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JPMorgan warns that investors in the U.S. money market are facing a grim year ahead, as the supply of investable assets will shrink by about $300 billion while the amount of cash chasing them has almost doubled to $3 trillion. —David E. Rovella 

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Here are today’s top stories

The scientist reputed to be a driving force behind Iran’s nuclear program was allegedly assassinated in northern Iran. Tehran blamed the U.S. and Israel for the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. President Donald Trump reportedly considered attacking Iran earlier this month, and the year began with a Trump-ordered assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Fakhrizadeh’s death on Friday comes at an extremely sensitive time in U.S.-Iran relations, as Trump’s election defeat has been seen as an opportunity for a reset.

The scene where the Iranian government said Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, reputed to be its chief military nuclear scientist, was assassinated on Nov. 27. 

Source: Iranian State TV/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

AstraZeneca is headed toward another major trial of its proposed coronavirus vaccine after questions about its data cast doubt on the drug’s efficacy. That leaves potential medicines by Moderna and BioNTech-Pfizer as the only candidates on track for regulatory approval. In Sweden, confidence in the nation’s strategy to fight the coronavirus pandemic has slumped, with concerns growing about the capacity of its health-care system. Here is the latest on the pandemic.

On Thanksgiving Day, Trump said he will relinquish power when the Electoral College affirms President-elect Joe Biden’s win, but the Republican signaled he might never formally concede, and could skip the Democrat’s inauguration altogether. Trump is also still suing, but as he sprays the courts with filings (he lost another appeal Friday), some could benefit from a spell-check. 

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who survived poisoning in August he blamed on Vladimir Putin and which European nations tied to a Russian chemical warfare agent, called on the European Union to impose sanctions against billionaire oligarchs including Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich.

Alexey Navalny

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, is opening a family office in Singapore. Societe Generale was ordered by a Swiss court to give up $150 million deposited by convicted fraudster Allen Stanford that it had fought for almost a decade to keep.

China is set to impose anti-dumping duties of more than 100% on Australian wine, adding to a series of sweeping trade reprisals this year and further escalating tensions. U.S. and Taiwan are pushing for an alternative to Beijing’s belt-and-road program, and Europe is already reaching out to the Biden transition team to patch up trade wounds.

Bottles of wine and certificates at the Royal Star Wine experience center in Sydney. Australian wine exporters are watching stockpiles of product mount in warehouses as China, its biggest market, clamps down on shipments.

What’s Emily Barrett thinking about? The Bloomberg rates editor says that Janet Yellen will be the first Treasury secretary to have served as chair of both the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the Federal Reserve. Her extraordinary qualifications, Barrett says, augur a tighter coordination between fiscal and monetary policies at a critical juncture. Emergency programs terminated by Trump may need to be rebooted or reworked such that relief for households and businesses stricken by the pandemic can be stepped up and better targeted. This cooperation would be akin to a new dawn, Barrett says, after several years of White House attacks on the Fed's leadership and policies. 

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Richest Zip Code Requires $2.2 Million a Year

While Covid-19 has emptied some urban neighborhoods, including the tonier parts of Manhattan and San Francisco, most of the wealthy’s favorite haunts have only gotten more popular. Here is where the super-rich live.

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