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You’re Never Too Old To Become a Beginner

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SATURDAY/SUNDAY, JANUARY 2 - 3, 2021 ~ VOL. CCLXXVII NO. 1

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he Senate voted to override the president’s veto of a defense bill, with many Republicans joining Democrats to deliver a rebuke to Trump in the final days of his presidency and for the first time pass into law legislation he had blocked. A1

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The Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the U.S. is moving slower than projected and has been beset by confusion and disorganization in many states. A1 A review of data from more than two dozen nations with significant elder-care facilities shows that such institutions are tied to more than a third of Covid-19 deaths. A1 Hospitals in the U.S. say the continued coronavirus surge will require more relief than Congress included in the new pandemic-aid act. A5 The U.K. left the EU behind Thursday, 48 years after joining the bloc, a significant shift in the global order that will also bring big changes for ordinary Britons. A7 The White House extended a ban on immigrants coming to the U.S. on workbased visas and green cards through the end of March. A2 Jimmy Lai, the outspoken newspaper mogul and advocate for democracy in Hong Kong, will have to return to jail after a court suspended his bail. A8

Business & Finance The S&P 500 and Dow ended 2020 at record levels, notching annual gains of 16.3% and 7.2%, respectively, to wrap up a wild year in the stock market.

The Nasdaq rose 44%, its best year since 2009. A1 The NYSE will delist China’s three large telecom carriers after a U.S. government order barring Americans from investing in firms it says aid the Chinese military. B11 Tribune Publishing said it appointed a special committee to review a buyout proposed by hedge fund Alden Global Capital, its largest shareholder. B1 BlackRock had planned to shake up the private-equity world with a $12 billion fund, but now the asset-management giant is setting its sights lower. B1 The pharmaceutical industry is raising the prices of many products in the new year, although at a rate slightly below the past couple of years. A3 Russia-linked hackers behind a widespread intrusion into U.S. corporate and government systems were able to access Microsoft systems and view internal source code. B3 Car-renting startup Turo plans to publicly list shares this year. B3

NOONAN In 2021, All the World’s A Stage A13 Opinion............... A11-13 Sports....................... A14 Style & Fashion D2-3 Travel........................... D6 U.S. News............ A2-5 Weather................... A14 World News....... A7-8

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; STANISLAV KOGIKU/ZUMA PRESS; MATTHIAS BEIN/DPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

World-Wide

Bill becomes law over president’s objections to base renamings, no changes to online rules

BY ANDREW DUEHREN

Schierke, Germany

PLUNGING INTO 2021: A participant in the annual New Year’s dip at the M Street beach in Boston; in Tokyo, visitors pray for good fortune at the Meiji Shrine; people walk past a snow-covered signpost as they enjoy the holiday in the Harz Mountains.

Vaccine Rollout Falls Short

BY JARED S. HOPKINS AND ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES Three weeks into the most ambitious vaccination campaign in modern U.S. history, far fewer people than expected are being immunized against Covid-19 as the process moves slower than projected and has been beset by confusion and disorganization in many states.

As a result, the federal government came nowhere close to vaccinating 20 million people by the end of 2020, as it had

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Senators Override Trump’s Defense Act Veto

Around the World, People Welcome a New Year

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL WEEKEND

REVIEW

CONTENTS Books..................... C7-12 Business News...... B3 Food......................... D4-5 Heard on Street...B12 Markets..................... B11 Obituaries................. A9

WSJ

Why Urbanites Are Wearing Hiking Gear

and with some states pushing decision-making to local health departments and hospitals, the process has gone far from smoothly.

People in Florida are waiting in hourslong lines to get shots on a first-come, first-served basis. Some West Virginians got a Covid-19 treatment instead of vaccines. A medical practice in Texas had only two workers sign up to take the shots. While some states received fewer doses than they expected and some hospitals got their first

promised.

Of the more than 12 million doses of vaccines from Moderna Inc. and from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE that have been shipped, only 2.8 million have been administered, according to federal figures.

The reported shortfall is due in part to a lag in reporting data using new tools, government officials and health experts said. But as the federal government has left it to states to determine what to do with the vaccines it ships to them,

ones this week, other healthcare providers have more doses than they know what to do with and are scrambling to find enough syringes to use them.

“Hospitals aren’t vaccinating everyone at the flip of a light switch,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, which represents state immunization officials. “There Please turn to page A6 Hospitals fret over reduced pandemic aid.............................. A5

WASHINGTON—The Senate voted to override President Trump’s veto of a $740.5 billion defense bill, with many Republicans joining Democrats to deliver a rebuke to Mr. Trump in the final days of his presidency and for the first time pass into law legislation he had blocked.

The National Defense Authorization Act is an annual measure that secures hazard-pay raises for troops and authorizes funds for aircraft, ships, nuclear weapons, and other national-security programs. Mr. Trump had threatened to veto this year’s bill, but lawmakers had moved forward anyway, approving it with wide majorities.

Mr. Trump has objected to several provisions, criticizing it for including measures that would strip military bases of names honoring Confederate military leaders and regulate troop withdrawals he has sought in Afghanistan and Germany. Lawmakers had also rebuffed White House efforts to repeal legal immunity socialmedia companies enjoy for users’ content as part of the bill.

The Senate voted 81-13 to override the veto, exceeding the two-thirds vote required.

Please turn to page A4

EXCHANGE

Lofty Year Covid-19 Took Deadly Aim For Stocks At World’s Nursing Homes Started as Nail-Biter

BY GUNJAN BANER U.S. stocks landed at record-setting year-end levels after a wild 2020 that veered from a bear market to new highs achieved faster than ever before.

In a banner year for investments in everything from options to bitcoin, stocks stood out. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 16.3% and 7.2%, respectively, to end the year at records. The Nasdaq Composite gained 44%, its best year since 2009. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is now up 94% over the past two years, its best two-year performance since 1998-99.

Many individual stocks outpaced even those heady broadmarket gains. More stocks gained at least 400% at their yearly peaks in 2020 than in any year since 2002, according to a Dow Jones Market Data analysis of FactSet data, which looked at companies with a market value of at least $100 million.

Worries about the rapidly spreading coronavirus in the first part of the year sent stocks, gold and bonds tumbling and triggered spasms in historically safe markets like money-market funds. The Federal Reserve’s massive stimulus package and, later, news of a vaccine, stoked a simultaneous rally in various markets. Investors of all ages jumped in.

The pandemic “put the U.S. Please turn to page A2

The global toll of Covid-19 has hit one vulnerable population harder than any other: nursing-home residents.

deaths, though they typically house less than 2% of the population. These countries linked at least 233,000 of 641,000 overall Covid-19 deaths to nursing homes and other longterm elder-care sites. In the U.S. alone, the death toll tied to these facilities tops 125,000.

Nursing homes were a soft target for a highly contagious and deadly virus because they house the frailest people in proximity. The new coronavirus has generally proved most dangerous for the elderly, who

By Anna Wilde Mathews, Jason Douglas, Jon Kamp and Dasl Yoon A Wall Street Journal review of data from more than two dozen nations with significant elder-care facilities shows that such institutions are tied to more than a third of Covid-19

Ain’t No Party Like a 2020 New Year’s Eve Party (Thankfully) i

i

i

Celebration was a dud, as planned; ‘We don’t want anyone to show up’ One way to judge the success of any party is the cleanup the next day. By that measure, New Year’s Eve 2020 was a dud.

By Charles Passy, Kate King and Katie Honan The wreckage left behind in New York City’s Times Square after the crush of revelers usually amounts to 60 tons of trash, according to Edward Grayson, commissioner of the city’s department of sanitation.

On New Year’s Day, the department was expecting more like 20 to 30 tons, a sanitation department spokesman said.

That isn’t likely to make Mr. Grayson happy. “We would rather be closing the New Year’s event normally, cleaning out the biggest party in the world,” he said.

New York City and major cities around the world planned to ring in the New Year this way. The public at large was essentially uninvited due to concerns the festivities would serve as the ultimate super-spreader event.

“We’re throwing a party and we don’t want anyone to show up,” Tim Tompkins, president of the nonprofit Times Square Alliance, which co-produces the event, said beforePlease turn to page A10

have had the highest mortality rates overall.

But even among older people susceptible to Covid-19, nursing homes proved uniquely perilous. An analysis published in November in the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine looked at a dozen Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries and found the Covid-19 mortality rate among long-term care residents was more than 20 times Please turn to page A6

TRAVEL IN 2021 What’s next for cruise ships, airlines and hotels this year. B1

Hotel Startup That Soared Now Stalls Indian chain Oyo has issues beyond the pandemic that threaten its global ambitions

BY NEWLEY PURNELL AND PHRED DORA Just over a year ago, India’s Oyo Hotels & Homes was among the world’s hottest startups and the secondlargest hotel chain globally. It had billions of dollars from SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund and others, and a valuation that had doubled in a year to as high as $10 billion.

Covid-19, and the destruction it dealt travel, blew up much of that. But Oyo’s issues run deeper than the pandemic. The company already faced problems from

its rapid expansion, issues that won’t be fully solved by a post-vaccine travel recovery.

Oyo has seen thousands of hoteliers leave its network amid complaints from many that they have been treated unfairly. The company’s challenges outside India threaten its global ambitions.

Oyo’s big idea was to sign up mom-and-pop hotels, spruce them up to minimum standards under a single brand and take control of booking and prices, using proprietary software to boost Please turn to page A10

A2 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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U.S. NEWS

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

THE NUMBERS | By Jo Craven McGinty

Workout Resolutions Pay Off, if They Stick Mark this date on your calendar: March 7.

That’s when New Year’s resolutions might stick for good, according to one study that estimates it takes an average of 66 days to develop a new habit.

But most people give up sooner than that, with 80% abandoning their pledges by mid-February, according to Gallup.

That’s especially unfortunate since traditionally, the most common vow is to exercise more, a resolution that could improve health, reduce risk of chronic disease and save money.

Inadequate levels of physical activity are associated with $117 billion in annual health-care costs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and contribute to one in 10 premature deaths.

To help avoid those consequences, the Department of

Health and Human Services advises adults to move more and sit less.

A

ccording to its latest guidelines, published in 2018, any amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is helpful.

But for substantial benefits, adults are advised to get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week or 75 to 100 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, plus twice-weekly muscle-strengthening exercises of moderate or greater intensity involving all major muscle groups.

Start now, and the benefits could begin accruing by Valentine’s Day. “In six weeks, you could notice a change in blood pressure independent of weight loss,” said Libby Richards, an associate professor at the Purdue University School of Nursing. “You could tone up and have better blood-sugar control. You’ll likely sleep better, and you may have a

better mood.”

But people usually give up before the benefits kick in, she said, or they don’t get as much exercise as they claim.

“If you ask people if they’re meeting the physicalactivity guidelines, they’re like, I sure am,” Dr. Richards said. “But there is a difference when you ask them and when you actually measure them.”

In 2018, the most recent year available, 53.3% of U.S. adults surveyed by the CDC said they met physical-activity guidelines based on the recommended minutes of moderate or vigorous exercise. When asked about getting two-plus days of musclestrength training, only 23.2% said they met the guidelines.

“That’s not great,” Dr. Richards said. “It’s less than a quarter, and you must keep in mind that it’s self-reported data. The reality is that it’s lower than that.”

Researchers examined a nationally representative sample of 6,525 adults who

Estimated decreases in risk of cancer with high levels of physical activity Esophageal

21% 12-21

Breast* Endometrial

20

Colon

19

Stomach

19

Bladder

15

Kidney

12

*Estimate ranges from 12-21%.

Source: National Cancer Institute

wore accelerometers to track their movements and found that 44.8% met the physicalactivity guidelines for aerobic activity, or 8.5 percentage points lower than the self-reported figure.

But when the researchers counted lifestyle activities like vacuuming, gardening and leisurely walks as contributions toward the goal of 150 minutes of exertion, 95% of participants met the guidelines.

The study, a collaboration of researchers at California

U.S. WATCH ECONOMY

Unemployment Claims Fall Slightly New applications for unemployment assistance fell in the week ended Dec. 26, a sign of modest improvement during a holiday period clouded with uncertainty around impending changes to benefit payments.

Weekly initial claims for jobless benefits from regular state programs, a proxy for layoffs, declined by 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 787,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

That marked a second consecutive decline from the threemonth high recorded earlier in December, when virus cases were surging and more jurisdictions were bringing back economic restrictions to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Last week’s level remains higher than any recorded before 2020, although it is down sharply from a peak of nearly seven million in late March.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths volatile data, rose to the highest level since early October.

Weekly jobless claims figures can also be volatile during holiday periods because of challenges with seasonal adjustment.

“Holiday noise and uncertainty about extensions of benefits may have held down claims last week,” Oxford Economics

Stocks End Crazy Year At Records Continued from Page One economy and markets on the biggest bust-to-boom roller coaster we’ve seen,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group. “It caused people to dump far more when it was collapsing— has caused them to chase assets on the way up.”

Here are five investment trends that boomed in 2020, defying many market watchers’ expectations.

Momentum Trades After stocks plunged into a bear market—defined as a drop of at least 20%—a new bull market emerged. Among the standouts were Tesla Inc., the electric car maker that soared more than 700% and made its way into the S&P 500, Overstock.com Inc., NIO Inc., Peloton Interactive Inc. and biotechnology firms.

The Russell 2000 small-cap stock index has roughly doubled from its March low.

Many retail and institutional investors turned to the momentum trade, or buying shares of companies that have risen sharply while dumping the relative losers. About $21 billion was recently sitting in exchange-traded funds tracking momentum, FactSet data show, the most in at least a decade.

“Higher stock prices show

TRADE

Initial unemployment claims, weekly

France, Germany Hit With Wine Tariffs

7 million 6 5 4 3 2

Week ended Dec. 26

787,000

1 0 March

Dec.

Note: Seasonally adjusted Source: Labor Department

economist Nancy Vanden Houten said.

She said claims remain at historically high levels, and there is a risk they could rise in the coming weeks in response to the program extensions and supplemental payments.

Other data suggest the broader economic recovery may be slowing. Household spending declined 0.4% in November, marking its first retreat in seven months, and household income fell 1.1%, according to the Commerce Department.

New- and existing-home sales declined in November from the previous month.

—Kim Mackrael certain companies to be winners, attracting more people to do the same thing,” said Tobias Hekster, co-chief investment officer at True Partner Capital.

“When herds start to agree with certain talking points and that starts to be reflected in the valuation, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Of course, some investors call it a bubble. Among those is David Einhorn, who pointed to exuberance in the IPO market and soaring volumes in speculative bets like options in a third-quarter update for investors in his hedge fund Greenlight Capital.

“There are many anecdotes for toppy behavior. We will share one: We recently received a job application with the email subject, ‘I am young, but good at investments’ from a 13-yearold who purports to have quadrupled his money since February,” Mr. Einhorn wrote in the update, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Options Boom Investors aren’t just looking to profit from the rising stock market. They are magnifying investments through options, contracts giving investors the right to buy or sell stocks later in time at specific prices. The market for stock options, which suffered years of flatlining volumes, roared to life as investors piled in. The sector, often thought to be the domain of sophisticated derivatives experts, became a playground for investors young and old, amateur and skilled.

Options volumes jumped to the highest level on record, according to Options Clearing

The Trump administration said it would target more French and German wine and spirits with 25% tariffs starting Jan. 12, in the latest escalation in a titfor-tat tariff fight related to a longstanding dispute over commercial-jetliner subsidies.

Among the new levies, the U.S. will for the first time apply the 25% levies on wines from France and Germany that exceed 14% alcohol, which had previously been exempt, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The U.S. had seen a surge in these higher-alcohol wines, typically from Spain and France, after wines with 14% alcohol or less were hit with tariffs last year.

Washington imposed 25% tariffs on wine from France, Spain, Germany and the U.K. in October 2019 in retaliation for subsidies they made to the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus SE, arguing they hurt Boeing Co. Other items that will be subject to new tariffs are premium cognacs that cost $38 per liter and higher, and some aircraft manufacturing parts, both from France and Germany. High-alcohol wine from Spain and the U.K. weren’t added to the latest list.

The U.S. and the EU have been in a long-running dispute

Index performance in 2020 40%

Nasdaq Composite

20

over what each claim are unfair government subsidies to commercial-aircraft manufacturers: Airbus in Europe and Boeing in the U.S. The battle has played out recently in tit-for-tat tariffs on consumer products.

—Yuka Hayashi PHILADELPHIA

Federal Buildings Are Vandalized Six people were arrested after a group vandalized several federal buildings in Philadelphia’s Center City on New Year’s Eve, police said.

Officers spotted about 50 people, all dressed in black, at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the historic U.S. Customs House, where windows were smashed, police said. Three arrests were made there and three suspects in that vandalism were arrested elsewhere later.

Vandals then hit the Federal Detention Center, where anti-police and anti-prison graffiti were scrawled, police said. A nearby sheriff’s van was also defaced and several windows broken.

“During a search incident to the arrest, they recovered numerous Molotov cocktails and some other devices which haven’t been identified,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Mike Cram said.

Police were searching for more suspects.

—Associated Press

Number of stocks up at least 400% at yearly peak* 80

60

State University, University of North Carolina, University of Missouri at Kansas City and Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., was published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Public Health in 2019.

The researchers didn’t assess the muscle-strengthening guidelines, and with aerobic activity, they found demographic differences: Men were consistently more active than women. People of normal weight tended to be more active than people who were overweight. Hispanics were more active than non-Hispanics. And activity decreased with age.

T

he National Cancer Institute estimates that with high levels of physical activity, the risk of bladder cancer decreases by 15%; breast cancer by 12% to 21%; colon cancer by 19%; endometrial cancer by 20%; esophageal cancer by 21%; kidney cancer by 12%; and stomach cancer by 19%. Re-

Work-Visa Entry Ban Is Lengthened

BY MICHELLE HACKMAN The White House extended a ban on immigrants coming to the U.S. on work-based visas and green cards through the end of March, setting up another immigration policy decision for the incoming Biden administration to grapple with.

President Trump issued bans in April and in June in the name of protecting American workers from foreign competition, just as shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic were battering the economy. The ban, which had been set to expire Thursday, applies to immigrants coming to the U.S. on H-1B and several other employment-based visas, along with people coming on green cards to work or reunite with family.

It generally applies to green cards issued after April and some work-based visas issued after June, though there are exceptions, such as for the spouses of U.S. citizens.

The ban on work-based visas, in particular, was roundly criticized by Silicon Valley and others that said they depend on the visas to bring employees into industries ranging from tech and consulting to landscaping and seasonal resorts.

In October, the U.S. Chamjust around one-third were in information technology and health care, according to Goldman. In 2020, almost 70% were in the tech, consumer discretionary and health-care sectors, aligning with the biggest stock winners.

S&P 500 0 Dow Jones Industrial Average

–20

–40 Jan.

Growth Companies

40

20

0 June

Dec.

2000

’05

’10

’15

’20

*Among stocks listed on NYSE, NYSE American, NYSE Arca and Nasdaq exchanges with a market value of at least $100 million as of the previous year.

Sources: FactSet (performance); Dow Jones Market Data analysis of FactSet data (number of stocks)

Corp. data going back to 1973, with roughly 30 million contracts a day changing hands, up from around 19 million in 2019.

Investors looked to bet on moves up and down in stocks and indexes, often cashing out of positions within hours or days to pocket profits.

Investors often turned to options last year to bet on the stock market’s wild moves— both up and down. The contracts allow investors to put down a relatively small sum to wager on the stock market’s direction.

Of course, losses can add up if an investor’s hunch is wrong, and riskier plays can burn an even bigger hole in an investor’s portfolio.

SPACs Few investments benefited as much as special-purpose acquisition companies, shell com-

panies designed to raise money first and pinpoint businesses to acquire later.

More than 200 SPACs came to market in 2020, raising roughly $74 billion, more than quintuple the amount in 2019 and a record, according to S&P Global data as of Dec. 17.

“Investors are firmly in a growth mind-set and SPAC sponsors targeting purchases in growth industries have had success raising capital,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts wrote to clients in December, saying that 2020 “will undoubtedly be known as the year of the SPAC.” The firm attributed increased activity to heavy trading from individual investors as well as low interest rates that boosted SPACs’ allure.

Over the past decade, about half of acquisitions among SPACs were in the industrial, financial and energy sectors and

searchers believe the reductions occur because exercise decreases inflammation, helps prevent obesity and improves immune-system functioning.

According to the Frontiers in Public Health study, activities at different levels of intensity also contribute to improved health.

“In the past, we ignored activity if it was not at a moderately intense level, like brisk walking, but light-intensity activity has a lot of health benefits,” Dr. Richards said, particularly for people who are sedentary. “The more active and in shape you are, the more you have to do to see health gains. But people who are pretty inactive, they don’t have to do much to start getting physical health benefits.”

And that might make it a little easier to resolve to be more active in 2021.

“It’s literally the closest thing we have to a fountain of youth,” Dr. Richards said. “If you can keep it up, the health benefits are tremendous.”

As stocks like Tesla and Apple hit highs and options volumes swelled, the divergence between companies promising high growth in the future and other corners of the market grew starker than ever. Shares of companies viewed as bargains in the market—value stocks—floundered, and the gap between the market’s haves and have-nots has never been this wide.

The Russell 1000 growth index outperformed its value counterpart by the largest margin on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. And while the broader market is flying high, traditional value groups like the S&P 500’s energy sector declined by more than 35% and the financials group fell 4.1%.

Bitcoin Perhaps nowhere was the zeal for risky investments as evident as it was in cryptocurrencies, where bitcoin prices surged to the first record in nearly three years, crossing the $20,000 mark.

The surge was driven by individual and institutional investors alike, many wading into the market for the first time.

Bitcoin kept rising through December to close the year at $28,966.18.

ber of Commerce, which represents a broad cross-section of these industries, won a partial injunction on the visa ban in court, allowing its member companies to resume bringing over foreign employees.

It isn’t known how the ban extension will affect the court’s order.

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team has declined to answer questions about how he would handle the ban.

On one hand, Mr. Biden has said he would lift some immigration bans, including one covering immigrants from several Muslim-majority and African nations. But he has also placed an emphasis on controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, and his team has expressed reluctance to wind down other Trump policies quickly out of fear that doing so might not be safe.

Biden advisers, for example, said that they would reopen the southern border slowly to asylum seekers stranded in Mexico to allow for social-distancing measures at ports of entry. In March, the government shut the southern border to nonessential travel and enacted a policy of expelling any migrant crossing the border illegally or asking for asylum.

CORRECTIONS AMPLIFICATIONS The International Stock Indexes tables were mislabeled with garble in the Markets Digest pages on Dec. 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30 and 31.

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U.S. NEWS

The pharmaceutical industry is raising the prices of many products in the new year, albeit at a rate slightly below the past couple of years.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Sanofi SA are among the companies that raised the prices of hundreds of drugs by an average of 3.3%, according to a new analysis.

Pfizer Inc., which has a large portfolio of products, led the way with the most increases, raising prices by 5% or less on more than 200 products. The drug industry normally sets prices for its therapies at the start of the year and again in the middle of the year.

In all, about 70 drugmakers raised prices in the U.S. on Friday, according to an analysis from Rx Savings Solutions, which sells software to help employers and health plans choose the least-expensive medicines. The average increase of 3.3% included changes to different doses for the same drug, according to the analysis.

Inflation registered at 1.2% for the most recent 12 months.

This year’s average is lower with that of a year ago, when more than 60 companies raised the prices on hundreds of drugs by an average of 5.8%, according to the analysis. However, it found companies raised prices on at least 50% more products compared with last year.

The largest price increase, 31%, came via Advanz Pharma Corp. and its hypertension product Dutoprol, according to the analysis. The drug is a branded combination of two lower-cost generic medicines that have been around for decades. The U.K.-based company didn’t respond to requests to comment.

Pfizer is currently rolling out a Covid-19 vaccine it developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE in the U.S. and other countries. A year ago Pfizer similarly raised prices on a number of drugs, and has previously been criticized by President Trump for how it has priced its products.

Many of the New Yorkbased company’s products rose in price by 5% or less, according to the Rx Savings Solutions analysis. Among them are breast-cancer treatment Ibrance, which sold about $4 billion globally through the first nine months of last year, plus rheumatoid arthritis therapy Xeljanz and pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said the company’s price increases were in line with inflation, and

were necessary to fund research of new drugs. Most of them affected hospital and sterile injectable products, about a third of which are sold at or below its cost of manufacturing, Pfizer said.

It said it is dedicated to growth through expanded use of medicines, not price increases. The company noted its net prices were flat or fell for the past three years.

The price increases for companies affect so-called list prices that are set by manufacturers; most patients don’t pay these prices, which don’t take into account rebates, discounts and insurance payments. Patients without insurance, or those with a pharmacy deductible may pay the full list price.

Drugmakers have said prices are increased in conjunction with rebates they give to pharmacy-benefit managers, or PBMs, in order to get favorable placement on the lists of covered drugs known as formularies. In fact, net prices have declined because of large rebates to PBMs, which negotiate prices in secret with their clients, such as employers and labor unions.

During the third quarter of 2020, net prices fell 2.3% versus a 4.7% drop in 2019, according to SSR Health LLC pharmaceutical analysts.

While list prices have risen on average nearly every quarter since 2017, net prices have declined during that time, according to data from SSR. In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have increasingly cited the net price phenomenon, saying they don’t actually benefit much from list-price increases and that their net prices are suffering because they are paying bigger rebates to pharmacy-benefit managers.

Prescription drug list prices continue to grow as net prices, which include after discounts and insurance, are decreasing Annual change in prescription drug prices 15%

List price 10 5 0 –5

Net price

2010

’20

Note: Adjusted for inflation.

Source: SSR Health

MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND/REUTERS

BY JARED S. HOPKINS

RIOT DECLARED: Police said a crowd of 80 to 100 protesters became violent Thursday night, throwing fireworks, bricks and frozen water bottles at police and setting several fires, including in a dumpster, above, the Associated Press reported. Arrests were made and several businesses were damaged before the crowd dispersed by 2 a.m. Friday, police said.

Across U.S., 2021 Ushers In Laws Prompted by Pandemic and Protests

BY SARA RANDAZZO The start of the new year brings more than just hope for the end of the pandemic. In states across the country, new laws and regulations will be going into effect, including some aimed at addressing worker safety, affordable health care and other issues that emerged last year from the coronavirus.

Others target matters like racial inequality and policing that were thrust into the national spotlight in 2020.

Employment In California, employers must notify workers of a possible workplace exposure to Covid-19 within one business day and report an outbreak within 48 hours to local public-health officials. In a major expansion of the state’s family leave program, employers with at least five employees must now offer at least 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to take care of new children or sick family members.

Connecticut also is expanding its family leave program, which will be funded by a 0.5% tax on worker wages that begins in January.

New York requires all employers to offer sick leave.

Companies with five or more employees or net income of more than $1 million must give paid time off, and smaller companies can offer unpaid leave.

The minimum wage increases in about half the states, including Maryland, Arkansas and Vermont. Florida joined a few other states and cities in aiming to get baseline pay to

ALLISON ZAUCHA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Drugmakers Raise Prices in The New Year

New Year’s Eve Protest in Portland, Ore., Turns Violent

In California, app-based and delivery drivers won’t be classified as employees after voters approved a ballot measure. $15 an hour; the rate will rise to $10 an hour in September, with annual increases until 2026.

In California, app-based and delivery drivers won’t be classified as employees and will be exempted from state laws governing minimum wage, paid sick leave and other labor protections after voters approved a ballot measure sponsored by Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and other companies. Under the new law, the companies will offer some benefits to employees including mileage reimbursement and contributions toward health care.

Health and Medical Costs Virginia and Georgia have new laws aimed at curbing surprise medical bills. Virginia’s law protects insured patients from being billed by out-of-network providers for emergency care, or for surgeries and some other scheduled

procedures performed at innetwork hospitals.

Diabetics will have greater drug-pricing protections in seven more states. New Mexico created the lowest 30-day cap for insulin payments at $25.

Virginia’s new cap is $50.

Oklahoma will expand its Medicaid coverage starting in July.

Policing, Crime and Drugs The killing of George Floyd in May after a Minnesota police officer pressed his knee to Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes prompted several statehouses to put a ban on the chokehold maneuver used in his killing. California, Delaware, Iowa, New York, Oregon and Utah all passed some form of chokehold ban. Connecticut banned chokeholds as part of a broader law reforming policing in the state, which has some elements taking effect in Janu-

ary, including requiring officers to wear a badge in a prominent place. Some antichokehold measures failed in other states.

Georgia makes it a hate crime to target someone because they are a police officer.

The law, opposed by civil-rights groups, followed the passage of a broader hate-crimes law that increased the prison sentences in crimes motivated by a victim’s race, religion, sexual orientation or other bias. Legislators passed that law after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25year-old Black man who was fatally shot after being pursued by three white men while he was on a run.

More states continue to legalize recreational marijuana use through ballot measures or legislative changes, including Arizona, South Dakota, Montana and New Jersey.

Other Notable Laws

Several states are cracking down on cellphone use on the road. Virginia is making it illegal to hold a cellphone while driving, expanding on a prior law that banned such use in work zones, or reading or typing on devices while driving. California increased penalties for texting and driving. And Arizona is imposing fines for holding a phone while driving.

Publicly held corporations with headquarters in California will be required to have at least one member of boards of directors be part of a racial or ethnic minority group or LGBT by the end of 2021.

—Christine Mai-Duc, Zusha Elinson and Deanna Paul contributed to this article.

Vets of 1966 Disaster Win a Round vs. VA A half-century ago, Air Force veteran Victor Skaar and hundreds of other troops were exposed to radiation when they responded to a Cold Warera accident in rural Spain involving lost nuclear weapons.

In December, a federal court demanded the Department of Veterans Affairs re-examine its longstanding policy that has for decades prevented the troops from getting compensation for cancers and illnesses they allege came about from their response to the accident, which spread radioactive debris.

The decision means the department can no longer rely on what the court determined is incomplete science to deny claims, while forcing veterans to provide overwhelming scientific proof to secure claims.

Currently, the VA denies Mr. Skaar and others health and compensation benefits related to their claims—including health care at no cost, a benefit typically reserved for those with disabilities connected to their service.

“VA is reviewing the court’s decision,” said VA spokeswoman Christina Noel. There is no timeline on when the VA will redecide the matter. The Air Force didn’t respond to a request to comment.

The case stems from a January 1966 accident, when a B-52 bomber, the behemoth work-

horse of America’s airborne nuclear arsenal, collided with a refueling plane over the Mediterranean Sea, causing both to crash. Before the B-52 crashed, it dropped four hydrogen bombs that landed near the Spanish fishing village of Palomares. All four crewmen of the KC-135 tanker and three of the seven crewmen of the B-52 died in the accident, according to Air Force records.

The conventional explosives in two of the bombs detonated when they hit the ground, spreading debris and radioactive material, though there was no thermonuclear detonation. A third landed safely and the fourth bomb fell into the sea and was later recovered.

Then-Technical Sgt. Skaar and

about 1,400 other troops were called in to find and clean up the debris, according to court documents.

“I’m probably the most-senior person who was at that site,” Mr. Skaar said in an interview. “Those that were senior to me are already dead.”

Now, Mr. Skaar is leading a class-action lawsuit that won a significant victory last month, when the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims found flaws in the VA’s reason for denying Mr. Skaar and other veterans’ claims, forcing the department to reconsider the way it determines benefits for Mr. Skaar and other remaining cases.

Until now, the VA has relied heavily upon the Air Force’s initial claims that Mr. Skaar

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY BEN KESLING

U.S. Navy ordnance men check for contamination on an H-bomb on deck of the USS Petrel off Palomares Beach, Spain, in 1966.

and others weren’t exposed to enough material to adversely affect their health, though outside evidence from a Princeton physicist and the Air Force’s subsequent re-examinations show the troops’ health was likely affected by their time in Palomares.

“The court essentially ruled that the VA must do now what it should have done at the very start,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

The scope of the decision isn’t fully known.

“We aren’t actually sure how many people this includes, because DoD and VA won’t share names or let us know how many have passed away,” said Molly Petchenik, a law student at the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School, which represents Mr. Skaar and others.

Mr. Skaar was one of 26 troops whose urine and nasalswab samples showed concerning levels of radiation that warranted further scrutiny, court documents show. But in late 1967 the Air Force stopped monitoring them, saying their health wasn’t in jeopardy from the exposure, according to court documents.

“I’ve had prostate cancer, skin cancer, leukopenia and I’m still fighting,” Mr. Skaar said. “I don’t want compensation,” said Mr. Skaar, now 84 years old. “I want recognition.

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U.S. NEWS

Biden, Pelosi Aim to Unite Party The two Democratic leaders have a history of forging coalitions from disparate groups

BY NATALIE ANDREWS AND WILLIAM MAULDIN

BY NATALIE ANDREWS AND ELIZA COLLINS

Senate. Complicating matters are two Georgia runoff elections on Tuesday. Should Democrats win both, they will take control of the Senate and be able to schedule hearings. If Republicans retain one or both positions, they will keep control.

Confirmation hearings for Ms. Yellen and others are in the process of being scheduled and are expected to be announced shortly after the Georgia runoff, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Ms. Yellen served as Fed chairwoman from 2014 to 2018 and as vice chairwoman from 2010 to 2014. From 2004 until 2010, she served as president of the San Francisco Fed. She also was a Fed governor from 1994 to 1997, and she chaired the Council of Economic Advisers in the Clinton White House from 1997 to 1999.

She has been a fellow at the Brookings Institution since leaving the Fed and she served this past year as the president of the American Economic Association.

WASHINGTON—Presidentelect Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of state took a high-dollar foray into international consulting and venture capital during the Trump administration, a career move that followed long years in public service in the White House, State Department and halls of Congress, according to financial disclosures released Thursday.

Tony Blinken, seen as likely to be confirmed as chief diplomat in January, is co-founder and managing partner at a consulting firm that includes other former officials from the Obama administration’s national security team. The firm, WestExec Advisors LLC, paid him $1.2 million, not including an expected payment of between $250,000 and $500,000 for 2020, according to the disclosures, filed through the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

Avril Haines, Mr. Biden’s selection for director of national intelligence, has an extensive résumé that includes consulting work with national security data analysis company Palantir Technologies Inc. and WestExec Advisors, and as a fellow at the nonpartisan public policy research organization Brookings Institution.

Ms. Haines has resigned from those posts and says she will recuse herself from all business with them for one year.

The bulk of her income comes from her position as a research scholar and lecturer at Columbia University, where she was paid a salary of $440,121 over two years, according to a person familiar with her experience.

The disclosures demonstrate what has long been a pattern in Washington: Senior officials from one political party find private work in their areas of expertise during an administration led by a president from the other party, in this case President Trump’s Republican Party.

Companies and investors have eagerly sought strategic advice from veteran Washington lawyers and consultants as they navigated political and policy changes in the Trump administration, and former officials with international experience were useful in grappling with tariffs and new attitudes toward international deals, U.S. allies and China.

Mr. Blinken and Ms. Haines will face questions about their work in hearings expected in early 2021. The Senate is expected to announce the schedules for confirmation hearings for Mr. Blinken, Ms. Haines and others soon after the Georgia Senate runoffs, which will determine partisan control of the Senate, according to a person familiar with the planning. Typically, hearings for key posts occur ahead of the inauguration to have key national security posts ready for a final confirmation on Jan. 20, the day of the ceremony.

In 2017, the Senate confirmed Jim Mattis as secretary of defense and John Kelly as head of the Department of Homeland Security on the same day President Trump was sworn in.

ate, though, as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) prevented leadership from fast-tracking the NDAA vote without a vote on increasing the payments. Mr. Sanders had taken up a request from Mr. Trump to increase the size of the payments to $2,000 from $600. Republicans have repeatedly blocked a standalone vote on that proposal.

The fight over the NDAA also underscored broader tensions over national-security issues between congressional Republicans and Mr. Trump. On foreign policy and national-security issues, many Republicans have readily bucked Mr. Trump during his presidency even as they have stood by him on many other issues.

For instance, the Trump administration’s recent effort to cut troop levels in Afghanistan in half, to roughly 2,500, by Jan. 15, has alarmed some Republicans. The NDAA requires the administration to submit to Congress a comprehensive as-

sessment of the withdrawal before it can use funds to pull out troops.

Neither Sen. David Perdue (R., Ga.) nor Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R., Ga.), whose Jan. 5 runoff races will determine which party controls the Senate, voted on the override. Mr. Perdue is quarantining after coming into contact with someone infected with Covid-19.

In addition to creating a commission for removing or changing names of bases, symbols, displays, monuments and paraphernalia honoring Confederate commanders, the bill also limits the president’s authority to use emergency military construction funds.

Other measures in the legislation include requiring companies in the U.S. to register their true owners and restricting employees or former employees of the defense-industrial base from working directly for Chinese government-owned or -controlled companies.

TOM BRENNER/REUTERS

WASHINGTON—The relationship between Presidentelect Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spans more than three decades. They now must draw on those ties to steer a divided Democratic coalition amid a pandemic and an economy recovering from a deep slump.

The president-elect and speaker have both reached the highest levels in U.S. party politics by forging coalitions among disparate members of their party, including moderates and progressives, according to their allies and advisers. The pair’s history of legislating together has created what colleagues describe as mutual trust.

Mr. Biden and Mrs. Pelosi, who both hope to start by passing additional measures to address the pandemic, must unite party members who have bickered over issues such as expanding government health insurance, how much to spend to combat climate change and criminal-justice policy.

The pair also must work with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York to win over enough Republicans to clear that chamber’s 60vote threshold for most bills.

Control of the Senate hinges on the outcome of two Jan. 5 runoff races in Georgia.

The last time a Democratic president came into office, the party had a comfortable House majority and briefly held a Senate supermajority. This time, with two House races not called, Democrats have only a few more seats than the 218 required for a House majority. Mr. Biden has tapped three House lawmakers to serve in his administration, which will temporarily shrink the majority further.

Mrs. Pelosi will need to hold most of her caucus together Sunday as she seeks approval from the full House

Colleagues say President-elect Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have developed ties based on mutual trust. for another term as speaker.

She faced no opposition within her party to remain their leader in a November vote.

She said it would be easier to unite her members behind a common agenda with a Democrat in the White House— when it will be more likely that legislation they pass will become law—than under President Trump. “It’s a very unifying thing,” Mrs. Pelosi said in an interview, noting that roughly 100 House Democratic lawmakers have never served with a president of their party.

Mr. Biden, through a spokesman, declined to be interviewed. “The Presidentelect’s respect and admiration for Speaker Pelosi dates back decades,” said Biden spokesman TJ Ducklo. “Their strong friendship is rooted in a shared dedication to public service, and devotion to their families and their faith.”

Mr. Biden, 78 years old, and Mrs. Pelosi, 80, have known each other since well before they took on two of the top jobs in American politics. Mrs. Pelosi recalls being invited to a party by Mr. Biden in Rehoboth Beach, Del., in the late 1980s, when she was a new

member of Congress.

She knew the then-senator from Delaware through party politics, and at the gathering he introduced her to friends. The only problem: Many heard her first name and confused her for the professional golfer Nancy Lopez. “I didn’t want to disappoint them; I just smiled,” the speaker recalled, laughing.

Over the years, the two established a friendship in which they refer to each other by their first names, a rarity for Mrs. Pelosi. Both are Roman Catholics and cite their faith as a motivation for their service.

When Mr. Biden, then a senator, championed the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, Mrs. Pelosi helped whip votes in the House. Later, Mrs. Pelosi oversaw foreign spending on the House Appropriations Committee while Mr. Biden was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the two traveled together to Europe in 1997 with thenPresident Bill Clinton.

In the Obama administration, Mr. Biden was frequently sent by the White House to talk through deals with the speaker, including the auto industry bailout and the Affordable Care

Act, said John Lawrence, Mrs. Pelosi’s then-chief of staff.

“She felt that when she was talking to Biden, she was talking to a peer and someone who understood the congressional side of White Housecongressional relations better than other people in the White House,” he said.

Mrs. Pelosi at times has been critical of Mr. Biden, particularly around his dealings with sexual harassment.

During the 1991 confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Mrs. Pelosi and other female lawmakers urged Senate leadership, which included Mr. Biden— then-chairman of the Judiciary Committee—to re-examine Justice Thomas’s nomination in light of sexual-harassment allegations made by Anita Hill.

In April 2019, Mrs. Pelosi said allegations made against Mr. Biden of inappropriate touching didn’t disqualify him from running for president, but that he needed to be more careful.

Rohit Kumar, a former deputy chief of staff to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), said that both Democrats know how to negotiate bipartisan deals but that Mr. Biden

may be more inclined to do so.

“Biden is more moderate than Pelosi,” said Mr. Kumar, who is now a co-leader of PwC’s national tax office. “He’s willing to cut deals that she would not be willing to do.”

Mr. Kumar said that during a 2012 meeting about a set of looming tax increases and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff,” Mrs. Pelosi talked at length about her opposition to efforts to weaken the estate tax.

Forty-eight hours later, Mr. Kumar said, Mr. Biden agreed to set the estate-tax parameters at levels that raised less money than Democrats wanted, though he didn’t accept Republicans’ calls to repeal the tax. Since then, Democrats have unsuccessfully tried to raise estate-tax rates and lower the exemption.

One intraparty fight could break out over expanding access to health care, which Mrs. Pelosi says is one of her top goals. Progressives want to extend Medicare to all Americans. Mr. Biden and Mrs. Pelosi instead have proposed creating a public option to compete against private insurers.

—Richard Rubin contributed to this article.

WASHINGTON—Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for Treasury secretary, collected more than $7 million in speaking fees during more than 50 in-person and virtual engagements over the past two years, according to financial disclosures released Thursday.

A separate ethics agreement outlined Ms. Yellen’s plans to resign as a consultant to Magellan Financial Group Ltd., an investment-fund manager based in Australia, upon her confirmation. Ms. Yellen began consulting for the firm one year after leaving her post as Federal Reserve chairwoman in early 2018.

The agreement said Ms. Yellen would seek special authorization for one year when dealing with matters pertaining to Magellan, according to forms posted online by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.

