem-bers expressed hope the in-coming Biden administrationwould look more favorably onthe MTA than the Trump ad-ministration.

BY PAUL BERGER

MTA Passes Budget, Averts Sharp CutsThe state transit authority continues to run almost full mass-transit service, even though weekday subway ridership is down 70% and bus ridership is down 50%.

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The authority couldstill be forced toslash its budget if afederal bailout fails.

GREATER NEW YORKNY

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© 2020 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved. THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | A11

PERSONAL JOURNAL.TRAVEL & ENTERTAINMENT

free trips with testing, but pushedit back to next year because of in-creased cases.

Another concern: forgeries.Seven people were arrested byFrench authorities and chargedwith selling fake Covid-19 test re-sults at Charles de Gaulle Airportin Paris in November, according tothe Associated Press. The fakenegative test results were beingsold to travelers for $182 to $365.

The IATA acknowledges thattesting only minimizes or reducesthe risk of spreading infection. Itdoesn’t eliminate it. The organiza-tion, which works with member air-lines on safety and sets standardsfor airlines world-wide on thingslike reservations and technology, iscreating standards for a health cer-tificate that would be included inpassenger records, similar to pass-port and visa documentation.

United ran a trial of flights toLondon from Newark, N.J., wherethe airline tested all passengers atno cost just before boarding. Pas-sengers who didn’t want to betested were put on other flights.

Delta is offering what it callsCovid-tested flights to Rome andAmsterdam from Atlanta startingthis week. A negative PCR test is re-quired within 72 hours of departurefor Rome and five days before de-parture for Amsterdam. Passengersmust also take free rapid tests bothbefore takeoff and upon arrival inEurope. Passengers on those flightsdon’t have to quarantine, thanks togovernment agreements.

Perhaps the most extensive re-search of transmission after pre-travel testing comes from the NewZealand Ministry of Health, whichjoined with other researchers tostudy seven infected people whotraveled aboard Emirates Flight 448from Dubai to Auckland on Sept. 29.

Two of the seven were likely in-fected before traveling but hadtested negative in Zurich, Switzer-land, within 72 hours of departingon their trip. Four of the sevenwere likely infected in-flight, thestudy found, and another likely dur-ing mandatory 14-day quarantine inNew Zealand required of all passen-gers. All seven people had geneti-cally identical strains of the virus,even though the passengers hadoriginated in five different coun-tries. All seven sat within two rowsof the presumed spreaders, and allwere in aisle seats, the study re-ported. Travelers reported wearingmasks and some wore gloves.

The study’s conclusion: Testingdidn’t stop infection in this case.

start seeing more airlines fail.”But already there are problems

and concerns with travel-relatedtesting. Two passengers with neg-ative Covid-19 tests likely infectedfive others on the same 18-hourtrip in September from Dubai toAuckland, New Zealand, accordingto a scientific study of the incidentpublished in November by the gov-ernment-run Institute of Environ-mental Science and Research,based in Wellington.

Fake negative-test certificatesare already cropping up for sale.Experts and countries disagree onhow much testing and what kindof tests should be required forcrossing borders.

“A negative test is a test at a sin-gle point in time. It doesn’t tell youanything about tomorrow,” says Dr.Patrick Godbey, president of the Col-lege of American Pathologists.

Many countries now require anegative Covid-19 test to avoidquarantine upon entry. Typically apolymerase chain reaction (PCR)test is required about 48 or 72hours before departure. The PCRtest, which detects genetic materialfrom the coronavirus, is more accu-rate than most rapid tests. But bothtypes of tests can produce false

wouldn’t accept and had to eitherquarantine or turn around.

“We’ve been pretty inflexiblewith exceptions,” says Hawaii Lt.Gov. Josh Green, an emergencyroom physician who has coordi-nated the state’s testing effort.

He calls tourism testing an “ex-traordinary success.” Since reopen-ing, 500,000 people have arrived inthe state and Hawaii’s rate of posi-tive tests had dropped from 2.8% to1.7% as of last week, he says. (OnWednesday, the state’s seven-daymoving average was 2.4%.) Hospi-talization numbers statewide havebeen cut in half: 105 people werehospitalized with Covid-19 the daybefore the reopening, and last weekthat was down to 54. About 29,000people have gone back to work outof 150,000 who lost jobs due to thepandemic. “We hang our success onthe pre-travel tests,” Dr. Green says.

It hasn’t been without bumps.With an increase in Covid-19 infec-tions in November, the island ofKauai split with the state and re-imposed a 10-day quarantine re-gardless of testing on Dec. 2.

There have been testing set-backs elsewhere, too. Hong Kongand Singapore tried to establish atravel bubble allowing quarantine-

negatives. That may be a problemwith at-home tests now rolling out.

“We know that if a specimenisn’t collected appropriately in anytype of lab testing, that’s going tointroduce the biggest chance foran incorrect result,” says Dr. Chris-

tina Wojewoda, pathologist at theUniversity of Vermont MedicalCenter and vice chair of the Col-lege of American Pathologists’ mi-crobiology committee.

Hawaii, which decided to ex-empt tourists with negative testresults from strict quarantine be-ginning Oct. 15, designates notonly which test but also whichtesting company it requires. Sometravelers have been denied board-ing flights because their negativetests weren’t done at state-ap-proved labs. Others arrived withnegative test results the state

THE MIDDLESEATSCOTTMcCARTNEY

The Airlines Bet on Covid Tests

The travel industryhopes tests make peoplefeel safer, but they’re nota bulletproof solution.

IS COVID-19 testing the way torestart travel? Grades are mixedso far.

Airlines and tourism organiza-tions around the world say testingis the answer and are rushing tomake it happen, opening test sitesat airports, adding test results topassenger records and offeringflights only for tested passengers.The World Travel and TourismCouncil, along with business andairport groups, on Monday calledon governments to open borderswith testing to reduce risk ratherthan waiting for vaccines to endthe pandemic. The state of Hawaii,which reopened to travelers withrigorous testing requirements,says it works.

“This is save-the-industry im-portant,” says Nick Careen, a se-nior vice president at the Interna-tional Air Transport Association,which represents 290 airlines in120 countries. “We need to startflying now. Border restrictionsneed to be removed or we will

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Passengers arriving in Rome onsome Alitalia flights undergo arapid test after landing.

works, a wrapped package. Whenthe couple and their young sonmoved from Paris to New Yorkthe following year in 1964, thechair was the couple’s prize pos-session, said studio managerLorenza Giovanelli. “They onlybrought a couple suitcases, mat-tresses and that chair,” Ms. Gio-vanelli said. It’s estimated to sellfor at least $97,500.

Other pieces in the sale revealthe little-known friendships the

Art lovers will get a rareglimpse into the private col-lection of one of the world’s

best-known public art duos whenSotheby’s auctions works ownedby artists Christo Javacheff andhis wife Jeanne-Claude, in Paris inFebruary.

Known professionally by theirfirst names, Christo and Jeanne-Claude gained an internationalreputation starting in the 60s bydraping entire buildings, bridges,island shorelines and New York’sCentral Park in colorful fabric—temporary, free installations thatoften took years to organize andthen attracted millions of visitors.After Jeanne-Claude died at age 74in 2009, Christo carried on, mostrecently stacking around 7,500 oilbarrels to form an Egyptian tomb-like “Mastaba” structure he floatedin London’s Serpentine Lake twoyears ago. Christo died at age 84in May.

Over the years, the coupleamassed a collection of more than400 objects they hung floor-to-ceiling in their New York homestudio, including pieces they gotas gifts or by swapping their ownworks with other postwar artiststhey admired, including Lucio Fon-tana, Yves Klein and Mimmo Ro-tella. Sotheby’s expert Simon Shawsaid the sale by the estate of thesepieces, which is estimated to top$4 million, brims with canvasesand works on paper whose smallscale contrasts with the artisticpair’s own outsize art.

“It’s the intimate universe theartists lived in, not their public per-sona,” said Mr. Shaw, adding thatES

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Clockwise from top:Christo and Jeanne-Claude; Gerrit Rietveld’s‘Hoge Armchair’; ClaesOldeburg’s ‘Bacon andEgg' and 'Ice Cream, andBeef Steak' and AndyWarhol’s ‘Jackie.’

Christo’sPrivateCollectionTo Be SoldBY KELLY CROW

one fueled the other. “Ev-ery wall of their studio re-fracts elements we see intheir practice.”

On one wall near thekitchen, there hung every-thing from an Andy Warholfrom 1964, “Jackie,” whichis estimated to sell for atleast $975,000, to Klein’s1958 “Untitled Blue Mono-chrome (IKB 19)” which isestimated for at least$375,000. On top of their refrigera-tor sat a couple of cookie jars thatonce belonged to Warhol, includingone shaped like a bunch of bananas.It’s estimated to sell for $365.

One of the earlier, larger piecesin the sale is Gerrit Rietveld’s1919 “Hoge Armchair,” which thecouple admired while visiting thehome of collector Martin Visser inthe Netherlands. In 1963, the col-lector gave them the chair in ex-change for one of their signature

tures of ice cream, steak and ba-con and eggs, which are estimatedto sell for at least $49,000.

“They were memories, and ev-ery piece had a meaning,” Ms. Gio-vanelli said of the collection.

Sotheby’s said the sale will alsoinclude several of Christo andJeanne-Claude’s own works span-ning their career. Proceeds fromthe auction will go to the estate,which hopes to form an artistfoundation, she said. But for nowthe artists’ studio will remain ac-tive, as workers plan to install theartists’ final project—the wrappingof Paris’s Arc de Triomphe nextSeptember. “We promised we’d seeit through,” she said.

artists had with peers like Pop pio-neer Claes Oldenburg, who is bestknown for creating shiny, metalsculptures of everyday objects andfood shaped from soft materialslike vinyl. While their artisticstyles appear to differ, Ms. Gio-vanelli said the artists met whenthey lived alongside each other inNew York’s Chelsea Hotel in 1964,and later they briefly had studiosin the same Soho building, whichChristo later bought. The sale in-cludes a trio of Mr. Oldenburg’searly 1960s painted plaster sculp-

A12 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 * * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * * Thursday, December 17, 2020 | A13

Rev. Emily Lloyd, 34Poolesville, Md.Profession: Episcopal priest

How do you feel about theholidays this year?“I think there’s a reason all thenetworks are airing ‘The Grinch’over and over. It’s that Covidcan’t steal Christmas. Christmasis about refugees and having ababy in a barn. It’s a rough story.There’s a degree to which we canstand in awe of the fact thatChristmas comes and light perse-veres. There’s always hope in it.”

How has the significance changedfor you?“It has cemented the belief thatwe are here to love each otherand the point is not the materialpossessions. It’s the gift of eachother’s company. It’s the pas-sage of holiday time with otherpeople. I will never ever takethat for granted again.”

Rev. Emily Lloyd, the Rector at St.Peter’s Episcopal Church inPoolesville, Md., couldn’t bearthe idea of Christmas withoutpageantry. “I adore Christmaspageants, I just do. It’s live the-ater with children—the one timeof year when chaos reigns.”

At St. Peter’s, the annualevent is such a big deal that itdraws upward of 300 people,nearly tripling weekly atten-dance. Rev. Lloyd, who with herhusband Stephen has two youngsons—4-year-old William andSamuel, 16 months—couldn’timagine Christmas without it.

“This year has been a seasonof intangible loss—a cumulativebummer,” she says. Graduations,birthday parties, weddings haveall been canceled. The children inher congregation were especiallysad. No friends, no school, nochurch and now no Christmas?An introspective advent mightwork for an adult, she says, “butnot for a 5-year-old. I felt like weneeded a little ebullience.”

By summer’s end, though, sheknew she couldn’t stage the pag-eant safely, so she mulled herchoices. “Virtual Easter was ter-rible,” she says. She hated theidea of a virtual pageant. Finallyshe hit on an idea: a drive-through Christmas pageant thatworks like a progressive dinner.

The idea has taken off. Morethan seven families have signedup, each to create a scene fromthe Christmas story in their re-spective front yards. The Morrowfamily will have Mary, Josephand the donkey; the angels willbe at the Smiths’; the shepherdsat the Lawrences’. The wise menwill appear at the Singhs’. So far,the cast totals about 40, plusgoats, sheep, an alpaca and twodonkeys. There is no shortage ofanimals because Poolesville, lo-cated about 30 miles northwestof Washington, D.C., is sur-rounded by farmland.

Everybody in the town of5,200 will get a map and a link toa Spotify playlist. The Saturdaynight before Christmas, the ideais to drive from one house to thenext, progressing through thestory, playing “Away in a Man-ger” and “We Three Kings” andCL

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‘Covid can’t stealChristmas’: Peoplearound the worldare adapting holidaytraditions withdrive-by pageants,tented outdoordinners, virtualbaking and more

Clockwise from left: KatherineAsaro at a 2019 Christmasgathering; twinkling treestransformed the Hawes homeinto a winter wonderland; theLawrence family in costumefor the outdoor pageant.

someplace else.” As artistic di-rector of the school’s annualChristmas Festival, this time ofyear Dr. Armstrong typicallyleads about 550 singers and or-chestra members in four perfor-mances, with about 3,000 peo-ple attending each one.

The pandemic means there isno Christmas Festival. The Festi-val, first held in 1912, was alsocanceled during the 1918 pan-demic. In place of this year’s fes-tival, Dr. Armstrong helped cre-ate a digital collection of holidaymusic from previous years’ con-certs, called “All Earth is Hope-ful,” which St. Olaf released onDec. 6. Also released this monthis new music recorded by thisyear’s choirs, a feat of careful co-ordination. “We were determinednot to give up making music butit meant some very challengingcircumstances,” says Dr. Arm-strong. Standing 9 feet apart andwearing masks, the 75-memberSt. Olaf Choir rehearsed all se-mester in small groups and thencame together to record fivepieces of music by Black, LatinAmerican and Norwegian com-posers, chosen for their messagesof racial justice and love.

Dr. Armstrong, who livesalone, plans to host his brotherand two colleagues for dinner todiscuss the recordings and remi-nisce about past Christmas Festi-vals. During the pandemic thisgroup has kept their own quar-antine bubble, meeting on Sun-days for dinner. Dr. Armstrongplans to serve his “potent egg-nog,” which takes over an hourto prepare. The concoction,passed down from his grand-mother to his mother to him, iskept secret. Whenever friendsask how to make it, “I always sayit’s in a codicil in the will,” Dr.Armstrong says. — Ellen Byron

Cornell Boyd, II, 48, andSunny Royal-Boyd, 43,Tampa, Fla.Professions: Computer engi-neer and teacher

How do you feel about the holi-days this year?“I feel there’s a sincere sense ofintentional purpose about the hol-iday season this year. It’s impor-tant to celebrate the ones we loveand honoring the lives that havebeen taken during the pandemic.”

The Boyd family has always cele-brated Christmas. This year, theywill also celebrate Kwanzaa.

“I wanted my children to ex-

p.m., she’s on her surfboard. Theritual has become meditative.

“There’s just days that youjust paddle out to the ocean andthere’s no waves. You sit on theboard, observe the world, howbeautiful it is here. You can seea volcano, a rainbow, beautifulsky,” she says.

Ms. Rogatty says the pan-demic has made her value herfamily—and staying connectedwith them—even more thanwhen she was living close by.December finds her preparing toship a package of Hawaiiangoodies—cacao nibs, macadamianuts, Hawaiian-print shirts—toPoland. She has plans to makepierogies with her grandmotherover Zoom on Dec. 23, and thenbring the dumplings to a Christ-mas picnic hosted by newfriends. —Rachel Feintzeig

Katherine Asaro, 48Chapel Hill, N.C.Profession: Lawyer

How are you celebrating?We’ll get together with friendsoutside, socially-distanced,masked. The Christmas gift ex-change with my family this yearis going to be on my back porchoutside. People who are notcomfortable, they are going toZoom in.

What are you missing the most?I am missing hugs. I’m a big hug-ger and there are just no hugs atall. I’m missing seeing a friendfor lunch, the spontaneous gath-erings that aren’t happening.

Katherine Asaro usually spendsChristmas celebrating with herhusband Andrew’s large ex-tended Italian-American familyin Macomb Township, Mich.,outside Detroit. Every year,about 50 people gather for aChristmas Eve dinner of ham,homemade pasta and cannolisfrom Vito’s bakery in nearbyClinton Township. ChristmasDay, there’s another big familyfeast, this one featuring Mr.Asaro’s mother’s lasagna.

This year, the couple andtheir 16-year-old daughter, Saw-yer, had plane tickets to Michi-gan booked for later this month,for a scaled-down celebrationwith only Mr. Asaro’s motherand sisters. But the family can-celed those plans. They alsocanceled the trip to Miami theyhad booked for right afterChristmas. “The uptick in num-bers [of Covid cases] was mak-ing everyone nervous. It feels ir-responsible for us to travel rightnow.” Ms. Asaro says.

The holiday season caps off abusy work year for Ms. Asaro,who graduated from law schoolat age 40 after a career as ahigh-school history teacher andworking for the family’s consult-ing business. She is the directorof the Disaster Legal ServicesProgram at the North CarolinaPro Bono Resource Center, a pro-gram that organizes free legalservices for people affected by

“Christmas is aboutrefugees and havinga baby in a barn. It’sa rough story.There’s a degree towhich we can standin awe that Christ-mas comes and lightperseveres.”

—Rev. Emily Lloyd

perience an Afrocentric holidaywith principles that we coulddiscuss,” says Cornell Boyd, II, a48-year-old computer engineerin Tampa, Fla., and father oftwo. The pandemic offered timefor “a lot of changes, a lot ofself reflection,” he says. “Christ-mas is something we celebrateall the time. I thought ‘let’s dosomething different.’”

The holiday begins on Dec. 26and lasts seven days. Each dayis dedicated to a core principlesuch as unity, self-determina-tion, collective work and re-sponsibility. The family willlight candles and exchange giftseach day based on the themes.

Nodding to the principle ofcreativity (kuumba in Swahili),Mr. Boyd is considering givinghis wife some cheese knives forher new side business makingcharcuterie boards. His wife,Sunny Royal-Boyd, a high-schoolteacher, says she will frame pho-tos of each family member anddiscuss how each fulfills a pur-pose (nia) to the family. Theirdaughter Saigan, a freshman atSpelman College, says she planson giving her family a gamethey can play together.

Cornell III, 14, says it was im-portant to him to still celebrateChristmas. He loves decoratingthe tree and giving gifts, hesays. Still, he says he knows thatit was important to his father togive Kwanzaa a try this year.“I’m open to it—and a lit-tle skeptical,” he says.

Due to concerns aboutCovid, Christmas gather-ings—typically bustling oc-casions with music, foodand extended family—willbe limited to just their fam-ily of four this year, saysMs. Boyd. In past years, thefamily visited her siblingsat their homes in BrevardCounty, followed by a visitto Mr. Boyd’s mother andsister in Miami on Christ-mas Eve, when they typi-cally dress up in matchingtheme outfits such as red sweat-ers or plaid pajamas.

This year, they will drop offSecret Santa gifts and home-baked cookies on the front stepsof the homes of cousins, auntsand uncles. At home, they willlikely cook their traditionalChristmas foods. They will playgames such as Uno and Mancalaand listen to holiday music by theTemptations and CeeLo Green.

While there will be fewer peo-ple present, the Boyds say theyfeel more bonded to one anotherthan ever. “What Covid has doneis it has brought us closer as afamily,” says Mr. Boyd. “It madeus spend time together duringthe lockdowns. I’m more con-nected to myself and more nur-turing to my family.”

—Anne Marie Chaker

Simon La Rosa, 50RomeProfession: IT entrepreneur

Have you experienced any silverlinings?Mr. La Rosa says the pandemic

has given him a chance to showhis love for his parents by tak-ing care of them, for instance bydoing their grocery shopping.“My parents are very autono-mous, they do everything forthemselves and for me,” he says.“So to do this for them for achange has been a positive thingfor me, a gift.”

For Simon La Rosa, even morethan for most Italians, Christ-mas is traditionally a time ofcelebrating with family. The pe-riod between Dec. 21 and 26 in-cludes the birthdays of both hisparents and their wedding anni-versary. That ordinarily meansa total of five gatherings,packed into six days. These in-clude a Christmas Eve dinner atMr. La Rosa’s parents’ house,featuring seafood dishes suchas stewed eel and grilledprawns, recalling his maternalgrandparents’ experience asproprietors of a seaside restau-rant near Rome.

The birthday of Mr. La Rosa’sfather Manuel, who will be 77this year, is usually an even live-lier occasion. Mr. La Rosa, who asa boy sang in the Vatican’s Sis-tine Chapel Choir, comes from amusical family and says his fa-ther’s birthday party is a “contin-uous jam session,” with the rep-ertoire ranging from jazz andLatin American bolero to cham-ber music.

This year, the festivities willnecessarily be muted. Mr. LaRosa and his two brothers, whoalso live in Rome, plan to visithis parents to mark their 52years of marriage. But the bigdinners have been called off.

Another Christmas tradition,midnight Mass, will be impossi-ble because of the 10 p.m. cur-few currently imposed by theItalian government. Mass willtake place in most cases at8 p.m.

Mr. La Rosa and his wife—and their three sons—will joinhis sister-in-law and her familyfor a Christmas lunch at theapartment of his 83-year-oldmother-in-law, a gatheringsmall enough to allow for socialdistancing, which they alsopractice on their visits to hisparents.

The curtailed celebrationsare a source of acute sorrow forMr. La Rosa. “We feel like we’remissing out because, as you getolder, you realize how few op-portunities are left to see eachother,” he says.

—Francis X. Rocca

Members of the Boyd family plan to light Kwanzaa candles this year.

The La Rosa family, of Rome, will havesmaller Christmas celebrations this year.

disasters. The program usuallyworks with hurricane victims, buthas expanded to also help thoseaffected by Covid. Now, Ms.Asaro manages an initiative thatgives free legal advice on issuesrelated to Covid to North Caro-lina small businesses and non-profit organizations.

The Asaros’ 20-year-old son,Jackson, who is away at collegein Oxford, England, won’t becoming home for the holidaysbecause of U.K. quarantine re-strictions. This will also be thefamily’s first holiday seasonwithout Ms. Asaro’s father, JosefBlass, who died of liver cancerin October. The family hasn’t yethad a funeral service.

— Andrea Petersen

Anton Armstrong, 64Northfield, Minn.Profession: Professor and choirconductor

What are you most thankful for?“I’m thankful that first of all I’mhealthy. So many people aredealing with food insecurity,they’re out of work and they’reworried about having a roofover their head. Every time Istart feeling sorry for myself, Iremember that. I’m grateful thatthe people in my wider circle offamily and friends are healthyand if they had Covid-19 they’vebeen able to recover.”

Since singing his first solo in achurch Christmas concert at age6, Anton Armstrong, now 64,has spent every Christmas sea-son of his life in a flurry of mu-sic rehearsals and performancesas a singer or conductor, untilthis one.

“Right now I’m missing it,”says Dr. Armstrong, a professorand conductor of music for 30years at St. Olaf College inNorthfield, Minn. “For the lastweek I have felt like I should be

Anton Armstrong at the podium.

house and around the property,they have strung up lines ofmore than 300,000 tiny lights.And they’ve served a lot ofcheese and crackers.

“Your old timers walk in andsay, ‘Ho hum, been there, donethat,’ but the first timers come inand they’re just taken away—they’ve never seen that manyChristmas trees,” says Mr. Hawes.

When the Hawes familymoved from St. Louis to LittleRock more than 40 years ago,they only knew two people inthe state. That soon changed.“The parties are our gifts toeach other and a way to cele-brate our wonderful life here inLittle Rock,” says Ms. Hawes.

The consecutive nights of“Wine in the Pines” or “Cheesein the Trees” parties have arhythm to them. “Your food car-ries over to the next night,” saysMr. Hawes, a retired executivewith Alltel. “You take all yourdishes out of the dishwasherand put them right back out.”

The couple thought abouthosting a few guests this yearbut decided against it given thecoronavirus. Distanced family

visits were out, too.“It’ll be just us and our one

lonely tree,” says Mr. Hawes. Hechose an 18-footer for the occa-sion. These days, he climbs half-way up his step ladders to trimthe trees instead of to the top,his only concession to his age. Heuses an extension pole to reachthe upper branches of the cedars,which he says are lighter andeasier to maneuver than tradi-tional Christmas trees like firs.

On Christmas Eve, the formerhigh-school sweethearts married

58 years will play holiday music,cook a turkey and light a fire intheir den. “It’ll be good, we likeeach other,” says Ms. Hawes.“This pandemic, it could be hellif you didn’t like each other, butwe do.” —Ellen Gamerman

Zuzanna Rogatty, 29HonoluluProfession: Graphic designer

Have any of your traditionschanged this year?It isn’t possible or practical toprepare a lot of traditional Pol-ish foods this year, Ms. Rogattysays. “If it’s coconut water in-stead of borscht, haupia insteadof kutia or papaya açaí bowl in-stead of bigos, I’m into it.”

Wandering through a shoppingmall in Honolulu recently, Zu-zanna Rogatty heard the firstnotes of something familiar butjarring: Christmas music.

“It feels so weird to see all ofthe Christmas decorationsaround the palm trees,” the 29-year-old graphic designer andrecent Hawaii transplant says.

Paradise can be astrange place to lin-ger during the holi-day season whenyou’ve always spentthe holiday in yournative Poland. “I justfeel that I’m kind ofskipping Christmasthis year,” Ms.Rogatty says. “Forme, not being withmy family or myclose friends, it justdoesn’t feel likeChristmas anymore.”

That isn’t to saythat she doesn’t loveher new reality, rent-ing an apartment afive-minute walkfrom a surfing beach

in Waikiki. Skipping winter, forthe first time in her life, waspart of the plan. Winters in Po-land are harsh, frozen stretches,she says, and those in New York,where she lived for the last cou-ple of years, weren’t much bet-ter. With her boss’ blessing, sheput her desk, books and winterclothes in storage, packed onesuitcase and set off for Hawaiiat the end of the summer.

After a two-week quarantine,she started developing a rhythmto her new life: wake by 5 a.m.,work until 1 p.m., spend the af-ternoons biking, hiking andswimming in the ocean. At 5

had made friends. “With thethings I’ve gone through, I justwanted to get away. Mentally, Ineeded a break,” she says. Sheand her daughter-in-law thenvacationed in Jamaica and rodehorses along the coast.

Returning for Thanksgivingwas tough: Friends and family in-vited her to dinner, but she justwanted to sit alone by her hus-band’s grave. It soothed her toremember the last day they spenttogether, purchasing tables andchairs for a new event-venuebusiness. They talked about any-thing and everything while shedrove. “I will always live with thememory of that day,” she says.She held her husband’s funeralrepast in the hall they were goingto open together.

It is the memories that Dr.McCoy says will help her most.Her mom, Alberta Sparks, wouldalways assign foods for familymembers to bring to the Christ-mas potluck. Dr. McCoy usuallygot desserts: poundcake, redvelvet cake and key lime cake.She will bake again this year—but she will also make collardgreens, a dish her mother al-ways brought. That’s becauseher mom bequeathed her the se-cret ingredient. “My collardgreens taste just like hers now,”she says. —Nancy Keates

Howard Hawes, 78Barbara Hawes, 79Little Rock, Ark.Profession: Retired executiveand homemaker

What are you most thankful for?“I think at our age your firstconcern is good health and hav-ing the ability to be physicallyactive. Fortunately we have that.We have lost many friends in re-cent years. On the other hand,we have two friends in their late90s who drive themselves to ourhouse and bring us gifts or fooditems they have made. They in-spire us,” Mr. Hawes says.

Once a year—a regular year, nota pandemic year—HowardHawes drives to his cabin in thefoothills of the Ozarks, trudgesthrough the woods on his prop-erty until he finds a good cedartree, measures it with a pole,cuts it down with a hand saw,ties it to the roof of his LandRover, drives it 50 miles homeand drags it into the house heshares with his wife Barbara inLittle Rock, Ark.

Then he repeats the exercisefive more times, always stuffingthe back of the car with a fewsmaller trees before headingback to the city.

Since 2005, the Haweses havethrown four nights of back-to-back annual Christmas partieswith their house loaded full ofmore than a dozen trees, somenearly 25 feet tall. The cedars,chosen for their exact fit undervaulted ceilings of mismatchedheights, are pruned so that visi-tors can walk under theirbranches. When guests look up,they feel like they are in a forest.

With roughly 225 guests ayear over 15 years, the Haweseshave hosted around 3,375 visits.Counting the trees inside the

LIFEDURINGCOVID

ending at an outdoor, candlelitNativity scene in front of thechurch. Rev. Lloyd will film andnarrate the event so it can belive-streamed on Facebook forthe housebound.

The show has taken on a lifeof its own. Rev. Lloyd is a littleconcerned there might be chick-ens and a blowup dinosaur in anadjacent yard. But how does shefeel about the pageant now?“Joyful and triumphant,” shequips. “In all seriousness, I’mglad it gives the kids and parishsomething to look forward towhile we all wait for bettertimes.” —Betsy Morris

Maria McCoy, 53Greater Orlando, Fla.Profession: Retired teacherlaunching a new business

What are you most thankful for?“I am thankful that I had the op-portunity to have both of myloved ones who passed away in2020 in my life for the time Ihad them. Both of them had aspecial love for all family. Theirmemories will definitely live onin the family.”

Maria McCoy’s parents raised herto be independent and strong—traits which helped when shelost her husband of 11 years inSeptember to Covid-19. Now shefaces the next hurdle: her firstChristmas without her mom,who died before the pandemicin February.

“My mom was the one whomade sure the family stayed to-gether,” says Dr. McCoy, 53, aretired middle-school teacherwith a Ed.D. in education.

Dr. McCoy is planning tospend the holiday as usual ather younger brother’s house inMiami, where some 30 familymembers will gather. But shewill make the 3½ hour drivesouth alone this year. She ex-pects there will be the custom-ary big tree surrounded by hun-dreds of presents that will beeagerly distributed by the youn-gest children. Due to Covid, thecelebration will be outside witheach household separated by atable. They will still stand in acircle, but they won’t holdhands. Dr. McCoy’s preacherhusband, Will McCoy, won’t beleading the prayer.

Dr. McCoy has turned totravel to help the healing pro-cess, being careful to follow allCovid safety advisories. Shebooked a two-week trip in No-vember to the Gambia, a smallcountry in West Africa whereshe had been twice before and

PERSONAL JOURNAL.PERSONAL JOURNAL.

Maria McCoy and her husband Willduring a trip to Africa last year.

Ms. Rogatty, in Hawaii, is ‘kindof skipping Christmas this year.’

NY

A14 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

Major League Base-ball announcedWednesday that itwas “correcting alongtime over-sight in the

game’s history” by elevating the Ne-gro Leagues from 1920 through 1948to major-league status, a move thatrecognizes the sport’s long-excludedBlack pioneers and immediately re-writes baseball’s record books.

Roughly 3,400 Black and Latinoplayers from seven distinct leagues,who were barred from joining thesegregated National and AmericanLeagues, will now be classified as“major-leaguers,” alongside whitestars of the era. All statistics andrecords for those players will be-come part of MLB’s official history.

Before Jackie Robinson brokebaseball’s color barrier for theBrooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the NegroLeagues were the highest level ofprofessional baseball open to Blackplayers. Those leagues producedplayers who are considered amongthe most talented ever to step ontoa field, including Josh Gibson,Satchel Paige and Oscar Charleston.

“All of us who love baseball havelong known that the Negro Leaguesproduced many of our game’s bestplayers, innovations and triumphsagainst a backdrop of injustice,”MLB commissioner Rob Manfredsaid.

Bob Kendrick, the president ofthe Negro Leagues Baseball Mu-seum in Kansas City, Mo., called themove “historical validation for

WeatherShown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.

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GOTALIGHT? | By Jake HoustonAcross1 “Calcium LightNight” composer

5 Burrito addition,for short

9 Betrayedastonishment

14 Mineral insheets

15 Edit menuoption

16 Colleague ofSonia and Amy

17 Snail mailattachment

18 Push down

19 In poor condition

20 Service centers?

22 Thing

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25 Rainforestclimber

26 Rental to reduceclutter

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31 Like sitting ducks

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35 Sedated, say

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41 Word after speedor butt

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TheWSJ Daily Crossword | Edited by Mike Shenk

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Solve this puzzle online and discuss it atWSJ.com/Puzzles.

R A G E S P A D E P A R SU R A L E A S E L A L A NM I L K R U N O F F Y E T I

S A R I N S E R I FT W A F A C E T I M E O F FW O M B A T A M I S Y SO R E O O S C A R S

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60 Dashed

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62 Command toFido

63 Qatari leader

64 Attack

65 Start of achoosing rhyme

66 Atlas expanses

Down1 Bearers of lyre-shaped horns

2 TabeaZimmermannor CynthiaPhelps, e.g.

3 Rapturousdelight

4 Recurring “SouthPark” character

5 Daring

6 “___ furtivalagrima”(Donizetti aria)

7 “Fess up!”

8 Acknowledge

9 Purel target

10 Like

11 Sugar, say

12 Led on

13 Versatilecouches

21 Figures in needof analysis

23 Turkey’spresident

26 Ruin

27 Some lap dogs,informally

30 Unwanted bug

32 Classic BobMarley song

36 Per ___

37 Prepares toshoot

38 Problematicsituations

39 Entertainer bornErik Weisz

40 Really, really big

41 Delivery estimate

42 Embodiment

43 Africa’s mostpopulous nation

44 Concern for somelanguagelearners

50 Expire

52 Fills

54 “Right, right”

55 Vodka in a bluebottle

57 Jerk’s kin

59 Fire

those who had been shunned fromthe major leagues and had the fore-sight and courage to create theirown league that helped change thegame and our country, too.”

The move comes two days afterthe Cleveland Indians said theywould abandon the name they haveused since 1915, dropping a monikerthat some fans and Native Ameri-can groups criticized as racist.

The question of how baseballshould treat Black players from theera of the Negro Leagues has beenan ongoing question for decades.Ahead of the publication of thefirst edition of “The Baseball Ency-clopedia” in 1969, commissionerWilliam Eckert convened the Spe-cial Baseball Re-cords Commit-tee to settleissues related tobaseball’s statis-tics. That groupgave major-league status tosix leagues dat-ing back to 1876,including somein which the quality of play waslower than that of the NegroLeagues.

The panel, comprised entirely ofwhite men, never considered thecandidacy of the Negro Leagues, rel-egating the contributions of manyplayers kept out of MLB because ofracism to secondary status. That rul-ing remained in effect until Wednes-day, when MLB said that the “com-mittee’s 1969 omission of the NegroLeagues from consideration wasclearly an error that demands to-

day’s designation.”MLB has long acknowledged Rob-

inson as its first Black player, retir-ing his No. 42 across the league andhonoring him every April. Even asBlack players before him becomemajor leaguers, Robinson will remaina crucial figure in MLB’s history forbeing the first Black player to play inintegrated baseball. “We can’t undothe past, and we can’t redo thepast,” said John Thorn, MLB’s officialhistorian. “What this gesture does isto make amends, insofar as amendsmay be made.”

Beyond the symbolism of themove, this new designation will fun-damentally alter MLB’s record books,sometimes in complicated—and po-

tentially contro-versial—ways.

Some of theseare simple: Wil-lie Mays, for in-stance, had 17hits in the NegroLeagues for theBirminghamBlack Barons in1948, according

to the Seamheads Negro LeaguesDatabase, a key source MLB used inreaching its decision. Those are ex-pected to be added to Mays’s 3,283hits in the NL. (Mays did not hitany home runs in the NegroLeagues.)

Bob Feller will no longer be theonly pitcher to throw a no-hitter onopening day; Leon Day accom-plished that feat as well for theNewark Eagles in 1946. (HankAaron’s brief stint with the India-napolis Clowns will not be counted,

This new designationwill fundamentally alterbaseball’s record booksin complicated ways.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS fansexperienced a deeply unfamiliarfeeling last Sunday when a last-second kick sailed through the up-rights to give their team an im-probable comeback win againstthe Atlanta Falcons.

This was not how their gamesusually end. The Chargers are sup-posed to be the team coughing upbig advantages.

No NFL team has developed areputation for losing games in ex-cruciating fashion quite like theChargers. They shank kicks, fumbleat the most inopportune moments,squander enormous leads, give upimprobable fourth down conver-sions and get railroaded by therefs. They’ve blown games in everyfathomable way and even seem tohave invented new ones.

The Chargers are football’s bestlosers—and there’s data to proveit. They’re 4-9 entering Thursday’sgame against the Las Vegas Raid-ers, and four of their losses thisseason have already come in over-time or as time expired. The mostremarkable part is how often theChargers lose games that they’resupposed to win.

Over the past five seasons, theChargers have lost 12 regular-sea-son games when they had at leasta 75% chance of winning at somepoint in the fourth quarter. Insome instances, their peak winprobability was far higher than75%. That means that, in all ofthese games, they had an ex-tremely good chance at winningand still wound up losing.

The only team remotely close tothem is the Detroit Lions, whohave 10 losses over the past fiveyears with a chance of winning ofat least 75% in the fourth quarter,according to nflfastR’s win proba-bility model. The median NFLteam has only 5.5 such losses.

Over the past 15 seasons, datingback to 2006, the Chargers havelost 31 games with a win probabil-ity exceeding 75% in the fourthquarter—tied with Baltimore forthe most in the NFL. It’s a trendthat has survived players andcoaches. Even changing home cit-ies from San Diego to Los Angelesdidn’t shake the bad juju.

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BY ANDREW BEATON AND TOM MCGINTY

The ChargersAre the NFL’sBest Losers

Kansas City Monarchs pitchinggreat Satchel Paige in 1942.

because it came in 1952, after theNegro Leagues began losing talentto the NL and AL.)

Others are more complicated andwill undoubtedly spark debate foryears. For example, Ted Williamshas for eight decades been recog-nized as the last man to hit .400 inMLB. His .406 batting average forthe Boston Red Sox in 1941 is a sta-tistic permanently etched in thefabric of the sport, standing forgenerations as one of the pinnaclesof athletic achievement.

However, Gibson, the Hall-of-Fame catcher known for his timewith the Homestead Grays, hit .441in 1943, albeit in just 281 at-bats.That would mean that Gibson wouldnot only top Williams, but wouldsurpass Hugh Duffy’s .440 for the1894 Boston Beaneaters for the bestsingle-season batting average ever.

MLB said it has begun a reviewprocess with the Elias Sports Bu-reau “to determine the full scope ofthis designation’s ramifications onstatistics and records,” workingwith historians to evaluate the rele-vant issues.

“History has to be fluid; if itwere not fluid, why do we get peri-odic new biographies of Lincoln orJesus?” Thorn said. “Stats are afunny thing. The deeper you go, themore impressed you are with thefact that these are symbols. Theyare not solid things.”

MLB reached this decision afterdiscussions with the Hall of Fameand baseball historians and re-searchers who have worked to ex-pand the historical record of theNegro Leagues.

MLBElevates Negro LeaguesToMajor League Status

BY JARED DIAMOND

wsj_20201217_a014_p2jw352000_4_a01400_1________xa2020.crop.pdf 1 17-Dec-20 07:13:52

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | A15

Set Ablaze,Still FightingUnsinkable: Five Men and theIndomitable Run of the USS PlunkettBy James Sullivan(Scribner, 399 pages, $30)

BOOKSHELF | By Bartle Bull

O n Jan. 24, 1944, the destroyer USS Plunkett foundherself offshore Anzio, Italy, supporting theembattled Allied beachhead there. The ship had had

an eventful year, participating in the invasions of NorthAfrica and Sicily. Like all destroyers, Plunkett was fast andwell-armed for her size. She had many roles, includingshepherding other ships and patrolling, but destruction washer natural job. On this day in the Tyrrhenian Sea, the menaboard were disappointed that some much-anticipatedshelling of German positions ashore had been canceled.

At around 5:15 p.m., the ship’s doctor spotted a coupleof German bombers, Dorniers, in the early-evening sky,fairly high up. The Anzio roadstead was thick with Alliedships, but the Germans owned the skies. “Looks like a littlebusiness coming up,” said the doctor almost to himself.“I think I’ll go down to the wardroom.” As James Sullivantells us in his stirring “Unsinkable: Five Men and theIndomitable Run of the USS Plunkett,” the destroyer’swardroom—the officers’ mess, at sea—did double duty inbattle, serving as the dressing station for the woundedand dying. It would prove to be a busy place that evening.

Soon after calling his crew to battle stations, Plunkett’scaptain, Ed Burke—one of the five men that Mr. Sullivan

follows from the 1940sthrough the ends of theirlives—could see the glide-bombs from the far-offDorniers floating his way.What followed over the next25 minutes may have beenthe most intense aerial attackon a single ship of any navyin World War II.

Soon the Dorniers werejoined by dive bombers shriek-ing in, while torpedo planescame in “low and slow” to droptheir sinister payloads thatbarely moved faster through thewater than Plunkett herself.Capt. Burke successfully zigged

toward the glide bombs, zagged to run parallel to a torpedo,dodged dive bombs that were landing as close to 20 yardsaway, and through it all, whenever he could, put the shipbroadside on to the planes so his guns would have a chance.Eventually Plunkett was ablaze, but her guns kept firing withcoordination and accuracy until the Luftwaffe had to call offthe attack. Plunkett’s “bag” that day was impossible to verify,but it likely represented a quarter or more of the force thatattacked her. The ship’s casualty list would include, apartfrom the scores of wounded, 29 men forever “missing inaction.” These numbered more than the dead whose bodiescould be identified. Plunkett managed to limp back toPalermo, saw action in Normandy on D-Day and ended herwar in the Pacific.

Plunkett’s fate and what she achieved in those fewminutes of Mediterranean gloaming were utterly tragic andutterly heroic. And yet the action was a drop in the oceanof that war. Sicily had been the largest seaborne invasionof anywhere ever, and Normandy 11 months later woulddwarf it. Leyte Gulf, in the Pacific Theater, was the biggestnaval battle of all time, and the opposing navies rarely saweach other: Planes did the attacking, as with Plunkett atAnzio, but on a titanic scale.

Certain stories we need to tell regardless of their size.One of Mr. Sullivan’s achievements is to remind us why.“Unsinkable,” a fine narrative in its own right, is also areflection on the nature of storytelling itself, as well as avaluable and entertaining contribution to the record. It isgood to learn the history of the American destroyer, withits origins in the response to the torpedo warfare thatbegan on the Roanoke River in 1864, or to learn how thedepth-charges and sonar worked on a vessel of the Gleavesclass 80 years later. To make such details compellingreading is an accomplishment. More significantly, Mr.Sullivan takes pains to illuminate and honor a lost world.

He pores over a photograph of a Ship’s Party in March1943 at the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn. There are the“USO girls, recruited for the party and minded bychaperones.” There is the sailor who looks 14 years old,the towering perms and the crisp uniforms with whitecarnations, and, “if you look closely enough,” the soundof Benny Goodman on the clarinet.

Mr. Sullivan reads the hundred letters that made theirway to and from Plunkett between teenagers Jim Feltz andBetty Kneemiller, who met when Jim was sweeping thefloor at Mr. Siegal’s five-and-dime store back home inOverland, Mo. “I still call you mine,” she writes at onepoint, “but I’m not as definite on that being the truth.”

A journalist based near Portland, Maine, Mr. Sullivantells us he first heard of USS Plunkett and her ordeal atone of his family’s long-ago Fourth of July gatherings inQuincy, Mass., where the older men, parked on loungechairs in the backyard, would swap stories about the war.A great-uncle had a favorite tale—of his being stationedin Naples in 1944 and, with a belly full of local wine on aday off, commandeering a tiny boat to go out and visit hisbrother aboard Plunkett, only a few days before thedestroyer headed to Anzio, where so much would happenthat the family would never forget. Memory, family, thevalue of stories told years later, to younger generations,over beer in a mill town: These are as important, in“Unsinkable,” as the narrative itself.

A few years ago, Mr. Sullivan tracked down Ken Brown,who at Anzio had been Plunkett’s “gun boss,” commandingher four 5-inch guns using a rudimentary computer in acrow’s nest of sorts. With Brown’s daughter, the two mengo to a restaurant in a Colorado mall, and the formerofficer picks up the tab for six women at a nearby table.The ladies come up to him one by one to say thank you.All in their 70s, in order to speak they take a knee, “likenovitiates, so they could engage with him at eye level.”Ken Brown, 97 by then, was of their father’s generation—the generation that had fought the war. How lucky we are,writes Mr. Sullivan as he recalls the scene, to be “stillcapable of this much grace in America.”

Mr. Bull’s next book is a history of Iraq.

German planes were spotted high above.Whatfollowed may have been the most intense aerialattack on a single ship during all ofWorldWar II.

Remember the Persecuted at Christmas

F or the first time in theirlives, millions of Ameri-cans have been ordered

by their government not to at-tend church. For millions ofpersecuted Christians acrossthe globe, this is the only real-ity they know.

The theme of persecutionlies at the heart of the Christ-mas story. The Holy Familywere forced to flee their nativeland due to state-sponsoredoppression. As citizens of aglobal superpower whose law-makers are responsive to theircitizens, we are called to standin solidarity with persecutedChristians. The U.S. govern-ment has shown during thisdifficult year that it is respon-sive to such advocacy.

The House unanimouslypassed a resolution in Novem-ber calling for continued hu-manitarian assistance toChristians, Yazidis and other

communities that survived theISIS genocide in Iraq andSyria. Also last month, theState Department and the Pol-ish government hosted thethird annual Ministerial to Ad-vance Religious Freedom, aninternational forum for gov-ernments and civil society.

At the same time, 2020 haspresented unprecedentedchallenges for persecutedChristians world-wide.

In Nigeria, according toGregory Stanton of GenocideWatch, more than 27,000Christians have died since2009 at the hands of Fulanimilitants, Boko Haram andother Islamic militias—ex-

ceeding the number of ISIScasualties in Iraq and Syria.

More than one millionChristians in Saudi Arabia re-main unable to worship at all,and Iran continues to harassand imprison Christian con-verts. In China, Christianchurches face a brutal crack-down by a government thatpersecutes other faiths aswell.

Lebanon, a nation St. JohnPaul II described as “morethan a country . . . a messageto the world,” has the mostChristians per capita in theMiddle East and is at seriousrisk of becoming a failedstate. Recep Tayyip Erdoganthreatens Christians in Tur-key and beyond. Greek Ortho-dox Christians painfully wit-nessed the Istanbul’s HagiaSophia Cathedral and ChoraChurch converted intomosques. Turkish-backed mi-litias have persecuted Arme-nian and Syriac descendantsof Christians who survived

the Ottoman Genocide innortheast Syria and Artsakh(Nagorno Karabakh).

We hope President-elect Bi-den will build on the accom-plishments of the Trump ad-ministration, namely itsassistance to genocide survi-vors and priority on interna-tional religious freedom as acenterpiece of U.S. foreignpolicy. At the same time, Mr.Biden should correct theTrump administration’s short-comings, particularly its fail-ure to confront Turkey mean-ingfully.

As for America’s Christiancitizens, we must never be-come complacent in the faceof adversity. We must roll upour sleeves, organize, and ad-vocate for persecuted mem-bers of the body of Christ.

Cardinal Dolan is the Ro-man Catholic archbishop ofNew York. Mr. Baaklini is thepresident and chairman of InDefense of Christians.

By Timothy DolanAnd Toufic Baaklini

Covid restrictionsare mild comparedwith what manyof the faithful endure.

OPINION

A s Monday’s ElectoralCollege meetings instate capitals conclu-

sively settled the race for theWhite House, Joseph R. BidenJr. will be sworn in as presi-dent on Jan. 20. The outcomehas been apparent for weeks,as one Trump campaign law-suit after another flamed out.Now even prominent Republi-cans like Senate MajorityLeader Mitch McConnell areacknowledging Mr. Biden willbe America’s 46th president.

As one person moves intothe Oval Office, anothermoves out—and so DonaldTrump will exit 1600 Pennsyl-vania Avenue, presumably torefinance his business, dealwith investigations by theManhattan district attorneyand New York attorney gen-eral and keep his options openfor 2024.

During this process, Mr. Bi-den has mostly struck gracenotes. Despite provocations,he’s resisted inflammatoryrhetoric and endeavored toturn down the temperature ofour politics. Until Monday.The president-elect’s tone thatnight was a mistake.

In his televised remarks ac-cepting the Electoral Collegeresults, Mr. Biden angrily de-nounced Mr. Trump’s effortsto flip the election. He called

Biden Needs a Conciliatory Tonethem “extreme” and “unprece-dented” and accused Mr.Trump of having “refused torespect . . . the rule of law” orto “honor our Constitution.”He lectured Mr. Trump about“respecting the will of thepeople” even if he found thoseresults “hard to accept.”

These points have some va-lidity. The efforts of theTrump legal team were oftenindefensible. Team Trump’srhetoric was frequently overthe top and backed with scant

evidence. But this wasn’t thetime to make that point. Theinevitable result is that the at-tacks drew the headlines, notMr. Biden’s declaration that“we can work together for thegood of the nation,” not hiscall for the country “to unite,to heal,” and not his promiseto “be a president for allAmericans.”

Monday night was a mo-ment the president-elect couldhave focused on binding upthe nation’s political wounds.Importantly, he could havesignaled to the 74 million

Americans who voted for Mr.Trump—many of whom arehurt, indignant, and lookingfor scapegoats—that this na-tion could move forward to-gether. Instead, Mr. Biden sur-rendered to his feelings ofanger—righteous perhaps, butanger nonetheless. Thatserved to alienate and antago-nize nearly half the countryand heighten the tribal in-stincts that are poisoningAmerican politics.

This leads to a larger point,which is that there is an unap-pealing, unnecessary pugna-ciousness to Middle Class Joethat was on display Mondaynight. Mr. Biden often deploysthe same aggressive tone tomanage press coverage, espe-cially when the issue involveshis family, such as his sonHunter trading on his father’sname and position to get a lu-crative board seat at Burismaor a sweetheart financial dealin China.

In those cases, Mr. Bidenisn’t content simply to claimthat Hunter did nothingwrong. The president-electalso becomes aggressive, of-ten personally attacking re-porters who raise legitimatequestions, as Bo Erickson ofCBS found out Oct. 16 whenhe asked about a New YorkPost report about Hunter andBurisma. Mr. Biden responded:“I have no response; it’s an-

other smear campaign, rightup your alley.”

When Peter Doocy of FoxNews asked a similar questionSept. 19, Mr. Biden accusedhim of being the president’stool, calling the allegations ofcorruption an “abuse ofpower” by Mr. Trump andclaiming that through Mr.Doocy, the president was try-ing “to smear me.”

Whatever calculation Mr.Biden made in ratcheting uphis attacks against PresidentTrump this week, it’s a flawedone. Yes, the president-elect’sdefenders will cheer every as-sault Mr. Biden makes on Don-ald Trump. But the rest ofAmerica will tire of thatquickly. Mr. Trump couldn’tunite the country during hispresidency with frequent at-tacks on political rivals andneither can Mr. Biden.

It is now the president-elect’s responsibility to findways to heal our country. Heshould put his rhetoricalsword in his scabbard and re-sist the temptation to pull itout and use it just because itfeels good. We’ll soon find outif Joe Biden can do that.

Mr. Rove helped organizethe political-action committeeAmerican Crossroads and isauthor of “The Triumph ofWilliam McKinley” (Simon &Schuster, 2015).

The new presidentshould stop dwellingon the election, evenif the old one won’t.

By Karl Rove

Clevelandersgot a truck-load of coaldumped onthem this holi-day seasonwhen thecity’s baseballteam an-nounced thatafter next yearthey will no

longer be called the Indians.Owner Paul Dolan’s oxymo-ronic explanation is that thiswill “unify our community.”

We had our say here sev-eral months ago about theinanity of team-name politicalcorrectness. How the WhiteSox and Red Sox survive is be-yond me. More noteworthy inthis country’s experience sincethe word multiculturalism en-tered its political dialogues isPresident-elect Joe Biden’spublic commitment to fillinghis cabinet on the basis of di-versity.

It began as he might havehoped, with the press append-ing “first” before the names ofearly appointees—the firstHispanic head of homeland se-curity, the first woman asTreasury secretary, the firstAfrican-American defensechief, the first Hispanic healthsecretary, the first openly gaycabinet secretary, the firstwoman of color to run the Of-fice of Management and Bud-get, the first woman as direc-tor of national intelligence.

The website HybridParent-ing.org explains that “in amulticultural world, people ac-cept and embrace the differ-

Joe Biden’s Cabinet of Diversityences of others into theirlives.” That acceptance is theideal. The Biden appointmentprocess reminds us that diver-sity in practice is preponder-antly political, which is to say,divisive.

Shortly after Mr. Biden’searly nomination of firsts ap-peared, Politico reported thatsome Democrats were un-happy. Texas Rep. VicenteGonzalez wanted at least fiveLatinos in cabinet-level posi-tions. Then representatives ofAAPI complained. AAPI standsfor Asian-American and Pa-cific Islanders. They notedthat Barack Obama’s cabinethad three Asian-Americans.

Bel Leong-Hong, chair-woman of the Democratic Na-tional Committee’s AAPI cau-cus, said, “We don’t see toomany Asian-Americans there,do we?” As we went to press,it was reported that Mr. Bi-den’s interior secretary likelywill be Native-American Rep.Deb Haaland of New Mexico, amember of the Laguna Pueblotribe on her mother’s side.

Despite the nominal ideal-ism of multiculturalism, thislooks like a diversity spoilssystem, whose proliferatingclaimants will become impos-sible to satisfy.

When the idea of multicul-turalism emerged years ago,many saw it as a step towardextending the original Ameri-can idea of openness to thenew wave of non-Europeanimmigrants arriving from Asiaand elsewhere. And indeed,the U.S. was evolving towardincorporating them, as it hadbefore.

