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📝 Good afternoon and welcome to Notes on the News. Here’s what you should know today, Nov. 16: Jurors are deliberating in the Kyle Rittenhouse case, consumers are spending more in spite of inflation and Covid-19 booster shots are rolling out to more Americans. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. Thanks for reading. |
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| American consumers withstood rising inflation to power a strong start to the holiday shopping season. EMILY ELCONIN/BLOOMBERG NEWS |
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1. U.S. consumer spending is up, boosting the stock market. New data showing strong demand, despite the bite in Americans’ wallets from inflation, raised hopes for the holiday-sales season and lifted U.S. stocks. All three major indexes closed higher Tuesday, with the S&P 500 adding 0.4%, the Dow Jones industrials rising 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining 0.8%. |
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2. Jurors are deliberating in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. A verdict could be announced as soon as this evening. Officials in Kenosha, Wis., are preparing for potential discord around the outcome of the case, stemming from the teenager’s fatal shooting of two men and injuring of another last year during racial-justice protests and unrest. Some 500 National Guard troops have been approved for deployment. |
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3. Pfizer struck a deal to make its Covid-19 pill more accessible in developing countries. The company is licensing its experimental antiviral treatment to the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool, which will work with other drugmakers to get it manufactured for use in 95 nations. |
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4. Shiite Afghans are cautiously embracing Taliban rule. Some members of the minority group are seeking protection from their country’s new Sunni Islamist rulers, participating in patrols in areas where Taliban fighters committed earlier atrocities against Shiites. The Taliban hopes to blunt sectarian divides and cast itself as a pan-Afghan liberation movement ousting foreign occupiers. |
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5. President Biden traveled to New Hampshire to talk infrastructure. The visit, with the president giving remarks at an old bridge in need of repair, is part of a White House push to promote the $1 trillion bipartisan package to a sharply divided electorate that has sent Biden’s approval ratings downward. Meanwhile, Democrats are haggling over a separate social-policy and climate bill. |
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170 — Roughly the number of centrifuges for which diplomats say Iran has manufactured parts since August, after months when an atomic-energy watchdog hasn’t been able to monitor the activities, renewing concerns about Tehran’s nuclear-weapons efforts. $650,000 — Approximate new limit in most jurisdictions at which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will soon back single-family mortgages, rising to nearly $1 million in pricey markets. The federally controlled companies are set to adjust their policies to reach more borrowers amid rising home prices. 1.5 million— Barrels a day by which oil output is expected to rise through the rest of this year, according to the International Energy Agency, which would help ease a tight market. $59,000— The price at which Bitcoin briefly traded earlier Tuesday—its lowest level so far this month—after a slide in some cryptocurrencies partly fueled by a strong dollar. |
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| What Everyone Wants To Know |
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| A Home Depot in Doral, Fla. The company’s sales in the latest quarter rose 9.8% year over year. JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES |
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A verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse case could be imminent. Jurors began discussions this morning over several counts against Rittenhouse, who is now 18 years old, and a verdict could be announced as soon as tonight. The teenager was charged with intentional, reckless and attempted homicide as well as reckless endangerment after he fatally shot two men and wounded another last year in Kenosha, Wis. He had ventured out with an AR-15-style rifle and medical kit during unrest in the city sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty, with his attorneys saying he acted in self-defense. The judge in the case earlier dismissed a misdemeanor charge of possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 17 after wrangling between the defense and prosecution over how state law treated the nature of Rittenhouse’s gun. |
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States and cities are opening up Covid-19 booster eligibility. Authorities in Arkansas, West Virginia and New York City are among the latest to allow all adults who were fully vaccinated at least six months ago to get an additional shot. That follows similar moves recently by California, Colorado and New Mexico going beyond high-risk groups currently eligible under federal guidance. Officials are looking to head off another wave of cases as colder weather drives people indoors and as new infections rise in parts of the country. “We want you to get the booster because the data indicates that the effectiveness of the vaccine deteriorates over time,” said Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican. Some infectious-disease doctors say the need for boosters among all vaccinated adults is uncertain and that inoculating those who haven’t received any Covid-19 shots is a higher priority. Should I get a booster shot? | What about 'mix-and-match' doses? |
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| Solo artists Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars have been recording together under the name Silk Sonic. HARPER SMITH/ATLANTIC RECORDS |
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Go spend: “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” which also happens to be the title of a new album by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, who’ve teamed up to pay homage to 1970s-style R&B. WSJ music critic Mark Richardson says the duo pulls it off: “The faithfulness of the production and arrangements is astonishing, and the songs range from solid to very good.” |
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Today's newsletter was curated by Rich Bellis in collaboration with Joe Haberstroh in New York. We hope you’re enjoying Notes on the News. If you would prefer to receive a different newsletter, please check out all your options to keep up with the latest on markets, economics, politics and more. For members, we recommend The 10-Point. |
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