The agreement outlines similar steps she would take for 16

Senate Overrides Trump Veto Continued from Page One The action follows the House’s 322-87 override on Monday, and the bill now becomes law.

“Our Republican Senate just missed the opportunity to get rid of Section 230, which gives unlimited power to Big Tech companies. Pathetic!!!” Mr. Trump tweeted Friday. The legal immunities for social-media companies are enshrined in section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Lawmakers haven't forged any agreement for replacing or changing section 230, though members of both parties are critical of it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.,

additional financial firms or entities from which she collected speaking fees in the past year, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and hedge-fund firm Citadel LLC. Those measures would be in place until one year after the speaking fee was paid.

Like many former government officials, Ms. Yellen signed a contract shortly after leaving the Fed with the Washington Speakers Bureau, an agency that helps former heads of state and other political personalities manage scores of speaking requests. Ms. Yellen has spoken frequently since leaving the central bank on the economic outlook and monetary policy, a topic of intense interest to Wall Street firms that closely follow the Fed. Ms. Yellen and her husband—Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof—had assets such as stocks, bondfund shares and bank accounts valued at between $8 million and $19.6 million in 2020, according to the disclosures. The Ky.) in remarks before the vote on Friday said the Senate needed to pass the defense bill as soon as possible.

“It’s our chance to remind brave service members and their families that we have their backs—with facilities, resources, and support befitting the finest fighting forces in the world,” Mr. McConnell said.

Every president since Lyndon Johnson has had Congress override at least one of their vetoes. Congress last did so in 2016, after then-President Barack Obama blocked a bill letting Americans sue foreign governments over terrorist attacks.

Mr. Trump has vetoed eight other bills, with several of them focused on foreign policy and national-security issues, such as U.S. military activity in Yemen, the use of force against Iran and arms sales to Saudi Arabia. While Republicans had joined Democrats to initially pass those measures, supporters couldn’t muster enough

LEAH MILLIS/REUTERS

Yellen Earned Millions in Speaking Fees

BY NATALIE ANDREWS AND NICK TIMIRAOS

Blinken, Haines Disclosures Released

Janet Yellen, Joe Biden’s pick for Treasury secretary, was paid for more than 50 in-person and virtual post-Fed engagements. disclosure forms use ranges rather than specific amounts.

The assets belonging to Ms. Yellen, 74, and her husband are primarily in the form of investments, many of which are part of a living trust the couple created in 1982. In her ethics agreement, Ms. Yellen said she would divest her

shares in 13 large companies, including AT&T, Pfizer and Conoco Phillips, within 90 days of her confirmation.

Her disclosures also show she and her husband own a stamp collection worth between $15,000 and $50,000.

No hearings for Biden nominees have been scheduled in the

GOP votes to override the vetoes from a Republican president.

The NDAA drama came as Mr. Trump’s relationship with Republicans on Capitol Hill has frayed after leaders acknowledged Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

Congress has passed a version of the NDAA every year for decades, and it has been one of the most popular pieces of legislation. Several other presidents in recent history—including Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton—have vetoed an NDAA, according to the Senate Historical Office. In those instances, Congress modified the bill, and the president later signed it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) criticized Mr. Trump for vetoing the bill. “The president’s senseless veto of the National Defense Authorization Act would have hurt the health, financial security and safety of our service members, their

families, our veterans and our allies and partners worldwide,” Mrs. Pelosi said Friday.

After Congress pulled together a bipartisan NDAA bill this fall, Mr. Trump repeatedly threatened to veto it. When the bill passed both houses of Congress with large bipartisan ma-

The president’s relationship with the Capitol Hill GOP has frayed. jorities, Mr. Trump went ahead and vetoed it just before Christmas, forcing the House and Senate to race to override Mr. Trump’s action before the end of the 116th Congress.

A push to increase the size of direct payments in the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill slowed the process in the Sen-

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | A5

* * * * * *

U.S. NEWS

Hospitals say the continued Covid-19 surge will require more relief than Congress included in the new pandemicaid act after lawmakers scaled back health-care funding.

The sweeping bill included $3 billion for relief for hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers for revenue losses and higher expenses as a result of the pandemic, far less than the $35 billion previously proposed.

About $25 billion hasn’t been spent of the $175 billion health-care relief fund Congress created in the spring.

Even so, funds won’t be enough to meet the strain of the latest nationwide surge, said Rick Pollack, the American Hospital Association’s chief executive.

More than 125,000 Covid-19 patients were in U.S. hospitals as of Wednesday, according to the Covid Tracking Project, another national record.

“The surge in cases is ongoing,” said Tom Nickels, the association’s executive vice president, increasing hospitals’ financial strain from higher staffing and supply costs for Covid-19 patients and revenue losses, as other services are suspended. “We anticipate we will need additional funding.”

New limits on relief may also inadvertently disadvantage hospitals with patients most severely affected by the pandemic, health-policy experts said.

A formula used last spring by the Department of Health and Human Services to allocate early relief to providers based awards on revenue. This method resulted in lopsided relief that left hard-hit communities with large Black populations with insufficient funding to match the pandemic’s

toll, researchers found.

In the latest coronavirus aid package, Congress said most federal relief must be used to reimburse providers who apply to be paid back for lost revenue or higher expenses.

An earlier draft of the bill instead directed HHS to consider providers at risk of closing and those underrepresented in early relief payouts, according to hospital trade groups.

Targeting revenue losses fails to take into account that some hospitals earn more revenue because they charge high prices to largely well-insured patients, while others with patients who struggle to get care take in less revenue, said researchers who analyzed early pandemic relief and health policy and economists not involved in the study.

“You can’t lose what you never had,” said Michael Norby, chief financial officer for Houston-based Harris Health System, where slightly more than half of patients are uninsured.

Prior research shows health-care revenue better reflects patients’ access to care, not their medical needs, said health-policy experts.

In an analysis published in August in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that coronavirus relief money wasn’t enough to match the needs of hard-hit communities with more Black residents. According to research they are more likely to face barriers to necessary care, such as insurance gaps or racial bias.

After factoring all announced spending through July 5, which totaled $120 billion, counties with the greatest share of Black residents received more funding overall, $506 per person, on average, versus $380 across remaining

Dwayne Clay continues to battle muscle weakness, pain and numbness after being hospitalized with Covid-19 back in April.

A new estimate of federal pandemic health-care relief found counties with a greater share of Black residents got more aid, on average, but had higher Covid-19 cases and deaths than other counties with equal relief funding.

COVID-19 DEATHS PER 100,000†

BY MELANIE EVANS

L. KASIMU HARRIS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Hospitals Fret Over Reduced Pandemic Aid

Counties with the highest 400 share of Black residents*

400

300

300

200

200

100

100

0 0

1,000

$2,000

0 0

Counties with the lowest share*

1,000

$2,000

CARES ACT FUNDS PER RESIDENT *Based on quartiles. †Feb. 1–June 27.

Source: Pragya Kakani, Amitabh Chandra, Sendhil Mullainathan, Ziad Obermeyer and Jack Luby

counties, the research said.

But when compared with largely white counties that got equal relief funds, counties with the largest share of Black residents had not only more Covid-19 deaths, but also more Covid-19 cases, more wide-

spread chronic disease such as diabetes and hypertension that raise risks from the virus, and hospitals with less cash in reserve and worse margins.

“Even when we try to help the people most in need, while completely well-intentioned,

we do manage to help them a little bit, but not as much as we ought to have,” said Amitabh Chandra, a Harvard University health-care economist and one of the study’s authors.

The initial revenue formula allowed HHS to distribute aid widely and quickly, an agency spokeswoman said. Federal officials considered other approaches, but they would have taken longer, she said. Subsequent payouts used more targeted approaches. The decision

by Congress to call for revenue formulas in the new relief package endorses the agency’s approach, the spokeswoman said.

The only hospital in Starke County, Ind., closed many services when the state ordered a halt to nonessential care in April. Starke Hospital in Knox, Ind., lost millions in revenue, said spokeswoman Kelly Credit. Federal relief offset losses, covered Covid-19 costs and supported critical services, she said.

The county received roughly the same $600 to $700 in pandemic funding per person as Terrebonne Parish, La., although the needs weren’t similar.

The parish reported 54 deaths from Covid-19 for every

100,000 people between the beginning of February and the end of June, the researchers said. Black residents make up one-fifth of the population there. The figure was 13 deaths per 100,000 people in Starke County, where Black residents make up less than 1% of the population.

The pandemic delivered a “double whammy” to patients at the Teche Action Clinic in the Terrebonne Parish city of Houma, La., said physician Ronald Marts. Patients fear the new virus, but economic damage from the pandemic has also made it harder to seek care for chronic, debilitating conditions, he said.

Dwayne Clay, 53, continues to battle muscle weakness, pain and numbness after becoming ill from the coronavirus. Mr. Clay entered Ochsner Health’s Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Terrebonne Parish in April and remained there for 35 days.

His insurance won’t cover continued physical rehabilitation, he said. A truck driver before the pandemic, Mr. Clay has applied for disability. “I am having a hard time—financially, spiritually, medically and emotionally,” he said.

December Broke Records For Virus Cases, Deaths

BY TALAL ANSARI

By nearly every measure, December was the worst month since the pandemic took hold in the U.S. Thanksgiving gatherings, cooler weather and general fatigue from nine months of restrictions contributed to an onslaught of new confirmed coronavirus cases across much of the country, bringing with it the subsequent surge in hospitalizations and deaths that public-health officials had warned of.

New Covid-19 cases stayed above 100,000 a day throughout the month, and more often than not were closer to 200,000, according to an analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University by The Wall Street Journal. Of the country’s 20 million infections reported since the start of the pandemic, over 6.3 million new cases were recorded in December—far more than in any other month.

The second-highest month for newly reported cases was November, which saw 4.4 million infections added. The next closest month was July, during a summer surge that hit some of the country’s most populous states, including California, Texas and Florida, resulting in 1.92 million cases, according to the Journal analysis.

“We are clearly in the third wave of the pandemic in the United States, and it doesn’t show many signs of slowing down,” said Dr. Shira Shafir, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Even if we see a plateau or even a decline in the next few days, it would be the end of January before we see the burden on hospitals lessen and deaths beginning to plateau.”

While the mortality rate of those contracting the virus has improved since the spring thanks to earlier detection and advancements in treatment and therapeutics, the sheer number of cases ultimately resulted in a steadily increasing number of deaths.

Covid-19 Variant Found in Florida Florida health officials said late Thursday that they had detected a case of a new, fastspreading variant of Covid-19 first identified in the U.K., making it the third state in the U.S. to report such a case, after Colorado and California.

The Florida Department of Health said the case had been found in a man in his 20s in Martin County, just north of Palm Beach. The department said the man had no history of travel. It offered no information about his condition.

Studies have suggested that the new variant is more easily transmitted but isn’t necessarily any more virulent.

It also doesn’t appear to be resistant to the newly rolledout vaccines.

—Lukas I. Alpert On Thursday, the U.S. set a new record for the number of current hospitalizations due to complications from Covid-19, with 125,379 people in hospital beds, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

A month earlier, that figure hadn’t yet broken the 100,000 mark and at the end of October, hospitalizations stood at less than 50,000. At the height of the summer surge, hospitalizations never exceeded 60,000.

In California, which has been experiencing a prolonged and severe surge, hospital-bed availability and qualified nurses needed to staff those beds have become a major concern for government and health officials. The intensivecare availability has been at 0% in two large regions.

A total of 77,572 people died in December, according to Johns Hopkins data, making it the deadliest month of the pandemic.

During the spring and summer surges, deaths reached new heights, with the seven-day av-

erage exceeding 2,000 fatalities a day in the spring, and nearly 1,500 in the summer. The seven-day average of deaths in December, meanwhile, has almost always exceeded 2,000 a day and reached a high of 2,659 on Dec. 22, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

On Wednesday, a record 3,750 deaths were reported in a single day, according to the Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data.

The surge in America’s key Covid-19 metrics came despite disruptions in data reporting from Thanksgiving and winter holidays.

Christmas and New Year’s closures were expected to interrupt Covid-19 data reporting from counties and states across the county. Based on previous holidays, including Labor Day, reported cases and deaths tend to drop before the numbers bounce back and level off as local governments and labs catch up on processing tests and reporting results.

A number of factors made the end of the year a deadly and difficult time for many Americans, including underfunded public-health departments, some people’s distrust of health guidelines, fatigue over pandemic restrictions and holiday travel, said Mark S. Dworkin, professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Sunday marked the biggest air-travel day since the pandemic began, with more than 1.28 million people passing through U.S. airport checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Significant travel days in 2020 also included the day before Thanksgiving, when 1.07 million took to the air, and the Sunday after, when 1.17 million people passed through checkpoints.

Vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Inc. were authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration in December. But the vaccine rollout has been slower than some health officials had hoped.

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

* *****

FROM PAGE ONE

Hiccups In Rollout Of Vaccine Continued from Page One may have been an expectation from Operation Warp Speed or others that we’d give everyone the vaccine overnight.…It was a logistics equation for them. If you’ve been in vaccines for a long time, you know that’s the easy part. Getting it into actual arms is the hard part.”

On Friday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) criticized the vaccine rollout, saying in a statement that the lack of a comprehensive federal plan to be shared with states “is as incomprehensible as it is inexcusable.”

Vaccines have mostly gone to health-care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Essential workers like bus drivers or grocery clerks, plus older adults, are expected to be next. The slow rate of vaccinations so far has raised questions about whether those groups will start getting shots this winter and the rest of Americans in the spring, as initially projected.

Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser

Nursing Homes Hit Hardest Continued from Page One higher than that among older people living outside such facilities.

The devastating toll wasn’t inevitable. Countries such as South Korea managed to limit the deaths among nursinghome residents by avoiding widespread community outbreaks and moving quickly to prevent infections from spreading inside the facilities.

Even as it faces a recent surge of Covid-19 cases, the entire east Asian nation has still reported only about 70 long-term care deaths in total. Eight U.S. states have reported more than 7,000 deaths.

“We left the barn door open,” said Samir Sinha, director of health policy research and co-chair at the National Institute on Ageing, a think tank at Toronto’s Ryerson University which attributes more than 70% of Canada’s approximately 14,000 known Covid-19 deaths to long-term care homes. “It was a tragedy,” Dr. Sinha added.

Around the world, the Journal found: Many countries had done little to fortify nursing homes before the coronavirus arrived at their borders, and didn’t have the ability to track the contagion’s spread there, despite the known risks.

Nations often reacted slowly, even after outbreaks erupted. The U.S. waited weeks before putting nursing-home residents in the highest-priority tier for access to Covid-19 testing and months to mandate regular testing of staff.

Failure to contain community spread of the virus reignited nursing-home outbreaks despite improved testing and equipment, with deaths ramping back up as younger, healthier people gathered.

Inquiries into individual nursing homes and the broader government response to outbreaks in the sector are under way in nations including Canada, Sweden, Spain, Italy and France. A nursing-home commission launched by the Trump administration in the U.S. called in September for a more muscular federal response, including greater help for nursing homes with staffing, testing and protective gear.

Covid-19 deaths in eldercare facilities slowed during parts of the summer and early fall, but they have recently risen again in swaths of the U.S., along with European countries like France and Belgium.

In the U.K., where almost 22,000 known Covid-19 deaths have been tied to elder-care homes, or roughly 27% of the total, bereaved families are calling for an investigation.

Britain’s Care Quality Commission, the regulator for the long-term care sector, said in a preliminary report last month that it has learned of dozens of care-home residents made subject to do-not-resuscitate orders early in the pandemic

for Operation Warp Speed, the government’s coronavirus response program, and other federal officials said they hope the pace will increase. “We agree that that number is lower than what we hoped for,” he said at a news briefing Wednesday. “We know that it should be better.”

Public-health officials and states say uptake is lagging for several reasons, beginning with holidays that have kept staff of hospitals and nursing homes away from work. They also note they are facing high percentages of people, including some health workers, who are skeptical of taking the shots.

Hospitals and other sites are staggering appointments to avoid pulling too many workers from caring for patients amid a nationwide surge in cases, officials say. Administration of vaccines also takes more time than a typical flu shot, particularly since they are being done in a socially distant way and may be preceded by a Covid-19 test.

In addition, people who receive vaccines are being monitored for at least 15 minutes in case of allergic reactions. At least 11 reactions to Covid vaccines have been reported, according to the CDC. No serious safety concerns have been found.

The federal government is sending vaccines to states based on populations, and it

Wider Eligibility Sows Confusion Many states are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to first vaccinate front-line medical workers and people in longterm care facilities, but not all.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Dec. 23 extended eligibility to people age 65 and older.

Because each county and hospital in the state implemented its own approach, many people didn’t know whether to call, log on or show has provided guidelines, but no rules, about how they should be distributed. State and local jurisdictions have been asking the federal government for more funding to support vaccine distribution than the $340 million disbursed so far. The stimulus package signed into law by President Trump contains an additional $8 billion.

Different state policies have led to confusion and shipment delays for hospitals, said Michael Wascovich, vice president of field pharmacy services for Premier Inc., a group-purchasing organization with members including 4,100 hospitals, 80%

up in person to secure a spot.

Officials in Lee County, home to Fort Myers, learned last Saturday that the county would be one of eight in the state receiving doses the following day to inoculate people 65 and older, said Kevin Ruane, chairman of the county commission. With the local health department thinly staffed, they rushed to enlist paramedics and others. They weren’t able to set up a reservation system, leading to hundreds of people lining up before dawn.

“It’s a logistical nightmare,” said Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson. of which received doses.

“Every state is doing what they want to do,” he said. “You could be in Philadelphia and it’s completely different across the river if you’re in Trenton or Camden.”

Community Health Systems Inc., which operates 86 hospitals, is seeking state permission to redistribute doses across its Florida hospitals, while three hospitals in Indiana got no vaccine and workers must get shots elsewhere, complicating efforts to track company immunization rates. “It’s not within our control,” said Lynn Simon, the hospital system’s chief

medical officer.

Forty-two people in West Virginia were mistakenly given Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s antibody treatment designed to fight Covid-19 in those already infected instead of Moderna’s vaccine. None are at risk of being harmed, according to the West Virginia National Guard.

In Hidalgo County, Texas, a medical practice received 1,000 doses for health-care workers, but only two people responded, said Ivan Melendez, the public health authority for the county near the Mexican border.

“I think there was an overestimation of the numbers,” Dr. Melendez said.

Now, some public-health officials are concerned the country may not be ready for the next phase of vaccination.

The U.S. health system and its stretched local health departments weren’t prepared for the volume to vaccinate an entire country in a few months, according to Ms. Hannan, the director of the immunization association.

“The real challenge is around what happens when we get a larger supply and what happens when we have to vaccinate people that don’t work in a hospital,” she said.

—Melanie Evans contributed to this article.

Pharmacist Accused of Tampering With Shot

BY LUKAS I. ALPERT

A pharmacist at a Wisconsin hospital was arrested for allegedly removing doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from a refrigerator overnight to render them useless so that people who received them would believe they had been inoculated when they had not, police said.

The Aurora Medical Center in Grafton initially disclosed the event last week. The hospital said the pharmacist, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was fired and the matter turned over to police. The pharmacist was charged with recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property.

The hospital said that after consultation with vaccine maker Moderna Inc., it was determined that the vaccine that was left out remained viable and was subsequently administered to 57 patients.

Covid-19 has been particularly devastating for residents of long-term care facilities, who represent small fractions of overall populations but huge shares of coronavirus deaths.

NORTH AMERICA

EUROPE U.K.

France

Germany

Spain

79,830 deaths

63,109

30,126

30,004

Canada 14,291 total Covid 19 deaths

59%

72% of the deaths were nursing home residents

27% 30% 27%

333,118 total deaths in the U.S.

Belgium 18,054

38%

Netherlands 9,584

49%

57%

Sweden 7,802

Austria Portugal Slovenia Ireland Denmark Lithuania Finland 3,824 5,127 2,363 432 633 346 2,073

47%

42%

35% 35%

Long-term care deaths as a percentage of total Covid-19 deaths

ASIA and OCEANIA Israel 3,137

Australia 908

South Korea 722

75%

9%

New Zealand 25 64%

32%

without their consent or their family’s knowledge. The commission said it is investigating how widespread the practice was to determine whether any breaches of British humanrights law took place.

There are significant differences in how nations track data, including Covid-19 deaths, making direct comparisons challenging. There are also wide variations in how long-term care facilities are regulated and categorized.

Still, many countries show a similar pattern of highly concentrated Covid-19 deaths linked to these facilities, according to researchers.

Known risks The sector has long struggled with understaffing and safety lapses. An OECD working paper, released in September but largely written before the pandemic, pointed to a workforce not large or welltrained enough to cope with an expanding and increasingly frail population. “Preventable safety failures are endemic,” the report said, including falls and infections.

The risk of an airborne virus to many traditional nursing homes had long been known.

Often, they are crowded with unhealthy elders who might share bedrooms or bathrooms without the protective ventilation or equipment.

The setups were ready-made for a respiratory virus to run rampant. Researchers examining outbreaks in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, found crowded nursing homes that predated 1999 design standards tended to have worse outbreaks once the coronavirus got inside.

“Once the virus gets in, the crowded homes had many more deaths and the highest rates of infection,” said Nathan Stall, one of the study authors, and a geriatrician at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

A spokeswoman for Ontario’s Ministry of Long-Term Care, established in 2019, said the government is investing in

improvements after decades of neglect and acted swiftly to address outbreaks.

Some governments with memories of prior respiratory outbreaks were closely focused on the danger even before Covid-19 struck, and their efforts often made a difference.

As Covid-19 loomed in late January 2020, Hong Kong shut its care homes to most visitors.

Nearly everyone in Hong Kong was wearing a mask by midFebruary to limit community spread of the virus. The government decided any infected care-home residents would immediately be sent to hospitals, and other exposed residents or staff removed from the facility to quarantine. As of Nov. 29, Hong Kong, with more than 76,000 nursing-home beds, had seen 30 resident Covid-19 deaths, according to Dr. Lum. South Korea moved quickly to shut its nursing homes to visitors, taking action Feb. 17.

Despite tough infection-control measures, South Korea saw cases in at least five nursing homes as part of a major outbreak in Daegu, its fourth-largest city, in late February.

Public-health authorities limited community spread of the virus through rigorous testing, contact tracing and quarantining of infected people. That month, health authorities screened 1,470 nursing homes nationwide to remove caretakers who had recently traveled to China or exhibited symptoms of Covid-19. Soon after, they began testing nursinghome residents and staffers nationwide even though many regions hadn’t reported any coronavirus infections. South Korean officials would test nursing homes anytime a cluster popped up in a nightclub, church or other venue.

When the virus infiltrates a facility, the government sends in contact tracers to check medical records and track where staffers had been in the past few weeks, using GPS records. Recently, nursing-home caretakers were banned from attending private gatherings outside of work, to ensure they

don’t bring the virus into nursing homes—a step that goes well beyond efforts in the U.S. and other countries.

The U.S. and many European countries took few early steps to bolster their nursing homes with equipment, testing or manpower. By the end of February, the consequences began emerging.

On Feb. 28, a hospitalized resident from Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home near Seattle, became the first there to test positive for Covid-19, revealing an outbreak that would kill dozens. The 73year-old died on March 2.

One day later, a worker at a Sydney care home was diagnosed with Covid-19, the start of Australia’s first long-term care outbreak; three-quarters of Australia’s approximately 900 Covid-19 fatalities have

“We left the barn door open.

It was a tragedy,” Dr. Samir Sinha. been linked to such facilities.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron visited the Péan nursing home March 6 to highlight the dangers Covid-19 posed to the elderly. Nine days later, the home reported its first infection and by the end of April seven of its 94 residents had died.

Many countries, including the U.S., Spain and Italy, initially couldn’t accurately track the devastation among residents, as they had no national data on Covid-19 deaths in the facilities.

The lack of testing has made the Covid-19 toll even harder to quantify. In April, after a public outcry, France ordered nursing homes to report any deaths staff suspected were linked to Covid-19. More than 3,000 were reported for the month of March alone. The tally recently topped 19,000, representing nearly a third of known

59%

17%

42%

53%

Note: Select countries. National definitions of long-term care and standards for counting the deaths of residents from these facilities often differ. Data from most countries is from late November or more recently; exceptions include Spain, Denmark and Finland, where as-of dates are Sept. 15, Sept. 21 and Oct. 8, respectively. Reporting on U.S. long-term care numbers lag overall Covid-19 death reporting.

Sources: WSJ analysis of data from national and local health and infectious disease authorities; National Institute on Ageing in Canada; Johns Hopkins University

Covid-19 deaths.

Testing Public reports released on March 18 and April 3 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about the Kirkland outbreak and others in Washington state, highlighted how the virus spread rapidly and invisibly inside facilities, often carried by residents and workers who lacked clear symptoms, making mass testing a vital bulwark. Staffers had “inadequate familiarity and adherence” to infectioncontrol practices.

Staffers who worked at both the Kirkland nursing home and others in the region also appeared to seed outbreaks in several facilities, the March 18 CDC report said. Such practices have long been common, as low-paid workers take multiple jobs to make ends meet.

The Kirkland investigators saw the finding of asymptomatic spread as central, said Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, health officer for the public-health entity of Seattle and King County, where Kirkland is located.

The U.S. CDC issued testing guidelines on March 24 that didn’t put nursing homes in the top priority category for testing. According to emails reviewed by the Journal, the White House coronavirus task force was closely involved in those guidelines, with testing czar Brett Giroir sending the final draft to top CDC officials on March 23.

Long-term care facility residents with symptoms didn’t get into the top testing tier until April 27, according to a reconstruction of the evolving guidelines. Even then, asymptomatic nursing-home residents weren’t mentioned in the priority groups. Federal regulators didn’t mandate testing of nursing-home staff until August. They never blocked workers—among whom the government has counted more than 400,000 infections and at least 1,268 deaths—from moving between facilities.

A CDC spokesman declined

to comment. Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulates nursing homes, said her agency had acted quickly and aggressively to protect nursing homes. She said the testing mandate came in tandem with a federal effort to provide equipment, and banning staffers from working in multiple facilities could have worsened shortages. CMS began releasing data on Covid-19 in nursing homes in early June.

“Because of the work that we’ve done, we’ve actually saved many, many lives,” she said. She faulted responses in some states, and said, “at the end of the day, the ultimate responsibility is the nursing homes’.”

A spokeswoman for Adm. Giroir’s office said that “early in the pandemic, Covid-19 tests were strategically prioritized to allocate resources and help prevent the spread of the virus.” Hospitalized patients and symptomatic health-care workers were highest on the list “so they would not infect others in their hospitals and not overwhelm health-care systems.”

In France and Belgium, some nursing-home employees have said they weren’t allowed to send ill residents to hospitals, leaving them without effective treatment and raising the risk of infection spreading inside the facilities.

In the U.K., the rush was to protect the country’s National Health Service from being overwhelmed by Covid cases.

The NHS told hospitals to discharge patients to clear up capacity, according to a report by the National Audit Office, which monitors government spending. Between March 17 and April 15, around 25,000 were sent to care homes without mandatory testing for the novel virus, the report said.

The Department of Health and Social Care, the government department responsible for the NHS, said in June when the report was published that it made the right decisions at the right time and 60% of care homes avoided an outbreak.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

* * * *

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | A7

WORLD NEWS

U.K., EU Part Ways on Day 1 of Brexit Decades of free trade, regulatory obstacles ended on Friday, while travelers face new rules The U.K. left the European Union behind Thursday, 48 years after it joined the bloc, a significant shift in the global order that will also bring big changes for ordinary Britons.

On Jan. 1, decades of trade with the EU unencumbered by customs declarations and regulatory obstacles ceased, one of several changes likely to have big and lasting effects on the British economy. The rights of a U.K. citizen to live, work or study in any other EU member state also fell away, highlighting the extent of the EU’s reach into its citizens’ daily lives. EU citizens also lost those rights in the U.K. For supporters of Brexit, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, such costs are justified by the benefits and opportunities that exiting the EU will bring. Leaving will allow the U.K. to boost British trade with the rest of the world and set laws to shape its economy and society without interference from Brussels, they say. “Brexit is not an end but a beginning and the responsibil-

FRANK AUGSTEIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY JASON DOUGLAS

Officials scanned a truck driver’s documents as he checked in to board a train through the Eurotunnel in England on Friday. ity now rests with all of us to make the best use of the powers that we have regained,�

Mr. Johnson said Wednesday.

The deal reached on Christmas Eve between London and Brussels on terms of their future relationship ran to more than 1,000 pages, covering areas as diverse as fishing rights and cooperation between lawenforcement agencies. Still, some major areas of the U.K.’s

post-EU arrangements with its neighbors have yet to be completed, notably the long-term basis for trade in financial services and the cross-border exchange of data. The U.K. is a powerhouse exporter of the former, while the latter is one of the most important lubricants of global commerce.

For businesses, the keenest changes on Jan. 1 will be felt

by British exporters and im-

porters trading with the EU. New procedures on customs declarations and regulatory paperwork will come into effect. Tariffs won’t be levied on goods trade but companies importing components from across the world to produce goods for sale in the EU will need to comply with rules of origin, which specify a maximum level of foreign inputs that a finished product can

contain to avoid tariffs.

The U.K. has said it would give firms bringing goods into the U.K. a degree of leeway in enforcing the new rules to smooth the passage of goods.

The EU hasn’t given any such assurance, raising the possibility of delays and disruption to cross-border trade while the new arrangements settle in.

That disruption is likely to hurt economic growth, espe-

cially in the first quarter, and linger throughout the year, economists at Citi said in a research note.

Overall, Citi estimates the disruption will reduce U.K. gross domestic product in 2021 by about 2%, compared with what it would have been if it had remained within the EU’s single market, its zone of common regulation and its customs area.

Services firms face similar, if not greater challenges. The free-trade agreement between the U.K. and the EU included only general provisions for trade in cross-border services that don’t match the level of access available within the single market, the Institute for Government said in a report.

For British families, Jan. 1 brought changes, too. Tourists with a British passport no longer can use fast-track lines for EU citizens with automatic gates at airports. Those traveling to EU destinations can shop duty-free—but face new restrictions on how much alcohol they can buy. EU caps on certain cellphone charges will no longer apply. British students face higher fees and access requirements to study at EU universities. And pets, who could travel freely with their owners throughout the bloc, now need a vet to issue them a clean bill of health to enter an EU country.

North Korea Tells Europe It Wants to Improve Ties With U.S. North Korea wants to have good ties with the U.S., a diplomat said in a December meeting with a European lawmaker,

By Timothy W. Martin in Seoul and Laurence Norman in Brussels in one of Pyongyang’s only exchanges with the West in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Kim Jong Un regime cut contact with much of the

outside world in 2020. It sealed off its borders to battle Covid-19. Most foreign embassies in Pyongyang have closed.

North Korea has rebuffed overtures from the U.S. and South Korea to rekindle peace talks.

But in the days before the November U.S. elections, North Korea reached out to a European Parliament committee, tasked with handling Korean Peninsula ties, for an online meeting, the people said. The head of the European Parliament delegation, Lukas Mandl,

agreed to an informal videoconference conversation with North Korea’s Berlin ambassador.

The exchange had been suggested by the North’s officials from its Berlin embassy, which is the Kim regime’s de facto hub for regional affairs.

In the meeting, the North Korean ambassador repeated a goal of forging a strong relationship with the U.S., as long as Washington’s hostile policy to the Kim regime is dropped, the people said. The stance was received positively, one of the

people said, as it didn’t represent a darkening in Pyongyang’s position as Presidentelect Joe Biden takes office.

North Korea and the European Parliament also expressed hope to send delegations each way as early as fall 2021, the people said.

In recent years, U.S. allies in Europe have served as one of the few go-betweens between Washington and Pyongyang, as the two countries have stalemated on nuclear talks. North Korea has no diplomatic pres-

ence in Washington.

Mr. Mandl, an Austrian who is the chairman of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with the Korean Peninsula, confirmed the exchange. North Korea’s Berlin embassy didn’t respond to an emailed request to comment.

North Korea has been consumed by domestic affairs that will take center stage at a rare Workers’ Party Congress meeting this month.

Pyongyang watchers expect the North will exercise caution

as it evaluates how an incoming Biden administration will approach denuclearization talks.

North Korea has preferred a step-by-step process, as the U.S. removes some economic penalties. Washington has coveted a grander bargain in which the North agrees to specifics before sanctions are relaxed.

Mr. Biden has advocated for mixing pressure with what he calls “principled diplomacy.�

He has rejected President Trump’s strategy of unconditional summits with Mr. Kim.

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

WORLD NEWS

U.S., Iraq Warn Iran Not to Attack

Jimmy Lai was returned to custody Thursday after a court suspended his bail. He is charged with fraud and national security violations.

Court Orders Hong Kong Media Mogul Back to Jail The case against democracy advocate Jimmy Lai is being scrutinized by Beijing

BY NATASHA KHAN HONG KONG—An outspoken newspaper mogul and advocate for democracy in Hong Kong will have to return to jail after a court suspended his bail in a case that is fueling tensions between Beijing and the city’s judiciary.

Prosecutors had requested an emergency hearing after a Hong Kong court allowed Jimmy Lai, who is charged with fraud and national security violations, to be released on $1.29 million bail last week and put under house arrest. He was the first defendant accused under the new national security law to be freed on bail.

On Thursday, the city’s highest court ruled that he would have to return to prison pending a Feb. 1 review of the threshold for granting bail under the new law, which will be conducted by an appeal committee made up of three judges.

The case is being closely

watched by Beijing. On Dec. 26, the People’s Daily, a newspaper seen as a mouthpiece for China’s Communist Party, called the decision to grant bail unbelievable, saying in a commentary that the bail conditions were disproportionate to the damage to national security that could be caused by Mr. Lai—who it branded as “notorious and extremely dangerous.”

Mr. Lai, who arrived for the hearing Thursday holding a Bible, is a prominent Hong Kong entrepreneur who built a successful clothing brand before founding Apple Daily, a newspaper that openly criticizes China’s Communist Party and pro-Beijing figures in Hong Kong. He appeared regularly at pro-democracy protests.

In court on Thursday, the prosecution argued that the national security law carried a no-bail provision and that the public couldn’t afford to have defendants released because the offenses covered under the law are as serious as treason and murder. Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal ruled that the judge may have erred in his decision to grant bail, and the coming hearing would determine how to handle Mr.

Lai’s bail under the national security law.

The People’s Daily and other Chinese state media have increasingly criticized Hong Kong’s judiciary in recent months, suggesting that Beijing could still decide to intervene. The newspaper said in the Dec. 26 commentary that there could be grounds for invoking a provision in the national security law that would allow the central government to assert jurisdiction over certain cases and move defendants to the mainland for trial.

The law, imposed by Beijing after massive pro-democracy protests brought the city to a standstill at times in 2019, gives authorities broad latitude to prosecute people for collusion, secession and sedition. The newspaper’s commentary also pointed to the case of a student who was facing rioting charges and later went into hiding, adding: “Are these painful lessons not enough of a wake-up call?”

“Jimmy Lai is an important pawn for some external forces, and has great anti-China value—external forces have the motive to facilitate his escape from Hong Kong,” the paper wrote. “Who will be re-

sponsible if he flees or continues to bring harm to Hong Kong while he’s out on bail?”

Hong Kong’s courts have long been lauded for their independence, in part contributing to the city’s status as an international hub for business and finance. Based on commonlaw principles and a legacy of its British colonial past, the courts are seen as one of the last holdouts against Beijing’s increasingly assertive rule.

“This case is a critical turning point in the unfolding of the national security law and a crisis for the judiciary in Hong Kong,” said Jerome Cohen, a New York University law professor and China legal authority who worked in Hong Kong, adding that the Dec. 26 article was “an evident attempt to put the greatest public political pressure on Hong Kong’s independent judiciary.”

On Tuesday, High Court Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang wrote in a judicial release detailing his decision to grant bail last week that Mr. Lai had an arguable case and the high threshold for bail under the national security law could be met by imposing strict conditions.

Iraqi lawmaker Amer al-Fayez.

The delegation also delivered the message that Washington would hold Iran responsible for any attack, according to an Iraqi government official.

On Wednesday, the U.S. dispatched two B-52 bombers on a flight over the Middle East in a show of force directed at “anyone who intends to do harm to Americans or American interests,” said the U.S. Central Command.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif responded on Twitter, saying, “Iran doesn’t seek war but will OPENLY & DIRECTLY defend its people, security & vital interests.”

Iranian-backed militias have organized a series of events to mark last year’s drone strike.

In recent days, new billboards have gone up along the airport road, rebranding it “The Martyr Al Mohandes street,” after the militia commander who was killed alongside Gen. Soleimani.

On Sunday, a demonstration is planned in central Baghdad to demand that U.S. troops leave the country.

A year ago, militia members and supporters breached the outer perimeter of the U.S. Embassy after a vigil to protest the killing of more than two dozen fighters in a U.S. airstrike. That strike followed the killing of a U.S. contractor in a rocket attack on a base hosting coalition troops in northern Iraq.

Security forces have beefed up their presence in Baghdad in recent days, particularly in and around the Green Zone, according to Iraqi security officials.

During the past year, the U.S. has reduced its footprint in Iraq, abandoning smaller isolated outposts and cutting troop numbers to about 3,000.

BAGHDAD—U.S. and Iraqi authorities warned Iran and Iranian-backed militias that any attacks on American diplomats or military forces here would be met with swift retaliation as the anniversary of a U.S. drone strike that killed one of Tehran’s top military leaders approaches.

“No one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack,” the top U.S. military commander for the Middle East, Gen. Frank McKenzie, said Wednesday.

Calls from Iranian-backed militia groups for violence against Americans have increased in the run-up to Jan. 3, the day last year that Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and an Iraqi paramilitary commander with him were killed as they left Baghdad airport.

On Thursday, a pro-Iranian Iraqi news group on the messaging service Telegram published a picture of the U.S. Embassy captioned: “Remember always I can see what you are doing.”

The U.S. strike that killed Gen. Soleimani, and an Iranian counterstrike against U.S. forces with ballistic missiles, raised fears of open warfare in the Middle East. Tensions gradually eased, but Washington and Tehran remain at odds over Iran’s nuclear program and its support for foreign militias.

Last month—days after a barrage of rockets slammed into Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to foreign diplomatic missions—Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi dispatched a delegation to Tehran asking the government there to help curb attacks, according to

ALAA AL-MARJANI/REUTERS

YAT KAI YEUNG/NURPHOTO/ZUMA PRESS

BY ISABEL COLES AND GHASSAN ADNAN

Iraqi students mark the one-year anniversary of a fatal airstrike.

Russia Across Brazil, a Wave of Black Politicians Take Office Charges Navalny With Fraud MOSCOW—Months after suffering a near-fatal nerve agent attack, Alexei Navalny is facing new legal problems in Russia that have clouded the future of his opposition movement here and raised the stakes for his plans to return from Germany, where he has been recuperating.

Mr. Navalny and his supporters have denied Russian authorities’ accusations this week that the Kremlin’s bestknown critic violated probation orders and defrauded supporters of millions of dollars in donations. They say the allegations are meant to deter him from returning to Russia, where he has promised to reinvigorate his network of activists.

Mr. Navalny fell unconscious in August aboard a flight to Moscow after meeting with supporters in Siberia.

He subsequently was evacuated to Berlin, but he has promised to return and challenge candidates allied with President Vladimir Putin in parliamentary elections. He has made efforts to publicly identify his attackers.

“They are trying to throw me in jail because I didn’t die on that plane and looked for the killers myself,” he said in an Instagram post.

The Kremlin has dismissed European authorities’ conclusions that Mr. Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok and has stood by the diagnosis offered

by Russian doctors that he lost consciousness because of a metabolic imbalance akin to a severe drop in blood sugar.

50 people from quilombos, remote communities made up of the descendants of escaped slaves who have had little political representation, will move into jobs as council members in towns outside these settlements. Large cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba, usually represented by whites, saw inroads by Black politicians into city councils.

There are few Black and mixed-race people in politics in Brazil’s top cities. But change is happening. The share of Brazilians embracing their African heritage and identifying as Black or mixed-race has risen to 56% of the population in 2019 compared with 51% a decade earlier, according to the government statistics agency.

While leftist parties have traditionally been the first to champion racial equality in the country, Brazil’s rising generation of Black politicians includes many who are conservatives and devoutly religious.

Ms. Rosim, the daughter of evangelical Christian pastors,

ran for Brazil’s right-wing Patriota party, which is allied with President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been accused of racist rhetoric. Ms. Rosim said Patriota party officials proposed she run, hoping to capitalize on her familiar face in Bauru.

While she said she doesn’t always agree with the way Brazil’s fiery leader expresses himself, she shares his socially conservative agenda.

“Because of being a conservative, people wanted to put me in a box, they told me I was acting against my own race,” said Ms. Rosim.

Unlike the U.S., there was no civil war, no large-scale civil-rights movement and no debate about a national racial reckoning.

White Brazilians not only dominate politics but are more likely to be richer, have a university degree, hold managerial positions, and live longer and healthier lives. Of the poorest 10% of Brazilians, three-quarters are Black or mixed-race. Black Brazilians

CARL DE SOUZA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

BY THOMAS GROVE

BAURU, Brazil—In its 124year history, this midsize, mostly white city in Brazil’s prosperous farming belt had never had an Afro-Brazilian as mayor. Until now.

The inauguration Friday of Suéllen Rosim, 32 years old, comes as thousands of Black and mixed-race politicians from across the political spectrum take office in municipal governments nationwide in what is being hailed as a victory for people of color and a big step against racism in Latin America’s largest country.

A growing appreciation of Brazil’s African heritage and the rising profile of influential Black politicians have fueled the shift. Brazil has the biggest Black or mixed-race population of any country outside Africa, nearly 120 million— more than half the population—but only 4% of politicians in Congress are Black.

A Supreme Court ruling in October that forced parties to allocate a percentage of their state-provided campaign funds to Black and mixed-race candidates also elevated politicians of color and encouraged more to identify as such.

“We’re showing that it’s possible—it’s possible to be a woman, to be Black, and to be a mayor, a state governor or even president,” said Ms. Rosim, a gospel singer and former television news anchor in this city of 380,000 people.

