Dimon tells China he’s sorry

Ahead of this week’s coordinated release of strategic oil reserves by the U.S, China, Japan, South Korea and the U.K., the White House was pushing Saudi Arabia to pump more crude—and quickly. Oil prices were climbing. Inflation was at a 30-year high. The diplomatic pressure was building, ultimately directed at a 36-year-old man who has the capacity to change the price of oil on a whim: Mohammed bin Salman. But the kingdom’s day-to-day ruler didn’t budge. If the U.S. wants cheaper gasoline, the prince has his own wish list, including something Biden has yet to grant him: access. —Margaret Sutherlin

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

JPMorgan CEO Jaime Dimon walked back a joke about how his bank might outlast the Chinese Communist Party. With almost $20 billion of exposure in the world’s second-largest economy, the U.S. bank has a lot riding on not antagonizing Beijing. The editor of a CCP publication responded to Dimon’s attempt at humor by saying he “bet the Chinese Communist Party will outlast the United States of America.”

Despite high prices, U.S. consumers showed little hesitation to spend last month, setting up the economy for a year-end growth spurt. But retail stocks took a clobbering Wednesday after disappointing reports from Gap and Nordstrom, renewing concern over rising costs and a strained supply chain ahead of the holiday shopping season. Here’s your markets wrap.
For the first time in 16 years, Germany has a new chancellor. Olaf Scholz is set to succeed Angela Merkel after forging an unprecedented alliance that aims to revamp Europe’s largest economy by tackling the climate crisis and promoting digital technologies. Here’s who’s in his government.

All three of the men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery last year were convicted of murder in a Georgia state court. They face life in prison as well as federal prosecution. The men, who are White, chased down the 25-year-old Black jogger in their pickup trucks and shot him dead. During the trial, their lawyers tried to blame the victim for his own death. Prosecutors, however, said Arbery was murdered “because he was a Black man running down the street.” The verdict comes less than a week after a jury in Kenosha, Wisconsin, acquitted 18-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges in the shooting death of two protesters at an anti-police violence demonstration last year. That verdict followed a trial in which the judge, Bruce Schroeder, made unorthodox rulings and comments favoring the defense. Protests erupted in several cities after the jury’s decision.

As the coronavirus ripped through Britain and businesses faced a potential fatal cash squeeze, the government issued an emergency loan, for 4.7 million pounds ($6.2 million), to a firm founded just two days before. A review of almost half of the loans granted under the U.K. government’s 26.4 billion-pound business loan program shows lenders handed out more than 130 million pounds to companies with questionable claims.

Europe is the pandemic’s epicenter once again. Leaders continue to weigh new measures to curb Covid-19’s resurgence to try to avert renewed restrictions. Slovakia said it would go into lockdown while Germany said it may consider vaccine mandates. Italy might follow other countries with new rules for unvaccinated people. In the U.S., about 92% of federal employees have had at least one Covid-19 shot following Biden’s vaccine mandate. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Amazon is taking extreme measures to get Christmas packages to customers, from putting toys on steel-hauling cargo ships to sending out half-empty trucks.

Are consumers ready for lab grown food? Rising prices—and concern over the climate—may move some to change their habits. Upside Foods—formerly Memphis Meats—opened the largest synthetic meat factory in the world. It’s designed to grow thousands of pounds of chicken, beef and pork. Backed by Bill Gates and Richard Branson, the company is betting consumers are finally ready for vat-grown meat.

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