Good morning, Quartz readers!
The Daily Brief team is taking Friday, Dec. 25 and Monday, Dec. 28 off, but we will be sending you your Weekend Edition on schedule!
Here’s what you need to know
The UK and EU are on the verge of a Brexit trade pact. While many details have yet to be finalized, the pound soared ahead of a likely announcement today, though talks could continue after Christmas.
China opened an antitrust investigation into Alibaba. Chinese regulators have ramped up scrutiny of the powerful tech empire Jack Ma built. Last month they also canceled fintech giant Ant Group’s IPO.
Pfizer and the US finalized a vaccine deal. The agreement to double the US supply is valued at $1.95 billion.
Sinovac again delayed publishing its trial results. It is now expected to do so in January, but Brazil’s Phase 3 trials show the Chinese drugmaker’s vaccine passed the 50% threshold for efficacy.
South Africa has a new Covid-19 strain similar to the UK’s. AstraZeneca says its vaccine should work just as well on the variant, which has now, also, made its way to the UK.
The US economy is slowing down. Fewer Americans than expected applied for jobless benefits for the first time fell last week, but the number is north of 800,000. Even housing is losing more steam.
Ripple is under scrutiny. The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that the former and current CEOs have committed $1.3 billion in securities fraud.
What to watch for
The US could get a different relief package. On Tuesday night, lame-duck president Donald Trump announced his intent to oppose the just-approved $900 billion package—an exhaustively negotiated piece of legislation—unless it was rewritten to increase individual stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 per person.
His statement made its intended ripples. House speaker Nancy Pelosi wasted no time in throwing down support for Trump’s suggestion (a sentence we thought we’d never write) and challenged Republicans to do the same before Congress breaks for the Christmas holiday.
Delaying the bill further would keep millions of Americans from their stimulus checks, and would leave various services and unemployment relief in limbo. The House is expected to vote on the revised bill today.
Charting IPO’s reign
The IPO is fiendishly difficult to disrupt. Still, Unity Software’s deal in September —a hybrid of an auction and a more traditional IPO—showed us that the process of going public is still being pulled into the future.
The format allows employees to participate in the IPO and increases transparency, leveling the playing field for a wider array of potential investors. It also, theoretically, insulates from first-day IPO pops, though DoorDash and Airbnb, who both used hybrid auctions, proved that it can still happen. Is the IPO too firmly entrenched to be disrupted?
QZ&A about employer-mandated vaccines
On Dec.16, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said that employers can require employees to get vaccinated before entering the workplace. We asked legal scholar Ana Santos Rutschman, who teaches a course on vaccine law at Saint Louis University, to explain the decision and the rights employees and employers have.
Here’s a sample:
- Can US employers require employees to get a vaccine? Yes, with some exceptions.
- Even Covid-19 vaccines, since they’re so new? That’s the current interpretation, yes.
- What about religious or disability exemptions? Yes, technically, but there’s some gray area.
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Surprising discoveries
KFC has a console for chicken (and 4K video). The bucket-shaped contraption has higher resolution capability than the PlayStation 5 and Xbox One, and features a chicken chamber.
Facebook offered to be its own rival. The platform thought the idea would prove helpful amid antitrust suits.
Ferrets need vaccines, too. Protecting the vulnerable species against Covid-19 is in the best interest of humanity.
Samsung signals the end of the charger era. The smartphone-maker is deleting its social media criticism of Apple’s removing chargers from its mobile devices now that it plans to follow suit.
There are days, and there are days. A Delta airlines passenger was on the verge of a panic attack when he jumped out of a moving plane.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, exit strategies, and spare chargers 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 John Detrixhe, Jordan Lebeau, and Susan Howson.