In November’s municipal elections, for the first time, Black and mixed-race politicians made up a majority of all candidates running for mayor and council seats across this country of 210 million people.

That was up from 48% in the 2016 municipal elections. In the first round of voting more than 40% of Black or mixed-

race candidates were elected, about 1,700 of them as mayors and close to 26,000 as council members, according to Brazil’s electoral court.

Brazil’s most common racial mix is Black and white; political candidates with Black ancestry can identify themselves as either Black or mixed-race.

The outcome in some corners of Brazil points to the newfound power: More than

LUCIANA MAGALHAES/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

BY LUCIANA MAGALHAES AND SAMANTHA PEARSON

Bauru mayor, Suéllen Rosim, top, was one of many Black politicians to take office Friday. Wall art in Rio de Janeiro depicts Brazilian councilwoman Marielle Franco near where she was killed in 2018.

also accounted for three-quarters of homicide victims and nearly 80% of the 6,375 people killed by the police in 2019.

Anger over violence against Black Brazilians rose here and abroad in November when security guards were filmed beating a Black customer to death outside a grocery store in Porto Alegre, a city in the south, a region made up mostly of descendants of European immigrants.

For Ms. Rosim, racism had always presented itself in subtle ways, she said. She recalled a university professor told her to straighten her tight curls to get a job. She said she has gotten dirty looks from store employees, which she chalked up to them concluding she lacked the money to make a purchase.

In politics, she said, the prejudice has been more open and extreme. A death threat came in an anonymous email on the weekend of the runoff vote in late November, referring to her as a “monkey.”

“It said, ‘I’ll kill you, that horrendous hair, how can a city have a mayor like you, I know where you live,’ ” said Ms. Rosim. Other anonymous messages over WhatsApp say no person of color is competent enough to run a city.

Despite the threats, social media has been a factor helping more Black politicians to break into politics, some of those politicians say.

The killing of Marielle Franco, a Black council member in Rio de Janeiro who died in a 2018 slaying that has yet to be solved, also galvanized Black political hopefuls. “We’re seeing new figures of leadership emerge….I believe we’re heading down a path of no return,” said Bia Caminha, a 21-yearold, mixed-race student who was elected as the youngestever city council member in the Amazonian city of Belém.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

* * * *

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | A9

OBITUARIES

ROGER BERLIND 1930 — 2020

S A N DY G R A N T G O R D O N 1931 — 2020

Wall Street Executive Moved On to Broadway

Reluctant Whisky Baron Launched Glenfiddich

BY JAMES R. HAGERTY

L

anding in a thunderstorm, an Eastern Air Lines Boeing 727 crashed and exploded on the fringes of New York’s Kennedy International Airport on June 24, 1975. Among the 113 people killed were Roger Berlind’s wife, Helen, and three of their four children.

Mr. Berlind, the co-founder of a securities firm, suddenly saw no meaning in his Wall Street career.

“I wasn’t in any shape to do anything useful at the firm,” he told The Wall Street Journal later, “and I didn’t want to be there.”

He quit his job to take care of his toddler son, William.

Reverting to his early love of show tunes and theater, he began investing in Broadway productions and soon found himself hooked. Over more than four decades, he had a role in producing more than 100 plays and musicals and won 25 Tony Awards. His hits included “The Book of Mormon,” “Amadeus,” “Sophisticated Ladies” and “City of Angels.”

There were also flops, starting with his first production, in 1976: “Rex,” a Richard Rodgers-Sheldon Harnick musical about Henry VIII. A New York Times critic wrote that the production had “almost everything not going for it.”

Mr. Berlind died Dec. 18 of a heart attack in his sleep at his home in Manhattan. He was 90.

The second of four sons, Roger Stuart Berlind was born June 27, 1930, in Brooklyn and grew up in Woodmere on Long Island. He attended the private Woodmere Academy and played on the football team. His father was a hospital administrator, and his mother an artist who sometimes gave painting lessons.

At Princeton University, Roger Berlind majored in English and was active in the Triangle Club, which produces musicals. After graduating from Princeton in 1952, he served in the U.S. Army and was based in Berlin. Back

home in 1954, he tried to make a living by writing songs. Though a talented pianist who played by ear, he couldn’t sell his songs to publishers and after 18 months began looking for a job on Wall Street.

One obstacle was that he knew little about business or economics. He endured dozens of rejections before signing on at Eastman, Dillon & Co. In 1960, he joined a friend from school days, Arthur L. Carter, along with Peter Potoma and Sanford Weill to create a tiny investment banking firm with big ambitions, Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill. Mr. Berlind cultivated institutional clients and oversaw research. The firm soon became part of a merger wave on Wall Street. By 1973, Mr. Berlind

After a family tragedy, Mr. Berlind reverted to his early love of show tunes and theater. was chief executive of what had become Hayden Stone Inc. Through more deals, that firm was absorbed into Shearson Loeb Rhoades, which merged with American Express in 1981.

After the death of his first wife, Mr. Berlind met Brook Wheeler on a blind date arranged by mutual friends. She worked at a gallery selling reproductions of art from Nelson Rockefeller’s collection. They married in 1979.

For those seduced by the glamour of Broadway, he warned that producing shows was an unreliable way to make money and frequently a way to lose it. If you are good at it, he said, “you may have a success rate of 50%.”

His Manhattan home was decorated with dozens of posters from his productions. He called the display his “Hall of Human Folly.”

BY JAMES R. HAGERTY

S

andy Grant Gordon led a wildly successful product launch—the 1963 introduction of Glenfiddich, creating a global market for single-malt whisky—but claimed little credit.

Mr. Gordon, who died Dec. 21 at the age of 89, was a great-grandson of the founder of the Scottish distiller William Grant & Sons and a reluctant entrant into the business. As a young man, he was more tempted by a career as a lawyer or aircraft designer, until his father, near death, persuaded him to help run the family whisky business.

In the early 1960s, virtually all Scotch exports were blended whiskys, and single malts were little known outside Scotland. But foreign visitors sometimes discovered them and asked why they weren’t sold overseas.

With encouragement from his uncle Eric and brother Charles, Mr. Gordon introduced Glenfiddich single malt to the U.S. and other foreign markets. It was the first single malt “actively promoted” outside Scotland, according to the company, and became the leader in a booming new category. Sales exceeded early expectations.

Glenfiddich was the largest-selling single-malt Scotch by global volume in 2019, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.

“Through ignorance we did the right thing,” Mr. Gordon told the Scotsman in 1993.

The appeal was to would-be sophisticates. “Sit when you drink Glenfiddich, you may never stand for a blended Scotch again,” instructed an early Glenfiddich ad.

Family members described Mr. Gordon as quiet and far more interested in bird-watching than in marketing. He seemed most at ease wearing an anorak and hiking with his golden retrievers.

Yet Mr. Gordon, known to em-

ployees as Mr. Sandy, ran the company as managing director or chairman from 1968 to 1996 and preserved family ownership when much of the industry was falling under foreign control.

A

lexander Grant Gordon, known as Sandy, was born May 6, 1931, in Glasgow. His father was chairman of the distilling company; his mother was a medical doctor.

As a schoolboy in Dufftown, where the company had a distillery, he sat in the back of the classroom, despite poor eyesight that prevented him from seeing the blackboard. After classes were over, he made his way to the board to memorize the remaining chalk marks. As a teenager, he was sent to the Rugby School in England.

At Queens’ College, Cambridge, he earned a degree in math and law. While studying in Cambridge, he met Linda Stobart. When she accepted his marriage proposal, he showed her a little black book in which he had recorded his costs of courting her.

While he was trying to decide on a career, his father was diagnosed with inoperable bowel can-

cer and talked him into sticking with the family firm. As a newcomer in the family business, he was given responsibility for sales to one of the most diverse and difficult markets, Africa.

During one three-month trip, he made 513 sales calls. “It became clear to me that my talents did not lie in selling,” he said later. Still, Africa had its advantages: “It was a most enjoyable tour from the bird-watching point of view because you can see more species in one day in Africa than you can in a year in Scotland,” he reported.

Most of his career was in Scotland, where he found time to climb all 282 Munros, defined as mountains of 3,000 or more feet.

One of his biggest challenges was to anticipate demand trends.

In the early 1980s, the Scotch business slumped deeply as alcohol taxes rose, laws against drunken driving grew stricter and many people switched to other drinks. In more recent years, the television show “Mad Men,” featuring harddrinking advertising executives, helped revive demand for Scotch.

Because Scotch is aged in oak casks for at least three years and often much longer, “you can’t turn the tap on and off the way other businesses do,” Mr. Gordon told an interviewer in 1981.

After retiring in 1996, Mr. Gordon made bird-watching trips to Ethiopia, Peru and the Faeroe Islands, among other places. He supported charities protecting endangered birds and promoting bagpipe competitions. Once a week, he and his wife, Linda, sang with the Greenock Philharmonic choir.

She died in 2019. Mr. Gordon is survived by four children and nine grandchildren.

He liked to drink his Glenfiddich with a little water “to bring out the flavor.”

Read in-depth profiles at WSJ.com/news/types/obituaries

WORLD WATCH THE MORE YOU UNDERSTAND HER WORLD, THE MORE POSSIBILITIES YOU SEE. NARINDER NANU/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

For Julia’s family, early screening for autism made a lifetime of difference.

Find out more at ScreenForAutism.org

A CLEAN START: Sikh devotees took a holy dip on Friday, New Year’s Day, as fog blanketed the area around the Golden Temple religious complex in the northwestern Indian city of Amritsar.

IRAQ

CHINA

AFGHANISTAN

New Covid-19 Strain Is Found in China

Prominent Journalist Large Mine Found Is Killed by Gunmen On Oil Tanker in Gulf

The highly contagious new strain of Covid-19 discovered recently in the U.K. has reached China, according to researchers there.

Chinese researchers detected the new strain in a woman who was tested upon arrival at an airport in Shanghai on Dec. 14 after a flight from the U.K., according to an official publication dated Wednesday.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s publication CCDC Weekly said the case was “the first imported (U.K.) variant in China and poses a great potential threat to the prevention and control of Covid-19 in China.”

CCDC Weekly said the 23year-old woman had tested negative for Covid-19 two days before her flight to China. Later sequencing of her positive test revealed it was different from a small outbreak of cases in Shanghai in November and the strains from Wuhan, where Covid-19 was first found.

The patient’s case of Covid-19 was diagnosed as mild, the paper said, noting that several control measures were taken to isolate the woman and identify those who sat near her or dealt with her on the flight.

—James T. Areddy

An Afghan journalist and human-rights activist was shot and killed on Friday by unidentified gunmen in western Afghanistan, the fifth journalist to be killed in the war-ravaged country in the past two months, a provincial spokesman said.

Bismillah Adil Aimaq was on the road near Feroz Koh, the provincial capital of Ghor, returning home to the city after visiting his family in a village nearby, when gunmen opened fire at the vehicle.

According to the provincial governor’s spokesman, Arif Abir, others in the car, including Mr. Aimaq’s brother, were unharmed.

Mr. Aimaq worked as the head of the local Radio Sada-e-Ghor station and was also a humanrights activist in the province.

No one claimed responsibility for the shooting. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid insisted the insurgents were in no way connected with the attack.

Mr. Aimaq was the fifth journalists slain in attacks in the past two months. Last week, Rahmatullah Nekzad, who headed the journalists’ union in eastern Ghazni province, was killed in an attack by armed men outside his home.

—Associated Press

Iraqi explosives experts were working to defuse a large mine discovered on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and evacuate its crew, authorities said Friday.

The statement came a day after two private security firms said sailors feared they had found a limpet mine on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker in the waters off the Iraqi port of Basra. A limpet mine is a type of naval mine that attaches to the side of a ship, usually by a diver-member of special forces.

It later explodes, and can significantly damage a vessel.

The Iraqi statement said the mine had been attached to a tanker rented from Iraq’s Oil Marketing Company SOMO that was refueling another vessel. Iraq’s naval forces were making “a great effort to accomplish the mission” safely, said Iraq’s Security Media Cell, which is affiliated with the country’s security forces.

It was the first official Iraqi confirmation that a mine was discovered on an Iraqi tanker transferring fuel in the Persian Gulf to another vessel. The discovery came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. in the waning days of President Trump’s administration.

—Associated Press

© 2019 Sesame Workshop. All rights reserved.

A10 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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FROM PAGE ONE

Continued from Page One hand.

The New York Police Department maintained a nineblock perimeter around Times Square to keep crowds from congregating.

The annual show went on for the benefit of the television cameras and some lucky chosen attendees—including hospital employees and food-delivery workers, who were tested for the virus prior to showing up.

For as long as she can remember, Annmarie Gajdos has wanted to ring in the new year in Times Square, joining the raucous crowds as they wait for the crystal-laden, nearly 12,000-pound ball to drop at midnight.

On Thursday night, Ms. Gajdos, a 22-year-old resident of the city’s Staten Island borough, finally got her wish. But

JEENAH MOON/REUTERS

A Quiet Welcome For 2021

Times Square, New Year’s Eve. Plenty of confetti, few people. she practically had the place to herself.

The invitees, who each could bring up to four of their friends or family members, resulted in a crowd of around a hundred.

Each friends-and-family group was separated from others into socially distant, 8by-8-foot pens created with police barricades. They had chairs and access to that rarest of luxuries, at least by the normal tough-it-out standards of New Year’s in Times Square—a toilet.

Ms. Gajdos, who is employed by a mental-health social-work agency, brought her friend, a student, to the celebration.

“We spent the whole night dancing away in our pen,” she said hours into 2021. “I haven’t been able to celebrate like this in a very, very long time.”

The New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square started in 1904 when New York Times owner Adolph Ochs organized a party, including fireworks, to commemorate the opening of the newspaper’s new head-

quarters. The first ball drop was three years later, and has taken place every year since except for two years during World War II, when people marked the New Year with a minute of silence followed by the ringing of chimes, according to Alliance.

Many other big cities scaled back or canceled their New Year’s Eve celebrations this year, including Las Vegas, Sydney, Hong Kong and London.

For those who insisted on celebrating in Times Square but didn’t snag an invitation, there was a virtual alternative.

Real-estate company Jamestown, which owns and manages One Times Square, the building where the famous ball drops, created a free app that let people roam a virtual version of the neighborhood with their own avatar.

About 159,000 users had signed up as of Wednesday, which also featured real views from cameras placed around Times Square on New Year’s Eve, says Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown.

Ronald Colbert, 66, was one of the few who partied in person. A deckhand on the Staten Island Ferry who has been working throughout the pan-

demic, Mr. Colbert was among those chosen to attend.

Mr. Colbert has been celebrating New Year’s in Times Square every year since 1982, and he says he was happy that his streak would remain unbroken, and honored he was chosen.

In recent years, Mr. Colbert has arrived as early as 8 a.m. to secure a spot in front of his preferred vantage point, the Paramount Building on Broadway. He usually went solo, saying it was difficult to convince friends or family to brave the elements and crowds.

He was tested a few years back when the windchill dipped below zero—he says he felt “like my face was going to crack.”

Since his place is reserved, Mr. Colbert didn’t have to show up until the celebration kicked into high gear at 6 p.m.

Despite these perks, he still couldn’t persuade anyone to join him, saying his fellow New Yorkers simply couldn’t believe that Times Square won’t be crowded, cold and uncomfortable on New Year’s Eve. Actually, the reasons so many locals avoid the usual New Year’s Eve celebration were exactly what he longed

Continued from Page One occupancy and revenue. In exchange, Oyo charged hotels fees and commissions.

The model worked in India, where large hotel chains are less common. It has faltered in the U.S., China and Japan, countries with established budget brands. Some current and former employees say it is unclear whether the services Oyo offers hotel owners are attractive enough to entice and keep large numbers of them on its network without the subsidies it had been offering. Revenue at many Oyo hotels didn’t rise as expected even before the pandemic, leaving hoteliers frustrated, hotel owners and former Oyo employees said.

The number of hotel rooms on its network world-wide has declined by more than half in the past year to around 530,000, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

That would diminish the chain’s ranking by number of rooms to around No. 7 globally.

An Oyo spokeswoman said the company’s room count has fallen only 16% compared with 2019. She said Oyo has more than one million rooms on its platform, a number that includes its vacation-home business.

The closely held company, which is unprofitable, offered a guaranteed monthly revenue to many hotels that signed on, digging into its own pockets if necessary to make the payment. The incentive helped quickly boost room count.

But some owners said they were shortchanged. Quan Zhangyue, a 30-year-old hotel owner in the Chinese city of Xi’an, said he accepted the offer in July 2019. Months later, after Oyo refused to pay almost $6,000 Mr. Quan said they owed him, he left the chain.

“100%, I am not going to work with them again,” he said.

Numerous hoteliers in various countries told of similar experiences. An Oyo spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Quan’s claims and said the company was committed to resolving issues with partners.

Oyo said it cut ties with some hotels for failing to comply with their contracts, and that the number of disputes was relatively small compared with the total number of its properties. The company stopped offering minimum guarantees last year to hotels world-wide, saying the arrangement had served its purpose of convincing owners that Oyo would boost occupancy and revenue.

Some hotels that left Oyo were until recently still listed on its website, including some featured in online testimonials.

The spokeswoman said the company’s website was being updated.

Early checkout Entering new markets “comes with a learning curve for every company—Oyo is no exception,” the company’s 27year-old chief executive, Ritesh Agarwal, said in a written

FROM TOP: TORU HANAI/BLOOMBERG NEWS; RODRIGO REYES MARIN/ZUMA PRESS

Oyo Falters After Fast Expansion

for this year, Mr. Colbert said.

“You definitely missed the million people that crowd the square,” he said on New Year’s Day. What brings him back every year in normal times is the possibility of meeting so many different people from around the world, and he plans on keeping his tradition going once the crowds are back. “Nobody throws a party like New York.”

Some aspects of the event remained in place. Confetti rained down on when the clock struck 12. Musical artists performed on stage throughout the night in questionable wardrobe choices.

Grammy Award-winner Gloria Gaynor sang her 1978 disco anthem “I Will Survive” as a fitting coda to 2020. Ms. Gaynor said before her performance she usually feeds off the energy of the crowd, but was prepared for the small audience since she has already done several performances during the pandemic via video from the isolation of her New Jersey home.

“Covid has gotten me used to this,” she said. At least for the Times Square show, she said, she didn’t have to serve as her own camera operator.

India's Oyo Hotels & Homes has attracted billions of dollars of investment, but its rapid global expansion began to falter even before the coronavirus pandemic emerged, and its U.S. holdings are far behind competitors'.

Top global hotel groups by rooms, in thousands

Top U.S. budget brands by rooms, in thousands

Marriott International

Days Inn 1,300

Hilton Worldwide

104 Motel

945

101

InterContinental Hotels Group 818

Super

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts 764

Extended Stay America 70

Accor

Red Roof Inn

91

670

52

Choice Hotels International 569

Econo Lodge

Oyo Hotels & Homes 529

Americas Best Value Inn 36

Top: A Tokyo hotel that had been in the Oyo network. Above: Ritesh Agarwal, Oyo Hotels and Homes chief, left, greeted Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank, in 2019

Best Western Hotels & Resorts 308

WoodSpring Suites 35

Hyatt Hotels 218

Rodeway Inn 32

statement. “We have made our share of mistakes…and improved every aspect rapidly.”

Oyo combines the number of hotel rooms in its chain with its vacation-home business, making it difficult to estimate the size of its hotel operations alone. The Journal’s calculations suggest that at its peak in 2019, the company had around 1.2 million hotel rooms, making it the world’s biggest chain after Marriott International Inc. Some 780,000 of those hotel rooms were in China, Oyo said in 2019, making it the company’s largest market at the

Jin Jiang International 187

InTown Suites 24

Radisson Hotel Group 179

Oyo Hotels & Homes 19

At its peak, Oyo had around 1.2 million rooms, making it second to Marriott. time. Oyo also had more than 400,000 rooms in its vacationhome business following acquisitions that year in Europe, according to Journal estimates.

Oyo tried “to accelerate so much, that’s where the problem came,” said Mitch Presnick, who had launched Wyndham Hotel Group’s Super 8 brand in China and is now chief executive of a small hotel startup.

The company said it now has 70,000 rooms in China, a decline of more than 90% after hoteliers left the network and Oyo pulled out of some cities.

At the same time, Oyo’s vacation-home business has grown. The company has said it has seen a sharp uptick dur-

ing the pandemic in some European countries. Vacation homes make up nearly half of its total rooms, up from roughly a quarter in 2019, according to the Journal’s calculations. Oyo said it was now adding 40,000 rooms a month.

During the pandemic, Oyo cut staff world-wide to about 10,000 from 30,000.

Oyo was founded in 2013 by Mr. Agarwal when he was 19.

The company belonged to a new generation of Indian startups. SoftBank started investing in Oyo in 2015, then transferred its stake to the Vision Fund in 2018, encouraging Mr. Agarwal to think big.

Oyo expanded to Southeast Asia and, in 2018, to China. It launched operations in Japan and the U.S. a year later, while also snapping up vacation homes in Europe and acquiring a business that uses artificial intelligence to price home rentals. A 2019 valuation report viewed by the Journal indicates Oyo had expected the U.S., China and Japan markets to account for more than a third of the business’s value in the next few years.

Oyo has since shifted its focus to India, Europe and Southeast Asia. The company said in a statement it was aiming to increase its revenue 50% to 90% a year for its combined hotel and vacation-home business, less than half its pace of growth in the previous two years that ended in March.

Investors valued the company at $8 billion to $10 billion following a fundraising round in 2019, based on estimates that Oyo would be profitable in 2022.

47

Note: As of October Sources: STR; WSJ analysis (Oyo global)

The company said it has about $1 billion in cash and that its business was rebounding in many markets. Its gross margin globally—revenue after subtracting expenses at individual hotels in its network— has returned to 85% of what it was before Covid-19, Oyo said.

The company is still losing money, around $15 million a month, even after cutting expenses by around 70% compared with the previous year, according to a person with knowledge of the figures. The company has around $500 million in cash, the person said.

The spokeswoman declined to comment on Oyo’s expenses or cash burn. She said Oyo’s stated $1 billion figure for cash includes all subsidiaries and joint ventures. Oyo feels “reasonably comfortable about the cost structure and health of the business,” she said.

The Vision Fund has written down the value of its stake in Oyo by more than half, said the person familiar with the matter. That was a costly blow: The fund had invested more than $2 billion for around half of Oyo, and it had been booking paper gains on its stake for years, the person said.

Price wars Oyo’s problems extended to the U.S. The company hired hundreds of sales representa-

tives and used tactics that were successful in India. Rival sales reps worked the same territories and made calls to the same hotels, annoying owners, former staff said. An Oyo spokeswoman said issues related to overlapping sales territories have been fixed.

Oyo’s internal goal, according to current and former employees, was to enlist approximately 2,000 hotels in the U.S. by the end of 2019. That would have been more than G6 Hospitality LLC’s Motel 6 locations in the U.S., more than Best Western Hotels & Resorts’ total and nearly as many as Wyndham’s Super 8 hotels.

An Oyo spokeswoman said the company met its official target of 250 hotels in the U.S. but that staff sometimes set more ambitious personal goals.

She said Oyo ended 2019 with approximately 300.

In a lawsuit seeking classaction status filed Oct. 28 in Texas, two hospitality companies allege Oyo inappropriately canceled minimum-revenue guarantee contracts with 50 to 70 hotel owners in its network, saying the company used the Covid-19 pandemic as “a convenient cover” for its business failures, according to court filings. In response, Oyo filed a counterclaim saying the plaintiff owners owed the company termination fees, and most recently asked the court to dis-

miss the lawsuit.

Oyo’s game plan included lowering room rates, often dramatically, to boost occupancy.

Oyo executives said the strategy, powered by machinelearning algorithms, would produce higher revenue for hotel owners in the long term.

Oyo’s first U.S. property was a Dallas hotel that typically charged around $70 a night.

Within a day of landing on Oyo’s website, the hotel doubled its occupancy rate to 60%, said Ken Masters, the owner.

Eager to boost guest numbers, Oyo’s Mr. Agarwal ordered the room rate cut to about $20, said people familiar with the matter. A line of customers, including some homeless, soon stretched outside from the lobby.

“We had no control over pricing,” Mr. Masters said.

“They controlled it and made it impossible for us.”

An Oyo spokesman said Mr. Masters decided against renewing his Oyo contract even though his hotel’s revenue had climbed. Mr. Masters didn’t respond to a request for comment about that.

“We had some issues during the early days as this was our first property,” the spokeswoman said, “but the business model success was real.”

Oyo has since introduced a system that sets a minimum price of $30 per room and lets owners raise rates as much as 10%, which the company said has reduced complaints. It also has started weekly satisfaction surveys in the U.S. and China, which Mr. Agarwal reviews personally.

Oyo had planned to become Japan’s biggest hotel chain by early last year, according to a 2019 company document viewed by the Journal. The company signed up hotels before its Japan platform was fully ready, according to hoteliers and former Oyo employees. Its India-built website often didn’t correctly display Japanese text. Its booking system, initially run out of India, yielded data-entry errors— from putting the wrong maps on hotel descriptions to mixing up smoking-room reservations, the hoteliers and former Oyo employees said.

Oyo’s India headquarters at first also didn’t realize that Japanese-style inns charged by the person not the room, said Takanori Suzuki, an inn owner in Tokyo who left Oyo’s network last year. The company said there were pricing issues while Oyo was “learning the ropes of revenue optimization.”

Some of the loudest complaints have been over the monthly revenue guarantees to hotels in China.

Oyo rolled out these contracts in 2019 to compete with global giants like Super 8, as well as brands run by Shanghai-based Huazhu Group Ltd., one of China’s biggest hoteliers.

Guaranteed payments helped Oyo add tens of thousands of hotels to its network, but put its China operations in the red, the company has said.

When Oyo canceled more of its minimum guarantees beginning in late 2019, hotel owners and suppliers filed lawsuits, staged protests at Oyo offices and aired complaints on social media.

—Rolfe Winkler and Zhou Wei contributed to this article.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | A11

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OPINION

Georgia Voters Prepare to Decide the Senate

By Mene Ukueberuwa

The last time a Democrat unseated an incumbent from the upper chamber here was in 1986. Two of them are vying to do so in next Tuesday’s runoffs.

That may be about to change.

Georgia’s two GOP senators were both on the ballot in November— and will be again Tuesday, as neither cleared the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff under Georgia election law. With Republicans holding 50 other Senate seats and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris casting a prospective tie-breaking vote, that means Georgia voters will decide which party controls the chamber.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler was appointed in January when Johnny Isakson retired for health reasons.

“We need to show President Trump that Georgia is a red state!” she tells a crowd Sunday on the patio of a hotel in Columbus, the state’s third-largest city, which borders Alabama.

The remark is one of the few references she makes to the lameduck president. Instead her speech looks ahead to the Biden administration. “If we lose,” she says, referring to herself and Sen. David Perdue, “we don’t just lose the Senate. We’ll lose the country— and we won’t get it back. We won’t get another chance.”

Ms. Loeffler’s brief remarks don’t include a detailed critique of

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Columbus, Ga. oe Biden won Georgia.

That statement isn’t as hard on Republicans’ ears as it was in early November. A hand recount that concluded Dec. 7, the Electoral College vote on Dec. 14, and the simple passing of time have made the result seem final, even among voters who doubt it.

But for weeks, widespread denial among Republicans obscured the result’s significance. With 49.5% of the vote to President Trump’s 49.3%, Mr. Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate since 1992 to carry Georgia. No Democrat since Bill Clinton had won any state in the once solidly Democratic Deep South, defined to include Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina along with the Peach State.

Until this year, Southern Senate delegations seemed to have undergone a similar Republican realignment. With the exception of Alabama’s Doug Jones, who edged out a scandal-plagued Republican nominee in a 2017 special election (and was soundly defeated for a full term in November), no Democrat has won a Deep South Senate seat since 2008, and not one has unseated a Republican incumbent since 1986.

Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue campaign with Ivanka Trump in Milton, Dec. 21. Jon Osoff and Raphael Warnock appear at a rally in Stonecrest, Dec. 28. the next president’s plans—perhaps because she knows Georgia Republicans have it down pat. “It’s about our gun rights, and it’s about the economy,” attendee Jerry Williams, 67, tells me. “I was raised a Democrat, and I actually voted for Jimmy Carter—first mistake I ever made. But the Democratic Party has changed. I don’t even know what it is now.” To Mr. Williams, who is active in Columbus’s Republican group, Georgia Democrats have moved ever further from the state’s core values.

Yet the Biden win and the tight Senate races suggest that the state has moved too. Ms. Loeffler’s challenger, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, leads by 1.8 points, according to the RealClearPolitics poll average.

Jon Ossoff, the documentary filmmaker vying for Mr. Perdue’s seat, leads by 0.8 point, although the incumbent beat him in the November tally, 49.7% to 47.9%. Mr. Williams attributes the shift to new residents in Atlanta and its suburbs: “There’s been a lot of growth around Fulton County, and that’s where you saw Biden’s numbers.

And Gwinnett County”—northeast of Atlanta—“has flipped.”

With Georgia suddenly a swing state, voters have become prone to break it down county by county with the ease of a cable news pundit. “Muscogee is also historically Democrat,” Mr. Williams says. But that county, which is coterminous with Columbus, added little to Mr. Biden’s overperformance because “it isn’t growing like some of the other regions.”

As in the Atlanta area, the bulk of Democratic votes in Columbus are cast by black residents. “I hate to say it,” says Mr. Williams, who is white, “but the divide runs along racial lines.” Yet he echoes Ms. Loeffler in asserting that Georgia still has a conservative majority. A Democratic sweep in the runoffs would show that conservative activists like him “just didn’t fight hard enough.”

Across the state headed northeast is Athens, home of the University of Georgia’s main campus and a stronghold of the other demographic group that has trended Democratic: young college-educated whites. Peyton Oswald, a waitress at Jinya Ramen Bar downtown, hails from that group

and rivals Mr. Williams in confidence for her own side. “There are more young people getting educated and getting involved,” she says. “People are more aware and they’re fighting for people of color, gay rights, Native lands, all of that.” Ms. Oswald, 22, had a traditional upbringing, but she’s thrilled rather than daunted by the social change she perceives: “I grew up in Conyers, and then Gainesville. My family was more conservative. And I’m a nonreligious bisexual woman.” She jumps back to work when two customers come in, but leaves with the parting cry, “Vote blue!”

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he combination of youthful excitement and progressive sternness was in the air at the It’s Time to Vote rally Monday in Stonecrest, featuring both Democratic Senate candidates. Countless features of the event evoke the thought “only in 2020.” It’s a drive-in, with hundreds of cars parked in the lot of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a black megachurch. In place of an invocation, celebrity pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant (Mr. Warnock’s Morehouse College classmate) takes the stage in a camouflage jacket and tells the crowd that the runoffs are a chance to “make America great for the first time!” The event is hosted enthusiastically by Reginae Carter, whose father, rapper Lil Wayne, drew headlines in October when he endorsed Mr. Trump. And the candidates’ remarks are preceded by a three-act concert featuring a DJ who between numbers plays a sound effect of gunshots followed by shattering glass, with the volume on blast.

Eventually, the candidates show up and bring the sternness. Mr. Ossoff seeks to frame his and Mr. Warnock’s campaigns as part of a long tradition of Southern progress. “Think of how far we’ve come,” he says, “that your standard bearers are the young Jewish son of an immigrant and a black preacher who holds Martin Luther King’s pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church.” His invocations of the civil-rights movement aren’t merely symbolic. Citing the contemporary problems of racial violence and alleged voter suppression, he declares that he’ll go to

the Senate to pass “a new Civil Rights Act” and “a new Voting Rights Act that will secure the sacred franchise.”

The implication is that the civilrights movement continues today, literally, and that voting for Democrats is the most urgent way Americans are called to participate. Since the 1960s, black politicians have invoked the struggle against legal oppression to legitimize their candidacies—often with great personal credibility, as in the case of Atlanta Rep. John Lewis, who died in July. But that rhetorical move often exaggerates current racial problems—claiming, for example that police killings of blacks are widespread, or that the black vote in Georgia is being suppressed, despite increases in the black share of overall turnout in recent elections.

The most ambitious part of the rhetorical move is the insistence that conventional Democratic Party causes are part of the civilrights struggle. Mr. Warnock puts on a clinic in this regard.

He begins by casting his opponent as a successor to segregationists: “I don’t know why Kelly Loeffler’s friends are QAnon conspiracists and white supremacists and former members of the Ku Klux Klan.” He recounts his two arrests for civil disobedience—at a 2014 Atlanta sit-in to urge Medicaid expansion and another in Washington in 2017 to protest Mr. Trump’s tax reform.

Progressives like to cite Martin Luther King’s belief that economic and social justice are inseparable.

But the insinuation that tax and health-care policy are literally matters of civil rights is a move meant to shield their policies from criticism. If Democrats’ favored styles of redistribution are the only path to justice, any objection to them can be written off as racism. Policies like school choice, more closely tailored to the most urgent problems facing blacks today, are dismissed with the same false critique.

Young voters often accept these exaggerations. Older ones tend to take a humbler view of politics. After the rally, Dolores Washington, 78, expresses optimism about the progress Southern blacks have made, including in voter turnout.

“It’s real. The more you do something, the more progress you’ll get,” she says, describing her years of volunteering on get-out-the-vote campaigns. Ms. Washington, a retired high-school principal, helped elect Eugene P. Walker in 1984, DeKalb County’s first black state senator. “We have worked so hard in the state of Georgia for voting inclusion,” she says. “We finally have a good system.”

It’s impossible to deny that Republicans face a growing challenge from both suburban and black voters. Idealistic and more-practical Democrats alike are energized by the feeling that they’ve succeeded in turning Georgia blue. For the GOP senators, holding the line may depend on convincing swing voters and their own base to discount the fervid rhetoric and remember their policy record.

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r. Perdue pitches that message Tuesday at a rally in Jackson, a town of some 5,000. Addressing a large crowd from the porch of the local pizza restaurant, he laments Georgia’s choice to return the Democrats to the White House: “What do you call it when someone pushes the same button over and over again expecting a different result? Insanity!” Mr. Biden, he says, will follow President Obama in imposing “the same taxes and the same regulations that held the economy back.

Except it will be even more. That’s like pushing the button harder and expecting a different result.” He touts the pre-pandemic economic rebound under Mr. Trump: “We proved what we stand for actually works!”

With a record number of early votes already in, all four candidates sought to make disciples of their supporters, sending them off to preach to like-minded stragglers. “This is the ‘saved’ right here,” Mr. Perdue tells the crowd.

“We need to find the unsaved.” For decades, Republicans felt secure in their status as Georgia’s favored party, while the Democrats held out hope that their time would come. On Tuesday we’ll know if it has.

Mr. Ukueberuwa is an assistant editorial features editor at the Journal.

What Isn’t the Matter With Hartford?

Hartford, Conn.

The Hartford Courant has had a presence in Connecticut’s capital city for 250 years. Last month the paper’s CROSS COUNTRY owners announced that its newsroom

By Bob would close for Stefanowski good. The Courant will continue to publish, but its reporters and editors will no longer work the phones in its downtown offices. Some journalists may consider the shift to remote work a relief. Hartford is the state’s most dangerous city and, by some measures, among the most dangerous cities in the country.

Once famous as the “insurance capital of the world,” Hartford has been in decline for 30 years. In the 1990s, Hartford’s population hemorrhage made national news. Today it is smaller still, less than 70% of what it was in 1950. Hartford’s poverty rate is one of the highest in the nation. The city is falling apart.

Even before the pandemic, WalletHub.com ranked Hartford 46th among state capitals in affordability, economic well-being, education, health and quality of life. The past nine months are unlikely to have improved that ranking. The city spends more than $400 million annually on education ($17,260 per student) yet nearly 30% of its students don’t graduate high school on time. Only 18% of students in grades 3 through 8 test at age-appropriate levels in math, and 25% do so in reading.

Hartford has been governed almost exclusively by Democrats since

1948. The city’s sole Republican mayor during that time, Antonina Uccello, left office in 1971. Earlier this year Mayor Luke Bronin, 41, embraced the progressive mantra to “defund the police” and reduced the city’s public-safety budget by $2 million, or 6%. The spike in gun violence that followed required Mr. Bronin to ask Gov. Ned Lamont, also a Democrat, to send in the Connecticut State Police. There were more than 200 shootings in the city through the first 11 months of the year—making it Hartford’s most violent year in at least a decade. What does Mr. Bronin think is responsible? A Connecticut Public Radio report put it bluntly: “The mayor blames the explosion of gun violence in his city on COVID-19.”

Mr. Bronin was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019. As a former senior official in the Obama Treasury Department, he seemed—on paper, at least—like the right man for the job of turning around a city plagued by deep and persistent fiscal problems. Hartford suffers from excessive debt levels, large amounts of tax-exempt government property, runaway pension costs, structural budget deficits, and a property-tax rate that is the highest in the state.

Instead of putting a plan in place to correct decades of fiscal mismanagement, Mr. Bronin headed to the suburbs to pitch a zany leftwing idea. Progressives call it “regionalism.” Sane people call it a tax grab.

Hartford was critical to the entire region’s success, Mr. Bronin argued, so the surrounding suburbs should share their tax revenue with the city and absorb some of its

costs. This, he argued, was essential to ensuring Hartford’s fiscal stability. “You can’t be a suburb of nowhere,” he told residents of West Hartford, a separate municipality.

Not surprisingly, West Hartford and other adjacent towns sent Mr. Bronin packing.

Once famous as the insurance capital of the world, Connecticut’s capital city is falling apart.

In an attempt to shake a state bailout from Gov. Dannel Malloy, Mr. Lamont’s Democratic predecessor, Mr. Bronin drew up plans for Hartford’s bankruptcy in 2017. The threat proved effective. Mr. Malloy knew that a bankrupt capital city would be a black eye for Connecticut, as Harrisburg had been for Pennsylvania in 2011, so he agreed to let Connecticut taxpayers pick up all of Hartford’s general obligation debt, about $534 million, over the next three decades.

With Hartford’s financial problems “solved,” Mr. Bronin abandoned all pretense of reform and is focused exclusively on promoting regionalism, the justification for which has lately shifted from cost savings to racial and economic equity. DesegregateCT, a new nonprofit founded by Sarah Bronin—an architect, law professor and the mayor’s wife—claims that “outdated” zoning laws make the state’s small towns unaffordable and, therefore, responsible for concen-

trations of urban poverty. The horrible economic policies of the politicians—and public-employee unions —who run Connecticut’s cities evidently has nothing to do with the condition they are in.

Instead of taking zoning control away from well-managed towns across the state, Mr. Lamont should work with mayors to fix their cities’ fundamental structural problems.

Bailouts may hide those problems for a while, but they’ll return eventually.

Families in Hartford and cities across Connecticut have been waiting decades for true reform. Private charities have helped fill the gaps left by weak political leaders, but fixing Connecticut’s broken cities will require difficult decisions.

Short-term bailouts won’t cut it.

Neither will false claims about the efficacy of regionalism or other progressive pipe dreams.

Connecticut desperately needs

leaders who are willing to confront special-interest groups and reform the pensions that are crushing city budgets. Cities like Hartford need to lower taxes and reduce regulations to attract business and create jobs. Mayors need to clean up troubled neighborhoods and address crime, invest in charter and magnet schools, and allow education funding to follow the child, giving parents the ability to choose where their kids go to school, rather than trapping them in underperforming districts.

None of this is easy. None of it is fast. And none of it is politically expedient or likely to be supported by powerful public-sector unions— which probably explains why, at least in Connecticut, none of it happens.

Mr. Stefanowski was the 2018 Republican nominee for governor of Connecticut.

Notable & Quotable: Electors A Dec. 31 Twitter thread by law professor Jonathan Adler: Having dealt with Ohio 2004 election truthers for many years, I find the revisionism about Sen. [Barbara] Boxer and the 31 House members who voted to reject Ohio’s electoral votes to be quite irksome.

One reason is that many of the arguments we hear this year—alleged statistical anomalies, sinister tabulation machines, etc.—are the same arguments folks made about Ohio in 2004, it was just different people

making the same (absurd) claims.

The biggest difference is that the 2004 objectors were largely on the fringe (though the ranking member on House Judiciary continued to push the conspiracy theory for years). In 2020, the President is on board, and party leaders are too quiet out of cowardice. It’s not that partisans of one side or another are more prone to accept conspiratorial claims. It’s that in 2020 political “leaders” have abdicated their responsibility to show leadership and check such tendencies within their tribe.

A12 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

OPINION

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REVIEW & OUTLOOK

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

States of Growth and Decline

The White House Can’t Dodge Responsibility

resident Trump is soon expected to sub- larger share of its population than Illinois (-2%). mit to Congress state population counts Other states in the Midwest including Indiana from this year’s Census for reappor- (4.1%), Iowa (3.7%), Kentucky (3%), Missouri tionment. Last week the Cen(2.6%), Wisconsin (2.5%) and The latest population Michigan (0.9%) have added sus Bureau gave a preview of what to expect, and blue-state since 2010, accordstatistics show a shift population Democrats might want to preing to research outfit Wirefrom blue to red. pare their smelling salts in points, so Democrats in Illinois advance. can’t blame cold weather.

Sixteen mostly coastal and One culprit: Exorbitant Rust Belt states lost population from July 2019 property taxes. The Illinois Policy Institute reto July 2020, according to the Census Bureau’s ported an annual property tax bill of $30,201 on annual population survey, and Illinois, West Vir- the Winnetka house featured in the movie “Home ginia, New York, Connecticut, Mississippi and Alone,” which was recently valued at $1.26 milVermont have shrunk since 2010. At the same lion. That’s about 2.5 times more than a similarly time, many low-tax Sun Belt states have contin- valued home in California. ued to attract newcomers.

The elimination of the state-and-local tax i i i (SALT) deduction in the 2017 GOP tax reform The pandemic may have contributed to popu- has magnified the pain of living and working in lation losses in some states as city dwellers with high-tax states. So it’s not surprising that most means escaped to rental and vacation homes. Democratic states in the Northeast last year lost Foreign immigration also fell after President population, led by New York (-126,355), ConTrump suspended new green cards in April. necticut (-9,016) and New Jersey (-8,887). New Some states, especially in the Northeast, experi- Hampshire gained (+5,492) and doesn’t tax enced thousands of more deaths than usual due wage income. to Covid.

