In China, you can be put in prison if you’re heard criticizing President Xi Jinping, but after suffering...
In China, you can be put in prison if you’re heard criticizing President Xi Jinping, but after suffering through nearly three years of “zero Covid” policies that have upended people’s lives and confined them to their houses for months, some are starting to risk it. During a series of protests in Shanghai, Beijing, and other cities against Covid restrictions this weekend, Chinese demonstrators were reportedly chanting “Xi Jinping, step down” and “Communist party, step down.”
China analysts say this kind of public defiance is unprecedented for Xi Jinping’s presidencyand could spiral into the worst political crisis for Beijing since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Looking ahead…all eyes are on the Chinese government’s next moves to quell the dissent that appears to only be intensifying. Oh, and this seems important: Covid cases in China hit a record for a fourth straight day on Saturday.
Jobs report incoming:The November jobs report will drop on Friday, and it’s expected to show the second straight monthly deceleration in US employment growth. Still, the economy is projected to have added 200,000 jobs last month, which would indicate a still-healthy labor market and keep the Fed on its rate-hiking path.
Sam Bankman-Fried is going to make his lawyers wince during his much-hyped interview at the NYT DealBook Conference on Wednesday. (I’m going to be there! Will report back.)
Congress returns from the Thanksgiving holiday today. The period after an election and before a new Congress gets sworn in is known as a “lame duck” session.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will be lit on Wednesday.It has 50,000 lights and is crowned with a star decked out with 3 million Swarovski crystals
US Soccer showed solidarity with Iranian protesters. Ahead of the team’s Tuesday...
US Soccer showed solidarity with Iranian protesters. Ahead of the team’s Tuesday match against Iran, the US Soccer Federation briefly displayed the Iranian flag on social media without the emblem of the Islamic Republic. It was intentional: The post aimed to show the organization’s “support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights,” per US Soccer Media Officer Michael Kammarman. An angry Iranian soccer federation urged FIFA to expel the US from the World Cup since it had “disrespected” the country’s flag.
U.S. stock futures fall as Chinese protests rattle markets, oil hits 2022 low
U.S. stock-index futures sank Sunday night, as Asian markets...
U.S. stock-index futures sank Sunday night, as Asian markets fell following widespread public demonstrations in China and as oil prices hit a 2022 low.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YM00, -0.47% fell more than 150 points, or 0.5%, as of 10 p.m. Eastern, while S&P 500 futures ES00, -0.64% and Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, -0.81% dropped even more sharply.
Oil prices fell sharply Sunday as well,as investors worried about slipping demand in China. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CL.1, -2.88% were last down more than 2%, at $74.27 a barrel, its lowest price year to date. Prices for Brent crude BRNF23, -2.79%, the international standard, sank as well.
U.S. gives green light🚦 to Chevron to pump oil in Venezuela
The U.S. federal government on Saturday granted petroleum company Chevron a limited license to resume...
The U.S. federal government on Saturday granted petroleum company Chevron a limited license to resume pumping oil in Venezuela, marking the potential first step in ending a years-long embargo of Venezuelan oil production by the United States.
In a press release, the Treasury Department said it had authorized Chevron to resume "natural resource extraction operations." The oil conglomerate is the last remaining American petroleum company in Venezuela but had been barred from pumping due to U.S. sanctions against the authoritarian government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Chevron may now resume activity in its oil fields alongside a joint venture with the Venezuelan national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
