A new weapon

A generic and low-cost antidepressant may reduce the risk that Covid-19 will land an infected patient in the hospital, making it a potentially potent weapon against the virus. Merck is planning to make at least 20 million treatment courses of its closely watched antiviral drug next year, on top of 10 million it expects to make by the end of 2021. Citigroup will require all U.S. employees to be vaccinated as a condition of their employment. But despite the risk of infecting the very citizens they’re paid to serve, thousands of New York City police and fire workers are refusing to be vaccinated in the face of a looming mandate. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the third quarter to the slowest pace of the pandemic recovery period as snarled supply chains and a surge in Covid-19 cases throttled spending and investment. Here’s your markets wrap.

Still no deal. As President Joe Biden prepared to depart for a European trip, the White House on Thursday issued a revamped outline of $2 trillion worth of ideas to pay for his proposed package of healthcare, climate and social initiatives, including levies targeting large corporations and millionaires. A key question now is whether progressive Democrats will trust any pledges of support from Joe Manchin and Kyrtsen Sinema, the two senators who’ve killed protections for the climate and families, as well as taxes on corporations and the rich, all while repeatedly finding new reasons to block the bill’s passage.

Every heard of Alister Hibbert? Well you should have—his fund is estimated to have earned almost half of BlackRock's record performance fees last year. In fact, Hibbert did so well that he was paid three times as much as Chairman Larry Fink.

Many older Americans have reaped an unexpected pandemic bonanza, thanks to a combination of stock market surge and rising home prices. A lot of them are retiring early and headed to Florida. But the consequences of this Covid-induced boom don’t augur well for the rest of the country.

The U.S. government and California have joined forces to develop and fund a range of supply-chain projects all at once, which they contend will help clear up the bottleneck in southern California ports.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned amid a furor of sexual harassment allegations, is now the subject of a criminal complaint for alleged forcible touching.

India has deployed recently acquired U.S.-made weaponry along its border with China, part of a new offensive force to bolster its capabilities as the countries remain deadlocked over disputed territory in the Himalayas.

Amazon shares sank on Thursday after the online retailer scared investors by warning that it could have sales of up to $140 billion in the busy holiday quarter—without making a nickel in profit.

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