By raising taxes again and again to pay for But the bureau’s annual population estimate generous collective-bargained benefits, public captures only the first few months of the pan- unions are making Democratic states less comdemic when migration generally declined as petitive, much as private unions do to busimost people hunkered down. Geographic mobil- nesses. Note that states with the fastest-growing ity increased over the summer and fall, and the populations also tend to have right-to-work pandemic seems to have accelerated migration laws, which give workers a choice of whether to flows that have been States with the Biggest Population Gains/Declines join a union. occurring for years. 2010-2020 Tesla CEO Elon States such as New Musk has often comJersey, Michigan, plained about the Texas 4,215,198 Vt. -2,394 Pennsylvania and CaliUnited Auto Workers fornia have counted on union, which has tried Fla. Conn.

2,932,002 -17,091 foreign immigration to organize his factory Calif.

N.Y. 2,114,122 -41,326 offsetting net out-miin Fremont, Calif. He’s gration. That didn’t locating Tesla’s new N.C. 1,065,340 W.Va. -68,207 happen this year, so auto factory in Texas. many states lost popuForeign auto makers Ariz.

1,029,384 Ill. -243,102 lation for the first time have expanded in in decades. right-to-work southern California’s popula- Source: Census Bureau states including Tention shrank for the first time as far back as re- nessee, South Carolina and Alabama. cords go (-69,532). According to a separate state Despite the pandemic, most Sun Belt states government survey, a net 261,000 residents with low taxes and good business climates moved to other states during the period, the most gained population last year, led by Texas in nearly 25 years. High housing costs have been (373,965), Florida (241,256), Arizona (129,558), driving out the middle class for years. But now North Carolina (99,439) and Georgia (81,997). many large businesses are shifting workforces to Texas, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee and Idaho other states. grew more than they did in the previous year.

Last year Charles Schwab announced it is re- Six states have added more than one million locating its corporate headquarters to the Dallas people since 2010 including Texas (4.2 million), region from San Francisco. Apple is building a Florida (2.9 million), California (2.1 million), and new campus in Austin. Facebook this fall bought North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia about a REI’s headquarters outside of Seattle. Oracle and million each.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise recently announced It’s hard to predict how this migration will afrelocations to Texas. fect the political balance in states and Congress, Other Democratic states that have taken their though California does seem likely to lose a seat high earners for granted face a similar reckon- in Congress for the first time. Many Republicans ing, only worse since they have older popula- worry that migrants from high-tax states will tions and are also losing more retirees. Over the import their liberal politics to conservative last decade, Illinois has lost 243,102 in popula- states. But then U.S. immigrants who fled socialtion, about the size of Peoria and Naperville ism are also among the staunchest supporters combined. Only West Virginia (-3.7%) has lost a of free markets.

Scott Atlas’s op-ed “A Pandemic of Misinformation” (Dec. 22) contributes to the problem he laments. He writes that states directed their own pandemic policies, with governors and local officials responsible for outcomes. A lack of leadership from the White House left them no other choice. For example, Washington’s Opening Up America Again guidelines were well-received, but the administration promptly ignored them, pushing states to open before reaching important health benchmarks.

Jared Kushner relayed President Trump’s posture to Bob Woodward: The states would be responsible for the public-health burden while he’d own the reopening. “The opening is going to be very popular,” Mr. Kushner said.

An October Gallup report concluded that “the most important factor in Americans’ decision to [take Covid precautions seriously] is exposure to accurate information about the pandemic from sources they trust.” Mr. Trump played down Covid’s seriousness, belittled masks, flaunted CDC guidelines and ran a White House that became a Covid epicenter. The government’s investment in vaccines must be applauded.

Otherwise, its actions fell short.

DAVID STONE Birmingham, Mich.

Hong Kong’s Political Prisoners

Police Devote the Manpower Because Black Lives Matter

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he crackdown continues in Hong Kong, granted “unless the judge has sufficient and this week the Chinese government grounds for believing the criminal suspect or made an example of the territory’s defendant will not continue to commit acts enmost prominent political dangering national security.”

Jimmy Lai’s bail is prisoners.

Mr. Lai poses no such threat.

Publisher Jimmy Lai is revoked, and fleeing boat He has bravely chosen not to back in jail after Hong Kong’s flee despite having a British people get prison terms. passport, and China wants to Court of Final Appeal revoked his bail. A long-time democmake an example of him to racy advocate and critic of stifle all criticism. the Communist Party, Mr. Lai faces multiple Meanwhile on the mainland, a Shenzhen charges for participating in last year’s Hong court meted out harsh sentences for 10 Hong Kong protests, and authorities have also Kongers who were arrested as they fled by charged him under the new national-security boat to Taiwan. Authorities wouldn’t let these law, which effectively outlaws dissent. thwarted refugees meet with the lawyers The maximum sentence is life in prison, and hired by their families, and on Wednesday the there’s no guarantee that Chinese authorities court sentenced the 10 to between seven won’t extradite Mr. Lai to the mainland. A months and three years, almost certainly to lower court enraged Beijing last week when be spent in China’s opaque and notorious it granted bail and allowed Mr. Lai to await prison system. his trial under house arrest as long as he reBeijing now considers it a criminal offense frained from giving interviews, posting on so- to attempt to flee persecution in Hong Kong. cial media, or making public statements.

This is Soviet or North Korean behavior, and The prosecution cited Article 42 of the se- we hope that Joe Biden and his officials will curity law, which states that no bail can be speak plainly against it.

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A Buffalo Bills Miracle

hether or not they make it to the Super Bowl, the Buffalo Bills have already pulled off a miracle victory: persuading New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to let 6,700 fans attend their playoff game next weekend.

The Bills have won the AFC East division for the first time in 25 years and will host their first home playoff game since 1996. Buffalo could use the morale boost. It sure hasn’t received one from the billions of dollars Mr. Cuomo has spent trying to revive the western New York economy.

Mr. Cuomo has kept Bill fans locked out of the stadium all season, though 13 other NFL stadiums have allowed limited numbers to attend games. There has been only one report of a fan testing positive after an NFL game. Yet in November Mr. Cuomo proclaimed it would be “reckless” to let any fans into a stadium that could seat nearly 72,000.

Perhaps feeling the holiday spirit or pressure from upstate voters, Mr. Cuomo has reversed course. “We’re all feeling the excitement,” Mr. Cuomo said Wednesday. “We’ve all wanted the Buffalo Bills to be good, it’s been a long time,

and that team has a charisma and personality that is infectious.”

The Governor’s plan requires all fans to be tested before the game and wear masks. The state also plans to hold drive-through rapid testing at the stadium, which he says would be a pilot for reopening businesses and live events.

“This is not just about attending a football game,” Mr. Cuomo said. “We are trying to find a way to reopen businesses.” If it works there, he added, “can you do Madison Square Garden?

Could you do a theater on Broadway? Could you do a certain capacity in a restaurant, so restaurants could start to reopen safely?”

We can’t “start 2021 with the expectation that the economy will reopen when the vaccine hits critical mass,” he noted. “We can’t take six months, nine months, 12 months of a closeddown economy. We can’t take the economic cost. We can’t take the psychological cost. We can’t take the emotional cost.”

For months Mr. Cuomo has needlessly shut down businesses despite precautions to operate safely. But we’re glad he may be seeing the light now, even if it took a football game.

Trying to shift blame for the bungled U.S. Covid response, Dr. Atlas accuses the media of politicizing it. But the epicenter of politicization was in the White House, with pronouncements that Covid was merely the flu and denigrating remarks about masking. The president made public-health measures political by demanding allegiance to his own nonscientific facts.

Dr. Atlas cites 50 different state policies as exculpatory of federal blame, when it was instead a failure of federal leadership. He argues that lockdowns failed, when it was actually softer restrictions that were ineffective, undermined by the president and Dr. Atlas. Harder lockdowns are now the only tool left for exasperated public-health officials. And any credit for vaccine development must be tempered by poorly planned distribution.

Dr. Atlas ends by denouncing the media and scientific journals. What he is actually raging about is the refusal of good journalists and scientists to support the stream of falsehoods promulgated by the president.

On Nov. 3, the majority of Americans rejected living in a universe of “alternative facts,” hopefully soon closing this deadliest of anti-science chapters in our history.

PROF. STEVEN GOODMAN Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, Calif.

Will Biden Reprise Obama’s Economic Policy?

William A. Galston tees up Washington’s next massive stimulus package as essential to avoid a double-dip recession (“Can Team Biden Prevent a Recession?” Politics & Ideas, Dec. 23). Mr. Galston is concerned that “the pace of job growth has declined for five straight months and may have ceased in December.” Normal cyclical forces could be swamped by “structural changes” that were accelerated by the pandemic.

This may be unsettling, but the pace of job growth was destined to fall after a fairly rapid recovery from an extraordinary spike in job losses.

Compare this with the 2007-09 recession. The unemployment rate peaked around 10% nine months into President Obama’s first year and didn’t drop to 6.7% for 50 months until December 2013. In 2020 the unemployment rate soared to nearly 15% in April and dropped to 6.7% only seven months later in November.

Secular stagnation was the excuse made for eight years of modest growth and slow labor-market recovery under Mr. Obama’s stewardship.

It seems that Mr. Biden’s will be structural changes, but one guesses his solutions will be similar. Washington will pick up the economic slack

with more stimulus, more federal “investments” in favored industries and state and local governments, more regulations and higher taxes.

How many trillions of dollars of federal spending will it take to get back to President Trump’s prepandemic unemployment rate of 3.5%?

The rate didn’t get below 4.7% during the Obama-Biden years. Let’s hope the Biden-Harris solution isn’t to hire five million more federal workers.

RYAN GRAHAM Melbourne, Fla.

The Reporting on Hunter Biden Needs to Push Further “For Hunter Biden, Family Name Aided Foreign Deals” (Page One, Dec. 23) expressly made the point, “None of the Journal’s reporting found that Joe Biden was involved in his son’s business activities,” going so far as to highlight that text in a pull quote in the print edition. I guess it depends on the meaning of the word “involved.” In December 2013 Hunter Biden travelled with his father on Air Force Two, the vice president’s aircraft, to Beijing, where it was later reported that he was forming a Chinese private-equity firm. I wonder what dad and son talked about on the flight home from China.

CHRIS J. KRISINGER Burke, Va.

Regarding Tunku Varadarajan’s Great article about Hunter Biden!

“The Weekend Interview with John Now do Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric McAuliffe” (Dec. 26): I was a police officer in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, re- Trump.

TERESA CASTLEBERRY tiring in 2002. If black lives didn’t Sarasota, Fla. matter during all those years, we would have needed about 50% fewer officers. If I were a police officer now, during these difficult times, I would have to resign or retire—from a job I truly love.

D.J. Taylor’s pleasing review of RICH BONITO Hendersonville, N.C. “The Unquiet Englishman” (Bookshelf, Dec. 26) notes the biographer’s refutation of Graham Greene’s claim in his 1971 autobiography “A Sort of Life” to have visited a dentist merely to ward off a bout of enIn “A Look Back at the Pandemic nui. As a Catholic familiar with the Year” (Declarations, Dec. 26), Peggy British character from many travels there and from the readings reNoonan proposed to give “full U.S. quired for a B.A. in English literacitizenship, no questions or penalties,” to illegal-immigrant “stackers, ture circa 1974, I didn’t for a moment think Greene would see a counter clerks and others” who dentist for such a pain-free reason, helped the country through the given the parsimonious nature of the pandemic. native Englishman, straitened by RoShe may pity these people, but man Catholicism’s penury, and the consider the millions of immigrants who did the right thing, filled out all toleration of poor dentition in the British Isles generally. Of course it the right forms and waited for their was an abscess. time to join the American experiJ. CHARLES SYKES ment, especially throughout the past San Jose, Calif. century. And what about those people who are still waiting in line to immigrate?

A long pathway to citizenship, with time and motive to truly assimilate, is acceptable and desirable. But instant citizenship is an affront to all THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Americans. Ms. Noonan’s pity obscures her sense of justice.

LAWRENCE S. GIORDANO Wilmington, Del.

An English Catholic Doesn’t Go to the Dentist for Nothing

No Automatic Citizenship For Working Illegal Aliens

Pepper ...

And Salt

CORRECTION Richard Gorham is no longer chairman of the English department at Lawrence (Mass.) High School. This was misstated in the Dec. 28 op-ed “Even Homer Gets Mobbed.”

Letters intended for publication should be emailed to wsj.ltrs@wsj.com. Please include your city, state and telephone number. All letters are subject to editing, and unpublished letters cannot be acknowledged.

“Thank goodness for YouTube videos.

The operation was a success.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | A13

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OPINION

DECLARATIONS

Y

By Peggy Noonan

ou have to go into this year with dreams, there’s no other way to do it. We’re still in an epic struggle, and it will be a while before things settle down into some approximation of normal. Dreams are how we got through 2020, or maybe not dreams precisely but a picture you kept in your head that helped you keep going, that captured what you missed and will have again. It was a picture of When the Pandemic is Over and we carried it in our psychic wallets.

We got through 2020 with pictures of normality in our heads. In a few months they’ll start to come true.

My friend John’s picture: He’s in Fenway Park, the seats are full and close together, and he orders a Fenway Frank and chowder, and the other people in the row pass them down without fear or masks. Someone gets a hit and no one’s afraid to cheer. He is certain this will come.

My friend the professor would see this: He and his students are in a room, and he is teaching them. For what seems like forever they’ve been postage-size faces on Gallery View on Zoom, which is how they see him. But in his head they’re together and know each other and he’s Mr. Chips again, not Max Headroom.

A friend who’s a reporter kept in her head the idea of future spontane-

ity. She’d be on the phone with a friend: Whatcha doin’? Wanna get in a car and get lost? What if we just show up and surprise them? Let’s see who’s in town.

My vision of 2021, the picture I held of that future, came into my head in early summer. This would come: We are gathered in a darkened theater, 1,500 of us, for the first time since March 2020. The orchestra starts, the curtain rises, and on the stage a crowded old railroad coach is in full cry. The train conductor booms, “River City next station stop!” And in the audience applause starts, unplanned, just erupting, and the actors playing the salesmen on the train play through.

“Ya can talk-talk-talk. . . . Ya can talk all ya wanna, but it’s different than it was.” Suddenly a tall man in a natty suit comes forward: “Gentlemen, you intrigue me. I think I’ll have to give Iowa a try.” It’s Professor Harold Hill, the Music Man. He’s played by Hugh Jackman. We’re at the revival that was supposed to open in 2020. Now pentup emotion really breaks out and what builds is a wave of unstoppable cheers, and then we can’t help it, we stand. And Mr. Jackman understands this moment, and after a minute he stops the show, and in a great flourish, as if speaking for all the history of the theater past and present, makes a deep and graceful bow. As if theater itself were bowing to all of those by whom it lives.

And all of us know: Theater is back. The thing we loved, that stands for New York City, that is this city, the stage, has returned. And we applaud for 4 minutes and 18 seconds straight, and in that time we realize we’ll never get over this moment, this first show when we knew the great pandemic was over. And life went on.

The great comeback of 2021 is surely coming, at least according to the new picture I have in my head,

CHAD CROWE

In 2021, All the World’s a Stage

and it will be led and fed by the idea of pent-upness. There’s so much pentup desire for joy out there. Surely it will begin to explode in late spring, with vaccines more available and a spreading sense that things are easing off, and be fully anarchic by summer.

Growth will come back, people will burst out, it’s going to be exciting.

Businesses will start to come back to office buildings and see if that works.

The great newsrooms will be full and bustling with noise again, and the young hire will be given a desk, not a Zoom link. We will call old friends for dinner and meet at crowded restaurants and everyone will be grateful for each other. Some people will go a little crazy and say how about a long weekend in Paris, and we’ll do it and not only for fun but to see that Paris is still there.

There will be a hunger to be out there again, en masse again. On the streets of my city at night it was once fairly common to see glamorous men in tuxedos and women in satin shawls. We are going to see them hailing a car and on their way to a

party again. The young will come out of their apartments and flood into the streets dressed in all the colors in the world.

There will be much wreckage to get through, no point in not seeing that. It is odd that after almost a year the government doesn’t seem to have its hands around the number of small-business closings. Yelp reported that 60% of its listed small businesses that had closed as of August would never reopen. An estimated 164,000 had closed, 98,000 of them permanently. The numbers may be higher: A study from the University of California, Santa Cruz found that in May, the number of small-business owners was “down by 2.2 million or 15 percent from February,” although it had risen 7% in April.

There’s always a lot of churn in small businesses each year, but walk any city or town now, and there’s an unforgivingly targeted nature to this catastrophe. It’s not only “job loss” or even dream loss; small businesses are the beating heart of everything. Salons, restaurants, shoe stores—they’re

where people go and gather. They keep the streets alive. They need support, and in my city it’s not only the pandemic doing them in. Real-estate firms have bought up buildings and closed the shops below to build expensive condos. They’re removing part of what made people want to live in the neighborhood, the stores and their street traffic, the sense of liveliness and the commerce they bring.

What guts it will take the owners and workers of small business to keep going, or start again, or shift weight and go into something else, something new.

The theologian Paul Tillich wrote about the difference between fear and anxiety. Fear is of something, you can name it and face it, and in the facing of it lift your own morale, show yourself what’s in you. Anxiety is amorphous; it doesn’t quite have an object, it’s a state. And so it’s harder to shake and no empowering necessarily comes from it. A lot of people this year will have to break down a generalized anxiety into specific fears and deal with them courageously.

America has been through so much this year—world-wide illness, lockdowns, death, sickness, searing arguments about how to handle it all.

We tried to do what we had never done before, close everything down to fight a disease and each day, in real time, face the economic, social and cultural repercussions. The personal ones, too. It’s going to be the work of years to dig ourselves out fully, but there are many reasons to believe we can and will.

My idea of an appropriate American attitude comes from Carl Sandburg, in his poem, “The People, Yes”: “This old anvil laughs at many broken hammers.”

That wouldn’t be a bad picture to keep in our heads for 2021, the laughing anvil.

The Future Turns 50 This Year

By Daniel Casse

F

ifty years ago, America entered a magical year. Any year could hold moments of great significance, but 1971 stands out. After a decade of upheaval, the country was seeking a new start. These events launched it.

• Henry Kissinger’s secret trip to China. In the late 1960s, President Nixon and Mr. Kissinger began thinking that establishing diplomatic relations with China would serve as counterweight to tensions with Moscow. Nixon made some encouraging but vague statements, and Mr. Kissinger tried communicating through French and Pakistani emissaries with little progress.

From computers and money to relations with China, 1971 changed the world in many ways.

Many believed the sticking point was U.S. recognition of Taiwan and the “two Chinas” policy. But declassified documents released by the National Archives in 2001 revealed that China was eager for dialogue. As historian William Burr observed, while many have written about America’s intention to play the China card, “it is the rare policymaker who understands that the United States may also be the object of other nations’ card playing.”

Mr. Kissinger’s secret July trip to Beijing triggered the greatest shift in global politics since the end of World War II. It paved the way for Nixon to meet Mao Zedong the following year and kicked off 50 years of diplomacy, trade and travel between China and the U.S. Recent tensions only confirm the complex motivations that launched the relationship. The card playing continues.

• The arrival of phone competition.

With little fanfare, the Federal Communications Commission issued an opaque decision that marked the first

blow to AT&T’s monopoly in long-distance and business telephone service.

The beneficiary was MCI, a tiny company that was about to change the communications world by introducing competition. Following the FCC decision, the company’s visionary leader William McGowan raised $110 million—then one of the largest startup funding rounds—to construct a new national telephone network that would end extravagant prices for long-distance calls. He fought through nearly a decade of litigation until the landmark 1980 ruling that broke up AT&T and gave MCI access to switched network connections required for competition.

McGowan’s focus was long-distance calls—a concept few people under 40 now understand. But his David-vs.-Goliath approach signaled a radical new business model that migrated from office phones to computer hardware, software and every technology that defines the way we live and work today. The notion that a startup with a better idea could challenge a giant incumbent is directly linked to the FCC’s 1971 decision.

• The end of Bretton Woods. In the third year of Nixon’s first term, America’s economy faced seemingly uncurable unemployment and inflation. In mid-August, Nixon assembled his closest economic advisers for three days of secret meetings at Camp David. When they emerged, Nixon announced a new economic plan, including a provision that the U.S. would no longer allow foreign governments to exchange dollars for gold.

In a single stroke, Nixon killed the Bretton Woods system that had governed international finance since the end of World War II. Closing the “gold window” severed the link between the dollar and gold, inaugurating the era of floating exchange rates, activist monetary policy and central-bank interventions in the global economy.

The policy failed. Inflation resumed and would reach double digits. Ben Bernanke called it “the second most serious monetary policy

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mistake of the 20th century,” after the Great Depression.

Yet there was a silver lining. As Virginia Postrel has argued, this failure provided irrefutable evidence for Milton Friedman’s contention that inflation was not a function of external events, but a product of bad monetary policy. After 1971 that view became widely embraced by economists, including Nixon aide Paul Volcker, who eventually crushed inflation as Fed chairman by aggressively tightening the money supply.

• The opening of the Magic Kingdom. When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, nervous executives and Orlando, Fla., police expected mobs of 200,000 people. Only 10,000 showed up. Yet the ambition of Disney World was anything but small.

Disneyland had become a disappointment to Walt Disney. The small Anaheim, Calif., park, which had opened in 1955, had quickly been surrounded by motels and tourist shops. There was no room for expansion. Using half a dozen shell compa-

nies, he began buying 27,000 acres in central Florida.

Disney World was never intended as a larger version of Disneyland, but rather an entertainment revolution and “city of tomorrow” that would eventually include Epcot Center, the Animal Kingdom theme park, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It created a new template; a blend of show business, brand partnerships, resort amenities, and live experiences that would become the holy grail of every travel and entertainment company.

• The introduction of Intel’s 4004 chip. This was the first microprocessor—essentially a complete computer on a chip—and it launched the computer revolution in November 1971.

The path to the 4004 was neither predictable nor simple. As computer historian Ken Shirriff notes, other companies developed similar ideas for calculators. But only the 4004 could receive instructions and act as the brains of a general-purpose computer. Although it was quickly re-

placed by better products, the path to modern computing became clear.

What followed was an industry expansion without parallel. The 4004 had 2,300 transistors. Today’s chips have more than 100 million transistors per square millimeter, allowing us to carry devices in our pockets with processing power orders of magnitude beyond the Apollo spaceships that flew to the moon.

The year was filled with other milestones. The 26th Amendment was ratified, lowering the voting age to 18 from 21. Nasdaq, Greenpeace and Starbucks all got their starts.

While the timing of these events owes a lot to coincidence, they also suggest a perfect storm of innovation, experimentation, optimism and growth.

Here’s hoping, 50 years on, that 2021 blesses us with similar weather.

Mr. Casse is a managing partner of High Lantern Group, a strategic communications firm, and the president of G100’s chief executive group.

The Year in Covid ‘Messaging’ Anthony Fauci is being clobbered after admitting to the New York Times that he publicly lowballed his estimate of the BUSINESS Covid-19 herd imWORLD munity threshold,

By Holman W. but it’s ludicrously Jenkins, Jr. late in the day to discover that “messaging” has been going on.

Dr. Fauci’s early pooh-poohing of masks to preserve supply for medical personnel at least was defensible for the larger good. Not until summer did he admit the test-and-trace miracle cure was no such thing given the realities of asymptomatic spread. To this day, test-and-trace serves as the magic X in every pundit piece, allowing the author to claim that our failing mommy and daddy (a k a government) let us down by not enacting this simple solution.

Of course it’s gibberish: 40% of Covid cases are asymptomatic; 80% of symptomatic cases are mild and indistinguishable from cold or flu so the sufferer has little reason to seek testing. Our borders are porous. So far we have tested only about 80% of Americans even once. We’d have to test 330 million every few days to catch a useful percentage of Covid cases while they’re still infectious.

Add contact tracing and the numbers are clearly impossible. But because the strategy was useful in a South Korean context our politicians go through the motions here.

Another messaging snafu poked through last summer. CDC’s Robert Redfield admitted our testing might be catching only 10% of cases—i.e., the circus that fills hours of media airtime is doing nothing to control the epidemic or even measure it.

Official lying about things large and small has been a staple of Covid

politics: the letters to college students threatening them with arrest if they don’t quarantine, the interstate travel “bans” that were never enforced, the death counts that swept up anybody who died of any cause while infected with Covid.

Arguably, it began on day one. I don’t go to the doctor for a cold or flu, and neither do 80% to 95% of you. This has implications: Once Wuhan hospitals were besieged with severe cases, it was a waste of time asking ourselves if the virus was here. It was here. The blocked flights, the testing of recent arrivals were so much hand-waving so our government could be seen doing something.

It’s ludicrously late in the day to fault Dr. Fauci for spinning the public.

The mummery has served to swathe and dilute a message that politicians were unhappy to deliver: It would be up to us citizens to control Covid the best we can.

Lockdowns are imagined to be a kind of enforced social distancing.

They aren’t. Mandatory business closures don’t stop people from spreading the disease. Letting businesses stay open doesn’t force them to spread the disease.

People spread the disease by their own decisions, moment by moment, about when, where and how to expose themselves to risk.

Only lately has this reality snuck into public rhetoric as leaders in New York, Massachusetts and elsewhere started admitting that their moves are more about “signaling” than any practical effect.

No messaging strategy was more ill-judged than the one our politicians selected for a vaccine, deciding that

nothing was more important than signaling that no corners were being cut.

I failed to make a fuss at the time because I assumed any vaccine would arrive only after the initial epidemic had ravaged society and burned itself out. In fact, we had highly promising candidates days after the virus was sequenced last January. Operation Warp Speed was triumphant in compressing the normal development process in ways that wouldn’t make sense with shareholder money. Indisputable now is that we should have junked the normal process and accepted more vaccine risk in return for the prospective benefit of saving thousands of lives and trillions of dollars in lost wages in 2020.

At year-end, pundits everywhere sermonized over the lessons of the pandemic: the need to change our relationship with nature, the need for more disease surveillance, etc.

Most of it won’t matter in the least when natural selection throws up another disease with the properties of Covid-19. The virus wasn’t just transmitted easily; crucially, its effects were mild enough that for billions of humans the cost of quashing it outweighed the personal benefit.

This rock-bottom truth our uninsightful media spent much of 2020 trying not to understand. Worse, it tried to make this truth go away by frightening or morally bullying people into behaviors at odds with perceived self-interest.

This proved to be the dead end it usually does. We need to smarten up.

Limited social distancing to protect the most vulnerable is the only kind likely to prove sustainable over time.

Most important, let’s be ready next time to accept a level of risk in vaccine development commensurate with the potential benefit of stopping so costly an epidemic sooner rather than later.

A14 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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GETTY IMAGES (6), ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPORTS

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

If there’s a Baseball Heaven, the team of players who died in 2020 is loaded. Clockwise from top left: Phil Niekro, Whitey Ford, Joe Morgan, Tom Seaver, Al Kaline, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock.

The MLB Greats Who Died in 2020 In a year when seven Hall of Famers died, it seemed as if the sport lost a lot of its history. The numbers prove it. clude Negro Leagues players from 1920 through 1948, whose careers and statistics are in the process of being added to the major-league record and do not yet appear in Stats’ database.)

It is not known how many of the 2020 deaths were related to the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans last year. Seaver, for instance, died from complications

raised a question: Was this the greatest collection of baseball players to ever die in a single year?

The answer is yes—and it isn’t even close.

The 110 MLB alumni who died in 2020 combined to accumulate 1,012.6 Wins Above Replacement, a metric designed to measure a player’s total value, as calculated

by Stats LLC. That is significantly higher than any other year in baseball history, according to Stats.

In terms of sheer star value, the closest year to 2020 was 1972, when 100 players with an aggregate WAR of 759.9 passed away, including one of the most shocking deaths in baseball history and the loss of one of the game’s preeminent icons. That group featured Jackie Robinson, the first Black player to play in the integrated major leagues, and Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve at the age of 38 while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

Baseball players who died in 2019, by comparison, totaled just 561.4 total WAR as a group. The average year over the last century produced had just 409.2 WAR—or less than half of this year’s class. (These figures do not in-

T

here’s no crying in baseball. Except in 2020.

If there’s a Baseball Heaven, the team of players who died in 2020 is loaded. It features seven Hall of Famers, including four of the best pitchers of all-time and three superstars of the 1960s and ’70s in the field. And that doesn’t include one of the most prodigious hitters of the era who hasn’t made it to Cooperstown.

In a remarkably tragic year for the world, that pain of the pandemic year was acute in baseball.

More than 100 former majorleague players died, the most in four decades, according to Stats LLC. In one 42-day span alone, five Hall of Fame members passed away: New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, speedy outfielder Lou Brock, longtime St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson, New York Yankees left-hander Whitey Ford and Cincinnati Reds second baseman Joe Morgan. Detroit Tigers slugger Al Kaline died last April, and knuckleballer Phil Niekro passed away last week.

It was a grievous run that

If there’s a Baseball Heaven, the team of players who died in 2020 is loaded. related to the disease, as well as Lewy body dementia. But the unprecedented string of deaths in baseball is a microcosm of the lost talent felt around the world in 2020.

There have been years with more player deaths: 1969 saw a record 142, including Eddie Cicotte (one of the players banned from baseball as part of the 1919 Black Sox scandal) and outfielder Billy Southworth, who would guide the Cardinals to champion-

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the World Series when the Yankees won it all in 1996. His death was preceded by another franchise legend, Don Larsen, who died on Jan. 1 and threw the only perfect game in playoff history when the right-hander shut down the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.

Other franchises also lost hallmark icons. Jimmy Wynn, known as the Toy Cannon, amazed in his years with Houston with his combination of power and speed despite a slight frame. Johnny Antonelli, a lefty pitcher, was a sixtime All-Star for the New York and San Francisco Giants in the 1950s. Ron Perranoski and Lindy McDaniel combined to save 352 games. Tony Fernández is one of the most popular players in Toronto Blue Jays history.

This string of deaths was felt so severely by fans not just because they occurred over such a short period of time. It was also because a number of these players are so eternally connected to one team.

Al Kaline is known simply as Mr. Tiger. Mets fans will always call Tom Seaver the Franchise. Cardinals fans also call Lou Brock the Franchise. When New Yorkers refer to the Chairman of the Board, they’re talking about Whitey Ford.

The Race to Win the NFC East

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ships in 1942 and 1944 during his Hall of Fame career as a manager.

There have, of course, also been years in which individuals with more eye-popping statistics died.

There was Babe Ruth (155.1 WAR) in 1948, Cy Young (149.4 WAR) in 1955 and Walter Johnson (136.3 WAR) in 1946.

But in terms of impact on the field, nothing compares to 2020 because of the sheer depth of good, great and all-time players.

Dick Allen, the American League MVP in 1972 and one of the most fearsome sluggers of his generation, had just the sixthhighest WAR of the players who died, behind Morgan, Seaver, Gibson, Kaline and Niekro. Niekro, the knuckleball specialist who won 318 games during his career, would be near the back of the starting rotation. The average WAR of all players who died in 2020 was 9.2, topping the previous high of 8.4 from 1902, when Pud Galvin and Fred Dunlap highlighted a class of 20 early major leaguers.

It’s such a phenomenal group of players that it nearly overshadows the others who died but left an indelible impact on the game.

Bob Watson, an All-Star player, coach and executive, became the first Black general manager to win

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Tomorrow Hi Lo W 35 33 sn 37 30 sn 84 61 s 69 60 c 58 48 c 89 77 sh 62 48 s 78 57 pc 41 36 c 43 26 s 85 76 pc 76 64 t 76 47 s 42 34 c 29 24 sn 86 73 pc 38 33 c 76 72 sh 69 53 pc 53 41 sh 82 72 pc 31 14 pc 51 42 c 83 76 sh 76 72 t 72 63 pc 46 37 pc 35 29 sn 47 40 sh 37 33 c 35 29 sf

BY ANDREW BEATON THERE’S AN NFL RULE that says the winner of every division gets to make the playoffs. It doesn’t matter if that team happens to be more of a loser than a winner and is just slightly better than the other bad teams in the same division.

Which brings us to the bleak race to win the NFC East. One of three teams— the Washington Football Team, Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants—will be remembered as perhaps the worst division winner in NFL history. The others will live with the ignominy of failing to win a historically moribund division.

It’s a fitting lowlight to end a regular season that has been strange in so many ways because of the pandemic. There were games on all seven days of the week.

The Denver Broncos actually played a game without a quarterback.

The absurdity rolls into the season’s final weekend, which features unusual scenarios as teams vie to make a newly expanded playoffs that now include a seventh team in each conference.

The NFC East race should be simple. If the Washington Football Team (6-9) beats the Philadelphia Eagles—the only team in the division that has been eliminated— they’re in the playoffs at 7-9.

BRAD MILLS/REUTERS

BY JARED DIAMOND AND ANDREW BEATON

Washington needs a victory over Philadelphia to win the NFC East.

But nothing is ever simple for a franchise mired in daily controversy and dysfunction, which has extended from courtrooms brawls involving owner Dan Snyder to the field. This week, Washington released quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who started last week and was the team’s first-round pick in 2019, after a dizzying combination of poor performance and poor decisions off the field.

If Alex Smith can’t play because of a calf injury, the Football Team will start Taylor Heinicke, who earlier in December was taking online classes—number theory, partial differential equations, applied numerical methods and math and nature—at Old Dominion to wrap up his degree. He had taken two of his finals when Washington called, forcing him to send

an awkward email to his professors asking if he could wait to take the other two after the season.

“They were pretty nice about it,” Heinicke said.

If Washington loses to the Eagles, then it comes down to the game between the Cowboys (6-9) and Giants (5-10).

A Dallas win would put them in, though they’d lose the tiebreaker with Washington if both teams win.

A Giants win would put all three teams at 6-10—and New York would win the three-way tiebreaker.

This type of mess isn’t normal. Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, only two teams—the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and the Carolina Panthers in 2014— have won their divisions with losing records.

Homebodies More employees are embracing remote work B2 BUSINESS

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Filing Lessons A guide to the slew of recent tax changes B5

FLIGHT PLAN Airline CEOs try to predict where travel demand will be this year B6

A

uthorities around the world halted voyages on large passenger ships in March after Covid-19 tore through scores of vessels, but cruising never really stopped.

Smaller cruise ships exempted from the suspension continued to sail selected routes. To keep the deadly virus off ships, these boutique operators experimented with a variety of new precautions.

The result: They mostly failed.

Coronavirus infections repeatedly pierced so-called safety bubbles promoted by luxury cruise lines. Since June, about 200 people have tested positive for the virus on nearly two dozen cruises, according to a Wall Street Journal tally. At least one

CHECKING OUT Hotel owners wonder if business travelers will ever be back B7

Can Cruises Outsail Covid?

Small luxury ships tried strict protocols, but outbreaks persisted. Now, big lines are hoping to convince regulators and customers that it’s safe to go back on the water.

BY JACQUIE MCNISH AND REBECCA SMITH

person, a crew member, died in his cabin with the virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Transmission has not been controlled sufficiently,” the CDC said in a September report that cited the virus’s continued spread on smaller cruise ships as one of the agency’s reasons for extending its ban on sailing for large ships.

The recent outbreaks suggest that it will be nearly impossible to prevent the spread of infections in the short term without extreme measures that would drastically increase costs and reduce the entertainment value of a cruise.

That reality has put the big companies that turned cruising from a luxury escape Please turn to page B6

BlackRock Scales Back Fund’s Ambitions

Tribune Publishing To Review Buyout Offer

BY LUKAS I. ALPERT

BlackRock Inc. planned to shake up the private-equity world with a $12 billion fund. Now the asset-management giant is setting its sights lower.

BlackRock’s staffers conceded the target was unrealistic after struggling to meet fundraising goals. The firm’s staffers hope to grow the fund to between $4 billion and $6 billion in assets over time, people familiar with the matter said.

Best known for funds that track broad markets and trade on exchanges, BlackRock launched fundraising for a strategy in 2018 to make direct, long-term investments in private companies. The fund was an aggressive gambit to take on private equity’s big league deal makers.

Private markets are one of the few corners of finance untouched by fee pressures that have pulled the cost of investing closer to zero. But it is hard to build a presence from scratch. Many asset managers face challenges replicating their reach over stock-and-bond markets in the complex, labor-intensive business of investing in privately held compaPlease turn to page B11

JASON SCHNEIDER

BY DAWN LIM

The Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2021

BY JOANNA STERN, CHRISTOPHER MIMS, NICOLE NGUYEN AND WILSON ROTHMAN

A pandemic that ravaged the world and accelerated the digital transformation of, well, everything? Not even the best of futurists or Magic 8 ball-shaking psychics could have predicted the year that was 2020.

Now, 2020 has become the lens through which all our 2021 predictions are glimpsed.

As we continue to live in a pandemic-fighting world, innovators will aim tech solutions at our personal and professional lives, from at-home

streaming movie debuts to an overdue evolutionary leap of the laptop.

But we will also strive to reach a new normal, and you’ll see technology helping us there, too, from new hybrid work practices to high-tech masks. And accompanying each new product or service: yet another monthly subscription fee.

Now that we’ve rung in the new year, here’s what to look for.

Please turn to page B4

Tribune Publishing Co. said it appointed a special committee to review a buyout bid proposed by its largest shareholder, New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital LLC. Alden, which already owns a 32% stake, said Thursday it was interested in acquiring the rest of the publishing company for $14.25 a share, valuing Tribune at $521 million. The Wall Street Journal reported Alden’s plans Wednesday. The offer drove Tribune’s stock up 7.1% on Thursday to $13.70.

Tribune, which publishes nine papers, including the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News and the Baltimore Sun, said it had named three independent members of its board to the special committee to explore Alden’s offer, and had engaged Lazard as its financial adviser and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP as its legal counsel.

“No assurance can be given that Alden’s proposal, or any other transaction, will be consummated,” Tribune said in a statement Thursday evening.

Alden also controls MediaNews Group, a private company that owns some 60 daily newspapers around the country, including the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and Please turn to page B2

B2 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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EXCHANGE

Is a Home Office More Productive?

Some Workers Think So. Surveys of employees suggest that plenty of workers are adjusting to remote work—and in no hurry to return to the office

BY STEPHANIE STAMM

S

ome Americans have a new outlook on remote working: They prefer it.

In June and July, a group of 1,388 people working from home were asked for their impressions of the experience by workplace consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics and video technology company Owl Labs.

The new arrangement, it turns out, suited many of them.

While roughly 27% said they would have considered such a setup to be ideal before the coronavirus pandemic started, 80% said they would like to continue working remotely for three days of the week or more once the pandemic is over.

Many of these people said they would prefer remote work all five days of the workweek.

Another set of 10,000 employees surveyed by the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the

Is WFH more efficient than the office?

Has WFH met your expectations?

Worse 15.3%

Worse 12.7% Better 41.2%

About the same 43.5%

Note: Data might not equal 100% due to rounding.

Source: Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago online survey of 10,000 employees in August-November 2020 (efficiency); 15,000 employees in May-October 2020 (expectations)

University of Chicago say they felt the work-from-home situation was either just as productive or more so than the office. Some told the researchers that home was 30% more productive.

“On average, workers and em-

The End of 9-to-5 The many changes imposed by the pandemic are acting as another challenge to the 9-to-5 workday model, which was already under threat before the pandemic. In 2019, more than 87% of full-time U.S. employees averaged 8½ hours per workday, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

By last June and July, a group of 2,025 full-time workers who

Better 61%

Same 26.2%

ployers have been pleasantly surprised by productivity when working from home,” says Steven Davis, one of the study authors and a University of Chicago business and economics professor. “Reality exceeded expectations.”

Will Remote Work Stick?

worked remotely and non remotely told Global Workplace Analytics and Owl Labs that they were working more during Covid-19.

How much more? An average of 26 extra hours a month, according to the survey. Another estimate, from New York University Stern School of Business doctoral student Michael Impink, shows average daily work hours increas-

ing 8%-15%, depending on the day of the week. He examined data from more than 3.4 million workers, counting the time from their first daily work correspondence— such as an email or joining a meeting—to their last.

Not everyone clocked more time at home. More than 40% of the employees surveyed by Global Workforce Analytics and Owl Labs said their hours stayed the same.

Employers weren’t prepared for the shift to remote work. But some did make things easier by providing employees everything from stipends for home-office equipment to better videoconferencing hookups.

The largest pickup in remote work happened at employers specializing in educational services and finance, according to the Bu-

reau of Labor Statistics. Roughly 60% of educational services and 58% of finance companies boosted telework for at least some employees as a result of the pandemic.

Service companies in food, retail and construction were among the lowest adopters, since it is more difficult to do their work remotely. In those cases, less than 20% of employers increased telework.

How employers adapted to remote work Office Home Commute Increased hours

Average workday span 8.3 hours excluding commute

How workers spent their time before Covid-19 In office everyday of week THUR SDAY

Increased telework No change in existing telework Did not telework before or during the pandemic

FRIDAY Mean commute: 54 minutes roundtrip

0%

20

40

60

80

100

Educational services Finance and insurance Management of companies and enterprises Information

How they expect to work once the pandemic is over Work from home several days a week MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

Scheduled air transportation Professional and technical services THUR SDAY

FRIDAY

Utilities No commute

Social assistance Wholesale trade

9.6 hours

Real estate and rental and leasing +1 hour*

+1.6 hours*

+1.7 hours*

Hours increased, depending on work day

Manufacturing

+1.1 hours*

Health care

Hours flexible around core hours

Total U.S. (private sector)

*Increased hours data as of April 2020 (during lockdowns) Note: Average workday span (time from first to last daily correspondence) calculated from communications metadata, based on 3.4 million users worldwide.

Sources: Michael Impink, New York University; Raffaella Sadun, Harvard Business School (average and increased hours); Global Workplace Analytics and Owl Labs State of Remote Work, October 2020 (flexibility); Census Bureau (commute time)

For those who believe a homeoffice setup is more productive, is it because of a lack of commute or fewer office interruptions?

