Oil prices keep climbing

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Here’s what you need to know

Oil prices closed above $80 for the first time since 2014. They’ll likely outpace copper this year, with production limited by global supply issues and emission curbs.

China banned British beef—again. The ban took effect after a case of mad cow disease was discovered in the UK last month. China agreed to lift a decades-long ban on beef in 2018.

Nearly two million people were affected by flooding in northern China last week. New figures reported by local media yesterday depict extensive damage to crops and homes.

Southwest Airlines has canceled more than 2,000 flights since Saturday. The US-based airline blamed the cancellations on a staffing crunch, issues with air traffic control, and weather.

US businesses criticized Joe Biden’s China tariff plan. Companies that rely on lower-cost Chinese imports said the tariffs, which are a continuation from the Trump administration, aren’t helping as much as they expected.

Three US economists won the Nobel prize. David Card, Joshua Angrist, and Guido Imbens furthered our understanding of minimum wage and causal relationships.

What to watch for

The International Monetary Fund takes on two of the buzziest themes in finance when it releases its semi-annual financial stability report today. It’s more exciting than it sounds—the October update will cover:

📈 The promise and peril of crypto assets. The IMF points out that consumers can get burned by hackers, while anonymity and a dearth of global standards are a risk to financial integrity. The institution also notes that stablecoins—some of which are (meant to be) pegged to the US dollar—could spur people to flee their local currencies in emerging markets.

🌳 Clean, green, and possibly mean data. When it comes to transitioning to a green economy, policymakers need to strengthen the financial sector’s climate data, make sure these markets are regulated properly, and watch out for greenwashing, the IMF says. Regulators also need to run stress tests to look out for financial stability risks stemming from climate change.

It’s too late to ship goods to the US in time for Christmas

US companies hoping for goods to be delivered in time for Christmas are facing a nail-biter of a holiday season, as the short sales window collides with a global supply chain snarled from the ports of China, over the Pacific, through the US ports, and into the country’s faltering network of inland delivery routes.

How companies deal with the delays will depend on consumer response. But with time and space at such short supply, items will arrive late, and some companies will inevitably be deprioritized, or be forced to pay premiums to jump the line.

33.6%: Reliability, a measure of on-time arrivals for shipped goods, in August—a record low

92 days: Average shipping time for parts, according to the Institute for Supply Management

74 days: Time left until Christmas

1 million: Number of packages FedEx delivered late for Christmas 2020

9-13%: Estimated increase in US holiday sales this year

🎧 Introducing the Quartz Obsession podcast

We’re launching the Quartz Obsession podcast with not one, but two thought-provoking episodes:

🎲 Randomness: The global economy needs true randomness to encrypt messages and make sure elections are honest, but humans and computers alike are really bad at generating it. So we turn to natural sources like seismic waves, radioactive decay, and lava lamps (yes, lava lamps) to generate it for us.

💵 Cash: It’s anonymous, it’s stable, and it’s accepted pretty much everywhere. And despite the rise of mobile payments and the ubiquity of credit cards, it’s still moving everything around us. We talk about the pros and cons of cash in a world increasingly dominated by mobile payments, and try to figure out if cash is here to stay.

Click here to listen on our website. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, whether that’s Spotify, Apple, or Google.

Sponsored by American Express

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📣 China wants an even more dominant state monopoly on the media

🤑 Everything you need to know about DeFi

🤝 Who benefits most from company mentorship programs?

🏭 India’s transport minister wants Tesla to manufacture locally—but it won’t happen anytime soon

Surprising discoveries

Prince Charles’s car has taste. Surplus English white wine and whey from cheese-making fuel his Aston Martin in a “quaint” decarbonizing way.

Killer whales are swimming closer to Vancouver’s shore. It’s OK—scientists say it’s a sign of the ecosystem getting back to normal.

There’s a bat in New Zealand’s bird of the year competition. Not only are mammals not birds, as critics helpfully point out, but has anyone considered these mammals are vampires in disguise? 🧛‍♀️

Fake lightning could end farm stench. Tests show blasting manure with plasma can break up its pollutants and stank.

A 12,300-year-old hearth holds a new history of tobacco use. Four charred seeds in the hearth may push back humans’ first use of tobacco by thousands of years.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, caviar-based motor oil, and regular human bartenders 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, Aurora Almendral, Morgan Haefner, Susan Howson, and Liz Webber.