Then multicultural diversitymade its inevitable appear-ance in academia, which sub-divided itself into depart-ments of study based onethnicity. The academics dis-placed the goal of incorpora-tion with the idea of “differ-ences.” Rather than a pathway

to deepening social integra-tion, diversity was redefinedas an instrument of politicalstruggle.

Since late May, Black LivesMatter has become a proxy fordiversity. BLM put in play theintraparty tensions evident inthe criticism of Mr. Biden’scabinet appointments.

The media’s elevation ofBLM and its notion of sys-temic racism made its politicalclaims for black Americanspre-eminent and by default re-duced those of Hispanics andAsians. Naturally they noticed.Now they are demanding whathas come to be called equity inMr. Biden’s cabinet.

Several months ago, diver-sity reached a comic apotheo-sis when Trader Joe’s wascriticized as racist for sellingbrands such as Trader Joséand Trader Ming. Some mightsee Trader Joe’s as the reduc-tio ad absurdum of this move-ment’s political demands. Theselection of the Biden cabinet,a serious matter, has becomean almost absurdist exercisein box-checking appeasement.

All politics may be local,but one may ask whether poli-tics in our time has becomeoverwhelmingly about appor-

tioning power and money viathese multiplying progressivecategories or whether it stillhas a broader purpose.

Mr. Biden’s 81 million votesand his presidency are undeni-ably an aggregation of diversevoters in the U.S., and yes, hetailored appeals to them. Thequestion now is whether he orany American presidentshould be able to assemble agovernment whose goal is togive the country the best pos-sible execution of policy, orwhether the presidency shouldbe first of all a vessel throughwhich competing factions re-ceive appointment based onwho or what they are.

A pragmatic argumentcould be made that appoint-ments by diversity aren’tmuch different than the oldurban political machines,whose patronage kept thepeace among factions. That isthe benign explanation.

A less benign view is thatdiversity has become most ofall a weapon to silence opposi-tion and suppress dissent. Po-litical satire, one of history’smost effective weapons of op-position, including of the fu-ture first lady’s doctorate, isforbidden.

Allowable criticism existsonly inside the movement. Sosomeone like Gen. Lloyd Aus-tin, the African-Americannominated by Mr. Biden to bedefense secretary, is fairgame because his personalstatus is subordinate to thelarger political goal of devalu-ing the military. As happenedas well to the black policechiefs forced out during thepost-May 25 defund-the-po-lice protests.

Diversity has high inten-tions. But politics is a low art.Joe Biden’s presidency will bea revealing case study in try-ing to take the high road andthe low road at the same time.

Write henninger@wsj.com.

Does politics have alarger purpose thandividing power bymultiple categories?

Homeland Security Secretary-designate Alejandro Mayorkas

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WONDERLANDBy DanielHenninger

A16 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

Can Cancel Culture Be Measured in Degrees?Most of the blowback from Joseph

Epstein’s op-ed “Is There a Doctor inthe White House? Not if You Need anM.D.” (Dec. 12) is coming from thosewho imagine it had to do with JillBiden’s being a woman. That’swrong.

I taught at a university whosepresident, a former football coachwho held a degree in physical educa-tion, wrote a book titled “NobodyCalls Me Doctor.” Bud Davis was anamiable fellow, willing to laughabout his degree.

There are degrees, however, thatmean something. Readers of Bos-well’s “Life of Johnson” will recallthat Samuel Johnson had to leaveOxford early after the death of hisfather and became Dr. Johnson onlyafter he had completed his great“Dictionary of the English Language.”The Oxford doctorate he was thenawarded may be described as honor-ary but entirely real.

The issue raised by Mr. Epsteinhas nothing to do with women assuch. It has to do with a certaintremulous American hypocrisy aboutwhat constitutes genuine accomplish-ment. The point of his article wassimply that not everyone in Kentuckyaddressed as “colonel” was ever ac-tually in the military.

EM. PROF. WILLIAM C. DOWLINGRutgers University

Princeton, N.J.

As soon as I read “The BidenTeam Strikes Back” (op-ed, Dec. 14),I knew that I had made the right de-cision by canceling my subscriptionto the New York Times and pickingup The Wall Street Journal instead.

I have been searching for the elu-sive journalistic honesty and integ-rity for a long time without success.Mr. Epstein’s article sparked criti-cism and anger. Perhaps the critiquewas justified, perhaps not. But theremedy, as Paul Gigot states, is not“an identity politics campaignagainst an op-ed.” The responseshould be writing letters and pub-lishing essays, not caving in whenthe left encourages an all-out waragainst an opinion it doesn’t like.

SONIA SCHWARTZValley Stream, N.Y.

Reading the paper with my Satur-day morning coffee, I stumbledacross Mr. Epstein’s article beforeanybody had a chance to spin it. Myreaction was much the same as theinternet’s. The article is petty anddemeaning at best, and at worst aserious blow to the credibility of theJournal.

I spend a lot of time trying to con-vince my liberal friends that conser-

vatives respect women and that theJournal is a much less hysterical,more reasonable news source thanthe Times. You have dealt me a ma-jor setback. There are many thingsto criticize about the Bidens. Jill Bi-den’s doctorate, which she unequivo-cally earned, is not one of them.

JULIA SCHWARZDallas

Why on earth would you dignifysuch misogynistic, condescendingviews? Referring to any woman as“kiddo,” let alone while attemptingto discredit her educational accom-plishments, is inappropriate. Infan-tilizing females is one of the oldesttactics employed by sexists.

JULIA BLOOMQUISTLos Angeles

Those who are excoriating Mr. Ep-stein for misogyny must never haveread anything else he’s written. Hiswriting is often satirical or pointed,and he doesn’t shy away from skew-ering males of the species when war-ranted. As for the idea that Mr. Ep-stein has only a B.A. and is thereforeunqualified to critique Mrs. Biden’suse of her doctorate: It should beclear to anyone who knows his workthat Mr. Epstein is the intellectualpeer, if not superior, of most anyPh.D.

DAVID M. HOWARD, JR., PH.D.Shoreview, Minn.

Thank you for standing yourground. Mr. Epstein’s article providesa welcome dose of humor in this tu-multuous end of the year. The use of“Dr.” only for medical doctors is asound practice that was the journal-istic norm until a nanosecond ago.

Please stay the course. The WallStreet Journal’s intellectual honestyand integrity of values are a lifelinefor those of us stranded in a “woke”world that tilts with every breezeinto greater and greater insanity.

VALERIE SCHMALZSan Francisco

Mr. Epstein’s article reminds meof my first job for a manufacturer. Inthe first memo I wrote, I proudlynoted it was from me, Ph.D. I’d fi-nally get the respect all that hardwork earned me. My boss made afew minor corrections to the memoand deleted the “Ph.D.” I asked why.She said it was to spare me muchridicule from the rest of the crew—awise woman. I learned after years inbusiness that accomplishments speakmuch louder than letters after yourname.

STEPHEN J. HELLEBUSCHDallas

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

“You may now updateyour Facebook status.”

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL

Letters intended for publication shouldbe emailed to wsj.ltrs@wsj.com. Pleaseinclude your city, state and telephonenumber. All letters are subject toediting, and unpublished letters cannotbe acknowledged.

Pepper ...And Salt

Becerra Is the Right LawyerFor the Biden Health Agenda

Regarding your editorial “Biden’sIdentity Health-Care Pick” (Dec. 8):The selection of Xavier Becerra to runthe Department of Health and HumanServices shows that Joe Biden’s teamknows what it wants to do. The re-quirement for the Biden administra-tion HHS role isn’t health-care experi-ence—it is litigation experiencecentered on expanding public healthcare and prosecuting those businessesand organizations that impede it.

Make no mistake, as a Californian,I’ve witnessed Mr. Becerra systemati-cally expand the scope of “publichealth” to include gun control (viamental health), strict automotiveemissions standards and even frack-ing (pollution affects health). Mr. Bec-erra will ensure that all of these areput into play as part of a “build backbetter” government-run health-careagenda.

The experiment in California hasled to higher taxes, fewer health-in-surance options and more expensiveproducts and services. Perhaps thereal slogan should be: “Build it backbigger than ever.”

MATT SILVEIRAPlacerville, Calif.

Nothing says “follow the science”like President-elect Joe Biden’s nomi-nation of an attorney to head the De-partment of Health and Human Ser-vices.

JANIE WAGSTAFFRoxboro, N.C.

The Old Bag of Tricks Is NoComplement to Free Trade

In “Biden Can Make AmericanTrade Deals Great Again” (op-ed, Dec.11), Robert B. Zoellick argues that“Mr. Biden shouldn’t double down onprotectionism. He could packageopenness to trade with assistance toworkers and an increase in the mini-mum wage.” The problem is thattrade adjustment assistance has neverworked very well because union work-ers have little incentive to retrainrather than wait to be rehired at wagerates above what they could earnelsewhere. Meanwhile, increasing theminimum wage may help make unionworkers more competitive, but onlyby pricing less-skilled workers out ofthe market. By supporting a higherminimum wage, Mr. Biden would in-crease, not decrease, protectionism.

JAMES A. DORNCato InstituteWashington

Economics of Solar EnergyFailures Have Been Ignored

Talk about irony. In the Dec. 12 pa-per one article (Exchange, “The DiceyEconomics of Oil”) asks, “Does invest-ing in oil and gas still make sense?”while later in the same issue “An-other Green Subsidy Bust” (Review &Outlook) describes the Tonopah SolarEnergy boondoggle. Today’s best lith-ium-ion batteries have only a fractionof the energy density of hydrocar-bons from oil and gas. Until that fun-damental problem is fixed, there willalways be a place for oil and gas.

DALE MCINTYREBartlesville, Okla.

The Solyndra debacle was widelyreported but, except for the Journal,the Tonopah Solar Energy failure hasmostly been ignored. These two “in-vestments” have cost taxpayers atleast $750 million. How many restau-rant jobs could have been saved forthat price?

RON WOHLUSTDagsboro, Del.

The Fed’s Stimulus Paradox

F ederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Pow-ell continues to stump for more eco-nomic “stimulus,” yet on Wednesday

the Federal Open MarketCommittee mainly stood pat.Evenmore telling, the FOMC’smembers again revised uptheir predictions for the econ-omy this year and next.

The Fed itself was report-edly considering an increase in its purchases ofTreasurys and mortgage securities, or at leastextending the duration of its bond holdings todrive investors into riskier assets. The FOMCdidneither. It said it will continue its currentmonthly rate of asset purchases of “at least” $80billion in Treasurys and $40 billion ofmortgagesecurities until there is “substantial” progresstoward its targets of low unemployment and in-flation above 2% for a sustained period.

This is highly accommodative policy, and wewelcome the restraint not to go further. Butwhy the mismatch between Fed words anddeeds? Our guess is that it’s a mix of politicsand economics. On the former, Mr. Powellwants to be in sync with the politicians whowant to spendmoremoney amid the pandemic.The chairman saluted that desire at his after-noon press conference by again exceeding hispolicy mandate to endorse whatever spendingbill Congress comes up with.

Yet in their economic outlook, the Fed’s lead-ers again revised their forecasts in the directionof better growth and lower unemployment. Themedian projection of Fed governors and re-gional bank presidents for growth in all of 2020improved to minus-2.4%, which is up frommi-nus-3.7% in September, which was up frommi-nus-6.5% in June. Their estimate for the joblessrate at the end of this year also fell to 6.7%,which is down from 7.6% in September, whichwas down from 9.3% in June.

The Fed’s economists clearly misjudged theeconomy’s resilience during the pandemic.Now Mr. Powell is predicting a rough fewmonths as Covid-19 inspections spike. But the

Fed also increased its median estimate forgrowth in 2021 to 4.2%, which is up from 4%in September. The sages are predicting that the

jobless rate will fall to 5% in2021, from 6.7% today.

These numbers mean that,even if the growthmomentumflags in the first quarter, theeconomy will soar onceenough of the public is vacci-

nated and regular commerce and travel resume.This is good news, and it’s one more reason tothink the economy doesn’t need another $900billion in spending from Congress.

The Fed’s forecasts also confirm that Trea-sury Secretary StevenMnuchinwas right to endsupport for the Fed’s expanded 13(3) lending fa-cilities on Dec. 31 as Congress intended. Mr.Powell had lobbied to keep the $429 billion thatthe Fed hadn’t used, which could be leveragedas much as 10 times for lending. The Fed alsomade this disagreement public via leaks to thepress in a way that gave the heavily pro-Fedpress a chance to beat up Mr. Mnuchin.

At his press conferenceWednesday,Mr. Pow-ell ducked the question of whether he’d wantthe next Treasury secretary to send the moneyback to the Fed. What he should have said isthat the financial markets are in good shape andno longer need the backstop.

With any luck, Congress will repurpose thismoney to finance its latest Covid spendingblowout so at least that political moral hazardwon’t be available to the Biden Treasury to steerfor political purposes via the Fed. In a renewedcrisis, Treasury can always ask Congress to ap-propriate new money.

The Fed plans to keep rates near-zero, andkeep buying bonds, far into the future despitewhat could be a booming economy next yearand in 2022. There’s no broad consumer priceinflation in sight, but asset prices are movingup and the dollar is moving down. The testfor the Fed will come when the post-pan-demic boom arrives and signs of financial ex-cess appear.

The central bank againrevises its growthforecasts upward.

Georgia’s Audit of Ballot Signatures

T he two Senate runoffs in Georgia arescheduled for Jan. 5, but around700,000 ballots have already been cast.

Enthusiasm is high, and nowonder, since what’s at stakeis control of the Senate, JoeBiden’s legislative agenda,and the nation’s direction fortwo years.

The GOP will have bigproblems if sizable numbers of Trump support-ers in Georgia decide they don’t trust the state’selection system enough to participate. Presi-dent Trump has attacked Georgia’s voting pro-cess in his attempt to contest Joe Biden’s vic-tory. So maybe this could shore up the public’sfaith: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger onMonday launched an audit of recent absenteesignatures in Cobb County.

“Now that the signature matching has beenattacked again and again, with no evidence,”Mr. Raffensperger said, “I feel we need to takesteps to restore confidence in our elections.”That’s a reference to Mr. Trump and his allies,who have sought to cast a cloud over the state’srules for verifying absentee signatures.

A Trump lawsuit in state court contends thatGeorgia’s overall rejection rate for mail votesin November was 0.34%, a steep drop from 2.9%in 2016. This shows, the filing argues, that sig-natures weren’t properly checked. Not neces-sarily: Georgia officials say the rejection ratespecifically due to signature problems was0.15%, closely matching 2018. What apparentlyplummeted was the share of ballots thrown outfor other reasons, including lateness.

This year’s expansion of the mail franchiseincluded steps to ensure that voters cast theirballots properly. Georgia approved ballot dropboxes for the first time, and there were morethan 100 in the Atlanta area alone. A 2019 lawsimplified absentee ballots, while allowingGeorgians to “cure” errors using a process thatdidn’t exist in 2016.

Fewer rejections seems to be a broad trend,including in places Mr. Trumpwon. Ohio’s Sec-retary of State has touted an all-time low in ab-

sentee votes invalidated, arate of 0.42%, down from0.85% four years ago. In SouthCarolina, 0.99% of mail ballotswere tossed, compared with2.2% in 2016, per The Statenewspaper. Rejections fell in

many areas of Florida, even as Mr. Trump’smargin of victory doubled.

Mr. Trump’s lawsuit includes a specific alle-gation from a worker in Cobb County, Ga., whoclaims to have processed ballot applicationsfor about five days in April and May. The em-ployee says a supervisor directed that absenteeapplications with suspect signatures be ap-proved regardless: “The supervisor said thatthe people who process the ballots when theactual vote comes in would catch the mis-matched signatures.”

That’s a problem if true, but it hasn’t beenproved. State officials say the claim is weakbeer, since it’s regarding absentee applicationsin the primary, with “no evidence that any un-verified absentee ballots were counted.” Amoredefinitive answer should be given by the audit,which will re-examine signatures on ballot en-velopes from both the primary and November.

The audit could come on time to reassureskeptical Trump supporters before Jan. 5. Mr.Raffensperger is also working with an unnameduniversity on “a third-party signature matchstatewide audit study.” That could provide fod-der for legislative reforms once state lawmak-ers reconvene in 2021. Mr. Raffensperger hassuggested that mail ballots be verified usingstate IDs instead of signatures.

No election is flawless, andmassmail votingraises the risk of real problems. That said, Mr.Trump’s many wild fraud claims haven’t beenborne out, and they could help Democrats takeboth Georgia Senate seats.

Checking Cobb County’sabsentees to shore uppublic confidence.

Angus King’s Gambit

D emocrats have pushed to expand gov-ernment entitlements and businessmandates during the pandemic. Now

Maine Sen. Angus King wantsNetflix and other streamingservices to provide comple-mentary entertainment tohelp Americans social dis-tance over the holidays.

“At this time, wemust findways to incentivize people to follow guidancefrom the CDC, their employer, local publichealth officials, or school leaders,” Mr. Kingwrote in a letter this week to Netflix, Amazon,Disney and WarnerMedia. Americans left totheir own devices will “carry on their typicalholiday traditions instead of remaining safelyat home.”

To encourage Americans to “make responsi-ble choices”—i.e., abstain from merrimentwith family and friends—Mr. King is asking theplatforms to “provide temporary service at nocost to non-subscribers.” He added: “I look for-ward to hearing what steps you see feasibleand able to be accomplished to limit the healthemergency that COVID-19 is posing at this dif-ficult time.”

Who knew Netflix could slow Covid? The

pandemic has been a boon for online streamingservices, which have added tens of millions ofnew users during the pandemic. Disney+ now

boasts 74 million, up from 50million in April. There’s no ev-idence, however, the stream-ing surge has stopped the vi-rus from spreading.

In any case, many youngpeople already free-ride on

subscriptions of family and friends. Increasedstreaming of “The Queen’s Gambit” or “Sein-feld” reruns would increase broadband trafficand slow speeds for other uses including tele-medicine visits and FaceTiming with grandpar-ents. There’s no such thing as free Netflix.

Speaking of which—Democrats want theFederal Communications Commission to reclas-sify broadband providers as common carriersso they could be forced to provide free “publicservices,” which is how Mr. King labels enter-tainment. Senate Republicans last weekchecked these liberal ambitions by confirmingGOP Commissioner Nathan Simington.

A 2-2 deadlocked commission should keepDemocrats from doing damage to the internetduring the pandemic when people need it towork and learn safely at home.

Maine’s Senator wantsfree entertainmentstreaming for all.

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

OPINION

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | A17

T he Middle East poses aproblem for the Demo-crats. Theirs was tradi-tionally the pro-Israelparty and still commands

the support of a substantial major-ity of Jewish voters. But left-liberalorthodoxy demands that all right-thinking people take the side of thePalestinians against the Israeli gov-ernment and hold Jerusalem to adouble standard: If any other nationtakes an aggressive stance againstterrorist insurrectionists or otherinternal threats, the results may betragic but are kept in perspective. IfIsrael does so, it has committed amoral outrage and broken interna-tional law.

If you aspire to higher office as aDemocrat, you’re expected to sym-pathize with that view of things butnot to adopt it too stridently. Youcan condemn Israel for measures ithas adopted to counter the indis-criminate killing of its civilians byterrorists, but you have to couch itall in pro-Israel rhetoric, always em-phasizing Israel’s “right to defenditself,” as if any country could rea-sonably be said to lack that right.

Most Democratic candidates havenegotiated the problem reasonablywell, although extreme anti-Israeloutliers from safe districts, such asReps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib,can occasion some awkwardness fortheir congressional colleagues. Theproblem for Raphael Warnock, theDemocratic Senate candidate inGeorgia’s special-election runoffJan. 5, is that he didn’t start tryingto negotiate it until very recently.He is a pastor whose weekly ser-mons at the Ebenezer BaptistChurch in Atlanta are recorded andavailable online, and he is the sortof left-wing clergyman who likes tomake political pronouncements andto sign high-minded political state-ments.

He signed one such statement,

The Atlanta clergymanoften sounds more like atransnational leftist thanan American politician.

What Warnock Believes About Israel

composed in 2019 under the aus-pices of the National Council ofChurches, after visiting Israel andthe Palestinian territories with agroup of black American and SouthAfrican clergymen. The statementcompared Israel’s border wall to theBerlin Wall and drew indirect butinvidious analogies to apartheid,slavery and Nazism. The statementalso included melodramatic lan-guage about the plight of Palestin-ians (“we are cut up by the miseryin which poor families in Palestinehave to survive”) and showed noawareness that these conditions area consequence of Palestinians’ re-fusal to reject, and indeed insis-tence on using, murder as a politicaltool.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s campaignhas underscored this and similarstatements as evidence of Mr. War-nock’s radicalism. His response, in awritten statement last month:“Claims that I believe Israel is anapartheid state are patently false—Ido not believe that.”

It’s a common rhetorical device:Restate your opponent’s allegationin an extreme and inaccurate way,and then call that version of it false.The question wasn’t whether Mr.Warnock believed Israel is “anapartheid state” but whether he be-

lieved, in common with the interna-tional left for generations, that Is-rael systematically brutalizesinnocent Palestinians.

He does believe that. In a 2018sermon, for example, after a differ-ent trip to Israel, Mr. Warnock re-marked: “I saw nonviolent Palestin-ian protesters shot down and killedthis week as birds of prey by thestate of Israel while we were givinglip service to ‘Peace, peace’ whenthere is no peace.” He went on:“What we saw in Israel this weekwas wrong. . . . When I see nonvio-lent Palestinian young folk fightingfor their basic dignity and humanityand they’re told to be silent and justdie quietly—for me to stand up forthem, makes me no more anti-Se-mitic than it makes me anti-white tosay ‘black lives matter.’ ”

There are three problems withthis kind of talk. The first is that it’slogically fallacious and empiricallyfalse. Young Palestinian men bran-dishing weapons and lunging at Is-raeli soldiers and civilians are not“nonviolent . . . protesters,” and Mr.Warnock didn’t see any nonviolentprotesters “shot down” as “birds ofprey,” whatever that means.

The second problem, which Mr.Warnock now recognizes and at-tempts to pre-empt, is that the

claim lends itself to charges of anti-Semitism. There are poor anddowntrodden peoples all over theworld, but proponents of progres-sive transnationalism mainly talkabout one group, namely PalestinianArabs, whom they tendentiouslyportray as passive victims andwhose violent aggressions they sys-tematically ignore or de-emphasize.Why are radicals like Mr. Warnockso determined, in defiance of reasonand evidence, to represent IsraeliJews as persecutors?

A third and more practical prob-lem with Mr. Warnock’s homileticaldenunciations of Israel is that mostAmericans, and almost certainlymost Democrats, don’t accept thepremise that the Jewish state’s se-curity policies are racist in originand immoral in practice. MostAmerican voters are grown-ups whocan appreciate the gravity of thechallenge posed to Israel by a Pales-tinian minority in the grip of Jew-hatred. Mr. Warnock sounds asthough he can’t. Thanks mostly tostatements he made before hejoined the Senate race—and thanksalso, perhaps, to the radical ecclesi-astics with whom he consorts—hesounds like a member of the inter-national left and not a mainstreamAmerican politician from a purplestate.

Mr. Warnock seems to believethat saying Israel has a right to ex-ist somehow counterbalances hisdefamations. He is fond of quotingMartin Luther King’s statement that“Israel’s right to exist as a state insecurity is incontestable.” Thatstatement is true, but it under-scores rather than obviates theproblem. What country other thanIsrael needs its “right to exist” as-serted?

A group called the Jewish Demo-cratic Council of America has man-aged to get 200 “rabbis, cantors,and other Jewish faith leaders” tosign a letter supporting Mr. War-nock’s candidacy. There are nodoubt a significant number of Jew-ish faith leaders who would preferto see a Democratic Senate andwould consider the elevation of Mr.Warnock a price worth paying. ButI suspect Georgia voters know aleftist when they see one.

Mr. Swaim is a Journal editorialpage writer.

By Barton Swaim

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The Rev. Raphael Warnock preaches at Ebenezer Baptist Church Jan. 12, 2018.

OPINION

Covid VaccineShakedownAt the WTO

By James Pooley

T he World Trade Organizationwill decide on Thursdaywhether to approve an Indian

and South African proposal thatwould allow countries to disregardintellectual-property protections onCovid vaccines and therapeutics.Proponents claim the move wouldincrease patients’ access to vac-cines, especially in the developingworld, by enabling companies tomass-manufacture generic copies ofthose drugs. In reality, suspendingintellectual-property rights wouldmake things much worse. The pro-posal is cynical—designed to benefitIndia’s and South Africa’s domesticdrug industries at the expense ofpatients around the world.

India is the world’s largest manu-facturer of generic drugs, and SouthAfrica is another big producer. Theylament that the U.S. and Europehave blocked intellectual-propertyrights suspension, even though agreater number of WTO membercountries are in favor.

I’ve heard this line of attack be-fore, and it is fraught with danger.

From 2010-15, I ran the interna-tional patent system for the WorldIntellectual Property Organization, aUnited Nations agency in Geneva.WIPO administers the global sys-tems for patent, copyright andtrademark protection, and its mem-ber countries include all those inthe WTO. I helped conduct meetingsdesigned to improve intellectual-property laws around the world andthereby create incentives for privateinnovation that benefits peopleworld-wide.

At those meetings, India consis-tently questioned the need for pat-ent laws, repeatedly pointing to thefailure of pharmaceutical companiesto recognize and respond to theAIDS crisis of the 1980s. Indian del-egates harped on this outdated criti-cism, even though manufacturershave made AIDS medicines availablein developing countries at a fractionof their domestic prices.

Vaccines and most other medica-tions couldn’t exist without privateindustry investing in the risky re-search and development that yieldsnew discoveries. The patent systemhas been carefully designed to pre-serve the balance that keeps newtreatments coming while allowingfor broad public access. Under cur-rent WTO rules, for example, theworld’s least-developed countriesare exempt from certain critical pat-ent-law obligations.

It would be hard to accuse thebrand-name drug companies ofprofiteering from the Covid-19 cri-sis. AstraZeneca has promised notto make any profit while the pan-demic lasts, and all of the vaccineproducers have allowed manufactur-ers to license their patents for nocost.

So what’s the real issue? Thedirty little secret is that the WTOproposal is about more than pat-ents. India also demands that vac-cine developers release informationabout their confidential processesfor producing drugs, which wouldreduce their ability to invest in fu-ture research. It would be a hugegift to the generic industries in In-dia, South Africa and elsewhere.

Covid won’t be the last diseasehumans need to fight. If we expectprivate companies to create treat-ments—and experience shows thatthey do it better than governments—countries need to protect the incen-tive to spend billions of dollars on ayearslong R&D process.

To be sure, governments have thepower to remove patent protectionsfor anything. But that power comeswith grave costs.

If governments gave up on intel-lectual property rights for treat-ments, they would have to negotiatea framework to fund pharmaceuticalresearch publicly and distributedrugs around the world. Given thedivisions within the U.N., this ishopelessly unrealistic.

Private industry already has thecapacity to produce and distributedrugs to combat new sources of in-fection. Why reinvent the wheel?

The vaccines from Pfizer, Mod-erna and AstraZeneca are medicalmarvels that will save millions oflives. Dismantling the system thatenabled these breakthroughs is a di-sastrous idea.

Mr. Pooley is a former deputy di-rector general of the World Intellec-tual Property Organization and amember of the Center for Intellec-tual Property Understanding.

Mercantile interests arebehind India’s and SouthAfrica’s high-minded talkabout helping the poor.

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Now We’re Cooking With Gas. But Tomorrow?

C alifornians pay twice as muchfor electricity as Nevadans andOregonians do. In return they

get rolling blackouts during heatwaves and power cutoffs in wind-storms to prevent fires caused byold equipment. So where’s the PublicUtilities Commission’s Public Advo-cates Office? Its statutory mandateis “to obtain the lowest possible ratefor service consistent with reliableand safe service levels.” Instead it’sbusy trying to banish fossil fuels.

The office has teamed up with theSierra Club against Southern Califor-nia Gas. The Sierra Club has beenpushing cities and the state EnergyCommission to ban natural-gashookups in new buildings. Somethree dozen cities have done so.

SoCalGas is fighting these bans,as are homebuilders, realtors andcommercial real-estate groups,which noted in a public comment tothe Energy Commission that “in asurvey conducted just two years ago,over 70% of the respondents indi-cated they would NOT want a homewith an electric stove.”

Replacing natural gas applianceswith electric ones is expensive. Inthe Central Valley, new-home buyerswould pay $250 more a year to oper-

ate an all-electric home—and that’sbefore a planned 30% increase inelectric rates over the next fewyears. The move to electric appli-ances would also increase demandfor current, necessitating moreblackouts. More than 120 localitieshave passed resolutions against gasbans.

Enter the Public Advocates Office.It accuses SoCalGas of illegallyspending ratepayer dollars on politi-cal advocacy. The office has askedthe utility commission to fine thecompany $379 million. SoCalGassays shareholders have financed itspolitical lobbying. It acknowledgeshaving spent some ratepayer dollarson public education, which is per-mitted. The distinction between pub-lic education and political advocacycan be fuzzy. Electric utilities are al-lowed to spend ratepayer dollars topromote electric vehicles.

SoCalGas has offered to open upits books to the utility commissionfor an audit on the condition that itsrecords not be shared with outsidegroups. Proprietary informationcould affect trading markets ifleaked. Accounting records also in-clude private financial information ofconsultants and groups that the util-ity has paid. The Public Advocate hasdeclined the proposal for an indepen-dent audit because it wants to sharethe records with green groups.

In August 2019, the office signed a“common interest, joint prosecutionand confidentiality agreement” thatallows it to share information fromits SoCalGas investigation with theSierra Club. SoCalGas obtained acopy of the agreement under thestate’s Public Records Act. The agree-

ment, however, shields other commu-nications from public disclosure un-der attorney-client privilege.

Now two Democratic Assemblymembers who represent low-incomeand minority areas are investigatingthis apparent collusion. The PublicAdvocates’s stated mission is “inconflict with what appears to be anew focus . . . to aid the Sierra Clubin their effort to seek the ban of nat-ural gas usage in California eventhough it is proven to be favored bycustomers as a fuel source becauseof the affordable cost,” Blanca Rubioand Jim Cooper wrote Nov. 30 to theUtility Commission president.

The lawmakers seek all corre-spondence between the Public Advo-cates Office and Sierra Club, similaragreements with other environmen-tal groups, and requests by the Si-erra Club to be compensated by util-

ity ratepayers for its work on theSoCalGas investigation.

Public Advocate program managerMike Campbell says such arrange-ments are not uncommon and helpthe office more effectively advocatefor ratepayers before the Commis-sion. He also says the commissionneeds to know whether consultantsand groups are being paid by SoCal-Gas when they advocate against gasbans.

The Utility Commission will de-cide Thursday whether to allow thePublic Advocates to subpoena SoCal-Gas accounting records. The PublicAdvocates shouldn’t be part of theSierra Club’s campaign to banish fos-sil fuels, and ratepayers certainlyshouldn’t be made to bankroll it.

Ms. Finley is a member of theJournal’s editorial board.

By Allysia Finley

The Sierra Club hijacks astate agency in an effort toforce Californians to useelectric stoves and ovens.

Celebrate Beethoven’sFifth, Ninth and 250th

L udwig van Beethoven was born250 years ago and baptizedDec. 17, 1770. Even those who

don’t care for classical music recog-nize the opening bars of his FifthSymphony. “Ode to Joy” from hisNinth brings tears to the eyes of lis-teners when “flash mobs” performit. I’m a huge Beethoven fan andhave been fortunate to hear bothsymphonies in concert.

Beethoven was resilient, innova-tive and gritty. His prodigious cre-ativity left an enduring mark.

Amid 21st-century technologicalprogress, the evolution of the pianoin the late 18th century may seemquaint. But Beethoven took full ad-vantage of the wider frequency andamplitude ranges this new instru-ment provided. The fortepiano—Ital-ian for “loud soft”—was a major im-provement on the harpsichord.Because the piano uses hammers tostrike strings, players for the firsttime could vary a note’s volume.

Beethoven’s life is almost as in-spiring as his music. He had an abu-sive, alcoholic father, Johann Bee-thoven, who often dragged his sonfrom bed at night to practice at thekeyboard. He so wanted Ludwig tobe a child prodigy that he claimedthe 7-year-old boy was only 6 whenhe gave his first recital. Johann felthe was in competition with LeopoldMozart, father of Wolfgang.

Beethoven was remarkably pro-

ductive: His complete works fill 80compact discs. The maximum discplayback length is 74 minutes, justlong enough to accommodate theNinth Symphony.

You and I have heard the Ninth;Beethoven never did. He began tolose his hearing soon after he pub-lished his First Symphony, and byhis mid-40s he was completely deaf.Yet he kept composing.

The Ninth was the first majorsymphony to combine a chorus andorchestra. Beethoven “conducted”the work at its premiere in 1824,but because he couldn’t hear, themusicians were told to ignore himand follow the lead of the otherconductor, Michael Umlauf.

“Beethoven was several bars offfrom the actual music by the timethe piece concluded,” according toan account on the History Channel’swebsite. He couldn’t hear the ap-plause, so singer Caroline Unger, 20,“had to turn him to face the audi-ence as they hailed him with fivestanding ovations, raising their hatsand handkerchiefs in the air.”

Mr. Lennon is a rear admiral inthe U.S. Navy.

By Andrew Lennon

The great composer neverheard his own later works,but we’re still listening.

A18 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

Apple vs.the freeinternetApple plans to roll out a forced software update thatwill change the internet as we know it—for the worse.

Take your favorite cooking sites or sports blogs.Most are free because they show advertisements.

Apple’s change will limit their ability to run personalizedads. To make ends meet, many will have to start chargingyou subscription fees or adding more in-app purchases,making the internet much more expensive and reducinghigh-quality free content.

Beyond hurting apps and websites,many in the smallbusiness community say this change will be devastatingfor them too, at a time when they face enormouschallenges. They need to be able to effectively reachthe people most interested in their products andservices to grow.

Forty-four percent of small to medium businesses startedor increased their usage of personalized ads on socialmedia during the pandemic, according to a new Deloittestudy. Without personalized ads, Facebook data showsthat the average small business advertiser stands to see acut of over 60% in their sales for every dollar they spend.

Small businesses deserve to be heard.We’re standing up to Apple for our small businesscustomers and our communities.

Get the full story at fb.com/ApplePolicyUpdate

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© 2020 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved. * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | B1

and Texas boils down to easeand cost of hiring—not justnow but down the road.

“A lot of it, honestly, is justlong-term workforce availabil-ity,” said King White, chief ex-ecutive of Site SelectionGroup, a consulting firm thathelps companies decide where

to open or move facilities.Companies have also grown

frustrated with the cost of at-tracting and keeping employ-ees, as living expenses soar inNorthern California especially,and as regulatory mandatesexpand. “The compounding ef-

PleaseturntopageB2

MEDIARoku reaches a dealwithWarnerMedia tocarry the HBOMaxstreaming service. B3

HEARDON STREETLoan losses will likelyneed to be acute beforeEU politicians will actto aid banks. B12

BY RYAN DEZEMBER

BP Taps Into Carbon Trade on Trees

TECHNOLOGY: WISH PARENT ENDS TRADING DEBUT BELOW IPO PRICE B4

S&P 3701.17 À 0.18% S&PFIN À 0.12% S&P IT À 0.74% DJTRANS À 0.09% WSJ$ IDX g 0.20% LIBOR3M 0.236 NIKKEI 26757.40 À 0.26% Seemore atWSJ.com/Markets

BUSINESS&FINANCE

Facebook Inc. said it wouldassist the company behind pop-ular videogame “Fortnite” in itshigh-profile legal battle withApple Inc., as the social-mediagiant ramps up its own coun-terattack against what it saysare the iPhone maker’s self-serving measures cloaked inthe interest of privacy.

Facebook has been feuding

BY SARAH E. NEEDLEMANAND JEFF HORWITZ

with Apple for months on is-sues ranging from prices forpaid apps to privacy rulechanges.

As part of a pledge to assistchallenges to what it called Ap-ple’s anticompetitive behavior,Facebook plans to provide sup-porting materials and docu-ments to Epic Games Inc. The“Fortnite” parent sued Applethis year, claiming the tech gi-ant’s App Store operates like amonopoly. Facebook said itisn’t joining the lawsuit buthelping with discovery as thecase heads to trial next year.

A spokeswoman for Epicdeclined to comment.

In a blog post WednesdayFacebook also sharpened its

criticism of Apple’s plan to en-able users to restrict certainapps from collecting personaldata, saying those policiescould imperil small businesseswhile potentially benefiting itsown bottom line.

“This is not really about pri-vacy for them,” said Dan Levy,Facebook’s head of ad products.“This is about an attack on per-sonalized ads and the conse-quences it’s going to have onsmall-business owners.”

“We believe that this is asimple matter of standing upfor our users,” Apple said. “Us-ers should know when theirdata is being collected andshared across other apps andwebsites—and they should have

the choice to allow that or not.”Apple has said starting early

next year its iOS 14 operatingsystem will give iPhone andiPad users the option to no lon-ger share personal informationthat many developers rely on totailor ads. When users open anapp, they will see a messageasking permission to trackwhat other apps and websitesthey visit, their location andother behaviors.

Apple’s plan has drawn criti-cism from a range of busi-nesses and trade groups. Theyinclude the publisher of DMGMedia, operator of the DailyMail and MailOnline, and thePartnership for ResponsibleAddressable Media, a coalition

of advertisers and ad-tech com-panies that was formed in Julyto forestall Apple’s change.

A group of trade associa-tions filed a complaint withFrance’s competition authorityin October, saying that Apple’splan was anticompetitive.

Facebook itself is facingchallenges to its business prac-tices. The Federal Trade Com-mission and 46 states sued thecompany this month, accusingit of buying upstart rivals tochoke off competition. TheFTC’s case aims to force Face-book to unwind acquisitions ofWhatsApp and Instagram, twoof its landmark deals. Facebookcountered that the FTC had

PleaseturntopageB4

Facebook Joins Fight Against AppleSocial-media giantto assist ‘Fortnite’maker’s legal battle tostop shift in app policy

At a Finite Carbon job site in Tennessee, trees are measured to determine carbon-offset credit. BP will now control Finite Carbon.

BRET

TCA

RLSE

NFO

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STREETWISE | ByJames Mackintosh

BorrowingFor StocksHas ItsPitfalls

The bondmarket has amessage forevery issuer:Borrow! More!Money!

Yields are close to as lowas they have ever been.Should you be loading up ondebt to pour into stocks,property and other thingsthat might produce a returnabove the cost of repayingthe loan? One notable inves-tor shows how getting every-thing right can deliver fatreturns—but still come witha hefty drawback.

Britain’s Wellcome Truststands out in 2020, as it wasprobably the foundation bestprepared for a pandemic. Itwas a co-founder of the Co-alition for Epidemic Pre-paredness Innovations in2017, and is run by an epide-miologist who warned inJanuary that Covid-19 wasmuch worse than everyonethought.

The £29 billion, or $39billion, medical charity—Britain’s biggest founda-tion—piled on protection for20% of its stock exposure us-ing derivatives when themarket was complacentabout the danger, and hasstrongly outperformedglobal equities as a result.

This isn’t just a storyabout getting 2020 right, al-though Wellcome’s long-standing portfolio of growthstocks, including China’s Ali-baba, Tencent and JD.com,also did very well. Instead,this is about Wellcome’s de-cision back in 2018 to bor-row at what was then thelowest rate ever for a corpo-rate 100-year bond, to investin (mostly) stocks.

On the plus side, thechoice of stocks did bril-liantly. In the year to the endof September, Wellcome’sequity-heavy portfolio re-turned 11% after inflation insterling terms, including div-idends, or 16% in dollarterms—matching its annualgains since 1985 and farahead of the 12% from globalstocks, in dollars.

For all its success invest-ing in stocks, Wellcomewould have been far betteroff buying its own debt. Aninvestor given the choice ofcopying Wellcome’s stockportfolio or taking the otherside of the trade by buyingits triple-A rated centurybond, should have boughtthe bond: It has returnedmore than 30% this year.

Wellcome had to recog-nize this missed opportunitywith an accounting charge of£260 million, to reflect thefact it would now cost moreto buy back its debt. In ef-fect, this was the cost of themissed opportunity to issueits bonds now with even

PleaseturntopageB11

California forest carbon-offsetcredits issued

*As of Dec. 15 †Third-quarter priceNote: Each credit represents a metric ton of carbon sequestered in standing forestsSource: California Air Resources Board

50

0

10

20

30

40

million offset credits

2013 ’14 ’16 ’18 ’20*

Finite CarbonclientsAll others

Weighted average

California carbon-offsetcredit price

$16

6

8

10

12

14

’14 ’16 ’18 ’20†

Massachusetts securitiesregulators filed a complaintagainst the wildly populartrading platform operated byRobinhood Financial LLC, al-leging the company aggres-sively marketed to inexperi-enced investors and failed toimplement controls to protectthem.

In a 24-page complaint, theenforcement arm of the Mas-sachusetts Securities Divisionsaid Robinhood failed to pro-tect its customers and theirassets, violating state laws andregulations. Robinhood ex-posed Massachusetts investorsto “unnecessary trading risks”by “falling far short of the fi-duciary standard” adopted thisyear that requires broker-deal-ers to act in their clients’ bestinterest, the state saidWednesday.

The Wall Street Journal re-ported early in the day thestate’s intention to file the ad-ministrative complaint. Thedocument focuses on the tech-nological outages the platformhas experienced and says Rob-inhood incentivizes frequentuse, including by allowing cus-tomers with limited or no ex-perience to attempt morecomplicated trades.

Robinhood disagrees withthe allegations, a spokes-woman said, and the companyintends to defend itself vigor-ously. “Over the past severalmonths, we’ve worked dili-gently to ensure our systemsscale and are available whenpeople need them,” she said.“We’ve also made significantimprovements to our optionsoffering, adding safeguardsand enhanced educational ma-terials.”

The complaint from the of-fice of William Galvin, the sec-retary of the Commonwealthof Massachusetts, marks thelatest round of scrutiny thatthe popular brokerage hasfaced in its short history.Since it was founded less thana decade ago, Robinhood hasexploded in popularity, amass-ing more than 13 million cus-tomer accounts. Traders tendto be drawn to the user-friendly platform that allowscustomers to trade securitieslike stocks free.

Its growth has also made itthe target of probes from reg-ulators. Last year, Robinhoodagreed to pay $1.25 million tosettle claims from the Finan-cial Industry Regulatory Au-thority, which alleged thecompany didn’t take steps toensure it was getting the bestprices for customer orders.The company agreed to settlewithout admitting or denyingfault.

The accusations from Mas-sachusetts center on the tac-

PleaseturntopageB2

BY CAITLIN MCCABE

RobinhoodAccused ofMisleadingInvestors

more on taxing personal in-come, particularly of high-in-come households, and oper-ates a growing regulatorystructure. Texas leans on moreregressive property and salestaxes and boasts a more lais-sez-faire environment. Thebiggest difference: High-paidexecutives who move can seetheir state income-tax bills gofrom 13.3% to nothing.

But corporate investorshoping for big tax and othersavings may need to tempertheir enthusiasm. Business-taxconsiderations are likely toprove secondary at best, taxand economic-development ex-perts say. They are dwarfed bythe allure of more-affordablehousing, lower cost of livingand lighter regulatory burdens.

For companies, much of thedifference between California

Moves by high-profile com-panies to Texas from Califor-nia are likely to improve thepersonal finances of execu-tives and offer employeesmore affordable housing—butmake little difference to thefirms’ tax bills.

Oracle Corp. and HewlettPackard Enterprise Co. arethe latest big corporations toannounce moves to the LoneStar State. Elon Musk, thechief executive of Tesla Inc., isalso moving to Texas, and theelectric car company is ex-panding there.

The announcements havehighlighted the vastly differ-ent tax and regulatory systemsin the country’s two most pop-ulous states. California relies

BY RICHARD RUBINAND THEO FRANCIS

Lower Costs DrawTech Firms to Texas

INSIDE

BP PLC has bought a con-trolling stake in the largestU.S. producer of carbon off-sets, doubling down on a betthat preserving forests will bekey to companies meetingtheir carbon-reduction goals.

The oil giant in late 2019made a $5 million venture in-vestment in Pennsylvania’s Fi-nite Carbon, which helps land-owners sell their forests asplaces where carbon will besequestered for decades. Withmajority ownership of Finite,BP plans to take global thebusiness of paying landownersnot to cut down trees.

BP and Finite didn’t dis-close financial terms of thelatest deal but said that theforestry firm was now part ofthe energy company’s Launch-pad. The unit functions simi-larly to a private-equity firmby taking big economic stakesin businesses with an eye to-ward steering them throughexpansion.

“Finite Carbon has the po-tential to build a global plat-form for managing and financ-ing natural climate solutions,”said David Eyton, BP’s execu-

tive vice president of innova-tion and engineering.

BP itself has been one of theworld’s biggest buyers of for-est carbon-offset credits, atype of climate-change cur-rency. The company has spenthundreds of millions of dollarson offsets to comply with Cali-fornia regulators. They operatea so-called cap-and-trade sys-tem that aims to reduce green-house gases by making it more

expensive over time for com-panies operating in the stateto pollute.

In California’s system, pre-serving forests with century-long conservation pacts is re-warded with credits, eachrepresenting a metric ton ofcarbon sequestered in treesthat landowners have beenpaid not to cut.

BP is wagering that cap-and-trade will spread. Mean-

while, there is a growing, spec-ulative market for what areknown as voluntary offsetcredits. Such credits are cre-ated under guidelines similarto California’s strict rules butnot used for regulatory com-pliance—at least not yet.

For now, voluntary offsetsare mainly used by companieswanting to cancel out emis-sions on their own carbon led-gers. The billions of dollars pil-ing up in ESG funds, whichpromise to invest with ecologi-cal and social responsibility inmind, has sent companies rac-ing to reduce their emissionsand make up for those theycannot avoid. Companies in-cluding Amazon.com Inc., AppleInc. and Royal Dutch Shell PLChave promised carbon neutral-ity in the coming decades.

BP, targeting carbon neu-trality by 2050, says it is annu-ally responsible for 415 millionmetric tons of carbon emis-sions, between its operationsand the burning of its oil-and-gas output by drivers andpower plants. Beyond ensuringample supply of offsets, energycompanies like BP areequipped with trading desks

PleaseturntopageB2

Total state and local business taxes as a share of private-sectoreconomic activity

Source: Ernst & Young, Council on State Taxation, State Tax Research InstituteNote: Gross state product reflects an average of calendar-year 2018 and calendar-year 2019

0 6%1% 2% 3% 4% 5%

NewYork

Texas

Florida

Illinois

Pennsylvania

U.S. average

California

Ohio

Georgia

North Carolina

Michigan

B2 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 * * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSESThese indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeoplein today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

AAirbnb..........................B4Alphabet..............A1,R10Amazon.com............. B2, B12,R10,R11Apple..............A4,B1,R10AT&T............................B3

BBarkBox.......................B3BioNTech.....................A7Boies Schiller Flexner B4BP................................B1BT Group.....................A9

CChewy..........................B3China CommunicationsConstruction.............B4

China Evergrande NewEnergy Vehicle Group

...................................B12China Mobile...............B4China RailwayConstruction.............B4

Coca-Cola ....................A1Condé Nast.................A4ContextLogic...............B4Cravath, Swaine &Moore........................B4

CRRC............................B4CVS Health .................A7

DDoorDash.....................B4

E - FEpic Games.................B1Facebook...A1,A7,B1,R10Finite Carbon..............B1

GGannett.......................A4

HHangzhou HikvisionDigital Technology....B4

HBO.............................B3Hewlett PackardEnterprise.................B1

Huawei........................A9

LLive NationEntertainment........R14

Luckin Coffee............B11

MMarquee Brands .........B3Massachusetts MutualLife Insurance.........B11

Microsoft...................R10Moderna......................A7MSCI............................B4

NNews Corp...................A4Northern StarAcquisitions..............B3

O - POracle ..........................B1

PayPal........................B11Petco Animal Supplies.....................................B3Pfizer...........................A7Pinterest .....................B4

RRetail EcommerceVentures ...................B3

Robinhood Financial............................. B1,B11Roblox..........................B4Roku ............................B3Ruffer InvestmentManagement...........B11

SSaadia Group...............B3SemiconductorManufacturingInternational.............B4

Square.......................B11Sunac China..............B12

TTesla............................B1Theranos......................B4Twitter........................A7Tyson Foods................B3

WWalgreens BootsAlliance.....................A7

WarnerMedia..............B3Webull.......................B11

INDEX TO PEOPLE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

BY SEBASTIAN HERRERA

Amazon Workers in Alabama GetNLRB Approval for Union Vote

Amazon has hired law firms, held meetings and taken other steps to counter past organizing efforts.

MICHAELWADE/ICO

NSMI/ZUMAPRESS

position on the wait list by“tapping” a fake credit card inthe app up to 1,000 times aday, the complaint says.

It also alleges Robinhoodviolated its own rules regard-ing options trading by approv-ing customers to engage in thepractice without having thenecessary qualifications. Op-tions allow traders to pay arelatively small sum for a bigreturn if their wagers provecorrect. In turn, however,losses can add up if traders’bets are wrong.

Like many brokerages, Rob-inhood makes money by apractice called payment for or-der flow, sending customer or-ders to trading firms in returnfor cash payments. By encour-aging inexperienced investorsto continuously executetrades, “Robinhood prioritizedits revenue over the best in-terest of its customers,” thecomplaint says.

It also addresses the recentoutages Robinhood experi-enced that sidelined tradersfrom accessing their accountsat different points this year.“Robinhood failed to ade-quately protect its customersand their assets” by “failing toimplement policies and proce-

dures reasonably designed toprevent and respond to out-ages and disruptions on itstrading platform,” the statesaid.

Mr. Galvin said the com-plaint aims to protect youngMassachusetts investors. Theplatform, he said, “is not pre-sented as serious investingwith substantial risk.”

“It’s presented as some sortof game that you might be ableto win,” he added. The com-plaint estimates that as of

early December, Robinhood hasnearly 500,000 customers inMassachusetts with accountstotaling over $1.6 billion.

The complaint against Rob-inhood focuses, in part, onwhat the regulator says is thecompany’s violation of thestate’s new fiduciary rule,which it began enforcing inSeptember. The complaint

marks Mr. Galvin’s first en-forcement action of the rule.

The regulation stipulatesthat a broker-dealer has aduty of loyalty to its custom-ers, in part by making recom-mendations that give priorityto the customers’ interestswithout regard to the interestsof any other party. Regulatorssay the lists of popular tradesto which users have accesshave the potential to influencethe securities that traders buy,without the company conduct-ing “a suitability analysis” ofthose investments.

Robinhood’s spokeswomansaid the company is a self-di-rected broker-dealer anddoesn’t make investment rec-ommendations.

Among other requested re-lief, Massachusetts regulatorsseek to require Robinhood toengage consultants to reviewits infrastructure in responseto the platform outages and toenhance its policies for ap-proving users for options trad-ing. The complaint also sug-gests an administrative fine beplaced on Robinhood.

Mr. Galvin said the case willbe heard by an independenthearing officer. Robinhood canappeal the decision.

tics that the company uses tokeep customers engaged,claiming that it “encouragescustomers to use the platformconstantly” through what itcalls “gamification.” The com-plaint alleges that, throughthe promise of free stocks,push notifications and its sig-nature digital confetti, Robin-hood encourages “continuousand repeated engagement withits application.” State regula-tors allege Robinhood allowedone customer with no invest-ment experience to make morethan 12,700 trades in just oversix months.

In another example, theregulators point to Robin-hood’s rollout of a new cash-management feature, accom-panied by a wait list forcustomers to sign up for earlyaccess. Customers were giventhe ability to improve their

ContinuedfrompageB1

RobinhoodAccused ofShortfalls

climates, with California 49th.That is largely a function ofindividual taxes, some ofwhich do fall on business in-come. The group ranks Califor-nia ahead of Texas on corpo-rate and property taxes.

Texas collects 5% of its pri-vate-sector economy in busi-ness taxes, ahead of the 4.5%national average and Califor-nia’s 4.3%, according to theCouncil on State Taxation, abusiness group.

Historically, companies havefocused much more attentionon federal taxes than statetaxes. After the U.S. cut the fed-eral corporate tax rate from35% to 21% in 2017, state corpo-rate taxes became a more im-portant cost for companies.

“Oracle’s departure only

drives home the point,” saidJared Walczak, vice presidentof state projects at the TaxFoundation. “It has never beeneasier for individuals andbusinesses to relocate to avoidhigh tax burdens and othercosts.”

Changing addresses or evenmoving people and facilitiesdoesn’t necessarily change acompany’s tax costs on itsown.

Both California and Texasgenerally determine a com-pany’s tax base in their stateby looking at what share oftheir sales happen in the state.So moving employees withoutchanging where they sell prod-ucts and services is unlikely todo much to alter what a com-pany owes. California’s corpo-

rate income tax has an 8.84%top rate; the Texas franchisetax has a much broader baseand a 0.75% top rate.

The bigger factor—out-weighing any change in busi-ness taxes—is likely to be thelower cost of employing work-ers in the state. For most peo-ple, that calculation is moreabout housing costs, said Da-rien Shanske, a tax law profes-sor at the University of Cali-fornia, Davis. Housing scarcityand land-use regulations arebigger drivers of payroll coststhan taxes.

“Moving a headquarters toAustin where people can af-ford a place to live, that domi-nates whether they pay thepersonal income tax, for mostpeople,” Mr. Shanske said.

fects of California’s economicand political environment ismaking it more difficult to runa business effectively,” Mr.White said.