Mr. Davis’s study declined to offer a single explanation, saying it is “not obvious whether offices or homes have fewer distractions and more quiet time.” There are “co-workers and water coolers” in the office, while televisions and “potentially children” serve as home diversions.

The danger is that a workweek expansion could erode work-life boundaries and contribute to employee burnout.

“The traditional 9-5, Monday through Friday, has been fading for years and the pandemic just accelerated that process,” says Cali Williams Yost, chief executive and founder at workplace consulting company Flex+Strategy Group.

“Individuals and teams now need to be intentional about setting up the guardrails for themselves.

What that means for the individ-

Tribune Set To Review Alden Offer Continued from page B1 Orange County Register. The hedge fund has a reputation for making deep cost cuts at titles it acquires.

A deal would have far-reaching implications for an industry beset by sharp declines in revenue over the past 20 years that have led to a wave of consolidation and cost cuts. Between 2008 and 2019, the industry shed 51% of its newsroom jobs, according to the Pew Research Center.

Arts, entertainment and recreation Administrative and waste services Mining, quarrying and oil and gas Transportation and warehousing

U.S. work-from-home preferences, among only people working from home during Covid-19

Other services, except public administration Construction

Before Covid-19

Post-Covid-19

Truck transportation

27%

61%

Retail trade

Five days per week

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting Accommodation and food services

26 32

Note: Data might not equal 100% due to rounding. Some industry categories may overlap.

Private-sector only. Data collected between July 20-September 30, 2020.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

One to four days per week 100% 1 5

ual is, we need to be more intentional about planning: what needs

to get done and when and where we do it best.”

“Most companies have let remote work happen rather than made it happen. For most, it was something they were forced to do because of the pandemic,” says Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics.

Will remote work last at the companies that embraced it in 2020? Consumer brand companies are betting the work-from-home culture is here to stay by expanding and revamping factories that make everything from coffee to

A transaction is complicated by a standstill agreement Alden had signed at the beginning of 2020 in exchange for a third seat on Tribune’s board. Any deal to increase the stake would need a signoff from the board and the support of holders of two-thirds of the company’s shares.

The publishing company’s secondlargest shareholder, with about 25%, is Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire biotech investor who in 2018 bought the Los Angeles Times from Tribune for $500 million. He declined to comment on Alden’s offer.

Tribune’s third-largest shareholder, Florida investor Mason Slaine, who owns about 8% of the company, said he found the bid to be “unattractive at that price” as it represented less than three times the business’ annual cash flow. “I would need to see more, but I

believe it’s probably just an opening gambit,” he said in an interview.

Media analyst Doug Arthur of Huber Research Partners LLC said the offer was “significantly too low.” He said a price range of between $16 and $17 a share was more on target.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Alden co-founder Randall Smith said the hedge fund had been in contact with an outside investor who was interested in certain Tribune properties, and Alden requested the board’s permission to explore a joint transaction with him.

The investor, Stewart Bainum Jr., a former Maryland politician and chairman of Choice Hotels International Inc., operator of hotel chains such as Comfort Inn and Econo Lodge, didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

The publishing company’s nine newspapers include the New York Daily News.

Less than once per week

4

32

Never Source: Global Workplace Analytics and Owl Labs State of Remote Work, October 2020 survey of 1,388 respondents who worked from home during Covid-19 conducted June-July 2020

casual clothes.

The key to remote-work longevity, say some observers, is whether companies can formalize guidelines so all employees are treated equally across the organization. If that happens, they say, companies and workers may benefit.

“It’s not going to be a flip of the switch,” Ms. Yost says. Instead she expects it to be a “slow recalibration to that next normal.”

—Jess Kuronen contributed to this article.

BEBETO MATTHEWS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

+1.3 hours*

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Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | B3

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BUSINESS NEWS

The Russia-linked hackers behind a widespread cyber-intrusion into U.S. corporate and government systems were able to access internal systems within Microsoft Corp. and view internal source code, used to build software products, the company said Thursday.

Microsoft had previously confirmed that it had downloaded malicious software from a vendor called SolarWinds Corp. that had been modified by the hackers.

Thursday’s disclosure is the first indication that the hackers were able to access internal systems at Microsoft.

“We detected unusual activity with a small number of internal accounts and upon review, we discovered one account had been used to view source code in a number of source code repositories,” Microsoft said.

This compromised account was able to view Microsoft’s source code, but not make changes, the company said.

Microsoft’s disclosure raises the specter that the hackers may have targeted and then compromised other technology companies as well, said Sherri Davidoff, chief executive of the security consulting firm LMG Security LLC. “That’s why these hackers are going after these companies,” she said. “They don’t

‘We detected unusual activity with a small number of internal accounts.’ want access to just one company. They want access to everything.”

A Microsoft spokesman declined to say what products or internal systems were affected by the intrusion.

Microsoft said it has “found no evidence of access to production services or customer data,” and “no indications that our systems were used to attack others.”

The SolarWinds attack dates back to at least October 2019 and has prompted a flurry of cyber investigations within government and private industry. Through a backdoor the attackers installed in SolarWinds’ Orion networking software, the hackers found their way into systems belonging to the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Treasury and Commerce departments and others.

U.S. government and cybersecurity officials have linked the attack to Russia. The Kremlin has denied involvement in the hacks.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of internet records identified infected computers at two dozen organizations that installed the tainted network monitoring software from SolarWinds. Among them: networking-gear maker Cisco Systems Inc., chip makers Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp., and accounting firm Deloitte LLP. The hackers also compromised at least one reseller of Microsoft’s cloud-based computing services and tried to use that as a way of gaining access to emails belonging to the cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike Inc. That attempt was unsuccessful, CrowdStrike said last week. Microsoft is the world’s second-largest cloud-computing company after Amazon.com Inc. The SolarWinds attack went undetected for months and was discovered by FireEye Inc., a cybersecurity company, when hackers tripped an alarm. FireEye put more than 100 cyber sleuths on the job of investigating the hack of its systems, before ultimately zeroing in on SolarWinds’ software as the source of the compromise.

U.S. government and corporate Investigators are still trying to assess what information the hackers were able to glean in what cybersecurity officials have characterized as one of the biggest breaches of U.S. networks in years.

BY HEATHER SOMERVILLE

When the pandemic hit, the chief executive of car-renting startup Turo Inc. thought back to how slowly he had responded to the dot-com bust.

It didn’t end well for his startup at the time.

This time, Andre Haddad decided to be more aggressive.

At the end of March, Mr. Haddad laid off a third of his 330-person workforce. The next month, he cut spending on marketing to zero, where it would stay for the entire second quarter. He studied every expense to try to find savings and store up three years of cash.

Turo’s financial turnaround suggests the moves are working. The peer-to-peer car-renting marketplace reported its first-ever profitable quarter in 2020, according to results shared with The Wall Street Journal, and Mr. Haddad forecasts achieving full-year profitability in 2022, before adjusting for interest and taxes.

Mr. Haddad plans to publicly list shares of Turo this year, buoyed by the company’s success and following the strong performance of many tech initial public offerings in 2020. He is undecided whether he will pursue a traditional IPO and is open to alternatives, such as going public through a merger with a blank-check corporation.

Turo is a website where private car owners rent their vehicles by the day, week or month, including luxury rides like Lamborghinis. The carrenting marketplace joins Airbnb Inc. in a category of startups that looked precari-

With Turo, car owners pass off keys to renters. A pre-pandemic Turo rental in San Francisco. ous at the start of the pandemic but have since benefited from an unexpected shift in consumer behavior.

In Turo’s case, people swapped air travel for local excursions, and needed cars.

People took hiatuses from cities to work remotely, and rented a car for their new locale. Some customers with extra cash after months cooped up indoors have rented sports cars or Teslas for joy rides.

Turo keeps a variable cut of the rental revenue, depending on insurance costs, and charges a separate booking fee.

“The platform model is a lot more nimble and flexible,” said Arun Sundararajan, a New York University professor and author of a book on the sharing economy. Because marketplaces like Turo don’t own as-

sets, as hotels or traditional car-rental companies do, they “are much less likely to go into financial distress,” he said.

Car-rental company Hertz Global Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in May. Turo said it expected to finish 2020 with $153 million in revenue, a record for the 10year-old San Francisco-based company. It saw revenue for the second half of the year at $92.3 million, up 7% from the year-earlier period. The increase reflects slower growth than in recent years, when revenue climbed more than 60%, but any gain is notable amid the pandemic.

The company also said it cut its losses, before adjusting for interest and taxes, to $7.2 million in the second half of 2020 from $46.9 million a

year earlier.

Mr. Haddad, 49 years old, was chief operating officer of European internet auction marketplace iBazar SA when the tech market collapsed in 2000. He said he was indecisive and hesitated in his response to the crisis, and sold iBazar at a steep discount to eBay Inc. in early 2001.

“We did not manage that crisis very well, so that experience stayed with me,” Mr. Haddad said.

What was good for Turo also has been good for its main U.S. rival, private car-renting marketplace Getaround. By late summer, Getaround’s revenue had more than doubled from before the pandemic, the company said.

Turo and Getaround are, so far, exceptions in a volatile in-

dustry. General Motors Co.’s car-sharing service Maven and Daimler AG and BMW’s carsharing venture Car2Go have closed in the past year, among other failures.

Madeline Brozen, who studies public policy and transportation at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the arrival of ride-hailing giants Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. depressed the market of would-be car-sharing customers, and a trend toward more private vehicle ownership has challenged car-sharing businesses. Consumers flocked to used-car lots and auto makers reported record profits during the pandemic.

“We have not actually moved the needle in terms of reducing individual car ownership, and it is that which will drive these car-sharing models,” Ms. Brozen said.

Turo also has had setbacks in battles with regulators and airports over fees and permitting. And consumer behavior will change again, post-pandemic. Once people resume air travel in bigger numbers, they may be more inclined to use traditional rental-car outlets at airports, where Turo has less of a presence.

Both Turo and Getaround have been assisted through the pandemic by taxpayer money.

Turo received about a $6 million loan from the government’s small business pandemic-aid program.

Mr. Haddad said the money from the Paycheck Protection Program allowed him to hire back about half of the 110 people he laid off and reverse the roughly 25% pay cut he gave all employees, including himself.

TV Networks Endured Steep Prime-Time Erosion

BY JOE FLINT The broadcast networks will be happy to put 2020 in their rear view mirror.

Unlike streaming platforms, which got a tremendous boost from the nationwide shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the broadcast networks endured steep drops in primetime viewing last year.

The drops in Nielsen ratings go far beyond the typical erosion of the past decade that is a result of viewer fragmentation due to the dramatic increase in content options coming from streaming services.

The declines in prime-time viewers range from 32% for ViacomCBS Inc.’s CBS, 28% for Fox Corp.’s Fox, 25% for Comcast Corp.’s NBC and 7% for Walt Disney Co.’s ABC compared with the fall of 2019. Fox Corp. and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.

The drops can be attributed in large part to the effects of the virus on their businesses.

Production shutdowns in the spring and summer left broadcast networks scrambling to fill their schedules with fresh content in the fall, making them less able to capitalize on viewers stuck at home.

Broadcast shows are typically ordered in the spring for the following season. This season, new episodes of existing series weren’t ready to air until late fall. The few new series there were had to be rushed onto the air without the usual lengthy development process.

Networks got some cost savings from the reduction of original programming being produced and developed for the fall. However, production costs in general have increased because of the precautions put in place for Covid-19. For a onehour drama, the additional costs are more than $300,000 an episode and over $150,000 for a comedy, people familiar with the matter said—a 10% to

CRAIG SJODIN/ABC

BY ROBERT MCMILLAN

Car-Renting App Aims for Listing

JASON HENRY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Hackers Accessed Microsoft Systems

The success of ‘The Bachelorette’ helped cushion ABC’s drop in prime-time viewership, which was down 7% from the fall of 2019.

15% increase over the usual production costs.

The ratings decline is being felt on advertising as well.

NBC’s ad revenue was down 12% in the third quarter, which included September. ABC’s ad revenue for the early fall was flat while the company saved money from production shutdowns. Ad revenue for CBS in the quarter was off 1%, while Fox’s quarterly results showed ad revenue declines of 15%.

The networks took different approaches to dealing with the pandemic disruptions. CBS relied heavily on reruns of current shows. NBC relied on imports such as the Canadian dramas “Nurses’’ and “Transplant” as well as game shows such as “The Weakest Link” and a new season of “The Voice.”

“I actually think we weathered the storm better than I thought we would,” said Jeff Bader, president of program planning for NBC and its cable networks. Mr. Bader said NBC

managed to have 82% of fresh content during the fall, a decline of just 6% from the previous fall.

Not every gamble NBC took paid off. A pandemic-inspired new comedy called “Connecting” that primarily took place in video chats was pulled after only four episodes.

The dramas that have been on for much of the fall have also seen double-digit growth in catch-up viewing either via DVRs or on NBC platforms, Mr. Bader said. This is indicative of the continuing trend of viewers pivoting away from live television to on-demand.

ABC and Fox were fortunate to be able to make fresh episodes of their unscripted hits “The Bachelorette,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Masked Singer,” respectively.

The success of “The Bachelorette” helped cushion ABC’s fall, while Fox’s heavy drop would have been even bigger without “The Masked Singer.” Both networks were starting from a

lower base audience, making their drops less damaging.

ABC also was one of the first networks to resume production and had new episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Conners” and a new dark crime drama called “Big Sky” to give it momentum heading into the new year.

“We didn’t go the route that many other networks did— which was to slate their fall with reruns, or turn to acquisitions,” said Ed Isabella, vice president of research for ABC. “We knew we wanted our original shows back on the air.”

Fox took a similar approach to ABC, launching with its regular Sunday night animated lineup. It did try two new shows—dramas “Next” and “Filthy Rich” that were canceled after a handful of airings. Fox was stung by a lowrated World Series as well.

The success of “The Masked Singer” helped the network finish first in the key adults 18-49 demographic.

U.S. prime-time viewers, fall season 2019

2020

8 million

6

4

2

0 ABC

Fox

CBS

NBC

Note: 2020 data from Sept. 21 through Dec. 27; 2019 data from Sept. 23 through Dec. 29 Source: Nielsen

CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl said that it was a “fool’s errand” to compare this fall with fall 2019 given all the disruption.

“We acknowledge it was a rough start, but we knew it was coming,” Mr. Kahl said.

BUSINESS WATCH EXXON MOBIL

Firm Signals Another Quarterly Loss Exxon Mobil Corp. signaled that it will likely report a fourth consecutive quarterly loss as it writes down up to $20 billion in assets and struggles with declining demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Texas oil giant confirmed in a regulatory filing that it intended to impair $18 billion to $20 billion in assets after warn-

ing it would likely do so in November. Exxon also provided a partial update on its fourthquarter performance that showed some improvement in gas and petrochemical revenues, though likely not enough to avoid extending the worst stretch of quarterly losses in the company’s modern history.

Exxon reported that its upstream or oil and gas production division would see a positive impact of up to $1 billion compared with the prior quarter, amid higher commodity prices. It also

said its chemicals unit would likely experience a $400 million positive impact because of improved chemical margins.

—Miguel Bustillo J.C. PENNEY

Several Executives, Board Members Quit Several executives and board members resigned from J.C. Penney Co., including Chief Executive Jill Soltau, following the company’s sale and exit from

bankruptcy protection earlier in December.

J.C. Penney’s new ownership group—which consists of Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management, along with strategic partner Authentic Brands Group—said they have launched a search for a new chief executive.

The group has established a temporary office of the CEO and named Stanley Shashoua, Simon Property’s chief investment officer, as interim CEO. —George Stahl

CENTRAL GARDEN & PET

Company Will Buy Seed Packet Supplier Central Garden & Pet Co. agreed to buy Green Garden Products, a supplier of vegetable, herb and flower seed packets, for $532 million.

The Walnut Creek, Calif., distributor of private-label products for the lawn-and-garden and pet-supplies markets, said the deal expands its portfolio.

—Colin Kellaher

B4 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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EXCHANGE

The Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2021 Pandemic Inspiration

Hollywood at Home

Masks, webcams and sanitizers for our bodies...and our gadgets.

The pandemic sparked a reliance on things our 2019 selves couldn’t ever have imagined.

With marketers keen to capitalize on the new interest (and anxiety), 2021 will likely be full of new gizmos that boldly promise to improve it all.

One key area: better webcams for our constant video calling. Samsung has already announced that its forthcoming Galaxy smartphone, expected in early 2021, will improve video recording and calling. We anticipate laptop makers will do the same and finally ditch their crappy, lowresolution webcams.

Portable versions of UV sanitizers for cleaning your phones and gadgets are on the way to keep in your car or your pocket.

Another thing we may eventually never leave home without?

High-tech masks. Expect a range of built-in features: Bluetooth and microphones (see Maskfone), a fan-powered wearable air purifier (see LG PuriCare), a mask with a UV LED (see the UV Mask). Look for airquality sensors, contact-tracing assistance and more.

You may even end up wearing a social-distancing sweater.

SimpliSafe, a home-security company, made a version that sounds an alarm when someone comes within 6 feet of you. Intended as a fun prototype, the sweater sold out immediately.

Many of this year’s top films are hitting living rooms at the same time as theaters. Yep, that means watching “Dune” opening weekend in your PJs. (Woohoo!)

In April, Universal Pictures made “Trolls World Tour” an online rental as theaters closed.

Unexpectedly, it broke digital records, racking up $100 million through platforms such as Apple TV. Then Disney made a big bet on “Mulan,” launching the title on the company’s Disney+ streaming service for an additional $30 a pop. Following the Christmas release of “Wonder Woman 1984” to all HBO Max subscribers (with no extra fees), WarnerMedia plans to release its entire 2021 slate on the online platform.

Netflix has long adhered to this model, and now Hollywood is catching on, more out of necessity than out of desire. AMC reported attendance is down 85% year over year and Regal Cinemas, the second-largest theater chain in the U.S., closed all of its locations nationwide.

The director of “Dune,” slated for an HBO Max debut in the fall, wrote a scathing op-ed about how streaming alone can’t sustain the film industry. Yet the studios’ digitally minded parent companies, including Comcast, AT&T and Disney, might disagree, finding themselves in possession of the primary distribution channel for their content— and the valuable proprietary viewer data that comes with it.

Laptops Arm Up Suddenly, laptops aren’t the most boring gadget in the world. Our reliance on them for at-home work and school spurred demand the category hadn’t seen in years. (“Children, let me tell you about the Great Chromebook Shortage of 2020.”) Then, in November, Apple released a MacBook Air and MacBook Pro that ditched Intel inside for Apple’s own M1 chips. The result? Machines that have never been so quiet and cool, and lasted so long on one charge.

The move from chips based on Intel’s x86 architecture to ones based on lower-powered Arm technology, like the ones inside phones, is setting the entire computing industry on a new course. Lenovo, Acer and

When will Apple release a pair of smart glasses? Probably not 2021. And while Google made a big step in this category this summer by acquiring North, a pioneer in projection glasses, it canceled the second version of North’s glasses as it plots its future.

It’s actually Facebook that declared it will launch smart glasses in 2021—and they’ll be Ray Bans.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in September these glasses will be “the next step on the road to augmented

reality.” They won’t feature virtual objects that appear to interact with the real world.

AR headsets like Microsoft’s HoloLens might deliver an immersive experience, but they’re still expensive and cumbersome.

“Assisted reality” glasses—which project text, images and even video feeds into a person’s field of view—are of more value now, says Brian Ballard, CEO of remote-expertise company Upskill. Businesses have found utility in remote video conferencing that hovers in workers’ field of view, or turn-by-turn directions they don’t have to look down to follow.

A Healthy Distance At-home health is here to stay. Downloads of health and fitness apps grew by 46% world-wide in the first half of 2020, according to MoEngage, a marketing research firm.

Peloton, maker of smart spin bikes and treadmills, said it tripled its revenue in the quarter ended in September. Lululemon Athletica acquired Mirror, a wall-mounted panel that streams fitness classes, in June.

Doctor checkups are changing, too. Hospitals used phone, interactive video and messaging to minimize contact with coro-

navirus patients, after fast-tracking new telemedicine systems. In March, federal authorities loosened health privacy regulation to allow health-care providers to facilitate visits over FaceTime, Facebook Messenger, Zoom or Skype.

PlushCare, a virtual primary care provider, saw a 460% increase in patient signups in 2020. Ryan McQuaid, the company’s CEO, doesn’t think the bump is a shortterm response to a crisis, citing the timeconsuming nature of in-person visits. “On average, Americans spend over 20 minutes in the waiting room alone,” he said.

E-commerce ≠ Amazon

EV, American Style

The pandemic packed 10 years of consumer e-commerce adoption into a single quarter, and forced every company that wasn’t Amazon—especially those with large retail footprints—to scramble to offer consumers new and better ways to shop from home.

Target saw an explosion in curbside pickup from online orders, while warehouse retailer Costco reported unprecedented growth in e-commerce. Walmart launched a Prime-like membership program called Walmart+, and rapidly added features to keep up the competition. (Walmart recently eliminated order minimums and shipping fees on Walmart.com orders, and provides no-fee delivery on grocery carts totaling $35 or more.)

Shopify, which powers payments for many small businesses online, expanded its own network of fulfillment centers so those businesses could get goods to customers more quickly and efficiently, without turning to Amazon.

Now that fast, free shipping is table stakes and retailers recognize they won’t see the foot traffic they counted on pre-pandemic, consumers finally get an online version of an old retail staple: comparison shopping.

In 2021, Amazon’s value proposition—that if it isn’t always the least expensive way to shop, it’s at least the most convenient—will be tested. Meanwhile, its market power—along with Google’s, Facebook’s and Apple’s—will continue to be the focus of regulatory scrutiny.

Electric vehicles are cool, but few bear any resemblance to good old Detroit steel. That changes in 2021 with the anticipated arrival of some green beasts.

This summer, startup Rivian expects to ship the already-sold-out launch editions of its first-generation R1T pickup and R1S SUV, machines with ranges of over 300 miles and price tags starting around $70,000.

Then there’s the GMC Hummer EV pickup, due in the fall from General Motors. Reservations are already full for the $112,595-and-up Edition 1, which is billed to have a

Death by Subscription Everything now has some sort of subscription attached to it. Your 600 video streaming apps, your grocery-delivery service, your cloud storage, certainly, but also your workout bike? Your to-do list app? Your dog food? Everything as a Service (EaaS), as we like to call it, is only going to continue. More things you once bought as a one-time payment will be offered instead as a recurring payment. And expect new sorts of service-focused offerings, too—especially tied to your hardware purchases. If Apple’s Fitness+—a new digital workout subscription that re-

range of over 350 miles and can do zero-to-60 in about 3 seconds.

Ford expects to have its own battery-powered monster, the F-150 Electric, on sale in mid-2022. And sometime in late 2021 or early 2022, we might even see Tesla’s Cybertruck.

This past year brought battery-powered SUVs from the likes of Toyota, Audi and Jaguar, and the trend will continue: In 2021, more than half of the battery-electric and plug-in hybrid options on the U.S. market will be SUVs—82 models total, as opposed to 66 passenger-car models, according to forecasts by AlixPartners, a global consulting firm.

quires an Apple Watch—is successful, Apple and other hardware makers will likely attach more services to their products.

Those subscriptions you’re already paying for will continue to rise. Companies argue you need to pay more so they can add more content and features. In June, YouTube TV raised its cable-like bundle by $15. In October, Netflix raised its most popular streaming plan from $12.99 to $13.99. In November, Google eliminated its free Google Photos storage tier. And Disney announced that in March, the monthly price of Disney+ will go from $6.99 to $7.99.

Return of the Trust Fall While remote work has many advantages, building trust between employees isn’t one of them. Online, there is no water cooler for gossiping around, no nearby coffee shop for informal brainstorms, no place to grab a drink after work. But companies whose employees worked remotely long before the pandemic already had a solution: the offsite retreat.

Buffer, a fully remote company, gets its entire, globe-spanning team together at least once a year. Dozens of other companies whose employees work mostly or en-

tirely at home do the same thing, which has led to a cottage industry of firms that will plan these retreats for you.

One reason companies have embraced remote work is that it makes employees happier, but another is that it saves companies money on office space.

In 2021, expect to see many of the millions of employees who have permanently shifted to remote or hybrid work piling into party buses, doing group yoga and seeking inner peace in the presence of their bosses— for far less than the cost of the rent on the offices they left behind.

JASON SCHNEIDER (6)

Reality: Assisted, Not Augmented

Microsoft have begun releasing Windows or Chrome OS laptops with chips from Qualcomm, whose processors power the most popular Android phones. This will only accelerate in the coming year, with every major Windows PC maker working with Qualcomm on laptops and some models even gaining 5G, said Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon.

Apple, which plans to transition its entire Mac lineup to its own processors by 2022, is also expected to release a long-anticipated new iMac, among other things. And it won’t come as a surprise when more tech giants, including Amazon and Microsoft, embrace their own custom chips in everything from laptops to servers to wearables.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | B5

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EXCHANGE TAX REPORT | LAURA SAUNDERS

Tiny Tax Changes That Could Be A Big Deal This Year These late-breaking tweaks may alter your returns

Congress passed two major bills in response to Covid-19 that contain a slew of tax changes. under age 17. It begins to phase out at $75,000 of adjusted gross income for most single filers and $150,000 of AGI for most married joint filers. For individuals without children, the payments go to zero when income reaches $87,000, or $174,000 for couples filing jointly.

The second round of stimulus payments, like the first, isn’t taxable.

Payments are already going out, and most are based on taxpayers’ income as listed on their 2019 tax returns. If the recipients’ 2020 income turns out to be much higher, they won’t need to give the payments back. Taxpayers who earned too much in 2019 to receive checks but whose income dropped enough to qualify for the stimulus can claim payments through their 2020 tax returns.

• Unemployment pay. Among other changes in this area, the new law extends unemployment pay of

$300 a week for many people from Dec. 26, 2020, to March 14, 2021, and sometimes longer. It increases the maximum number of weeks of benefits to 50 from 39 in many cases, and it allows states to forgive overpayments of benefits when repayment would “violate equity and good conscience.”

Unemployment compensation is taxable, although tax rates drop as income does. Recipients should expect to receive a Form 1099-G for 2020 payments that will be reported to the IRS. • Charitable deductions. In its December bill, Congress extended and expanded charitable write-offs for taxpayers who take the standard deduction instead of itemizing them on Schedule A. But the expansion applies to donations made in 2021. It allows single taxpayers to deduct up to $300 in eligible donations and married joint filers to deduct up to $600.

For 2020, the limit remains $300 for both single and joint filers.

Also for 2021, this deduction reduces taxable income but not adjusted gross income. AGI is a key threshold for other tax provisions, such as Roth IRA contributions, the 3.8% surtax on investment income, and income-based Medicare premiums.

In addition, the new law extends the ability of individuals who itemize deductions on Schedule A to deduct donations up to 100% of adjusted gross income through 2021.

• Flexible spending accounts.

Many workers with FSAs that allow them to use pretax dollars to pay for unreimbursed health expenses (like glasses) or dependentcare expenses (like summer camp) didn’t use all the money in their 2020 accounts because of the pandemic. The IRS had limited ability to ease FSA rules, but Congress has now done so.

Participants in such plans can carry over unused funds from 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022, or for up to 12 months for companies with fiscal years. For dependent-care accounts, the law extends the age limit from 12 to 13 for some carried-over funds. For workers to take advantage of these changes, company plans must often opt into the new rules.

• Medical-expense deductions.

The December law enacted a permanent threshold of 7.5% of adjusted gross income for deducting

PERSONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS The trusted advisers of top business leaders

Jim Kavanaugh

WHITNEY CURTIS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Chief Executive Officer, World Wide Technology

K8P0V4L

NICOLAS ORTEGA

With taxes, small changes often add up to big differences— and major confusion.

Last year Congress passed two important bills in response to Covid-19 that contain a slew of tax changes, with the most recent one signed by President Trump on Dec. 27. Some of the changes apply only to 2020, while others affect more than one year or take effect beginning in 2021. The new year also brings automatic inflation adjustments that slightly shift tax brackets and some other thresholds.

That’s a lot to keep straight, so here’s a rundown of the most recent tax changes and when they apply, according to the Senate Finance Committee, plus an overview of this year’s key tax numbers.

Happier New Year in 2021!

• Stimulus payments. The yearend relief and spending package just signed into law includes a second round of stimulus checks. This payment is up to $600 per taxpayer ($1,200 for married joint filers) plus $600 per qualifying child

Key Inflation-Adjusted Tax Numbers for 2021 Individual income tax RATE

10% 12% 22% 24% 32% 35% 37%

Taxable income SINGLE

MARRIED, FILING JOINTLY

Up to $9,950

Up to $19,900

$9,951 to $40,525

$19,901 to $81,050

$40,526 to $86,375

$81,051 to $172,750

$86,376 to $164,925

$172,751 to $329,850

$164,926 to $209,425

$329,851 to $418,850

$209,426 to $523,600

$418,851 to $628,300

$523,601 +

$628,301 + Taxable income

Capital gains, dividends RATE*

SINGLE

MARRIED, FILING JOINTLY

0%

Up to $40,400

Up to $80,800

$40,401 to $445,850

$80,801 to $501,600

$445,851 +

$501,601 +

Standard deduction

$12,550

$25,100

Social Securitytax wage cap

$142,800

15% 20%

Exemptions Estate and gift tax

$11.7 million per individual

Annual gift tax exclusion

$15,000 per recipient

Retirement plan contribution limits** Traditional or Roth IRA

up to $6,000

(plus $1,000 for age 50 and older)

401(K) or Roth 401(k)

up to $19,500

(plus $6,500 for age 50 and older)

SEP IRA or Solo 401(k)

up to 58,000

(plus $6,500 for age 50 and older, for solo 401(k))

*Applies to gains on assets held longer than a year and qualified dividends. **Income limits may also affect amount of contribution allowed.

Source: Internal Revenue Service

Jim Kavanaugh, a former professional soccer player, lacked money to help kick off World Wide Technology LLC when he co-founded the reseller of tech equipment at age 28 in 1990.

Today, the WWT chief executive presides over a global enterprise with $13.4 billion in annual revenue and about 7,000 employees. It provides an array of high-tech services to companies, government agencies and others. And Mr. Kavanaugh now has a net worth of $2.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Mr. Kavanaugh had little sense of his full potential while growing up in St. Louis. As the son of a bricklayer and homemaker, “I thought I would probably end up in construction,” he says. He considered launching a landscaping business once he finished high school.

Instead, Mr. Kavanaugh won a soccer scholarship to Saint Louis University, where he majored in marketing. The Los Angeles Lazers, a team in the Major Indoor Soccer League, drafted him after his 1986 graduation.

Mr. Kavanaugh left in 1988 to be a sales manager at an electronics distributor. Technology looked like “a growth area,’’ he says.

Two years later, he teamed up with entrepreneur David Steward to found WWT. Mr. Steward provided seed money.

The startup struggled at first. Heating and trash bills went unpaid for months. But those days are behind him.

Mentors have helped Mr. Kavanaugh handle challenges, letting him know he could succeed “if I have the grit and determination to overcome setbacks,’’ Mr. Kavanaugh notes.

Here are four of his most valued advisers. —Joann S. Lublin

Michael Dell

Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies Inc.

Chuck Robbins Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems Inc.

Joe Koenig

President of World Wide Technology LLC

Michael Bush

CEO of Great Place to Work Institute Inc.

medical expenses. Without the change, the AGI threshold would have risen to 10%.

Relatively few taxpayers take this write-off because their expenses don’t exceed the threshold.

But the deduction covers a wide range of unreimbursed costs when it does apply, and it’s valuable to people who have very large medical expenses, such as from nursinghome care. For a list of allowed expenses, see IRS Publication 502.

• Business-meal deductions. Acting on a request from President Trump, Congress has enacted a 100% deduction for business-meal and beverage expenses in 2021 and 2022, up from 50% in 2020. It applies to delivery and carryout meals as well as those in restaurants.

• Retirement-plan withdrawals.

The new law has a permanent provision allowing victims of officially declared disasters such as hurricanes and fires to make withdrawals up to $100,000 of IRA and 401(k) assets. These withdrawals can then be included in taxable income or restored to the account over as long as three years. For people younger than 59½ who take such payouts, the 10% penalty on early withdrawals doesn’t apply.

This relief is similar to what Congress allowed for people affected by Covid-19 in 2020. So far, however, lawmakers haven’t extended this relief for Covid victims into 2021.

Mr. Kavanaugh met Mr. Dell at a tech-industry event in the early 1990s. They competed against each other for years, though their companies eventually became business partners. “Jim and I both grew up in this industry,’’ Mr. Dell recollects. The tech tycoon’s impressive adaptability inspired Mr. Kavanaugh to propose that WWT buy a software-development business. Fellow executives worried he was moving WWT away from its core focus. “If we don’t move into this space, we are going to lose our edge.’’ Mr. Kavanaugh said. WWT acquired a small software-development consultancy in 2015.

Mr. Kavanaugh has known Mr. Robbins since the latter was a Cisco middle manager decades ago. Mr. Robbins took command of the networking-equipment giant in 2015. The Cisco leader later encouraged Mr. Kavanaugh to increase his involvement with the broader business community. “People often say leadership is lonely, but it doesn’t always have to be if you have a strong community around you,’’ Mr. Robbins observes.

“My peer network has been tremendously helpful to me as we’ve navigated many of the same complex challenges.’’

Mr. Koenig was Mr. Kavanaugh’s college roommate—and has served as his second-incommand since 1993. The result? “Joe tells me what I need to hear…whether I like it or not,” the CEO says. For example, Mr. Koenig once bluntly urged him to shut up and listen more when he was pushing to create an innovative resource for customers. Over time, Mr. Kavanaugh says he has come to realize that good leaders know “when to weigh in with that passion and when to sit back and listen.’’ He adds: “you can make better decisions if you listen to understand.’’

Every year, the company headed by Mr. Bush surveys more than 10 million workers at over 10,000 companies to build its list of great places to work and similar tallies, such as Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Mr. Kavanaugh became acquainted with Mr. Bush after WWT repeatedly landed on those lists. “His humility is his competitive advantage” because it makes people feel safe, equal and valued, Mr. Bush says. Mr. Kavanaugh says his mentor helped him understand the value of treating staffers well while generating strong profit: “One without the other won’t work.”

B6 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | B7

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WHERE TRAVEL IS HEADED NEXT

BY ALISON SIDER

A

Lighter Load Change in the number of people passing through U.S. airports from a year earlier Seven-day moving average

Daily

0% –20 –40 –60 –80 –100 A M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Source: TSA

Cruise Lines Aim to Outsail Covid Continued from page B1 into a high-volume business—Carnival Corp., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.—in a race against the clock. They need to find a way to get ships moving again so they can start generating revenue again.

Currently, companies are working on protocols to protect crew members. Once they demonstrate proficiency, federal authorities will allow them to offer test cruises, though none have been scheduled so far. The big operators hope to resume regular paid cruises from U.S. ports in 2021, though the timing is unclear. The CDC has said it will issue guidance in coming months.

The more the industry learns about the virus, the clearer it becomes that an arsenal of expensive precautions are needed. Many of the smaller ships that sailed through the summer and fall imposed a series of new protocols such as requiring preboarding Covid tests, daily temperature checks and sharply reduced passenger loads.

Luxury brand Ponant, owned by French billionaire François Pinault, scheduled travel through nearly virus-free French Polynesia on its ship Paul Gauguin. Norway’s Hurtigruten Group AS restricted participation on the Roald Amundsen’s cruise along fjords to the country’s residents. Seattle-based UnCruise Adventures promised to reinvent its popular cruises in Alaska aboard the Wilderness Adventurer with a slew of new pro-

five-year absence while rival Southwest Airlines Co. plans to fly from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for the first time ever in 2021.

JetBlue Airways Corp. is adding flights this year at Miami International Airport—the busiest U.S. airport it didn’t yet serve.

The coronavirus pandemic brought a travel boom to a crashing halt last spring as people stopped traveling for work and everything from weddings to funerals was held over Zoom. It wiped out over two decades’ worth of growth in a matter of months, according to aviation data provider Cirium, sending global air traffic plummeting to levels last seen in 1999.

The fragility of any rebound became evident last month when a new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus emerged in the U.K., prompting a new wave of travel restrictions.

That followed other such setbacks in the U.S. But the days just before and after Christmas were among the busiest in months, with airport security screenings nearing 1.3 million on Dec. 27— the highest level since March, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

“It’s a little bit of an emotional roller coaster,” said Mr. Minicucci, Alaska’s president.

Competition among airlines will likely be fierce in 2021 as they duke it out for shares of a smaller pie. International travel—a mainstay for legacy airlines such as United, Delta, and American Airlines Group Inc.—could be slow to come back as international borders remain closed and travelers fear new lockdowns.

American Airlines recently said it would shutter operations in Prague, Manchester and Reykjavik, and said it would hold off on resuming flights to Venice—all routes that were scheduled to return this summer. A spokeswoman for American said the air-

line was adding flights to match demand in Latin America and the Caribbean, but planning a more muted trans-Atlantic schedule due to weak demand.

“Normally we would see bookings for these destinations, and we’re not seeing demand largely because of country restrictions that remain in place,” she said.

Some airlines are returning to strategies they put in motion before the pandemic. JetBlue aims to start flying to London in 2021, betting that it will be successful flying narrow-body jets with fewer seats

to fill than the wide-bodies bigger competitors fly, according to airline President Joanna Geraghty.

Because New York-based JetBlue has strongholds in the Northeast, where the virus spread aggressively last spring, it learned to open new routes and cities more quickly and with less expense, she added. JetBlue has added dozens of new routes and recently announced service to new cities, including Miami and Key West.

“Everybody’s trying to look for where demand is,” she said.

Southwest is also being oppor-

tunistic by adding a dozen new cities as it looks to expand its reach.

It is targeting airports such as Chicago’s O’Hare that were once too crowded with other carriers. It also recently announced new service to Fresno and Santa Barbara, Calif.—part of an effort to find untapped demand to put underutilized planes and staff to work bringing in revenue.

Another major carrier, Alaska, is pushing ahead with an order to replace most of its Airbus planes in the coming years with Boeing 737 MAX jets—a move that it says will

tections, such as operating at 40% passenger capacity and adding frequent Covid tests, temperature checks and limiting movements on and off the ship.

Within days of launching most of these cruises, crew or passengers became ill or tested positive for Covid-19. The reversals reflect the limitations of Covid-19 tests on a virus that can take days to incubate, and, in at least one case, failures by cruise management to properly quarantine crew or sound the alarm when employees became sick.

UnCruise Chief Executive Dan Blanchard said in an interview that a passenger from Texas tested positive for the virus during the Wilderness Adventurer’s Alaska cruise in July, forcing the company to “shut the thing down” and re-

Passengers disembarked in Tahiti after a cruise aboard the Paul Gauguin was cut short by a traveler’s positive Covid-19 test.

Tourism may bounce back this year, but business travel faces a slower recovery

BY KONRAD PUTZIER Hotel owners are bracing for a difficult 2021, as the sector continues to reel from a historic drop in bookings caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Even though the industry’s worst year in living memory ended with a glimmer of hope, many in the industry expect the celebrations to be short-lived.

The start of Covid vaccinations in the U.S. and Europe raised the prospect that people would start traveling again and sent shares in hotel owners and operators soaring. But investors and analysts say bookings will take years to rise back to prepandemic levels. Meanwhile, the industry faces growing financial stress as property owners struggle to pay their mortgage bills, wages and other expenses.

Despite the record drop in bookings, many hotels have been able to stay open thanks to debt relief from banks and temporary government aid like the Paycheck Protection Program. Now some lenders are starting to lose patience, brokers and investors say, which could lead to an increase in foreclosures and distressed-property sales in the first half of 2021.

For hotel owners, “it’s all about survival,” said Greig Taylor, a managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners LLP. In the near term, the slow pace of vaccinations and persistently high numbers of Covid-19 infections are likely to continue holding back bookings. In a November report, S&P Global Ratings estimated that revenue per available hotel room fell by 50% in the U.S. in 2020. The ratings agency expects revenue to pick up in 2021, but estimates that it will still be 20% to 30% lower than in 2019. It doesn’t expect revenues to fully recover before 2023.

Business travel is a particular concern. While some analysts expect tourism to resume at an almost-normal pace by the second half of 2021 in many places, cost cutting and the rising popularity of virtual meetings could mean fewer corporate credit cards will be swiped at hotels for the foreseeable future. In a recent report, accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said that some business travel may never come back.

“I think the biggest change is going to be the last-minute business-travel people on the road for 100 or 150 days a year,” said Michael Bellisario, a senior research

‘Everybody’s trying to look for where demand is,’ says JetBlue’s president.

One potential development that could lift the industry is if younger people jump at the chance to visit elderly parents and grandparents once they have been inoculated, said Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth. A federal advisory panel has recommended that people over 75, who are among the most vulnerable, be next in line for the vaccine.

“January is going to look terrible,” Ms. Syth said. But “you can start to see some trips coming back even sooner than you would expect.”

Analysts expect business travel will lag behind leisure in the recovery.

That is bad news for big carriers that rely on business customers for large chunks of revenue but potentially less troubling for smaller carriers such as Allegiant Travel Co., which mostly flies from smaller cities to sunny vacation destinations.

Many of Allegiant’s passengers still want to fly, according to the carrier’s research. In weekly surveys the airline has conducted since the start of the pandemic, 60% of Allegiant’s customers say they intend to travel by spring, and 70% say they’ll travel by summer. The airline typically publishes flight schedules six months into the future, but is considering extending its offerings through the rest of the year.

“Customers are already thinking about holiday travel in ’21,” said Greg Anderson, chief financial officer of Allegiant. “Leisure is the segment of the traveling public that’s going to come back the fastest,” he added. “We think all the other airlines will be vying for that segment.”

Cruise ships arriving at ports, daily 150 cruise ships 125

100,000 people have signed up for test cruises Royal Caribbean hopes to run in 2021. turn to port. Mr. Blanchard said subsequent tests showed the passenger wasn’t infected and the initial test produced a false positive, but the company decided to cancel its Alaska cruises until April 2021 because too many risks were beyond the company’s control.

