1) Experts predict the growth of jobs will slow during a Biden presidency, simply because the easy gains are almost gone. So the easy part of job recovery will be history by the time President-elect Joe Biden moves into the White House, leaving a particularly difficult environment for an administration seeking to right the economy. The job growth rate has decline every month since June, and this will be even worst with the resurgence of the coronavirus putting economic growth into reverse. One cause of this is companies who laid off workers at the start of the pandemic, have since gone out of business, leaving nothing for laid-off workers to return to. Over a million workers are still being laid off or fired each month, with about 3.7 million additional workers who have quit working or looking for work entirely since February. Furthermore, it takes longer for skilled workers to return to work simply because there are few jobs available to choose from.
2) Massachusetts was one of the hardest hit states by the virus last spring, and this summer was seen as a model for infection control, but now, the number of Covid-19 cases are climbing once again with confirmed deaths surpassing 10,000. So Massachusetts is having to return to restrictions approaching another shutdown. And Massachusetts isn’t the only state seeing a strong resurgence in the coronavirus. California becomes the second state to top one million cases, with Texas closely following, who hit the grim milestone earlier this week. Just five states account for about one third of new cases. Nationwide, the pandemic has killed more than 240,000 forcing states to impose measures as cases surge. Many officials attribute raising number of cases to complacency in travel and social settings such as bars and house parties.
3) Canada welcomes Hong Kong refugees amid China crackdown by easing immigration requirements for them. Canada plans to target young, educated Hong Kongers. Their plan includes the creation of a new three-year open work permit for recent graduates and shortening eligibility for permanent residency to one year. This comes at a low point in Canada-China relations, after the 2018 arrest of a top Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. executive. Hong Kongers already in Canada will now be eligible to apply for permanent residency sooner, provided they meet language and education requirements and have worked for a year in Canada.
4) Stock market closings for – 13 NOV 20:
Dow 29,479.81 up by 399.64
Nasdaq 11,829.29 up by 119.70
S&P 500 3,585.15 up by 48.14
10 Year Yield: up at 0.89%
Oil: down at $40.12