Oracle may not move manyjobs, even though the softwaremaker cited workplace flexibil-ity for the address change.HPE already has big opera-tions in Texas. The servercomputer maker said it wasmoving to find diverse talentand long-term savings. AdamBauer, an HPE spokesman,said the move wasn’t drivenby taxes and there will be nocorporate tax benefit.

“It’s not always a clear-cutcase that Texas is a winnercompared to California,” saidMatt Hunsaker, a state-taxlawyer at Baker & HostetlerLLP who practices in bothstates but wasn’t discussingany particular companies.

“It’s not worlds apart forbusiness taxes.” he said. “Butit can be worlds apart for [in-dividual] income taxes, and alot of times that’s importantto the business in managingtheir payroll costs and keepingtheir employees happy.”

The Tax Foundation, a con-servative-leaning Washingtongroup, puts Texas 11th in itsranking of state business-tax

ContinuedfrompageB1that can capitalize on broaderdemand for carbon credits.

Energy companies and oth-ers are working to developcarbon-capture technologythat sucks carbon dioxide fromthe atmosphere and stashes itunderground. Doing so is thusfar uneconomical and untestedat scale, though. When itcomes to carbon sequestra-tion, trees are nature’s knownquantity.

Like other forestry consul-tants, Finite sizes up trees onbehalf of landowners. But in-stead of estimating what saw-mills will pay for the timber,Finite’s foresters measuretrees to estimate biomass andthus how much carbon is beingstored on properties.

Finite has created and soldoffset credits on behalf oflandowners. They include arailroad, Maine’s Passa-

ContinuedfrompageB1

BBauer, Adam...............B2Bianco, David............B11

CCampanella, Greg........B3Carney, Sean...............B2Coles, Joanna..............B3

DDruckenmiller, Stanley...................................B11

EEyton, David................B1

F - GFiske, Neil...................B3Giovanelli, Lorenza...A11

HHolmes, Elizabeth ......B4Hutchinson, Y-Vonne..B4

JJoneja, Manish............B3Jones, Paul Tudor.....B11

KKassam, Altaf...........B11

LLedecky, Jon................B3Levy, Dan ....................B1Liang, Mong Song.......B4

MMalkiel, Burton.........R10Mehr, Alex...................B3

Michaels, Jillian........R13Moakes, Nick ............B11Mognetti, Jean-Marie...................................B11Musk, Elon..................R4

RRagan, James ...........B11

SSaadia, Jack................B3Schmidt, Susan.........B11Silbermann, Ben.........B4Szulczewski, Peter .....B4

TThorn, John...............A14

WWalczak, Jared............B2

maquoddy tribe, Appalachiancoal concerns, land trusts andtimberland management or-ganizations, which pool inves-tors’ cash to buy forests.

Finite says its clients havebeen paid more than $500 mil-lion not to cut down trees,mostly by buyers using theoffsets to operate in Califor-nia. Finite has been responsi-ble for more than 45% of allforest offsets issued by thestate since cap-and-tradestarted in 2013, according toCalifornia Air Resources Boarddata.

The firm used BP’s earlierinvestment to hire forestersand build an online platformthat helps smaller landown-ers sell voluntary credits byeliminating much of the leg-work and expense of enroll-ing large tracts in the Califor-nia program.

Carbon-conscious compa-nies’ demand for voluntarycredits has lately swamped the20-person firm, said Sean Car-ney, who founded Finite withfinancial backers in 2009 andwill remain chief executive.BP’s bigger investment will en-able Finite to continue addingforesters and expand into for-ests around the world.

BP TapsInto TradeOn Trees

Cheaper housing prices are an important reason people move to places like Austin, Texas.

BRONTË

WITTP

ENNFO

RTH

EWALL

STR

EETJO

URNAL

Low CostsSend FirmsTo Texas

‘It’s presented assome sort of gamethat youmight beable to win.’

Amazon.com Inc. workersat an Alabama warehouse re-ceived approval to hold aunionization vote, the firstsuch election since 2014 at thenation’s second-largest em-ployer, testing the potential foradditional labor organizing atthe retailing giant.

The National Labor Rela-tions Board ruled that employ-ees at Amazon’s Bessemer, Ala.,warehouse can decide whetherto create a bargaining unitwithin the Retail, Wholesaleand Department Store Union,according to an NLRB official.The date of the election andother terms have yet to be de-termined. A hearing about thevote is scheduled for Friday.

A majority of the workerswould have to choose unioniza-tion for the employees to gainrepresentation. The Alabamawarehouse has about 1,500 full-and part-time employees, ac-cording to the union, althoughAmazon has said the total ishigher.

Thoughmany hurdles remain,labor experts say a successfulcampaign by workers could in-spire similar efforts at otherAmazon warehouses. The com-pany has more than 800,000U.S. employees, second only toWalmart Inc. in the country, aswell as more than 760 facilitiesin its fulfillment network, ac-cording to logistics consultantMWPVL International.

An Amazon spokeswomansaid the company didn’t believe

“this group represents the ma-jority of our employees’ views.Our employees choose to workat Amazon because we offersome of the best jobs avail-able.”

A spokeswoman for the re-tail and wholesale union de-clined to comment.

Hourly Amazon workershave never previously formedor joined a union in the U.S.The same is true at WalmartInc., which has about 1.5 mil-lion U.S. employees.

Amazon has hired at an un-paralleled pace this year. Thecompany has said it addedmore than 400,000 workers in2020, bringing its global work-force to more than 1.1 million.

NASA Gives OKTo Bezos Rocket

The space-transportationcompany run by Amazon.comInc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezosreached another important step-pingstone in its effort to be-come an established launcher ofU.S. civilian and national-securitypayloads.

The National Aeronauticsand Space Administration onWednesday named Blue OriginFederation LLC’s New Glennrocket—a 310-foot reusablebooster that isn’t expected to

make its first flight until 2021—as one of its potential launchproviders for scientific missionslater in the decade.

The agency said no specificcontracts had been awarded toBlue Origin, but the announce-ment for the first time makesthe closely held company eligiblefor such NASA business. Underthe arrangement, the companyMr. Bezos founded nearly twodecades ago will be allowed touse New Glenn, roughly six sto-ries taller than rival rockets, tocompete for awards. Blue Ori-gin has also been testing hard-ware to take tourists on subor-bital rides. —Andy Pasztor

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BUSINESS NEWS

has sought to shore up its pub-lic image, pushing back onclaims by regulators, lawmakersand labor unions that compa-nies didn’t act quickly enoughto protect their employees.Some meatpackers have keptat-risk employees at home withpay amid the current virussurge, while advocating fortheir workers to be among thefirst to receive Covid-19 vac-cines now being administeredto front-line health-care work-ers and at-risk individuals.

A Tyson spokesman said thelaw firm’s investigation, over-seen by former U.S. AttorneyGeneral Eric Holder, specificallylooked into the gambling allega-tions and found enough evi-dence to justify firing those in-volved. The company said itwould create a working groupof local community leaders inresponse to the Iowa episodeand find new ways to hear outworkers’ concerns.

Allegations that Waterlooplant managers bet on Covid-19infections and were slow toprovide safety gear came in aNovember court filing as part ofa continuing lawsuit. That law-suit seeks to hold Tyson andseveral executives and plantmanagers responsible for thedeath of Isidro Fernandez, aplant worker who died April 26from Covid-19 complications,according to the lawsuit.

Mel Orchard, an attorneyrepresenting Mr. Fernandez’sson, said that Tyson’s actionshowed the allegations’ credi-bility. “Tyson is beginning to dothe right thing, but for somepeople it’s too little, too late,”Mr. Orchard said.

Tyson Foods Inc. said itfired seven managers of anIowa meatpacking plant follow-ing the company’s investigationinto allegations that they hadwagered on Covid-19 infectionsamong employees.

Tyson announced the inves-tigation in November, after awrongful-death lawsuit filed bythe family of a deceased Tysonworker claimed that managersof the company’s Waterloo,Iowa, pork-processing facilityorganized a betting pool aroundhow many employees wouldcontract the coronavirus andpressured sick employees tostay on the job. After the allega-tions came to light, Tyson saidit suspended some plant man-agers without pay and hired lawfirm Covington & Burling to in-vestigate.

“The behaviors exhibited bythese individuals do not repre-sent the Tyson core values,which is why we took immedi-ate and appropriate action toget to the truth,” said DeanBanks, Tyson’s chief executive.A company spokesman de-clined to identify the termi-nated managers.

The claims surfaced as Ty-son and other U.S. meat proces-sors face another nationalsurge in Covid-19 infections.The record numbers of caseshave tested defenses meat com-panies put in place in responseto springtime outbreaks thatsickened thousands of workers,forced temporary plant clo-sures and led to meat shortagesin some supermarkets.

The U.S. meat industry also

BY JACOB BUNGE

Covid-19 Bets LeadTo Tyson Dismissals

Roku Inc. reached a dealwith AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMe-dia to carry the HBO Maxstreaming service, ending aneight-month standoff be-tween the companies and en-suring that Roku customerswill be able to watch contentsuch as the coming “WonderWoman” movie.

The two companies wereat loggerheads since HBOMax was launched in Mayover the financial terms forRoku to carry the app. Thestakes were raised for bothsides when WarnerMediasaid the highly anticipatedmovie “Wonder Woman1984” would be released si-multaneously in theaters andon HBO Max on ChristmasDay.

The agreement signifi-cantly expands the potentialaudience for the WarnerMe-dia movie. Roku is the lead-ing streaming app distributorin the U.S., with some 46 mil-lion active accounts and 38%of the market including set-top devices and software thatpowers smart TVs.

WarnerMedia has said itsfull slate of films for 2021will be launched the sameway as “Wonder Woman,”with availability on HBO Maxin the U.S. alongside the the-atrical release.

The company hopes thatsuch premium programmingwill generate a wave of sub-scriptions for the streamingservice, which is battlingNetflix Inc., Walt Disney Co.’sDisney+, Comcast Corp.’sPeacock, and several otherservices.

The standoff with HBOMax is one of several Rokuhas had with media compa-nies. Its biggest rival instreaming-media distribu-tion, Amazon.com Inc., alsohas had tense negotiationswith some companies overcarrying their apps in itsFireTV devices. WarnerMediareached a deal to place HBOMax on FireTV in November.

Roku makes money sellingits devices, but also gener-ates substantial revenuethrough its deals with con-tent providers. When compa-nies get their apps carried byRoku, they generally agree tosupply a share of subscrip-tion revenue and advertisingspace.

WarnerMedia and Rokudiffered over how to split adspace in a coming ad-sup-ported version of HBO Max,people familiar with the talkssaid. WarnerMedia took ahard line in the talks againstsupplying content to theRoku Channel, an ad-sup-ported video app owned byRoku, one of the people said.

In the deal, WarnerMediadidn’t share any content forthe Roku Channel, the personsaid.

Standoffs such as the onebetween Roku and Warner-Media are becoming a regularoccurrence in TV’s streamingera. They are reminiscent ofnegotiations in the cable-TVworld, when distributors paycarriage fees to networks.For years, cable channels andproviders have quarreledover those terms, sometimesleaving cable customers with-out access to programming.

Roku had a similar disputewith Fox Corp. over carriageof its apps that nearly leftRoku users without access tothe Feb. 2 Super Bowl. A longstandoff with Comcast Corp.’sNBCUniversal over carryingPeacock nearly pushed Rokuto drop dozens of NBCUniver-sal apps from its channelstore in September.

This month Roku blockednew downloads of Spectrum,an app for customers ofCharter Communications Inc.,after a carriage contract be-tween the two companies ex-pired.

BY PATIENCE HAGGIN

RokuIn PactTo StreamAT&T’sHBO Max

The agreementcomes ahead of therelease of the new‘WonderWoman.’

cial-media accounts, as well aslists of customer email ad-dresses and phone numbers.

“It’s always a lower cost andeasier to market to an existingcustomer than acquire a newone,” said Greg Campanella,managing director and valua-tion practice leader at OceanTomo LLC, an investment bankfocused on intellect

brand straight out of bank-ruptcy and rebooting it onlinecan be quicker and cheaperthan building one from scratch.Shoppers are more trusting ofbrands they recognize and mayeven be nostalgic for, said Da-vid Silverman, a U.S. retail ana-lyst at Fitch Ratings Inc. And inbankruptcy sales, buyers alsopick up website domains, so-

ware retailer Sur La Table,mother-to-be clothing linesMotherhood Maternity and APea in the Pod, luxury-leathergoods merchant Bruno Magliand women’s apparel brandsBCBGMaxazria and BCBGenera-tion in bankruptcy sales overthe past few years in dealsworth at least $280 million.

For investors, buying a

this year, according to analyticsprovider 1010data.

“We feel like there are a lotof really great brands out therethat are stuck inside brokenand outdated businesses,” saidNeil Fiske, chief executive ofMarquee Brands, which hasbought 11 brands, six of themout of bankruptcy.

Marquee took over kitchen-

Lord & Taylor, Stein Mart,Pier 1 Imports and MotherhoodMaternity don’t have physicalstores in their future, but theirnew owners are betting theycan unlock value from thesewell-known brands by recastingthem as e-commerce players.

A handful of brand-acquisi-tion and licensing companiesare hoping the growth in onlineshopping that helped drive arecord number of retailers intobankruptcy this year will alsoplay a role in resurrecting theserepackaged brands into online-only businesses.

Investors such as MarqueeBrands LLC, which is backed byinvestment manager NeubergerBerman Group LLC, and RetailEcommerce Ventures LLC, theMiami-based brainchild of twoserial entrepreneurs, have ac-quired control of several famil-iar retail names.

After paying to acquire theintellectual-property rights ofthe brands, these investors areusing a combination of social-media savvy, targeted-brandpromotion and direct-to-con-sumer marketing to reachshoppers.

For the relaunched brands,the months during the pan-demic when Americansshopped mostly online offereda unique opportunity to expandthe brands’ reach. Online retailsales, including curbside pick-ups, are projected to jump 50%

BY AISHA AL-MUSLIM

Brands Get a Second Life Online

A Sur La Table store in San Francisco in July. The kitchenware retailer is one of the brands to be relaunched for e-commerce.

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houseCoopers LLP.BarkBox is the latest in a

string of companies using spe-cial-purpose acquisition com-panies, or SPACs, to go public.This year has been the busiestfor the vehicle, according todata provider SPACInsider.

SPACs are public companiesformed to acquire other com-panies to take public. Startupsusing SPACs to go public fre-quently disclose their growthexpectations—a practice thatis constrained in the tradi-

tional IPO process.Founded in 2012, BarkBox is

a dog-focused supply companyselling food, toys, treats, ac-cessories and dental productsthrough monthly subscriptionboxes, an e-commerce site andtraditional retailers such asTarget Corp. and Petco. It ex-pects to reach $365 million inrevenue for the fiscal yearending March 31.

The new round of fundingwill be used to push the com-pany’s expansion overseas and

boost new and existing prod-uct lines, the people said. TheBarkBox service has more thanone million active monthlysubscribers.

This year, the New Yorkcompany hired former Ama-zon.com Inc. executive ManishJoneja to take over as its chiefexecutive. The investors be-hind North Star include formerpublishing executive JoannaColes and Jon Ledecky, themajority owner of the NewYork Islanders hockey team.

The move comes after the company’s probe at its plant in Iowa.

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BarkBox Inc., a startup bestknown for its monthly sub-scription service for dogs, ismerging with a blank-checkcompany in a $1.6 billion deal,including debt, according topeople familiar with the mat-ter.

The acquisition by North-ern Star Acquisitions Corp.,which is expected to raise$454 million, could be an-nounced as soon as Thursday,

they said.The deal seeks to capitalize

on a pandemic-fueled rise inpet adoptions and pet-relatedspending that led Petco Ani-mal Supplies Inc. to file for aninitial public offering andpushed online pet-supply storeChewy Inc.’s latest quarterlysales up 45% year-over-year.

Spending on gifts for pets isup 21% this year from 2019, abigger jump than spending ongifts for humans, according toa recent report by Pricewater-

BY CHARITY L. SCOTT

Pet-Food Startup BarkBox to List in SPACDeal

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B4 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 * * * * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

TECHNOLOGY WSJ.com/Tech

broker-dealers, and custodians,within their chain of financialintermediaries would signifi-cantly limit their ability totransact in the impacted secu-rities,” it said.

On Wednesday in HongKong, shares in China Commu-nications Construction Co.,China Railway ConstructionCorp. and CRRC Corp., three ofthe named stocks, fell between1% and 2%, while the city’sHang Seng Index added 1%.

manufacturer, and HangzhouHikvision Digital TechnologyCo., a Shenzhen-listed surveil-lance specialist.

MSCI said it had heard frommore than 100 market partici-pants, and respondents said itwould be hard for internationalinstitutional investors to investin these 10 stocks.

“In particular, non-U.S. mar-ket participants noted that theextensive presence of U.S. enti-ties, such as commercial banks,

bile Ltd., which has a $117 bil-lion market value—have beenspared, and the overall impacton indexes will be limited.FTSE Russell and S&P DowJones took a similar approach.

MSCI said the affectedstocks made up 0.04% of its AllCountry World Investable Mar-ket Index and 0.28% of theemerging-markets equivalent.They include SemiconductorManufacturing InternationalCorp., China’s largest chip

MSCI Inc. will strip its in-dexes of stocks in seven Chinesecompanies that the U.S. govern-ment says help China’s military,including the country’s largestchip maker and a major pro-ducer of surveillance equipment.

The move, which will takeeffect by the close of businesson Jan. 5, follows similar ac-tions by other benchmark pro-viders including FTSE Russelland S&P Dow Jones Indices. Itwill affect 10 securities thattrade in either Hong Kong,Shanghai or Shenzhen.

Last month, PresidentTrump signed an executive or-der barring Americans from in-vesting in 31 Chinese compa-nies that the U.S. DefenseDepartment says supply andotherwise support China’s mili-tary, intelligence and securityservices.

In a statement after U.S.markets closed Tuesday, MSCIsaid its list only includes secu-rities issued by companies ex-plicitly named in the order, butnot those from subsidiaries oraffiliated companies.

That means some of thelargest stocks that could po-tentially have been affected bythe order—such as China Mo-

BY CHONG KOH PING

MSCI Drops Blacklist StocksSeven companiesnamed as assistingChinese military willexit index Jan. 5

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, which operates surveillance cameras, is one of the stocks.

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said it would take steps to im-prove its culture, includingmandating unconscious-biastraining for its more than 2,400employees world-wide and cre-ating a team dedicated to in-vestigating workplace concerns.Pinterest also pledged to stan-dardize and increase transpar-ency around employee pay andpromotions.

The steps Pinterest prom-ised are part of recommenda-tions from Wilmer CutlerPickering Hale and Dorr LLP, a

law firm Pinterest’s board hiredin June to conduct an indepen-dent review of the company’sculture. Pinterest said the lawfirm interviewed more than 350current and former employeesto inform its recommendations,which the board committeesigned off on late last month.

“We are committed to mak-ing the recommended changesand plan to update you on howwe’ll be taking action, includingcommitting resources, sharinga road map, and reporting on

small businesses that hadstarted charging for specialevents and experiences throughtheir mobile apps to make upfor financial losses caused bythe pandemic. Apple a monthlater said it would give busi-nesses a reprieve from payingthe fee on such in-app sales un-til year-end.

More recently, Apple said itwould halve the commission itcharges smaller developers thatsell software through its AppStore.

The iPhone maker said lastmonth that starting next year itwill collect 15%, rather than30%, of App Store sales fromcompanies that generate lessthan $1 million in revenuethrough the software platform,including in-app purchases.

and Tinder owner Match GroupInc.

Epic filed suit against Appleand Alphabet Inc.’s Google inAugust after the companiespulled “Fortnite” from theirapp stores because the devel-oper added an unauthorizedpayment system to the survivalgame that skirted a 30% feethey both collect on in-app pur-chases. Apple countersued amonth later, accusing Epic ofduplicity and greed.

Apple and Google have saidthe commission they charge isin line with what most otherapp marketplaces charge andhelps cover the cost of storeservices they provide, such asuser privacy and security.

In August Facebook said Ap-ple’s commission was hurting

previously approved those ac-quisitions and said that peopleand small businesses choose touse its free services and adver-tising because of the value thatit provides them.

By aiding Epic, Facebook iswading further into a battleover Apple’s App Store com-mission that is being waged byseveral other companies, in-cluding Spotify Technology SA

ContinuedfrompageB1

FacebookAids FightOver Apps

disclosed but generally discusshow Theranos should respondto the media, investors andregulators, court filings show.Most deal with potential legalaction Boies Schiller was help-ing Ms. Holmes pursue againstThe Wall Street Journal, LanceWade, an attorney for Ms.Holmes, told a federal judge.

The 2018 indictments fol-lowed an investigation thatgrew out of reporting by theJournal that revealed failingsin Theranos’s technology andbusiness practices. Theranostold shareholders it would for-mally dissolve a few monthslater.

The privilege issue is one ofseveral Ms. Holmes’s attorneys

have raised to try to limit howmuch jurors hear during thetrial. Other requests seek tokeep the former CEO’s wealthand certain news coverage outof the courtroom.

Most of the documents un-der discussion Wednesdaywere emails Theranos employ-ees exchanged with BoiesSchiller, whose lawyers, in-cluding famed litigator DavidBoies, represented Theranosfor years.

“This is a unique relation-ship,” Mr. Wade said duringthe hearing, noting that theyaren’t seeking to shield com-munications with every lawfirm that worked for the com-pany.

started trading that he wasn’tconcerned about a potentialfirst-day pop. “To be honest,we never talked about thepop,” he said, adding that hefelt good about the amount thecompany raised in the offeringand the pricing.

It is unclear what led to theselloff Wednesday. The broaderpublic’s lack of familiarity withthe Wish brand could have beena factor, analysts say.

“Even when there’s a veryhot IPO market, that doesn’tmean everything jumps up,”said Jay Ritter, a finance profes-sor at the University of Florida.

Founded in 2010, the SanFrancisco-based company fo-cuses on providing mass-pro-duced, low-price items in arange of categories such as

fashion, gadgets and kitchenutensils. The pandemic hasbeen a boon for e-commercegiants such as Amazon.comInc., as homebound consumersshop online for work, schooland other necessities.

Wish hasn’t turned an an-nual profit, according to finan-cial data dating back to 2015that the company laid out in asecurities filing, though it wasprofitable for the first twoquarters of 2019.

Its stock offering is ex-pected to be among the lastlarge debuts this year, cappingone of the hottest IPO marketsin history. So far this year,companies have raised morethan $160 billion on U.S. ex-changes, far exceeding the pre-vious full-year record set in1999, according to Dealogicdata that date to 1995.

Shares of the parent com-pany of e-commerce site Wishfell roughly 16% below theirinitial-public-offering price intheir Wednesday debut, in con-trast to sharp gains recordedlast week when Airbnb Inc.and DoorDash Inc. came tomarket.

The stock of ContextLogicInc. closed at $20.05, valuingthe company at $14.32 billion.On Tuesday, ContextLogicpriced its IPO at $24 a share,raising about $1.1 billion ingross proceeds for the com-pany. Shares opened at $22.75.

It is unusual for a companyto trade below its IPO price onthe first day, particularly in alarge offering. Before Wish’slisting, only 13 of 85 U.S.-listedIPOs valued at or over $10 bil-lion declined on the first day oftrading, according to Dealogicdata that goes back to 1995.

The performance of Wishshows the challenges under-writers have faced, particularlyin recent months, in finding theright price for an initial offer-ing. If new investors are leftholding losses after the firstday of trading, the negativesentiment around the stock canlinger. But recently bank under-writers have come under scru-tiny for underpricing IPOs.

When shares jump as thoseof Airbnb and DoorDash did,the companies miss out on bil-lions of dollars they mighthave raised; instead they handthem to investors, some ofwhom are only in it to make aquick buck. Roblox Corp. lastweek delayed its planned IPOuntil 2021 on concerns that therecent first-day pops made ittoo difficult to determine theright price for the videogamecompany’s shares.

Wish founder and Chief Ex-ecutive Peter Szulczewski saidin an interview Wednesday be-fore his company’s stock

BY DAVE SEBASTIANAND MAUREEN FARRELL

Wish Parent EndsTrading DebutBelow IPO Price

16%Roughly the drop inContextLogic shares

Theranos Inc. founder Eliz-abeth Holmes is fighting tokeep jurors in her comingfraud trial from seeing emailsand other documents tied tothe law firm Boies SchillerFlexner LLP, arguing they areprotected communicationswith her lawyers.

Ms. Holmes and former topTheranos executive Ramesh“Sunny” Balwani are facingcharges of defrauding inves-tors in the defunct blood-test-ing startup out of hundreds ofmillions of dollars and deceiv-ing patients about the reliabil-ity of Theranos tests.

Ms. Holmes is slated to goto trial in early March, withMr. Balwani’s trial to follow ata later date. They have bothpleaded not guilty to chargesthat could send them to prisonfor 20 years.

Prosecutors with the U.S.attorney’s office for the North-ern District of California saidat a Wednesday court hearingthat the 13 documents at issueweren’t protected by attorney-client privilege because theystemmed from work BoiesSchiller lawyers were doingfor Theranos as a company,not Ms. Holmes personally.

The emails, sent from 2013to 2016, haven’t been publicly

BY SARA RANDAZZO

Theranos’s Holmes Seeks toBar Lawyer Emails at Trial

Elizabeth Holmes is charged with investor fraud in California.

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progress,” Pinterest Chief Exec-utive Ben Silbermann said in ablog post on the company’swebsite.

Corporate culture-changeplans are only as good as acompany’s willingness to imple-ment them, said Y-VonneHutchinson, founder and CEOof ReadySet Inc., a consultingfirm in Oakland, Calif. Ms.Hutchinson described Pinter-est’s commitment as a “greatstart” but said the companywill need to follow through.

Pinterest Inc. said it wouldmake changes to its workplaceculture after a monthslong re-view prompted by former em-ployees who accused the com-pany of gender and racial bias.

The announcement cametwo days after Pinterest agreedto pay $22.5 million to settleclaims of discrimination and re-taliation from its former oper-ating chief.

The social-media company

BY SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Pinterest Pledges Changes to Culture

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | B5

NetStock SymClose Chg

A B CABB ABB 27.05 -0.23AcadiaPharm ACAD 53.08 0.51AECOM ACM 47.45 -0.43

s AES AES 21.90 -0.38Aflac AFL 44.68 -0.19AGCO AGCO 97.81 1.33AGNC Invt AGNC 15.43 ...Ansys ANSS 343.62 0.59ASETech ASX 5.69 0.06

s ASML ASML 471.53 2.23AT&T T 30.29 -0.29AbbottLabs ABT 107.34 -0.11AbbVie ABBV 104.64 1.82

t AbCelleraBio ABCL 47.53 0.54Abiomed ABMD 274.14 -1.22AcceleronPharma XLRN 129.03 0.16Accenture ACN 247.45 0.40

s ActivisionBliz ATVI 88.22 1.30AdaptiveBiotechADPT 56.67 0.66Adobe ADBE 489.90 7.26AdvanceAuto AAP 161.32 1.48AdvMicroDevicesAMD 96.85 -0.27Aegon AEG 3.75 0.07AgilentTechs A 117.24 -0.15AgnicoEagle AEM 71.42 1.16

AirProducts APD 268.90 -1.11Airbnb ABNB 137.99 13.19AkamaiTech AKAM 104.52 0.65Albemarle ALB 135.78 -2.16Albertsons ACI 15.41 0.17Alcon ALC 64.54 -0.22

s AlexandriaRlEstARE 177.63 1.45AlexionPharm ALXN158.03 0.12Alibaba BABA 261.89 6.78AlignTech ALGN 516.34 0.04Alleghany Y 602.09 4.05Allegion ALLE 111.20 -0.50AlliantEnergy LNT 51.64 -0.74Allstate ALL 106.42 0.50AllyFinancial ALLY 34.35 -0.17AlnylamPharmALNY 138.32 2.62Alphabet A GOOGL 1757.19 -3.89Alphabet C GOOG 1763.00 -4.77Alteryx AYX 124.03 4.26

s AlticeUSA ATUS 35.31 0.17Altria MO 43.10 0.92AlumofChina ACH 8.50 -0.22Amazon.com AMZN 3240.96 75.84Ambev ABEV 3.16 0.06Amcor AMCR 11.40 -0.14Amdocs DOX 68.27 0.23Amedisys AMED 271.26 -3.73Amerco UHAL 428.22 0.75Ameren AEE 78.00 -0.73

AmericaMovil A AMOV 14.24 -0.02AmericaMovil AMX 14.43 0.12AmerAirlines AAL 16.86 -0.15AEP AEP 82.83 -1.46AmerExpress AXP 119.00 -0.10AmericanFin AFG 87.09 -1.07AmHomes4RentAMH 29.97 -0.11AIG AIG 38.32 -0.22AmerTowerREITAMT 219.62 2.37AmerWaterWorksAWK 150.37 -2.62AmericoldRealty COLD 35.51 0.67Ameriprise AMP 189.74 -1.03AmerisourceBrgnABC 98.37 -0.66Ametek AME 116.78 -1.01Amgen AMGN 228.44 -2.09Amphenol APH 130.86 -0.69AnalogDevicesADI 142.80 -1.26Anaplan PLAN 69.89 0.17AngloGoldAshAU 22.52 0.26AB InBev BUD 70.18 -0.56AnnalyCap NLY 8.37 -0.02Anthem ANTM 310.24 -2.98Aon AON 209.21 1.18ApolloGlbMgmtAPO 49.33 1.01Appian APPN 147.33 3.52Apple AAPL 127.81 -0.07ApplMaterials AMAT 88.55 0.08Aptargroup ATR 131.10 0.84Aptiv APTV 122.84 0.23

NetStock SymClose Chg

NetStock SymClose Chg

Aramark ARMK 37.37 -0.73s ArcelorMittal MT 23.21 0.03ArchCapital ACGL 35.40 0.47ArcherDaniels ADM 49.20 -0.37

s AresMgmt ARES 49.01 0.17arGEN-X ARGX 296.82 -9.81

s AristaNetworksANET 285.70 6.11s ArrowElec ARW 98.05 -0.15ArrowheadPharm ARWR 77.63 1.18AscendisPharma ASND 174.00 -1.79AspenTech AZPN 132.90 -0.71Assurant AIZ 134.21 1.82AstraZeneca AZN 50.93 0.10Athene ATH 42.40 0.01

s Atlassian TEAM 243.85 6.15AtmosEnergy ATO 99.35 -2.33Autodesk ADSK 292.17 4.64Autohome ATHM 99.01 0.57Autoliv ALV 92.64 -0.25ADP ADP 175.59 -0.16AutoZone AZO 1190.50 11.13Avalara AVLR 174.38 0.04Avalonbay AVB 161.51 -0.46Avangrid AGR 45.25 -0.08Avantor AVTR 27.52 0.08AveryDennisonAVY 150.65 -0.33AxonEnterprise AAXN 119.94 -8.87BCE BCE 43.77 -0.07BHP Group BHP 64.87 0.18

s BHP Group BBL 53.09 0.24BP BP 21.83 -0.11

s Baidu BIDU 190.40 4.90BakerHughes BKR 21.50 -0.51Ball BLL 90.43 -1.61BancoBilbaoViz BBVA 4.88 -0.04BancoBradesco BBDO 4.82 0.10BancodeChile BCH 20.00 0.47BancSanBrasil BSBR 8.81 0.09BcoSantChile BSAC 19.14 0.51BcoSantMex BSMX 5.34 -0.02BancoSantander SAN 3.21 0.01BanColombia CIB 40.82 0.16BankofAmerica BAC 28.72 0.08BankofMontreal BMO 76.44 -0.50BankNY Mellon BK 40.45 0.26BkNovaScotia BNS 53.43 -0.26Barclays BCS 7.75 0.01BarrickGold GOLD 23.07 0.20BauschHealth BHC 20.81 -0.24

NetStock SymClose Chg

BaxterIntl BAX 80.00 0.38BectonDicknsn BDX 245.29 1.16BeiGene BGNE 247.63 8.39BentleySystems BSY 35.66 1.06Berkley WRB 66.04 0.27BerkHathwy A BRK.A 3385001346.00BerkHathwy B BRK.B 221.91 -2.47BerryGlobal BERY 54.24 ...BestBuy BBY 103.50 0.51BeyondMeat BYND 139.37 1.76Bilibili BILI 78.83 2.17Bill.com BILL 142.68 2.17Bio-Techne TECH 303.02 -5.15Bio-RadLab A BIO 576.72 -11.19Biogen BIIB 248.19 -0.54BioMarinPharm BMRN 89.28 4.25BioNTech BNTX 105.78 -5.42BlackKnight BKI 89.95 1.31

s BlackLine BL 128.63 1.43BlackRock BLK 698.37 0.19

s Blackstone BX 64.93 -0.21Boeing BA 225.87 -3.63BookingHldgs BKNG 2098.71 0.66

s BoozAllen BAH 90.68 1.45BorgWarner BWA 38.41 0.71BostonBeer SAM 954.50 24.10BostonProps BXP 100.70 -0.30BostonSci BSX 35.13 0.46BridgeBioPharma BBIO 61.54 0.55BrightHorizons BFAM 170.17 -0.79BristolMyers BMY 62.34 -0.23BritishAmTob BTI 38.91 0.59

s Broadcom AVGO 424.90 6.84BroadridgeFinl BR 146.81 -0.60BrookfieldMgt BAM 40.58 -0.65BrookfieldInfr BIP 50.87 -0.51BrookfieldPropREIT BPYU 15.71 -0.29BrookfieldRenew BEPC 49.46 -1.60Brown&Brown BRO 45.97 -0.66Brown-Forman A BF.A 79.83 -1.71Brown-Forman B BF.B 77.79 1.22Bruker BRKR 54.47 -0.09Bunge BG 64.63 -0.53BurlingtonStrs BURL 234.49 -2.61CBRE Group CBRE 65.83 -0.30CDW CDW 132.26 -0.57CF Industries CF 37.78 -0.57CGI GIB 77.69 -0.69CH Robinson CHRW 91.44 1.19

NetStock SymClose Chg

CME Group CME 181.72 0.33CMS Energy CMS 59.25 -0.75CNA Fin CNA 38.75 0.38CNH Indl CNHI 11.31 -0.23CNOOC CEO 90.15 0.86CRH CRH 40.63 0.34CRISPR Therap CRSP 146.61 -3.36CSX CSX 89.10 -1.12C3.ai AI 113.69 11.69CVS Health CVS 69.32 -0.57

s CableOne CABO 2177.48 6.66CadenceDesign CDNS 125.40 2.58CaesarsEnt CZR 75.84 0.60CamdenProperty CPT 98.60 0.49CampbellSoup CPB 47.11 0.29CIBC CM 87.39 0.03CanNtlRlwy CNI 110.21 -0.50CanNaturalRes CNQ 24.34 -0.89CanPacRlwy CP 338.84 1.04Canon CAJ 20.08 0.15CanopyGrowth CGC 26.37 -0.38CapitalOne COF 93.59 0.91CardinalHealth CAH 54.24 -0.68Carlisle CSL 152.97 -1.95Carlyle CG 30.90 0.61CarMax KMX 99.08 2.95Carnival CCL 21.76 0.23Carnival CUK 18.93 0.03CarrierGlobal CARR 38.00 0.33Carvana CVNA 260.96 4.92Catalent CTLT 100.13 0.12Caterpillar CAT 179.50 -2.24Celanese CE 130.02 -0.99Cemex CX 5.30 ...CenovusEnergy CVE 5.89 -0.23Centene CNC 61.03 0.65CenterPointEner CNP 21.87 -0.37CentraisElBras EBR 7.40 -0.23CeridianHCM CDAY 97.11 -1.10Cerner CERN 77.40 2.04CharlesRiverLabs CRL 240.16 -2.92CharterComms CHTR 642.43 -3.85CheckPoint CHKP 120.76 -2.37Chegg CHGG 87.02 1.36Chemed CHE 508.31 9.92CheniereEnergy LNG 59.05 -1.54CheniereEnerPtrs CQP 35.68 -1.09Chevron CVX 88.69 -0.68

s Chewy CHWY 94.12 2.99

NetStock SymClose Chg

ChinaEastrnAir CEA 22.20 -0.63ChinaLifeIns LFC 10.81 -0.17ChinaMobile CHL 28.36 -0.09ChinaPetrol SNP 44.39 0.12ChinaSoAirlines ZNH 31.31 -0.01ChinaTelecom CHA 27.84 0.13ChinaUnicom CHU 5.60 0.04

s Chipotle CMG 1400.62 54.16Chubb CB 154.16 -0.23ChunghwaTel CHT 38.76 0.14Church&Dwight CHD 86.67 0.51

s ChurchillDowns CHDN 203.44 0.80Ciena CIEN 48.44 -0.11Cigna CI 202.40 -3.11CincinnatiFin CINF 82.04 1.11Cintas CTAS 354.11 1.18CiscoSystems CSCO 44.72 ...Citigroup C 59.75 0.08CitizensFin CFG 35.38 0.09CitrixSystems CTXS 129.28 1.83Clarivate CCC 29.64 0.55Clorox CLX 203.44 0.40Cloudflare NET 81.81 0.35Coca-Cola KO 53.06 -0.78Coca-Cola Euro CCEP 47.13 0.04Cognex CGNX 78.67 0.59CognizantTech CTSH 79.32 -1.21ColgatePalm CL 85.04 0.29Comcast A CMCSA 51.43 -0.08Comerica CMA 53.01 0.06CommerceBcshrs CBSH 64.57 0.23CiaSiderurgica SID 5.57 0.07ConagraBrands CAG 35.58 -0.09ConchoRscs CXO 61.60 -0.69ConocoPhillips COP 42.32 -0.48ConEd ED 71.75 -1.25

s ConstBrands B STZ.B 214.21 9.35s ConstBrands A STZ 214.81 2.56Cooper COO 343.94 1.49Copart CPRT 120.92 -0.44Corning GLW 36.24 -0.78Corteva CTVA 39.08 -0.14CoStar CSGP 860.89 -5.49Costco COST 369.44 -2.44CoupaSoftware COUP 335.96 14.95Credicorp BAP 162.40 -1.74CreditSuisse CS 12.69 -0.04Cree CREE 90.74 -1.09

s CrowdStrike CRWD 179.79 4.86

NetStock SymClose Chg

CrownCastle CCI 154.12 -1.29CrownHoldings CCK 97.29 -1.09Cummins CMI 222.82 -1.22CureVac CVAC 116.22 -5.16CyrusOne CONE 68.99 0.88

D E FDISH Network DISH 31.51 -4.17DTE Energy DTE 123.55 -1.25DadaNexus DADA 38.51 1.49Danaher DHR 221.90 -1.27Darden DRI 116.49 2.06DarlingIngred DAR 54.72 -0.79Datadog DDOG 104.55 3.32

s DaVita DVA 113.04 0.65s DeckersOutdoorDECK 300.19 -4.08Deere DE 261.12 -0.87

s DellTechC DELL 73.87 0.13DeltaAir DAL 41.08 -0.77DenaliTherap DNLI 83.60 1.71DentsplySirona XRAY 53.16 -0.66DeutscheBankDB 10.95 0.10DexCom DXCM 352.35 -1.86Diageo DEO 159.15 0.68DiamondbkEner FANG 47.65 -0.51DigitalRealty DLR 129.58 0.78DiscoverFinSvcsDFS 86.35 0.99DiscoveryB DISCB 31.06 -1.09DiscoveryA DISCA 28.79 0.07DiscoveryC DISCK 25.32 -0.04Disney DIS 173.12 -0.82DocuSign DOCU 237.08 3.38DolbyLab DLB 91.03 -1.05DollarGeneral DG 211.02 3.24DollarTree DLTR 112.85 2.81DominionEner D 75.17 -0.31Domino's DPZ 382.52 -2.16DoorDash DASH 158.05 -0.84Dover DOV 120.87 -0.97Dow DOW 53.83 -0.30DrReddy'sLab RDY 68.08 -0.38DraftKings DKNG 53.80 3.30Dropbox DBX 23.52 0.40DukeEnergy DUK 90.61 -1.50DukeRealty DRE 39.85 0.27Dun&BradstreetDNB 26.97 0.97

s DuPont DD 68.38 0.35Dynatrace DT 42.75 3.27

NetStock SymClose Chg

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

How to Read the Stock TablesThe following explanations apply to NYSE, NYSEArca, NYSE American and Nasdaq Stock Marketlisted securities. Prices are composite quotationsthat include primary market trades as well astrades reported by Nasdaq BX (formerly Boston),Chicago Stock Exchange, Cboe, NYSE National andNasdaq ISE.The list comprises the 1,000 largest companiesbased on market capitalization.Underlined quotations are those stocks withlarge changes in volume compared with theissue’s average trading volume.Boldfaced quotations highlight those issueswhose price changed by 5% or more if theirprevious closing price was $2 or higher.

Footnotes:s-New 52-week high.t-New 52-week low.dd-Indicates loss in the most recent fourquarters.FD-First day of trading.h-Does not meet continued listingstandardslf-Late filingq-Temporary exemption from Nasdaqrequirements.t-NYSE bankruptcyv-Trading halted on primary market.vj-In bankruptcy or receivership or beingreorganized under the Bankruptcy Code,or securities assumed by such companies.

Wall Street Journal stock tables reflect composite regular trading as of 4 p.m. andchanges in the closing prices from 4 p.m. the previous day.

BIGGEST 1,000 STOCKS

HighsAES AES 22.48 -1.7ASGN ASGN 86.72 1.3ASML ASML 472.24 0.5AT&T Nts 2066 TBB 27.40 0.4AT&T PfdC TpC 26.48 0.4AcademySports ASO 19.36 1.9AcadiaHealthcare ACHC 48.75 0.9Accuray ARAY 4.79 -0.4AclarisTherap ACRS 6.69 9.2ActivisionBliz ATVI 88.29 1.5Acushnet GOLF 40.71 2.4AffiliatedNts60 MGRB 26.98 0.5AffiliatedMgrs AMG 99.29 0.9Airgain AIRG 15.11 6.7AkoustisTechs AKTS 10.73 9.7Alarm.com ALRM 87.22 4.3AlerusFinancial ALRS 26.95 0.6AlexandriaRlEst ARE 178.88 0.8AlliedMotionTech AMOT 50.48 0.5AllstatePfdH ALLpH 27.88 0.5AllstatePfdI ALLpI 27.63 0.3AlphaHlthcrAcqnUn AHACU 10.40 ...AlphaHlthcrWt AHACW 1.30 11.1AlticeUSA ATUS 35.83 0.5Ameresco AMRC 48.36 -1.9AmerSupercond AMSC 22.20 1.3AmericasTechAcqn ATA.U 10.20 0.3Amrep AXR 7.83 0.9AptIncmREIT AIRC 40.32 5.0ArcelorMittal MT 23.49 0.1ArcLightClean ACTCU 11.79 1.5AresMgmt ARES 49.30 0.3ArgoGoupPfdA ARGOpA 26.56 0.2AristaNetworks ANET 293.50 2.2ArrowElec ARW 98.70 -0.2ArtisanPtrsAsset APAM 50.87 4.5

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

AscendantDigital ACND.U 10.90 1.0AspenAerogels ASPN 16.75 1.3AtkoreIntl ATKR 44.99 -1.2Atlassian TEAM 245.28 2.6Avient AVNT 40.50 -2.4AxosFinancial AX 37.00 0.2BHP Group BBL 53.27 0.5BRP DOOO 67.02 -0.1B RileyFin RILY 37.48 0.1BadgerMeter BMI 90.65 -1.1Baidu BIDU 201.11 2.6BancorpSthBkPfA BXSpA 26.65 ...BankofAmPfdE BACpE 25.20 0.1BankofAmPfdHH BACpK 28.06 0.3BeamGlobal BEEM 39.76 2.2BeamGlobalWt BEEMW 33.11 3.2BioanalyticalSys BASI 7.99 3.0BioAtla BCAB 32.44 72.3BioLifeSols BLFS 43.04 -0.2BlackLine BL 131.36 1.1Blackstone BX 65.69 -0.3BoozAllen BAH 91.08 1.6BrinkerIntl EAT 55.89 -1.5Broadcom AVGO 427.15 1.6Broadstone BNL 19.80 2.4BullHornUn BHSEU 10.15 0.4BurgundyTechWt BTAQW 1.12 2.0CF Bankshares CFBK 16.63 2.8CTS CTS 33.86 -1.3CableOne CABO 2210.68 0.3CallawayGolf ELY 24.34 2.5CantelMedical CMD 77.79 0.6CapitalOnePfdI COFpI 26.40 -0.1Capri CPRI 41.09 -0.3CapstarSpacA CPSR 10.06 0.2CasellaWaste CWST 62.58 0.8CastleBiosci CSTL 69.74 10.8CelsiusHldg CELH 40.24 10.3CentrusEnergy LEU 23.47 1.0

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

Cerence CRNC 95.70 3.2CerevelTherap CERE 18.84 -4.9CerevelTherapWt CEREW 7.03 -3.0Chewy CHWY 94.56 3.3Chimerix CMRX 5.40 0.4Chipotle CMG 1422.22 4.0ChurchillCapCorp.V CCV.U 10.30 2.2ChurchillDowns CHDN 206.03 0.4CincinnatiBncp CNNB 11.55 1.4CitizensFinPfdE CFGpE 26.87 1.4Codexis CDXS 19.99 -0.3CoeurMining CDE 10.35 12.8ColumbusMcKinn CMCO 42.65 0.2Comcast DECS CCZ 67.95 4.9CommVehicle CVGI 9.78 -3.7ConstBrands B STZ.B 214.21 4.6ConstBrands A STZ 216.55 1.2CorceptTherap CORT 26.49 0.1Cowen COWN 27.67 1.0CrowdStrike CRWD 182.21 2.8Dana DAN 20.28 1.3DaqoNewEnergy DQ 58.00 2.3DataIO DAIO 4.85 17.9DAVIDsTEA DTEA 2.95 18.0DaVita DVA 114.15 0.6DeckersOutdoor DECK 307.81 -1.3DeerfieldWt DFHTW 3.57 40.2DellTechC DELL 74.29 0.2Denbury DEN 27.33 1.1DigitalTurbine APPS 50.20 1.5dMY TechWt DMYT.WS 6.54 7.6Domo DOMO 60.91 7.2DuddellStreet DSACU 10.50 1.1DukeEnerDeb73 DUKH 26.41 0.2DuPont DD 68.83 0.58x8 EGHT 33.11 -0.5ElementSolns ESI 17.17 1.8Empower EMPW.U 10.34 0.8EnphaseEnergy ENPH 163.46 1.8

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

EnPro NPO 74.52 -0.6Equifax EFX 195.15 -0.2Etsy ETSY 182.78 2.6EvercoreA EVR 105.38 2.6eXpWorld EXPI 73.95 -0.9Exponent EXPO 88.74 -0.6FARO Tech FARO 72.84 -0.3FairIsaac FICO 526.89 0.8FarmlandPtrs FPI 9.03 -3.0Ferrari RACE 223.63 0.5FiatChrysler FCAU 17.58 1.7FidelityD&D FDBC 68.50 1.9FinServAcqn FSRV 10.40 1.5FirstFoundation FFWM 20.27 2.6FirstHorizonPfdA FHNpA 26.79 1.1FirstInternetBncp INBK 29.74 -3.7FirstRepublicPfdK FRCpK 26.20 ...Five9 FIVN 170.83 0.9Flexsteel FLXS 34.72 2.6Floor&Decor FND 97.40 1.0FluxPower FLUX 13.50 -4.6FreedomHolding FRHC 46.76 11.9FrequencyTherap FREQ 40.68 5.3GAMCO PfdA GNTpA 26.29 0.2GOAcquisitionUn GOAC.U 10.48 0.8Gallagher AJG 126.71 2.3Glaukos GKOS 73.16 1.5GlobusMedical GMED 64.20 1.0GoDaddy GDDY 91.81 2.5GoldmanSachsPfA GSpA 24.42 0.3GoldmanSachsPfD GSpD 24.93 0.3GoodTimesRest GTIM 2.24 8.2GoodWksAcqn GWAC 9.95 0.2GooseheadIns GSHD 131.69 0.2GraniteREIT GRP.U 62.27 0.5Greenbrier GBX 36.49 -0.4GreenroseAcqn GNRSU 12.05 -3.9GriffinIndlRealty GRIF 80.35 -3.3GrowGeneration GRWG 38.91 11.6HP HPQ 24.30 1.1HPX Wt HPX.WS 1.28 20.0HainCelestial HAIN 39.37 1.8HannonArmstrong HASI 59.62 0.8Headhunter HHR 30.00 2.3Heico A HEI.A 124.20 -2.2HelenofTroy HELE 227.41 0.5HeliosTechnologies HLIO 53.94 -2.0

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

Heska HSKA 148.12 2.9HighlandIncmPfdA HFROpA 26.33 0.5Hilltop HTH 26.79 -0.2HireQuest HQI 10.70 -0.6HorizonGlobal HZN 9.40 1.6HudsonExecUn HECCU 11.25 2.7HudsonExecWt HECCW 1.50 1.5Hydrofarm HYFM 54.70 11.2IAC/InterActive IAC 158.07 1.5IES Holdings IESC 47.08 2.6IonAcqn1 IACA.U 11.62 -0.5IderaPharm IDRA 5.50 9.4IndependentBank IBTX 62.84 -0.1IndLogistics ILPT 24.37 -1.0Inhibrx INBX 44.43 7.7InnovativeIndProp IIPR 184.45 3.0InsightEnt NSIT 76.27 2.1ICE ICE 112.28 0.3IridiumComm IRDM 36.17 -0.6JPMorganPfdGG JPMpJ 27.48 0.8JumiaTech JMIA 41.00 8.3KKR KKR 40.37 1.5Kennametal KMT 39.23 -2.6KeyCorpPfdF KEYpJ 28.00 0.3KinsaleCapital KNSL 250.24 3.0KratosDefense KTOS 24.78 -3.7Kulicke&Soffa KLIC 34.24 -2.1LIVCapAcqnWt LIVKW 1.55 8.4Lear LEA 163.70 1.0LeviStrauss LEVI 21.42 2.5LibertyGlobal A LBTYA 25.55 0.5LibertyGlobal C LBTYK 24.58 0.8EliLilly LLY 173.19 2.8LiveOakAcqnWt LOAK.WS 4.85 0.2LiveOakBcshs LOB 49.09 2.1LumberLiqu LL 32.66 1.6MP Matls Wt MP.WS 12.33 21.4MalaccaStraits MLACU 10.35 -0.1MalibuBoats MBUU 67.61 -0.4MannKind MNKD 4.05 21.6MarathonPatent MARA 8.85 16.4MarqueeRaineAcqn MRACU 10.94 -1.7MasterCraftBoat MCFT 25.96 0.7MatchGroup MTCH 154.90 2.0Mattel MAT 17.90 3.8Medpace MEDP 149.11 0.8MerchantsBancorp MBIN 29.45 -0.4Meritor MTOR 28.93 0.5

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

MesabiTrust MSB 28.05 0.9MetallaRoyalty MTA 12.05 5.2MiMedx MDXG 9.04 19.0MitekSystems MITK 16.58 0.4ModineMfg MOD 12.93 -1.9MonmouthRealEst MNR 17.26 1.6MonocleAcqn MNCLU 12.60 3.0MonsterBev MNST 89.94 1.4MontesArchimedes MAACU 10.60 0.5Morphic MORF 36.65 0.8MrCooper COOP 29.83 3.2MyersIndustries MYE 19.26 -0.4NICE NICE 259.63 2.4NI NODK 18.17 -2.4Nanobiotix NBTX 21.55 13.0NatureSunshine NATR 14.00 0.5NaviosMaritime NMCI 3.69 0.8NebulaCaravel NEBCU 11.18 -0.6NeoGenomics NEO 52.90 0.7Netgear NTGR 38.54 0.1NewProvidenceA NPA 11.50 11.4NewProvidenceWt NPAWW 2.45 56.9NewProvidenceAcqn NPAUU 12.78 11.9NorthernStar STIC.U 10.45 1.5NovaMeasuring NVMI 72.53 -0.5Nxt-ID NXTD 1.07 89.5O2MicroIntl OIIM 8.64 7.1OaktreeAcqn OAC 12.64 2.6OaktreeAcqnII A OACB 11.00 -0.6OceanFirstPfdA OCFCP 27.78 0.5OcularTherapeutix OCUL 24.30 -6.4one AONE.U 11.21 -0.3Oppenheimer A OPY 32.51 0.5Oracle ORCL 63.19 1.5Otonomy OTIC 5.85 -1.9PTC PTC 116.79 0.9PagerDuty PD 46.56 2.9PagSeguroDig PAGS 54.27 2.3PaloAltoNtwks PANW 327.81 1.9ParTechnology PAR 67.56 1.8PartyCity PRTY 5.95 2.3PatrickIndustries PATK 72.81 -3.3PayaWt PAYAW 3.41 1.8Paya PAYA 13.83 -0.1PayPal PYPL 231.15 3.9PennNational PENN 89.10 6.8Pennant PNTG 61.19 -1.3

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

PeoplesUtdPfdA PBCTP 31.90 -0.5PiperSandler PIPR 106.17 0.8PitneyBowesNt43 PBIpB 22.29 0.9PotlatchDelt PCH 51.01 -0.2PowerIntegrations POWI 78.35 0.9PriceSmart PSMT 93.38 1.2PrimeImpactI A PIAI 10.28 -0.2PropertySolns PSACU 11.00 1.7PrudentialNt58 PRS 28.30 0.2PureTechHealth PRTC 49.00 2.1QAD B QADB 45.80 1.1Q2Holdings QTWO 122.37 -1.4QuanexBldg NX 22.80 ...RCI Hospitality RICK 32.95 0.8RLI RLI 106.67 2.0RadiusGlbInfr RADI 13.44 5.9RandolphBancorp RNDB 19.25 0.6Redfin RDFN 72.83 7.2RevolutionMed RVMD 47.83 -5.0Revolve RVLV 28.08 0.4RibbitLeapA LEAP 14.37 -0.8RingCentral RNG 369.56 4.7RiotBlockchain RIOT 11.66 5.7RubiconTech RBCN 9.44 -2.9SCE V Pfd SCEpK 25.38 0.5SI-BONE SIBN 30.16 10.1SLM SLM 12.37 -0.6SPX FLOW FLOW 60.00 -1.2SailPointTechs SAIL 52.64 2.1SchnitzerSteel SCHN 31.49 -1.0ScopusBio SCPS 9.99 7.6Seagate STX 66.51 0.5SeaSpine SPNE 17.61 6.0Semtech SMTC 73.49 -3.0ServiceNow NOW 549.88 3.3ServisFirstBcshs SFBS 41.90 0.1SesenBio SESN 1.82 2.3SharpsCompliance SMED 9.45 0.5Shopify SHOP 1164.17 7.7SiliconLab SLAB 127.00 -0.9SilvergateCapital SI 46.66 4.3SiteOneLandscape SITE 150.27 0.6SiyataMobileWt SYTAW 4.40 15.9SiyataMobile SYTA 11.90 20.1SleepNumber SNBR 90.00 -3.4SocCapHedII Wt IPOB.WS 11.91 -1.9SoligenixWt SNGXW 1.12 11.6Sony SNE 95.36 1.0

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

SoCopper SCCO 62.88 2.0SpectrumBrands SPB 73.59 2.8SperoTherap SPRO 19.40 5.5Square SQ 227.96 3.2St.Joe JOE 39.66 2.0StandardMotor SMP 55.29 -0.5SterlingCnstr STRL 20.69 4.3StewartInfo STC 52.07 -0.6StifelFinancial SF 78.07 -0.2StitchFix SFIX 66.70 3.3Strattec STRT 52.17 1.4SummitTherap SMMT 5.73 -1.9Synopsys SNPS 249.10 2.2TG Therap TGTX 54.14 4.2TJX TJX 67.19 -0.2TTEC TTEC 79.97 0.6Tapestry TPR 30.95 -0.2TarsusPharm TARS 44.99 19.9TempurSealy TPX 27.94 -0.9Teradyne TER 120.84 -0.6Terex TEX 36.92 -2.6TheBancorp TBBK 14.47 -2.6ToyotaMotor TM 155.48 1.5Trex TREX 84.50 -1.9Trimble TRMB 66.04 0.5Trinseo TSE 45.11 3.0Triterras TRIT 15.17 5.2TriterrasWt TRITW 3.95 12.9TritonIntlPfdC TRTNpC 27.00 0.9TritonIntlPfdD TRTNpD 26.84 0.5Trupanion TRUP 112.02 0.4TurtleBeach HEAR 26.13 1.4Twitter TWTR 56.11 2.3TylerTech TYL 462.45 2.1USA Tech USAT 10.73 2.6USCellular5.5%SrNt UZE 25.37 0.4US Silica SLCA 8.32 24.8UltragenyxPharm RARE 164.15 1.2UnionAcqnII LATN 10.20 -0.1UniqueFabricating UFAB 6.10 4.2UtdCmtyBksPfdI UCBIO 28.25 -0.3US GlobalInv GROW 4.64 5.3UnitedTherap UTHR 149.00 -1.3Upstart UPST 30.01 47.4UtzBrands UTZ 21.90 2.5UtzBrandsWt UTZ.WS 10.17 5.8ValmontInds VMI 176.15 -0.1

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

VaronisSystems VRNS 151.50 1.9Vicor VICR 93.58 -0.4VirtusInvtPtrs VRTS 217.30 -0.4Vuzix VUZI 6.55 10.6WD-40 WDFC 268.52 0.6Waters WAT 247.88 -0.7WellsFargoPfdAA WFCpA 26.08 0.9WellsFargoPfdAZ WFCpZ 26.30 0.9WescoIntl WCC 77.93 -0.7Weyerhaeuser WY 33.98 1.0Willdan WLDN 40.26 0.5Workiva WK 82.09 1.7WunongNetTech WNW 67.37 440.2XOMA XOMA 45.42 -3.7XTL Biopharm XTLB 2.90 1.8Xylem XYL 100.37 -0.8Yeti YETI 74.07 2.0YellowstoneAcqnWt YSACW 1.99 -4.4YumBrands YUM 108.64 ...ZaiLab ZLAB 119.13 4.1

LowsAbCelleraBio ABCL 42.15 1.1BEST BEST 2.03 -2.8ContextLogic WISH 19.48 -16.5CooTekCayman CTK 3.86 -6.5DPCM Cap Wt XPOA.WS 1.71 ...DecarbonizaPlusA DCRB 10.01 1.6EchoStar SATS 20.33 -2.3Fanhua FANH 12.16 -5.8Galapagos GLPG 96.26 -18.8JianpuTech JT 2.40 -3.1KinnateBio KNTE 34.14 -0.5MarqueeRaineAcqn MRACU 10.00 -1.7MetenEdtechX METX 1.80 0.5NatlSecurity NSEC 10.14 -7.8NorthernDynasty NAK 0.31 0.4OlemaPharm OLMA 36.80 -5.5OrientalCulture OCG 5.27 1.7PeriphasCap PCPC.U 25.25 -0.3RiceAcqnA RICE 10.20 -0.3Root ROOT 13.57 -1.6ScopusBio SCPS 5.34 7.6SeniorConnectI SNRHU 10.28 -0.7SupernovaPtrsWt SPNV.WS 1.91 -3.5VitalFarms VITL 24.71 -2.4VivosTherap VVOS 6.61 -4.8

52-Wk %Stock Sym Hi/Lo Chg

New Highs and Lows | WSJ.com/newhighs

The following explanations apply to the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, NYSE Americanand Nasdaq Stock Market stocks that hit a new 52-week intraday high or low in the latestsession. % CHG-Daily percentage change from the previous trading session.