“We need to have rapid, reliable and regular testing at transportation hubs” like airports and port facilities, said Mr. Blanchard. “Secondary to that is the vaccine.”

France’s Ponant said in promotional brochures that it collaborated with medical experts to protect passengers from the virus when the Paul Gauguin resumed sailing in French Polynesia in late July after a hiatus that started in March. Safety measures included regular Covid tests and an entire

make the airline more efficient.

Doing the deal now helped the airline get the most favorable terms from Boeing, Mr. Minicucci said. “Even though there’s a huge cloud over everything, now is the time to make a deal like this,” Mr. Minicucci said.

China’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic could give some indication of how things will play out in the U.S. if vaccination becomes widespread. Domestic air traffic there is nearly back to prepandemic levels—down just 1.4% in October from the year-earlier pe-

riod—as the economy improved and airlines offered deals, according to the International Air Transport Association.

In the U.S., airline executives and industry observers say pent-up demand for travel could be unleashed in a fury in the summer when more people are expected to be inoculated.

“The surge in demand for air travel could be like nothing we have ever before experienced,” Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Linenberg wrote in December.

deck devoted to isolation staterooms to contain any outbreak.

A few days after the voyage began, an American woman traveling with her mother tested positive for Covid-19, prompting Ponant to cut short the cruise and suspend sailing in the region, said Hironui Johnston, an official with French Polynesia’s tourism ministry. A spokesman for Ponant declined to comment.

Another ship, the Norwegianowned SeaDream I, required 53 passengers to provide proof of negative coronavirus test results before boarding in Barbados in November.

Ben Hewitt and his husband, David McDonald, were returning to their cabin after lunch, a few days

into the mask-free cruise, when a doctor in a protective suit ran past them in a passageway. A short time later, the captain announced a positive Covid-19 case on board, the first of seven passengers and two crew with eventual confirmed cases.

Passengers said they later learned that an extended American family had partied in Miami’s South Beach after testing negative for Covid-19 and before traveling to board the ship in Barbados.

Their infections illustrate the risks of relying on preboarding tests as a safeguard against the virus.

Passengers were “lulled into a false sense of security,” said Mr. Hewitt, who avoided the virus. The

ship’s owner, Norway-based SeaDream Yacht Club, canceled its remaining 2020 cruises. The company did not respond to requests to comment.

Lou and Teresa Mello, from Charleston, S.C., spent more than a week in isolation at a facility in Barbados after testing positive. They recall riding to shore for a beach excursion with the infected family.

“It was a one-week escape for us. It backfired, obviously.” Mr. Mello, a retiree, said, adding that he and his wife won’t risk another cruise before vaccines are widely distributed. “It only takes one or two people not doing the right thing” to put everyone at risk.

Another Norway cruise line, Hurtigruten, is under investigation by the country’s police and health authorities after 42 crew and 29 passengers on the ship Roald Amundsen tested positive for Covid-19 following two July cruises. All passengers were residents of Norway, which at the time had only a handful of Covid-19 cases. The ship’s crew, about 80% of whom were hired from foreign nations, were required to have proof of negative Covid-19 tests before they journeyed to Norway.

A study of the outbreak commissioned by Hurtigruten found that many of the ship’s crew were not properly isolated in cabins during a mandatory 10-day quarantine. It cited evidence that some had worked near passengers before completing the quarantine.

The report also said the ship’s doctors did not report to authorities that some of its crew had been isolated with Covid-19 related symptoms such as fevers and coughs as early as four days into the first cruise.

The company let passengers disembark 10 days later in Tromsø, Norway, shortly before it sent four sick crew members to a local hospital. Hurtigruten learned later that day, July 31, that two crew tested positive for Covid-19.

Dr. Stephen Ostroff, former chief medical officer for the Food and Drug Administration, said it is virtually impossible to keep the virus off ships so long as it is spreading in communities. “Nothing will ever do that perfectly, so you also need measures to keep it from spreading—on the ship or ashore,” he said.

The CDC in October laid out sev-

100

CDC issues no-sail order

75 50 25 0 Jan.

Feb.

March

April

May

June

July

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Source: MariTrace

eral steps that cruise companies must take to prove crew safety. If they meet those tests, the companies will be allowed to launch test cruises designed to assess their ability to protect crew and passen-

gers from infection, including rapid testing of all passengers and crew before ships leave port and before travelers disembark.

Cruise companies can enlist volunteer passengers for the voyages,

analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. “Because I think they’re going to say: ‘Do I need my employer to spend money on this? Can we do this over a phone call? Can we do this over Zoom?’ ” That’s a problem because business travelers are typically hotels’ most profitable customers.

They often book at the last minute and tend to be less worried about costs than leisure travelers.

Hotels in big cities like New York or Chicago that depend on business travelers will take a particularly long time to recover from the crisis, Mr. Bellisario said.

Nayan Patel, who owns seven hotels in the Washington, D.C., area, including the Georgetown Inn, said his revenues are down around 80% compared with a year ago. Business travelers, formerly an important source of revenue, have virtually disappeared.

He said he recently closed one of his properties, the 76-room West End hotel, because the two or three bookings a night couldn’t even pay for his front-desk staff, although he plans to reopen once business picks up again. “If you look at our numbers, they’re abysmal,” he said. “I don’t try to look at them every day, because it’s too depressing.”

Mr. Patel expects the businesstravel drought to weigh on his earnings in 2021 as well. “If you look at the calendar for next year for the convention center for D.C., it’s virtually empty,” he said.

“That’s a major problem.”

Thanks to debt forbearance from his lenders, Mr. Patel has been able to hold on to his properties, he said, but others haven’t been as lucky. Although the

number of foreclosures is still low, it has been inching up.

Debt-forbearance agreements negotiated in the spring are expiring, leaving many hotel owners with a choice between asking for help again or handing over the keys. Mark Schoenholtz, a vice chairman at real-estate services firm Newmark, said he expects an increase in distressed-hotel sales in early 2021 as new spikes in infections lead to property closures. “That’s going to force the hand of both owners and lenders in bringing things to market,” he said.

Outside of business-travel hot spots and big conference hotels, the outlook is less bleak. Millions of Americans who have been mostly confined to their homes for the better part of a year are itching to travel again. Analysts say they expect a surge in bookings in popular leisure-travel destinations like Miami or San Diego once vaccines are widely available and people feel safe.

Alan Lieberman, whose South Beach Group owns 17 hotels in Miami Beach and one in nearby Hollywood Beach, said his properties were almost booked out for New Year’s Eve. Although he expects occupancy to be almost at normal levels through May, when high tourism season winds down, most rooms have been going for bargain rates. His revenues won’t be back at pre-pandemic levels until cruise ships and conferences return, he said. Still, he counts himself lucky to own hotels in a sunny place with a beach. “I would be out of business in Chicago or New York,” he said.

JAYME GERSHEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/REUTERS; JOHN J. KIM / CHICAGO TRIBUNE/ZUMA PRESS; SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS

Some are cutting back schedules; others are buying planes and adding cities to their routes

irlines are betting that coronavirus vaccines will reignite demand for travel this year. The question is when.

Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Ed Bastian expects improvement starting this spring.

Alaska Airlines President Ben Minicucci said he hopes to get back to 80% of pre-pandemic capacity by summer. United CEO Scott Kirby, however, said travel may not start getting back to normal until vaccines are widely distributed—in late 2021.

“I recognize a lot of people are saying it’s going to happen faster, and I hope they’re right,” he said in a December interview. “This is one of those strange situations where I think we’re probably better at forecasting what’s going to happen a year from now than we are what’s going to happen next quarter.”

Their strategies for coping with the uncertainty are just as diverse.

Airlines are shutting down some international markets and running reduced schedules while also buying new planes and adding new cities in an attempt to capture demand where it exists.

United is returning to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in February after a

Hotel Owners Are Still Reeling From the Pandemic

Discounts have helped prop up occupancy hotels in tourist destinations like Miami Beach, above, but conferences and business travel are off.

provided they are not given incentives and are informed about health risks. After Royal Caribbean announced in November that it was seeking passengers for the test cruises, the company said 100,000 people volunteered within a few days; the cruises have yet to be scheduled.

One of the few countries to successfully thwart the spread of coronavirus on cruise ships is Japan.

The nation experienced one of the first and largest Covid-19 cruise outbreaks in February on Carnival’s Diamond Princess, which carries more than 3,600 passengers and crew. More than 700 of the ship’s passengers and crew tested positive for the virus and 14 died.

Japanese cruise lines restarted sailing on some ships in late October under strictly controlled conditions. So far, there have been no reported Covid-19 cases on board but the appeal of a carefree cruise has been replaced by a maze of restrictions.

Passengers are required to take

a virus test before boarding.

Masks, temperature checks and regular onboard tests are mandatory. Journeys range from one- to four-day cruises, which may include a brief stop to destinations such as a deserted beach.

One of the ships, Asuka II, has closed the mahjong room and the disco lounge. Passengers can share a meal only with cabin mates or family at designated tables surrounded by plastic panels.

Kahoru Horiuchi, 66, was one of 150 guests who sailed from Yokohama two days before Christmas on the Asuka II, which can carry up to 850 passengers. On the onenight cruise, a first for Mrs. Horiuchi and her husband, the couple was prohibited from having close contact with other guests.

“It was fine that there was no talking, no mingling,” Mrs. Horiuchi said. “It was actually quite relaxing.”

—Erin Ailworth, Suryatapa Bhattacharya, Miho Inada and Lisa Schwartz contributed to this article.

Ben Hewitt and David McDonald and Lou and Teresa Mello were among the passengers on the SeaDream I when a Covid outbreak started.

FROM LEFT: SULIANE FAVENNEC/AFP/GETTY IMAGESCRUISE WITH BEN AND DAVID; LOU AND TERESA MELLO

Airlines Craft Very Different Flight Plans

International travel at big U.S. airlines like Delta, left and bottom left, and American, bottom right, could be slow to come back as travelers fear new lockdowns.

B8 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

* ***

MARKETS DIGEST Dow Jones Industrial Average S&P 500 Index Last Year ago

30606.48 s 196.92 or 0.65%

Trailing P/E ratio 30.11 P/E estimate * 24.91 Dividend yield 1.97

All-time high 30606.48, 12/31/20

3756.07 s 24.03 or 0.64%

21.47 19.09 2.20

Last

Trailing P/E ratio * P/E estimate * Dividend yield *

Year ago

40.40 26.75 1.60

25.53 19.77 1.82

Last

12888.28 s 18.28 or 0.14%

Year ago

Trailing P/E ratio *† 39.45 P/E estimate *† 32.79 Dividend yield *† 0.75

27.55 24.10 0.97

All-time high: 12899.42, 12/28/20

All-time high 3756.07, 12/31/20

Current divisor 0.15198707565833

Nasdaq Composite Index

32200

3700

12800

30500

3600

12400

28800

3500

12000

UP Close

27100

3400

11600

Open

25400

Session high t

DOWN Session open

65-day moving average

t

Close

Session low

65-day moving average 11200

3300 65-day moving average

23700

10800

3200

Bars measure the point change from session's open 22000 Nov.

10400

3100

Dec.

Nov.

Nov.

Dec.

Dec.

Weekly P/E data based on as-reported earnings from Birinyi Associates Inc. † Based on Nasdaq-100 Index

Major U.S. Stock-Market Indexes High

Latest Close

Low

Trading Diary

Net chg

% chg

52-Week Low

High

% chg

% chg YTD 3-yr. ann.

Dow Jones 0.65 30606.48 18591.93

30637.47 30344.50 30606.48 196.92

6.0

7.2

Transportation Avg 12517.48 12414.60 12506.93

47.70

0.38

12803.02

6703.63

13.8

14.7

5.6

865.30

14.05

1.65

960.89

610.89

-0.3

-1.7

6.1

39257.64 38945.25 39219.62 182.00 853.37 845.38 2.60 852.19

0.31

39219.62 22462.76 852.20 455.11

17.8 15.8

18.7 16.4

12.3 6.2

12899.42 12888.28

6860.67 6994.29

41.8 45.3

43.6 47.6

23.1 26.3

3756.07

2237.40

15.3

16.3

12.0

Industrial Average Utility Average Total Stock Market Barron's 400

849.10

864.64

0.47

12902.07 12821.23 12888.28 12904.09 12804.75 12888.28

0.14

18.28 42.92

0.33

7.4

S&P 3760.20

500 Index

3726.88

0.64

24.03

3756.07

0.16

2315.78 1122.69

2288.20 1110.45

2306.62 1118.93

1981.41

1963.26

1974.86

-5.14

14533.21 14422.74 14524.80

47.33

0.33

1.02

0.18

MidCap 400 SmallCap 600

3.74 0.92

2315.36 1124.94

0.08

1218.55 595.67

11.7 9.6

11.8 9.6

6.7 6.1

2007.10

991.16

18.5

18.4

8.7

14524.80

8777.38

3.7

4.4

4.3

568.77

305.71

2.8

3.0

0.4

6142.96

3855.67

13.8

13.3

10.8

691.70

494.36

5.1

5.5

8.2

114.12

56.19

-14.2

-13.6

-2.8

34.9

19.1

Nasdaq

NYSE Composite

-0.26

569.90

564.95

NYSE Arca Biotech

5786.03

5684.48

NYSE Arca Pharma

690.03

680.72

689.43

4.28

98.02

96.24

97.91

1.09

PHLX§ Gold/Silver

147.43

143.62

144.19

161.14

70.12

35.4

PHLX§ Oil Service

44.51

43.66

44.33

0.17

0.39

80.99

21.47

-43.7

2798.14 23.25

2768.43 21.24

2795.50 22.75

11.73 -0.02

0.42

2816.27 82.69

1286.84 12.10

48.1 82.4

Value Line

KBW Bank

PHLX§ Semiconductor Cboe Volatility

568.77

5739.02 -38.67 -0.67 0.62 1.12

-2.95 -2.00

-0.09

Nasdaq PHLX

Region/Country Index

Americas Canada Latin Amer.

Brazil Chile Mexico

Close

Percentage Gainers...

Latest % chg

Net chg

YTD % chg

MSCI ACWI 646.30 MSCI ACWI ex-USA 326.50 MSCI World 2690.04 MSCI Emerging Markets 1291.75

0.03 0.04 -0.004 0.49

MSCI AC Americas 1467.82 S&P/TSX Comp 17433.36 MSCI EM Latin America 2451.76 Sao Paulo Bovespa 119017.24 Santiago IPSA 2857.61 S&P/BMV IPC 44066.88

0.001 0.0001 …

Closed –0.001 –.00003 …

Closed …

Closed …

Closed

EMEA Eurozone Belgium Denmark France Germany Israel Italy Netherlands Russia South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey U.K. U.K.

Stoxx Europe 600 399.03 Euro Stoxx 397.56 Bel-20 3621.28 OMX Copenhagen 20 1465.17 CAC 40 5551.41 DAX 13718.78 Tel Aviv 1499.05 FTSE MIB 22232.90 AEX 624.61 RTS Index 1387.46 FTSE/JSE All-Share 59408.68 IBEX 35 8073.70 OMX Stockholm 768.38 Swiss Market 10703.51 BIST 100 1476.72 FTSE 100 6460.52 FTSE 250 20488.30

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Asia-Pacific Australia China Hong Kong India Japan Singapore South Korea Taiwan Thailand

MSCI AC Asia Pacific 199.96 S&P/ASX 200 6587.10 Shanghai Composite 3473.07 Hang Seng 27231.13 S&P BSE Sensex 47868.98 Nikkei Stock Avg 27444.17 Straits Times 2843.81 Kospi 2873.47 TAIEX 14732.53 SET 1449.35

0.04 … … …

117.65 … … … … …

0.005 0.01 –.0002 0.04

Company

Symbol

0.005 0.01 -0.0002 0.04

Bonso Electronics Intl AeroCentury Bionano Genomics Ashford Bit Digital

BNSO

0.0001 ...

-0.00003 ... ... ...

Intrepid Potash Canaan ADR LSB Industries Sigilon Therapeutics Red Lion Hotels

IPI

LendingClub Digirad Ebang International Air T P F Industries Cl A

LC

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed Closed

0.02 ... ... ...

0.25 0.2 ...

Closed ...

Closed ...

Closed ...

Closed ,,, Closed 0.02 Closed Closed Closed

Sources: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data

WSJ .COM

30.7 27.3

Sources: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data

International Stock Indexes on Friday World

-43.4 -33.3 51.1 65.1

Get real-time U.S. stock quotes and track most-active stocks, new highs/lows and mutual funds.

Available free at WSJMarkets.com

BNGO AINC BTBT

CAN LXU SGTX RLH

DRAD EBON AIRT PFIN

Percentage Losers Company

Symbol

Enveric Biosciences Studio City Intl ADR fuboTV Romeo Power Net Element

ENVB

QuantumScape Puxin ADR Kymera Therapeutics Conifer Holdings Nortech Systems

QS

MicroVision Golden Nugget Online FG Financial Group X Financial ADR Rezolute

MVIS

* Primary market NYSE, NYSE American NYSE Arca only. †(TRIN) A comparison of the number of advancing and declining issues with the volume of shares rising and falling. An Arms of less than 1 indicates buying demand; above 1 indicates selling pressure.

Latest Session Close Net chg % chg

10.44 38.04 3.47 27.83 24.31

24.15 6.41 5.93 1.55 3.39 0.84 48.03 10.69 3.46 0.76

36.13 35.39 32.94 28.63 28.15

28.23 6.00 8.69 1.76 4.37 1.00 54.32 22.00 3.76 1.16

-11.2 -1.5 -15.7 ...

-4.7

10.56 3.59 6.07 24.90 6.05

26.16 25.52 23.37 22.24 20.52

13.67 8.84 14.95 42.93 8.26

-13.8 36.5 ...

23.6 -14.6

2.19 0.73 1.15 4.53 1.03

RMO NETE

NEW KYMR CNFR NSYS

FGF XYF RZLT

4.32 1.99 3.80 8.95 3.75

52-Week Low % chg

21.20 2.51 20.63 11.87 62.29 5.00 38.90 9.50 20.08 1.47

-55.8 -39.9 180.8 125.4 325.3

84.45 -13.84 -14.08 5.82 -0.95 -14.03 62.00 -9.85 -13.71 3.29 -0.50 -13.19 7.17 -1.08 -13.09

132.73 9.74 12.39 3.62 91.92 25.43 5.00 2.00 10.14 2.52

...

-30.6 ...

-18.6 37.4

5.38 19.70 4.22 2.00 11.99

GNOG

High

1.94 234.3 0.71 127.3 0.25 148.4 4.50 -63.9 0.28 5383.0

-28.04 -16.70 -15.94 -14.88 -14.42

4.26 11.87 28.00 22.49 13.95

FUBO

52-Week Low % chg

70.89 56.93 46.67 45.67 44.62

Latest Session Close Net chg % chg

MSC

High

3.19 3.90 0.98 2.69 6.76

7.69 10.75 3.08 8.58 21.91

ACY

-1.66 -2.38 -5.31 -3.93 -2.35

-0.80 -2.85 -0.59 -0.27 -1.58

-12.94 -12.64 -12.27 -11.89 -11.64

9.74 27.18 6.40 5.40 33.50

Symbol

Bionano Genomics Castor Maritime Jaguar Health NIO ADR Zomedica

BNGO CTRM JAGX NIO ZOM

598.7 99.4 -23.6 -62.0 84.5

0.15 8.82 2.80 1.42 3.10

Most Active Stocks Company

NYSE Arca

Total volume*4,732,072,115 181,678,450 Adv. volume*2,213,071,900 87,424,231 Decl. volume*2,471,441,341 93,679,034 Issues traded 3,850 1,439 Advances 1,765 860 Declines 1,983 562 Unchanged 102 17 New highs 198 152 New lows 20 26 Closing Arms† 0.99 1.37 Block trades* 36,683 960

Other Indexes Russell 2000

NYSE NYSE Amer.

Total volume* 806,430,239 26,417,189 Adv. volume* 468,877,002 14,432,056 Decl. volume* 329,925,061 11,721,931 Issues traded 3,243 284 Advances 1,881 124 Declines 1,268 151 Unchanged 94 9 New highs 153 10 New lows 5 0 Closing Arms† 1.25 0.45 Block trades* 4,735 287

Nasdaq Stock Market Nasdaq Composite Nasdaq 100

Volume, Advancers, Decliners

Volume % chg from Latest Session (000) 65-day avg Close % chg

52-Week High Low

445,509 286,607 141,465 128,928 125,084

3.47 2.60 1.29 57.20 0.50

3.08 46.67 0.19 -20.53 0.82 17.77 48.74 0.74 0.23 0.26

1741.4 2092.1 344.9 -25.5 133.6

0.25 0.11 0.19 2.11 0.06

* Common stocks priced at $2 a share or more with an average volume over 65 trading days of at least 5,000 shares =Has traded fewer than 65 days

Track the Markets: Winners and Losers

A look at how selected global stock indexes, bond ETFs, currencies and commodities performed around the world for the week.

Stock index

Currency, Commodity, Exchangevs. U.S. dollar traded in U.S.* traded fund 7.32% Corn 4.97 Lean hogs 4.10 Soybeans 3.20 Hang Seng 2.95 Nikkei 225 2.50 S&P 500 Utilities 2.37 Kospi Composite 2.25 Shanghai Composite 2.15 Wheat 2.14 Nymex RBOB gasoline 1.98 S&P 500 Consumer Discr 1.97 Comex silver 1.94 S&P 500 Telecom Svcs 1.91 S&P BSE Sensex 1.89 S&P 500 Financials 1.86 S&P 500 Health Care 1.78 S&P 500 Real Estate 1.60 IPC All-Share 1.56 South Korean won 1.43 S&P 500 1.39 Nasdaq 100 1.35 Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.33 Bloomberg Commodity Index 1.33 Australian dollar 1.25 S&P 500 Consumer Staples 1.17 S&P 500 Materials 1.12 Norwegian krone 1.07 Nymex natural gas 1.07 Indonesian rupiah 1.04 Canada dollar 1.03 Sao Paulo Bovespa 0.97 DAX 0.91 S&P 500 Information Tech 0.83 UK pound 0.77 Stoxx Europe 600 0.73 S&P 500 Industrials 0.71 Indian rupee 0.70 Swiss franc 0.66 Comex gold 0.65 Nasdaq Composite 0.60 Nymex crude 0.53 CAC-40 0.46 FTSE MIB 0.38 Euro Stoxx iShJPMUSEmgBd 0.36 Japanese yen 0.33 iSh TIPS Bond 0.31 iShiBoxx$HYCp 0.29 iSh 20+ Treasury 0.28 iShiBoxx$InvGrdCp 0.26 Euro area euro 0.24 VangdTotalBd 0.20 VangdTotIntlBd 0.15 iSh 7-10 Treasury 0.13 Mexico peso 0.04 iShNatlMuniBd 0.02 Russian ruble 0.02 iSh 1-3 Treasury 0.01 -0.04 Chinese yuan -0.13 Dow Jones Transportation Average -0.23 S&P SmallCap 600 -0.38 S&P MidCap 400 -0.43 S&P 500 Energy -0.47 IBEX 35 -0.52 WSJ Dollar Index -0.57 South African rand -0.64 FTSE 100 -0.92 Nymex ULSD -1.08 S&P/TSX Comp -1.17 S&P/ASX 200 -1.25 Comex copper -1.45 Russell 2000 *Continuous front-month contracts Sources: FactSet (stock indexes, bond ETFs, commodities), Tullett Prebon (currencies).

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Methodology Performance reflects price change (except DAX, Bovespa, and Tel Aviv 35, which reflect total returns). Commodities are represented by the continuous front-month futures contract. Bond exchange-traded fund performance may diverge from that of their underlying index. Bond categories are represented by the following ETFs: U.S. Bonds Total Market: Vanguard Total Bond Market; 1-3 Yr U.S. Treasurys: iShares 1-3 Year Treasury; U.S. 7-10 Yr Treasurys: iShares 7-10 Year Treasury; 20+ Yr U.S. Treasurys: iShares 20+ Year Treasury; Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS): iShares TIPS; Investment Grade Corporate Bonds: iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate; High Yield Corporate Bonds: iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate; Municipal Bonds: iShares National Muni; International Bonds: Vanguard Total International; Emerging Market Bonds: iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets.

See an expanded year-to-date and current quarter list of selected global stock indexes, bond ETFs, currencies and commodities at wsj.com/graphics/track-the-markets

Currencies U.S.-dollar foreign-exchange rates in late New York trading Country/currency

US$vs, YTDchg Thurs in US$ per US$ (%)

Vietnam dong

Americas

Consumer Rates and Returns to Investor U.S. consumer rates

Selected rates

A consumer rate against its benchmark over the past year

New car loan

t

Prime rate t

4.60%

2.75% 888-763-7600

First Savings Bank of Hegewisch 2.75% Chicago, IL 773-646-4200

3.80

Cambridge Savings Bank 3.24% Cambridge, MA 888-418-5626

3.00 J FM AM J J A S O N D 2020

2.50%

4.02%

4.20

3.40

Yen, euro vs. dollar; dollar vs. major U.S. trading partners

PNC Bank Washington, DC

3.34% 888-PNC-BANK

Chase Bank Houston, TX

3.79% 800-CHA-SE24

One year ago t

Euro 5

1.50

t

1 3 6 month(s)

s

0

1.00 Tradeweb ICE Thursday Close

10%

2.00

s

New car loan

Forex Race

notes and bonds

Bankrate.com avg†: First Command Bank Fort Worth, TX

Benchmark Yields Treasury yield curve and Yield toRates maturity of current bills,

Yen s

–5

0.50

WSJ Dollar index

0.00

–10

1 2 3 5 7 10 20 30 years maturity

2020

Sources: Tradeweb ICE U.S. Treasury Close; Tullett Prebon; Dow Jones Market Data Interest rate

Yield/Rate (%) Last (l)Week ago

Federal-funds rate target 0.00-0.25 0.00-0.25 Prime rate* 3.25 3.25 Libor, 3-month 0.24 0.24 Money market, annual yield 0.20 0.20 Five-year CD, annual yield 0.58 0.56 30-year mortgage, fixed† 2.93 2.91 15-year mortgage, fixed† 2.39 2.40 Jumbo mortgages, $548,250-plus† 2.92 2.95 Five-year adj mortgage (ARM)† 3.21 3.19 New-car loan, 48-month 4.02 4.02

3-yr chg 52-Week Range (%) Low 0 2 4 6 8 High (pct pts)

0.00 3.25 0.20 0.19 0.56 2.86 2.37 2.87 2.85 4.02

l l l l l l l l l l

1.75 4.75 1.90 0.58 1.41 4.22 3.57 4.36 4.35 4.50

-1.25 -1.25 -1.46 -0.13 -0.96 -1.00 -0.96 -1.40 -0.82 0.76

Bankrate.com rates based on survey of over 4,800 online banks. *Base rate posted by 70% of the nation's largest banks.† Excludes closing costs.

Sources: FactSet; Dow Jones Market Data; Bankrate.com

Corporate Borrowing Rates and Yields Bond total return index

U.S. Treasury, Barclays

Close

Yield (%) Last Week ago

52-Week High Low

Total Return (%) 52-wk 3-yr

2459.390

0.570

0.590

1.790

0.400

8.001 5.191

U.S. Treasury Long, Barclays 4724.630

1.510

1.530

2.320

0.980

17.703 9.881

Aggregate, Barclays

2291.950

1.130

1.160

2.310

1.020

7.503 5.339

Fixed-Rate MBS, Barclays 2231.570

1.270

1.300

2.690

0.930

3.874 3.715

3.892 10.740

3.558

4.097 5.187

High Yield 100, ICE BofA

3329.861

n.a.

Muni Master, ICE BofA

595.695

0.873

0.878

3.441

0.838

5.148 4.482

EMBI Global, J.P. Morgan

933.676

4.295

4.355

7.480

4.295

5.719 4.939

Sources: J.P. Morgan; S&P Dow Jones Indices; Bloomberg Barclays; ICE Data Services

Argentina peso Brazil real Canada dollar Chile peso Colombiapeso Ecuador US dollar Mexico peso Uruguay peso

US$vs, YTDchg Thurs in US$ per US$ (%)

Country/currency

.0119 84.0981 .1925 5.1938 .7852 1.2736 .001407 710.50 .000292 3422.00 1 1 .0503 19.8810 .02361 42.3550

40.4 29.2 –2.0 –3.9 4.3 unch 5.0 14.0

Australian dollar .7692 1.3001 China yuan .1531 6.5327 Hong Kong dollar .1290 7.7529 India rupee .01369 73.039 Indonesia rupiah .0000712 14050 Japan yen .009679 103.31 Kazakhstan tenge .002373 421.36 Macau pataca .1251 7.9910 Malaysia ringgit .2486 4.0225 New Zealand dollar .7184 1.3920 Pakistan rupee .00624 160.375 Philippines peso .0208 48.014 Singapore dollar .7568 1.3213 South Korea won .0009210 1085.72 Sri Lanka rupee .0053981 185.25 Taiwan dollar .03560 28.090 Thailand baht .03329 30.040

–8.8 –6.2 –0.5 2.4 1.2 –4.9 10.4 –0.3 –1.7 –6.3 3.5 –5.3 –1.8 –6.0 2.2 –6.1 0.9

Asia-Pacific

.00004333

23080 –0.4

Europe Czech Rep. koruna Denmark krone Euro area euro Hungary forint Iceland krona Norway krone Poland zloty Russia ruble Sweden krona Switzerland franc Turkey lira Ukraine hryvnia UK pound

.04657 21.472 –5.3 .1642 6.0919 –8.6 1.2216 .8186 –8.2 .003367 297.02 0.6 .007825 127.79 5.5 .1166 8.5783 –2.3 .2679 3.7331 –1.6 .01351 74.024 19.3 .1215 8.2278 –12.2 1.1301 .8849 –8.5 .1345 7.4370 25.0 .0353 28.3500 19.7 1.3665 .7318 –3.0

Middle East/Africa Bahrain dinar Egypt pound Israel shekel Kuwait dinar Oman sul rial Qatar rial Saudi Arabia riyal South Africa rand

2.6522 .3770 .0635 15.7450 .3112 3.2130 3.2882 .3041 2.5974 .3850 .2746 3.641 .2665 3.7517 .0681 14.6948

unch –1.9 –7.0 0.3 ...

–0.1 0.01 5.0

Close Net Chg % Chg YTD%Chg

WSJ Dollar Index 85.00

0.17 0.20 –5.09

Sources: Tullett Prebon, Dow Jones Market Data

Commodities

Thursday

52-Week

Pricing trends on someClose raw materials, or commodities Net chg % Chg High Low DJ Commodity TR/CC CRB Index Crude oil, $ per barrel Natural gas, $/MMBtu Gold, $ per troy oz.

731.59 167.80 48.52 2.539 1893.10

3.36 1.12 0.12 0.117 2.10

0.46 731.59 0.67 187.39 63.27 0.25 3.354 4.83 0.11 2051.50

433.70 106.29 -37.63 1.482 1477.30

% Chg

YTD % chg

13.81 13.90 -9.56 -9.68 -20.69 -20.54 19.65 15.99 24.18 24.59

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | B9

* * * *

MARKET DATA Futures Contracts Metal & Petroleum Futures

May

Contract Open High hi lo Low Settle Chg Copper-High (CMX)-25,000 lbs.; $ per lb.

Jan 3.5440 3.5455 3.5015 3.5140 –0.0290 March 3.5445 3.5595 3.5055 3.5190 –0.0300 Gold (CMX)-100 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.

Jan 1897.00 1901.30 1892.70 1893.10 2.10 Feb 1899.00 1904.90 1889.10 1895.10 1.70 April 1903.00 1909.20 1893.80 1899.60 1.80 June 1905.90 1912.20 1898.00 1902.80 1.80 Aug 1910.00 1915.20 1901.40 1905.80 1.80 Palladium (NYM) - 50 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.

Jan 2448.50 75.40 March 2372.00 2464.50 2364.50 2453.80 75.40 Platinum (NYM)-50 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.

Jan 1069.80 1082.80 1069.80 1075.40 2.80 April 1081.00 1091.80 1071.40 1079.20 0.70 Silver (CMX)-5,000 troy oz.; $ per troy oz.

Jan 26.530 26.540 26.350 26.332 –0.156 March 26.835 26.880 26.345 26.412 –0.161 Crude Oil, Light Sweet (NYM)-1,000 bbls.; $ per bbl.

Feb 48.35 48.58 47.77 48.52 0.12 March 48.41 48.68 47.88 48.63 0.13 April 48.49 48.74 47.96 48.69 0.12 May 48.55 48.74 47.99 48.69 0.10 June 48.46 48.68 47.96 48.63 0.08 Dec 47.56 47.72 47.13 47.68 …

NY Harbor ULSD (NYM)-42,000 gal.; $ per gal.

Jan 1.4800 1.4866 1.4665 1.4763 –.0135 Feb 1.4891 1.4914 1.4689 1.4840 –.0078 Gasoline-NY RBOB (NYM)-42,000 gal.; $ per gal.

Jan 1.4078 1.4238 1.3966 1.4084 –.0036 Feb 1.3963 1.4126 1.3825 1.4101 .0088 Natural Gas (NYM)-10,000 MMBtu.; $ per MMBtu. Feb 2.433 2.547 2.429 2.539 .117 March 2.434 2.537 2.428 2.526 .104 April 2.463 2.554 2.452 2.538 .091 May 2.485 2.571 2.473 2.555 .084 Sept 2.650 2.718 2.634 2.712 .080 Oct 2.679 2.750 2.664 2.741 .078

608.25 s

601.50

Settle 606.25

597.50

1.75

364,939 268,768 127,926 103,593 227,566 269,029 2,787 93,878 2,043 121,998

.425 .475

7,880 20,697

Jan March

1.3630 1.3618

1.3687 s 1.3693 s

1.3608 1.3610

1.3655 1.3659

Dec Feb'21

112.400 114.625

113.050 115.175

112.400 114.250

112.950 115.025

.825 55 .575 109,771

March June

1.1368 1.1407

1.1395 s 1.1423 s

1.1311 1.1342

1.1322 –.0037 1.1352 –.0037

68.025 71.000

70.500 72.875

67.950 71.000

70.275 72.250

77,755 44,800

Jan March

.7684 .7690

.7743 s .7747 s

.7684 .7690

599 1,668

Jan March

.05030 .04988

.05025 .04999

.05008 .04970

.05008 –.00013 87 .04974 –.00013 141,440

3,705 3,039

Jan March

1.2307 1.2319

1.2313 1.2329

1.2215 1.2229

1.2231 –.0062 2,091 1.2246 –.0063 663,129

2.675 1.175

97,496 56,186

March

212-280 213-220

212-080

213-180

389,104 211,754 2,820 127,970 43,109 840 8,703

24.0 1,039,176

172-280 173-080 171-250 171-250

172-180 171-110

173-060 171-260

11.0 1,159,803 11.0 14

March June

137-310 138-035 137-010 137-055

137-285 137-010

138-025 137-060

3.5 3,238,701 3.0 139

5 Yr. Treasury Notes (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%

Corn (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu.

March May

474.00 474.00

485.75 s 484.75 s

473.00 472.75

484.00 483.25

March May

349.75 345.50

363.00 s 357.75 s

345.75 344.50

360.75 355.00

Jan March

1302.25 1299.25

1321.50 s 1320.75 s

1299.25 1295.00

1315.25 1311.00

11.50 6,001 10.50 411,939

Jan March

432.40 427.80

436.40 s 432.50 s

430.00 425.70

434.40 429.40

2.00 4,560 1.60 186,117

Jan March

42.70 41.86

43.55 s 42.65 s

42.61 41.72

43.33 42.40

.66 3,121 .54 211,263

Jan March

12.24 12.51

12.24 12.75

12.24 12.48

12.40 12.69

.20 .20

Soybeans (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu.

Soybean Meal (CBT)-100 tons; $ per ton.

Soybean Oil (CBT)-60,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

Rough Rice (CBT)-2,000 cwt.; $ per cwt.

Wheat (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu.

11.75 10.25

3,969 516

450 9,042

March July

640.00 626.75

644.50 s 630.25 s

632.50 622.00

640.50 628.25

–.25 193,788 1.00 78,709

March

600.00

606.50 s

594.00

603.50

2.25 121,966

Wheat (KC)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu.

Dec 125-260 125-277 125-260 125-275 1.5 52,660 March'21 126-037 126-060 126-032 126-052 1.5 3,237,231 2 Yr. Treasury Notes (CBT)-$200,000; pts 32nds of 100% Dec 110-156 .4 18,108 March'21 110-153 110-157 110-152 110-156 .4 1,901,854 30 Day Federal Funds (CBT)-$5,000,000; 100 - daily avg.

Dec 99.9100 99.9125 99.9100 99.9125 .0050 115,449 Jan'21 99.9200 99.9200 99.9150 99.9200 .0050 158,772 10 Yr. Del. Int. Rate Swaps (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100% March 97-250 98-015 97-235 97-315 5.5 109,189 Eurodollar (CME)-$1,000,000; pts of 100% Jan 99.8050 99.8125 99.8000 99.8050 … 250,724 March 99.8300 99.8350 99.8250 99.8300 … 1,060,554 June 99.8300 99.8350 99.8300 99.8350 … 941,474 Sept 99.8250 99.8300 99.8200 99.8300 .0050 793,529

9.50 831,878 9.00 269,386

ETF

ARKInnovationETF CommSvsSPDR CnsmrDiscSelSector CnsStapleSelSector EnSelectSectorSPDR FinSelSectorSPDR HealthCareSelSect IndSelSectorSPDR InvscQQQI InvscS&P500EW iSh3-7YTreasuryBd iShCoreDivGrowth iShCoreMSCIEAFE iShCoreMSCIEM iShCoreMSCITotInt iShCoreS&P500 iShCoreS&P MC iShCoreS&P SC iShS&PTotlUSStkMkt iShCoreUSAggBd iShSelectDividend

ARKK XLC XLY XLP XLE XLF XLV XLI QQQ RSP IEI DGRO IEFA IEMG IXUS IVV IJH IJR ITOT AGG DVY

124.49 67.48 160.78 67.45 37.90 29.48 113.44 88.55 313.74 127.54 132.98 44.82 69.09 62.04 67.19 375.39 229.83 91.90 86.22 118.19 96.18

–2.05 148.7 0.81 25.8 0.06 28.2 7.1 0.70 –0.84 –36.9 1.24 –4.2 1.05 11.4 8.7 0.47 0.25 47.6 0.64 10.2 5.7 0.04 6.5 0.83 5.9 –0.89 –0.10 15.4 8.5 –0.59 0.56 16.1 0.08 11.7 9.6 0.15 0.41 18.6 5.2 0.08 0.83 –9.0

.9693 .9694

.9711 .9718

.9682 .9686

.9683 –.0003 1,208 .9689 –.0003 205,525

Jan

.7845

.7866

.7832

.7834 –.0002

Canadian Dollar (CME)-CAD 100,000; $ per CAD

86.03 67.88 161.29 116.21 18.13 138.13 87.30 115.91 110.13 90.72 72.96 51.67 67.56 117.20 55.17 38.51 241.14 211.84 136.73 196.06 68.55 96.96

0.44 0.88 0.10 0.64 0.44 0.02 0.08 0.06 0.01 0.07 –0.76 –0.06 0.31 0.05 0.04 0.44 0.23 0.45 0.77 –0.18 0.25 0.50

20.6 3.5 28.5 15.1 25.0 7.9 –0.7 1.2 1.9 14.5 5.1 15.2 14.0 2.9 2.9 2.4 37.1 18.7 0.2 18.3 15.0 2.3

Borrowing Benchmarks | WSJ.com/bonds December 31, 2020

Key annual interest rates paid to borrow or lend money in U.S. and international markets. Rates below are a guide to general levels but don’t always represent actual transactions.

Nov. index level

Chg From (%) Oct. '20 Nov. '19

Week Latest ago

U.S. consumer price index All items Core

–0.06 0.05

260.229 269.473

1.2 1.6

Week ago

52-Week High Low

3.25 3.25 4.75 3.25 2.45 2.45 3.95 2.45 1.475 1.475 1.475 1.475

Policy Rates Euro zone

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 0.10 0.10

0.50 0.75 0.75

0.00 0.10 0.10

Secondary market 30-year mortgage yields

Prime rates U.S. Canada Japan

0.00 0.10 0.10

—52-WEEK— High Low

Fannie Mae

International rates Latest

Switzerland Britain Australia

0.00

30 days 60 days

1,341

Closing Chg YTD Symbol Price (%) (%)

1.906 1.922 3.289 1.751 1.931 1.946 3.300 1.804

Notes on data: U.S. prime rate is the base rate on corporate loans posted by at least 70% of the 10 largest U.S. banks, and is effective March 16, 2020.

Other prime rates aren’t directly comparable; lending practices vary widely by location.

Complete Money Rates table appears Monday through Friday.

