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Here’s what you need to know
Brits get barred from more countries. Following concerns over a more infectious strain of Covid-19, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, and Spain look ready to join Belgium and the Netherlands in banning passenger air travel from the UK. Some British airlines will not offer refunds to passengers who cancel year-end trips.
US prosecutors went after a former Zoom executive based in China. Xinjiang Jin reportedly fabricated reasons to suspend at least four meetings commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre, highlighting the challenges for companies that operate both in the US and China.
Moderna began distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine in the US. More than 3,700 sites are expected to receive and administer shots as soon as Monday, widening the US immunization rollout that started last week with the vaccine from Pfizer.
Apple temporarily shut down stores in California and London. The closures, sparked by surges in Covid-19 cases, come in the middle of the holiday shopping season.
Goldman Sachs, Netflix ramp up Covid-19 testing for workers. Aiming to get workers back into the office, employers from Hollywood to Wall Street are embracing regular, sometimes daily rapid testing.
Elon Musk muses about moving big transactions to bitcoin. A bitcoin booster’s plea on Twitter to convert Tesla’s balance sheet into the digital currency seemed to at least pique Musk’s curiosity, as bitcoin surges to record highs.
Iraq devalues its currency. Battling a financial crisis triggered by the global collapse in oil prices, the country devalued its currency by more than a fifth.
Pandemic relief for Americans is still in the works. Congress was racing to finalize legislation authorizing another round of stimulus checks and emergency unemployment benefits. A range of earlier measures expire this month.
What to watch for
Tesla today joins the S&P 500 Index, where the electric-car maker, with a market value of $660 billion, will constitute about 1% of the $30 trillion index. That’s slightly less than the 1.3% weight that Berkshire Hathaway had when it was added in 2010.
The S&P is one of the most important indices in the world—more than $11 trillion worth of assets are benchmarked to it—and many money managers are judged by how well they perform against it. “Active portfolio managers that are benchmarked to that index are going to have to look at Tesla and care about Tesla,” says Phil Mackintosh, chief economist at stock exchange operator Nasdaq. “The S&P returns we see on television are going to reflect, partly, Tesla performance every day.”
Does this mean Tesla stock, which has rallied a mind-boggling 700% this year, will climb even higher? S&P 500 additions happen fairly often, and tend to climb about 5% after the news gets released. Tesla’s increase since its planned addition to the index was announced Nov. 30 has been much bigger—about 13%.
Charting the most read Wikipedia pages on each day of 2020
Reflecting on Wikipedia’s most-read pages is like holding up an encyclopedic mirror to society. We’ve pulled together the most-read English-language Wikipedia page for every day of 2020 excluding the Main Page and the Search page. While they tend to underscore the important events (the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, for example), concerns (coronavirus), and people (Joe Biden, Kamala Harris) of the year, there are a few unexpected twists, like Johnny Bravo goes to Bollywood.
Visit our interactive calendar to pick your date and get taken to the top-read Wikipedia page on that day in 2020.
High drama
Theaters have survived the threat of disruption many times before: They fended off the advent of television, outlasted Betamax, the VCR, and DVDs, and competed with improvements in home theater systems. They even survived the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. But consumption habits have shifted, irreversibly it seems, to hand-held devices and at-home experiences. And the coronavirus has devastated an industry that was already struggling (at least in the US, though certainly not in China). Hollywood is adjusting its priorities now. Can the movie theater survive the double punch of streaming and the coronavirus pandemic?
Adam Epstein examines the industry’s best options for avoiding extinction, as part of our new field guide on the fate of movie theaters.
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Surprising discoveries
Saturn and Jupiter meet up on Monday. The last time both planets orbited as closely and were visible in the sky was in 1226.
Pro athletes look for work on LinkedIn. Players are turning to the networking site to find other opportunities, such as endorsement deals or investing, to complement their day jobs.
Early humans may have survived harsh winters by hibernating. According to fossil experts, disruptions in bone development show that Neanderthals may have slept through winters like cave bears and bats.
Sesame Street creates Rohingya muppets. The globally popular children’s show has created two new characters to help provide early childhood education to Rohingya children living in the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh.
Lockdowns have brought velour and Uggs back into vogue. Juicy Couture tracksuits and Ugg boots aren’t just comfortable—they’re fashionable again.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, S&P 500 additions, and human hibernation tips to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Michelle Cheng, John Detrixhe, and Heather Landy.