ENI E 21.38 -0.03EOG Rscs EOG 52.70 -0.46EPAM Systems EPAM 334.04 8.11EastmanChem EMN 101.70 0.22Eaton ETN 115.37 -1.17EatonVance EV 65.51 0.26eBay EBAY 53.65 1.57Ecolab ECL 220.01 -2.94Ecopetrol EC 13.75 0.27EdisonInt EIX 62.70 -1.06EdwardsLife EW 85.09 -0.06ElancoAnimal ELAN 29.95 -0.87Elastic ESTC 143.49 5.81ElectronicArts EA 141.60 0.94EmersonElec EMR 81.28 -1.16Enbridge ENB 33.27 -0.44EncompassHealth EHC 82.68 -1.07EnelAmericas ENIA 7.81 0.04EnergyTransfer ET 6.87 -0.12

s EnphaseEnergy ENPH 163.31 2.85Entegris ENTG 95.01 -2.62Entergy ETR 100.50 -2.08EnterpriseProd EPD 21.01 -0.53

s Equifax EFX 193.25 -0.33Equinix EQIX 690.19 -5.45Equinor EQNR 16.82 -0.12Equitable EQH 25.68 -0.09EquityLife ELS 62.51 0.19EquityResdntl EQR 59.05 -0.27ErieIndemnity A ERIE 246.01 4.18EssentialUtil WTRG 47.35 -1.20EssexProp ESS 240.53 -1.94EsteeLauder EL 258.68 8.28

s Etsy ETSY 182.34 4.54EuronetWorldwide EEFT 136.71 -1.41EverestRe RE 233.37 0.10Evergy EVRG 53.67 -0.99EversourceEner ES 85.45 -1.18ExactSciences EXAS 127.33 -2.06Exelon EXC 42.44 -0.28Expedia EXPE 124.98 -1.02ExpeditorsIntl EXPD 91.40 1.27ExtraSpaceSt EXR 111.07 -0.58ExxonMobil XOM 43.70 0.66F5Networks FFIV 173.26 -1.29FMC FMC 114.37 -0.62Facebook FB 275.67 0.12FactSet FDS 345.38 -2.61

NetStock SymClose Chg

Continued on Page B8

TheWall Street Journal CFONetwork connects top executives in this wide-reaching role to examinetheir biggest challenges and provide them with the facts they need now to lead toward a profitable tomorrow.

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AARP

“Even as it has caused painful isolation, the pandemic hasconnected us in profound ways. It reinforces our commonhumanity and vulnerability. It has given me greaterappreciation and insight into the challenges our employeesface and the aspirations they have, on and off the job. I willapply that knowledge post-pandemic not only with respectto policies such as caregiving leave, but also more broadlyin understanding how employees balance family and workresponsibilities.”

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“This is a reality that businesses must

accept,” he says. “Technology is evolving

at a tremendous and furious pace. The

pandemic has actually sped up certain tech

initiatives and created or identified new

priorities for us to pursue. If anything, this

crisis has underscored the importance of

having a bias to action.”

Those actions have been multifaceted,

running the gamut from new safety

measures and testing protocols, to unique

fan experiences created in response to

the pandemic. In each instance, delivering

change has meant relying on digital

workflows to simplify complex tasks and

bridge organizational gaps. In doing so, the

NBA has positioned itself to make the most

of the uncertain present moment, and also

to thrive in an era of changing employee and

consumer expectations that will likely

outlast COVID-19.

“It’s my job to make sure technology

is helping people do their jobs better,”

Bhagavathula says. “That means liberating

staff from the mundane, developing

infrastructure that can scale to meet the

demands of our fans and relying on tech-

powered insights to support data-driven

business decisions. In a way, a side effect of

COVID-19 has been to acquire a mindset of

innovating to an even greater degree than

we were already doing at the NBA.”

Test and learnIn general, the pandemic has accelerated

existing trends rather than creating entirely

new ones. For example, many businesses

were already managing a shift to remote

work prior to COVID-19. The pandemic sped

this process up considerably, forcing some

employers to scramble to support a new,

more flexible work regime.

From the perspective of Dave Wright,

chief innovation officer at ServiceNow,

the widespread adoption of remote work

practices isn’t likely to reverse course,

even in a post-vaccine world where

employees have begun to return to

their physical offices.

“Most organizations believed productivity

would suffer if remote work was adopted on

a large scale and for an extended period,”

Wright says. “That hasn’t happened, so part

of COVID-19’s impact is its ability to disprove

notions we had about things we’d never

tried. On a similar note, it has exacerbated

challenges that were already in existence

and sped up the adoption of solutions to

these challenges. For example, the cost of

siloed departments isn’t new, but it’s more

significant with a distributed workforce.”

Many businesses have responded to these

shifts by implementing digital workflows,

which enable cross-functional collaboration

and help employees work more efficiently.

Well before the pandemic, the NBA was

already partnering with ServiceNow to

create workflows that eased its transition to

a remote work environment.

However, numerous employees, players

and vendors still needed to access the

league’s campus at Walt Disney World®

Resort in Florida when the NBA restarted

TheWall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.Wall Street Journal Custom Content is a unit ofTheWall Street Journal advertising department.

ServiceNow CIO Dave Wright on the complex impact of COVID-19

Learn more: servicenow.com

AmidCOVID-19,the NBAShoots forthe StarsChief Technology OfficerKrishna Bhagavathulaon the league’spandemic response

its season earlier this year. This prompted

Bhagavathula to develop new workflows to

manage the process of screening visitors

and administering COVID-19 tests.

This was not a simple task — and in

another world, it would have been a heavily

manual one. Ensuring the safety of all

individuals visiting the NBA campus required

processing some 13,000 documents and

arranging more than 700 physician reviews,

all while performing contact tracing for

roughly 2,600 people. The league managed

this entire process with digital workflows

running on the Now Platform. The result: The

community on the NBA campus experienced

zero infections as they completed the 2019-

20 season.

“We demonstrated that a safe, careful

return to sports was possible with the

right tools, protocols and plans in place,”

Bhagavathula says. “It actually set us down

the path of driving change across the

organization, and the ServiceNow platform

has certainly helped us facilitate that.”

New ways to be a fanTo meet demand from those who

missed watching their favorite teams

play in person, the NBA created a virtual

experience where more than 300 fans

each game appeared live on 17-foot

video boards surrounding the court.

Sixty thousand joined the virtual fan

experience — Michelob ULTRA Courtside —

throughout the NBA Restart’s 172 seeding

and postseason games.

As with the league’s COVID-19 response,

workflows enabled a broad array of teams

to collaborate efficiently and effectively

as they built out the virtual fan program.

“This project required operations, customer

experience, cybersecurity, development

and program delivery to all come together

to create a great consumer experience,”

Bhagavathula says. “At the end of the day,

our work is about making magic happen

behind the scenes. I often think these back-

office tech teams are the unsung heroes of

the NBA.”

Here to stayWhile it’s still too early to say which of

these COVID-19-era trends will become

permanent, the broad strokes are largely

clear. Whether or not most businesses

continue to expand their remote

workforces, employees are increasingly

seeking a more flexible approach to work,

one that’s as seamless and user-friendly

as their favorite consumer apps. Similar

principles apply to the customer world,

where demand is coalescing around

experiences that are personalized, digital

and social-first.

In both cases, workflows are emerging as

an essential ingredient of enterprise change.

As the NBA and countless other organizations

try to predict what’s next, digital workflow

platforms are automating routine tasks so

employees can focus on creating next-

generation experiences for their clients

and customers.

“We have never had a more tech-savvy,

connected and mobile workforce, and

the same is true of our fan audience,”

Bhagavathula says. “From my perspective,

technology exists to generate value to the

end-user, whether it’s helping staff get their

jobs done in an efficient manner or allowing

fans to experience the game in new, unique

ways that make it more engaging than

ever before.”

Special Advertising Feature Special Advertising Feature

Digital workflows are helping the NBA manage rapid change.

COVID-19 has spurred innovation,both in the NBA’s pandemic responseand in fan experiences.

“We have neverhad a moretech-savvy,connectedand mobileworkforce, andthe same istrue of our fanaudience.”

— Krishna BhagavathulaNBA Chief Technology Officer

©2020 NBA Entertainment. Photo by David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images. All Rights Reserved

s CTO of the NBA, Krishna Bhagavathula has been central to the league’s COVID-19 response. It’s a

herculean undertaking that’s reached nearly every corner of the organization and — as the realities of

the pandemic demand — requires him to take innovation to new heights.A

wsj_20201217_b006_p2jw352000_0_b00600_1________xa2020.crop.pdf 1 17-Dec-20 07:15:56

B8 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

DividendChangesDividend announcements fromDecember 16.

Amount Payable /Company Symbol Yld% New/Old Frq Record

Amount Payable /Company Symbol Yld% New/Old Frq Record

IncreasedEli Lilly LLY 2.0 .85 /.74 Q Mar10 /Feb12Innovative Ind Properties IIPR 2.7 1.24 /1.17 Q Jan15 /Dec31ReadyCapital RC 11.3 .35 /.30 Q Jan29 /Dec31

ReducedParamountGroup PGRE 4.3 .07 /.10 Q Jan15 /Dec31

InitialCohen&Steers Tax-AdPfd PTA 6.1 .13 Dec31 /Dec24PQGroupHoldings PQG ... 1.80 Dec29 /Dec21USCellular 5.5%SrNts UZE 5.4 .3399 Mar01 /Feb26

ForeignnVent Electric NVT 3.0 .175 Q Feb05 /Jan22

KEY:A: annual;M:monthly; Q: quarterly; r: revised; SA: semiannual; S2:1: stock split and ratio; SO:spin-off.

IPOScorecardPerformance of IPOs,most-recent listed first

%ChgFrom %ChgFromCompany SYMBOL Wed3s Offer 1st-day Company SYMBOL Wed3s Offer 1st-dayIPOdate/Offer price close ($) price close IPOdate/Offer price close ($) price close

BioAtla 31.02 72.3 ... Americas TechnologyAcquisition 10.18 1.8 0.3BCABDec. 16/$18.00 ATA.UTDec. 15/$10.00

Churchill Capital 10.22 2.2 ... BlueWaterAcquisition 10.16 1.6 0.1CCV.UTDec. 16/$10.00 BLUWUDec. 15/$10.00

ScopusBioPharma 5.92 7.6 ... KINSTechnologyGrp 10.25 2.5 0.8SCPSDec. 16/$5.50 KINZUDec. 15/$10.00

Upstart Hldgs 29.47 47.4 ... MarqueeRaineAcquisition 10.42 4.2 –1.7UPSTDec. 16/$20.00 MRACUDec. 15/$10.00

ContextLogic 20.05 –16.5 ... Oriental CultureHolding 6.10 52.5 1.7WISHDec. 16/$24.00 OCGDec. 15/$4.00

Sources: DowJonesMarketData; FactSet

Borrowing Benchmarkswsj.com/market-data/bonds/benchmarks

MoneyRates December 16, 2020

Key annual interest rates paid to borrowor lendmoney inU.S. andinternationalmarkets. Rates beloware a guide to general levels butdon’t always represent actual transactions.

InflationNov. index ChgFrom (%)

level Oct. '20 Nov. '19

U.S. consumer price indexAll items 260.229 –0.06 1.2Core 269.473 0.05 1.6

International rates

Week 52-WeekLatest ago High Low

Prime ratesU.S. 3.25 3.25 4.75 3.25Canada 2.45 2.45 3.95 2.45Japan 1.475 1.475 1.475 1.475

PolicyRatesEuro zone 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00Switzerland 0.00 0.00 0.50 0.00Britain 0.10 0.10 0.75 0.10Australia 0.10 0.10 0.75 0.10

Overnight repurchaseU.S. 0.06 0.09 1.65 -0.07

U.S. government rates

Discount0.25 0.25 2.25 0.25

Federal fundsEffective rate 0.0900 0.0900 1.6200 0.0600High 0.1000 0.1000 1.6500 0.1000Low 0.0500 0.0500 1.5800 0.0100Bid 0.0800 0.0800 1.6000 0.0100Offer 0.1000 0.1000 1.6300 0.0500

Treasury bill auction4weeks 0.065 0.075 1.575 0.00013weeks 0.075 0.080 1.555 0.00026weeks 0.085 0.090 1.570 0.080

Secondarymarket

FannieMae30-yearmortgage yields

30days 1.917 1.930 3.362 1.75160days 1.945 1.956 3.370 1.804

Notes ondata:U.S. prime rate is the base rate on corporateloans posted by at least 70%of the 10 largestU.S. banks, and is effectiveMarch 16, 2020.Other prime rates aren’t directly comparable;lending practices varywidely by location;Discount rate is effectiveMarch 16, 2020.SecuredOvernight FinancingRate is as ofDecember 15, 2020. DTCCGCFRepo Index isDepository Trust&Clearing Corp.'sweightedaverage for overnight trades in applicableCUSIPs. Value traded is in billions ofU.S. dollars.Federal-funds rates are Tullett Prebon rates asof 5:30 p.m. ET.Sources: Federal Reserve; Bureau of LaborStatistics; DTCC; FactSet;Tullett Prebon Information, Ltd.

Other short-term rates

Week 52-WeekLatest ago high low

Callmoney2.00 2.00 3.50 2.00

Commercial paper (AA financial)90days 0.13 n.a. 2.53 0.04

LiborOnemonth 0.15788 0.14788 1.80475 0.12663Threemonth 0.23638 0.22063 1.96050 0.20488Sixmonth 0.25550 0.25075 1.92438 0.23375One year 0.33313 0.33588 2.01200 0.32763

Euro LiborOnemonth -0.590 -0.591 -0.360 -0.621Threemonth -0.566 -0.569 -0.142 -0.572Sixmonth -0.538 -0.534 -0.052 -0.538One year -0.492 -0.497 0.008 -0.501

SecuredOvernight FinancingRate0.09 0.07 1.64 0.01

Value 52-WeekLatest Traded High Low

DTCCGCFRepo IndexTreasury 0.099 55.874 1.720 0.002MBS 0.115 50.950 1.763 0.011

Week —52-WEEK—Latest ago High Low

BIGGEST 1,000 STOCKS

NetStock SymClose Chg

s FairIsaac FICO 522.41 4.08Farfetch FTCH 60.91 2.21Fastenal FAST 49.47 -0.36Fastly FSLY 95.15 1.25FateTherap FATE 92.07 -0.70FedEx FDX 288.81 3.07

s Ferrari RACE 222.19 1.16s FiatChrysler FCAU 17.55 0.30FidNatlFin FNF 38.81 0.82FidNatlInfo FIS 143.60 -1.49FifthThirdBncp FITB 27.25 0.16FirstHorizon FHN 12.94 0.04FirstRepBank FRC 135.28 1.12FirstSolar FSLR 91.77 0.51FirstEnergy FE 30.91 -0.49Fiserv FISV 114.17 -0.51FiveBelow FIVE 163.00 4.85

s Five9 FIVN 168.91 1.47FiverrIntl FVRR 202.01 -3.84FleetCorTech FLT 279.73 3.79Flex FLEX 17.07 -0.17

s Floor&Decor FND 95.71 0.94FomentoEconMex FMX 77.50 -0.50FordMotor F 9.04 -0.11Fortinet FTNT 133.33 1.51Fortis FTS 41.67 -0.29Fortive FTV 68.92 -0.48FortBrandsHome FBHS 86.26 0.83FoxA FOXA 28.45 -0.13FoxB FOX 28.11 -0.10Franco-Nevada FNV 132.86 1.12FranklinRscs BEN 24.75 0.13FreeportMcM FCX 24.39 0.09FreseniusMed FMS 42.28 1.14

G H IGCI LibertyA GLIBA 92.70 -0.70GDS Holdings GDS 90.27 -0.56GFLEnvironmentalGFL 27.08 -0.41GSXTechedu GSX 60.00 1.00

t Galapagos GLPG 97.02 -22.43s Gallagher AJG 126.45 2.82Gaming&LeisureGLPI 43.49 0.54Gap GPS 20.33 -0.36Garmin GRMN 118.33 -0.86Gartner IT 157.31 -0.50Generac GNRC 220.44 -3.96GeneralDynamicsGD 153.40 -1.20GeneralElec GE 10.93 -0.18GeneralMills GIS 58.92 -0.11GeneralMotorsGM 41.42 -0.24Genmab GMAB 39.70 0.66Genpact G 41.17 0.02Gentex GNTX 33.39 -0.06GenuineParts GPC 96.50 -0.09Gerdau GGB 4.68 -0.02GileadSciencesGILD 58.94 -0.49GSK GSK 36.88 0.06GlobalPaymentsGPN 194.67 1.29Globant GLOB 199.03 4.20GlobeLife GL 93.53 -0.18

s GoDaddy GDDY 88.00 2.16GoldFields GFI 9.18 -0.01GoldmanSachsGS 243.77 1.34GoodRx GDRX 42.45 -0.58

Graco GGG 70.33 0.21Grainger GWW 406.38 0.78Grifols GRFS 19.13 0.13GuardantHealthGH 123.62 1.37Guidewire GWRE 125.51 -0.97HCA HealthcareHCA 161.56 0.61HDFC Bank HDB 69.15 0.36HD Supply HDS 55.89 0.13

s HP HPQ 23.98 0.27HSBC HSBC 26.66 -0.28Halliburton HAL 20.14 0.07HartfordFinl HIG 46.29 0.54Hasbro HAS 94.76 2.51HealthcareAmerHTA 27.23 0.51HealthpeakProp PEAK 30.38 0.43

s Heico A HEI.A120.88 -2.72Heico HEI 132.50 -1.45HenrySchein HSIC 69.15 0.21Hershey HSY 150.28 0.05Hess HES 56.62 0.22HewlettPackardHPE 12.16 -0.01HighwoodsPropHIW 40.26 -0.44Hilton HLT 104.41 -0.56Hologic HOLX 73.63 -1.87HomeDepot HD 269.59 1.61HondaMotor HMC 29.46 -0.19Honeywell HON 210.31 -3.86HorizonTherapHZNP 76.69 -0.41HormelFoods HRL 47.22 -0.11DR Horton DHI 71.18 0.23HostHotels HST 14.42 -0.10HowmetAerospace HWM 26.83 -0.11HuanengPower HNP 13.76 0.07Huazhu HTHT 47.73 0.79Hubbell HUBB 156.48 -3.38HubSpot HUBS 378.54 -1.36Humana HUM 392.76 0.43JBHunt JBHT 137.68 1.58HuntingtonBcshs HBAN 12.52 -0.07HyattHotels H 72.81 -0.20IAA IAA 63.42 0.21ICICI Bank IBN 14.17 -0.16IdexxLab IDXX 467.58 2.62IHS Markit INFO 87.76 -1.24II-VI IIVI 72.10 -1.56ING Groep ING 9.65 -0.11Invesco IVZ 17.45 -0.14IPG Photonics IPGP 213.78 -0.13IQVIA IQV 174.69 2.27IcahnEnterprises IEP 51.05 -0.16Icon ICLR 193.13 -3.50IDEX IEX 195.39 -1.01IllinoisToolWks ITW 203.85 0.15Illumina ILMN 353.32 0.70ImperialOil IMO 19.10 -0.43Incyte INCY 86.23 -0.04Infosys INFY 15.66 0.05IngersollRand IR 44.32 -0.44Inphi IPHI 154.93 0.04Insulet PODD238.30 -3.46Intel INTC 51.12 0.45InteractiveBrkrs IBKR 58.25 1.53

s ICE ICE 111.31 0.33InterContinentl IHG 63.26 -0.53IBM IBM 125.55 -0.38IntlFlavors IFF 112.12 1.19IntlPaper IP 49.31 0.16

Interpublic IPG 24.10 -0.09Intuit INTU 369.26 8.83IntuitiveSurgical ISRG 766.06 -2.43Invitae NVTA 50.66 0.02InvitatHomes INVH 29.19 -0.14IonisPharma IONS 49.79 -1.70iQIYI IQ 18.11 -4.21IronMountain IRM 29.05 -0.32ItauUnibanco ITUB 6.28 0.10

J K LJD.com JD 81.77 2.27JPMorganChase JPM 120.67 0.35JackHenry JKHY 159.17 0.57JacobsEngg J 106.23 0.32JamesHardie JHX 29.20 0.64JazzPharma JAZZ 151.75 -0.83J&J JNJ 149.67 -0.90JohnsonControls JCI 45.77 -0.27JonesLang JLL 151.20 0.32JuniperNetworks JNPR 22.17 -0.12KB Fin KB 42.61 -0.28KE Holdings BEKE 62.99 -0.63

s KKR KKR 40.21 0.58KLA KLAC 260.55 -0.46KSCitySouthernKSU 192.49 -0.13Kellogg K 61.50 0.26KeurigDrPepperKDP 30.64 0.45KeyCorp KEY 15.76 0.07KeysightTechs KEYS 123.91 0.54KilroyRealty KRC 60.70 -0.57KimberlyClark KMB 136.01 0.19KinderMorganKMI 14.60 -0.17KingsoftCloud KC 47.80 1.15KinrossGold KGC 7.27 0.14KirklandLakeGoldKL 41.82 0.87KoninklijkePhil PHG 53.41 0.57KoreaElcPwr KEP 10.80 -0.15KraftHeinz KHC 34.43 0.10Kroger KR 30.97 -0.22L Brands LB 38.70 -0.62Line LN 51.65 -0.02LKQ LKQ 37.12 -0.13LPL Financial LPLA 102.04 0.87L3HarrisTech LHX 186.13 -2.19LabCpAm LH 201.97 -3.80LamResearch LRCX 493.31 -2.02LamarAdv LAMR 82.75 1.57LambWeston LW 76.09 -0.78LasVegasSands LVS 57.64 -0.23

s Lear LEA 161.90 1.65Leidos LDOS 105.09 0.25Lennar A LEN 74.29 0.42Lennar B LEN.B 59.62 0.43LennoxIntl LII 276.47 -0.53

s LeviStrauss LEVI 21.35 0.53LiAuto LI 31.36 -0.79LibertyBroadbandA LBRDA 157.41 -0.63LibertyBroadbandC LBRDK 159.88 -1.17

s LibertyGlobal A LBTYA 25.33 0.13LibertyGlobal B LBTYB 26.10 0.85

s LibertyGlobal C LBTYK 24.38 0.20LibertyFormOne A FWONA 37.63 -0.92LibertyFormOne C FWONK 41.46 -0.75LibertyBraves A BATRA 25.59 0.68LibertyBraves C BATRK 25.20 0.78

NetStock SymClose Chg

NetStock SymClose Chg

LibertySirius B LSXMB 43.37 -2.98LibertySirius A LSXMA 43.18 0.01LibertySirius C LSXMK 43.28 0.16

s EliLilly LLY 172.05 4.62LincolnNational LNC 50.24 -0.12Linde LIN 250.13 -1.53LithiaMotors LAD 287.74 6.54LiveNationEnt LYV 72.98 -0.19LloydsBanking LYG 1.91 -0.01LockheedMartin LMT 354.57 -3.00Loews L 44.36 0.03LogitechIntl LOGI 91.45 1.05Lowe's LOW 163.20 -0.13LufaxHolding LU 14.26 0.06lululemon LULU 363.10 7.03LumenTech LUMN 10.35 -0.15Lyft LYFT 49.91 0.61LyondellBasell LYB 89.08 0.07

M NM&T Bank MTB 126.99 0.33MGMGrowthPropMGP 32.57 -0.43MGM ResortsMGM 30.98 0.22MKS Instrum MKSI 150.08 -2.65MPLX MPLX 22.95 -0.25MSCI MSCI 429.84 5.84MagellanMid MMP 45.59 -0.47MagnaIntl MGA 64.47 0.39ManulifeFin MFC 17.65 -0.03MarathonPetrolMPC 41.65 -0.60Markel MKL 1010.24 -5.03MarketAxess MKTX 560.50 6.71Marriott MAR 130.44 0.08Marsh&McLenMMC 117.12 0.47MartinMariettaMLM 262.23 -4.33MarvellTech MRVL 45.31 0.15Masco MAS 54.51 -0.24Masimo MASI 264.74 -1.34Mastercard MA 332.10 -1.55MaximIntProductsMXIM 85.40 -0.89McCormickVtgMKC.V 94.90 2.67McCormick MKC 92.71 0.94McDonalds MCD 213.80 -1.06McKesson MCK 172.35 -0.73MedicalProp MPW 21.28 -0.07Medtronic MDT 114.97 0.08MelcoResorts MLCO 18.33 -0.10MercadoLibre MELI 1669.54 0.55Merck MRK 79.83 -0.65MetLife MET 46.32 0.08MettlerToledo MTD 1111.26 -37.90MicrochipTechMCHP 138.82 -2.34MicronTech MU 72.99 -0.16Microsoft MSFT 219.28 5.15MidAmApt MAA 123.41 -0.13Middleby MIDD 131.94 -2.41MiratiTherap MRTX 237.67 4.38MitsubishiUFJ MUFG 4.31 ...MizuhoFin MFG 2.56 -0.01MobileTeleSysMBT 8.70 -0.03Moderna MRNA 137.03 -10.19MohawkInds MHK 132.61 -1.53MolinaHealthcareMOH 200.65 -3.39MolsonCoorsB TAP 46.27 0.24Mondelez MDLZ 57.20 -0.25MongoDB MDB 336.99 1.80MonolithicPowerMPWR 332.03 0.47

NetStock SymClose Chg

s MonsterBev MNST 89.80 1.22Moody's MCO 280.55 3.16MorganStanleyMS 64.23 0.28Morningstar MORN 213.08 4.15Mosaic MOS 22.62 -0.49MotorolaSol MSI 166.92 -1.11

s NICE NICE 256.08 6.00NIO NIO 44.67 1.17NRG Energy NRG 33.38 -0.19NVR NVR 4061.54 36.54NXP Semi NXPI 157.28 -2.78Nasdaq NDAQ 127.10 -0.19Natera NTRA 95.80 -3.00NationalGrid NGG 58.51 -0.01Natura&Co NTCO 20.09 0.93NatWest NWG 4.32 0.04NetApp NTAP 64.07 1.42NetEase NTES 88.39 2.81Netflix NFLX 524.83 5.05Neurocrine NBIX 98.69 3.37NewFortressEner NFE 47.79 -8.93NewOrientalEduc EDU 165.94 4.24NYTimes A NYT 49.79 -0.30NewellBrands NWL 20.07 0.07Newmont NEM 60.24 1.20NewsCorp B NWS 17.64 -0.38NewsCorp A NWSA 17.77 -0.32NextEraEnergyNEE 74.44 -0.47Nike NKE 138.34 -1.05NiSource NI 22.80 -0.40Nokia NOK 3.99 -0.11NomuraHoldingsNMR 5.22 ...Nordson NDSN193.99 -7.92NorfolkSouthernNSC 228.70 -1.10NorthernTrustNTRS 90.79 0.06NorthropGrumNOC 302.01 3.50NortonLifeLockNLOK 20.38 0.42NorwegCruise NCLH 25.46 0.24Novartis NVS 90.97 1.00Novavax NVAX 120.88 -5.34NovoNordisk NVO 71.84 2.36Novocure NVCR 157.13 0.03NuanceComms NUAN 43.21 0.31Nucor NUE 56.44 -0.13Nutrien NTR 48.32 -0.89NVIDIA NVDA 529.70 -4.72

O P QONEOK OKE 40.65 -0.66OReillyAuto ORLY 454.98 5.90OakStreetHealthOSH 57.06 1.09OccidentalPetrolOXY 19.45 -0.39Okta OKTA 259.93 4.78OldDomFreightODFL 195.00 -3.28OmegaHealthcareOHI 38.07 -0.69Omnicom OMC 64.74 0.40ON Semi ON 31.11 -0.26OneConnectFinTechOCFT 21.03 0.60OpenText OTEX 45.37 -0.32

s Oracle ORCL 62.78 0.92Orange ORAN 12.04 0.09Orix IX 77.66 0.37OtisWorldwideOTIS 65.24 0.51OwensCorningOC 74.58 -0.03OzonHoldings OZON 46.12 1.77PG&E PCG 12.06 -0.14PNC Fin PNC 145.25 2.10

NetStock SymClose Chg

POSCO PKX 62.44 -0.45PPD PPD 34.92 -0.07PPG Ind PPG 142.89 -1.23PPL PPL 27.32 -0.61PRA HealthSci PRAH 118.73 -0.32

s PTC PTC 115.07 1.02Paccar PCAR 86.89 -0.40PackagingCpAm PKG 135.61 1.42

s PagSeguroDig PAGS 53.94 1.20PalantirTech PLTR 25.92 -0.51

s PaloAltoNtwks PANW 323.33 5.88ParkerHannifin PH 272.81 -2.98Paychex PAYX 94.47 0.94PaycomSoftware PAYC 423.29 -2.01Paylocity PCTY 192.95 0.42

s PayPal PYPL 230.20 8.60Pegasystems PEGA 126.83 1.26Peloton PTON 134.00 6.22PembinaPipeline PBA 25.90 -0.56

s PennNational PENN 88.73 5.64Pentair PNR 51.89 -0.56PepsiCo PEP 144.89 0.12PerkinElmer PKI 140.80 -4.40PetroChina PTR 30.83 -0.24PetroleoBrasil PBR 11.29 0.15PetroleoBrasilA PBR.A 11.09 0.13Pfizer PFE 37.84 -0.87PhilipMorris PM 85.63 1.34Phillips66 PSX 67.29 -0.96Pinduoduo PDD 145.47 3.44PinnacleWest PNW 78.65 -1.38Pinterest PINS 70.27 -0.44PioneerNatRscs PXD 116.89 -0.55PlainsAllAmPipe PAA 8.77 -0.13PlainsGP PAGP 9.03 -0.13PlugPower PLUG 28.46 -0.01Pool POOL 352.94 4.15PrincipalFin PFG 48.22 -0.12Procter&Gamble PG 137.27 0.62Progressive PGR 96.36 -0.33Prologis PLD 99.85 0.30PrudentialFin PRU 78.00 0.19Prudential PUK 36.43 0.73PublicServiceEnt PEG 57.15 -0.66PublicStorage PSA 225.96 0.80PulteGroup PHM 42.50 0.08Qiagen QGEN 51.21 -0.38Qorvo QRVO 159.00 0.52Qualcomm QCOM 149.74 1.38QuantaServices PWR 68.40 -0.84QuestDiag DGX 120.98 -3.52Quidel QDEL 193.14 -7.72

R SRELX RELX 24.09 0.18RH RH 439.52 1.82RPM RPM 86.60 -0.36RalphLauren RL 99.50 -1.03RaymondJamesRJF 93.36 -0.13RaytheonTechRTX 70.57 -0.47RealtyIncome O 61.35 -0.40RegencyCtrs REG 47.34 -0.54RegenPharm REGN 486.57 -5.22RegionsFin RF 15.60 0.22ReinsGrp RGA 121.13 0.20RelianceSteel RS 120.13 -1.77

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SunRun RUN 61.80 -1.37Suzano SUZ 10.73 0.15SynchronyFin SYF 32.96 0.23

s Synopsys SNPS 248.10 5.36Sysco SYY 73.88 -0.43

T U VTAL Education TAL 69.71 0.58TC Energy TRP 44.24 -0.64TE Connectivity TEL 115.68 -2.23Telus TU 20.08 ...

s TJX TJX 66.62 -0.12T-MobileUS TMUS 129.81 -0.19TRowePrice TROW 150.43 0.57TaiwanSemi TSM 105.20 0.11TakeTwoSoftware TTWO195.12 0.42TakedaPharm TAK 18.54 -0.24

s Tapestry TPR 29.67 -0.05Target TGT 171.69 0.28TataMotors TTM 12.57 0.23TeckRscsB TECK 18.39 -0.20TeladocHealth TDOC187.07 -9.04TeledyneTech TDY 379.81 -7.57Teleflex TFX 397.33 4.65Ericsson ERIC 11.92 -0.08TelefonicaBrasVIV 9.01 -0.03Telefonica TEF 4.21 -0.06TelekmIndonesia TLK 24.97 0.7910xGenomics TXG 148.66 -0.88Tenaris TS 16.39 -0.27TencentMusic TME 17.85 -1.20

s Teradyne TER 119.77 -0.67Tesla TSLA 622.77 -10.48TevaPharm TEVA 10.35 -0.09TexasInstruments TXN 162.12 -0.26Textron TXT 46.74 -1.32ThermoFisherSci TMO 457.79 -13.19ThomsonReuters TRI 80.22 -0.713M MMM 175.41 0.73Tiffany TIF 131.23 0.03Toro TTC 92.26 -0.30TorontoDomBk TD 56.53 -0.12Total TOT 44.16 -0.74

s ToyotaMotor TM 155.09 2.24TractorSupply TSCO 144.23 3.10TradeDesk TTD 939.72 6.59Tradeweb TW 66.08 0.67TraneTech TT 138.57 -1.81TransDigm TDG 603.53 -10.21TransUnion TRU 98.45 -0.96Travelers TRV 137.44 0.18

s Trex TREX 81.40 -1.57s Trimble TRMB 65.62 0.32Trip.com TCOM 35.14 0.98TruistFinl TFC 47.23 0.51Twilio TWLO 350.88 5.78

s Twitter TWTR 54.03 1.21s TylerTech TYL 461.86 9.52TysonFoods TSN 65.24 -3.01UBS Group UBS 14.21 -0.09UDR UDR 37.99 -0.40UGI UGI 35.70 -0.65US Foods USFD 33.06 -0.26Uber UBER 50.49 -0.51Ubiquiti UI 261.94 4.60UltaBeauty ULTA 269.92 2.37

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RenaissanceReRNR 165.81 -0.96Repligen RGEN 182.48 -3.13RepublicSvcs RSG 95.40 -0.80ResMed RMD 210.51 1.86RestaurantBrandsQSR 62.00 -0.71

s RingCentral RNG 369.50 16.42RioTinto RIO 75.90 -0.29RitchieBros RBA 67.60 -1.50RobertHalf RHI 62.60 -0.74RocketCos. RKT 22.39 0.03Rockwell ROK 245.73 -1.49RogersComm BRCI 46.86 -0.25Roku ROKU 325.82 5.68Rollins ROL 39.20 0.27RoperTech ROP 420.85 -5.11RossStores ROST 113.43 0.34RoyalBkCanadaRY 82.12 -0.13RoyalCaribbeanRCL 73.65 -0.40RoyalDutchA RDS.A 37.83 0.25RoyalDutchB RDS.B 36.35 0.42RoyaltyPharma RPRX 43.40 -0.45Ryanair RYAAY 106.31 0.46SAP SAP 125.00 1.93S&P Global SPGI 320.87 -2.97SBA Comm SBAC 275.76 -0.53SEI Investments SEIC 56.86 0.29SK Telecom SKM 24.93 -0.01SS&C Tech SSNC 71.30 -0.90StoreCapital STOR 33.89 0.72SVB Fin SIVB 358.34 1.14Salesforce.com CRM 223.62 3.47Sanofi SNY 47.11 0.83SareptaTherap SRPT 170.12 2.17Schlumberger SLB 22.84 -0.13SchwabC SCHW 51.68 0.63ScottsMiracleGro SMG 190.96 0.96Sea SE 192.99 4.90

s Seagate STX 66.31 0.33Seagen SGEN 197.70 1.68SempraEnergy SRE 129.12 -1.83SensataTechs ST 50.93 -0.04ServiceCorp SCI 49.18 -0.17

s ServiceNow NOW 545.00 17.62ShawComm B SJR 17.86 -0.32SherwinWilliams SHW 722.49 0.15ShinhanFin SHG 31.13 -0.21

s Shopify SHOP 1157.31 83.21Sibanye-Stillwater SBSW 14.71 0.11SignatureBank SBNY 132.13 1.05SimonProperty SPG 88.28 -1.46SiriusXM SIRI 6.37 -0.02Skyworks SWKS 147.54 2.86SlackTech WORK 42.61 0.53Smartsheet SMAR 72.50 1.36SmithAO AOS 55.08 -1.34Smith&Nephew SNN 41.14 0.56Smucker SJM 113.83 0.37Snap SNAP 51.65 0.30SnapOn SNA 171.92 -3.02Snowflake SNOW 329.97 1.36SOQUIMICH SQM 46.80 0.05SolarEdgeTech SEDG 309.72 -4.05

s Sony SNE 95.11 0.96Southern SO 60.43 -0.43

s SoCopper SCCO 61.77 1.24SouthwestAir LUV 45.73 -0.69Splunk SPLK 162.34 0.54Spotify SPOT 318.53 -8.44

s Square SQ 227.08 7.09StanleyBlackDck SWK 179.44 3.11Starbucks SBUX 103.27 -0.91StateStreet STT 71.20 -0.59SteelDynamics STLD 38.32 -0.30Steris STE 181.76 -6.48STMicroelec STM 36.34 -0.25StoneCo STNE 78.65 0.57Stryker SYK 235.13 1.07SumitomoMits SMFG 5.99 -0.02SunComms SUI 150.73 2.03SunLifeFinancial SLF 44.93 0.09SuncorEnergy SU 17.52 -0.52

NetStock SymClose Chg

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | B9

Get real-time U.S. stock quotes and track most-active stocks, newhighs/lows and mutual funds. Available free at WSJMarkets.com

ConsumerRates andReturns to InvestorU.S. consumer ratesA consumer rate against itsbenchmark over the past year

0.00

0.40

0.80

1.20

1.60%

J2020

F M A M J J A S O N D

tMoney marketaccount yields

t Federal-fundstarget rate

Selected ratesMoneyMarket/SavingsAccts

Bankrate.comavg†: 0.20%ableBanking, a division ofNortheastBank 0.50%Lewiston,ME 877-505-1933

ColoradoFederal SavingsBank 0.50%GreenwoodVillage, CO 877-484-2372

First InternetBankof Indiana 0.50%Indianapolis, IN 888-873-3424

LoneStarBank 0.53%Houston, TX 713-358-9400

SallieMaeBank 0.55%Salt LakeCity, UT 877-346-2756

Yield/Rate (%) 52-WeekRange (%) 3-yr chgInterest rate Last (l)Week ago Low 0 2 4 6 8 High (pct pts)

Federal-funds rate target 0.00-0.25 0.00-0.25 0.00 l 1.50 -1.25Prime rate* 3.25 3.25 3.25 l 4.75 -1.25Libor, 3-month 0.24 0.22 0.20 l 1.96 -1.38Moneymarket, annual yield 0.20 0.20 0.19 l 0.58 -0.14Five-year CD, annual yield 0.58 0.59 0.58 l 1.41 -0.9130-yearmortgage, fixed† 2.87 2.94 2.86 l 4.22 -1.0115-yearmortgage, fixed† 2.39 2.37 2.37 l 3.57 -0.92Jumbomortgages, $510,400-plus† 2.89 2.92 2.87 l 4.36 -1.37Five-year adjmortgage (ARM)† 3.19 3.22 2.85 l 4.61 -0.55New-car loan, 48-month 4.02 4.04 4.02 l 4.50 0.69Bankrate.com rates based on survey of over 4,800 online banks. *Base rate posted by 70% of the nation's largestbanks.† Excludes closing costs.

Sources: FactSet; Dow JonesMarket Data; Bankrate.com

BenchmarkYieldsandRatesTreasury yield curveYield to maturity of current bills,notes and bonds

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50%

1month(s)

3 6 1years

2 3 5 7 10 20 30

maturity

t

Tradeweb ICEWednesday Close

tOne year ago

Forex RaceYen, euro vs. dollar; dollar vs.major U.S. trading partners

–10

–5

0

5

10%

2020 2

Euro

s

Yen

s

WSJ Dollar indexs

Sources: Tradeweb ICEU.S. Treasury Close; Tullett Prebon; DowJonesMarketData

International Stock IndexesLatest YTD

Region/Country Index Close Net chg % chg % chg

World MSCIACWI 637.10 3.21 0.51 12.7MSCIACWI ex-USA 322.15 3.02 0.95 6.8MSCIWorld 2654.79 11.05 0.42 12.6MSCIEmergingMarkets 1263.82 13.61 1.09 13.4

Americas MSCIACAmericas 1447.59 2.87 0.20 16.0Canada S&P/TSXComp 17567.42 60.94 0.35 3.0LatinAmer. MSCIEMLatinAmerica 2444.37 28.13 1.16 –16.2Brazil SaoPauloBovespa 117857.35 1708.72 1.47 1.9Chile Santiago IPSA 2814.10 33.77 1.21 –15.6Mexico S&P/BMV IPC 43790.42 247.07 0.57 0.6

EMEA StoxxEurope600 396.08 3.24 0.82 –4.8Eurozone EuroStoxx 395.18 2.41 0.61 –2.2Belgium Bel-20 3663.95 –37.76 –1.02 –7.4Denmark OMXCopenhagen20 1429.97 24.93 1.77 25.9France CAC40 5547.68 17.37 0.31 –7.2Germany DAX 13565.98 203.11 1.52 2.4Israel TelAviv 1471.49 –7.86 –0.53 –12.6Italy FTSEMIB 21986.52 51.47 0.23 –6.5Netherlands AEX 621.86 4.52 0.73 2.9Russia RTS Index 1400.05 9.59 0.69 –9.6SouthAfrica FTSE/JSEAll-Share 59478.26 … Closed 4.2Spain IBEX35 8139.50 –12.90 –0.16 –14.8Sweden OMXStockholm 761.58 1.83 0.24 11.9Switzerland SwissMarket 10456.78 115.60 1.12 –1.5Turkey BIST 100 1392.45 –2.95 –0.21 21.7U.K. FTSE 100 6570.91 57.59 0.88 –12.9U.K. FTSE250 20096.56 244.17 1.23 –8.2

Asia-Pacific MSCIACAsiaPacific 195.89 1.79 0.92 14.8Australia S&P/ASX200 6679.20 47.86 0.72 –0.1China Shanghai Composite 3366.98 –0.25 –0.01 10.4HongKong HangSeng 26460.29 253.00 0.97 –6.1India S&PBSESensex 46666.46 403.30 0.87 13.1Japan Nikkei StockAvg 26757.40 69.56 0.26 13.1Singapore Straits Times 2872.80 16.08 0.56 –10.9SouthKorea Kospi 2771.79 14.97 0.54 26.1Taiwan TAIEX 14304.46 235.94 1.68 19.2Thailand SET 1482.09 4.88 0.33 –6.2Sources: FactSet; DowJonesMarketData

MajorU.S. Stock-Market IndexesLatest 52-Week % chg

High Low Close Net chg % chg High Low %chg YTD 3-yr. ann.

DowJones

Industrial Average 30236.03 30080.11 30154.54 -44.77 -0.15 30218.26 18591.93 6.8 5.7 6.9TransportationAvg 12549.82 12428.85 12497.95 11.77 0.09 12803.02 6703.63 15.9 14.6 6.3UtilityAverage 877.09 859.46 859.59 -11.95 -1.37 960.89 610.89 -1.4 -2.2 4.5Total StockMarket 38750.13 38537.30 38650.25 47.90 0.12 38650.25 22462.76 18.4 17.0 11.8Barron's 400 841.95 836.56 839.51 -0.59 -0.07 840.11 455.11 15.3 14.7 5.8

NasdaqStockMarketNasdaqComposite 12687.32 12566.38 12658.19 63.13 0.50 12658.19 6860.67 43.4 41.1 22.2Nasdaq 100 12698.11 12568.71 12668.16 72.24 0.57 12668.16 6994.29 47.6 45.1 25.1

S&P500 Index 3711.27 3688.57 3701.17 6.55 0.18 3702.25 2237.40 16.0 14.6 11.4MidCap400 2293.86 2267.89 2278.89 -8.15 -0.36 2287.04 1218.55 11.4 10.5 6.5SmallCap600 1114.14 1102.65 1105.53 -6.14 -0.55 1111.67 595.67 8.4 8.3 5.8

Other IndexesRussell 2000 1966.11 1947.05 1952.72 -7.04 -0.36 1959.76 991.16 17.5 17.0 8.5NYSEComposite 14442.89 14370.51 14408.94 6.62 0.05 14417.33 8777.38 4.4 3.6 4.3Value Line 567.23 562.50 563.98 -1.97 -0.35 565.95 305.71 2.9 2.1 0.4NYSEArcaBiotech 5811.24 5760.33 5778.28 -14.92 -0.26 6142.96 3855.67 13.1 14.0 11.5NYSEArcaPharma 684.66 678.06 680.31 1.53 0.23 691.70 494.36 5.3 4.1 7.5KBWBank 94.93 93.88 94.77 0.34 0.36 114.12 56.19 -16.5 -16.4 -3.7PHLX§Gold/Silver 143.00 139.57 142.94 2.74 1.96 161.14 70.12 43.6 33.7 21.2PHLX§Oil Service 46.61 45.68 45.97 -0.49 -1.05 80.99 21.47 -39.6 -41.3 -29.9PHLX§Semiconductor 2780.52 2753.93 2773.42 -1.37 -0.05 2816.27 1286.84 52.4 49.9 30.4CboeVolatility 23.67 22.29 22.50 -0.39 -1.70 82.69 12.10 78.9 63.3 33.7

NasdaqPHLX Sources: FactSet; DowJonesMarketData

LateTradingMost-activeandbiggestmoversamongNYSE,NYSEArca,NYSEAmer.andNasdaq issues from4p.m. to6p.m.ETas reportedbyelectronictradingservices, securitiesdealers and regional exchanges.Minimumsharepriceof$2andminimumafter-hoursvolumeof50,000shares.

Most-active issues in late tradingVolume AfterHours

Company Symbol (000) Last Net chg % chg High Low

SPDRS&P500 SPY 7,863.9 370.00 -0.17 -0.05 370.80 369.90ViacomCBSCl B VIAC 6,484.9 35.60 -0.29 -0.81 36.25 35.60AltriaGroup MO 5,223.8 43.12 0.02 0.05 43.15 43.01Apple AAPL 4,431.3 127.80 -0.01 -0.01 127.91 127.44

Wells Fargo WFC 3,691.8 29.71 0.06 0.20 29.78 29.61BostonScientific BSX 3,435.4 35.25 0.12 0.34 35.47 35.02General Electric GE 3,360.5 10.93 -0.01 -0.05 10.94 10.91AT&T T 3,260.6 30.52 0.23 0.76 30.55 30.27

Percentage gainers…ScopusBioPharma SCPS 251.5 8.50 2.58 43.58 8.50 5.90Evolus EOLS 747.6 4.50 0.83 22.62 5.32 3.67Macrogenics MGNX 935.1 28.80 4.08 16.50 44.00 24.50SelectaBiosciences SELB 126.6 3.23 0.31 10.62 3.26 2.92Ebang International EBON 125.3 4.50 0.23 5.39 4.55 4.26

...And losersSCYNEXIS SCYX 63.7 6.01 -1.32 -18.01 7.10 5.43QutoutiaoADR QTT 242.9 2.29 -0.21 -8.40 2.57 2.18Triterras Cl A TRIT 178.0 12.55 -0.65 -4.92 13.20 12.20ABM Industries ABM 65.1 38.80 -1.54 -3.82 40.74 37.55GSXTecheduADR GSX 527.5 58.60 -1.40 -2.33 60.00 57.99

TradingDiaryVolume,Advancers, Decliners

NYSE NYSEAmer.

Total volume* 948,725,539 18,698,948Adv. volume* 414,525,250 8,707,728Decl. volume* 523,303,976 9,835,393Issues traded 3,239 278Advances 1,452 127Declines 1,684 142Unchanged 103 9Newhighs 188 6New lows 8 1ClosingArms† 1.01 1.10Block trades* 4,822 169

Nasdaq NYSEArca

Total volume*4,497,403,523 205,041,512Adv. volume*2,604,262,368 125,481,605Decl. volume*1,835,080,321 78,558,923Issues traded 3,809 1,436Advances 1,781 858Declines 1,923 553Unchanged 105 25Newhighs 310 351New lows 16 36ClosingArms† 0.65 1.09Block trades* 24,575 1,016

* PrimarymarketNYSE, NYSEAmerican NYSEArca only.†(TRIN)A comparison of the number of advancing and decliningissueswith the volumeof shares rising and falling. AnArmsof less than 1 indicates buying demand; above 1indicates selling pressure.