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics; FactSet

iShS&P500Growth iShS&P500Value iShShortTreaBd iShSilver iShTIPSBondETF iSh1-3YTreasuryBd iSh7-10YTreasuryBd iSh20+YTreasuryBd iShRussellMCGrowth iShUSTreasuryBdETF JPM UltShtIncm PIMCOEnhShMaturity SPDR BlmBarcHYBd SPDRBloomBar1-3MTB SPDR Gold SchwabIntEquity SchwabUS BrdMkt SchwabUS Div SchwabUS LC SchwabUS LC Grw SchwabUS SC Schwab US TIPs SPDR DJIA Tr SPDR S&PMdCpTr SPDR S&P 500 SPDR S&P Div TechSelectSector UtilitiesSelSector VanEckGoldMiner VangdInfoTech VangdSC Val VangdSC Grwth VangdExtMkt VangdDivApp VangdFTSEDevMk VangdFTSE EM VangdFTSE Europe VangdFTSEAWxUS VangdGrowth VangdHlthCr VangdHiDiv VangdIntermBd VangdIntrCorpBd VangdLC VangdMC VangdMBS VangdRealEst VangdS&P500ETF VangdST Bond VangdSTCpBd VangdSC VangdTotalBd VangdTotIntlBd VangdTotIntlStk VangdTotalStk VangdTotlWrld VangdValue

IVW IVE SHV SLV TIP SHY IEF TLT IWP GOVT JPST MINT JNK BIL GLD SCHF SCHB SCHD SCHX SCHG SCHA SCHP DIA MDY SPY SDY XLK XLU GDX VGT VBR VBK VXF VIG VEA VWO VGK VEU VUG VHT VYM BIV VCIT VV VO VMBS VNQ VOO BSV VCSH VB BND BNDX VXUS VTI VT VTV

63.82 128.02 110.53 24.57 127.65 86.38 119.95 157.73 102.65 27.24 50.79 102.04 108.94 91.52 178.36 36.01 90.99 64.14 90.95 128.41 89.00 62.08 305.79 419.92 373.88 105.93 130.02 62.70 36.02 353.79 142.21 267.66 164.68 141.17 47.21 50.11 60.24 58.36 253.34 223.73 91.51 92.85 97.14 175.74 206.77 54.07 84.93 343.69 82.90 83.25 194.68 88.19 58.55 60.16 194.64 92.58 118.96

0.38 0.81 0.01 –0.77 0.21 –0.01 0.07 0.15 –0.14 –0.44 0.01 0.02 0.12 0.01 0.37 –0.69 0.38 0.58 0.39 0.06 –0.22 0.29 0.55 0.12 0.51 0.53 0.15 1.49 –1.48 0.09 0.15 –0.10 –0.15 0.69 –0.67 –0.26 –1.18 –0.58 0.19 0.71 0.85 ...

0.02 0.45 0.21 0.04 0.96 0.54 0.05 ...

–0.07 0.14 0.03 –0.64 0.46 0.08 0.87

31.8 –1.6 0.1 47.3 9.5 2.1 8.8 16.4 34.6 5.0 0.7 0.4 –0.5 0.1 24.8 7.1 18.4 10.7 18.4 38.2 17.7 9.6 7.3 11.9 16.2 –1.5 41.8 –3.0 23.0 44.5 3.7 34.7 30.7 13.2 7.1 12.7 2.8 8.6 39.1 16.7 –2.3 6.5 6.4 18.9 16.0 1.7 –8.5 16.2 2.8 2.7 17.5 5.2 3.5 8.0 19.0 14.3 –0.7

Dividend Changes Dividend announcements from December 31.

Company

Symbol

Amount Yld % New/Old Frq

Payable / Record

Stocks

Company

Symbol

ENVB

1:4

/Dec31

.63

Jan20 /Jan11

Foreign Gilat Satellite Networks

GILT

15.2

Glacier Bancorp

GBCI

Payable / Record

Stock

The following explanations apply to the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, NYSE American and Nasdaq Stock Market stocks that hit a new 52-week intraday high or low in the latest session. % CHG-Daily percentage change from the previous trading session.

Thursday, December 31, 2020

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg Stock

Highs AT&T Nts 2066 TBB AcaciaComms ACIA ActivisionBliz ATVI AddusHomeCare ADUS AdvDrainageSys WMS AdvantageSolns ADV AegonNts2049 AEFC AegonCapSec AEB AEB AirNetTech ANTE Alarm.com ALRM Albertsons ACI AllegiantTravel ALGT AllyFinancial ALLY AlphaHlthcrA AHAC AmFinDeb2059 AFGB AmerFinDeb2060 AFGD AmFinDeb AFGE AnalogDevices ADI ApellisPharm APLS APi Group APG AptivPfdA APTVpA Aptiv APTV ArgoGoupPfdA ARGOpA ArteloBioWt ARTLW AspiraWomenHlth AWH AspirCnsA ASPL AssdBancPfdF ASBpF AteaPharm AVIR

27.62 73.00 92.99 117.99 84.37 13.92 27.63 25.44 3.00 104.75 17.78 190.51 35.92 10.33 28.77 28.76 27.87 147.83 58.03 18.36 164.89 131.23 27.49 0.84 6.75 10.26 29.05 42.21

0.6 0.1 1.4 0.9 0.4 -0.9 1.0 0.6 32.7 -0.3 4.3 1.7 1.2 0.2 0.8 0.4 1.5 1.1 0.1 1.7 0.9 -0.4 1.6 54.9 5.8 -2.1 -1.2 0.2

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg Stock

AthenePfdA ATHpA 29.23 25.34 AthenePfdD ATHpD 34.79 AthiraPharma ATHA 10.15 AtlStreetAcqn ASAQ 16.01 AvidTechnology AVID 40.96 Avient AVNT B RileyFin 44.93 RILY BRileyFinlPfdA RILYP 26.09 26.63 B.RileyPfdB RILYL 25.80 BRileyFin6.50%SrNt RILYN 225.35 Baidu BIDU 115.67 Balchem BCPC BkofAmericaPfdNN BACpO 26.69 BankofAmPfd4 BMLpJ 25.49 BeamGlobal 75.90 BEEM BeamGlobalWt BEEMW 69.00 41.17 BentleySystems BSY 12.43 BioanalyticalSys BASI 21.02 Biodesix BDSX 3.47 BionanoGenom BNGO 24.31 BitDigital BTBT 722.42 BlackRock BLK BluerockResREIT BRG 12.75 10.44 Bonso BNSO BookingHldgs BKNG 2227.97 71.56 BridgeBioPharma BBIO BrighthouseDeb58 BHFAL 28.40 0.37 BrilliantAcqnRt BRLIR Broadcom AVGO 438.50 26.08 BrookfieldFinNts BAMI

0.4 0.2 4.9 -0.4 12.5 -0.2 -0.7 -0.6 1.2 0.2 -1.5 0.6 0.4 0.4 8.6 9.2 1.7 10.9 6.8 46.7 44.6 1.8 5.5 70.9 1.0 1.5 0.9 9.2 0.7 1.0

2.6

.15

Jan19 /Jan08

KEY: A: annual; M: monthly; Q: quarterly; r: revised; SA: semiannual; S2:1: stock split and ratio; SO: spin-off.

New Highs and Lows | WSJ.com/newhighs

Stock

Amount Yld % New/Old Frq

Special

Enveric Biosciences

Mini DJ Industrial Average (CBT)-$5 x index 30328

30526 s

30497

30230

195

30377

195

81

3748.80

24.60

7,209

24.50 2,506,748 24.50 4,016

30119

Mini S&P 500 (CME)-$50 x index

March June

3725.00 3713.75

3753.00 s 3742.00 s

3715.00 3705.50

3748.75 3738.50

March June

2299.20 …

2313.30

2281.20

2303.50 2316.00

Mini S&P Midcap 400 (CME)-$100 x index Mini Nasdaq 100 (CME)-$20 x index

March June

12840.00 12896.00 12829.00 12879.25 1976.10 1971.50

1980.30 1975.20

March

2102.20

2117.70 s

March June

89.52 89.50

1958.00 1956.00

1974.80 1970.60

–1.70 534,422 –1.90 29

2100.10

2116.60

11.20

8,049

89.48 89.50

89.89 89.86

.25 .24

34,713 507

U.S. Dollar Index (ICE-US)-$1,000 x index t t

53,499 n.a.

44.00 216,829 44.00 1,150

Mini Russell 1000 (CME)-$50 x index 89.97 89.93

4.10 4.80

12796.50 12885.50 12783.00 12870.50

Mini Russell 2000 (CME)-$50 x index March June

Open interest

83,836

Source: FactSet

Bonds | wsj.com/market-data/bonds/benchmarks Global Government Bonds: Mapping Yields Yields and spreads over or under U.S. Treasurys on benchmark two-year and 10-year government bonds in selected other countries; arrows indicate whether the yield rose(s) or fell (t) in the latest session Country/ Coupon (%) Maturity, in years

0.125

U.S. 2

Latest(l)-2 -1

0

0.119 t

1

2

l

0.125

10 0.913 t

l

2.250

Australia 2

0.079 s

1.000

10

0.982 t

0.000

France 2 -0.698

0.000

10 -0.341

Yield (%) 3 4 Previous

l l l l

Month ago

Year ago

0.147

1.559

0.926

0.845

1.909

0.079

0.101

0.933

0.992

0.909

1.385

-0.698

-0.678

-0.577

-0.341

-0.324

0.121

Spread Under/Over U.S. Treasurys, in basis points Latest Prev Year ago

-4.6

-4.2 6.3 -81.9 -126.0

-64.4

6.6

-53.6

-82.3

-215.4

-126.8

-179.9

-83.5

-218.5

0.000

Germany 2 -0.710

l

-0.710

-0.738

-0.608

0.000

10 -0.571

l

-0.571

-0.570

-0.185 -149.0

-149.8

-210.5

0.050

Italy 2 -0.411

l

-0.411

-0.394

-0.175

-53.6

-175.2

0.546

0.623

1.421

-38.1

-50.0

0.900

10

0.100

0.546

l

-37.3

l

-0.120

-0.125

-0.125

-24.1

-24.5

-170.2

0.025

l

0.025

0.030

-0.016

-89.4

-90.1

-193.6

-75.4

-195.2

-88.5

-145.3

10

Spain 2 -0.629

1.250

10

l

0.041

U.K. 2 -0.148 s

0.125

-53.2

Japan 2 -0.120

0.100 0.400

-83.1

4.750

10

0.200 t

-0.629

-0.584

-0.375

l

0.041

0.077

0.467

l

-0.160

-0.021

0.554

0.214

0.306

0.827

l

-75.0 -87.8 -26.9 -71.9

-28.5

-102.3

-71.3

-109.4

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg

BrookfieldFinNts BAMH BrookfldInfrPfdA13 BIPpA BurgundyTechA BTAQ BurgundyTechWt BTAQW CFFinAcqnIII CFACU CHS PfdB4 CHSCL CNB Fin PfdA CCNEP CadenceDesign CDNS Camtek CAMT CanPacRlwy CP CapitalOnePfdI COFpI CapitalOnePfdJ COFpJ CapstoneTurbine CPST CelsiusHldg CELH ChinaGreenAg CGA Chindata CD CitiTrends CTRN CityOfficePfdA CIOpA CleanSpark CLSK Cleveland-Cliffs CLF CodiakBioSci CDAK CreatdWt CRTDW Cree CREE CrownHoldings CCK Cullen/FrostPfdB CFRpB DailyJournal DJCO DeerfieldHlthcA DFHT DiscoverFinSvcs DFS dMYTechA DMYD dMYTechIII Un DMYI.U

25.89 26.66 10.62 2.15 10.74 29.59 26.16 136.84 22.66 350.19 26.75 26.23 11.47 52.10 4.69 24.30 50.35 27.46 30.75 14.72 32.36 1.91 109.17 100.58 25.85 405.00 16.97 90.66 17.59 11.45

1.0 2.2 0.1 -4.5 2.2 0.7 1.3 0.9 0.9 -0.7 ...

0.3 -2.6 13.3 19.6 18.0 2.2 4.6 ...

0.2 15.4 21.3 1.4 0.4 0.2 1.0 2.0 1.4 2.4 1.6

Corporate Debt

Prices of firms' bonds reflect factors including investors' economic, sectoral and company-specific expectations

Investment-grade spreads that tightened the most…

ETF

ESGU USMV MTUM QUAL IAU LQD HYG EMB MBB ACWI EFA EEM EWJ MUB IGSB PFF IWF IWB IWD IWM IWR IWS

iShESGAwareUSA iShEdgeMSCIMinUSA iShEdgeMSCIUSAMom iShEdgeMSCIUSAQual iShGoldTr iShiBoxx$InvGrCpBd iShiBoxx$HYCpBd iShJPMUSDEmgBd iShMBSETF iShMSCI ACWI iShMSCI EAFE iShMSCIEmgMarkets iShMSCIJapan iShNatlMuniBd iSh1-5YIGCorpBd iShPfd&Incm iShRussell1000Gwth iShRussell1000 iShRussell1000Val iShRussell2000 iShRussellMid-Cap iShRussellMCValue

Inflation

Index Futures

30400 s

S&P 500 Index (CME)-$250 x index

Chg

Source: Tullett Prebon, Tradeweb ICE U.S. Treasury Close

Jan March

Closing Chg YTD Symbol Price (%) (%)

Money Rates

.0018 789 .0019 138,573

30232

Settle

March

Currency Futures

Largest 100 exchange-traded funds, latest session ETF

Euro (CME)-€125,000; $ per €

51,013 82

June

Contract High hilo Low

Japanese Yen (CME)-¥12,500,000; $ per 100¥

Exchange-Traded Portfolios | WSJ.com/ETFresearch Thursday, December 31, 2020 Closing Chg YTD Symbol Price (%) (%)

.7697 .7700

Mexican Peso (CME)-MXN 500,000; $ per MXN

0.875

March June

Treasury Notes (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%

.0041 719 .0041 139,189

Australian Dollar (CME)-AUD 100,000; $ per AUD

March

Ultra Treasury Bonds (CBT) - $100,000; pts 32nds of 100% Treasury Bonds (CBT)-$100,000; pts 32nds of 100%

Swiss Franc (CME)-CHF 125,000; $ per CHF

Open

110,055 46,355

Interest Rate Futures

194,874 249,322 110,830 62,092 46,198 109,056

.7834 –.0002 148,250

.7831

138.950 140.225

Jan 869.10 875.00 847.00 873.10 –.80 March 745.00 751.50 713.00 716.90 –28.10 Milk (CME)-200,000 lbs., cents per lb.

Jan 16.00 16.00 15.80 15.80 –.26 Feb 17.98 18.07 17.34 17.49 –.42 Cocoa (ICE-US)-10 metric tons; $ per ton.

March 2,611 2,624 2,553 2,603 6 May 2,530 2,550 2,485 2,535 11 Coffee (ICE-US)-37,500 lbs.; cents per lb.

March 125.70 129.00 125.60 128.25 2.85 May 127.90 130.90 127.60 130.15 2.85 Sugar-World (ICE-US)-112,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

March 15.28 15.53 15.16 15.49 .21 May 14.56 14.75 s 14.45 14.68 .15 Sugar-Domestic (ICE-US)-112,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

March 28.40 28.40 28.40 28.40 …

Cotton (ICE-US)-50,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

March 77.97 78.39 s 77.48 78.12 .15 May 78.41 78.95 s 78.12 78.70 .13 Orange Juice (ICE-US)-15,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

Jan 124.50 124.80 121.30 123.25 .30 March 126.30 126.65 124.75 125.50 –.45

949 144,290

.7867

British Pound (CME)-£62,500; $ per £

138.050 139.175

Lumber (CME)-110,000 bd. ft., $ per 1,000 bd. ft.

1,843 57,257

.7843

Open interest

Chg

139.475 140.700

Feb April

1 8,940

March

Settle

138.525 139.725

Hogs-Lean (CME)-40,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

1,174 407,715 87,089 35,506 12,380

37,976

Contract High hilo Low

Open

Jan March

Cattle-Live (CME)-40,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

2,724 162,255

Open interest

Chg

Cattle-Feeder (CME)-50,000 lbs.; cents per lb.

Open interest

Agriculture Futures

Oats (CBT)-5,000 bu.; cents per bu.

Contract High hilo Low

Open

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg Stock

Docebo DCBO DolbyLab DLB DoverMotorsports DVD DuddellStreet DSACU DukeEnerDeb78 DUKB DukeEnerDeb73 DUKH DuPont DD elfBeauty ELF EMX Royalty EMX EPAM Systems EPAM EagleMaterials EXP EidosTherap EIDX Empower EMPW.U EmpowerWt EMPW.WS EncoreWire WIRE EndeavourSilver EXK EndoIntl ENDP EntergyLA Bds66 ELC Envista NVST EosEnergyWt EOSEW EquusTotReturn EQS EstablishLabs ESTA EveloBiosci EVLO FastAcqnA FST FastAcqn FST.U FGFinancial FGF FG NewAmerica FGNA.U FirstMidBncpPfdC FMBIO FirstRepBkPfdH FRCpH FirstRepBank FRC FirstRepublicPfdK FRCpK FiveBelow FIVE 500.com WBAI FordMotor6%Nts FpC FordMotor6.2%Nt FpB FortunaSilver FSM Franchise FRG FulgentGenetics FLGT GFLEnvironmental GFL

66.97 97.50 2.58 10.73 28.84 26.97 71.55 26.19 3.35 360.89 102.65 131.89 10.45 1.49 61.36 5.24 7.31 26.96 33.88 9.17 2.32 37.88 12.55 10.40 11.18 6.40 10.94 28.56 27.00 147.24 26.44 175.76 10.58 27.08 27.20 8.39 30.75 56.53 29.24

1.2 0.1 7.1 1.1 ...

0.3 1.2 7.4 6.7 ...

-0.6 1.7 ...

1.8 0.3 -0.4 1.1 0.7 1.7 -3.6 -0.5 7.5 0.2 0.7 -0.9 -12.3 -0.7 2.6 1.8 1.5 1.1 1.3 18.3 1.6 1.3 -0.1 5.3 2.7 1.4

Coupon (%)

Yield (%)

Spread*, in basis points Current One-day change Last week

Issuer

Symbol

Maturity

BP Capital Markets

BPLN

3.506

0.67

March 17, ’25

32

–7

n.a.

Verizon Communications

VZ

5.250

2.48

March 16, ’37

83

–6

83 62

Cooperatieve Rabobank

RABOBK

4.625

0.60

Dec. 1, ’23

43

–5

Bank of Montreal

BMO

0.450

0.30

Dec. 8, ’23

14

–4

25

International Business Machines

IBM

3.375

0.27

Aug. 1, ’23

11

–4

n.a.

Constellation Brands

STZ

4.250

0.35

May 1, ’23

19

–4

35

Pacific Gas and Electric

…

3.150

1.72

Jan. 1, ’26

138

–3

n.a.

Bank of Nova Scotia

BNS

1.300

0.67

June 11, ’25

33

–2

39

…And spreads that widened the most DuPont de Nemours

DD

2.169

1.59

May 1, ’23

142

7

131

John Deere Capital

…

3.350

0.50

June 12, ’24

15

5

n.a.

Microchip Technology

MCHP

0.972

0.90

Feb. 15, ’24

54

5

53

Banco Santander

SANTAN

2.749

2.37

Dec. 3, ’30

146

4

157

8.600

2.30

Dec. 15, ’30

138

3

146 n.a.

AXA

AXASA

Credit Suisse Group Funding

…

4.550

1.10

April 17, ’26

75

3

Verizon Communications

VZ

4.500

2.12

Aug. 10, ’33

121

3

120

Nationwide Building Society

NWIDE

147

2

134

4.000

1.82

Sept. 14, ’26

High-yield issues with the biggest price increases…

Coupon (%) Yield (%)

Bond Price as % of face value Current One-day change Last week

Issuer

Symbol

Maturity

Macy's

M

6.790

7.28

July 15, ’27

97.500

5.91

Nokia Oyj

NOKIA

6.625

4.34

May 15, ’39

128.750

1.00

n.a.

Transocean

RIG

7.500

25.25

April 15, ’31

35.750

0.91

35.625

Xerox

XRXCRP

3.800

2.40

May 15, ’24

104.500

0.87

n.a.

Ford Motor Credit

…

3.087

2.10

Jan. 9, ’23

101.932

0.51

100.970

Sprint

S

7.875

1.76

Sept. 15, ’23

116.030

0.23

115.967

Embarq

…

7.995

5.70

June 1, ’36

123.375

0.21

123.500

Seagate HDD Cayman

…

4.750

2.37

Jan. 1, ’25

109.000

0.16

108.488

n.a.

…And with the biggest price decreases ZF North America Capital

ZFFNGR

4.500

2.08

April 29, ’22

103.125

–0.24

n.a.

L Brands

LB

6.950

6.50

March 1, ’33

103.770

–0.22

104.500

Seagate HDD Cayman

…

4.750

1.34

June 1, ’23

108.041

–0.13

n.a.

Ford Motor

F

8.500

2.72

April 21, ’23

112.758

–0.11

112.000

Occidental Petroleum

OXY

2.700

2.62

Aug. 15, ’22

100.125

–0.10

100.295

Dish DBS

…

7.750

5.22

July 1, ’26

111.948

–0.05

111.750

Sprint

S

7.250

1.37

Sept. 15, ’21

104.050

–0.03

n.a.

*Estimated spread over 2-year, 3-year, 5-year, 10-year or 30-year hot-run Treasury; 100 basis points=one percentage pt.; change in spread shown is for Z-spread.

Note: Data are for the most active issue of bonds with maturities of two years or more Source: MarketAxess

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg Stock

GFL Env Un GFLU GMACCapTrSer2 ALLYpA G Willi-Food WILC GatosSilver GATO Genmab GMAB GlobalPayments GPN GoldmanSachs GS GoldmanSachsPfC GSpC GoldmanSachsPfD GSpD GreatLakesDredge GLDD GreenVisionAcqn GRNV GuildHldgs GHLD HDFC Bank HDB HP HPQ HPX Un HPX.U HostessBrands TWNK HudsonExecWt HECCW IAC/InterActive IAC ICL Group ICL IEC Elec IEC Identiv INVE InariMedical NARI Infosys INFY Intellicheck IDN ICE ICE IntlGameTech IGT inTEST INTT IntrepidPotash IPI JMP JMP JazzPharma JAZZ JefferiesFin JEF J&J JNJ KSCitySouthern KSU KenonHoldings KEN KingswayFin KFS KingswoodAcqn KWAC.U LGL Wt LGL.WS LatticeSemi LSCC LevelOnePfdB LEVLP

70.46 27.26 21.55 13.42 41.50 215.70 263.93 25.20 25.24 13.39 10.31 17.69 72.44 24.69 10.70 14.69 1.80 191.73 5.13 13.95 8.74 88.75 17.03 11.84 115.40 17.14 6.50 28.23 4.00 166.00 24.67 157.66 204.53 30.25 4.80 10.49 0.65 46.37 27.25

1.6 1.1 0.6 8.4 -0.2 2.5 1.6 0.7 0.6 0.8 0.1 -3.8 0.4 1.1 -0.9 1.0 14.9 1.0 ...

3.1 13.9 0.5 0.1 0.8 1.9 1.3 5.9 36.1 -1.3 0.3 2.0 0.9 1.4 1.0 -0.4 0.2 -0.8 1.1 1.6

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg Stock

LionsGate A LGF.A Littelfuse LFUS LiveVentures LIVE LogitechIntl LOGI Lovesac LOVE MAG Silver MAG MSCI MSCI MaidenHoldings MHLD MaxarTech MAXR MaximIntProducts MXIM MaxLinear MXL MetallaRoyalty MTA Metlife pfA METpA MicronTech MU MicroStrategy MSTR MonarchCasino MCRI MonolithicPower MPWR MonsterBev MNST Morningstar MORN MotiveCapital MOTV.U MrCooper COOP MudrickCapII MUDSU MyersIndustries MYE NavientNts2043 JSM NaviosMaritime NMCI NavSightWt NSH.WS NavSight NSH.U NeoGames NGMS Net1UEPS UEPS Network1Techs NTIP NewOrientalEduc EDU Orbcomm ORBC OTRAcquisitionWt OTRAW O2MicroIntl OIIM ON Semi ON Organogenesis ORGO OriginAgritech SEED P&FIndustries PFIN PMV Consumer PMVC

11.53 256.49 13.90 98.31 46.26 20.99 446.90 2.60 39.53 88.79 38.61 12.66 25.65 75.68 399.98 61.87 367.05 92.54 232.06 10.60 31.24 10.43 20.87 25.38 4.25 1.90 10.75 38.39 5.10 3.80 186.40 8.00 1.25 9.82 32.93 7.61 16.58 8.26 10.20

1.7 0.6 4.8 -0.1 -4.1 -0.8 2.2 4.2 9.9 1.3 -0.6 8.4 0.6 4.5 -0.4 1.8 1.5 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.6 0.1 0.8 1.3 8.5 -5.9 -3.5 8.6 -2.4 3.4 2.5 7.5 -8.2 1.4 0.8 1.1 11.3 20.5 0.7

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg Stock

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg Stock

62.41 9.0 SoftwareII Wt PMV Pharm PMVP SAIIW 26.59 0.9 SolidBiosci PPL Capital Nts PPX SLDB PRA HealthSci PRAH 126.66 1.1 Sony SNE 7.89 0.1 SouthernNts77 SOJC PRGX Global PRGX 27.39 0.6 SouthernNts2020C SOJE PSBusParksPfdZ PSBpZ 57.46 1.7 SoCopper PagSeguroDig PAGS SCCO PanaceaAcqn PANA.U 13.19 6.4 SpectrumBrands SPB 3.85 3.9 Starbucks PanaceaAcqnWt PANA.WS SBUX PeriphasCap PCPC.U 27.38 0.4 StepStone STEP 28.15 3.0 Stryker PershingSquare PSTH SYK 182.68 -0.8 SunOpta Pinduoduo PDD STKL 11.11 0.2 Synaptics PropertySolns PSACU SYNA 10.80 0.7 PropTechInvII PTICU TE Connectivity TEL 26.49 0.9 PrudentialNts2060 PFH T-MobileUS TMUS 28.98 1.3 PrudentialPfd PUKpA TraconPharm TCON PublicStoragePfdN PSApN 25.85 0.2 TS Innovation TSIAU PublicStoragePfM PSApM 27.13 0.9 TasekoMines TGB 69.48 3.5 Pulmonx LUNG TekkorpDigitalWt TEKKW 8.03 2.7 Qumu QUMU TekkorpDigitalAcqn TEKK RMGAcqnII RMGBU 11.15 0.5 Teleflex TFX 24.33 -0.3 R1RCM RCM Telos TLS 13.57 2.1 Ranpak PACK Tesla TSLA 2.80 -6.7 RedBallAcqnWt RBAC.WS RenaissancePfdF RNRpF 28.45 0.7 ThayerVentures TVACU TribunePub TPCO 18.67 -1.6 RiotBlockchain RIOT TFCpR RushEnt A RUSHA 43.08 0.7 TruistFinlPfdR 21 Vianet VNET 13.88 0.1 RyersonHolding RYI 25.68 -0.2 US BancorpPfdB USBpH SCE V Pfd SCEpK USAU 1.55 14.2 US Gold SPAR Group SGRP GROW 389.06 1.1 US GlobalInv SVB Fin SIVB UTHR 2.79 22.2 UnitedTherap SarissaCapWt SRSAW UpFintech TIGR 32.06 2.7 SchnitzerSteel SCHN VIAO ScIONTechGrowthI SCOAU 10.69 -1.0 ViaOptronics VPC Impact VIHAU 25.66 1.2 ScorpioTankersNts SBBA VACQU 28.43 0.8 VectorAcqn SempraEnNts79 SREA Vericel VCEL 75.45 1.8 Shift4Paymts FOUR VCTR 22.64 0.5 VictoryCapital SilenceTherap SLN 49.86 10.2 VinceraPharma VINC SilverbackTherap SBTX 11.45 -0.6 VistaGenTherap VTGN SilverCrestMetals SILV VCRA 31.50 3.3 VoceraComm SimplyGoodFoods SMPL

1.45 8.24 101.40 27.48 26.93 65.90 79.21 107.14 40.98 245.34 11.76 97.99 121.23 135.00 11.85 11.25 1.42 3.50 10.23 412.99 33.03 718.72 10.68 14.00 27.67 35.50 24.80 16.65 5.66 152.82 8.45 13.46 10.74 10.75 32.00 24.96 22.28 1.96 42.47

8.1 -2.7 0.3 -0.4 0.9 -1.1 2.3 1.0 0.2 1.2 2.7 1.7 1.1 1.2 10.0 2.2 -4.3 36.7 0.8 1.0 2.8 1.6 0.4 7.1 2.6 -0.5 0.4 3.4 9.7 2.1 9.8 4.3 1.4 1.6 -2.0 1.6 4.6 9.6 -0.6

52-Wk % Sym Hi/Lo Chg

VornadoPfdN VNOpN 26.71 2.0 19.62 0.5 WaterstoneFinl WSBF WellsFargoPfdN WFCpN 26.19 1.0 WellsFargoPfdAZ WFCpZ 26.59 0.3 WellsFargoPfdP WFCpP 26.23 1.0 79.55 0.2 WescoIntl WCC XOMA8.625%Pfd.A XOMAP 25.00 1.2 101.87 1.0 Xylem XYL YunhongIntlRt 0.44 -11.4 ZGYHR 3.15 2.4 ZK Intl ZKIN 135.66 0.9 ZaiLab ZLAB ZionsBancorpPfdH ZIONN 26.30 0.3

Lows AppliedUV 4.52 -6.5 AUVI 63.54 -2.3 BigCommerce BIGC 0.61 -43.0 BristolMyersRt BMYr 9.95 -7.9 CCNeubergerII PRPB.U 1.48 -19.6 CleverLeavesWt CLVRW 8.76 -9.7 CleverLeaves CLVR ContextLogic 17.41 3.8 WISH DoorDash DASH 135.38 1.8 7.03 -3.9 GBS GBS 3.23 -0.8 GTT Comm GTT 10.07 0.2 GoresVI GHVIU Histogen 0.75 -27.1 HSTO 9.28 1.3 Immunome IMNM 6.42 -3.6 InhibikaseTherap IKT 29.03 1.6 JamfHolding JAMF 13.62 -3.0 MediromHlthcr MRM 1.78 8.7 MetenEdtechX METX 9.95 -0.6 MotionAcqnA MOTN 23.55 -0.5 OntrakPfd OTRKP 1.53 -2.5 Qutoutiao QTT 25.38 0.1 SelectiveInsPfdB SIGIP 11.87 -16.7 StudioCity MSC TekkorpDigitalAcqn TEKK 9.91 0.8 24.18 1.5 VitalFarms VITL 5.64 -3.1 VivosTherap VVOS

B10 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

* ***

BIGGEST 1,000 STOCKS How to Read the Stock Tables

YTD 52-Week % Chg Hi Lo Stock

The following explanations apply to NYSE, NYSE Arca, NYSE American and Nasdaq Stock Market listed securities.

Prices are composite quotations that include primary market trades as well as trades reported by Nasdaq BX (formerly Boston), Chicago Stock Exchange, Cboe, NYSE National and Nasdaq ISE. The list comprises the 1,000 largest companies based on market capitalization. Underlined quotations are those stocks with large changes in volume compared with the issue’s average trading volume. Boldfaced quotations highlight those issues whose price changed by 5% or more if their previous closing price was $2 or higher.

FDX 71.69 305.66 88.69 FedEx RACE 38.65 233.66 127.73 Ferrari FCAU 23.14 19.50 6.00 FiatChrysler FNF -13.80 49.28 19.00 FidNatlFin FIS 1.70 158.21 91.68 FidNatlInfo -10.31 31.02 11.10 FifthThirdBncp FITB s 25.10 147.24 70.06 FirstRepBank FRC FSLR 76.77 109.09 28.47 FirstSolar FE -37.02 52.52 22.85 FirstEnergy FISV -1.53 125.05 73.50 Fiserv s 36.85 175.76 47.53 FiveBelow FIVE FIVN 165.93 187.99 52.51 Five9 FLT -5.18 329.85 168.51 FleetCorTech FLEX 42.47 18.48 5.36 Flex FND 82.74 101.63 24.36 Floor&Decor -19.83 98.05 52.91 FomentoEconMex FMX F -5.48 9.50 3.96 FordMotor FTNT 39.13 153.33 70.20 Fortinet FTS -1.69 44.72 28.59 Fortis FTV 10.87 74.25 31.20 Fortive 31.19 92.59 33.90 FortBrandsHome FBHS FOX -20.66 38.84 19.13 FoxB FOXA -21.45 39.73 19.81 FoxA 21.33 166.11 77.18 Franco-Nevada FNV BEN -3.81 27.60 14.91 FranklinRscs 98.32 26.83 4.82 FreeportMcM FCX 12.84 46.55 29.17 FreseniusMed FMS

Footnotes: h-Does not meet continued listing v-Trading halted on primary market. s-New 52-week high. standards vj-In bankruptcy or receivership or t-New 52-week low. lf-Late filing being reorganized under the dd-Indicates loss in the most recent q-Temporary exemption from Nasdaq Bankruptcy Code, or securities four quarters. requirements. assumed by such companies.

FD-First day of trading. t-NYSE bankruptcy Stock tables reflect composite regular trading as of 4 p.m. and changes in the closing prices from 4 p.m. the previous day.

Thursday, December 31, 2020 YTD 52-Week % Chg Hi Lo Stock

Yld Net Sym % PE Last Chg

ABC ABB 2.4 11 27.96 0.03 16.06 28.11 14.71 ABB ACAD ... dd 53.46 -0.23 24.96 58.72 30.02 AcadiaPharm ACM ... dd 49.78 0.31 15.42 53.20 21.76 AECOM AES 2.6 dd 23.50 0.72 18.09 23.62 8.11 AES AFL 3.0 7 44.47 0.46 -15.94 53.46 23.07 Aflac AGCO 0.6 38 103.09 0.91 33.45 104.60 35.33 AGCO AGNC 9.2 dd 15.60 0.04 -11.76 19.65 6.25 AGNC Invt ANSS ... 82 363.80 1.48 41.33 369.82 200.07 Ansys ASX 1.5 16 5.84 -0.05 5.04 5.94 3.17 ASETech ASML 0.5 55 487.72 -2.19 64.80 492.66 191.25 ASML T 7.2 19 28.76 0.27 -26.41 39.55 26.08 AT&T ABT 1.6 58 109.49 1.05 26.05 115.14 61.61 AbbottLabs ABBV 4.9 23 107.15 1.88 21.02 109.15 62.55 AbbVie ABCL ... ... 40.24 -0.86 ... 71.91 37.62 AbCelleraBio ABMD ... 71 324.20 0.28 90.05 328.83 119.01 Abiomed 141.31 136.25 50.04 AcceleronPharma XLRN ... dd 127.94 0.12 ACN 1.3 32 261.21 3.67 24.05 271.18 137.15 Accenture s 56.26 92.99 50.51 ActivisionBliz ATVI 0.4 33 92.85 1.27 97.63 65.69 15.19 AdaptiveBiotech ADPT ... dd 59.13 -0.27 ADBE ... 46 500.12 2.67 51.64 536.88 255.13 Adobe -1.65 170.50 71.33 AdvanceAuto AAP 0.6 23 157.51 -0.15 99.98 97.98 36.75 AdvMicroDevices AMD ...127 91.71 -0.58 Aegon AEG 1.5 9 3.95 0.03 -12.80 4.60 1.80 A 0.7 51 118.49 1.10 38.89 120.24 61.13 AgilentTechs AEM 2.0 27 70.51 -1.62 14.45 89.23 31.00 AgnicoEagle APD 2.0 32 273.22 3.46 16.27 327.89 167.43 AirProducts ABNB ... dd 146.80 -1.63 ... 174.97 121.50 Airbnb AKAM ... 31 104.99 0.34 21.54 120.00 75.18 AkamaiTech ALB 1.0 41 147.52 -1.77 101.97 153.48 48.89 Albemarle s ACI 2.3 10 17.58 0.73 ... 17.78 12.91 Albertsons ALC ... dd 65.98 -0.59 16.63 68.11 39.37 Alcon 10.30 179.79 109.22 AlexandriaRlEst ARE 2.4 41 178.22 3.13 44.47 160.03 72.67 AlexionPharm ALXN ... 37 156.24 0.01 BABA ... 34 232.73 -5.66 9.73 319.32 169.95 Alibaba ALGN ... 24 534.38 10.06 91.51 543.65 127.88 AlignTech ALLK ... dd 140.00 -1.22 46.81 157.96 41.60 Allakos Y 0.0 dd 603.69 3.67 -24.50 847.95 426.87 Alleghany ALLE 1.1 36 116.38 1.44 -6.55 139.24 77.37 Allegion LNT 2.9 19 51.53 0.77 -5.83 60.28 37.66 AlliantEnergy ALL 2.0 8 109.93 1.78 -2.24 125.92 64.13 Allstate s 16.69 35.92 10.22 AllyFinancial ALLY 2.1 17 35.66 0.41 12.85 167.33 84.97 AlnylamPharm ALNY ... dd 129.97 -1.07 GOOG ... 35 1751.88 12.36 31.03 1847.20 1013.54 Alphabet C GOOGL ... 35 1752.64 16.39 30.85 1843.83 1008.87 Alphabet A AYX ... dd 121.79 -2.03 21.70 185.75 75.17 Alteryx ATUS ...211 37.87 0.25 38.51 38.30 15.96 AlticeUSA MO 8.4107 41.00 0.26 -17.85 51.77 30.95 Altria ACH ... 83 8.68 0.03 -0.12 9.95 4.60 AlumofChina AMZN ... 95 3256.93 -28.92 76.26 3552.25 1626.03 Amazon.com ABEV ... 26 3.06 0.01 -34.33 4.73 1.90 Ambev AMCR 4.0 25 11.77 0.03 8.58 12.40 5.80 Amcor DOX 1.8 19 70.93 1.57 -1.75 77.29 44.05 Amdocs AMED ... 59 293.33 4.25 75.73 298.54 132.95 Amedisys UHAL 0.0 18 453.96 0.63 20.79 460.92 222.34 Amerco AEE 2.6 23 78.06 1.09 1.64 87.66 58.74 Ameren -8.08 17.94 10.41 AmericaMovil A AMOV 2.4 36 14.62 0.10 -9.13 18.04 10.12 AmericaMovil AMX 2.4 36 14.54 -0.19 AAL 0.0 dd 15.77 -0.38 -45.01 30.78 8.25 AmerAirlines AEP 3.6 22 83.27 1.76 -11.89 104.97 65.14 AEP AXP 1.4 30 120.91 1.48 -2.88 138.13 67.00 AmerExpress AFG 2.3 31 87.62 0.25 -20.09 115.03 44.01 AmericanFin 14.46 32.04 17.50 AmHomes4Rent AMH 0.7112 30.00 0.13 AIG 3.4 dd 37.86 0.34 -26.24 56.42 16.07 AIG -2.33 272.20 174.32 AmerTowerREIT AMT 2.0 53 224.46 4.12 24.92 172.56 92.00 AmerWaterWorks AWK 1.4 42 153.47 2.84 6.47 41.29 23.30 AmericoldRealty COLD 2.3 85 37.33 0.66 AMP 2.1 14 194.33 2.98 16.66 198.16 80.01 Ameriprise 14.98 111.25 72.06 AmerisourceBrgn ABC 1.8 dd 97.76 0.80 AME 0.6 32 120.94 1.11 21.26 121.69 54.82 Ametek AMGN 3.1 19 229.92 2.75 -4.63 264.97 177.05 Amgen APH 0.9 34 130.77 0.93 20.83 135.68 63.05 Amphenol s 24.31 147.83 79.08 AnalogDevices ADI 1.7 45 147.73 1.55 PLAN ... dd 71.85 -0.17 37.12 76.37 26.04 Anaplan 1.25 38.50 12.66 AngloGoldAsh AU 0.4 33 22.62 -0.95 BUD 1.5 dd 69.91 -0.74 -14.79 83.54 32.58 AB InBev NLY 10.8 dd 8.45 0.09 -10.30 10.50 3.51 AnnalyCap ANTM 1.2 17 321.09 7.04 6.31 338.20 171.03 Anthem AON 0.9 27 211.27 4.56 1.43 238.19 143.93 Aon 2.66 55.38 19.46 ApolloGlbMgmt APO 4.7 dd 48.98 0.40 APPN ... dd 162.09 0.59 324.21 216.41 29.07 Appian AAPL 0.6 41 132.69 -1.03 80.75 138.79 53.15 Apple 41.38 90.61 36.64 ApplMaterials AMAT 1.0 22 86.30 -0.68 ATR 1.1 43 136.89 0.50 18.40 137.36 79.84 Aptargroup s 37.19 131.23 29.22 Aptiv APTV 0.0 20 130.29 -0.50 ARMK 1.1 dd 38.48 0.49 -11.34 47.22 9.65 Aramark MT 0.0 dd 22.90 -0.54 30.56 24.03 6.64 ArcelorMittal ACGL ... 13 36.07 0.49 -15.90 48.32 20.93 ArchCapital 8.76 52.05 28.92 ArcherDaniels ADM 2.9 18 50.41 0.50 31.83 49.86 20.20 AresMgmt ARES 3.4 88 47.05 -0.64 ARGX ... dd 294.09 -3.52 83.21 312.06 103.75 arGEN-X 42.86 293.78 156.63 AristaNetworks ANET ... 33 290.57 1.61 20.97 86.75 19.51 ArrowheadPharm ARWR ... dd 76.73 -0.70 19.88 183.98 92.00 AscendisPharma ASND ... dd 166.78 -3.41 AZPN ... 42 130.25 -0.69 7.71 142.89 73.07 AspenTech AIZ 1.9 21 136.22 2.19 3.92 142.61 76.27 Assurant AZN 2.7 52 49.99 -0.19 0.26 64.94 36.15 AstraZeneca ATH ... 10 43.14 0.63 -8.27 50.43 13.37 Athene TEAM ... dd 233.87 -0.17 94.34 250.03 110.01 Atlassian -14.69 121.08 77.92 AtmosEnergy ATO 2.6 19 95.43 1.92 ADSK ...158 305.34 5.93 66.43 307.22 125.38 Autodesk ATHM 0.8 25 99.62 0.01 24.51 107.92 59.54 Autohome ALV 0.0 52 92.10 -1.39 9.11 95.43 38.16 Autoliv ADP 2.1 31 176.20 2.39 3.34 182.32 103.11 ADP AZO ... 16 1185.44 9.57 -0.49 1267.93 684.91 AutoZone AVLR ... dd 164.89 -5.57 125.11 184.41 55.50 Avalara AVB 4.0 35 160.43 2.38 -23.50 229.40 118.17 Avalonbay AGR 3.9 22 45.45 -0.04 -11.16 57.24 35.62 Avangrid AVTR ...232 28.15 0.81 55.10 28.98 6.66 Avantor 18.57 156.82 76.96 AveryDennison AVY 1.6 25 155.11 0.92 67.21 134.73 50.05 AxonEnterprise AAXN ... dd 122.53 -1.35 BCE 5.9 23 42.80 0.02 -7.66 49.26 31.66 BCE BHP 3.7 21 65.34 -0.60 19.43 66.78 29.78 BHP Group BBL 4.5 17 53.03 -0.41 12.81 54.41 23.64 BHP Group BP 9.1 dd 20.52 -0.51 -45.63 40.08 14.74 BP s 71.08 225.35 82.00 Baidu BIDU ... 22 216.24 -3.39 BKR 3.5 dd 20.85 -0.36 -18.65 25.99 9.12 BakerHughes BLL 0.6 60 93.18 0.32 44.09 102.76 51.26 Ball -11.47 5.80 2.49 BancoBilbaoViz BBVA 4.7 dd 4.94 -0.04 -41.59 7.92 2.58 BancoBradesco BBDO 1.9 12 4.61 -0.04 BCH 3.1 17 20.38 -0.08 -2.91 23.08 12.50 BancodeChile -28.77 12.68 3.69 BancSanBrasil BSBR 1.7 18 8.64 0.03 BSAC 3.4 14 18.99 -0.26 -17.69 24.37 11.43 BcoSantChile -21.99 4.08 1.68 BancoSantander SAN 3.0 dd 3.05 -0.05 CIB 2.8 38 40.18 -0.77 -26.67 56.10 16.27 BanColombia -13.94 35.67 17.95 BankofAmerica BAC 2.4 15 30.31 0.33 -1.90 79.93 38.31 BankofMontreal BMO 4.3 13 76.03 0.30 -15.68 51.60 26.40 BankNY Mellon BK 2.9 9 42.44 0.75 -4.34 56.78 31.94 BkNovaScotia BNS 5.1 14 54.04 0.13 BCS 1.8 ... 7.99 -0.04 -16.07 9.76 3.41 Barclays GOLD 1.4 13 22.78 -0.46 22.54 31.22 12.65 BarrickGold BAX 1.2 46 80.24 1.04 -4.04 95.19 69.10 BaxterIntl -8.00 286.72 197.75 BectonDicknsn BDX 1.3 92 250.22 3.54 BGNE ... dd 258.39 3.39 55.88 322.98 118.55 BeiGene s ... 41.17 27.00 BentleySystems BSY 0.3 ... 40.51 0.67 WRB 0.7 37 66.42 0.32 -3.88 79.92 43.05 Berkley 2.42 352500 239440 BerkHathwy A BRK.A ... 15 347815 2720.00 2.37 234.99 159.50 BerkHathwy B BRK.B ... 15 231.87 2.22 BERY ... 14 56.19 0.04 18.32 57.94 25.00 BerryGlobal BBY 2.2 15 99.79 -1.59 13.66 124.89 48.10 BestBuy BYND ... dd 125.00 -1.49 65.34 197.50 48.18 BeyondMeat 360.37 95.71 19.25 Bilibili BILI ... dd 85.72 -8.63 BILL ... dd 136.50 -0.75 258.74 154.03 23.61 Bill.com TECH 0.4 51 317.55 0.56 44.66 326.44 155.17 Bio-Techne BIO ... 5 582.94 8.11 57.54 648.39 309.38 Bio-RadLab A BIIB ... 8 244.86 1.28 -17.48 374.99 223.25 Biogen 3.71 131.94 68.25 BioMarinPharm BMRN ... 20 87.69 0.73 BNTX ... ... 81.52 -2.42 140.61 131.00 28.00 BioNTech BKI ... 62 88.35 0.10 37.02 97.19 50.01 BlackKnight BL 158.69 141.82 38.32 BlackLine ... dd 133.38 0.23 s 43.53 722.42 323.98 BlackRock BLK 2.0 24 721.54 12.60 BX 2.9 60 64.81 0.11 15.86 65.75 33.00 Blackstone BA 0.0 dd 214.06 -2.61 -34.29 349.95 89.00 Boeing s 8.45 2227.97 1107.29 BookingHldgs BKNG ... 67 2227.27 22.01 BAH 1.4 24 87.18 0.20 22.56 91.21 54.37 BoozAllen BWA 1.8 22 38.64 -0.55 -10.93 44.05 17.00 BorgWarner SAM ... 71 994.29 -3.12 163.14 1092.80 290.02 BostonBeer BXP 4.1 15 94.53 0.66 -31.43 147.83 69.69 BostonProps BSX ... 14 35.95 0.40 -20.50 46.13 24.10 BostonSci s 102.88 71.56 14.23 BridgeBioPharma BBIO ... dd 71.11 1.04 15.10 177.16 64.23 BrightHorizons BFAM ...142 172.99 3.18 BMY 3.2 dd 62.03 0.60 -3.37 68.34 45.76 BristolMyers -11.71 45.64 27.32 BritishAmTob BTI 7.1 11 37.49 -0.23 s 38.55 438.50 155.67 Broadcom AVGO 3.3 70 437.85 3.02 24.01 154.22 81.90 BroadridgeFinl BR 1.5 38 153.20 1.09 7.10 45.61 21.57 BrookfieldMgt BAM 1.2 dd 41.27 -0.09 9.66 52.72 23.22 BrookfieldInfr BIP 3.9 dd 49.40 -0.33 -19.00 20.09 7.15 BrookfieldPropREIT BPYU 8.9 dd 14.94 -0.04 ... 61.49 26.89 BrookfieldRenew BEPC 2.0 ... 58.27 0.21 20.09 48.69 30.70 Brown&Brown BRO 0.8 29 47.41 1.16 17.50 83.40 44.68 Brown-Forman B BF.B 0.9 41 79.43 0.75 17.05 83.01 41.03 Brown-Forman A BF.A 1.0 38 73.47 0.41 BRKR 0.3 53 54.13 0.62 6.20 55.87 30.78 Bruker BG 3.0 19 65.58 0.39 13.95 66.71 29.00 Bunge 14.70 264.48 105.67 BurlingtonStrs BURL ... dd 261.55 1.31 CBRE ... 20 62.72 0.32 2.33 67.70 29.17 CBRE Group CDW 1.2 26 131.79 1.79 -7.74 146.95 73.39 CDW CF 3.1 29 38.71 0.74 -18.91 48.19 19.73 CF Industries GIB ... 25 79.31 0.08 -5.26 87.12 46.32 CGI CHRW 2.2 28 93.87 0.83 20.04 106.75 56.94 CH Robinson CME 1.9 30 182.05 4.05 -9.30 225.36 131.80 CME Group CMS 2.7 23 61.01 1.10 -2.91 69.17 46.03 CMS Energy CNA 3.8 18 38.96 0.52 -13.06 51.30 25.18 CNA Fin CNHI 0.0 dd 12.84 0.06 16.73 12.97 5.06 CNH Indl CEO 8.2 7 91.65 0.65 -45.01 181.13 81.11 CNOOC CRH 2.1 20 42.58 -0.24 5.58 43.07 17.73 CRH 151.39 181.42 32.30 CRISPR Therap CRSP ... dd 153.11 -8.46 CSX 1.1 25 90.75 0.42 25.41 93.70 46.81 CSX AI ... ... 138.75 -8.09 ... 183.90 90.03 C3.ai CVS 2.9 11 68.30 0.55 -8.06 76.44 52.04 CVS Health