PercentageGainers... Percentage Losers

Volume %chg from Latest Session 52-WeekCompany Symbol (000) 65-day avg Close % chg High Low

Nxt-ID NXTD 296,188 6531.8 0.92 89.50 1.07 0.21Sundial Growers SNDL 127,766 -35.7 0.48 -4.20 3.88 0.14NIOADR NIO 119,699 -27.8 44.67 2.69 57.20 2.11Apple AAPL 97,001 -22.3 127.81 -0.05 137.98 53.15Tilray TLRY 94,469 452.4 9.33 18.55 22.95 2.43

AethlonMedical AEMD 92,712 16274.4 2.26 39.51 4.34 0.76MarathonPatentGroup MARA 86,706 449.6 8.23 16.41 8.85 0.35ContextLogic WISH 60,629 ... 20.05 -16.46 24.00 19.48General Electric GE 58,514 -48.5 10.93 -1.62 13.26 5.48AmericanAirlinesGroup AAL 58,506 -22.1 16.86 -0.88 30.78 8.25* Volumes of 100,000 shares ormore are rounded to the nearest thousand

Volume %chg from Latest Session 52-WeekCompany Symbol (000) 65-day avg Close % chg High Low

NewProvidenceAcqnCl A NPA 13,185 37965 11.50 11.43 11.50 9.50Diginex EQOS 16,112 20782 9.72 35.75 13.00 5.11MiMedxGroup MDXG 10,915 3175 7.83 19.00 9.04 2.95HighPeakEnergy HPK 659 3029 14.01 1.52 17.69 4.20iSharesMSCI Intl Dev IDEV 3,261 2614 61.18 0.23 61.41 37.69

Bit Digital BTBT 11,255 2506 5.05 -18.02 9.05 0.28Franklin LibUSTreaBd FLGV 469 2480 24.94 -0.04 25.64 24.74Franklin FTSEEuropeETF FLEE 233 2270 25.88 0.23 26.07 16.01VicSh Intl VolatilityWtd CIL 136 2181 41.08 0.41 41.12 26.15Invsc S&PSC Info Tech PSCT 261 1996 118.13 -0.31 119.47 50.00* Common stocks priced at $2 a share ormorewith an average volumeover 65 trading days of at least5,000 shares =Has traded fewer than 65 days

Nasdaq Composite Index12658.19 s 63.13, or 0.50%

High, low, open and close for eachtrading day of the past three months.

Year agoLast

Trailing P/E ratio *†P/E estimate *†Dividend yield *†All-time high:

38.21 26.4231.92 23.390.74 0.99

12658.19, 12/16/20

10400

10800

11200

11600

12000

12400

12800

Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

65-day moving average

EQUITIES

CREDIT MARKETS

CommoditiesPricing trends on some rawmaterials, or commodities

Wednesday 52-Week YTDClose Net chg %Chg High Low %Chg % chg

DJCommodity 712.11 2.91 0.41 712.11 433.70 11.70 10.87TR/CCCRB Index 163.86 0.84 0.51 187.39 106.29 -11.41 -11.80Crude oil,$per barrel 47.82 0.20 0.42 63.27 -37.63 -21.52 -21.68Natural gas,$/MMBtu 2.677 -0.005 -0.19 3.354 1.482 17.10 22.29Gold,$per troy oz. 1856.10 3.80 0.21 2051.50 1472.60 26.04 22.15

CorporateBorrowingRates andYieldsYield (%) 52-Week Total Return (%)

Bond total return index Close Last Week ago High Low 52-wk 3-yr

U.S. Treasury, Barclays 2455.780 0.580 0.610 1.860 0.400 7.827 5.073

U.S. Treasury Long, Barclays4704.350 1.530 1.550 2.340 0.980 15.991 9.436

Aggregate, Barclays 2284.690 1.170 1.210 2.370 1.020 7.326 5.199

Fixed-RateMBS, Barclays 2227.330 1.320 1.360 2.690 0.930 3.957 3.651

HighYield 100, ICEBofA 3307.046 3.812 3.821 10.740 3.589 3.726 5.004

MuniMaster, ICEBofA 595.089 0.875 0.910 3.441 0.838 5.231 4.461

EMBIGlobal, J.P.Morgan 927.971 4.379 4.461 7.480 4.379 5.518 4.754

Sources: J.P.Morgan; S&PDowJones Indices; BloombergBarclays; ICEDataServices

Latest Session 52-WeekCompany Symbol Close Net chg % chg High Low %chg

WunongNet Technology WNW 65.10 53.05 440.25 67.37 7.31 ...BioAtla BCAB 31.02 13.02 72.33 32.44 18.00 ...UpstartHoldings UPST 29.47 9.47 47.35 30.01 20.00 ...MediacoHolding MDIA 3.60 0.98 37.40 17.00 1.10 ...Diginex EQOS 9.72 2.56 35.75 13.00 5.11 -2.8

U.S. SilicaHoldings SLCA 7.95 1.58 24.80 8.32 0.79 34.5HFEnterprises HFEN 5.74 1.13 24.38 7.80 4.60 ...MannKind MNKD 3.99 0.71 21.65 4.05 0.80 197.8Amyris AMRS 4.12 0.70 20.47 6.07 1.40 22.3SiyataMobile SYTA 10.50 1.76 20.14 11.90 3.90 ...

RadiusHealth RDUS 18.54 3.08 19.92 22.34 10.15 -13.6TarsusPharmaceuticals TARS 43.17 7.17 19.92 44.99 15.32 ...MiMedxGroup MDXG 7.83 1.25 19.00 9.04 2.95 7.6Tilray TLRY 9.33 1.46 18.55 22.95 2.43 -45.6JupiterWellness JUPW 5.29 0.82 18.34 7.00 3.73 ...

MostActiveStocks

Latest Session 52-WeekCompany Symbol Close Net chg % chg High Low %chg

ConcordMedical SvsADR CCM 3.30 -2.01 -37.85 5.89 1.13 23.1vTvTherapeutics Cl A VTVT 2.30 -0.67 -22.56 4.75 1.44 51.3TranslateBio TBIO 21.74 -5.82 -21.12 28.09 6.80 151.3BioLineRXADR BLRX 2.86 -0.76 -20.99 3.72 1.06 33.6iQIYI ADR IQ 18.11 -4.21 -18.85 28.03 14.51 -8.9

GalapagosADR GLPG 97.02 -22.43 -18.78 274.03 96.26 -52.9Bit Digital BTBT 5.05 -1.11 -18.02 9.05 0.28 1163.8EveloBiosciences EVLO 9.09 -1.81 -16.61 11.67 3.01 138.6ContextLogic WISH 20.05 -3.95 -16.46 24.00 19.48 ...Everspin Technologies MRAM 4.76 -0.91 -16.05 9.01 1.75 -16.3

ContangoOil Gas MCF 2.10 -0.40 -16.00 4.79 0.84 -50.2NewFortress Energy NFE 47.79 -8.93 -15.74 57.14 7.01 198.7Retractable Technologies RVP 12.84 -2.18 -14.51 15.79 0.97 767.6BioCardia BCDA 5.80 -0.90 -13.43 8.60 1.91 64.8SensusHealthcare SRTS 3.90 -0.60 -13.33 4.99 1.76 2.4

VolumeMovers Ranked by change from65-day average*

Track the MarketsCompare the performance of selectedglobal stock indexes, bond ETFs,currencies and commodities atwsj.com/graphics/track-the-markets

CURRENCIES & COMMODITIES

CurrenciesU.S.-dollar foreign-exchange rates in lateNewYork trading

US$vs,Wed YTDchg

Country/currency inUS$ perUS$ (%)

AmericasArgentina peso .0121 82.5574 37.9Brazil real .1967 5.0842 26.5Canada dollar .7847 1.2745 –1.9Chile peso .001362 734.20 –0.7Colombiapeso .000292 3420.61 4.2EcuadorUSdollar 1 1 unchMexico peso .0504 19.8472 4.9Uruguay peso .02356 42.4500 14.3Asia-PacificAustralian dollar .7576 1.3200 –7.4China yuan .1531 6.5328 –6.2HongKong dollar .1290 7.7521 –0.5India rupee .01359 73.595 3.1Indonesia rupiah .0000708 14125 1.7Japan yen .009666 103.46 –4.8Kazakhstan tenge .002382 419.81 9.9Macau pataca .1252 7.9904 –0.3Malaysia ringgit .2468 4.0515 –1.0NewZealand dollar .7114 1.4057 –5.4Pakistan rupee .00623 160.480 3.5Philippines peso .0208 48.083 –5.2Singapore dollar .7524 1.3291 –1.3SouthKoreawon .0009140 1094.12 –5.3Sri Lanka rupee .0053482 186.98 3.1Taiwan dollar .03553 28.148 –5.9Thailand baht .03332 30.010 0.8

US$vs,Wed YTDchg

Country/currency inUS$ perUS$ (%)

Vietnam dong .00004324 23127 –0.2EuropeCzechRep. koruna .04657 21.471 –5.3Denmark krone .1639 6.0996 –8.5Euro area euro 1.2201 .8196 –8.1Hungary forint .003434 291.24 –1.4Iceland krona .007860 127.22 5.0Norway krone .1153 8.6717 –1.2Poland zloty .2750 3.6367 –4.1Russia ruble .01362 73.402 18.3Sweden krona .1197 8.3523 –10.8Switzerland franc 1.1296 .8853 –8.5Turkey lira .1282 7.7997 31.1Ukraine hryvnia .0359 27.8500 17.6UK pound 1.3509 .7402 –1.8Middle East/AfricaBahrain dinar 2.6522 .3771 ...Egypt pound .0637 15.6922 –2.2Israel shekel .3075 3.2516 –5.9Kuwait dinar 3.2868 .3042 0.4Oman sul rial 2.5972 .3850 0.01Qatar rial .2746 3.641 –0.1SaudiArabia riyal .2666 3.7515 0.01SouthAfrica rand .0675 14.8143 5.8

Close Net Chg %Chg YTD%Chg

WSJDollar Index 85.32 –0.18–0.20 –4.74

Sources: Tullett Prebon, DowJonesMarketData

Dow Jones Industrial Average30154.54 t44.77, or 0.15%

High, low, open and close for eachtrading day of the past three months.

Year agoLast

Trailing P/E ratioP/E estimate *Dividend yieldAll-time high

29.68 21.0224.71 18.792.00 2.25

30218.26, 12/04/20

25000

26200

27400

28600

29800

31000

32200

Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Current divisor 0.15198707565833

Bars measure the point change from session's open

tt

Session high

Session low

Session open

Close Open

CloseDOWN UP

65-day moving average

S&P 500 Index3701.17 s6.55, or 0.18%

High, low, open and close for eachtrading day of the past three months.

Year agoLast

Trailing P/E ratio *P/E estimate *Dividend yield *All-time high

41.52 24.8525.85 19.271.65 1.84

3702.25, 12/08/20

3000

3125

3250

3375

3500

3625

3750

Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

65-day moving average

*Weekly P/E data based on as-reported earnings from Birinyi Associates Inc.; †Based on Nasdaq-100 Index

MARKETS DIGEST

B10 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

Metal &PetroleumFuturesContract Open

Open High hi lo Low Settle Chg interestCopper-High (CMX)-25,000 lbs.; $ per lb.Dec 3.5385 3.5640 3.5360 3.5540 0.0160 2,372March'21 3.5445 3.5800 3.5360 3.5590 0.0145 160,951Gold (CMX)-100 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.Dec 1856.50 1864.70 1850.50 1856.10 3.80 5,336Jan'21 1853.50 1867.20 1846.20 1857.00 3.80 2,031Feb 1857.70 1870.00 1848.20 1859.10 3.80 404,978April 1861.50 1873.60 1852.60 1863.00 3.60 77,451June 1862.40 1876.40 1856.00 1865.60 3.40 33,091Aug 1871.20 1877.80 1858.80 1867.90 3.00 12,168Palladium(NYM) - 50 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.Dec 2327.50 2334.50 2327.50 2338.70 24.50 7March'21 2321.00 2357.50 2316.00 2348.20 24.20 9,108Platinum(NYM)-50 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.Dec ... ... ... 1034.20 –3.90 22Jan'21 1045.40 1058.40 1026.10 1035.40 –3.90 39,392Silver (CMX)-5,000 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.Dec 25.150 25.250 24.940 24.985 0.404 840March'21 24.645 25.490 24.575 25.052 0.408 133,902CrudeOil, Light Sweet (NYM)-1,000bbls.; $ per bbl.Jan 47.60 47.94 47.17 47.82 0.20 125,298Feb 47.77 48.12 47.34 48.00 0.22 360,911March 47.88 48.23 47.46 48.12 0.24 242,662April 47.90 48.28 47.56 48.19 0.24 114,489June 47.85 48.24 47.55 48.15 0.25 214,020Dec 46.94 47.39 46.80 47.29 0.25 268,015NYHarborULSD (NYM)-42,000gal.; $ per gal.Jan 1.4592 1.4815 1.4514 1.4779 .0135 73,251Feb 1.4646 1.4841 1.4561 1.4807 .0127 67,838Gasoline-NYRBOB(NYM)-42,000gal.; $ per gal.Jan 1.3239 1.3597 1.3213 1.3529 .0261 74,943Feb 1.3305 1.3574 1.3250 1.3515 .0210 80,112Natural Gas (NYM)-10,000MMBtu.; $ perMMBtu.Jan 2.666 2.692 2.618 2.677 –.005 97,611Feb 2.665 2.695 2.620 2.681 .001 171,586March 2.654 2.676 2.608 2.665 .003 242,274April 2.666 2.695 2.624 2.687 .017 97,383May 2.684 2.711 2.646 2.705 .021 61,020Oct 2.820 2.844 2.782 2.838 .023 98,104

Agriculture FuturesCorn (CBT)-5,000bu.; cents per bu.March 425.25 429.25 423.75 427.25 2.50 858,006May 427.75 431.75 426.50 429.75 2.00 246,440Oats (CBT)-5,000bu.; cents per bu.March 334.25 338.75 333.75 336.00 2.00 3,954May 331.00 334.75 330.75 332.50 1.50 443Soybeans (CBT)-5,000bu.; cents per bu.Jan 1187.00 1195.00 1181.75 1183.75 –.50 163,535March 1191.50 1199.00 1185.50 1188.00 –.75 334,272SoybeanMeal (CBT)-100 tons; $ per ton.Jan 388.90 396.30 388.30 394.50 6.30 63,649March 389.50 395.80 388.80 393.90 5.00 168,064SoybeanOil (CBT)-60,000 lbs.; cents per lb.Jan 39.27 39.35 s 38.83 39.05 –.14 72,463March 38.93 39.06 s 38.58 38.72 –.19 185,326RoughRice (CBT)-2,000 cwt.; $ per cwt.Jan 12.32 12.37 12.30 12.34 .01 4,928March 12.51 12.54 12.49 12.51 .01 4,395Wheat (CBT)-5,000bu.; cents per bu.March 602.25 607.75 589.75 598.50 –1.25 183,501July 597.75 602.75 588.25 595.00 –1.50 76,794Wheat (KC)-5,000bu.; cents per bu.March 566.75 572.75 556.00 561.50 –4.50 122,219July 573.00 577.50 562.00 567.75 –3.75 35,795Cattle-Feeder (CME)-50,000 lbs.; cents per lb.Jan 139.600 141.275 138.800 140.850 .750 12,538March 140.475 142.150 140.025 141.975 1.075 17,812Cattle-Live (CME)-40,000 lbs.; cents per lb.Dec 108.350 108.850 108.150 108.775 .175 6,832Feb'21 112.600 113.925 112.425 113.775 .900 113,739Hogs-Lean (CME)-40,000 lbs.; cents per lb.Feb 65.600 66.100 64.650 65.975 –.475 81,876April 68.850 69.400 68.100 69.325 –.250 40,175Lumber (CME)-110,000bd. ft., $ per 1,000bd. ft.Jan 829.30 830.80 794.00 818.60 –7.40 1,248March 719.00 719.00 680.30 688.00 –24.30 1,173Milk (CME)-200,000 lbs., cents per lb.Dec 15.79 15.80 15.66 15.77 –.02 4,218Jan'21 16.39 16.43 16.09 16.13 –.19 3,543Cocoa (ICE-US)-10metric tons; $ per ton.March 2,556 2,558 2,506 2,517 –24 100,042May 2,495 2,506 2,460 2,465 –23 51,728Coffee (ICE-US)-37,500 lbs.; cents per lb.Dec 126.00 126.00 126.00 125.05 1.95 57

COMMODITIES

FuturesContracts Contract OpenOpen High hi lo Low Settle Chg interest

March'21 125.25 128.60 125.25 126.60 1.95 112,681Sugar-World (ICE-US)-112,000 lbs.; cents per lb.March 14.28 14.54 14.24 14.49 .28 388,466May 13.68 13.90 13.68 13.85 .22 217,000Sugar-Domestic (ICE-US)-112,000 lbs.; cents per lb.March 28.20 28.20 28.20 28.35 .04 3,004Cotton (ICE-US)-50,000 lbs.; cents per lb.March 75.53 76.07 s 75.34 75.65 .06 130,366May 76.44 76.82 s 76.14 76.43 .09 41,504Orange Juice (ICE-US)-15,000 lbs.; cents per lb.Jan 114.95 118.35 114.80 117.55 3.05 3,447March 118.00 120.40 117.60 120.00 2.75 6,818

InterestRate FuturesUltraTreasuryBonds (CBT) - $100,000; pts 32nds of 100%Dec ... ... ... 214-100 3.0 14,273March'21 212-310 213-070 210-230 212-170 2.0 1,013,727TreasuryBonds (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%Dec ... ... ... 171-310 2.0 25,381March'21 173-080 173-120 172-040 172-300 1.0 1,133,191TreasuryNotes (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%Dec ... ... ... 138-105 1.0 47,291March'21 137-300 138-005 137-195 137-285 1.0 3,147,9375Yr. TreasuryNotes (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%Dec ... ... ... 125-237 1.0 59,907March'21 126-017 126-027 125-295 126-012 .7 3,130,6872Yr. TreasuryNotes (CBT)-$200,000; pts 32nds of 100%Dec ... ... ... 110-151 24,908March'21 110-151 110-152 110-144 110-151 .2 1,863,57130DayFederal Funds (CBT)-$5,000,000; 100 - daily avg.Dec 99.9125 99.9125 99.9075 99.9125 .0025 117,218Jan'21 99.9150 99.9150 99.9100 99.9150 152,64110Yr. Del. Int. RateSwaps (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%March 97-295 1.0 100,729Eurodollar (CME)-$1,000,000; pts of 100%Jan 99.8075 99.8100 99.7950 99.8000 –.0075 208,583March 99.8250 99.8250 99.8150 99.8250 … 1,163,360June 99.8300 99.8300 99.8200 99.8300 … 939,190Sept 99.8250 99.8250 99.8150 99.8250 … 804,712

CurrencyFuturesJapaneseYen (CME)-¥12,500,000; $ per 100¥Jan .9660 .9692 .9633 .9659 .0007 1,142March .9660 .9699 .9638 .9665 .0007 191,323CanadianDollar (CME)-CAD 100,000; $ per CADJan .7873 .7878 .7823 .7845 –.0035 1,398March .7878 .7880 .7824 .7846 –.0035 145,921BritishPound (CME)-£62,500; $ per £Jan 1.3447 1.3562 s 1.3444 1.3490 .0050 533March 1.3465 1.3568 s 1.3446 1.3494 .0050 140,072Swiss Franc (CME)-CHF 125,000; $ per CHFMarch 1.1323 1.1365 s 1.1282 1.1306 –.0024 48,745June 1.1364 1.1393 s 1.1319 1.1337 –.0024 79AustralianDollar (CME)-AUD 100,000; $ perAUDJan .7560 .7583 s .7545 .7567 .0007 726March .7561 .7586 s .7547 .7570 .0007 125,578MexicanPeso (CME)-MXN500,000; $ perMXNJan .04992 .05022 .04986 .05000 –.00010 106March .04973 .04997 .04952 .04968 –.00009 142,782Euro (CME)-€125,000; $ per €Jan 1.2166 1.2226 s 1.2141 1.2179 .0007 1,866March 1.2181 1.2241 s 1.2156 1.2194 .0007 649,525

IndexFuturesMiniDJ Industrial Average (CBT)-$5 x indexDec 30238 30321 30084 30161 –42 35,837March'21 30135 30232 29993 30074 –40 71,305S&P500 Index (CME)-$250 x indexDec ... ... ... 3700.80 6.30 36,023March'21 3692.30 3701.30 s 3681.10 3693.70 6.70 155Mini S&P500 (CME)-$50 x indexDec 3697.75 3711.50 3687.00 3700.75 6.25 761,652March'21 3689.75 3704.50 3680.00 3693.75 6.75 2,234,780Mini S&PMidcap400 (CME)-$100 x indexDec 2287.70 2297.80 s 2267.10 2279.60 –7.10 8,045March'21 2282.50 2296.10 s 2264.70 2277.00 –6.80 49,166MiniNasdaq 100 (CME)-$20 x indexDec 12599.50 12699.75 s 12567.75 12665.25 73.50 112,033March'21 12604.00 12704.75 s 12572.00 12670.75 74.75 163,819Mini Russell 2000 (CME)-$50 x indexDec 1962.90 1975.70 s 1944.80 1954.90 –6.00 176,875Mini Russell 1000 (CME)-$50 x indexDec 2085.30 2093.60 s 2083.10 2088.70 2.70 2,116March'21 2080.50 2090.40 s 2079.90 2085.50 2.90 7,865U.S. Dollar Index (ICE-US)-$1,000 x indexMarch 90.44 90.64 t 90.05 90.36 –.05 35,509June 90.33 90.56 t 90.03 90.33 –.04 383

Source: FactSet

wsj.com/market-data/commodities

CashPrices Wednesday, December 16, 2020These prices reflect buying and selling of a variety of actual or “physical” commodities in themarketplace—separate from the futures price on an exchange,which reflectswhat the commoditymight beworth in futuremonths.

Wednesday

EnergyCoal,C.Aplc.,12500Btu,1.2SO2-r,w 54.350Coal,PwdrRvrBsn,8800Btu,0.8SO2-r,w 11.550

Metals

Gold, per troy ozEngelhard industrial 1856.00Handy&Harmanbase 1851.95Handy&Harman fabricated 2055.67LBMAGold PriceAM *1844.30LBMAGold Price PM *1850.65Krugerrand,wholesale-e 1930.34Maple Leaf-e 1948.91AmericanEagle-e 1948.91Mexican peso-e 2245.90Austria crown-e 1822.35Austria phil-e 1948.91Silver, troy oz.Engelhard industrial 24.9900Handy&Harmanbase 24.9530Handy&Harman fabricated 31.1910LBMAspot price *£18.1000(U.S.$ equivalent) *24.2150Coins,wholesale $1,000 face-a 18536OthermetalsLBMAPlatinumPrice PM *1027.0Platinum,Engelhard industrial 1034.0Palladium,Engelhard industrial 2338.0

Wednesday

Aluminum, LME, $ permetric ton *2022.0Copper,Comex spot 3.5540IronOre, 62%FeCFRChina-s 157.1ShreddedScrap, USMidwest-s,m 371Steel, HRCUSA, FOBMidwestMill-s 948

Fibers andTextiles

Burlap,10-oz,40-inchNYyd-n,w 0.6400Cotton,1 1/16 std lw-mdMphs-u 0.7290Cotlook 'A' Index-t *81.30Hides,hvy native steers piece fob-u 39.500Wool,64s,staple,Terr del-u,w n.a.

Grains andFeedsBarley,top-qualityMnpls-u n.a.Bran,wheatmiddlings, KC-u 149Corn,No. 2 yellow,Cent IL-bp,u 4.2200Corn gluten feed,Midwest-u,w 152.0Corn glutenmeal,Midwest-u,w 554.3Cottonseedmeal-u,w 428Hominy feed,Cent IL-u,w 122Meat-bonemeal,50%proMnpls-u,w 295Oats,No.2milling,Mnpls-u 3.6150Rice, LongGrainMilled, No. 2AR-u,w 28.38Sorghum,(Milo)No.2Gulf-u 6.3725SoybeanMeal,Cent IL,rail,ton48%-u 390.90Soybeans,No.1 yllw IL-bp,u 11.7250Wheat,Spring14%-proMnpls-u 6.6375Wheat,No.2 soft red,St.Louis-u 6.2600Wheat -Hard - KC (USDA) $ per bu-u 5.8650

Wednesday

Wheat,No.1softwhite,Portld,OR-u 6.4000

FoodBeef,carcass equiv. indexchoice 1-3,600-900 lbs.-u 176.89select 1-3,600-900 lbs.-u 159.86Broilers, National compwtd. avg.-u,w 0.8333Butter,AAChicago 1.4525Cheddar cheese,bbl,Chicago 145.75Cheddar cheese,blk,Chicago 165.00Milk,Nonfat dry,Chicago lb. 115.00Coffee,Brazilian,Comp 1.1664Coffee,Colombian, NY 1.7170Eggs,largewhite,Chicago-u 0.7150Flour,hardwinter KC 15.50Hams,17-20 lbs,Mid-US fob-u n.a.Hogs,Iowa-So.Minnesota-u 62.27Pork bellies,12-14 lbMidUS-u n.a.Pork loins,13-19 lbMidUS-u 0.7867Steers,Tex.-Okla. Choice-u n.a.Steers,feeder,Okla. City-u,w 152.06

Fats andOilsCorn oil,crudewet/drymill wtd. avg.-u,w 41.0000Grease,choicewhite,Chicago-h 0.3200Lard,Chicago-u n.a.Soybean oil,crude;Centl IL-u 0.4005Tallow,bleach;Chicago-h 0.3713Tallow,edible,Chicago-u 0.3750

KEY TO CODES: A=ask; B=bid; BP=country elevator bids to producers; C=corrected; E=Manfra,Tordella & Brookes; H=American Commodities Brokerage Co;M=monthly; N=nominal; n.a.=not quoted or not available; R=SNL Energy; S=Platts-TSI; T=Cotlook Limited; U=USDA;W=weekly; Z=not quoted. *Data as of 12/15

Source: Dow JonesMarket Data

Global GovernmentBonds:MappingYieldsYields and spreads over or underU.S. Treasurys on benchmark two-year and 10-year government bonds inselected other countries; arrows indicatewhether the yield rose(s) or fell (t) in the latest session

Country/ Yield (%) Spread Under/Over U.S. Treasurys, in basis pointsCoupon (%) Maturity, in years Latest(l)-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 Previous Month ago Year ago Latest Prev Year ago

0.125 U.S. 2 0.121 l 0.121 0.189 1.6300.875 10 0.923 s l 0.913 0.905 1.878

2.250 Australia 2 0.109 s l 0.105 0.110 0.781 -1.2 -1.6 -85.01.000 10 0.975 s l 0.972 0.904 1.165 5.2 5.9 -71.3

0.000 France 2 -0.704 s l -0.718 -0.668 -0.606 -82.5 -83.9 -223.60.000 10 -0.327 s l -0.373 -0.307 0.025 -125.0 -128.6 -185.3

0.000 Germany 2 -0.724 s l -0.762 -0.718 -0.621 -84.5 -88.3 -225.10.000 10 -0.566 s l -0.609 -0.542 -0.272 -148.9 -152.2 -214.9

0.050 Italy 2 -0.443 s l -0.448 -0.430 -0.194 -56.4 -56.9 -182.40.900 10 0.544 s l 0.523 0.653 1.195 -37.9 -39.0 -68.2

0.100 Japan 2 -0.130 s l -0.142 -0.148 -0.135 -25.1 -26.3 -176.50.100 10 0.010 s l 0.003 0.023 -0.027 -91.4 -91.0 -190.4

0.400 Spain 2 -0.619 s l -0.626 -0.561 -0.392 -74.0 -74.7 -202.21.250 10 0.031 s l -0.017 0.100 0.415 -89.3 -93.0 -146.3

0.125 U.K. 2 -0.061 t l -0.059 -0.024 0.601 -18.2 -18.0 -103.04.750 10 0.276 s l 0.262 0.351 0.825 -64.7 -65.1 -105.3

Source: Tullett Prebon

CorporateDebtPrices of firms' bonds reflect factors including investors' economic, sectoral and company-specificexpectationsInvestment-grade spreads that tightened themost…

Spread*, in basis pointsIssuer Symbol Coupon (%) Yield (%) Maturity Current One-day change Lastweek

CNOOCCurtis CNOOC 4.500 0.92 Oct. 3, ’23 74 –37 n.a.ReynoldsAmerican BATSLN 7.000 4.36 Aug. 4, ’41 269 –21 n.a.Altria MO 9.950 4.56 Nov. 10, ’38 289 –19 n.a.Mastercard MA 3.375 0.34 April 1, ’24 –3 –15 n.a.

Daimler FinanceNorthAmerica DAIGR 1.750 0.49 March 10, ’23 30 –14 42ToyotaMotor Credit TOYOTA 2.900 0.27 March 30, ’23 9 –13 21BankofAmerica BAC 3.300 0.36 Jan. 11, ’23 18 –10 29GECapital International Funding … 4.418 2.91 Nov. 15, ’35 199 –10 217

…Andspreads thatwidened themostStateStreet STT 3.300 0.56 Dec. 16, ’24 19 11 n.a.KeyBank … 3.300 0.76 June 1, ’25 39 7 n.a.LibertyMutual LIBMUT 4.250 0.60 June 15, ’23 42 6 n.a.MidAmericanEnergyHoldings BRKHEC 5.950 2.62 May15, ’37 94 5 n.a.

Apple AAPL 3.850 2.36 May4, ’43 69 4 65Caterpillar Financial Services … 3.750 0.45 Nov. 24, ’23 26 4 30MorganStanley MS 5.000 1.14 Nov. 24, ’25 76 4 73Stifel Financial SF 4.250 0.82 July 18, ’24 43 4 n.a.

High-yield issueswith thebiggest price increases…BondPrice as%of face value

Issuer Symbol Coupon (%) Yield (%) Maturity Current One-day change Lastweek

R.R. Donnelley&Sons RRD 8.500 5.14 April 15, ’29 122.500 3.00 117.750Occidental Petroleum OXY 6.450 6.15 Sept. 15, ’36 103.000 1.23 101.500Macy's M 7.000 7.97 Feb. 15, ’28 94.750 1.00 93.500NokiaOyj NOKIA 4.375 2.87 June 12, ’27 108.875 0.88 107.973

Dell DELL 7.100 2.36 April 15, ’28 131.750 0.75 n.a.TevaPharmaceutical FinanceNetherlands … 3.150 3.68 Oct. 1, ’26 97.250 0.75 96.535SeagateHDDCayman … 4.750 2.59 Jan. 1, ’25 108.240 0.67 108.000Navient NAVI 7.250 3.93 Sept. 25, ’23 108.625 0.63 108.580

…Andwith thebiggest price decreasesDishDBS … 7.750 4.92 July 1, ’26 113.585 –0.66 114.094UnitedAirlinesHoldings UAL 4.875 5.15 Jan. 15, ’25 99.000 –0.60 99.250HowmetAerospace HWM 5.870 1.58 Feb. 23, ’22 105.000 –0.60 105.549Sprint Capital … 8.750 2.90 March 15, ’32 155.751 –0.55 155.250

Netflix NFLX 4.375 2.48 Nov. 15, ’26 110.361 –0.54 110.928HCA HCA 5.375 2.36 Feb. 1, ’25 111.750 –0.40 112.125HughesSatellite Systems … 6.625 4.57 Aug. 1, ’26 110.095 –0.40 110.220Embarq … 7.995 5.82 June 1, ’36 122.000 –0.38 122.500

*Estimated spread over 2-year, 3-year, 5-year, 10-year or 30-year hot-runTreasury; 100basis points=one percentage pt.; change in spread shown is for Z-spread.Note: Data are for themost active issue of bondswithmaturities of two years ormore

Source:MarketAxess

BroadMarketBloombergBarclays

2284.69 7.2 U.S. Aggregate 1.170 1.020 2.370

U.S. Corporate IndexesBloombergBarclays

3437.26 9.2 U.S. Corporate 1.810 1.800 4.580

3100.01 7.0 Intermediate 1.160 1.160 4.400

5140.48 12.8 Long term 2.840 2.730 4.930

698.62 8.3 Double-A-rated 1.450 1.300 3.360

915.58 9.1 Triple-B-rated 2.080 2.080 5.350

HighYieldBonds ICEBofA

491.76 5.3 HighYield Constrained 4.474 4.439 11.400

451.79 3.2 Triple-C-rated 8.687 8.687 19.071

3307.05 3.6 HighYield 100 3.812 3.589 10.740

444.71 5.5 Global HighYield Constrained 4.414 4.414 11.310

337.31 2.6 EuropeHighYield Constrained 2.844 2.464 8.183

U.SAgencyBloombergBarclays

1865.67 5.4 U.SAgency 0.490 0.460 1.950

1626.28 4.1 10-20 years 0.380 0.340 1.850

4262.22 11.7 20-plus years 1.660 1.170 2.450

2921.99 6.8 Yankee 1.410 1.410 3.500

Bonds | wsj.com/market-data/bonds/benchmarks

TrackingBondBenchmarksReturn on investment and spreads over Treasurys and/or yields paid to investors comparedwith 52-weekhighs and lows for different types of bondsTotalreturn YTD total Yield (%)close return (%) Index Latest Low High

*Constrained indexes limit individual issuer concentrations to 2%; theHighYield 100 are the 100 largest bonds † In local currency §Euro-zone bonds

** EMBIGlobal Index Sources: ICEDataServices; BloombergBarclays; J.P.Morgan

Totalreturn YTD total Yield (%)close return (%) Index Latest Low High

Mortgage-BackedBloombergBarclays

2227.33 3.7 Mortgage-Backed 1.320 0.930 2.690

2174.33 3.5 GinnieMae (GNMA) 0.820 0.290 2.660

1315.43 3.8 Fanniemae (FNMA) 1.490 1.110 2.690

2018.95 3.7 FreddieMac (FHLMC) 1.470 1.080 2.710

595.09 5.2 MuniMaster 0.875 0.838 3.441

421.13 5.6 7-12 year 0.863 0.771 3.447

481.49 6.3 12-22 year 1.283 1.224 3.690

467.52 6.1 22-plus year 1.915 1.765 4.123

Global Government J.P.Morgan†

614.30 5.4 Global Government 0.570 0.390 1.060

859.17 6.9 Canada 0.880 0.590 1.740

420.52 5.1 EMU§ 0.054 0.010 0.794

792.04 4.4 France -0.090 -0.160 0.430

551.90 3.0 Germany -0.460 -0.740 -0.050

295.65 -0.8 Japan 0.280 0.040 0.320

617.70 3.6 Netherlands -0.380 -0.540 0.080

1081.13 7.6 U.K. 0.640 0.390 1.180

927.97 5.2 EmergingMarkets ** 4.379 4.379 7.480

Macro&Market Economics

WeeklyDemand, 000sbarrels per dayExpected Previous Year 4-week 5-year

Current change week ago avg avg

Total petroleumproduct 19,335 ... 18,534 21,798 18,873 19,377

Finished

motor gasoline 7,975 ... 7,600 9,411 7,919 8,530Kerosene-type

jet fuel 1,149 ... 1,309 2,056 1,190 1,636Distillates 4,002 ... 3,389 4,120 3,839 3,203Residual fuel oil 289 ... 69 489 299 341Propane/propylene 1,671 ... 1,691 1,674 1,386 ...Other oils 4,249 ... 4,476 4,047 4,241 ...

Natural gas storageBillions of cubic feet; weekly totals

250

1250

2250

3250

4250

D J2020

F M A M J J A S O N

t

Natural gas,lower 48 states

t

Five-year averagefor each week

Note: Expected changes are provided byDowJonesNewswires' survey of analysts. Previous and average inventory data are inmillions.Sources: FactSet; DowJonesMarketData; U.S. Energy InformationAdministration; DowJonesNewswires

Watching theGauges: U.S. Supply andDemandInventories, imports and demand for theweek endedDecember 11. Current figures are in thousands of barrelsor thousands of gallons per day, except natural-gas figures,which are in billions of cubic feet. Natural-gasimport and demanddata are availablemonthly only.

Inventories,000sbarrels Imports,000sbarrels per dayExpected Previous Year 4-week 5-year Expected Previous Year 4-week 5-year

Current change week ago avg avg Current change week ago avg avg

Crude oil andpetroleumprod 1,367,643 ... 1,374 1,280 1,362 1,272 7,667 ... 8,555 9,373 7,797 9,870Crude oilexcludingSPR 500,096 -2,700 503 447 495 445 5,424 ... 6,479 6,579 5,633 7,895Gasoline 238,879 ... 238 237 235 244 611 ... 789 519 591 469Finished gasoline 24,518 1,400 26 24 26 27 90 ... 89 10 62 31Reformulated 50 ... 0 0 0 0 0 ... 0 0 0 0Conventional 24,468 ... 25 24 26 27 90 ... 89 10 62 31Blend. components 214,361 ... 212 214 210 217 521 ... 700 510 529 437

Natural gas (bcf) 3,848 ... 4 4 4 3 ... ... ... ... ... ...

Kerosene-typejet fuel 36,272 ... 36 38 37 41 117 ... 184 269 151 144Distillates 151,259 -300 151 125 148 152 492 ... 279 178 393 189Heating oil 7,320 ... 8 11 8 12 0 ... 0 2 0 31Diesel 143,940 ... 143 114 139 140 492 ... 279 176 393 158Residual fuel oil 31,534 ... 31 32 31 34 260 ... 223 449 214 185Other oils 302,726 ... 304 288 306 261 573 ... 431 1,244 656 816

Net crude, petroleumproducts, incl. SPR 2,005,729 ... 2,012 1,915 2,000 1,940 102 ... 1,967 771 233 3,549

iShMSCI EAFE EFA 72.54 0.39 4.5iShMSCIEmgMarkets EEM 50.72 0.48 13.0iShMSCIJapan EWJ 66.37 –0.02 12.0iShNatlMuniBd MUB 117.12 0.03 2.8iSh1-5YIGCorpBd IGSB 55.14 0.07 2.8iShPfd&Incm PFF 38.18 0.13 1.6iShRussell1000Gwth IWF 236.80 0.54 34.6iShRussell1000 IWB 208.67 0.15 17.0iShRussell1000Val IWD 135.06 –0.27 –1.0iShRussell2000 IWM 193.98 –0.36 17.1iShRussellMid-Cap IWR 67.80 –0.09 13.7iShRussellMCValue IWS 95.79 –0.23 1.1iShS&P500Growth IVW 62.79 0.45 29.7iShS&P500Value IVE 126.37 –0.34 –2.9iShShortTreaBd SHV 110.52 0.01 0.1iShSilver SLV 23.62 3.60 41.6iShTIPSBondETF TIP 127.05 –0.01 9.0iSh1-3YTreasuryBd SHY 86.41 ... 2.1iSh7-10YTreasuryBd IEF 119.86 –0.08 8.7iSh20+YTreasuryBd TLT 157.38 –0.27 16.2iShRussellMCGrowth IWP 101.66 0.34 33.3iShUSTreasuryBdETF GOVT 27.37 –0.07 5.5JPMUltShtIncm JPST 50.79 –0.02 0.7PIMCOEnhShMaturity MINT 102.02 –0.01 0.4SPDRBlmBarcHYBd JNK 108.27 –0.13 –1.2SPDRBloomBar1-3MTB BIL 91.52 0.01 0.1SPDRGold GLD 174.90 0.55 22.4SchwabIntEquity SCHF 35.76 0.25 6.3SchwabUSBrdMkt SCHB 89.72 0.10 16.7SchwabUSDiv SCHD 63.99 0.11 10.5SchwabUSLC SCHX 89.72 0.18 16.8SchwabUSLCGrw SCHG 126.03 0.59 35.6SchwabUSSC SCHA 88.07 –0.14 16.4

Closing Chg YTDETF Symbol Price (%) (%)

ARKInnovationETF ARKK 123.95 –0.28 147.7CommSvsSPDR XLC 67.22 –0.09 25.3CnsmrDiscSelSector XLY 159.68 0.66 27.3CnsStapleSelSector XLP 67.35 0.19 6.9EnSelectSectorSPDR XLE 40.26 –0.49 –32.9FinSelSectorSPDR XLF 28.66 0.17 –6.9HealthCareSelSect XLV 111.71 –0.29 9.7IndSelSectorSPDR XLI 88.29 –0.62 8.4InvscQQQI QQQ 308.98 0.55 45.3InvscS&P500EW RSP 126.62 –0.21 9.4iSh3-7YTreasuryBd IEI 132.94 –0.02 5.7iShCoreDivGrowth DGRO 44.22 –0.14 5.1iShCoreMSCIEAFE IEFA 68.60 0.34 5.2iShCoreMSCIEM IEMG 60.88 0.38 13.2iShCoreMSCITotInt IXUS 66.51 0.35 7.4iShCoreS&P500 IVV 369.90 0.16 14.4iShCoreS&PMC IJH 227.10 –0.32 10.3iShCoreS&PSC IJR 90.83 –0.49 8.3iShS&PTotlUSStkMkt ITOT 85.03 0.12 17.0iShCoreUSAggBd AGG 117.98 –0.04 5.0iShSelectDividend DVY 95.71 –0.28 –9.4iShESGAwareUSA ESGU 84.74 0.11 18.8iShEdgeMSCIMinUSA USMV 67.00 –0.03 2.1iShEdgeMSCIUSAMom MTUM 159.43 0.46 27.0iShEdgeMSCIUSAQual QUAL 114.32 ... 13.2iShGoldTr IAU 17.78 0.51 22.6iShiBoxx$InvGrCpBd LQD 137.34 –0.08 7.3iShiBoxx$HYCpBd HYG 86.84 –0.15 –1.3iShJPMUSDEmgBd EMB 115.39 0.07 0.7iShMBSETF MBB 109.99 –0.01 1.8iShMSCIACWI ACWI 89.55 0.25 13.0

Closing Chg YTDETF Symbol Price (%) (%)

Wednesday, December 16, 2020SchwabUSTIPs SCHP 61.87 –0.02 9.3SPDRDJIATr DIA 302.15 –0.16 6.0SPDRS&PMdCpTr MDY 416.26 –0.34 10.9SPDRS&P500 SPY 370.17 0.16 15.0SPDRS&PDiv SDY 106.79 –0.50 –0.7TechSelectSector XLK 127.69 0.68 39.3UtilitiesSelSector XLU 62.41 –1.16 –3.4VanEckGoldMiner GDX 36.03 1.87 23.1VangdInfoTech VGT 347.53 0.73 41.9VangdSCVal VBR 141.72 –0.52 3.4VangdSCGrwth VBK 262.18 0.02 31.9VangdExtMkt VXF 163.04 –0.21 29.4VangdDivApp VIG 139.65 –0.04 12.0VangdFTSEDevMk VEA 47.19 0.34 7.1VangdFTSEEM VWO 49.78 0.55 11.9VangdFTSEEurope VGK 60.38 0.48 3.0VangdFTSEAWxUS VEU 58.25 0.29 8.4VangdGrowth VUG 249.52 0.51 37.0VangdHlthCr VHT 220.97 –0.36 15.2VangdHiDiv VYM 91.63 –0.16 –2.2VangdIntermBd BIV 93.34 –0.03 7.0VangdIntrCorpBd VCIT 96.89 –0.03 6.1VangdLC VV 173.81 0.12 17.6VangdMC VO 205.99 0.12 15.6VangdMBS VMBS 54.08 ... 1.7VangdRealEst VNQ 85.84 0.12 –7.5VangdS&P500ETF VOO 340.16 0.15 15.0VangdSTBond BSV 82.89 ... 2.8VangdSTCpBd VCSH 83.13 0.02 2.6VangdSC VB 192.68 –0.20 16.3VangdTotalBd BND 88.11 –0.10 5.1VangdTotIntlBd BNDX 58.55 –0.19 3.5VangdTotIntlStk VXUS 60.10 0.25 7.9VangdTotalStk VTI 192.51 0.14 17.7VangdTotlWrld VT 91.96 0.24 13.5VangdValue VTV 118.42 –0.16 –1.2

Closing Chg YTDETF Symbol Price (%) (%)

Exchange-Traded Portfolios | WSJ.com/ETFresearch

Largest 100 exchange-traded funds, latest session

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. * * * * * Thursday, December 17, 2020 | B11

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

American Century InvUltra 74.23 +0.49 46.4American Funds Cl AAmcpA p 38.43 -0.82 16.5AMutlA p 44.16 -0.27 3.2BalA p 29.91 +0.03 9.8BondA p 14.19 ... 10.4CapIBA p 63.24 +0.19 2.6CapWGrA 58.45 +0.27 13.5EupacA p 67.73 +0.46 21.7FdInvA p 68.86 +0.24 13.6GwthA p 68.90 +0.30 34.8HI TrA p 10.12 +0.01 6.1ICAA p 43.88 -0.01 12.7IncoA p 23.38 +0.03 4.2N PerA p 61.47 +0.20 30.1NEcoA p 58.19 -1.17 27.3NwWrldA 86.14 +0.59 22.1SmCpA p 78.27 +0.33 33.0TxExA p 13.63 ... 4.5WshA p 50.36 +0.01 6.2

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Baird FundsAggBdInst 11.89 +0.01 8.3CorBdInst 12.24 +0.01 8.4BlackRock FundsHiYBlk 7.75 ... 5.0HiYldBd Inst 7.74 ... 4.9BlackRock Funds AGlblAlloc p 22.16 +0.07 18.5BlackRock Funds IIIiShS&P500IdxK437.56 +0.78 16.6BlackRock Funds InstStratIncOpptyIns 10.36 +0.01 6.7Bridge Builder TrustCoreBond 10.77 ... 8.3CorePlusBond 10.57 ... 8.9Intl Eq 13.48 +0.08 12.4LargeCapGrowth 20.33 +0.10 32.5LargeCapValue 14.59 -0.02 8.1ClearBridgeLargeCapGrowthI NA ... NAColumbia Class I

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

DivIncom I 25.46 ... 6.3Dimensional Fds5GlbFxdInc 10.89 ... 1.5EmgMktVa 28.11 -0.05 ...EmMktCorEq 23.72 +0.17 11.3IntlCoreEq 14.40 +0.06 6.5IntSmCo 19.89 -0.19 5.7IntSmVa 18.90 +0.08 -0.4LgCo 27.71 +0.05 16.5TAUSCoreEq2 22.63 -0.09 13.6US CoreEq1 29.24 ... 14.7US CoreEq2 26.56 -0.01 13.9US Small 37.91 -0.18 9.7US SmCpVal 33.96 -0.66 -0.5US TgdVal 23.31 -0.29 1.9USLgVa 37.12 -0.31 -2.1Dodge & CoxBalanced 105.54 -0.10 7.2Income 14.97 +0.01 9.1Intl Stk 44.36 +0.02 1.7Stock 199.64 -0.26 6.3

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Mutual Funds Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Net YTDFund NAV Chg %Ret

Top 250 mutual-funds listings for Nasdaq-published share classes by net assets.

e-Ex-distribution. f-Previous day’s quotation. g-Footnotes x and s apply. j-Footnotes eand s apply. k-Recalculated by Lipper, using updated data. p-Distribution costs apply,12b-1. r-Redemption charge may apply. s-Stock split or dividend. t-Footnotes p and rapply. v-Footnotes x and e apply. x-Ex-dividend. z-Footnote x, e and s apply. NA-Notavailable due to incomplete price, performance or cost data. NE-Not released by Lipper;data under review. NN-Fund not tracked. NS-Fund didn’t exist at start of period.

DoubleLine FundsCoreFxdIncmI 11.32 ... 5.3TotRetBdI 10.72 ... 4.0Edgewood Growth InstitutiEdgewoodGrInst 53.80 +0.42 39.7Fidelity500IdxInstPrem128.20 +0.23 16.6Contrafund K6 18.63 +0.13 29.0ExtMktIdxInstPre 82.34 -0.08 30.4FidSerToMarket 12.71 +0.01 18.9IntlIdxInstPrem 45.10 +0.25 7.0MidCpInxInstPrem 27.19 -0.02 15.7SAIUSLgCpIndxFd 19.33 +0.03 16.4SeriesBondFd 10.76 ... 7.4SeriesOverseas 12.10 +0.05 13.6SmCpIdxInstPrem 24.68 -0.09 18.5TMktIdxInstPrem106.11 +0.14 19.0USBdIdxInstPrem 12.42 ... 7.4Fidelity Advisor INwInsghtI 37.29 +0.27 22.6Fidelity FreedomFF2020 17.69 +0.03 12.5FF2025 15.82 +0.03 13.3FF2030 19.77 +0.05 14.1Freedom2020 K 17.68 +0.03 12.5Freedom2025 K 15.80 +0.03 13.3Freedom2030 K 19.76 +0.05 14.3Freedom2035 K 16.90 +0.04 15.6Freedom2040 K 11.95 +0.03 16.5Fidelity InvestBalanc 27.82 +0.05 20.4BluCh 164.80 +1.21 59.5Contra 16.55 +0.13 30.8ContraK 16.58 +0.12 30.9

CpInc r 10.66 +0.03 9.2DivIntl 46.48 +0.26 15.9GroCo 35.46 +0.18 66.0GrowCoK 35.55 +0.18 66.2InvGrBd 11.88 ... 9.4LowP r 47.87 -0.01 7.6Magin 12.78 +0.05 25.7NASDAQ r 159.88 +0.76 41.9OTC 17.28 +0.09 44.0Puritn 25.70 +0.04 19.1SrsEmrgMkt 24.40 +0.17 21.9SrsGlobal 14.15 +0.07 9.3SrsGroCoRetail NA ... NASrsIntlGrw 17.35 +0.11 15.7SrsIntlVal 10.00 +0.06 4.0TotalBond 11.30 ... 8.9Fidelity SAITotalBd 10.73 ... 8.6Fidelity SelectsSoftwr r 27.12 +0.34 41.0Tech r 30.27 +0.18 58.3First Eagle FundsGlbA 60.78 +0.18 7.4Franklin A1CA TF A1 p 7.82 ... 5.2IncomeA1 p 2.28 -0.01 2.7FrankTemp/Frank AdvIncomeAdv 2.26 -0.01 2.8FrankTemp/Franklin AGrowth A p 132.52 +0.44 27.8RisDv A p 78.41 -0.04 13.7Guggenheim Funds TruTotRtnBdFdClInst 30.27 +0.02 14.4Harbor Funds

CapApInst 115.43 +1.19 52.4Harding LoevnerIntlEq NA ... NAInvesco Funds YDevMktY 52.48 +0.46 15.3JPMorgan I ClassCoreBond 12.27 ... NAEqInc 19.53 -0.02 NAJPMorgan R ClassCoreBond 12.28 ... NALord Abbett AShtDurIncmA p 4.21 ... 2.8Lord Abbett FShtDurIncm 4.21 +0.01 2.9Metropolitan WestTotRetBdI 11.15 +0.01 8.8TRBdPlan 10.45 ... 8.7MFS Funds Class IGrowth I 159.40 +1.43 29.7ValueI 44.94 -0.12 2.1MFS Funds InstlIntlEq 30.17 +0.18 9.4Northern FundsStkIdx 42.55 +0.07 16.5Old Westbury FdsLrgCpStr 16.86 +0.06 13.5Parnassus FdsParnEqFd 52.94 +0.14 19.4PGIM Funds Cl ZTotalReturnBond 15.05 +0.01 NAPIMCO Fds InstlAllAsset NA ... NAInvGrdCrBd 11.24 ... NATotRt 10.59 ... 8.7

PIMCO Funds AIncomeFd NA ... NAPIMCO Funds I2Income NA ... NAPIMCO Funds InstlIncomeFd NA ... NAPrice FundsBlChip 163.86 +1.50 33.4DivGro 58.90 -0.06 11.8EqInc 31.03 -0.07 0.6Growth 95.93 +0.90 35.5HelSci 98.12 -0.34 29.2LgCapGow I 60.30 +0.59 37.5MidCap 111.32 +0.04 22.2NHoriz 81.18 +0.27 55.6R2020 24.80 +0.05 12.3R2025 20.20 +0.04 13.6R2030 29.71 +0.06 14.7R2035 22.03 +0.05 15.8R2040 31.59 +0.08 16.7PRIMECAP Odyssey FdsAggGrowth r 53.08 -0.05 27.6Schwab Funds1000 Inv r 84.57 +0.12 18.9S&P Sel 57.59 +0.11 16.6TSM Sel r 66.54 +0.08 18.9TIAA/CREF FundsEqIdxInst 27.37 +0.03 19.0VANGUARD ADMIRAL500Adml 342.69 +0.60 16.6BalAdml 44.44 +0.03 15.2CAITAdml 12.38 ... 4.7CapOpAdml r192.95 +0.53 22.3DivAppIdxAdm 37.89 -0.01 13.6

EMAdmr 41.27 +0.34 13.4EqIncAdml 79.09 -0.21 1.9ExplrAdml 124.92 -0.13 28.5ExtndAdml 123.66 -0.12 30.4GNMAAdml 10.72 +0.01 3.6GrwthAdml 128.42 +0.66 37.7HlthCareAdml r 95.14 +0.02 11.5HYCorAdml r 5.96 ... 4.8InfProAd 28.49 ... 10.4IntlGrAdml 156.64 -2.93 52.4ITBondAdml 12.65 +0.01 9.5ITIGradeAdml 10.70 ... 9.8LTGradeAdml 12.09 ... 14.6MidCpAdml 254.97 +0.17 17.1MuHYAdml 11.97 ... 5.2MuIntAdml 14.85 ... 5.0MuLTAdml 12.27 ... 6.0MuLtdAdml 11.26 ... 3.3MuShtAdml 15.95 ... 1.9PrmcpAdml r167.74 +0.70 16.3RealEstatAdml121.63 +0.05 -5.2SmCapAdml 92.24 -0.25 17.3SmGthAdml 92.11 -0.05 32.3STBondAdml 10.87 ... 4.6STIGradeAdml 11.02 ... 5.1TotBdAdml 11.61 -0.01 7.4TotIntBdIdxAdm 23.41 -0.03 4.4TotIntlAdmIdx r 32.32 +0.17 9.7TotStAdml 93.69 +0.12 19.2TxMCapAdml195.15 +0.29 19.1TxMIn r 15.16 +0.07 8.8USGroAdml 168.17 -5.10 50.9ValAdml 46.17 -0.09 1.1WdsrllAdml 72.17 -0.03 12.6WellsIAdml 69.75 -0.10 7.8

WelltnAdml 80.46 +0.07 9.5WndsrAdml 76.11 -0.12 6.4VANGUARD FDSDivdGro 33.41 -0.05 10.3INSTTRF2020 26.80 +0.04 11.2INSTTRF2025 27.76 +0.04 12.3INSTTRF2030 28.36 +0.05 12.9INSTTRF2035 28.94 +0.06 13.5INSTTRF2040 29.51 +0.07 14.0INSTTRF2045 30.01 +0.07 14.6INSTTRF2050 30.09 +0.07 14.8INSTTRF2055 30.22 +0.08 14.8IntlVal 40.41 +0.13 7.7LifeCon 22.97 +0.03 10.7LifeGro 40.90 +0.09 14.1LifeMod 32.19 +0.05 12.5PrmcpCor 31.01 +0.07 11.1STAR 32.64 +0.07 20.2TgtRe2015 16.64 +0.02 9.6TgtRe2020 36.14 +0.05 11.1TgtRe2025 22.26 +0.03 12.2TgtRe2030 41.15 +0.08 12.9TgtRe2035 25.56 +0.06 13.5TgtRe2040 44.63 +0.11 14.1TgtRe2045 28.35 +0.08 14.8TgtRe2050 45.68 +0.12 14.9TgtRet2055 49.58 +0.13 14.8TgtRetInc 15.20 +0.02 9.4TotIntBdIxInv 11.71 -0.01 4.4USGro 64.94 -1.90 51.0WellsI 28.79 -0.04 7.7Welltn 46.59 +0.04 9.4WndsrII 40.67 -0.01 12.6VANGUARD INDEX FDS

ExtndIstPl 305.17 -0.28 30.5IdxIntl 19.32 +0.10 9.6MdCpGrAdml 90.38 +0.36 33.0SmValAdml 60.88 -0.28 4.9TotBd2 11.53 ... 7.0TotIntlInstIdx r129.27 +0.70 9.8TotItlInstPlId r129.29 +0.69 9.8TotSt 93.65 +0.13 19.1VANGUARD INSTL FDSBalInst 44.45 +0.03 15.2DevMktsIndInst 15.18 +0.07 8.8DevMktsInxInst 23.73 +0.11 8.8ExtndInst 123.65 -0.12 30.4GrwthInst 128.43 +0.66 37.8InPrSeIn 11.61 ... 10.5InstIdx 331.23 +0.59 16.6InstPlus 331.25 +0.59 16.6InstTStPlus 80.16 +0.10 19.2MidCpInst 56.33 +0.04 17.1MidCpIstPl 277.79 +0.19 17.1SmCapInst 92.24 -0.25 17.3STIGradeInst 11.02 ... 5.1STIPSIxins 25.73 +0.02 4.7TotBdInst 11.61 -0.01 7.4TotBdInst2 11.53 ... 7.0TotBdInstPl 11.61 -0.01 7.4TotIntBdIdxInst 35.13 -0.04 4.4TotStInst 93.71 +0.13 19.2ValueInst 46.17 -0.09 1.1WCM Focus FundsWCMFocIntlGrwIns 24.12 +0.11 29.4Western AssetCoreBondI NA ... NACorePlusBdI NA ... NACorePlusBdIS NA ... NA

Data provided by

MARKETS

are close to record levels,again making further gainsdifficult.

This year, the worst econ-omy in history was offset forshareholders by the combi-nation of valuations proppedup by central-bank actionand profit margins sup-ported by governmentspending. Both can continuefor some time, but cannotlast forever.

M r. Moakes has reor-ganized his portfolioto remove the parts

reliant on merely matchingdeveloped stock markets’performance, because hethinks they will be unable todeliver the 4 percentagepoints above inflation Well-come needs to sustain its re-search funding.

If you’re thinking aboutborrowing to invest andhave access to cheap money,a nominal return of 4% to5%—or 2 to 3 percentagepoints above the inflationtarget—is still far above thecost of high-quality debt.But the return is hoped for,highly variable and oftennegative for years at a time,while the interest is fixed.This is a sure bet only forthose who think of the longterm as being multiple de-cades, not merely years, andwho won’t be ruined if itgoes wrong.

lower rates than in the past.Investors considering tak-

ing advantage of cheapmoney to leverage up shouldconsider if this is likely tobe repeated.

“Anyone who’s in a posi-tion to issue high-qualitydebt has to be thinkingabout it,” said Nick Moakes,chief investment officer atWellcome.

The basic argument isthat stocks will produce ahigher return than the costof the debt over the longrun. With the yield on Well-come’s bond that matures in2118 at 1.4%, that seemsmore than plausible—but ifit falls again, the seller ofthe bond will be kickingthemselves that they didn’twait for even better condi-tions.

Long-term bond pricesare highly sensitive tochanges in yield. If the yieldon the Wellcome bond fellfrom 1.4% to 0.4%, the bondwould rise in price by 70%—a big missed opportunity. It

ContinuedfrompageB1

BorrowingFor StocksHas Pitfalls

is hard to believe that any-one would want to lend evento a triple-A charity for acentury at 0.4%. But that isthe yield on Austria’s 100-year bond issued in June.

I n one sense, the missedopportunity is just that,and doesn’t affect the

basic logic of the trade. Thequestion is only whetherstocks will continue to beatthe original cost of thebond, which for Wellcome’s100-year is the 2.5% coupon.Mark-to-market losses

should be reversed by thetime the bond matures,since its repayment cost isfixed.

Unfortunately, the casefor stocks is weaker than itwas. Wellcome is again agreat comparator: It madeabout the same return in thepast year as it averaged overthe past 35 years. Repeatingthat needs a combination ofthree things: a rise in valua-tions, economic growth andan increase in the share ofthe economy going to share-holders, proxied by the

profit margin. Unfortunately,all will be harder over thenext 3½ decades.

“It’s tough to see that be-ing repeated,” Mr. Moakessaid.

Valuations have risen toclose to their dot-com-bub-ble highs, making furthergains hard to sustain. Eco-nomic growth has weakenedsince the 1980s, and willprobably be hampered bythe hangover of debt, dam-aged businesses and lostskills because of the pan-demic. And profit margins

Total return this yearwith income reinvested* S&P 500 forwardprice/earnings ratio

Note: Data through Tuesday *In dollar termsSource: Refinitiv

40

–40

–20

0

20

%

Jan. 2020 Dec.

WellcomeTrust2118 bond

MSCI All CountryWorld Index

25

0

5

10

15

20

times

1990 2000 ’10 ’20

rants, department stores andvehicle dealerships reportingsharp sales declines. The re-tail sales report was the lat-est indication the economicrecovery may be slowing ascoronavirus cases surge.

Also Wednesday, FederalReserve officials released newprojections showing most ofthem expected interest rateswould remain near zero atleast through 2023, as the la-bor market and economy re-turn to health.

“Investors are counting ona favorable backdrop for com-panies, and favorable back-drop means low interest rateson their debt,” said SusanSchmidt, head of U.S. equitiesat Aviva Investors.

The rollout of Covid-19vaccines this month and theprospect of more shots beingwidely distributed next yearhave fueled bets on an eco-nomic rebound.

“Even though we’re still inthe thick of it and perhapsthe most heartbreaking partof it, investors still seem tobe willing to look to the end,”said David Bianco, chief in-vestment officer for the

$31.51 after the company saidit plans to offer $2 billion ofconvertible notes, with thenet proceeds of the offeringto be used for general corpo-rate purposes.

American Outdoor Brandsshares jumped $1.75, or 11%,to $17.59 after the hunting-equipment provider swung toa profit for its latest quarteras sales increased.

Overseas, the Stoxx Europe600 index rose 0.8%. Surveysof purchasing managersshowed that Europe’s econ-omy steadied in the earlyweeks of December as govern-ments eased some restric-tions on the services sectorand factory output continuedto increase.

Businesses were encour-aged by the prospect of awidespread deployment of ef-fective vaccines in 2021 andcut jobs at the slowest pacesince the pandemic began.

In Asian trading earlyThursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225Stock Average was flat, HongKong’s Hang Seng Index wasup 0.1% and South Korea’s Ko-spi was up 0.8%. U.S. stock fu-tures were up 0.1%.

The S&P 500 rose as law-makers neared a coronavirusrelief deal and the Federal Re-serve indicated most officialsexpect rates to remain nearzero for years.

Fiscal and monetary stimu-lus have helped bolster theeconomy and send the stock

market tonew heightseven as thecoronavirus

pandemic spread throughoutthe U.S.

The S&P 500 rose 6.55points, or 0.2%, to 3701.17,just shy of a record. The Nas-daq Composite advanced63.13 points, or 0.5%, to12658.19, its 52nd recordclose of 2020. The Dow JonesIndustrial Average slipped44.77 points, or 0.1%, to30154.54.

Congressional leaders wereclosing in Wednesday on aroughly $900 billion corona-virus relief deal that was ex-pected to include anotherround of direct payments tohouseholds, The Wall StreetJournal reported. The pack-age was also expected to in-clude enhanced unemploy-ment insurance.

Movement toward the fis-cal-stimulus package buoyedsentiment on Tuesday, help-ing the S&P 500 break a four-day losing streak.

Hopes for the new stimuluspackage have become the lat-est catalyst for a market rallythat has sent the S&P 500 up15% this year, despite the eco-nomic setback triggered bythe coronavirus pandemic.

The elements expected inthe package should supportconsumer spending, saidJames Ragan, director ofwealth-management researchat D.A. Davidson.

“That…probably leads tobetter GDP growth in the firstquarter of 2021 than wewould get if there was nostimulus,” he said.

New data Wednesdayshowed U.S. retail salesdropped a seasonally adjusted1.1% in November from theprior month, with restau-

BY KAREN LANGLEYAND MISCHA FRANKL-DUVAL

S&P Rises as Stimulus Bill Deal Nears

WEDNESDAY’SMARKETS

Americas at DWS Group, aglobal asset manager.

In coming weeks, any is-sues curtailing the rollout ofvaccines, such as unexpectedside effects or logistical prob-lems, could damp market sen-timent, said Altaf Kassam,head of investment strategyfor State Street Global Advi-sors in Europe.

“There will be bumps inthe road,” which could bring

back turbulence to equitymarkets, he said. “But we dothink the trajectory will beupward again next year.”

Among individual stocks,shares of Southwest Airlinesslipped 69 cents, or 1.5%, to$45.73 after the airline saidtrip cancellations are risingand leisure bookings are soft-ening for December.

Dish Network sharesdropped $4.17, or 12%, to

Share-price and index performance,Wednesday

Source: FactSet

20

–15

–10

–5

0

5

10

15

%

9:30 10 11 noon 1 2 3 4

Southwest Airlines

Dish Network

American Outdoor Brands

S&P 500

Southwest shares fell 1.5% after the airline said cancellations are rising. Passengers board a Southwest plane in Los Angeles.

PATR

ICKT.

FALLON/A

GEN

CEFR

ANCE

-PRE

SSE/GET

TYIM

AGES

Bitcoin surged above$20,000 on Wednesday for thefirst time in its 12-year history,part of a furious rally that hasseen the digital currency nearlytriple this year.

The digital currency rose9.3% to $21,240, according toCoinDesk.

The move above $20,000 isthe latest bullish sign for cryp-tocurrencies, which after yearsin the fringe are beginning tobe taken more seriously by pro-fessional investors.

A string ofwell-known in-vestors and

companies have publicly un-veiled bitcoin holdings this year,including hedge-fund managersPaul Tudor Jones and StanleyDruckenmiller, insurance giantMassachusetts Mutual Life In-surance Co. and other compa-nies including Square Inc.

The record came after theU.K. investment firm Ruffer In-vestment Management dis-closed that it was holdingabout $744 million of bitcoin.

Bitcoin is also attracting anew crowd of individual inves-tors. Firms such as RobinhoodMarkets Inc., Square, PayPalHoldings Inc. and Webull haveopened up crypto trading totheir customers.

These new investors are driv-ing the price higher at least par-tially because of the fallingvalue of the dollar. With interestrates low, investors are lookingfor alternative assets as a hedge.

BY PAUL VIGNA

BitcoinSoars Past$20,000Landmark

CURRENCIES

Luckin Coffee Inc. hasagreed to pay $180 million tosettle regulatory claims that itcooked its books to makegrowth appear more robustand meet earnings targets.

The Securities and ExchangeCommission announced thepenalty on Wednesday, eightmonths after the Chinese com-pany disclosed that some of itsofficers fabricated sales in2019. Luckin neither admittednor denied the SEC’s fraudclaims, which were filed inManhattan federal court. Thesettlement is subject to a fed-eral judge’s approval.

Luckin intentionally fakedmore than $300 million in re-tail sales from April 2019 toJanuary 2020 by using pur-ported individual customer ac-counts and related parties andshell companies, the SEC said.The company also fabricated1.3 billion yuan, or $196 mil-lion, of expenses by paying 13purported suppliers of rawmaterials, human resourcesand delivery services, accord-ing to the SEC. The findingsconfirmed details of theschemes reported by The WallStreet Journal in May.

Luckin, once a highflyingcompetitor to Starbucks Corp.in China, went public on theNasdaq in 2019. Its disclosureof financial-reporting failuresearlier this year caused itsshares to plummet 75%.

BY DAVE MICHAELSAND JING YANG

LuckinPays U.S.Penalty forFake Sales

B12 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

HEARD ONTHESTREET

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

Help Is on the Horizon for RetailersDisappointing sales report sets stage for a difficult winter, but new round of stimulus could ease pain

PolicyMakersKeep FootOn Gas

Fed pledges to continueasset purchases

Typical holiday spending categories were among the worst hit, with sales down 3.5% at electronics and appliance stores.

TANNEN

MAURY

/EPA

/SHUTT

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OCK

price for the S&P GSCI IndustrialMetals 3 Month Forward Index isup around 18% this year, at an al-most eight-year high.

There is one important caveat tothe restraint on debt, according toChinese state media: It excludes ad-vance payments from buyers, whichdevelopers have increasingly reliedon in recent years. But if developerssimply turn to ever-greater presales,that could exacerbate an existingproblem: Developers start moreprojects than they complete eachyear, lengthening the amount oftime between purchase and deliveryfor buyers. That raises the risk ofleaving millions of buyers unsatis-fied if major companies went under.

It is possible that the Chinesegovernment simply bends and al-lows the developers more leeway ondebt financing. But if it doesn’t,then the sector—and the wider Chi-nese economy—should begin to feelthe squeeze in earnest next year.

—Mike Bird

China’s real-estate developerscontributed significantly to its re-covery this year, revving up salesand construction activity as theworld’s second-largest economybegan to shrug off the economiceffects of the pandemic.

But it isn’t clear whether theywill be able to repeat the same actnext year. Markets that are sensitiveto the conditions in the sector, espe-cially industrial metals like steel andcopper, may begin to reflect that.

Late last month, China Bankingand Insurance Regulatory Commis-sion chief Guo Shuqing labeled realestate the country’s largest “grayrhino.” Most listed real-estate de-velopers breach at least one ofthree “red lines” or specific lever-age ratios to avoid. As of the endof the first half of 2020, only sixmajor developers passed all threetests, according to BNP Paribas.Nine breached all three, amongthem Sunac and Evergrande.

Where developers place on theredlines test will determine howmuch debt they can raise the nextyear. Without the ability to add le-verage, their ability to buy the landrequired to finance local govern-ments would be more limited. Ana-lysts at Nomura expect land-salesrevenue to rise by 5% next year,down from 9% this year, the slowestincrease in at least five years.

China’s real-estate market is,perhaps mercifully, almost entirelydomestic. Aside from developers’dollar bonds the sector’s creditorsare overwhelmingly Chinese. Thereis therefore little risk of a chaoticspillover through internationalbanks. But there are some marketsthat will feel the impact of a slow-down in construction, industrialmetals chief among them. The spot

S&PGSCI IndustrialMetals3-month Index

Source: FactSet

450

200

250

300

350

400

’202012

EU Banks Need Loan Crisis to Nudge Politicians“History shows us that it is best

to tackle nonperforming loansearly and decisively,” said Euro-pean Commission Executive VicePresident Valdis Dombrovskis, ashe announced a plan for “badbanks” to sweep up debts souredby the pandemic.

But history also shows that lend-ers aren’t likely to get much reliefunless they actually find themselvesin a nonperforming loan crisis.

The proposal announced by theEuropean Union’s executive armWednesday supports creating na-tional bad banks and a data hub forNPLs, while also pushing long-stalled proposals to harmonize debtrecovery and insolvency rules. Offi-cials are publicly acknowledging akey lesson from the 2008 crisis:Fast balance-sheet cleanup helpedU.S. banks recover quickly, whileEuropean lenders struggled under alingering hangover of bad loans.

But the plan stops far short ofcreating an EU-wide bad bank, assome had hoped. The lack of ambi-tion is lamentable but understand-able. Commission proposals requiresignoff not just from the European

Parliament but also from Europe’snational leaders, who are often loathto approve anything that shares fi-nancial risk among them. The gla-cial pace of recent reform on thebanking and capital market unionsattests to the challenge. Unfortu-nately, that leaves Europe’s subscalebanks struggling for profits among apatchwork of national and EU ruleswhile competing with U.S. rivals.

EU-level risk sharing is a toughsell because attitudes toward debt,savings, homeownership, taxes andspending vary widely across the 27member states. Traditionally thrift-ier countries such as Austria, Ger-many and the Netherlands worrythat EU-level financial programswould leave them paying for the ir-responsible behavior of others.

Historically, it has taken a crisisto overcome these hurdles. The pan-demic prompted an unexpectedagreement in July to issue EU-levelbonds. Commonly issued debt was along-stalled ambition for some inthe bloc. It became reality onlywhen politicians had to find a wayto fund Covid-19 recovery packages.

Likewise, the 2012 eurozone debt

crisis pushed leaders to take signif-icant steps toward a banking union:agreeing to an EU-level financialrulebook, empowering the ECB asthe region’s banking supervisor andcreating a common mechanism todeal with failing banks.

Creating a European bad bankmay require a similar push. NPL lev-els vary widely among memberstates, which have also been hit bythe pandemic to different extents.The region’s lenders have generallybuilt solid capital buffers, but toughtimes lie ahead. The EU’s averageNPL ratio rose in the first quarterthis year, the first increase in years.

Loans will almost certainly de-teriorate once government-supportprograms roll off, revealing the fullextent of the economic damagecaused by Covid-19. The scale ofthe bad debts remains extremelyuncertain, however.

It is encouraging that the com-mission has highlighted the NPLlessons from the last crisis. Unfor-tunately for banks and their inves-tors, though, loan losses will likelyneed to be acute before politicianswill act. —Rochelle Toplensky

The Covid-19 crisis has caughtback up with retailers again, set-ting the stage for a hard start towinter. But help may be on theway.

The Commerce Department onWednesday reported that retailsales in November fell a seasonallyadjusted 1.1% from the priormonth, and adding to the insult re-vised its October sales level downas well. Typical holiday spendingcategories were among the worsthit, with sales down 3.5% at elec-tronics and appliance stores, 6.8%at clothing and clothing accesso-ries stores, and 7.7% at departmentstores. Sales at food services anddrinking places fell 4%—an indica-tion that the combination of colderweather crimping outdoor diningand stepped-up Covid-19 worries ishurting the restaurant sector.

The report suggests that the4.1% annualized growth in fourth-quarter gross domestic productthat economists polled by TheWall Street Journal forecast ear-

lier this month may be too high.Moreover, because it also impliesthat the level of spending may belower heading into the first quar-ter than many economists sup-posed, the average level of GDP inthe first quarter may be lower rel-ative to the fourth quarter thanthey forecast. As a result, theirprojection of 1.9% GDP growth inthe first quarter also could be toohigh, with risk of an outright con-traction that would send the econ-omy into a double-dip recession.

Part of what makes the newsdisconcerting is that it comes dur-ing the holiday shopping season,which many small retailers in par-ticular depend on. Fewer of themmay be able to survive the winter,with negative repercussions for ev-erything from commercial lendingto the job market’s ability to re-cover.

Another worry is that apartfrom restaurants, the report re-flects weakness in the goods sec-tor, which is what has been driving

ers. As a result, demand for goodscould now be petering out, whiledemand for services will only be-come more depressed in the nearterm as a result of the rise inCovid-19 cases.

The bright spot for retailers onWednesday didn’t come from theretail sales report, but from Wash-ington, where Democratic and Re-publican lawmakers appeared tobe closing in on a roughly $900billion relief deal that could in-clude another round of stimuluschecks and further support forsmall businesses.

None of that money would ar-rive soon enough to salvage theholiday season for retailers—theywould probably be far better off ifa deal were struck earlier. But itshould make the rest of their win-ter a little less dark, providingthem with a bridge to the springwhen, hopefully, the pandemic’sgrip on the economy will be farlooser than it is now.

—Justin Lahart

The Federal Reserve added a bitmore support to the economy onWednesday, which should keepstocks and asset prices high. Andif the economy weakens further,more could be on its way.

Following their two-day meet-ing, Fed officials released a policystatement that was virtually un-changed from November’s meet-ing, except for one crucial differ-ence. At that meeting, theycontinued their pledge to keepbuying $80 billion in Treasurysand $40 billion in mortgage bonds“over coming months.” OnWednesday, they said they wouldsustain those asset purchases “un-til substantial further progress”has been made toward its goals offull employment and 2% inflation.

That suggests the Fed will bebuying assets for a long time. Pro-jections released alongsideWednesday’s statement show thatofficials’ median projection for theunemployment rate over the longrun—essentially, their assessmentof where it would be under fullemployment—is 4.1%. They don’texpect it to reach that level untilsometime in 2023. They don’tthink that inflation will reach 2%until 2023 either.

Coupled with the Fed’s earlierpromise to keep its target rangeon overnight rates near zero untilit sees evidence of a tight labormarket and inflation has obviouslycleared its 2% target rate, Wednes-day’s announcement suggests bothshort- and long-term rates will re-main low for some time. Thatmeans Treasurys might not offermuch competition for stocks in theyears ahead, making it easier formany equity investors to stomachhigh valuations.

How much support the Fed’spledges give to the economy, asopposed to asset prices, is an openquestion, given that the root ofthe economy’s current difficultiesis the pandemic rather than anyproblem in lending markets. Still,if the alternative is doing nothing,the Fed’s inclination is to do more.

It could be years before inves-tors are fighting the Fed again.

— Justin Lahart

the recovery since spring. As ofOctober, consumer spending ongoods was still 7.8% higher than inFebruary, according to the Com-merce Department, while spendingin the far larger services sectorwas down 5.8%.

One reason retail sales fell last

month may be that a lot of con-sumption was brought forward, asthe pandemic since March hasshifted demand to goods such askitchen equipment and home en-tertainment, combined with thespring’s stimulus checks and evenpreholiday discount events fromAmazon.com and other big retail-

None of the governmentaid would arrive soonenough to salvage theholiday shopping season.

China’s Real-EstateBoom Can’t Keep Going

Nonperforming loan ratios for selected European countries

Source: European Banking Authority*Weighted-average of countries' banks' non-performing loans & advances divided by total loans

0 30%10 20Greece

Cyprus

Bulgaria

Italy

Portugal

Poland

Hungary

Ireland

Spain

France

Netherlands

Lithuania

Germany

Luxembourg

Sweden

EUbanks’ nonperforming loan ratio*

7

0123456%

2015 ’16 ’17 ’18 ’19 ’20

© 2020 Dow Jones & Company. All Rights Reserved. * * THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | R1Thursday,December 17, 2020 | THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

LookingBack on2020 —and

Ahead

Dozens of expertsreflect on thisextraordinary year.And offer hopefor what’scoming.

ECONOMY by Julia Pollak • INVESTING by Mellody Hobson

CARS by Jay Leno • and John W. Rogers Jr.

BIG TECH by Matt Perault • HEALTH CARE by Michael Mina

DEMOCRACY by Francis Fukuyama • OFFICES by Peter Cappelli • RETAIL by

Matt Rubel • MANUFACTURING by Scott Davis • WORLD TRADE by Douglas A. Irwin

SOCIAL MEDIA with Kate Starbird • CHINA by Henry M. Paulson Jr. • RESTAURANTS by Marcus Samuelsson

DIVERSITY by Pamela Newkirk • WILDFIRES by Stephen Pyne • CITIES by Richard Florida • ARCHITECTURE

by Sebastian Salvadó • FASHION with Prabal Gurung • SPORTS by Nneka Ogwumike • DEATH by Katy Butler

LIVE MUSIC with Jeff Tweedy • EDUCATION by Margaret Spellings • AGRICULTURE by Jason L. Lusk and Michael D. Boehlje

WHAT’S NEW IN CLEANING • PETS • DATING • STAND-UP COMEDY • READING • HOME GYMS

PLUS THE YEAR IN ARTS: Michael J. Lewis on ARCHITECTURE • Karen Wilkin on ART • Joe Morgenstern on FILM

Mark Richardson on MUSIC • John Anderson on TELEVISION • Terry Teachout on THEATER

JOURNAL REPORT

YEAR IN REVIEW

R2 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

ment benefits helped the job-less get by and helped sustainspending. As a result, house-hold incomes and expenditureswere surprisingly resilient.But then another shock took

place. On May 25 in Minneapo-lis, a Black man named GeorgeFloyd died while being arrestedby police, one of whom waslater charged with second-de-gree murder. As a cellphonevideo of Mr. Floyd’s death be-gan to circulate, protests andcivil unrest spread across thecountry. Shopping districtsthat had just begun to reopenafter Covid-19 lockdowns nowboarded up their storefronts; insome cities curfews were im-posed.Meanwhile, the stock market

recovered quickly, and the labormarket’s recovery beat expecta-tions. By November, unemploy-ment had fallen to 6.7% from14.7% in April.The third shock came as no

surprise, but was difficult tobear nonetheless: the conten-tious election.Rather than a blue wave or a

red wave, the American peopleproduced a mixed election re-sult, with Democrats winningthe presidency but shrinkingtheir margin in the House. Con-

trol of the Senate remains upin the air, pending the resultof runoff elections in Georgiain January. Historically, di-vided government has been as-sociated with stability.So, despite three major up-

heavals in 2020, the U.S. econ-omy now is primed for recov-ery, growth and continuedadaptation to a new normal.Some industries will continueto suffer as long as the pan-demic lasts—and beyond. Com-mercial-real-estate companies

and bricks-and-mortar retailersare reinventing themselves fora new work-from-home, shop-from-home age.But there is no society better

prepared for what awaits. Start-ups are blossoming. The finan-cial sector is solid. An onlineeconomy, hardened thanks to re-cent surges in broadband infra-structure, kept America runningthrough its dark days and willexpand. Highly effective vaccinesare starting to become available,and inexpensive, rapid Covid-19home tests should be availablesoon as well.When it is safe for business

to resume as usual, the econ-omy could take off. Americanshave accumulated $2 trillion innew savings deposits since Feb-ruary, according to the FederalReserve. That is more than 10%of gross domestic product wait-ing to be spent.

Ms. Pollak is a labor economistat jobs marketplace ZipRecruiter.

There is no simple way to sum up this year.Tumultuous, terrifying, wearisome. Resilient, heroic, hopeful. We asked expertsin dozens of areas to reflect on what this year meant, and how they think 2020will affect what comes next. Was this a blip and will things return to what theywere? Or will it have a lasting impact that will extend well past the events ofthis year? Read what they have to say—and join the conversation online as webegin to make sense of this tumultuous, terrifying and hopeful time.

Payroll EmploymentPercentage change in payroll employment relative to pre-recession peak

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

%

MONTHS SINCEMOST RECENT EMPLOYMENT PEAK

0 12 24 36 48 60 72-16

-14

-12

-10

-8

-6

-4

-2

0 20011980 1990 200819811974

2020

ers at home, based on 2018 CensusBureau data. Existing gaps in educa-tional achievement caused by pov-erty or racial inequities likely havewidened during the pandemic due inpart to lack of technology access.Meanwhile, as many as three mil-

lion students—many again from low-income communities—weren’t en-rolled in school this fall. They were, ineffect, missing at a time when it wasmore important than ever for ourschool system to know their educa-tional, emotional and physical status.Going forward, even after every

school reopens, students will needbroadband access to complete home-work, apply for college and jobs, andeven maintain friendships. Throughpublic-private partnerships and bybuilding on successful existing pro-grams, we can deliver broadband toevery American student—that mustbe our goal.At the same time, there is no

question that more innovation hasoccurred in education in the past fewmonths than perhaps in the entirepreceding decade. Small-group learn-ing pods have taken hold and seensuccess. Many students finally havethe personalized pace and contentthey need to learn effectively. Andthe best teachers have found ways toreach thousands of students throughonline platforms. Indeed, the pan-

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

THE STORY of theU.S. economy in2020 will consist ofthree major shocks:Covid, racial unrest

and an election that di-vided the nation.The story of 2021,

however, will be of agreat comeback.But let’s start at the

beginning, before thepandemic, when thingsseemed poised to goquite differently.Unemployment was at

record lows, and yet em-ployment kept rising. The longesteconomic expansion in U.S. his-tory appeared to have set off avirtuous cycle of job gains, risingwealth, expanding consumer de-mand, and more hiring. Afteryears of widening, the wealth gapwas shrinking.And then the pandemic arrived.

The depth and breadth of its eco-nomic disruption was greaterthan that of any postwar reces-sion. About 40% of those whoearned less than $40,000 losttheir jobs in March. New weeklyjobless claims, which had hoveredabove the 200,000 mark formonths, soared past six million.The distribution of the job

losses, meanwhile, was com-pletely different from what oneusually sees in downturns. Low-income Americans were thehardest-hit group in terms ofboth the general economic im-pact of government-mandatedlockdowns and reduced spendingon face-to-face services. Blackand Hispanic workers are dispro-portionately represented in someof the industries that sufferedmost, such as restaurants andbarber shops.

In broader terms, this was thefirst service-sector-led recession,a big-city recession and awomen’s recession.From February to April, the

employment level fell 15% forwomen ages 25 to 54, comparedwith 12% for men, according tothe Bureau of Labor Statistics.Among the four million peoplewho have been pushed out of thelabor force since February, 55%are women.The unprecedented challenges

of the pandemic spurred innova-tions. Access to telemedicine ex-panded. A company called Zoom,which few had heard of beforethe pandemic, became an instantglobal brand. Manufacturers re-purposed assembly lines to makeventilators and masks, doing theirpart—usually voluntarily—to savelives. Feared ventilator shortagesdid not come to pass.Congress took a rare break

from partisan battles to approvethe largest stimulus packageever passed. Millions of Ameri-cans received $1,200 stimuluschecks, no questions asked. ThePaycheck Protection Programkept many small businessesafloat while providing a windfallfor others. Expanded unemploy-

The unprecedentedchallenges of the

pandemic spurredinnovations.

BY JULIA POLLAK

THE ECONOMY

Ready to RollAFTER THREE MAJOR SHOCKS IN 2020, THE U.S. ECONOMY IS NOW PRIMED FOR A

STRONG AND SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY AS SOON AS THE PANDEMIC ENDS

and rebuild the education system,to address the lessons of Covid-19and to set a stronger foundationfor the future—the children’s andours.We should start with the role

technology has played, for betterand worse, in real and virtualclassrooms this year.On one hand, it is clear that de-

spite herculean efforts by millionsof teachers, parents, superinten-dents and policy makers, the bene-fits of in-person learning are diffi-cult to duplicate with a video

camera and a computer.For millions of students in low-

income and rural families, however,virtual learning wasn’t even an op-tion. Technology only works whenstudents can access it. When thepandemic began, an estimated 17million children lived in homeswithout high-speed internet, andseven million didn’t have comput-

We should startwith the roletechnology hasplayed this year.

SCHOOLS HELP ORGANIZEour world. They are wherefuture generations learn topropel our economy, under-stand our democracy andlive in society. Schools allowparents to work, giving chil-dren a safe learning envi-ronment. And, for millionsof American students, theyare a reliable source of awarm meal.Educators, administrators

and school staff take theseroles seriously. It was nosurprise when they re-sponded heroically to the

pandemic, scrambling to teach and sup-port students after schools closed.Nevertheless, school closures un-

avoidably exacerbated day-to-day strug-gles for people in every part of thiscountry—wherever they lived and what-ever their background—and stoked well-founded worries about their students’learning and future.Challenges now facing U.S. schools

represent an indisputable priority and atimely opportunity. As the nation con-templates its post-pandemic future, ourschools and students represent commonground and a shared focus. It is vitalthat Americans come together at the lo-cal, state and national levels to reform

EDUCATION

Lessons LearnedTHE CHALLENGES FACING SCHOOLS SHOULD BE SEEN AS

BOTH A PRIORITY AND AN OPPORTUNITY

BY MARGARET SPELLINGS

Key DatesIn 2020

• MARCH 12The Dow Jones In-

dustrial Average suf-

fers its worst day

since 1987 as swaths

of commerce shut

down due to the

pandemic and a re-

cession looms.

• MARCH 27President Trump

signs a record $2 tril-

lion economic-rescue

package to combat

the pandemic’s eco-

nomic fallout.

• APRIL 21Netflix says it ended

the first quarter with

nearly 16 million new

subscribers around

the world, more than

double the number

forecast.

• JUNE 8The U.S. officially en-

tered a recession in

February, the group

that dates business

cycles says.

• JULY 30The economy con-

tracted at a record

32.9% annual rate in

the second quarter,

the Commerce De-

partment reports.

• AUG. 7The U.S. added 1.8

million jobs in July as

the jobless rate fell

to 10.2%, the Labor

Department says.

• OCT. 29The economy grew

at a record 33.1% an-

nual pace in the third

quarter, the Com-

merce Department

reports.

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Key DatesIn 2020

• MARCH 12Ohio Gov. Mike De-

Wine orders all K-12

schools in the state

to close, effective

March 16. Many

other states will fol-

low within days.

• MARCH 15New York City

schools, the nation’s

largest district, will

close.

• MARCH 16Public and private

schools are closed for

nearly 30 million

children across the

U.S.—more than half

of the nation’s school

enrollment.

• JULY 8President Trump

threatens to withhold

funding from school

districts that don’t

reopen in the fall.

• AUG. 17Some schools around

the nation are closing

temporarily or longer

term just days after

reopening because of

Covid outbreaks.

• SEPT. 29New York City

schools open with a

mix of in-person and

remote instruction

for the fall. It’s one of

the few big urban

districts nationwide

to open for in-person

instruction.

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

icy makers need accurate informa-tion to set priorities for use of lim-ited resources.The federal government should

consider significant, targeted ef-forts to address education achieve-ments gaps. Possible measurescould include a national tutoring

corps of recent college graduates,retirees and business leaders tohelp this generation of students byproviding one-on-one interventionin a safe and effective way.It is also well past time for the

educational system to take a hardlook at the skills employers wantand need from students and to alignresources to deliver them. Throughthe pandemic, Americans have been

For millionsof students,virtual learningwasn’t even anoption.

MORE YEAR INREVIEW ONLINE

Read these additionalessays and see the

whole report at wsj.com/yearinreview

The End of Cities?Not So Fast

BY RICHARD FLORIDA

Home Design for thePost-Pandemic AgeBY SEBASTIAN SALVADÓ

The StateOf Democracy in 2020

And BeyondBY FRANCIS FUKUYAMA

The WNBA MeetsIts Moment

BY NNEKA OGWUMIKE

After 2020,How Do We MoveForward on Race?BY PAMELA NEWKIRK

For Farmers andConsumers, a Crazy

Year in FoodBY JAYSON L. LUSK ANDMICHAEL D. BOEHLJE

Covid IsReshaping Death.And Maybe Life.BY KATY BUTLER

The YearWildfires SpreadLike the PlagueBY STEPHEN PYNE

Plus: Interviews withdesigner Prabal Gurungon how fashion willchange and social-mediascholar Kate Starbirdon misinformation. Ande-books surge at libraries.

far more likely to lose their jobs ifthey lacked a post-high-school de-gree or credential. An analysis ofU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics datashowed that in February, only onein 25 people with a high-school di-ploma or less was unemployed; byMay, it was one in five.Covid-19 wiped out millions of

blue-collar and hourly services jobs,and that trend is unlikely to re-verse. Automation, artificial intelli-gence, globalization and otherforces will continue to reshape theeconomy. It is imperative thatteachers and schools prepare stu-dents for the world they will face.School districts should start by

expanding access to college-levelcourses. They also should workmore closely with employers, com-munity colleges and others to cre-ate degrees and programs that helpstudents fill high-skill jobs.Companies such as Microsoft,

Google and Amazon have begun of-fering skill certifications that areinexpensive, fast and meaningful toemployers. Educational institutionsshould learn from their example.In the short term, we must re-

train whole communities for a post-Covid economy and simultaneouslymake up for lost time and learningsuffered by millions of students.Longer term, the future of the

nation, and every individual in it,hinges on our ability to adapt andemploy new approaches that meetmarket needs.

Ms. Spellings, the former U.S.secretary of education and formerUniversity of North Carolina Systempresident, is president and chiefexecutive officer of Texas 2036, adata-driven, long-term policyplanning organization.

� Latoya Dandridge helps herchildren with remote learning intheir Fayetteville, N.C., home.

•MAY 8

The U.S. unemployment rate surged to 14.7% in Aprilfrom 4.4% in March, the Labor Department says.

People lined up for help with jobless claimswaiting for an office to open in

Frankfort, Ky., in June. Unemployment soaredas the coronavirus stalled the economy.

demic has proved the importance oftraining and support programs thatturn good teachers into great ones,and of tutoring and technology thatcatches students who fall behind.Still, despite these efforts, the pan-

demic only highlighted problems thatalready existed. The 2019 NationalAssessment of Educational Progress,or NAEP, found that only 35% of U.S.fourth-graders could read at or abovetheir grade level, and only 40%achieved similar results at math. Testscores showed alarming gaps be-tween groups based on family raceand income. Reading scores for high-school seniors last year, meanwhile,were lower than in the previous year,and math scores were stagnant. Ac-cording to the assessment, this indi-cates only two out of five currenthigh-school seniors are adequatelyprepared to succeed in postsecond-ary education.How the pandemic has further af-

fected student performance is some-thing that should concern every par-ent, teacher and policy maker. Weneed to know as much as we can, asquickly as we can. Teachers andschools need clear and ongoing dataon students’ progress and needs. Pol-

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driving a high-performance Ferrariin L.A. traffic—bumper to bum-per—doesn’t make any sense.So, you’ll drive your electric car

to get around the city and go to theairport. And then on the weekends,you take your sports car and youdrive up to the hills or whereveryou go for recreational driving.

Making the changeSteam ran this country from 1800to 1911. Internal combustion tookover from 1911 to just about now.And now we’re in the electricphase. It’s still at the beginning.It won’t take long for those who

love gas-powered cars to switch toelectric. The first time your Ferrarior Lamborghini gets blown off by anelectric car, that’s pretty much it.I bought my Tesla because it is

the fastest-accelerating four-doorcar I could buy. The fact that ithappened to be electric, the factthat it didn’t use any gasoline andit never requires any repairs,that’s all secondary.Some love gas-powered cars be-

cause they like the look of the en-gine. That will change, too. Whenyou open the hood of a gas-pow-ered car, there’s nothing to look atthese days anyway. Just a bigsheet of plastic over the engine.The average person on the

street could not tell an electric carfrom a gas car by looking at it. Butthey know the electric one isfaster and now it can go longer,and it doesn’t require any mainte-nance. So give me the electric.The one hurdle is cost for most

consumers. Right now, electric carsare more expensive, on average, be-cause they cost more to manufac-ture, but that will come down.Think about the costs and the

Key DatesIn 2020

• SEPT. 22Tesla CEO Elon

Musk outlines a plan

to begin making a

$25,000 electric ve-

hicle in about three

years.

• SEPT. 23California bans the

sale of new gaso-

line- and diesel-pow-

ered passenger cars,

effective by 2035.

• NOV. 9General Motors

plans to hire 3,000

tech workers as part

of a push to develop

electric vehicles.

• NOV. 13Volkswagen says it

will invest about

$86 billion in devel-

oping electric vehi-

cles and other new

technologies over

the next five years.

• NOV. 16Tesla willbe addedto the S&P500 indexeffectiveDec. 21,S&P DowJones Indi-ces says.

• NOV. 23GM stops backing

the Trump adminis-

tration’s emissions

fight with California.

because I like the interaction of me-chanical things. I prefer to turn thewheel. I like winding mechanicalwatches before I go to bed. I likefeeling that little “tick, tick, tick” asyou turn the crown wheel.But that didn’t stop me from

testing a driverless car. Audi in-vited me up to Sonoma Racetrackto try one of their prototype elec-tric vehicles. I sat in the passengerseat. They programmed the car andit was going well over 100, 120miles an hour by itself racingaround the track. I sat there and Iwatched the steering wheel turnand I watched the brakes move upand down. That was fascinating—it’s as if the invisible man wasdriving the car.The first time I tested a driver-

less car, the whole trunk was filledwith electronics. The next time wedid it, the electronics were the sizeof a cellphone.I’m a hopeless optimist. I believe

engineers will save the world.Look at how engineers have de-

veloped cars over the past 50 years.When I came to L.A. in the ’70s, youcouldn’t go outside more than 100days a year because of the smog.Now, we have at least 10 times asmany cars on the road, or so itseems, and while the air is not per-fect, it is remarkably cleaner. I thinkwe’re moving in the right direction.

Mr. Leno is the host of ”Jay Leno’sGarage” and former longtime hostof “The Tonight Show.”

books, we should start to see manu-facturers playing offense again,such as boosting investments inboth factories and new products.

On Main StreetThis brings us to the themes of lo-calization of supply chains and therole of technology in the future ofmanufacturing.Pre-pandemic, there was already

a rising concern around supply-chain risks. Companies that a de-cade ago felt comfortable as suppli-ers consolidated and centralized—often solely in China—began to losefaith in globalization and madeplans to onshore.Rising tensions in the South China

Sea and heightened technology-theftconcerns played a role in this chang-ing mood, as did the Trump adminis-tration’s broad use of tariffs and ver-bal warnings. Executives also beganto see that shipping intermediaryproducts halfway around the worldand often back again was wastefuland no longer productive.These concerns were elevated to

near panic as supply chains shutdown in the early days of Covid.High-profile shortages, like the lackof PPE for hospitals, may have servedas a broader wake-up call for thesupply-chain issues that had beencreeping up over time. Critical com-ponents became hard to find, rare-earth metals seemed to disappear,pharmaceutical supplies tightened.It’s not just concerns about sup-

plies that will drive onshoring. Themath that drove companies over-seas in the first place has alsochanged.The cost advantage of low-cost

countries is not nearly as great as itonce was. Labor inflation in Chinahas been steadily high, particularlyas the country transitions from apure low-cost exporter to a con-sumer society where workers de-mand more.In the U.S., we’ve had the oppo-

site, with north of a decade of labordeflation in the manufacturingworld that, while unfortunate, wasnecessary to improve competitive-ness. To make labor costs in theU.S. competitive, you need to beable to produce the same quantityof product with about half of theemployees that would be needed ina similar factory in China.This was not possible five years

ago but is today. Automation andother technologies play a big rolehere, and advancements are accel-erating.With progress in data analytics,

the low cost of cloud computingand artificial intelligence, the fac-tory is evolving into a new age.Companies that have already madethese investments report all kindsof secondary benefits, includinghigher safety levels, higher em-ployee morale, lower turnoveramong staff, higher quality control,faster new-product cycles andlower environmental impacts. Thepayback is not just financial, asbrands are enhanced by qualityand corporate culture is enhancedby safety, better job satisfactionand stability.Software changed the world the

consumer lives in; now it’s changingthe world that manufacturers live in.And while there are few silver lin-ings in a pandemic, the rate of posi-tive change for American manufac-turers has been accelerated for thebetter. The outlook hasn’t been thisencouraging for a very long time.

Mr. Davis is chairman and chiefexecutive officer of Melius Research.

BY SCOTT DAVISKey DatesIn 2020

• JAN. 3The U.S. factory sec-

tor contracted in De-

cember for a fifth

consecutive month,

the Institute for

Supply Management

says, heading into

2020 on a weak foot-

ing amid trade ten-

sions.

• MAY 8Manufacturing jobs

fell in April by more

than 1.3 million, or

10%, to 11.5 million,

the Labor Department

says.

• AUG. 14U.S. industrial produc-

tion increased in July

for the third month in

a row, the Federal Re-

serve reports.

• DEC. 15Manufacturing output

and manufacturing

employment both rose

in November for the

seventh consecutive

month, figures from

the Fed and the Labor

Department show. But

both remained several

points below their lev-

els from the start of

the year.

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

hassle of a new gas-powered car:After the first 600 miles, first youhave to change the oil and serviceit, and eventually you have to re-place the brake pads. Electric carshave brake pads too, but they alsohave regenerative braking, so theyslow you down and you don’t usethe brakes nearly as much.Then there’s the gas. I used to

have a big Jaguar four-door sedanthat cost me $80 to $100 a week ingas. I got the Tesla, and it’s maybe$6 a week of electricity to chargethe battery.The cutoff point in America is

$30,000. I think once they figureout how to build electric cars forless than $30,000, you’ll see moreand more people going electric. If ithits people in the pocketbook, that’sthe game-changer. If you can makea car cheaper, more efficient,faster—game over.

Driving driverless carsThe idea of a driverless car is amisnomer. It’s more like driver as-sist, with sensing systems that alertdrivers when they veer over a laneor approach a vehicle in front.The idea of you hopping in the

back seat with a bottle of scotchand the car driving you some-where—I don’t think that’s going tohappen for a long time. You’ll al-ways have to have a person behindthe wheel. If you have an accident,who’s responsible?Driverless cars don’t interest me

As told to The Wall Street Journal

ITRY TO LOOK at the silverlining of the pandemic. Forexample, how many guyshave used these excuses:

“Honey, I’d love totake you to the newvegan restaurant, butit’s closed. Let me goto In and Out and justbring home someburgers.” Or, “Honey,of course, I’d love tosee a Broadway musi-cal, but there’s nobodyperforming right now.Let’s just watch TV.”

Another plus: We have cheapergas and unclogged freeways. Policehave given out more 100-mile-an-hour-plus speeding tickets in amonth than they have in five years.Think about it: Not since 1958 havepeople gone more than 12 miles anhour on the 405 Freeway.And maybe it’s my imagination but

I find people are more friendly whenI’m driving around the city. I have agreen 1950 Plymouth station wagonthat my wife calls a “roundy” car.It’s a goofy-looking car with bigwhitewall tires, and it seems to makepeople smile.It makes more sense to drive

something like this during a pan-demic than some sort of ridiculousLamborghini with open exhaust, likesome deposed dictator’s idiot son.People would throw rocks at me.People are also more polite. I saw

this the other day: Someone was hav-ing car trouble, and everybodystopped to help her. That’s becausewe’re all sharing the same tragicevents. It brings people together a lit-tle bit. It’s like, maybe being the topsalesman in your office is not the

the lead as manufacturers shiftedproduction overseas. The end re-sult was an industrial sector thatleaked jobs, fell behind in technol-ogy and lost investor support. In2000, U.S. industrial companieswere 15% of the S&P 500 index bymarket capitalization. That num-ber has fallen to less than 9%,with the massive U.S. aerospaceindustry leading a two-point dropin the past year alone.So, why do we believe things

are about to turn around?For one thing, the industry is

poised to emerge from theCovid-19 recession much morequickly and robustly than it usu-ally does from downturns. That’sbecause the market for certaingoods has stayed strong duringthe pandemic—which has allowedmanufacturers, on average, to re-main far more stable than in pastrecessions. And the sharp hit toearnings experienced from Marchto July is quickly reversing.Yes, manufacturers who sell

into “ground zero” markets—aerospace and airlines, restau-rants, hotels, office buildings, andoil and gas—have been particu-larly hard hit. But consumer-goods suppliers, like those thatsell paper products, personal pro-tective equipment and cleaningsupplies, saw huge gains after theinitial hit from the pandemic andcan’t run their factories hardenough to keep up with demand.Hardware stores and HVAC sup-

pliers are also experiencing tre-mendous growth; Americans have

taken the savings fromnot traveling or eatingout as frequently andspent heavily on theirhomes. Oil prices indicatea global economy in de-spair, but lumber pricesindicate an economy in aboom.There is no precedent

to this that we can find.We’ve never had a reces-sion so bifurcated.Of course, there is still

risk, as the pandemic isfar from over. But thedata we see today areoverwhelmingly support-ive of an industrial econ-omy on the mend, withsectors that weren’tstrong up until now be-ginning to recover. Con-sumable goods such asindustrial tapes and con-nectors made by compa-nies like 3M and DuPonthave bounced back thefastest. Larger purchases,like automobiles, areperking up, as well.Longer-cycle markets

that require big projectinvestment—like newbuildings and oil-and-gasdrilling—likely won’t re-cover until after the pan-demic subsides. Butthose markets alwaystrail a recovery by one totwo years.With low interest

rates and rising order

most important thing right now. Let’sconcentrate on what really counts.

Electric carsThe last new car I bought was my2015 Tesla Model S.I think it’s safe to say that a child

born today will probably drive in agasoline car about as often as peo-ple do in standard shift cars today.They’ll still be around, but every-thing will be electric.For years, electric cars fell short

because they weren’t as efficient,they didn’t have the range, andwere, for the most part, glorified

golf carts. I drove one of the firstelectric cars by General Motors, theEV1, back in the 1990s. It had arange of maybe 70 to 100 miles, butin reality, it went much less. Therange on electric cars is like sex—all guys lie about it.With new technology, it can’t just

be equal. It’s got to be superior.Now with the advent of Tesla andall these other companies, you havecars that have a range of 400 milesor more, so that’s not even an issueanymore. They’re faster, they’remore efficient, and they don’t costas much to run. That’s why electricwill take over.I think your Ferraris, your Co-

bras—these fancy cars—become theequivalent of what snowmobiles arenow. They will be weekend recre-ational vehicles because, let’s face it,

If you can make acar cheaper, moreefficient, faster—

game over.

MANUFACTURING

Made in AmericaWHY 2020 MAY TURN OUT TO BE THE BOTTOM OF

A TWO-DECADE-LONG DECLINE IN U.S. MANUFACTURING

CARS

Electric DreamsJAY LENO SAYS DRIVING THIS YEAR WAS A WHOLE NEW EXPERIENCE.

BUT IT’S NOTHING COMPARED WITH WHAT HE SEES DOWN THE ROAD

FOR DRIVERLESS AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES.

BY JAY LENO

It’s not justconcernsaboutsupplies thatwill driveonshoring.The maththat drovecompaniesoverseasin the firstplace hasalso changed.

� A GM plant in

Warren, Mich., began

processing face masks

in response to the

pandemic.

Tesla Model 3 vehicles at the company’s factory in Shanghai.

The U.S. manufacturingindustry has experi-enced a lifetime oftrauma over the pasttwo decades—but we

believe 2020 marksthe bottom of thatlong and high-pro-file decline.This past year

has been particu-larly traumatic, asthe pandemicbrought with it thelargest cut in indus-trial earnings on re-

cord in the second quarter, driven bythe global shutdown that started inJanuary in China and still exists insome form in many countries today.However, as we look out to 2021

and beyond, there is more reason forhope in manufacturing than at anytime since the 1990s. Three majorthemes are beginning to gain tractionthat will not only carry manufactur-ing out of the current doldrums butto new prosperity: a quick recoveryfrom the recession; localization ofsupply chains, or onshoring; andtechnological advancements that levelthe playing field between the U.S. andcountries with lower labor costs.

A painful pastTo back up a bit, U.S. manufacturinglost its mojo some time ago. Lack ofsustained investment, noncompeti-tive labor rates and degrading infra-structure opened the door for low-cost countries, notably China, to take

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Four questions with stand-up comic

and actress Whitney Cummings.

Q: How did stand-up comedy

change in 2020?

A: True comedy is involuntarylaughter. It is live. You meet some-

one you’ve never met. They got a

babysitter. They parked. They got

the tickets. They’re on a date. It’s

their birthday. It’s a tremendous

amount of pressure. It’s such a

unique space. And that went away.

We are designed, wired, to get

the laugh—that sound. We need the

sound, like, every 20 seconds. What

we have always done is gone.

Q: Are you saying Zoom sets

weren’t an adequate replacement?

A: Oh, my God, no. But of coursewe’re going to do them.

Q: Comics adapted by doingshows outdoors and at drive-in

theaters. How will that affect

stand-up comedy in the future?

A: When I went on stage to doshows for cars, and it was my first

show in six months for human be-

ings, they were honking instead of

laughing. It was jarring. I’d tell a joke,

they’d honk and I’d recoil. But within

five minutes, it was completely nor-

mal. Humans are so adaptable.

But, also, the real comics, we did

stand-up for 15 years in bowling al-

leys, sushi restaurants, in laundro-

mats and brunch stand-up shows at

strip clubs. Real comics have done

disastrous outdoor shows before.

We know what to do. We’re fine.

Q: Do you think this year will havea long-term effect on comedy?

A: I think it’s going to come backharder than ever because people

are listening to podcasts and get-

ting so emotionally invested in the

Bill Burrs of the world, the Tim Dil-

lons of the world. When they go on

tour, it’s going to be like: I’ve got to

see that person. I know that person.

—Chris Kornelis

StandUpAndHonk

David Litton sanding a dresser at the main factory of Century Furniture in Hickory, N.C., in May. The plant reopened with precautions such as masks and temperature checks for all employees.

• MAY 1

U.S. manufacturing contracted in April at thesharpest rate since the last recession,the Institute for Supply Management says.

R6 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

duced, distributed and con-sumed will be tracked. The mer-chant princes of the past mustbecome the consumer-insightsleaders and data analysts of to-morrow. They will need to com-bine an understanding of con-sumer needs with a coreappreciation of design, mathand technology.Live streaming has taken off in

China and will accelerate here inthe U.S. as retailers use it to ad-vertise, sell products and trainemployees. This will have a realimpact on our shopping habits.Since the start of the pandemic,Facebook Inc. has released a na-tive shopping platform for smallbusinesses, and TikTok has takenon Walmart Inc. as a major-stakeinvestor—demonstrating the cen-trality of retail to the virtualworld’s bottom line.Yes, the roller coaster is a

real one in retail. In 2020,changes in the way we are en-gaging, selling and retailinghave accelerated. But our love ofshopping is alive, and retail isn’tdead. This is a moment inwhich, like a season’s end, webegin to clear out the brush toallow new branches to grow andbloom. What replaces the relicsof the past will be clearer,cleaner, more vibrant and evenmore affordable. Retailers willcreate communities around theirbrands that become points ofgathering. We will shop togethervirtually and share tidbits in allways we communicate. Shoppingwill be fun and we will aspire tobe a part of retail movementsand moments.But within those changes, core

retail principles will remain con-stant. In the end, the retailerswho will win are those thatwatch their pennies, focus on thecustomer, and build and sellgreat products that meet needsand fulfill aspirations.

Mr. Rubel, a retail and consumerinvestor, is chairman of theexecutive board for MidOceanPrivate Equity and the CEO ofEmpower Ltd, a special-purposeacquisition company.

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Key DatesIn 2020

• APRIL 15Retail sales fell a re-

cord 8.7% in March,

the Commerce Depart-

ment reports.

• APRIL 24Many national chains,

including Macy’s and

Gap, say they will sit

out the early phase of

reopenings due to

health concerns and

uncertain demand.

• JULY 1Macy’s says nearly all

its stores have re-

opened, but indicates

it expects regional dis-

ruptions based on vi-

rus levels.

• AUG. 14Retail sales topped

pre-pandemic levels in

July, the Commerce

Department says.

• AUG. 18-19Walmart and Target

report strong sales

growth as the pan-

demic lifts big chains

able to stay open

throughout the crisis.

• SEPT. 29Retail store closings in

the U.S. reached a re-

cord in the first half of

2020, BDO USA says.

� A Pennsylvania mallin May, closed due tothe pandemic.

RETAILING

Buyand ByeA YEAR OF STRONG SPENDING ON HOME AND

GARDEN—AND BANKRUPTCY FILINGS BY BIG-NAMETRADITIONAL RETAILERS

Changes have been com-ing to the retail sectorfor years. But in 2020,with the onslaught ofthe Covid-19 pandemic,the industry received aticket to the Fury 325roller coaster.The year’s highs and

lows reminded us that inretailing, no matter therhythm of the ride or thedynamics of the journey,there is one thing thatmatters most: keeping a

steady eye on your customers andhow to serve and delight them.Perhaps the most surprising part

of the 2020 retail experience wasthat through November, retail sales(excluding gas, auto and food ser-vices) rose 6.6% from the year-earlierperiod, according to the National Re-tail Federation’s analysis of U.S. Cen-sus Bureau data. Oddly, 2020 couldturn out to be one of the best yearsin the overall retail sector in the past20 years.The industry did experience a pre-

cipitous dip in April, with a drop insales of 5.5%, including a startlingplunge in apparel sales of more than86%. But concurrently, food-and-bev-erage store revenues were up nearly27%. Losses and gains in these twosectors have been persistent through-out the year, as a dressed-down pop-

ulation focuses on essentials for theirfamilies and homes.In many cases, traditional or

overleveraged retailers struggled tonavigate through the uncertainties.More than 27 retailers declaredbankruptcy in the first nine monthsof the year, from Lord & Taylor (theoldest department store in thecountry) and J.C. Penney to luxuryretailer Neiman Marcus Group andJ.Crew Group. Some significantbrand names have disappeared fromour shopping malls forever, whileothers will be led by new blood yetface challenges to compete in thenew world ahead.So if overall revenues are increas-

ing, where have all the shoppersgone? Clearly, we as Americans arestill spending, but not on hotels, air-planes or eating out. E-commercesales have continued to rise by dou-ble digits all year, although theyhave leveled off a bit since the pan-demic hit hardest in April. Andwe’ve significantly increased spend-ing on the areas in which we’respending most of our time thesedays: our homes. Spending is up forhome and garden maintenance, chil-drens’ toys and games, home officesand, of course, toilet paper andcleaning supplies.But the surprising fact is that the

retail store as we’ve known it isn’tdead (at least not yet). Americanconsumers still love to get out andshop. In January, before the corona-virus swept across the U.S., just over15% of retail sales occurred outside

of physical stores. That numberspiked to about 20% of sales inApril, and has since leveled back toabout 16% of sales in the threemonths ended in September. Thatdoesn’t point to a populace that nolonger enjoys shopping outside ofthe home.So what are the key trends to

think about as we move toward theend of 2020 and beyond?First and foremost, if American

consumers have money, they willspend it. When the stimulus checkshit early in the Covid cycle, retailsales spiked. The Christmas seasonand fourth-quarter sales should berobust, as well, as consumers allo-cate the money they normallywould have spent on traveling togifts for loved ones. We saw thistrend on Mother’s Day, when jew-elry sales sparkled with double-digit increases. The competition forthose dollars will be fierce, as al-ways. One change to note: This sea-son, holiday shopping began longbefore Black Friday’s arrival, withmore than half (52%) of shoppersmaking holiday purchases throughearly sales and promotions beforeThanksgiving, according to the Na-tional Retail Federation.Second, the playing field in retail

is undergoing rapid changes. Forcenturies, the key reasons peoplebuy things have remained essen-tially the same. Yet the tools of howwe bring them to life are in con-stant flux.Convenience matters now more

than ever. The options available atthe local town market now come toour front door. Our FedEx and Am-azon drivers are as familiar to usas was our favorite salesperson ina physical store. The result: En-closed malls will diminish in im-portance, shrinking from 1,800 justa few short years ago to possibly200 to 400 sustainable malls.While consumers continue to desireshopping experiences, they may bemore attracted to outdoor shoppingspaces or individualized retailer lo-cations than to large, generic malls.Third, the brands we love are

changing, and the standards wejudge them by are evolving. Con-sumers are starting to considerwhere and how the goods they buyare made. Consumers are asking:What are the core values of the re-tailer and the brand, and do theyalign with my worldview? There ismuch talk in the area of values-based sustainability, and it contin-

ues to grow in importance. Thenew status is becoming the abilityto signal virtue, not just the abilityto spend.Still, don’t believe for a minute

that people will buy sustainableand politically correct products inlieu of ones that are priced for af-fordability. Price and relative qual-ity are still the primary drivers ofconsumer behavior, but have be-come blended with a new con-sciousness. Smart retailers willcombine both.Most important, technology con-

tinues to change nearly everythingabout the retail experience. Person-alization and the ability to stimulateour interest via data and artificialintelligence will be startling. Retail-ers will know us better than ourspouses and families do.How products are sourced, pro-

Americanconsumers stilllove to get out

and shop.

BY MATT RUBEL

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

Five questions with Helen

Fisher, biological anthropolo-

gist, chief scientific adviser to

dating site Match and author

of “Anatomy of Love.”

Q: Did the onset of the pan-demic stifle interest in on-

line dating?

A: No, we’re actually seeing adating renaissance. Before,

most people went to work

every day. Maybe they met

people after work or on

weekends. Then, all of a sud-

den, they’re locked down.

They also have enough time

to do this now. [Messages

exchanged by singles on

Match increased 30% be-

tween March and Nov. 25,

the company says.]

Q: How did lockdowns

change the dynamics of a

date?

A: Something really goodhappened: We saw the rise

of video chatting. Our [Sin-

gles in America] survey

found that one in five singles

had gone on a video date

during the pandemic. These

are people who were video

chatting just to get know

each other.

Many report having deeper

conversations and more self-

disclosure, which leads to in-

timacy. And it isn’t just

women. People are being

more honest, less concerned

about what they look like and

what the person they’re in-

terested in looks like.

Q: What happened when re-strictions were lifted?

A: You could see how the hu-

man animal wanted to

bounce back. The sun comes

out in the summer, it’s warm

and you’re sick of being

locked down at home. People

were craving to see each

other. I think they started to

let their hair down and say,

“I’m going out.”

Q: Aren’t there risks in go-ing out to restaurants and

bars?

A: About 20% of the peoplesurveyed said they would in-

sist on both people wearing a

mask on a date. About 10%

said they would only meet

with someone who has quar-

antined or been in lockdown

for at least 14 days.

Q: Will video dating con-tinue even after the out-

break abates?

A: Yes, 69% of the survey re-spondents who participated

in video chats said they

would continue to do so. It’s

a great way to vet somebody

before you spend your

money, spend your time or

even get to sex.

When singles who used

video chats were asked if

they felt any chemistry, 56%

said they did. You can trigger

romantic love instantly, espe-

cially in a pandemic when

you’re really looking for a

companion. It’s very practical.

It’s safe. It’s cheap.

—Beth DeCarbo

How thePandemicWill ChangeOnline Dating

MAY 15

Retail salesfell 16.4%in April, thebiggest dropsince record-keeping beganin the early1990s, theCommerceDepartmentsays. J.C.Penney filesfor chapter 11.

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | R7

everyone in need: schoolteachers,construction workers, cooks, serv-ers, health-care workers, Harlemyouth facing food insecurity, andother vulnerable communities,throughout the shutdown. What itmeans to be a part of and in serviceto your community has radicallychanged during this pandemic.

Shifting perspectivesIt has also changed how guests andrestaurant workers interact withone another. The essential laborthat so many diners never noticedbefore became visible, as did the in-equalities that pervade the Ameri-can food system. Patrons wereforced to confront the importanceand significance of restaurants intheir lives, and across the nation,while leading chefs are rethinkingthe role of the restaurant—fromwhat we represent in our communi-ties to how our institutions canprovide comfort and community,whether in person at a smaller ca-pacity, or through delivery services.For us, the future of our indus-

try is centered on the environ-ment and sustainability, race andidentity, and human rights anddignity for all. The restaurant haslong served as a place where hu-mans from every corner of theEarth could come together to dis-cuss such topics. This year, how-ever, the pandemic has imposed anew framework: How do we re-main a place where folks can cel-ebrate life’s pleasures, discussdifficult issues and enjoy incredi-

ble meals, when we ourselves arestruggling?The pandemic has forced the

food industry to confront key issuesof racism and power, such as howimmigrants and people of color areoften the backbone of America’smost prominent restaurants, yet areoften paid and treated inequitably.In my new book, “The Rise: BlackCooks and the Soul of AmericanFood,” we share recipes that reflecta transition from pain to glory.Though African-American chefshave been underrepresented in foodmedia, their recipes and skill setare deeply embedded in the fabricof American cooking. Just as there’sno American history without BlackAmericans, there’s no food or futurewithout us, either.

Change and hopeAs we look to a new year, I findmyself in remembrance of thosewe’ve lost, thankful for communityand hopeful for the change thatwill come as a result of the hardbut essential lessons that havecome from such a significant year.I’m encouraged by how our societyand food industry have come to-gether to build better, more equi-table food systems and practices.Many of us have demanded morerespect for farmers, particularlyfarmers of color, and we’ve spokenin support of restaurants that are

safer, more just environmentsfor women, queer people andpeople of color.I’ve watched as major food

corporations work to diversifytheir staff and create opportuni-ties for new voices to lead inthe industry. I’ve watched res-taurants, including family-owned businesses and Michelin-starred restaurants, doeverything in their power toserve thoughtful, hearty food topeople who need meals. I’vealso seen our own industry or-ganize through the IndependentRestaurant Coalition to fight forthe things our businesses needto survive from our government.This and other national ef-

forts lead me to believe that notonly will our industry survivethe impact of this monumentalyear, but we will be a better,more connected and more sup-portive group of culinary lead-ers. In the new year and yearsto follow, I foresee an industrythat is led by women and peopleof color, and that amplifies theculinary expertise of the manycultures that have influencedAmerican cuisine as we know it.I hope to see more respect

for everyone involved in the res-taurant industry, from thoseworking the dishwashers, to thefarmers who lovingly grow andharvest our food, to the chefsand line cooks—many of whomincreasingly struggle with men-tal-health challenges from thestressors of restaurant work—who are responsible for feedingmillions of Americans each andevery day.This year has challenged and

changed us deeply, but it’s alsoexposed our most human capac-ity: to rise, with gumption,change and hope.

Mr. Samuelsson is the chef andowner of Red Rooster inHarlem and the author, withOsayi Endolyn, of “The Rise:Black Cooks and the Soul ofAmerican Food.”

BY MARCUS SAMUELSSON

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

RESTAURANTS

Food for ThoughtMARCUS SAMUELSSON, THE OWNER AND CHEF OF

RED ROOSTER, SAYS THIS HAS BEEN A YEAR OF FEAR,

CHANGE AND, ULTIMATELY, HOPE

THIS YEAR, the restau-rant industry wasflipped on its head.Covid-19 disrupted ourway of life, throwing

everyone in the supply chain—fromthe farmers who growour food to the chefswho turn it into themasterful dishes thatend up on ourplates—into a seasonof disarray and fear.Nearly 100,00 res-

taurants were shutdown across the coun-try, and here in my

city of New York, more than 1,000restaurants—some of which hadserved New Yorkers for decades—closed permanently.The painful losses of Covid-19 also

affected us restaurateurs on a per-sonal level. My friend and colleagueFloyd Cardoz was one of the firstprominent chefs to pass from the vi-rus. Countless other chefs, cooks andservers also suffered from the virus,forcing us all to come to terms withthe fragility that is life, and the im-portance of using every day as myfriend Floyd did: to make this indus-try, and our world, a better place.This revelation is one of the most

important outcomes of Covid-19. InNew York, while restaurant ownersnavigated managing a restaurantduring unfathomable circumstances,many also worked to serve the com-munity. At Red Rooster, we joinedwith World Central Kitchen to feedCL

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A Bath & Body Works employee greeted customers and maintained the capacity limit at a Michigan store in June.

‘Igloos’ for safety at a Minnesota restaurant in September.

Key DatesIn 2020

• MARCH 16The Trump administration

urges Americans to avoid

restaurants, food courts

and bars.

• APRIL 27Georgia allows restaurants

to resume in-person dining,

with reduced capacity.

Other states will follow.

• JULY 13California shuts down in-

door dining again as coro-

navirus cases surge. It’s

one of a number of states

pulling back on reopening.

• SEPT. 14

Nearly 100,000restaurantshave closed sixmonths into thepandemic, eitherpermanentlyor long term, aNational Restau-rant Associationsurvey finds.Nearly threemillion employ-ees are stillout of work.The projectedrevenue hitfor the year:$240 billion.

R8 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

BY MICHAEL MINA

HEALTH CARE

Testing, TestingTHIS WAS THE YEAR OF COVID-19. AND, HOPEFULLY, THE YEAR OF EASY, HOME-BASED

TESTING THAT COULD SAVE LIVES NOW—AND IN THE FUTURE.

It is my profound hope that beforePresident-elect Joe Biden takes officeon Jan. 20, these inexpensive testswill have already reached a signifi-cant portion of the American public.This health-care breakthrough

won’t only stop the spread of thecoronavirus, but also change the ap-proach to health care for the future.Why? Because it further simplifiesand democratizes care.A silver lining of the pandemic

has been the tremendous progresswith telehealth and telemedicine,using the technology we have at ourfingertips. This has allowed doctorsto see more patients and in turngiven patients greater access totheir health-care network.Likewise, individuals crave the

freedom to know their own healthstatus. Giving them this freedom willhave tremendous effects not just forindividuals but for public health. Ob-

viously, preventing the spread ofCovid-19 is the immediate concern.But think of the societal benefits—economic and otherwise—if peopletested themselves for the flu beforegoing to work. Or if they screenedtoddlers for a respiratory virus be-fore sending them off to day care.It all begins with ramping up pro-

duction of simple tests for theCovid-19 antigen. The investment re-quired is minuscule compared withthe cost of this virus. And this effortwould be a foundation of medical-testing technology and manufactur-ing on our own soil, as the sameplants that produce Covid-19 testscould provide other types of at-home tests for years to come.Yet there are significant road-

blocks in the way. Our current regu-latory structure is preventing po-tential manufacturers fromproducing the amount of antigen

tests this country needs. And thecurrent rules make it difficult forpeople to simply obtain and usetests themselves.Right now, if patients want to

administer the first at-homeCovid-19 test to receive Food andDrug Administration emergency-use authorization, they must geta doctor’s prescription and havea telehealth appointment. Thisisn’t sustainable for public-healthscreening tools meant to detectthe disease and stop its spread.

Learning to trustIn the same way pregnancy testsare allowed in the home,Covid-19 and flu tests should beas well. Critics worry that thepublic cannot be trusted to ad-minister their own tests andknow their own health status.

Yet we trust diabetics to admin-ister their own insulin injectionsand treatment every day.This pandemic has been a

learning experience for many ofus, and we need to act with the in-formation we have today to savelives—and get our lives back. Thebreakthrough of at-home rapid an-tigen Covid-19 testing is one of thesilver linings of 2020, and it willprovide a playbook for our coun-try’s long-term investment in at-home testing for the future.

Dr. Mina is assistant professor ofepidemiology and immunology atthe Harvard T.H. Chan School ofPublic Health’s Center forCommunicable Disease Dynamics,and associate medical director ofmicrobiology at Brigham andWomen’s Hospital, HarvardMedical School.

A Covid-19 test machine at San Francisco International Airport.

Samuel Cravens helps his

daughter, Azariah, with a Covid-

19 test at a church-hosted

testing site in Chicago.

T here is no questionthat this pandemichas been the definingevent of 2020—onethat has shutteredeconomies, caused fartoo many deaths andwill have effects thatfar outlast this yearand next. For 11months, all eyes havebeen focused on end-ing this pandemic,which is why the re-cent developmentswith vaccines are

welcoming and positive news.However, despite the progress be-

ing made with vaccines, they won’tbe widely available to the greaterpopulation for a number of months.In addition, we do not yet know howwell the vaccine will stop transmis-sion, how long the protective levelswill last, and we must always beprepared should the virus evade vac-cine protection. We are in a positiontoday where about 2,500 Americansare dying each day, hospitals are atcapacity, and the country is endur-ing major lockdowns.Fortunately, we have the chance to

improve things quickly—by makingsimple, inexpensive home-based testswidely available. Because if there’sanything we’ve learned from 2020 inhealth care, it’s this: Traditional lab-based tests are too expensive and tooslow for a fast-spreading virus.Fixing this problem won’t just save

lives in the months ahead. It also willhelp bring about long-term changes inhealth care—by putting more powerinto the hands of patients and boost-ing public health by helping curb thespread of a range of diseases.

A new approachThe good news is that SARS-CoV-2,the virus that causes Covid-19, caneffectively be detected using simple,paper-strip antigen tests that are in-expensive, relatively easy to manu-facture and report results withinminutes. Every single Americanhousehold could have a pack of 20tests within weeks if the U.S. govern-ment invested a mere $1 billion tobuild capacity to produce them. Forreference, this is less than 0.1% ofwhat this virus has cost us.By using these simple, inexpen-

sive, rapid tests once or twice aweek, individuals can know theirstatus even when they are asymp-tomatic, and therefore reduce trans-mission before the virus can spread.

Four questions for microbiologist

Jason Tetro, author of “The Germ

Code” and “The Germ Files.”

Q: How would you describe our

hygiene routines at the begin-

ning of the pandemic?

A: When we first started seeingthis novel coronavirus, we heard

a whole bunch of things that

were pretty scary. We followed

every order, locked ourselves

down and bought out all the

hand sanitizer.

Then in April, the New England

Journal of Medicine had a piece

about how long the virus could

live on surfaces. That changed

everybody’s perspective. It was, “I

need to wipe my slice of bread

with disinfectant.”

Q: Has that thinking changedsince April?

A: Now we know the risk is typi-

cally the highest within the first

two hours, when droplets are still

wet. Low-touch surfaces—like the

mail, takeout containers and a

can of tomato sauce—don’t need

to be wiped down all the time.

Q: What are you seeing as fallturns into winter?

A: There has been a 14% drop inhand washing, the American

Cleaning Institute found. I fear

we have lost the momentum we

gained in the beginning.

Q: Will the pandemic perma-nently change the way we think

about cleaning?

A: Once the pandemic ends, I ex-pect the focus on cleaning, disin-

fection and hand washing will do

the same. While some people

may continue to stay vigilant, the

majority most likely will simply

forget what it was like. To wit, I

have talked with people about

how they remember the 2009

swine flu pandemic. In short,

they don’t.

—Beth DeCarbo

A Year toStay Clean

Key DatesIn 2020

• JAN. 9Chinese scientists in-

vestigating a mystery

illness that has sick-

ened dozens in central

China say they have

discovered a new

strain of coronavirus.

• JAN. 17U.S. officials say trav-

elers arriving from

Wuhan, China, will be

screened for signs of

the new pneumonia-

like virus.

• MARCH 11

The World Health Or-

ganization declares

the coronavirus a

pandemic. President

Trump announces a

30-day ban on some

travel from Europe

into the U.S.

• MARCH 13

President Trump de-

clares the coronavirus

a national emergency,

a day after many

state and local offi-

cials banned large

public gatherings.

• APRIL 3The CDC recommends

that people wear face

masks in public to re-

duce the virus’s spread.

• APRIL 10Global coronavirus

deaths to date top

100,000, and con-

firmed U.S. cases sur-

pass half a million.

• JUNE 11Some states that

were largely spared in

the early days of the

pandemic, including

Alabama, Arizona and

Texas, are now seeing

record hospitaliza-

tions. Deaths from

this second wave will

peak in August.

• SEPT. 28The global death toll

from the coronavirus

reaches one million.

The U.S. accounts for

about one-fifth of

deaths and confirmed

cases.

• NOV. 9A coronavirus vaccine

from Pfizer and BioN-

Tech is more than

90% effective, an early

analysis finds. Vac-

cines from Moderna

and an AstraZeneca/

University of Oxford

partnership will also

show promising re-

sults in coming weeks.

• DEC. 8The U.K. becomes the

first Western country

to begin a mass inoc-

ulation campaign, us-

ing the Pfizer/BioN-

Tech vaccine.

• DEC. 9U.S. deaths from

Covid-19 surpass

3,000 in a day for the

first time.

• DEC. 11The FDA approves

the Pfizer/BioNTech

vaccine for U.S. use.

• DEC. 14Covid-19 deaths in the

U.S. top 300,000 as

vaccine doses begin

arriving at health-care

facilities across the

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The first confirmedcoronavirus case inthe U.S. surfaces inWashington state.

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | R9

offices and real estate. Also, ifpeople relocate away from ex-pensive areas like Silicon Valleyand New York to work remotely,we can pay them less, the think-ing goes. Besides, employeesseem to like it, and the work isgetting done.The problem with that view

begins with the fact that thecurrent situation is so strangethat it is unlikely to tell us muchabout how things would go afterthe pandemic.It is true that surveys consis-

tently find that employees work-ing from home report betterwork-life balance, whichshouldn’t be surprising giventhat conflicts about needing tobe in both places at the same

time go away when work andhome are the same place. Theyalso consistently report wantingto have more opportunities towork from home after the pan-demic, also not surprising be-cause they wanted that before.But that is not the same as

never going into an office again.Especially for younger peopleand those without kids, no officemeans sharply reduced sociallife. Fifty-eight percent of adultsreport that they have datedsomeone at work, for example,and you can’t do that on Zoom.There are also misunder-

standings about how a “newnormal” model of remote workwould function. The idea thatemployers can pay people less if

they move to less expensive com-munities to work remotely is amyth. To begin, in a countrywhere the average 50-year-oldhas already worked for 12 differ-ent employers, the idea that weshould move our family perma-nently from Silicon Valley to Iowaon the promise that our currentjob with a big tech company willcontinue indefinitely is foolish.People live in expensive locationslike New York because that iswhere they can get their next job.The high pay is because lots ofemployers want those skills, notto compensate for cost of living.Another of the hot ideas we

hear for post-pandemic remotework is to rethink the idea of paybased on time at work. What em-ployees think this means is that ifI finish my work, I could gohome—or log off—rather thanjust hang around to put in “facetime” or “screen time.” What em-ployers mean is that if you finishyour work and there is nothingfor you to do right now, we don’tneed to pay you.Though they may be expensive,

offices do matter. The physical in-teractions they provide contributeto getting work done, especiallyprojects and tasks that require col-laboration. The rituals of officelife—coffee breaks and the infor-mal connections we make there—matter, as does our general officesocial life, which helps keep us en-gaged. Organizational culture mat-ters, and that is conveyed by theseinteractions. It is hard to keep thatgoing via occasional video chats.CEOs know this: Their single

biggest concern about remotework arrangements now is how tokeep their culture functioning.Dumping offices altogether re-

flects the priority of cutting costsover effectiveness, and that is abig risk. Who wants to be thefirst one in that water?

Dr. Cappelli is the George W.Taylor professor of managementand director of the Center forHuman Resources at theUniversity of Pennsylvania’sWharton School.

Key DatesIn 2020

• MAY 12Twitter says it willallow most employ-ees to work fromhome permanently,even post-pandemic.

• MAY 21Facebook will shifttoward a substan-tially remote work-force over the nextdecade, CEO MarkZuckerberg says.

• JUNE 2Zoom says meetingspeaked at more than300 million daily par-ticipants in its April30 quarter, up fromabout 10 million atthe end of 2019.

• JULY 27Google tells employ-ees to work re-motely until at leastnext July.

• AUG. 18Amazon is expand-ing its physical of-fices and corporatestaff in six U.S. cit-ies, bucking thetech-industry trendtoward remote work.

T HE GIANT work-from-home experi-ment that no onewanted has beenunder way long

enough to ask: Whathappens to the officenow? Do we reallyneed it?History reminds us

that the early days ofthe Industrial Revolu-tion began with peopledoing commercialwork from home. Butsince then, we have

been remarkably committed tothe idea that work should be cen-tered at the office, even when itcould have been done remotely.A lot of people seem to think

it’s time to overhaul that model.But I’m not convinced that is re-ally going to happen.By some counts as much as

40% of the U.S. labor force isworking remotely. It seems likeonly yesterday that tech compa-nies were the models in doing ev-erything they could to keep em-ployees from leaving theircampuses. Now some, like Twit-ter, are suggesting they neverhave to come back. Why is that?The idea of getting rid of of-

fices, or at least scaling themway back, is of course to savemoney. This could be like Uberfor office jobs: Get employees toprovide and pay for their own of-fice, which they have anyway(i.e., their kitchen table), andsave a lot of company money on

OFFICES

The End of theCommute? Maybe Not

WORKING FROM HOME GETS A LOT OF LOVE THESE DAYS.

BUT DON’T EMPTY YOUR OFFICE DESK JUST YET.

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

BY PETER CAPPELLI

An employee at her desk in New York’s 7 World Trade Center in August.

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R10 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | R11

learn quickly and efficiently.First, policy makers should make

it easier for platforms to sharedata with researchers studyingcompetitive dynamics in the techsector. The current system is un-workable. Academics routinely crit-icize platforms for restricting dataaccess, while platforms face enor-mous risk when sharing data, evenwith academics.To facilitate data sharing, policy

makers should pass legislation pro-viding a safe harbor to companiesthat share data consistent with pri-vacy best practices. In addition,platforms should publicly reportdata that helps to evaluate whetherexisting antitrust law is working,such as regular reporting onmerger performance, as Sen. AmyKlobuchar (D., Min.) has proposed.Second, policy makers should

embrace experimentation. Othergovernments have used “regulatorysandboxes” to test new policyframeworks that inform futureproduct and policy design. Andother industries, ranging fromsports to medicine, have used ex-perimentation to develop betterproducts and policies.In antitrust, experimentation

could help us to better understandthe impact of policy on competi-tiveness. One example is data por-tability, which is the ability to takedata from one service to another.Although better portability couldmake it easier for people to leaveestablished platforms for smallerones, it might instead entrenchlarge platforms by giving them ac-cess to user data at competingstartups, and it could harm privacyif people transfer data to less se-cure services.With so much unknown, a regu-

latory sandbox on portabilitywould help us to learn which poli-cies work best.

Test it in courtFinally, a curious antitrust agendamight use litigation to fill in gapsin our understanding. We typicallyassociate litigation with certainty,not curiosity: The government sueswhen it believes it’s going to win.Wary of bringing cases it mightlose, the Justice Department filedonly one monopolization case from2011 to 2019. As a result, tech anti-trust jurisprudence still reliesheavily on the Microsoft case,which was decided when softwarewas distributed on CD-ROMs anddial-up modems were widespread.As Avery Gardiner of the Center

on Democracy and Technology ex-plained to me recently, moderniz-ing antitrust may require that gov-ernment agencies bring morecases, even when a win isn’t guar-anteed.With the Justice Department fil-

ing a case against Google in Octo-ber and the Federal Trade Commis-sion and state attorneys generalfiling cases against Facebook lastweek, this reticence to litigateseems to be shifting.That shift may be an important

component of regulatory curiosityin antitrust, as the rigor of a courtcase may help us to gather infor-mation that will shape our under-standing of the tech sector, regard-less of who prevails.Of course, litigation has signifi-

cant downsides. It’s an inefficient,expensive and slow pathway forlearning, requiring each side to de-vote immense resources over sev-eral years. For many tech compa-nies, shifting their focus fromdeveloping products to mounting adefense in court will have a mea-surable impact on the pace of inno-vation. And judges may lack thetechnical expertise to assess com-plex products, such as advertisingtechnology or postmerger infra-structure improvements.Those fears are real, and the

costs are tangible. But even so,they may be worth bearing if wewant to develop a better under-standing of the competitiveness ofthe tech sector and the adequacyof existing antitrust law.In the wake of an election that

cast doubt on certainty, we shouldembrace an antitrust policy agendapremised on curiosity. We have alot to learn.

Mr. Perault is the director of theCenter on Science and TechnologyPolicy at Duke University and anassociate professor at Duke’sSanford School of Public Policy. Hepreviously served as a director ofpublic policy for Facebook.

How does one model in the ab-sence of revenue, anyway?Then, after a remarkable fall,

stocks staged an even more remark-able comeback. The ascent, whichbegan in late March, started to takehold in April and came to a stun-ning crescendo with the Dow JonesIndustrial Average reaching new re-cord highs and breaking throughthe 30000 barrier by November.But a rising tide didn’t lift all

boats. In fact, the biggest gainersweren’t boats at all, they were morelike battleships. More specifically,the most popular stocks—Facebook,Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Googleparent Alphabet, along with Micro-soft—benefited from earningsgrowth supercharged by a healthcrisis that kept us mostly at homeglued to our phones and computers.These companies, which are in-

deed essential to our daily lives, con-tinue to be bid up beyond recogni-tion. For example, Apple sports a $2trillion market cap—$1 trillion ofwhich was clocked in just 21 weeksthis past summer. This rise is trulyastounding when one considers ittook 31 years for the company tocross the $100 billion mark. Therewas even a point when Apple’s mar-ket cap exceeded the combined valueof all 2,000 of the smaller companiesin the Russell 2000 index.With today’s barely-there interest

rates, nosebleed price/earnings mul-tiples appear reasonable becausethe value of a dollar made in the fu-ture is roughly equivalent to thevalue of a dollar made today. Freemoney is distorting valuations. Inprevious market cycles, faster-grow-ing small-cap stocks usually tradedat higher multiples than big compa-nies that were deemed safer butwhose large size encumberedgrowth. But these days, we are wit-nessing one of the widest valuation

Key DatesIn 2020

• FEB. 11The Federal Trade

Commission orders

big tech companies

to provide detailed

information about

their acquisitions of

fledgling firms over

the past 10 years,

seeking to deter-

mine whether the

deals harmed com-

petition.

• OCT. 20The Justice Depart-

ment files an anti-

trust lawsuit

against Google, al-

leging it uses anti-

competitive tactics

to preserve a mo-

nopoly for its

search engine and

related advertising

business.

• OCT. 29Tech giants includ-

ing Amazon, Face-

book and Google re-

port strong

quarterly sales and

profits as the pan-

demic drives de-

mand.

• NOV. 10The EU charges

Amazon with violat-

ing competition law,

alleging that the

company uses non-

public data it gath-

ers from third-party

sellers to unfairly

compete against

them.

• DEC. 9The FTC and 46

states sue Face-

book, accusing it of

buying and freezing

out small startups

to choke competi-

tion. The federal

case seeks to un-

wind Facebook’s ac-

quisitions of Insta-

gram and

WhatsApp.

gaps ever, with the S&P 500 sellingfor nearly 22 times forward earn-ings compared with almost 18 timesfor the Russell 2000 index and just15 times for the even cheaper Rus-sell 2000 Value index. Meanwhile,the “six” are selling for an averageof 34 times next year’s earnings,with Amazon sporting the highestmultiple at 70 times.This period is eerily reminiscent

of the 1970s, when the market’sperformance was narrowly pro-pelled by unbridled enthusiasm for50 large companies that becameknown as the “Nifty 50.” BurtonMalkiel discusses these “one deci-sion” stocks in his investment clas-sic, “A Random Walk Down WallStreet,” chiding, “Nothing could bemore prudent than to buy theirshares and then relax on the golf

course.” With investors piling in,the most renowned and biggestAmerican corporations traded atmassive multiples—just like today.Once it became clear company fun-damentals were completely discon-nected from valuations, the bottomfell out and those coveted growth-stock darlings crashed.

Beware of pendulumsBut instead of 50, this time thereare only six—another glaring pen-dulum that has swung too far.Most consider the S&P 500 a broadrepresentation of large corpora-tions across industries and therebya de facto indicator of the healthof the U.S. economy. But when sixcompanies account for nearly 25%of the index and 77% of its gainsover the 12 months through Sep-tember, this high-octane growth-stock cluster isn’t your grandfa-ther’s Oldsmobile. Investors in thiscrowded trade simply aren’t as di-versified as they think.

Ten years fromnow, we posit,value shares willhave trouncedgrowth.

Key DatesIn 2020

• FEB. 19The Nasdaq and

S&P 500 rise to re-

cords on what turns

out to be the last

day of trading calm

before the storm.

• FEB. 27Coronavirus fears

drive U.S. stocks

into a correction,

with the major U.S.

stock indexes all

down at least 12%

from recent records.

For the S&P 500,

the move into a

correction has

taken just six

trading days.

• MARCH 11The longest bull

market for U.S.

stocks ends as the

Dow Jones Industri-

als close down

20.3% from their

recent peak.

• MARCH 23The S&P 500

closes 34% below

its record of just

over a month earlier.

• MARCH 24Stocks soar on signs

that lawmakers are

nearing a deal on a

big stimulus pack-

age.. The Dow Jones

Industrials jump

more than 11%, their

best day in 87 years.

• MARCH 31U.S. stocks close

their worst quarter

since the financial

crisis, despite the re-

bound in late March.

• JUN. 30After the first-quar-

ter rout, U.S. stocks

recover with their

best quarter in per-

centage terms in

more than 20 years.

The S&P 500 rose

20%, the Dow 18%

and the Nasdaq 31%.

• AUG. 18The S&P 500 closes

at a record, erasing

losses from the

February-March

plunge triggered

by the pandemic.

• NOV. 24The Dow Jones In-

dustrials close above

30000 for the first

time and stand

roughly 60% above

their March lows.

The S&P 500 also

sets a record.

INVESTING

Defying GravityHOW TO UNDERSTAND THIS CRAZY YEAR IN THE STOCK MARKET—

AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR WHERE PRICES MAY BE HEADING

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared via videoconference at a congressional antitrust hearing in July. He and other tech executives faced strong criticism from members of both parties.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during a Senate hearing.

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THERE IS A surrealquality to life thesedays. As the year be-gan—which now seemsso very long ago—the

U.S. economy was hum-ming: Unemployment wasat a 50-year low; investorscontinued to benefit fromthe longest bull market inhistory; and with Chinesetrade-war tensions subsid-ing, the 2020 outlook waspromising.Then, the lights went out

when a barely understoodcoronavirus instantly closedeconomies around the globe.Suddenly, most Americanswere sheltering in place andnonessential businesses wereforced to close. Records weresmashed when nearly 10 mil-lion people filed for unem-ployment insurance in thesecond half of March, andthe stock market seesawedfrom bull to bear statusfaster than any time in his-tory—just 20 days.

While there were degrees ofbloodletting, indiscriminate sellingmeant nothing was spared. By theend of the first quarter, the S&P 500had fallen nearly 20%. Smaller com-panies plummeted over 30%. Theonly word to describe the environ-ment is perhaps the most overusedword of the year, “unprecedented.”This wasn’t the Great Depression orthe Great Recession but somethingcompletely different. In the blink ofan eye, companies had no revenue—zero. The global economy had beenput in a medically induced coma. Fi-nancial models weren’t just dis-torted, they were broken.

When I worked for Facebook, itnever felt like we could afford to becomplacent. We faced real competi-tive threats. If I had shown up at ameeting and announced that Face-book didn’t compete with Google,Apple or TikTok, I would have beenlaughed out of the room. And I sawFacebook’s investment in develop-ing new features for its Instagramand WhatsApp acquisitions and im-proving the safety, security and in-frastructure of both products. Soit’s hard for me to reconcile my ex-perience in the tech sector with theantitrust arguments now beingwaged against it.But if November’s election

taught us anything, it’s that our as-sumptions are often wrong. Withpolls predicting a blue-wave elec-tion that never materialized, pre-dictions that seemed certain beforethe election now seem flimsy in thewake of it.This uncertainty is jolting, but I

believe it may end up being a winfor antitrust policy. If Republicanshold on to their Senate majorityafter the Georgia runoffs in Janu-ary, many on the left will be dis-appointed that divided govern-ment makes sweeping antitrustreform less likely, while many onthe right will be wary of regula-tory overreach by the Biden ad-ministration. But the mixed elec-tion results may force us to travela more deliberative path thatcould lead to better policy.Despite the forceful rhetoric of

the antitrust debate, there’sstill much we don’t know.One striking example is Tik-Tok. While many people haveargued that tech productsshould offer more privacy,higher-quality content andmore human choice insteadof algorithmic preferencing,TikTok emerged as a strongcompetitor even though itdefaults to public sharing, isrife with salacious contentand relies almost exclusivelyon algorithmic recommenda-tions. TikTok’s rise suggeststhat the conventional wisdomabout tech products may beout of step with user prefer-ences.So how could we craft an

antitrust policy agenda thattakes this uncertainty intoaccount?

Filling knowledge gapsOne path forward is to focuson learning. If policy makersare realistic about what theydon’t know, then theyshould pursue an antitrustagenda that’s focused onfilling these gaps and study-ing what policy measureswork and why. Ad-vocating for thistype of regulatorycuriosity isn’t a callfor inaction. Curios-ity requires an ac-tive government,with policy makersimplementing an ag-gressive agenda to

AS THE DEBATEover big tech andantitrust intensi-fied over the pastyear, certaintyreigned.On one side

are those who arecertain that com-panies like Ama-zon, Apple, Face-book and Googleare monopolies,dominant in indi-vidual markets

like search, social networking, e-commerce and app stores. Theyare certain that mergers betweencompanies like Facebook and In-stagram reduced competition.And they’re certain that antitrustlaw has calcified, unable to ac-count for new technologies.On the other side of the debate

are those who are certain thatcompetition is flourishing in thetech sector, with innovationyielding great products at ever-lower prices, and companies likeTikTok and Snap emerging tochallenge incumbents. They arecertain that mergers have bene-fited consumers. And they’re cer-tain that we don’t need to re-ex-amine antitrust doctrine becauseit’s flexible enough to evolve withtechnology.In the course of this debate,

I’ve espoused my own certainties.

Perhaps a better cross-section ofbig business in America would be anewly constituted “S&P 494.” This isespecially relevant during a timewhen large-cap index funds are popu-lar 401(k) plan options for employeesattracted to low fees and a perceptionthat “buying the market” guaranteesperformance—and with less risk.Here we have a self-fulfilling proph-esy—a situation where the samestocks are bought and therefore bidup by virtue of investor demand asopposed to company fundamentals.Prices and valuations increasingly be-come disconnected from reality.This dominance has turned long-

standing performance patterns up-side down. In the 10 years endedSept. 30, 2020, the S&P 500 averageda 13.74% gain annually comparedwith 9.85% for the Russell 2000 in-dex and 7.09% for the Russell 2000Value index. And yet, according toIbbotson’s 2020 SBBI Yearbook, onedollar invested in small value stocksat the end of 1926 grew to approxi-mately $290,000 by the end of 2019.Alternatively, one dollar invested inlarge value, small growth or largegrowth stocks at the end of 1926grew to approximately $35,000,$6,000, and $3,000, respectively, bythe end of 2019.

Fantastic futuresBut where others see pain, we seegains. An amalgamation of power-fully one-sided influences and out-comes is telegraphing the future.What worked over the past decadeis unlikely to work over the next.With so many anchored to the hereand now, the opportunity to profit

from today’s orphaned valuestocks is great. In 14 of the last14 economic recoveries, value ledthe way, across all sectors. More-over, value has performed well inperiods when profits and interestrates are both accelerating.Meanwhile, overly pessimisticviews for value versus rosy ex-pectations for growth make foreasier comparisons.Ten years from now, we posit,

value shares will have trouncedgrowth, and smaller companieswill outperform their larger-capbrethren, as the global economyrecovers, demand grows, interestrates rise and at the very least, weexperience a healthy dose of meanregression. Now is the time to buyvalue. And keep in mind, when thetables turn, collateral damage isinevitable. There are times whengreat companies aren’t greatstocks. This is one of them.Just as multiplying two nega-

tive numbers creates a positive inmath, the swarm of adverseforces acting against value in-vesting appears to be foreshad-owing better days ahead. Thispoint of view might seem coun-terintuitive during a time wheneverything is going right forgrowth stocks. But with historyas our guide, the extremes arenow so excessive that all of theminuses are beginning to looklike one big plus.

Ms. Hobson is co-CEO andpresident and Mr. Rogers isfounder, co-CEO and chiefinvestment officer of ArielInvestments.

BY MELLODY HOBSONAND JOHN W. ROGERS JR.

Policy makersshould embrace

and learn from anagenda of

experimentation.

BIG TECH

The DominationDebate

WITH SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY, LET’S EMBRACE AN ANTITRUST

POLICY AGENDA THAT IS PREMISED ON CURIOSITY

BY MATT PERAULT

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

R12 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

Our multilateral institutions,norms and treaties have failedto keep up with the rapid paceof change, and this threatensglobal order. This disruption isattributable to a large extentto the increasingly dangerousaction and rhetoric that char-acterize the U.S.-China rela-tionship.The Biden administration

has a historic need and oppor-tunity to restore global cooper-ation, but that will be difficultwithout restoring global order.An essential step in that pro-cess is stabilizing the U.S.-China relationship. Until theU.S. and China can establishwhere they can cooperate andwhere they will compete, therewill be chaos, which limitsglobal economic growth andthreatens peace.We will need to rebuild our

relationships with allies andshape the environment to cre-ate incentives and disincen-tives for China’s choices andconduct. It is essential to putin place new global rules fortrade, investment, technology,the environment and the digi-tal world. Here, President Bi-den should join with our allies,such as Japan, the EuropeanUnion, the U.K., South Koreaand Australia, to leverage a co-ordinated policy to upgradethe global trading system andits governing bodies, like theWorld Trade Organization.If these allied economies

can agree on a framework,they will be in a far strongerposition to invite China to join,if it is willing to meet theagreed-upon global standards.

BY HENRY M. PAULSON JR.

Key DatesIn 2020

• JAN. 15The U.S. and China

sign a trade deal

that seeks to in-

crease sales of U.S.

goods and services

to China and help

protect intellectual

property.

• MAY 15The Trump adminis-

tration says it will

impose export re-

strictions designed

to cut off Chinese

telecom-equipment

maker Huawei fromoverseas suppliers.

• JUNE 30The U.S. responds to

a Chinese law that

undercuts Hong

Kong’s autonomy by

ending Hong Kong’s

access to some

technology exports

and pledging sanc-

tions on Communist

Party officials who

engineered it.

• SEPT. 8China begins an ini-

tiative to set global

data-security stan-

dards, countering

U.S. efforts to per-

suade other coun-

tries to shut out

Chinese technology

from their networks.

• OCT. 26China has acceler-

ated purchases of

U.S. farm products

but remains far be-

hind on its commit-

ment to buy about

$140 billion in U.S.

goods this year, an

analysis of new

Commerce Depart-

ment data shows.

PRESIDENT-ELECTJoe Biden is inher-iting a relationshipwith China thatwill be fraught forthe foreseeable fu-ture. Over the pastseveral years—andincreasingly during2020—we’ve seensigns of stress:more tariffs,heightened restric-tions, revoked vi-sas, fewer studentand scholar ex-changes, inflamma-

tory rhetoric and much more.To be sure, while the new ad-

ministration can bring new poli-cies, competition is the corner-stone of the U.S. relationshipwith a power that has a rivalideology and very different eco-nomic and political systems. Butkeeping that competitionhealthy, and not pernicious, is vi-tally important. Relentless, debil-itating competition where thetwo governments seek to curtailall trade, investment and tech-nology flows will make thatnearly impossible.We must reject the notion

that we don’t benefit from aneconomic relationship withChina. It is not unpatriotic to saythis. Indeed, our workers andfarmers have the potential tobenefit to a much greater extentfrom a more balanced relation-ship with the world’s fastest-growing major economy. As thetwo largest global economies, itis in the interest of Americans,Chinese and the world that theU.S. and China find a way to re-

boot economic growth.Many people believe there

will be a military crisis betweenthe U.S. and China, and withgood reason. But our militaryand diplomatic strength isrooted in a strong economy.And the path to economic suc-cess begins at home. Mr. Bidenmust crush Covid-19 and fix oureconomy to bolster economiccompetitiveness. If we do this,the U.S. will be a dominantworld power no matter whatChina does.

A good beginningWhile much more remains to bedone, China has taken somesteps in the right direction. Thephase-one trade deal reached atthe start of 2020 addressed im-mediate issues such as intellec-tual-property rights and marketopening in some sectors. Chinaalso pledged to open additionalservice sectors and reformstate-owned enterprises. Itsplan to promote domestic con-sumption to re-energize theeconomy will provide export op-portunities for U.S. firms. Butimplementation is the big test.That’s not the only hurdle to

a better relationship. Mr. Bidenalso inherits a dangerous world.

Wewill havechaos andconflict if wecannot getthis right.

U.S. AND CHINA

A HealthyCompetition

A FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY DETAILS THE STEPS THE NEW U.S.ADMINISTRATION CAN TAKE TO BUILD A BETTER RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA

Red X’s marked closed lanes at the Port of Dover in the U.K. in May. The U.K. left the European Union at the end of January and entered a transition period.

DEC. 13

On the day they had agreedBrexit talks would end if noagreement was reached, theU.K. and EU signal progressand agree to keep negotiating.

If Beijing refuses to join us inthis new multilateral effort,we should look to a punitivetool kit built on targeted reci-procity that includes jointlywithholding access to our mar-kets.We should also address the

question of bilateral tariffs,which have largely served as atax on Americans that simulta-neously undermined the com-petitiveness of the U.S. by im-pairing the ability of ourcompanies to be reliable globalsuppliers and our nation to bea safe harbor for investment.But the damage is largely

done. So, we should now linktariff removal to a new ap-proach founded on this sameconcept of targeted reciproc-ity—only removing existingtariffs when we have extracteda reciprocal and tangible bene-fit from China, met by definedbenchmarks in a phased bilat-eral trade agreement.

A plan for the futureTo accomplish this, the Bidenadministration should initiatea comprehensive new round ofbilateral negotiations withChina aimed at achieving afair, sweeping and reciprocaltrade relationship focused onmarkets of the future. Such anagreement would open key ar-eas to investment and export,address the market distortionsof China’s state-owned firms,and deal with structural andprocess issues that includeboth services and goods. Weneed to exert conventional andunconventional means to forcecompliance.In return, the U.S. should

be more predictable and pre-pared to make our own mar-ket open to trade and invest-ment from Chinese firms. Ofcourse, investments thatthreaten our national securityshould be prohibited. But wemust be careful to avoid se-questering so much technol-ogy that American companieslose their ability to commer-cialize and deploy their prod-ucts in the world’s fastest-growing market. JA

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could have a lasting effect in shap-ing—and potentially diminishing—globalization going forward.

Turning inwardGlobalization—increasing tradeand investment around theworld—was a key driver of theworld economy in the 1990s and2000s. But that stopped with thefinancial crisis in 2009. Globalvalue chains—the spread of sup-ply networks across countries—ceased expanding after 2008, ac-cording to the World Bank.Economic reform has also

stalled around the world as sev-eral countries have pulled backfrom globalization. Under Presi-dent Xi Jinping, China has em-braced policies to strengthenstate-owned enterprises and pro-mote the indigenous developmentof critical technologies. China re-mains an export powerhouse buthas turned inward. Exports as ashare of its GDP have fallen from31% in 2008 to just 17% in 2019.China is not alone. Nationalism

has become a stronger forcearound the world, and with it eco-nomic nationalism. Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has a“Make in India” campaign. Presi-dent Trump touts “Buy American”policies, and even President-electJoe Biden, who will be a more in-ternationalist president, has en-

dorsed such programs. And ahard Brexit is approaching asBritain may be set to leave theEuropean Union without a tradeagreement.The pandemic is likely to rein-

force these pre-existing trends to-ward a less globalized world.Many countries have been askingwhether they have become toodependent on others for essentialmedical supplies and medicinesof which they might be deprivedin an emergency. Some temporaryexport bans were imposed overfears about inadequate domesticsupplies of medical equipment,personal protective equipmentand pharmaceuticals.Though the trade-policy re-

sponse to the pandemic has beenmuted, attitudes have changed.French President Emmanuel Ma-cron says the coronavirus “willchange the nature of globaliza-tion, with which we have lived forthe past 40 years,” adding that itwas “clear that this kind of glob-alization was reaching the end ofits cycle.”

Security concernsOn top of public-health concernsabout globalization are those re-lated to national security. TheU.S.-China relationship hassoured on the American sidepartly because of fears that thesecurity of advanced technologyproducts, from drones to micro-chips, might have been compro-mised by the Chinese authorities.Not only have stiff tariffs beenimposed, reducing bilateral trade,but Chinese acquisitions of U.S.tech companies are blocked andthe technology ecosystems of thetwo are separating.Whether or not one views “de-

coupling” as a realistic outcome,the rift between the world’s twolargest economies has pulledthem apart and has enormousramifications for the future.The U.S. is not alone in worry-

ing that technology from China issuspect, as the controversy overHuawei and the security of itstelecom equipment shows. Japanhas begun investigating how tobreak its supply-chain depen-dence on China and produce moreat home.China is also weaponizing

trade as a foreign-policy tool.Countries such as Australia arefinding that crossing Beijingleads to one’s exports being sud-denly banned for health reasons,slapped with special import du-ties or held up in port for unex-pected safety inspections. ScottMorrison, Australia’s prime min-ister, told his country’s Parlia-ment: “Open trading has been acore part of our prosperity overcenturies. But equally, we need tolook carefully at our domesticeconomic sovereignty as well.”National-security concerns in-

volve geopolitical factors beyondChina. President Trump broughtuncertainty to the alliance withEurope, questioning the value ofthe North Atlantic Treaty Organi-zation and berating allies fortheir trade practices and insuffi-cient military spending.That experience is hard for Eu-

ropeans to forget, even with anew president coming soon, andhas brought into question the re-liability of the U.S. partnership. Inan environment where alliancesare uncertain and internationalcooperation is lacking, Europeansare asking who they can rely on.Phil Hogan, until recently the Eu-ropean Union’s commissioner fortrade, has stated, “We need tothink about how to ensure theEU’s strategic autonomy.”The combination of public-

health concerns and national-se-curity fears suggests that wecould see a movement towardgreater self-sufficiency. Whenpeople and their governmentslose trust in others and becomeafraid, either for their health orfor their safety, there is a naturaltendency to turn inward and re-duce dependence on others. Peo-ple begin to value security morethan efficiency.This retreat will not mark the

end of globalization, a processthat reached a historically highlevel about a decade ago. Butglobalization can be at least par-tially reversed, making for arocky road ahead.

Mr. Irwin is the John Frenchprofessor in economics atDartmouth College.

BY DOUGLAS A. IRWIN

W ORLD TRADEhas taken a beat-ing in recentyears, and 2020was no excep-tion.Ever since the

global financialcrisis of 2009,growth in inter-national tradehas been slug-gish—somethingdubbed “slow-balization.” Thehigher tariffs

and trade wars of the Trump admin-istration have also taken a toll. Thevolume of trade actually fell in 2019,even though the world economy con-tinued to expand.This year, the arrival of the pan-

demic has had a devastating impacton economic activity around theworld. Global trade has shrunk ac-cordingly, by 9.2%, according to pro-jections from the World Trade Or-ganization.The ebbs and flows of trade mainly

reflect changes in economic growtharound the world. Therefore, thetrade outlook for next year dependslargely on whether the world can putthe pandemic behind it. But there areseveral reasons for thinking that pol-icy responses to the pandemic, aswell as increasing concerns about na-tional security around the world,

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

WORLD TRADE

GlobalizationIn Retreat

WORLD TRADE CONTINUED TO FALL IN 2020. AND, THANKS IN PART TO THE

PANDEMIC, IT MAY SHRINK EVEN MORE IN THE YEARS AHEAD.

Public-healthconcernsand national-security fearssuggest thatwe could seea movementtoward greaterself-sufficiency.

China President Xi Jinping

appears in a news program

on a big screen in Beijing.

Key DatesIn 2020

• JAN. 15The U.S.-China trade

deal eases two years

of tensions.

• AUG. 25Global trade fell

12.5% in the second

quarter from the

first quarter, the

CPB Netherlands

Bureau for Economic

Policy Analysis says.

It was the largest

drop since records

began in 2000, ex-

ceeding the hit to

trade from the

global financial crisis.

• SEPT. 15The World Trade

Organization finds

that some U.S. tar-

iffs against China

broke international

trading rules.

• OCT. 13The WTO says the

European Union

may impose tariffs

on $3.99 billion in

Boeing jets and

other U.S. goods

annually as part

of a long-running

trade dispute.

• NOV. 15China and 14 other

Asia-Pacific coun-

tries sign a trade

deal creating a re-

gional bloc that cov-

ers about one-third

of global economic

output. The agree-

ment includes U.S.

allies such as Aus-

tralia, Japan and

South Korea, but not

the U.S.

• NOV. 25Global trade jumped

12.5% in the third

quarter from the

second quarter, the

CPB says. It was the

largest rise since

records began in

2000, following the

largest fall.

Five questions for fitness ex-

pert Jillian Michaels.

Q: How would you say

home exercise and fitness

changed in 2020?

A: We saw people getting

outdoors a lot more because

it was the only place to go. It

opened a lot of people to

their environment more than

they had ever experienced it,

and they took up jogging, hik-

ing, biking, surfing, skate-

boarding—all of those things.

And then I saw a lot of peo-

ple exploring different at-

home fitness options, which

run the gamut from things

like Peloton [bikes, treadmills]

to at-home streaming apps.

It has given people more op-

tions and more variety for

the future so that they know

no matter what happens

there are a million options

and alternatives available to

make fitness accessible and

affordable.

Q: Doesn’t history suggestthat those Peloton bikes,

surfboards, skateboards are

going to be in the back of a

closet by Valentine’s Day?

A: I really hope not. I thinkwith activities like that, you

can develop a passion for it. I

can only speak for myself,

but when I engage in an ac-

tivity that I enjoy, it becomes

a hobby, an active hobby, as

opposed to working out.

Q: What will the ripple ef-fects of these change be?

A: Public gyms or workoutsthat have done a great job at

creating a sense of commu-

nity, I think they’re going to

continue to thrive. But I do

think that really expensive

group classes and really ex-

pensive big-box gyms are go-

ing to take a hit because

people are realizing they can

get community and great

workouts at home. I think it’s

going to permanently shift

people to more of a hybrid.

I’ve missed the gym. When

the gym opens, I’m going to

be back at the gym because

I miss it, but probably twice

a week.

Q: Did you allow yourself

any extra time on the couch

bingeing TV and eating

Cheetos like the rest of us

this year?

A: No, that just isn’t who Iam. I would love to tell you

that it is, so it seems relat-

able, but it isn’t.

Q: For the person who hasbeen doomscrolling on the

couch for the past nine

months and put on the

Covid 19 pounds, is there

one basic activity that you

recommend they start with

to get active again?

A: If you want somethingsuper simple, you are stuck

in your house and you’re an

absolute beginner, give me

50 squats a day, 50 lunges a

day, 50 crunches a day and

50 jumping jacks a day. And

you can do them throughout

your day: every 90 minutes

do 10 of each.

—Chris Kornelis

Bike, Lift,Run, Sweat

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Also, we’ll need China tosolve its massive environmentalproblems at home and adoptbetter practices abroad if wewant to prevent the worst cli-mate outcomes and preserve es-sential and fragile global eco-systems.America also needs to capi-

talize on huge economic oppor-tunities in China and globally.That means ensuring opportuni-ties for our businesses to investin and export clean-energyproducts and technologies, aswell as environmental goodsand services.While protecting national se-

curity is essential, it must notundermine U.S. competitivenessin the process. Indiscriminatelylimiting sales to purportedlydual-use Chinese companies, asthe current administration pro-poses, opens the door to U.S.competitors who are preparedto step in where Americanfirms are banned to go. Simi-larly, preventing legitimate Chi-nese companies from U.S. capi-tal-market listings on vaguenational-security grounds onlymakes London, Hong Kong orTokyo more attractive. Such ac-tions will do more to hurtAmerica’s credibility, leadershipand economic competitivenessthan halt China’s progress.

The key is to get strategiccompetition with China right.Competition without unneces-sary confrontation should beour goal—because confronta-tion without effective competi-tion has produced some poorresults for the American peo-ple. It has damaged our econ-omy. It has stunted our exportopportunities. In time, it willthreaten the peace of theworld and doesn’t make ussafer. And so, we will havechaos and conflict if we cannotget this right.That is in no one’s interest.

Not America’s. Not China’s.Not the world’s. A clear-eyedbut productive U.S.-China eco-nomic relationship, built ontargeted reciprocity, is whatwe need now for the U.S. torestore and strengthen itsglobal leadership, create asafer America and supportworld peace.

Mr. Paulson is chairman of thePaulson Institute and servedas a Treasury secretary underPresident George W. Bush.

R14 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

Five questions for Kitty

Block, president and chief

executive officer of the

Humane Society of the U.S.

Q: Did you adopt a Covidpet this year?

A: I have a bit of a fullhouse—two cats and a

dog—so I have resisted. But

it was tempting.

Q: When the Humane So-ciety does Zoom calls, do

you say “Let me show you

my cat!” or “Let me show

you my dog!” like everyone

else working from home is

doing?

A: Of course! That’s howwe usually open and close.

And sometimes during the

middle.

Q: Has the surge in petadoption during the pan-

demic been all good?

A: Yes. It has raised theawareness for people about

what it means to adopt an

animal, and I think that

was great.

There was a concern ini-

tially about what would

happen when people went

back to work, but we ha-

ven’t seen any concerns

about that. And I think peo-

ple who were on the fence

fostered. That was really

important because you

want to see if it works. You

don’t want to take on the

responsibility of an animal

if it isn’t going to work for

you and your family.

Q: Has the increase inadoptions created new

challenges or opportuni-

ties for the future?

A: The Humane Societyand other organizations

work in underserved com-

munities—veterinarian des-

erts—to make sure people

can keep their animals. But,

again, we haven’t seen any

uptick in animals being sur-

rendered because of the

ones that were adopted or

fostered in the beginning. I

think it was a great shift in

awareness that these ani-

mals needed homes.

Q: The pandemic shined alight on wet markets,

where exotic animals are

sometimes sold and

butchered at open-air

stalls. Is that going to

have long-term ramifica-

tions?

A: What this Covid mo-ment has done is really

highlight the fact that ani-

mal welfare and human

health are inextricably

linked. You can’t put ani-

mals in these extreme con-

finement situations where

it is dirty and stressful for

the animals and they are

lacking any kind of care

and stack them in cages,

one on top of the other.

You’re creating not only the

most inhumane conditions

for these animals, but

breeding grounds for vi-

ruses.

And this isn’t new. SARS

[severe acute respiratory

syndrome] was spread by

civets to humans in mar-

kets. MERS [Middle East

respiratory syndrome] was

camels to humans in the

Middle East. Bird flu and

swine flu came from fac-

tory farms. And now mink

on fur farms—Covid is ex-

ponential to what’s hap-

pening there. It’s almost a

no-brainer that we have to

shut these down and re-ex-

amine our relationship with

animals.

—Chris Kornelis

Covid Pets toThe Rescue

LIKE MOST musicians,Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy hadhis 2020 planned out.Wilco, which has soldmillions of albums, hada world tour planned.But the pandemic setthe music business—and especially theconcert-tour industry,which accounts forthe livelihoods notjust of musicians andtheir road crews butof local promoters,tour-bus operators,

down to the small clubs that arehurting most of all—on its ear.In mid-March, Wilco suspended

its plans for the global tour, and Mr.Tweedy holed up with his family inhis home outside Chicago. But,stripped of routines and structurethat being on the road had givenhim for his entire adult life, he usedthe time wisely. He wrote a bookabout songwriting, “How To WriteOne Song,” a follow-up to his suc-cessful 2018 memoir, and released analbum of songs he’d recorded withhis sons, “Love Is the King.”Mr. Tweedy talked to The Wall

Street Journal about the pandemic’seffect—present and future—on livemusic. Edited excerpts follow.

WSJ: How did the pandemic affectthe music business in 2020, andmost especially live music?

MR. TWEEDY: The pandemic utterlydecimated the live-music industry.There’s been almost an entire yearnow of absolutely zero revenue.

WSJ: Will live music bounce back?What about the smaller venues thatare really suffering?

MR. TWEEDY: Live music is going tocome back. But the landscape won’tever look the same. I imagine that alot of the more intimate music ven-ues will be gone, just like a lot ofsmall businesses and restaurants.Hopefully those voids will be filledby something new.There are lots of venues that I’ve

loved over the years that I’m worriedabout. I hope they’re able to keepthemselves somehow viable longenough to enjoy the reaction to havinghad no music for a long time, which Iexpect will trickle back, but I hope willbe kind of a cathartic release, like afloodgate opening, with people goingout and dancing in each other’s arms.

BY JEFF SLATE

LIVE MUSIC

A NewTuneWILCO’S JEFF TWEEDY REFLECTS ON A YEAR WITHOUT TOURING, AND HOW

PERFORMING WILL RETURN, BUT THE LANDSCAPE WILL BE DIFFERENT

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

An outdoor concert at Toronto’s CityView Drive-In in July. Despite events like this, the live-music business has been decimated by the pandemic.

enough to appreciate that it’s beena nice change.

WSJ: What do you think the lessonsof 2020 will be for the business andartists, and how will that affect thefuture of the music business?

MR. TWEEDY: Well, the next crisisis going to be that every band inthe world will be touring at once,and there will not be the resourcesor the venue space to accommodatethat. And, even more important,that means we’re going to lose thedevelopmental periods of somegreat young bands and artists thatare just getting started. I predictthat it’s going to negatively affect alot of young and upcoming artists.

WSJ: Are you worried about thesafety of touring? And do you thinkconcertgoers—especially olderones—will flock back to live music?

MR. TWEEDY: As there’s a viablevaccine and it’s well distributed,and with some new therapeutics,touring will be safer than ever.We’ve gone through a year of peo-ple learning a lot about how to stayhealthy and maintain their hygiene.Right now, the idea of getting on aplane is insane to me.But once people aren’t getting sick

anymore, and hospitals aren’t over-run, and people aren’t dying by thethousands, I think both bands andfans are going to have a lot easiertime wrapping their heads around it.Maybe you’ll have some drop-off

with older concertgoers, but I thinkthe people that feel a little bit inse-cure about their health are also thepeople who have been listening tothe science. So if the science startstelling them it’s safe, they’ll proba-bly react to that the same way theyreacted to the guidelines.

WSJ: Do you think we’ll hear theechoes of the pandemic in music fora while, or do you think that, oncethings get back to normal, we won’twant to think about it and won’twant to hear music that reflectsthis period?

MR. TWEEDY: I tend to be repulsedby songs that hit me over the headwith a social topic. Plus, musicdoesn’t communicate this type ofcurrent event anymore. So there’sthe potential to write a song thatfeels universal, but to me it feels asthough everybody’s going to think,“Yeah, I get it. I lived it too, dude.”This whole period has been so

full of introspection and thinkingabout everybody and thinking aboutthe same things and experiencingthe same things, you’re going toneed someone really brilliant to putit into some sort of perspective thatmakes it any more meaningful thanit already is.

Mr. Slate is a songwriter andfreelance journalist who writesabout music and culture. He can bereached at reports@wsj.com.

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WSJ: Giants like Live Nation gotquite a bit of money from the federalgovernment, but many smaller ven-ues got zero, because, for whateverreason, they didn’t qualify. Have youbeen involved in the Save the Stagescampaign? Do you want the Bidenadministration to be more directly in-volved in helping smaller venues?

MR. TWEEDY: Absolutely. Concertvenues are a part of the fabric of ev-ery community, just as much as res-taurants and bars. Small concert ven-ues, in particular, are a huge part ofthe emotional life of a community.Almost every other nation in theworld has managed to do more thanwe’ve been able to do. Sure, therewas one little burst of relief, but inmany ways it wasn’t fairly distrib-uted. For instance, I managed tojump through all the hoops and get aPPP [Paycheck Protection Program]

loan for my band and crew. It wasn’teasy, but I’m in a position where Ihave a lot of really good help.A lot of people running venues, es-

pecially smaller venues, aren’t in itfor the money. It’s a passion. Andthat’s why they’re so valuable:They’re in it for the love of it. What-ever happens next year, it’s going tobe very difficult for those places to besafe and economically viable at thesame time. It’s going to require help.And that includes help for all of thepeople that are involved in thoseplaces, from the bartenders and bandsto the lighting companies and PAcompanies, and all of the smaller ac-tors, who have been left in the wind.

WSJ: Were there surprising giftsthat you got from being at home?

MR. TWEEDY: For my entire adultlife, all the way back to my teens, infact, I’d never spent 10 months athome consecutively. So I’m old

75%Decline inglobal live-music revenuethis year, to$6.5 billionfrom $26.1billion in 2019

$650million

Revenue from virtual

concerts in 2020

95%Decline in promoter

Live Nation’s concert

revenue in this year’s

second and third

quarters vs. the year-

earlier periods

250Live Nation concerts

in North America in

the six months ended

Sept. 30, down from

14,462 in the year-

earlier period

83%The share of custom-

ers globally who Live

Nation says are keep-

ing tickets to use for

rescheduled shows

Sources: Midia Research,

Live Nation Entertainment

THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | R15

peaceful as “Healing Is a Mira-cle” (Ninja Tune), the latestfrom singer Julianna Barwick,who makes ambient music bylayering her voice so it soundslike a choir in an ancient cathe-dral.While Ms. Barwick’s wordless

music was a warm, therapeuticbath, terrific records by giftedwriters offered support by mak-ing you feel like you’re sharingthoughts with a trusted friend.Phoebe Bridgers, who startedher solo career in 2014 and hasworked in the indie rock groupBetter Oblivion CommunityCenter with Conor Oberst ofBright Eyes, issued “Punisher”(Dead Oceans) in June, a stun-ning collection of folky songsthat moved from confessionalto surreal. In March, Waxa-hatchee, the band fronted bysongwriter Katie Crutchfield,released “Saint Cloud” (Merge),its best LP, a rustic and coun-try-inflected ode to self-discov-ery. From another world musi-cally, rapper Open Mike Eagleprobed the dissolution of hismarriage with humor, graceand insight on his album “An-ime, Trauma and Divorce”(Auto Reverse).And somehow 2020 turned

out to be a marvelous year forpop, even though it was hard toenjoy it communally. Lady Gagaand Ariana Grande releasedhigh-profile records and collab-orated on “Rain on Me,” one ofthe best singles of the year. Butthe breakout record of 2020 inthis sphere was “Future Nostal-gia” (Warner) by Londoner DuaLipa, which found a perfect bal-ance between dance soundsboth retro and of-the-moment,and had something for every-body while remaining a unifiedlisten. And Nigerian vocalistBurna Boy released “Twice asTall” (Atlantic/Warner) in Au-gust, furthering the main-stream breakthrough of the hip-hop-informed pop styleAfrobeats. These albums werefilled with ambitious music ona global scale and will one dayreach their apogee when peopledance to their grooves sur-rounded by friends in a club oron a crowded field—a wish wecan only hope will come true in2021.—Mr. Richardson is theJournal’s rock and pop musiccritic. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRichardson.

ON FEB. 28, the K-Pop band BTScanceled itsApril tour datesin South Koreabecause of thecoronavirus. Itwas one of theearliest in-stances of a ma-jor musicalname realizingthat putting onconcerts in 2020was about to getdifficult, andlive music in the

U.S. was upended shortly there-after. By the time the SXSWFestival was canceled on March6 and then Coachella on March10 postponed its event until Oc-tober—only to remove it fromthe calendar entirely in June—itbecame clear that live showsweren’t coming back anytimesoon.And so 2020 turned into the

year each of us, individually,reconfigured how music fitinto our lives. If your fandomextended to concerts in anyform, you felt that loss, deeply.Musicians pivoted, experiment-ing with streaming shows andunconventional events of allkinds. Verzuz, a webcast seriesstarted by veteran producersTimbaland and Swizz Beats,found high-profile artists inhip-hop and R&B facing off inDJ battles where they playedthe best songs from their owncatalogs in live-streamed com-petitions. Paid performancesincluded sets from artists in-cluding Billie Eilish, Nick Caveand many others. Oklahomapsychedelic rock band theFlaming Lips even staged ashow in which they encasedeach audience member in aone-person plastic bubble.Though online events al-

lowed fans to gather virtuallyto hear music together and

BY MARK RICHARDSON

CRITICS ON MUSIC

Even With Shutdowns,The Bands Played On

WITH CONCERTS AND FESTIVALS CANCELED DUE TO THE PANDEMIC, MUSICAL ARTISTS MOVED

PERFORMANCES ONLINE AND STILL RELEASED A TROVE OF OUTSTANDING RECORDS

handed down from an oracle.In mid-April, Fiona Apple

issued “Fetch the Bolt Cut-ters” (Epic), an album shemostly recorded at home witha few close friends and collab-orators over the course of sev-eral years. It was her first LPsince her 2012 masterpiece“The Idler Wheel,” and the in-

tensity of her voice and inci-siveness of her lyrics werefully intact. Her label hadhoped to delay the record un-til October, but she insisted onputting it out early, and itproved to be a perfect sound-track for the most intense pe-riod of the lockdown.Weeks before the release of

“Fetch the Bolt Cutters” BobDylan streamed a ballad called“Murder Most Foul” on hiswebsite, the first new songwritten by him in a decade.The 17-minute track was a jaw-dropping survey of Mr. Dylan’scultural obsessions, startingwith the assassination of JohnF. Kennedy and ending with alengthy homage to the musicthat inspired Mr. Dylan. Itwound up on the album “Roughand Rowdy Ways” (Columbia),a brilliant collection of bluesystomps and impressionisticflights that was his best recordin 20 years.This year has been a time

for comfort listening—anotherobstacle for artists releasingnew music—as many of us re-visited old favorites, got lostin nostalgia, and exploredsounds designed to inducecalm. Few records were as

also sometimes offered finan-cial support to cash-strappedartists—a year without showsdevastated those who dependon concerts to pay the bills—the gap between watching mu-sic digitally and seeing it inperson is enormous. Live gigscreate a space where anythingcan happen, and the uncer-tainty raises the excitement. Ascreen, which drastically re-duces the amount of informa-tion that reaches our senses,inevitably shrinks possibilities.Even in this altered reality,

albums from artists big andsmall kept coming all year. Ifonly a few releases seemed liketrue events, we might blameour fragmented attention andthe difficulty of promoting newmusic when live performancewas off the table. Absent thetypical spate of extra-musicalactivity—television appear-ances, festival gigs—it was easyto lose track of records justweeks after they came out. Toremedy that, here’s a rundownof 10 of the best from thisstrangest of years.

Emerging artists had an es-pecially tough go of it in 2020.In the past they might haveput out a record and thenearned fans by touring, butthat wasn’t an option thisyear. Which meant that anartist like Bartees Strange,whose excellent debut LP“Live Forever” (Memory Mu-sic) arrived in October, didn’tget the opportunity to provehimself in front of an audi-ence. Still, it’s a fantastic al-bum, a genre-fluid record that

moves from synth pop to rockwith touches of hip-hop. Itwasn’t just newcomers whosework failed to reach its de-served audience. The songsfrom Tame Impala’s “The SlowRush” (Interscope/Modular),which came out in February,would have acquired an evendeeper meaning as part of animmersive concert spectacle.

The band, led by AustralianKevin Parker, combines psy-chedelic rock with elements ofpop and dance music, whichsounds absolutely brilliant ina festival setting. It’s his lush-est and warmest-sounding al-bum, and it never quite gotthe airing it deserved.Early in the pandemic, new

music arrived from two vet-eran songwriters whom wehadn’t heard from in a while,and the strength of thesestatements felt like wisdom

‘Even in this altered reality,albums from artists big and small

kept coming all year.’

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

FEBRUARY 28

The hugelypopular

K-Pop groupBTS cancelsits April tour

dates inSouth Korea

becauseof the

coronavirus

Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips recording a music video in October,

above; Nigerian vocalist Burna Boy, below, released ‘Twice as Tall’ in

August, furthering the mainstream breakthrough of Afrobeats

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pictures; that quaint notion wasalready endangered by other stu-dios shrinking the length of timenew movies play in theaters be-fore being released to home video.Will the new Warner Bros.

strategy apply only to next year’sfilms, or will it become the per-manent normal? Will competitorsfollow suit? Whatever happens,the handwriting is on the bigscreen. Theater chains are alreadystaggering under unprecedenteddebt loads, and their long-termsurvival depends in large part onshopping malls whose own pros-pects are iffy. And many indepen-dent theaters may not attempt toreopen, indie films having begunan inexorable transformation intoonline-only events.As if corporate maneuverings

weren’t sufficient reason to worryabout the medium’s future, thepandemic has accelerated our na-tional embrace of streamingchannels at home. And no won-der, given vast program choices,

fees that are reasonable com-pared with multiplex ticket andconcession prices, and hurtlingadvances in home-theater tech-nology. Watching films on thespacious flat screen in my livingroom—I’ve just upgraded to 65from 55 inches—can be a verypleasant experience. It is almost,dare I say it, like going to themovies. There, I’ve said it, so letme remind you of a few films I’veenjoyed thus far in this strangestof years—not the usual Ten Best,since the holiday release seasonhasn’t run its full course, butenough good ones to help keepmovie love alive.“First Cow” was the first vic-

tim of Covid-19 closings. KellyReichardt’s poetic vision of fron-tier life and entrepreneurshipcirca 1820 opened in four theaters,to ecstatic reviews, on March 6.Nine days later it was pulled fromwhat would have been expandingnational theatrical release as thepandemic exploded and movie

BY JOE MORGENSTERN

I REMEMBER THE DAYS. Of driving off toscreening rooms and watching movies on bigscreens. Of going to multiplexes around townfor previews of action adventures on enor-mous screens. Plenty of new movies have beenreleased for streaming since the Covid-19pandemic shut down theaters in March. Obvi-ously, though, it hasn’t been the same. There’sa gnawing sense of loss for movie lovers. Ofthe spectacle that was usually pleasurable,even if the substance wasn’t so great. Of thenourishing ritual—not the popcorn or MilkDuds, though they were swell too, but the so-cial ritual of sitting in the dark and sharingmovies with people you did and didn’t know.(This is not the time to dwell on negativeslike sticky floors and spectators chattering on

their cellphones.)There is also, speaking personally, a sense of fear—

that the theatrical experience I’ve thrilled to sincechildhood may not be long for this world, even afterthe virus is gone. The outlook grew much darker whenWarner Bros. announced that it would release its en-tire 2021 slate of theatrical films simultaneously intheaters and on its HBO Max streaming service. Somuch for movie theaters as a sacred domain of motion

theaters shut down. Partial justicewas done in July, when the filmwent on streaming platforms forrental or purchase.“The Old Guard” stars Charlize

Theron as an immortal warrior,Andromache of Scythia—theguard in question is her extra-special forces team, similarly im-mortal colleagues who havefought for righteous causes acrossthe ages. It’s a terrific film thatforced me to think, as I’ll explainin a bit, about what’s differentand the same when you’re watch-ing a summer blockbuster on thehome screen because it hasn’tbeen able to play in theaters.Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” pro-

vided two perfectly matched mo-ments—the one when African-American pain and anger,intensified by the death of GeorgeFloyd, found its expression in Mr.Lee’s eloquent polemic, framed asan action-adventure in Vietnam;and the other when that movie,which would normally have beenin theatrical distribution, vastlyincreased its potential audienceby streaming on Netflix.Small-scale productions don’t

feel small when they’re streamingevents; they fill the room as theymight not be able to in theaters.Eliza Hittman’s “Never RarelySometimes Always” succeeds inthat respect with an explosivepremise—a pregnant 17-year-oldtravels from rural Pennsylvania toNew York City in search of an

abortion. The filmmaker’s posi-tion is clearly pro-choice, but herforthright, exquisitely tender filmtranscends polemics. It’s the od-yssey of a lost child in poorlycharted territory.A smallish debut feature with a

big heart—and impeccable tech-nique that appears to have beentossed off effortlessly—“TheClimb” opened last month in anumber of theaters around thecountry, but will find its manifestdestiny in home video. The sub-ject is a friendship indistinguish-able from love between two guys,one of whom does his hilariousbest to destroy it.Other worthy films this year

include “The Winter Sky,” “An-other Round,” “Beanpole,” “EnolaHolmes,” “The Audition,” “TheAssistant,” a feminist remake of“The Invisible Man” and lots ofdocumentary features, most nota-ble among them being “BoysState,” “Rebuilding Paradise,”“Desert One,” “Dick Johnson IsDead,” “Robin’s Wish” and“Time,” a powerful, poetic ac-count of the changes that time,accompanied by unswerving de-votion, can bring.Now, back to “The Old Guard”

for a quick confession. Screeningthe film in my living room, ratherthan on a vastly-larger-than-lifetheatrical screen, I took muchlonger than I should have to real-ize how good it was. I resistedseeing it as the blockbuster itmight have been, were it not forthe pandemic, because it wasplaying on a TV and I’m a mem-ber of a different old guard with acurrently acute case of nostalgiafor the paradise of movie theatersat least temporarily lost.Reviewing from home can be

daunting. Wi-Fi speeds vary, giv-ing images the jitters. I live withridiculous tangles of cables, re-dundant collections of HDMI con-nectors. Many films come to menot on DVDs but via internet linksof unpredictable quality; oftenthey’re defaced, for anti-piracypurposes, with my name andemail address displayed distract-ingly across the center of thescreen. And it’s self-evidently truethat movies seen at home can’thave the visual impact of moviesprojected correctly in a big the-ater. These days, though, we’relearning to adjust—to new possi-bilities as well as limitations—andI am too. I used to be a moviecritic and will be one again, butnow I’m a critic of streaming con-tent. The stream teems with life.

‘Now I’m acritic ofstreamingcontent. Thestream teemswith life.’

�Marwan

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CRITICS ON FILM

When the Multiplex MovedInto the Living Room

AS THE CORONAVIRUS SHUTTERED CINEMAS, FIRST-RUN FILMS MOVED ONLINE, AND WHILE HOME-

VIEWING MIGHT NOT EQUAL A PACKED THEATER, THERE WERE STILL PLENTY OF STANDOUT MOVIES TO SEE

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | R17

laic, criticism seems a waste oftime.It strikes me as significant

that among the network showsI did review this year, severalseem to have been programmedout of necessity. The aforemen-tioned “Transplant,” for in-stance. Or “Notre-Dame: OurLady of Paris,” a French docu-mentary about the catastrophic2019 cathedral fire, a showdubbed into English and shownduring prime time on ABC. Onedoesn’t want to discourage thiskind of programming, but themotivation seemed less aboutenlightenment than despera-tion. And with television pro-duction curtailed by Covid-19and likely to be further con-strained this winter, the impacton television content has onlyjust begun. This year, there wasenough of a backlog to main-tain a steady stream of freshprograms and a captive audi-ence to exploit. What a pro-longed winter lockdown por-tends is anyone’s guess. A hintis how much imported contenthas been making its way onto,again, Netflix, which has of-fered a relative wealth of Bolly-wood and German programs(because they have large In-dian and German marketshares) but which this yearalso offered African and Asianseries to an extent previouslyunseen, among them “Blood &Water” and “Queen Sono.”The attempts to use the pan-

demic, or address it directly,have been mixed. I certainlyliked the Jamie Oliver show“Keep Cooking and Carry On,”which was inspired by Covid-19and instructed people at homehow to do more with less (es-pecially useful when shopswere short on certain ingredi-ents). Elsewhere, shows thattried to use the lockdown as aconceit—“Coastal Elites,” forinstance, which was a series ofcharacter sketches delivered di-rectly into the camera, and“Connecting…,” which wasabout friends staying friendsthrough their computers—pro-duced mixed emotions: Did Iwant to watch a show that re-minded me of my daily routine?No. Like anyone else, I wantedmore than a busman’s holidaywhen I turned on my TV.

BY JOHN ANDERSONand inadvertently raised allkinds of issues in the mind ofthe viewer—among them,“Where’s your mask?” Buteven during the buoyant com-edy series “Never Have IEver,” I was thinking: Ohyeah, remember when teenag-ers crowded into high-schoolcorridors and worried aboutcrushes, first kisses, whatclothes they wore and whowas cool? And, BTW, whenthey actually went to school?Divorcing oneself from cur-

rent events wasn’t really pos-sible. There just seemed to bemore current events this year.And more television. Lotsmore. Even with a lockdownto help you out, there was noway to watch it all, or even toget one’s head around whatwas happening here and thereamong the multifarious plat-forms and services, fromvideo-on-demand to the oh-

so-quaint world of networktelevision. Or with an outfitlike Netflix, just for instance,delivering half-a-dozen newshows a week.Presumably—and it seems a

safe presumption—peoplewere watching more televi-sion: Self-preservation re-quired more time at home,and there often wasn’t muchof an entertainment choice,given that museums, concerthalls, movie theaters andclubs were shuttered. Thecritic’s curatorial responsibil-ity, in turn, seemed to grow,and grow a bit confusing: Ifreaders were watching more,what were they watching

The first show Ireviewed in 2020was the Netflixminiseries “Drac-ula,” which nowseems like a fore-shadowing tooobvious even fora 19th-centurypotboiler. As inany adaptation ofthe 1897 BramStoker novel,vampirism was akind of contagion;intimacy could belethal; evil was

poised to go viral; death lay inthe story’s DNA. It’s probablyfortunate, for both the seriesand the critic, that this “Drac-ula” preceded the explosions ofthe pandemic, becauseCovid-19 would have been per-ceived as lurking around everyTransylvanian corner.

Almost everything on thesmall screen this year wasmade well before the diseasewas public and raging, and yetcoronavirus intruded on theconsciousness nonetheless.How could it not? One of thebest shows of the year, theeight-part documentary epic“Lenox Hill,” portrayed themedical maelstrom inside theNew York hospital of the title—before the virus hit. All onecould think was “What kind ofhell is it now?” (Wisely, aninth episode, called “Pan-demic,” was added by Netflix alittle later.) “Transplant,” theNBC series imported from Can-ada, was also hospital-themed

What did peoplewatch—andwhy? To escape Covid stress? To

catch up onmust-see series?

more of? And why? Was itpurely to escape? Were theycatching up on series they’dmissed? Were they just happyto binge their way through ahealth-crisis tunnel with nodiscernible light at the end?In the limited number of

social situations I found my-self in this year, talk invari-ably gravitated to television,and not just because I monop-olized the conversation. Peo-

ple were enthusiastic aboutthings they’d been able to dis-cover, or rediscover, duringtheir time at home. Knowingthis, my critical calculationwas to try to steer readers inthe direction of shows thatthey’d be kicking themselveslater for having missed thefirst time around. Shows like“The Queen’s Gambit,” whichis my personal favorite dramaof the year, or other first-ratefictional series that madetheir debuts throughout2020—“I May Destroy You,”“The Great,” “I Know ThisMuch Is True,” “Normal Peo-ple” and the gripping “Bagh-dad Central.” One of the up-

sides of our time is that mosteverything can be viewed atone’s leisure, through an arrayof providers.The downside is those mul-

tiple platforms, which costmultiple dollars. How manyTV services can a viewer af-ford? This year saw the accel-erated promotion or launch ofCBS All Access, NBC’s Pea-cock, HBO Max, AMC+ andDisney+, which offered theyear’s pre-eminent TV“event,” this summer’s airingof “Hamilton.” (That theshorts platform Quibi neverpenetrated my critical con-sciousness may help explainwhy it went belly up after sixmonths.) More than onereader has queried whether, ineffect, one’s cable bill shouldbe the equal of one’s cost of

food and shelter. It’s a legiti-mate complaint and one I’vetried to address, in a round-about way: If I had to make achoice between two shows toreview, I gravitated towardPBS, because more peoplehave access to it. (There havebeen several good mystery se-ries on public television thisyear, some terrific nature pro-grams like “The Age of Na-ture,” and the classical-musicseries “Now Hear This” is agift.) Likewise, I’ve tried toshow some love to other net-works’ programming, but it’stougher, because there’s oftenso little to say about it. Whencontent is intentionally formu-

CRITICS ON TELEVISION

AMediumMadeFor Quarantine

SHUT IN AT HOME, MANY OF US HADMORE TIME THAN EVER TOWATCH GREAT TV—AND THEREWASMORE THAN ENOUGH OF IT

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

� Anya Taylor-Joy in ‘The Queen’s Gambit’; Michaela Coel in ‘I MayDestroy You’ � Both shows were among the year’s best

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R18 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

W HO COULDknow inOctober1929 thatthe archi-

tecture of JazzAge Americawas dead, alongwith the worldthat created it?After the shockof the GreatCrash, sensa-tions like theChrysler Build-ing looked frivo-

lous and bombastic. In a fewyears it was clear that peopleno longer demanded architec-tural sensations but seriousbuildings that addressed seri-ous problems, particularlyhousing.Likewise today; no one can

yet predict what the coronavi-rus pandemic, the ensuinglockdown, the continuinghealth and safety protocols, aswell as the general and linger-ing feeling of anxiety will meanfor our buildings and infra-structure. But it is clear thatthese things have alreadybrought about a radical reset.It is no longer enough for ar-chitects and those of us in themedia who cover them to thinkof “architecture” primarily interms of the latest eye-catchingsensation. Suddenly larger is-sues are in play, such as the fu-ture of the workplace, dealingwith the “mass” in mass tran-sit, and even the fate of thecity itself.As a result, the buildings

completed this year, all de-signed before the pandemic, al-ready seem the products of adifferent, more innocent world.Of several distinguished build-ings of the arts, the most ambi-tious is the Kinder Building forthe Museum of Fine Arts,Houston, which was designedby Stephen Holl Architects andopened Nov. 21. Its geometry isintriguing: Deep notches arecut all along its perimeter,opening it up to the street andprefacing each of its five publicentrances with its own elegant

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

BY MICHAEL J. LEWIS

CRITICS ON ARCHITECTURE

Finding Pride of PlaceIn a Pandemic

MUSEUMS AND MEMORIALS WOWED THIS YEAR, BUT, IN A SOCIALLY DISTANCED WORLD,

DESIGNERS ARE RETHINKING THEIR APPROACH TO BUILT SPACES

forecourt. Above the roof line,the geometry abruptly turnscurvilinear in a way meant toevoke the spacious Texas sky(“concave curves, imaginedfrom cloud circles,” as Mr. Hollputs it). Like his groundbreak-ing Nelson-Atkins Museum inKansas City, Mo., it also en-closes its physical structurewith a luminous skin, and atnight it glows from within likea box of trapped sunlight.Mr. Holl’s translucent walls

are a particularly handsomeexample of that contemporaryarchitectural feature known as

the rain screen. This is the ar-ray of panels mounted a fewinches in front of a building’shigh-tech skin, which acts asan umbrella held sideways, let-ting any water that tricklesthrough fall safely away in thecavity behind. If Mr. Holl’sbuilding presents a pleatedscrim of glass columns, a dif-ferent approach is offered bythe new Oklahoma Contempo-rary Arts Center, in OklahomaCity, by Rand Elliott Archi-tects. Its rain screen is com-posed of vertical aluminumfins, set at irregular angles sotheir light changes and fluctu-ates as the sun moves, muchas a beaded curtain rustles inthe wind. The Arts Center hadthe misfortune to open thispast March and then promptlyshut its doors, just as the greatnational lockdown began.Subsequent events have

given new significance to fa-

‘The buildingscompleted thisyear, alldesigned beforethe pandemic,already seem theproducts of adifferent, moreinnocent world.’

miliar things. Just as “Ham-let” seems different afterFreud, so buildings seem dif-ferent after Covid-19. Selgas-Cano’s Second Home Holly-wood in Los Angeles wasnoted in this space last yearas a new kind of flexible officefor “nomadic” freelancers andflex-time workers. Then itsglass-walled pods and lushtropical plantings seemedmerely clever; now they seemvisionary. Fresh air is broughtinto its pods directly, freeingthem from the recirculated airof an HVAC system. A dozen

firms have already moved in.While most architectural

clients seem to have decidedto wait the pandemic out, andmake jury-rigged accommoda-tions as needed, one companyat least has already met thechallenge head on, designing aCovid-safe building. This Sep-tember, Rapha Abreu, head ofthe in-house design team ofRestaurant Brands Interna-tional (RBI), unveiled a seriesof designs for Burger King res-taurants offering customers ofthe fast-food chain what theycall “a 100% touchless experi-ence.” Orders can be picked upfrom food lockers and eaten

outside beneath a canopiedpatio or in an airy upstairsrestaurant, which projects outover the drive-thru lanes. Asclever as the technical innova-tions are, the most satisfyingaspect of the designs is theimage they present. It is notanxiety that they convey but abreezy cheerfulness, strangelyreminiscent of the gateways ofold drive-in movie theaters.“We will start constructionsoon on those designs,” Mr.Abreu says, “for openings in2021.”After a year of political un-

rest and urban strife, the sol-emn “Memorial to EnslavedLaborers” in Charlottesville,Va., also takes on new signifi-cance. Built to commemoratethe slave labor force thatbuilt the University of Vir-ginia, it takes the form of acircular outdoor temple, opento the sky. Like the Vietnam

Veterans Memorial that in-spired it, it presents a wallinscribed with names, butthey are fragmentary and in-complete. And while the Viet-nam memorial is in effect atombstone, speaking primar-ily of loss, the Charlottesvillememorial aspires to some-thing else, to grant retroac-tively to its Black laborerswhat they never had in life:dignity. It, too, is even moreprofound in retrospect, show-ing that art can addressAmerica’s fraught racial his-tory in a way that encourageshealing, even reconciliation.Societies can bounce back

from pandemics, as they dofrom any natural disaster. Butthis is the first quarantine inhistory that can be extended in-definitely, and temporary mea-sures have a way of becomingpermanent. The most immedi-ate architectural consequencesof this year have occurred pri-vately, in untold millions ofhouseholds. Americans whohave been living with homecomputers for decades now dis-cover that the room in which itsits is grotesquely unsuited forall the tasks it is now calledupon to perform: home office,classroom, and makeshift televi-sion studio. Architects are nowinvariably asked to provide foran all-purpose computer room(and an exercise room as well,another unfortunate conse-quence of this sedentary year).Gensler, the international de-sign company with a strong re-search component, has already

been studying therequirements for adedicated home of-fice, including fea-tures we neverdreamed we needed(e.g., “a retractablegreen screen back-ground for videocon-ferencing”).Do we now face a

permanent shift to awork-from-homeculture? The housecan adapt, but canthe city? Since itemerged 10,000years ago, the cityhas always de-pended on density,and the productiveexchange of goodsand ideas betweencitizens in closeproximity. At thedawn of the digitalage, physical prox-

imity no longer seemed neces-sary, or even desirable. But atthe end of a year languishing inour private bubbles, it is strik-ing how crowded our parks andpublic squares have become.Architects may toil and strug-gle to design for a socially dis-tant future, but they will soonrealize they need to accommo-date our psychological as wellas our physiological needs. Themore we build for isolation, thedeeper and more urgent theyearning not to be alone.

Mr. Lewis teaches architecturalhistory at Williams and reviewsarchitecture for the Journal.

Visitors look over inscriptions on the walls of the Memorial to

Enslaved Laborers in Charlottesville, Va., above; the Latin

American department galleries in the Nancy and Rich Kinder

Building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, below

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THEWALL STREET JOURNAL. Thursday, December 17, 2020 | R19

seeking possibilities andsometimes making rewardingdiscoveries. Inaccessible ex-hibitions were soon viewablevirtually, some more effec-tively than others. It took awhile to get used to navigat-ing simulated walks throughgalleries, which I usuallyfound disorienting. I strug-gled with the tour of “Trueto Nature: Open-Air Paintingin Europe, 1780-1870,” a mar-velous assembly of intimatestudies of landscape, sea andsky at the National Gallery,Washington, a show I’d seenjust before lockdown, but Iwas delighted by the Metro-politan Museum of Art site’shandling of the illuminatingsurvey of African culture “Sa-hel: Art and Empire on theShores of the Sahara,” an-other show I’d seen. The Metallowed us to study works in-dividually, as well as in in-stallation views with no diz-zying swoops, supported byinformative texts.Over time, I discovered

many useful sites, while vir-tual offerings became betterand more imaginative. TheMorgan Library & Museumhas long had a wealth of ex-cellent materials online—links that permit closerstudy of medieval manuscriptilluminations and Indian min-iatures than would be possi-ble in actuality or that simu-late turning the pages ofsketchbooks—but theseseemed to proliferate. Whyhad I never pored over thosevirtual Cézanne or Ruskinsketchbooks before? TheFrick Collection added engag-ing programs—most notablythe immensely popular“Cocktails With a Curator”—to a virtual tour of the mu-seum, plus links to videos oflectures and panels, reachingan enormous audience.“Cocktails” continues. EveryFriday afternoon, chief cura-tor Xavier Salomon or hiscolleague Aimee Ng discussessomething from the collec-tion—Rembrandt’s “The Pol-

strictions, virtual visits have re-connected me with artists inEurope, Canada and throughoutthe U.S., and shown me more oftheir work, albeit not in theflesh, than I’d seen in years.Most artists who teach tell

me they are working remotely,with some trepidation, butmany report that they are be-ginning to enjoy it, findingways of using technology tobenefit their students. TheNew York Studio School,where I teach art history (re-motely) in the MFA program,now has full-time remote stu-dents from all over the worldand well-known alumni, basedas far away as California andAustralia, leading remote ate-liers. In response to dimin-ished attendance, museumsand galleries are routinelyposting informative walk-throughs with curators andartists, even as exhibitions re-open, to atone for restrictedhours, the inconvenience ofbooking appointments, andother impediments. Organiza-tions such as Save Venice andthe World Monuments Fundpresent copiously illustratedlectures and webinars on cur-rent projects. And more.Obviously, seeing work on-

line, with surface inflectionshomogenized and color exag-gerated, deprived of scale andcontext, can never substitutefor the real thing. Sculpturesuffers especially, even whenphotographed from multipleviewpoints. When I was ableto visit, masked and sociallydistanced, the long postponed“Degas at the Opéra,” after theNational Gallery partially re-opened this summer, I nearlywept with excitement at see-ing the evidence of the artist’shand in a canvas before me.I’m thrilled to be going to mu-seums again, especially sincethe present modest number offellow visitors are mostly look-ing at art, not taking selfies.But I suspect that I’m betterinformed about some thingsthan I was in March, thanks tomy forced immersion in thevirtual world.

Ms. Wilkin is an independentcurator and critic.

THE LAST “nor-mal” art-worldevent I at-tended, onMarch 12, wasthe opening ofKyle Staver’s ex-hibition atZurcher Gallery,in downtownNew York. Theusual crowdgathered to sa-vor Ms. Staver’sidiosyncratic up-dates on history

painting—a waterborneOphelia; Susanna in a ham-mock, flanked by tigers; theenigmatic Venus and the Oc-topus—and admire her exu-berant conceptions, sinuousfigures, and brooding color.The only sign of anything outof the ordinary was the ab-sence of embraces. Just as atthe art fairs the previousweek, elbow bumps replacedair kisses. The next day, ev-erything began to change. Iso-lation was recommended. Gal-leries and museums closed.Studio visits ended. Scheduledexhibitions were indefinitelypostponed. Since it seemed ir-responsible to write about artseen only virtually, my worldaltered abruptly.

Museums,galleries andartists adaptedquickly to thenew situation,expanding andintensifyingtheir existingonline activities,rapidly improv-ing what was al-ready there andhow it could beused. For thoseof us who regu-larly attendshows and forthose of us whoteach, thismeant increasedtime spent atour computers,

‘Whateverone’s

reservationsabout cyber-technology,

even Ludditesmust

acknowledgethat there areinteresting

advantages tothe currentdigital art

world.’

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

CRITICS ON ART

A Trip to the MuseumOn Your Laptop

WITH GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS CLOSED, ONLINE OFFERINGS BLOSSOMED—GIVING VIEWERS THE

CHANCE TO EXPERIENCE OUTSTANDING EXHIBITIONS AND MASTERPIECES IN A NEW, DIGITAL WAY

A visitor wearing her face

mask looks at the Degas

sculpture ‘Little Dancer Aged

Fourteen,’ above; other

masked visitors to the Degas

exhibition at the National

Gallery of Art in July, below

ish Rider,” the Fragonardroom, Constable’s “The WhiteHorse”—accompanied by arecipe for an appropriatebeverage (plus a nonalcoholicversion for the underage andteetotalers). “Travels With aCurator,” with the sameguides, explores places withconnections to the collection.Many artists had main-

tained websites and regularlyposted images and commentson Instagram since its incep-tion; now with studio visitson hold and planned exhibi-tions canceled or indefinitely

postponed thanks toCovid-19, an online presencebecame essential. I’ve re-sisted social media as time-consuming and invasive, butI was forced to join Insta-gram in order to keep upwith artists who interest me.Instagram “exhibitions” nowsubstitute for canceledshows, for example, or pres-ent videos and performances.The painter and sculptorJohn Bjerklie, aka BigHat, hasmade long-distance transmis-sion of images integral to hiswork. (Mr. Bjerklie, early on,was a plein-air landscape

painter who needed to shadehis eyes outdoors, hence“BigHat.”) BigHat schedulessimultaneous, live portrait-painting sessions with artistfriends and colleagues inter-nationally, via FaceTime orSkype. The astonishingly var-ied results are documented,with a nod to the role oftechnology—images onscreens are often depicted inthe backgrounds—and “ex-hibited” on BigHat’s Insta-gram page.Whatever one’s reservations

about cyber-technology, even

Luddites must acknowledgethat there are interesting ad-vantages to the current digitalart world. Virtual studio visitsallow me (and often my stu-dents) to have conversationswith artists located in distantplaces, absent concerns abouthow to get there. Productionvalues have improved a greatdeal since the early days ofisolation, when remote visitstended to be approximate af-fairs, with shaky iPads orbadly positioned laptops serv-ing as inadequate cameras, ac-companied by fluctuatingsound. At a time of travel re-

BY KAREN WILKIN

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The Metropolitan Museum of Artreopens after a nearly six-month closure

R20 | Thursday, December 17, 2020 THEWALL STREET JOURNAL.

CRITICS ON THEATER

The Aisle Seat IsNow Your Sofa

BROADWAY WENT DARK AND THEATERS SHUTTERED DUE TO COVID-19; THEN CREATIVE

COMPANIES NATIONWIDE STARTED PUTTING STUNNING SHOWS ONLINE

Journal, “a close-to-ideal pieceof work, vibrantly staged…andacted with colossal gusto.”The catch was that you

couldn’t confirm the accuracyof my review unless you lived inor took a vacation fairly close toWest Palm Beach, where thecompany is headquartered. Inthose days, theatrical webcastswere all but unheard of—Ac-tors’ Equity, the union that rep-resents professional actors inthe U.S., has long frowned onthem, though it’s loosened the

reins slightly in recentmonths—and I have a sneakingsuspicion that it wasn’t until Itook one of my editors at theJournal to see a spectacularlyfine production of “Macbeth” inRed Bank, N.J., that he finallydecided I wasn’t exaggeratingwhen I wrote in 2006 that “thetime has come for Americanplaygoers—and, no less impor-tant, arts editors—to starttreating regional theater not asa minor-league branch ofBroadway but as an artistically

significant entity in and of it-self.” Now, thanks to webcast-ing, anyone with a laptop canwatch the shows I review eachweek and see for themselves.Many of the webcasts I’ve

reviewed in the past ninemonths were mounted by the-aters whose work I knew welland had reviewed in personmore than once. After 16 yearson the road, covering as manyas 50 out-of-town productionsa season, I’ve got a prettygood idea of where the actionis. For me, the big surprise hasbeen that I’ve also discoveredfirst-rate companies of whoseexistence I was hitherto un-aware. I found out purely bychance, for instance, about aDallas company called Under-main Theatre that was web-casting Conor McPherson’s “St.Nicholas,” and decided to givethem a chance. I was knockedflat, praising the production as“thrilling,” and I plan to go see

the company in person as soonas Covid-19 permits. (I’ve sincepinned a tweet atop@TerryTeachout1, my Twitterfeed, letting out-of-town publi-cists know how to get in touchwith me about their shows.)I believe that webcasting is

destined to become a perma-nent part of the ecology of re-gional theater. Why? Because itwill be a long time before play-goers, especially older ones, feelsafe going to the theater again.If that’s right, then it’s nothing

short of irresponsible for regionaltheaters of all sizes not to puttheir work on the web. Two lead-ing off-Broadway companies, theIrish Repertory Theatre and theMint Theater, are doing so aswell, and the artistic and techni-cal quality of their webcasts isnonpareil. The Irish Rep’s web-cast of “A Touch of the Poet”used sophisticated green-screenvideo imaging to create the un-canny, completely convincing illu-sion that the 10 members of thecast, who taped their perfor-mances in their individual homes,were sharing a stage set.What productions have im-

pressed me most? I haven’tseen a bad show, or even a me-diocre one, but in addition to“A Touch of the Poet” and “St.Nicholas,” I’d be remiss not tosingle out Syracuse Stage’s“Amadeus,” American PlayersTheatre’s “Arms and the Man,”the Mint’s “Conflict,” ParkSquare Theatre’s “The Diary of

Anne Frank,” WilmaTheater’s “Heroes ofthe Fourth Turning,”American Shake-speare Center’s“Othello,” TimeLineTheater’s “To Masterthe Art,” AmericanConservatory The-ater’s “Toni Stone,”and the Alley The-atre’s stage versionof “1984.” Taken to-gether, these shows,which originated intheaters all overAmerica, prove thattheater at home,even when viewedwith earphones on alaptop, can be almostas exciting as thekind you go out tosee. Yes, it’s a stop-

gap, and certain kinds of playswork less well than others—Ihave yet to see, for instance, acomedy taped in an empty the-ater that was truly satisfying—but you don’t have to wait untila Covid-19 vaccine is widelyavailable to rediscover the in-comparable pleasure of watch-ing a really good show.

Mr. Teachout, the Journal’sdrama critic, is the author of“Satchmo at the Waldorf.” Writeto him at tteachout@wsj.com.

BY TERRY TEACHOUTmore such webcasts wouldsoon fill the electronic pipeline.Sure enough, regional compa-nies of all kinds started puttingtheir shows online. At first Irarely had more than one or, atmost, two webcasts to choosefrom in any given week, but byOctober the pipeline had be-come so full that I could be se-lective about what I reviewed.Part of what makes this de-

velopment so consequential isthat while I’ve been reviewingregional theater throughoutthe U.S. since 2004, most ofmy readers previously had totake my word for it when I as-sured them that the best re-gional productions are as goodas anything you can see inNew York, not just in majorcities like Chicago and Wash-ington, but in the least likelyplaces. I’ll never forget howstaggered I was when I flewdown to Florida in 2009 to see

Palm Beach Dramaworks’ pro-duction of Eugène Ionesco’s“The Chairs,” an avant-gardeparable of the absurdity of hu-man life that hasn’t been re-vived in Manhattan since 1998.Palm Beach is, of course, a re-sort town dedicated to thepursuit of expensive pleasure,and I was understandablyskeptical when I arrived at thetheater, a converted storefrontwith some 80-odd seats. To myamazement, what I saw therewas, as I later wrote in the

The last time I wentto a theater was inearly March, when Ireviewed the off-Broadway premiere

of Katori Hall’s“The Hot WingKing.” Like ev-erybody else inthe civilizedworld, I waswell aware ofthe Covid-19pandemic, but ithad never oc-curred to me

that a week later all the the-aters in New York would belocked up tight and I would beconfined to my Manhattanapartment until further notice.No sooner was the lockdownorder issued, though, than I re-alized that I’d need either todiscontinue my weekly dramacolumn or approach it in a radi-

cally different way.Within a week, the solution

had become clear to me. SanFrancisco’s American Conserva-tory Theater and SyracuseStage, located in upstate NewYork, announced that theywould be streaming broadcast-quality videos of stage produc-tions that were already in pre-views at the time of thelockdown. Several other re-gional theater companies fol-lowed suit, and I thought—per-haps I should say hoped—that

‘These shows, which originated intheaters all over America, prove that

theater at home, even when viewed withearphones on a laptop, can be almost asexciting as the kind you go out to see.’

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A man walks past a closed Broadway theater near Times Square in

October, above; Mickey Rowe and Lisa Helmi Johanson in the

Syracuse Stage production of ‘Amadeus,’ below

JOURNAL REPORT | YEAR IN REVIEW

MARCH 12

Broadway theaters go darkby order of New York

Governor Andrew Cuomo