Mutual Funds

YTD 52-Week % Chg Hi Lo Stock

Yld Net Sym % PE Last Chg

CABO 0.4 52 2227.72 49.67 2326.80 1031.39 CableOne s 96.70 136.84 51.39 CadenceDesign CDNS ... 35 136.43 CAE 0.0155 27.74 4.84 31.56 9.80 CAE CZR ... dd 74.27 24.53 78.16 6.02 CaesarsEnt -5.82 120.73 62.48 CamdenProperty CPT 3.3 52 99.92 -2.17 57.54 40.70 CampbellSoup CPB 3.1 20 48.35 CM 5.3 14 85.47 2.73 88.15 46.45 CIBC CNI 1.6 31 109.85 21.45 112.97 65.13 CanNtlRlwy -25.66 32.79 6.71 CanNaturalRes CNQ 5.4 dd 24.05 s 35.98 350.19 173.26 CanPacRlwy CP 0.8 28 346.69 CAJ 4.9 36 19.41 -29.03 28.18 15.46 Canon 16.83 29.52 9.00 CanopyGrowth CGC ... dd 24.64 COF 0.4 50 98.85 -3.95 107.59 38.00 CapitalOne 5.89 60.69 39.05 CardinalHealth CAH 3.6 16 53.56 CSL 1.3 26 156.18 -3.50 169.86 97.55 Carlisle CG 3.2 dd 31.44 -2.00 34.98 15.21 Carlyle KMX ... 21 94.46 7.74 109.31 37.59 CarMax CCL 0.0 dd 21.66 -57.39 51.94 7.80 Carnival CUK 10.7 dd 18.74 -61.09 49.03 7.08 Carnival CARR 1.3 21 37.72 ... 41.48 11.50 CarrierGlobal CVNA ... dd 239.54 160.23 292.76 22.16 Carvana CTLT ... 66 104.07 84.85 120.48 31.04 Catalent CAT 2.3 30 182.02 23.25 183.81 87.50 Caterpillar Celanese CE 5.54 138.31 52.70 1.9 27 129.94 CX 0.0 dd 5.17 36.77 5.72 1.55 Cemex -40.49 10.52 1.41 CenovusEnergy CVE 0.0 dd 6.04 CNC ... 17 60.03 -4.52 74.70 43.96 Centene -20.65 27.53 11.58 CenterPointEner CNP 3.0 dd 21.64 -25.00 10.10 2.96 CentraisElBras EBR ... 8 6.99 CDAY ...1377 106.56 56.98 111.93 38.40 CeridianHCM CERN 1.1 31 78.48 6.94 80.90 53.08 Cerner 63.56 257.88 95.58 CharlesRiverLabs CRL ... 42 249.86 36.38 681.71 345.67 CharterComms CHTR ... 52 661.55 CHKP ... 23 132.91 19.78 139.26 80.06 CheckPoint CHGG ... dd 90.33 138.27 95.20 25.89 Chegg CHE 0.3 32 532.61 21.25 543.81 330.01 Chemed -1.70 67.11 27.06 CheniereEnergy LNG ... 18 60.03 -11.45 42.88 17.75 CheniereEnerPtrs CQP 7.3 15 35.25 CVX 6.1 dd 84.45 -29.92 122.72 51.60 Chevron CHWY ... dd 89.89 209.97 109.73 20.62 Chewy -21.41 28.50 15.80 ChinaEastrnAir CEA ... dd 21.51 LFC 4.0 9 11.06 -20.03 14.70 8.27 ChinaLifeIns CHL 6.6 8 28.54 -32.48 44.93 28.00 ChinaMobile SNP 7.4 10 44.60 -25.85 62.22 38.18 ChinaPetrol -11.76 35.60 18.45 ChinaSoAirlines ZNH 0.0 dd 29.65 -33.11 41.55 26.66 ChinaTelecom CHA 5.3 8 27.55 CHU 3.3 10 5.68 -39.32 9.45 5.08 ChinaUnicom s CD ... 24.30 13.12 Chindata ... dd 23.96 CMG ...166 1386.71 65.65 1435.52 415.00 Chipotle CB 2.0 31 153.92 -1.12 167.74 87.35 Chubb 4.66 39.47 34.46 ChunghwaTel CHT 2.9 27 38.62 24.01 98.96 47.98 Church&Dwight CHD 1.1 28 87.23 41.98 212.60 52.90 ChurchillDowns CHDN 0.3 dd 194.79 CIEN ... 23 52.85 23.80 61.52 30.58 Ciena CI 1.80 224.96 118.50 Cigna 0.0 15 208.18 CINF 2.7 18 87.37 -16.91 115.53 46.07 CincinnatiFin CTAS 0.8 40 353.46 31.36 369.20 154.33 Cintas -6.69 50.28 32.40 CiscoSystems CSCO 3.2 18 44.75 C -22.82 83.11 32.00 Citigroup 3.3 12 61.66 CFG 4.4 16 35.76 -11.94 41.29 14.12 CitizensFin 17.31 173.56 100.31 CitrixSystems CTXS 1.1 28 130.10 CCC ... dd 29.71 76.85 33.55 15.00 Clarivate CLX 2.2 22 201.92 31.51 239.87 150.95 Clorox NET ... dd 75.99 345.43 88.77 15.05 Cloudflare KO 3.0 28 54.84 -0.92 60.13 36.27 Coca-Cola -2.06 57.11 28.35 Coca-Cola Euro CCEP 4.0 29 49.83 CGNX 0.3 76 80.28 43.26 83.10 35.20 Cognex 32.13 82.73 40.01 CognizantTech CTSH 1.1 30 81.95 CL 2.1 27 85.51 24.22 86.41 58.49 ColgatePalm CMCSA 1.8 23 52.40 16.52 52.49 31.70 Comcast A CMA 4.9 15 55.86 -22.15 72.23 24.28 Comerica 1.54 68.50 43.34 CommerceBcshrs CBSH 1.6 24 65.70 72.46 6.29 1.02 CiaSiderurgica SID ... 38 5.95 5.90 39.34 22.83 ConagraBrands CAG 3.0 18 36.26 CXO 1.4 dd 58.35 -33.37 93.34 33.13 ConchoRscs -38.51 67.13 20.84 ConocoPhillips COP 4.3 dd 39.99 ED 4.2 18 72.27 -20.12 95.10 62.03 ConEd 16.18 221.23 107.51 ConstBrands B STZ.B 1.2 49 219.33 15.44 220.00 104.28 ConstBrands A STZ 1.4 44 219.05 t WISH ... ... 18.24 ... 24.75 17.41 ContextLogic COO 0.0 76 363.32 13.08 371.59 236.68 Cooper CPRT ... 45 127.25 39.93 130.96 55.69 Copart GLW 2.4175 36.00 23.67 38.44 17.44 Corning CTVA 1.3 47 38.72 30.99 40.23 20.38 Corteva CSGP ...124 924.28 54.48 951.18 500.24 CoStar COST 0.7 39 376.78 28.19 393.15 271.28 Costco 131.73 369.12 99.01 CoupaSoftware COUP ... dd 338.91 BAP 5.3 66 164.02 -23.04 220.25 110.47 Credicorp CS 0.9 8 12.80 -4.83 14.12 6.47 CreditSuisse s 129.47 109.17 27.77 Cree CREE ... dd 105.90 CRWD ... dd 211.82 324.74 227.36 31.95 CrowdStrike CCI 3.3113 159.19 11.99 180.00 114.18 CrownCastle s 38.13 100.58 42.97 CrownHoldings CCK ... 26 100.20 CMI 2.4 21 227.10 26.90 244.67 101.03 Cummins CVAC ... ... 81.07 ... 151.80 36.15 CureVac CONE 2.8 dd 73.15 11.80 86.77 43.72 CyrusOne

DEF -8.82 42.62 17.09 DISH Network DISH DTE -6.51 135.67 71.21 DTE Energy DADA ... 61.27 14.60 DadaNexus DHR 44.74 248.32 119.60 Danaher DRI 9.27 125.96 26.15 Darden DAR 105.41 59.00 10.25 DarlingIngred DDOG 160.56 118.13 28.88 Datadog DVA 56.47 117.65 62.20 DaVita 69.83 307.81 78.70 DeckersOutdoor DECK DE 55.29 273.56 106.14 Deere DELL 42.62 75.39 25.51 DellTechC DAL -31.24 62.48 17.51 DeltaAir DNLI 380.83 93.94 12.39 DenaliTherap -7.47 60.87 31.57 DentsplySirona XRAY 40.10 11.96 4.99 DeutscheBank DB DXCM 69.02 456.23 182.07 DexCom DEO -5.71 171.29 100.52 Diageo -47.88 96.92 14.55 DiamondbkEner FANG DLR 16.51 165.49 105.00 DigitalRealty s 6.73 90.66 23.25 DiscoverFinSvcs DFS DISCB -10.65 103.00 24.80 DiscoveryB DISCA -8.09 32.89 17.12 DiscoveryA DISCK -14.10 30.73 15.43 DiscoveryC DIS 25.27 183.40 79.07 Disney DOCU 199.96 290.23 64.88 DocuSign s 41.18 97.50 44.68 DolbyLab DLB DG 34.82 225.25 125.00 DollarGeneral DLTR 14.88 114.32 60.20 DollarTree -9.20 90.89 57.79 DominionEner D DPZ 30.53 435.58 270.08 Domino's t DASH ... 195.50 135.38 DoorDash DOV 9.53 127.39 62.95 Dover DOW 1.41 58.18 21.95 Dow 75.68 73.50 33.33 DrReddy'sLab RDY DKNG 335.14 64.19 10.60 DraftKings DBX 23.90 25.16 14.55 Dropbox DUK 0.38 103.79 62.13 DukeEnergy DRE 15.29 43.45 25.19 DukeRealty ... 29.55 23.59 Dun&Bradstreet DNB s 10.76 71.55 28.33 DuPont DD DT 71.03 48.85 17.10 Dynatrace E -33.46 32.19 12.10 ENI EOG -40.46 89.54 27.00 EOG Rscs s 68.91 360.89 151.97 EPAM Systems EPAM 26.52 104.83 34.44 EastmanChem EMN ETN 26.84 123.67 56.41 Eaton EV 45.49 69.18 23.59 EatonVance EBAY 39.16 61.06 26.02 eBay ECL 12.11 231.36 124.60 Ecolab EC -35.32 20.95 6.28 Ecopetrol EIX -16.70 78.93 43.63 EdisonInt EW 17.32 92.08 51.51 EdwardsLife 4.14 34.09 15.17 ElancoAnimal ELAN ESTC 127.26 159.95 39.01 Elastic 33.57 147.36 85.69 ElectronicArts EA EMR 5.39 83.14 37.75 EmersonElec ENB -19.56 43.15 22.57 Enbridge 19.37 87.11 48.01 EncompassHealth EHC -25.14 11.21 5.21 EnelAmericas ENIA -51.83 13.86 3.75 EnergyTransfer ET 571.53 189.41 21.49 EnphaseEnergy ENPH ENTG 91.85 100.12 38.12 Entegris ETR -16.66 135.55 75.19 Entergy -30.43 29.22 10.27 EnterpriseProd EPD EFX 37.62 196.47 103.01 Equifax EQIX 22.35 839.77 477.87 Equinix EQNR -17.53 21.04 8.41 Equinor EQH 3.27 27.30 9.89 Equitable ELS -9.99 77.55 41.97 EquityLife -26.74 87.53 45.42 EquityResdntl EQR 47.95 256.77 130.20 ErieIndemnity A ERIE WTRG 0.75 54.52 30.40 EssentialUtil ESS -21.09 329.74 175.81 EssexProp EL 28.88 267.20 137.01 EsteeLauder ETSY 301.60 198.50 29.95 Etsy -8.02 167.64 61.27 EuronetWorldwide EEFT RE -15.44 294.31 157.32 EverestRe -14.72 76.57 42.01 Evergy EVRG 1.69 99.42 60.69 EversourceEner ES 43.26 144.00 35.25 ExactSciences EXAS EXC -7.39 50.54 29.28 Exelon EXPE 22.43 134.09 40.76 Expedia 21.90 95.73 52.55 ExpeditorsIntl EXPD ExtraSpaceSt EXR 9.70 121.07 72.70 XOM -40.93 71.37 30.11 ExxonMobil FFIV 25.99 178.09 79.78 F5Networks FMC 15.14 122.29 56.77 FMC FB 33.09 304.67 137.10 Facebook FDS 23.93 363.64 195.22 FactSet FICO 36.39 530.95 177.65 FairIsaac FTCH 516.52 65.54 5.99 Farfetch FAST 32.15 50.47 26.71 Fastenal FSLY 335.33 136.50 10.63 Fastly FATE 364.64 103.66 16.75 FateTherap

Data provided by

Fund

Top 250 mutual-funds listings for Nasdaq-published share classes by net assets. e-Ex-distribution. f-Previous day’s quotation. g-Footnotes x and s apply. j-Footnotes e and s apply. k-Recalculated by Lipper, using updated data. p-Distribution costs apply, 12b-1. r-Redemption charge may apply. s-Stock split or dividend. t-Footnotes p and r apply. v-Footnotes x and e apply. x-Ex-dividend. z-Footnote x, e and s apply. NA-Not available due to incomplete price, performance or cost data. NE-Not released by Lipper; data under review. NN-Fund not tracked. NS-Fund didn’t exist at start of period.

Fund

Thursday, December 31, 2020 Net YTD Net YTD

NAV Chg %Ret Fund

American Century Inv Ultra 75.94 +0.16 American Funds Cl A 39.11 +0.25 AmcpA p AMutlA p 44.61 +0.38 30.20 +0.13 BalA p NA ...

BondA p 63.01 +0.19 CapIBA p CapWGrA 59.39 +0.10 69.34 -0.25 EupacA p 69.15 +0.27 FdInvA p 67.54 +0.27 GwthA p HI TrA p 10.14 -0.04 44.42 +0.26 ICAA p 23.55 +0.10 IncoA p 60.49 +0.04 N PerA p 59.51 +0.16 NEcoA p NwWrldA 87.95 +0.09 79.55 -0.27 SmCpA p TxExA p 13.62 -0.02 50.17 +0.42 WshA p

NAV Chg %Ret Fund

Baird Funds 49.8 AggBdInst 11.77 +0.02 CorBdInst 12.14 +0.01 21.4 BlackRock Funds 7.79 ...

4.7 HiYBlk ...

10.9 HiYldBd Inst 7.78 NA BlackRock Funds A 3.3 GlblAlloc p 21.51 -0.01 15.4 BlackRock Funds III 24.8 iShS&P500IdxK444.28 +2.88 15.0 BlackRock Funds Inst ...

37.8 StratIncOpptyIns 10.37 6.5 Bridge Builder Trust 10.79 +0.01 14.5 CoreBond ...

5.0 CorePlusBond 10.60 13.36 -0.04 33.4 Intl Eq 33.5 LargeCapGrowth 20.57 +0.09 24.8 LargeCapValue 14.72 +0.04 37.4 ClearBridge ...

4.6 LargeCapGrowthI NA 7.7 Columbia Class I

-22.52 1.18 -0.14 0.58 1.19 0.33 0.08 0.41 -0.28 -2.30 0.04 -0.61 0.97 0.56 0.24 0.02 -0.16 -0.13 -0.13 -0.01 -10.80 0.88 1.98 0.34 -0.01 -0.10 1.11 0.22 -0.08 1.16 0.50 1.27 8.06 -1.21 -0.24 4.99 -0.77 1.01 -0.88 -2.45 -0.29 0.06 0.25 -0.62 0.25 -0.01 -0.09 3.66 12.54 1.99 -0.22 0.52 -3.64 0.36 4.13 0.91 3.23 0.27 0.80 0.36 1.81 -0.12 0.88 -1.54 0.40 0.76 -0.61 0.88 0.78 1.19 0.12 -0.28 -0.13 0.13 0.09 -0.02 1.25 -1.90 0.84 0.66 6.87 0.71 0.03 0.28 -0.68 2.33 -2.40 0.37 -0.01 1.51 1.53 2.80 0.36 2.11 -0.69 0.30

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret

DivIncom I 25.81 +0.21 8.6 Dimensional Fds 8.8 5GlbFxdInc 10.89 ...

EmgMktVa 28.65 +0.10 5.8 EmMktCorEq 24.27 +0.09 5.7 IntlCoreEq 14.57 -0.05 20.28 -0.05 IntSmCo 20.7 IntSmVa 19.13 -0.05 LgCo 28.15 +0.18 18.4 TAUSCoreEq2 22.99 +0.10 US CoreEq1 29.68 +0.14 7.2 US CoreEq2 26.97 +0.12 US Small 38.42 +0.03 8.5 US SmCpVal 34.43 +0.02 9.3 US TgdVal 23.59 +0.01 13.6 USLgVa 37.53 +0.29 34.8 Dodge & Cox 9.1 Balanced 101.78 +0.50 14.65 +0.01 Income NA Intl Stk 43.70 -0.20 192.56 +1.42 Stock

7.8 1.5 2.7 13.9 7.7 9.3 0.8 18.4 15.8 16.4 15.7 11.2 2.2 3.8 -0.6 7.9 9.5 2.1 7.2

... 13 32.34 3.6 17 121.41 ... dd 36.50 0.3 51 222.14 1.1 dd 119.12 ... 20 57.68 ... dd 98.44 ... 18 117.40 ... 26 286.78 1.1 31 269.05 ... 23 73.29 0.0 dd 40.21 ... dd 83.76 0.8 dd 52.36 0.0 dd 10.90 ...153 369.72 2.2 53 158.81 3.1 dd 48.40 3.2 57 139.51 1.9 28 90.53 ... 16 32.40 ... 15 30.09 ... 13 26.19 0.0 dd 181.18 ... dd 222.30 0.9 43 97.13 0.7 21 210.30 ... 27 108.04 3.4 dd 75.20 0.8 33 383.46 ... ... 142.75 1.6 27 126.25 5.0 dd 55.50 0.4 58 71.29 ... dd 46.56 ...128 22.19 4.2 33 91.56 2.6 68 39.97 ... dd 24.90 1.7 dd 71.11 ...156 43.27 4.1 dd 20.60 3.0 dd 49.87 ... 66 358.35 2.8 29 100.28 2.4 35 120.14 2.2 56 67.93 1.3 7 50.25 0.9 dd 216.36 6.2 18 12.91 4.2 64 62.82 ... 73 91.23 ... dd 30.67 ... dd 146.13 0.5 32 143.60 2.5 25 80.37 8.2 46 31.99 1.4 31 82.69 5.6 10 8.22 9.9 dd 6.18 ...137 175.47 0.3 49 96.10 3.8 14 99.84 9.1 10 19.59 0.8 54 192.84 1.5140 714.18 3.4 dd 16.42 2.7 dd 25.59 2.2 53 63.36 4.1 24 59.28 1.7 44 245.60 2.1 48 47.29 3.5 26 237.42 0.8162 266.19 ... 99 177.91 ...300 144.92 2.6 14 234.09 3.9 20 55.51 2.6 25 86.51 ... dd 132.49 3.6 17 42.22 0.0 dd 132.40 1.1 26 95.11 3.1 34 115.86 8.4 53 41.22 ... 35 175.94 1.7 30 114.93 ... 31 273.16 0.9 34 332.50 ... 65 511.04 ... dd 63.81 2.0 33 48.83 ... dd 87.37 ... dd 90.93

0.82 1.75 -1.09 1.46 1.57 -1.20 -0.87 1.90 0.78 2.90 0.79 -0.35 -1.89 0.90 0.01 6.95 -3.01 -0.87 1.16 1.23 -2.10 0.28 0.21 0.01 -3.60 0.05 0.37 0.24 1.14 -1.16 2.55 1.82 0.03 0.55 -2.39 -0.41 1.00 0.52 -0.51 0.81 -0.42 -0.28 -0.69 -0.13 0.01 0.84 0.39 -0.30 1.12 -0.21 1.19 1.59 0.55 -2.09 1.55 0.55 0.02 0.62 -0.02 0.02 2.54 -0.27 1.20 0.04 1.67 13.78 -0.28 0.36 0.66 0.92 0.76 0.73 1.15 3.57 -5.27 2.56 3.73 1.44 1.18 -2.91 0.29 0.28 0.53 1.15 -0.38 0.28 0.85 1.29 4.12 7.09 -0.72 -0.24 -3.06 -2.69

1.0 17 259.62 0.5 74 229.52 ...233 18.09 3.7 12 39.09 1.0 dd 141.46 3.9 14 27.57 0.5 26 146.93 ... 47 98.92 5.1 27 30.61 ... 87 113.86 ... 89 174.98 ... dd 174.40 ... 33 272.83 ... 28 17.98 ... 57 92.85 1.9 96 75.77 0.0 dd 8.79 ... 55 148.53 3.8 21 40.82 0.4 46 70.82 1.2 24 85.72 1.6 11 28.88 1.6 11 29.12 0.8 91 125.33 4.5 16 24.99 0.0 dd 26.02 1.2 16 41.56

-0.36 -0.17 -0.03 0.32 1.93 0.29 2.12 -1.42 0.50 0.98 2.24 -0.41 2.80 0.01 -0.85 -0.15 -0.07 0.51 -0.24 1.25 -0.09 0.18 0.03 -0.76 0.21 -0.51 0.04

81.54 100.50 43.27 GDS Holdings GDS ... dd 93.64 ... 29.24 11.92 GFLEnvironmental GFL 0.1 dd 29.18 GSX ... dd 51.71 136.55 141.78 22.70 GSXTechedu AJG 1.5 31 123.71 29.91 129.12 65.09 Gallagher -1.51 50.99 13.04 Gaming&Leisure GLPI 5.7 20 42.40 GPS 0.0 dd 20.19 14.20 26.99 5.26 Gap GRMN 2.0 22 119.66 22.65 123.55 61.04 Garmin IT ... 67 160.19 3.95 165.26 76.91 Gartner GNRC ... 49 227.41 126.08 239.62 75.50 Generac -15.61 190.08 100.55 GeneralDynamics GD 3.0 14 148.82 GE 0.4 26 10.80 -3.23 13.26 5.48 GeneralElec GIS 3.5 15 58.80 9.78 66.14 46.59 GeneralMills 13.77 46.71 14.32 GeneralMotors GM 0.0 19 41.64 s 82.09 41.50 16.24 Genmab GMAB ... 32 40.66 G 0.9 26 41.36 -1.92 45.20 19.41 Genpact GNTX 1.4 28 33.93 17.08 34.30 19.48 Gentex GPC 3.1798 100.43 -5.46 106.84 49.68 GenuineParts GGB 0.5 29 4.67 -4.69 5.34 1.65 Gerdau -10.34 85.97 56.56 GileadSciences GILD 4.7 60 58.26 GSK 5.4 11 36.80 -21.69 48.25 31.43 GSK s 18.00 215.70 105.54 GlobalPayments GPN 0.4128 215.42 GLOB ...173 217.61 105.20 223.26 70.83 Globant GL 0.8 14 94.96 -9.78 111.43 56.74 GlobeLife GDDY ... dd 82.95 22.13 91.81 40.25 GoDaddy GFI 1.3 32 9.27 40.45 14.90 3.79 GoldFields s 14.69 263.93 130.85 GoldmanSachs GS 1.9 15 263.71 GDRX ...763 40.34 ... 64.22 33.51 GoodRx GGG 1.0 41 72.35 39.13 73.45 38.43 Graco GWW 1.5 35 408.34 20.63 427.90 200.61 Grainger GRFS 1.6 16 18.44 -20.82 25.73 13.40 Grifols ... dd 128.88 64.93 138.65 55.90 GuardantHealth GH GWRE ... dd 128.73 17.27 129.76 71.64 Guidewire 11.26 166.87 58.38 HCA Healthcare HCA 0.0 17 164.46 s 14.03 72.44 29.50 HDFC Bank HDB 0.0 33 72.26 s 19.66 24.69 12.54 HP HPQ 3.2 12 24.59 HSBC 0.0 dd 25.91 -33.72 39.37 17.95 HSBC HAL 1.0 dd 18.90 -22.76 25.47 4.25 Halliburton HIG 2.7 10 48.98 -19.40 61.32 19.04 HartfordFinl HAS 2.9 33 93.54 -11.43 109.50 41.33 Hasbro -9.05 34.22 20.61 HealthcareAmer HTA 4.6180 27.54 -12.30 37.64 18.63 HealthpeakProp PEAK 4.9 50 30.23 HEI.A 0.1 51 117.06 30.75 124.20 51.78 Heico A HEI 0.1 58 132.40 15.99 137.97 52.01 Heico HSIC ... 24 66.86 0.21 73.99 41.85 HenrySchein HSY 2.1 27 152.33 3.64 161.83 109.88 Hershey HES 1.9 dd 52.79 -20.98 71.66 26.06 Hess -25.28 16.18 7.43 HewlettPackard HPE 4.1 dd 11.85 -18.97 52.76 25.10 HighwoodsProp HIW 4.8 13 39.63 HLT 0.0 dd 111.26 0.32 116.73 44.30 Hilton HOLX ... 17 72.83 39.49 77.49 26.49 Hologic HD 2.3 23 265.62 21.63 292.95 140.63 HomeDepot HMC 2.4 21 28.25 -0.21 30.21 19.38 HondaMotor HON 1.7 31 212.70 20.17 216.70 101.08 Honeywell 102.07 86.67 23.81 HorizonTherap HZNP ... 20 73.15 HRL 2.1 28 46.61 3.33 52.97 39.01 HormelFoods DHI 1.2 11 68.92 30.65 81.21 25.51 DR Horton HST 0.0 dd 14.63 -21.13 18.66 7.86 HostHotels 14.06 28.75 9.25 HowmetAerospace HWM 0.0 27 28.54 -28.27 21.25 11.69 HuanengPower HNP 4.7 11 14.41 HTHT ... dd 45.03 12.38 53.66 25.01 Huazhu HUBB 2.5 23 156.79 6.07 166.37 85.62 Hubbell HUBS ... dd 396.44 150.12 420.61 90.83 HubSpot HUM 0.6 13 410.27 11.94 474.70 208.25 Humana JBHT 0.8 29 136.65 17.01 144.34 75.29 JBHunt -16.25 15.16 6.82 HuntingtonBcshs HBAN 4.8 18 12.63 H 0.0 dd 74.25 -17.23 94.98 24.02 HyattHotels IAA ... 50 64.98 38.08 66.36 21.79 IAA IBN 0.0 26 14.86 -1.52 15.42 6.86 ICICI Bank IDXX ... 87 499.87 91.43 503.83 168.65 IdexxLab INFO 0.8 39 89.83 19.22 101.45 44.81 IHS Markit IIVI ... dd 75.96 125.60 79.77 19.00 II-VI ING 0.0 ... 9.44 -21.66 12.44 4.52 ING Groep IVZ 3.6 16 17.43 -3.06 19.01 6.38 Invesco 54.42 227.09 98.04 IPG Photonics IPGP ...114 223.79 IQV ...200 179.17 15.96 180.99 81.79 IQVIA -17.61 69.10 34.00 IcahnEnterprises IEP 15.8 dd 50.67 ICLR ... 32 194.98 13.21 215.29 104.28 Icon IEX 1.0 41 199.20 15.81 199.50 104.56 IDEX 13.50 224.69 115.94 IllinoisToolWks ITW 2.2 31 203.88 ILMN ... 86 370.00 11.53 404.20 196.78 Illumina IMO 3.6 dd 19.03 -28.11 27.43 7.04 ImperialOil INCY ... dd 86.98 -0.39 110.36 62.48 Incyte s 64.24 17.03 6.76 Infosys INFY 1.4 30 16.95 ... dd 45.56 24.21 46.82 17.01 IngersollRand IR IPHI ... dd 160.47 116.79 162.08 55.72 Inphi PODD ...584 255.63 49.32 269.42 121.00 Insulet INTC 2.6 10 49.82 -16.76 69.29 43.61 Intel 30.67 62.95 33.70 InteractiveBrkrs IBKR 0.7 28 60.92 s 24.57 115.40 63.51 ICE ICE 1.0 32 115.29 -5.17 69.04 25.39 InterContinentl IHG 0.0 dd 65.12 IBM 5.2 14 125.88 -6.09 158.75 90.56 IBM -15.64 143.87 92.14 IntlFlavors IFF 2.8 33 108.84 IP 7.97 51.99 26.38 IntlPaper 4.1 40 49.72 IPG 4.3 16 23.52 1.82 25.20 11.63 Interpublic INTU 0.6 51 379.85 45.02 387.94 187.68 Intuit 38.39 826.81 360.50 IntuitiveSurgical ISRG ... 93 818.10 NVTA ... dd 41.81 159.21 61.59 7.42 Invitae -0.90 32.70 15.64 InvitatHomes INVH 2.0157 29.70 IONS ...140 56.54 -6.41 64.34 39.32 IonisPharma IQ ... dd 17.48 -17.20 28.03 14.51 iQIYI IRM 8.4 64 29.48 -7.50 34.49 21.00 IronMountain ITUB 2.2 15 6.09 -33.44 9.40 3.48 ItauUnibanco

-0.40 0.40 -0.77 2.01 0.28 -0.29 0.14 1.64 -1.78 0.52 0.09 0.24 -0.20 -0.10 0.13 -0.13 0.82 -0.07 1.61 -0.24 5.28 -0.27 1.75 -0.37 -0.36 4.26 -1.95 0.14 1.51 -0.06 2.74 0.48 2.11 0.26 0.27 -0.03 -0.22 1.04 -0.46 0.37 0.37 -0.70 -0.09 1.02 1.80 -0.98 0.17 0.49 1.08 1.08 0.36 0.09 1.75 0.81 0.17 -1.20 0.03 0.18 -0.01 -0.09 0.48 1.23 4.16 1.21 0.07 0.61 0.04 0.20 2.91 1.31 -0.37 0.05 0.09 -0.50 1.65 0.42 1.32 2.57 1.71 5.91 -0.30 0.12 0.02 0.32 0.13 -4.92 1.07 0.80 2.14 0.79 1.54 -2.42 0.08 0.06 4.30 2.80 -2.39 0.17 -0.66 -0.06 0.19 -0.04

GHI s

JKL JD 149.50 92.77 32.70 JD.com ... 34 87.90 -8.85 141.10 76.91 JPMorganChase JPM 2.8 17 127.07 JKHY 1.1 42 161.99 11.20 200.98 123.64 JackHenry J 0.7 38 108.96 21.30 111.17 59.29 JacobsEngg JHX 0.0 88 29.66 51.02 30.00 8.98 JamesHardie s 10.56 166.00 86.88 JazzPharma JAZZ ... 52 165.05 s 7.89 157.66 109.16 J&J JNJ 2.6 25 157.38 14.44 47.58 22.77 JohnsonControls JCI 2.2 55 46.59 JLL 0.0 18 148.37 -14.77 178.55 78.29 JonesLang KB 3.7 5 39.60 -4.28 43.95 20.93 KB Fin BEKE ... dd 61.54 ... 79.40 31.79 KE Holdings KKR 1.3 25 40.49 38.81 40.71 15.55 KKR KLAC 1.4 31 258.91 45.32 268.89 110.19 KLA s 33.28 204.53 92.86 KSCitySouthern KSU 0.9 34 204.13 K 3.7 18 62.23 -10.02 72.88 52.66 Kellogg 10.54 32.24 18.98 KeurigDrPepper KDP 1.9 35 32.00 KEY 4.5 14 16.41 -18.92 20.37 7.45 KeyCorp 28.71 132.62 77.93 KeysightTechs KEYS ... 40 132.09 -1.98 160.16 110.66 KimberlyClark KMB 3.2 20 134.83 -35.43 22.58 9.42 KinderMorgan KMI 7.7284 13.67 ... dd 43.55 ... 49.92 17.01 KingsoftCloud KC KGC 1.6 9 7.34 54.85 10.31 2.72 KinrossGold -6.35 57.69 18.02 KirklandLakeGold KL 1.8 15 41.27 104.18 159.18 35.49 KodiakSciences KOD ... dd 146.91 13.26 55.30 29.89 KoninklijkePhil PHG 0.0 45 54.17 KEP ...250 12.27 3.72 12.98 6.28 KoreaElcPwr KHC 4.6 dd 34.66 7.87 36.37 19.99 KraftHeinz KR 2.3 8 31.76 9.56 37.22 26.72 Kroger LB 0.0 dd 37.19 105.24 42.17 8.00 L Brands LKQ ... 18 35.24 -1.29 38.38 13.31 LKQ LPLA 1.0 17 104.22 12.98 105.77 32.01 LPL Financial LHX 1.8 31 189.02 -4.47 230.99 142.01 L3HarrisTech LH ... 24 203.55 20.32 218.77 98.02 LabCpAm 61.52 516.65 181.38 LamResearch LRCX 1.1 27 472.27 LAMR 2.4 35 83.22 -6.77 96.82 30.89 LamarAdv -8.47 96.32 39.06 LambWeston LW 1.2 34 78.74 -13.67 74.29 33.30 LasVegasSands LVS 0.0 dd 59.60 LEA 0.6 90 159.03 15.91 165.67 63.20 Lear LDOS 1.3 25 105.12 7.39 125.84 68.00 Leidos ... 137.30 44.11 Lemonade LMND ... dd 122.50 LEN 1.3 10 76.23 36.64 86.80 25.42 Lennar A LEN.B 1.6 8 61.20 36.91 70.83 18.87 Lennar B LII 1.1 30 273.97 12.30 319.77 163.40 LennoxIntl LEVI 0.8 dd 20.08 4.10 21.83 9.09 LeviStrauss LI ... dd 28.83 ... 47.70 14.31 LiAuto 26.51 162.25 80.14 LibertyBroadbandA LBRDA 0.0128 157.58 25.94 165.23 86.20 LibertyBroadbandC LBRDK ...129 158.37 7.84 58.31 15.98 LibertyGlobal B LBTYB ... dd 24.52 6.51 25.76 15.23 LibertyGlobal A LBTYA ... dd 24.22 8.51 24.89 14.36 LibertyGlobal C LBTYK ... dd 23.65 -7.32 48.95 18.31 LibertyFormOne C FWONK ... dd 42.60 -13.23 46.52 16.87 LibertyFormOne A FWONA ... dd 37.99 -16.12 30.16 13.59 LibertyBraves A BATRA ... dd 24.87 -15.78 29.99 13.20 LibertyBraves C BATRK ... dd 24.88 -10.65 51.11 22.54 LibertySirius A LSXMA ... 52 43.19 -11.03 50.89 24.49 LibertySirius B LSXMB ... 52 43.29 -8.12 50.52 22.63 LibertySirius C LSXMK ... 53 43.51 LLY 2.0 28 168.84 28.46 173.90 117.06 EliLilly -14.74 61.96 16.11 LincolnNational LNC 3.3 13 50.31 LIN 1.5 63 263.51 23.77 269.78 146.71 Linde LAD 0.4 19 292.67 99.10 310.57 55.74 LithiaMotors 2.81 76.60 21.70 LiveNationEnt LYV ... dd 73.48 -40.79 3.36 1.17 LloydsBanking LYG 2.8 96 1.96 -8.83 442.53 266.11 LockheedMartin LMT 2.9 15 354.98 L 0.6 dd 45.02 -14.23 56.88 27.32 Loews s 106.09 98.31 31.37 LogitechIntl LOGI 0.9 25 97.19 LOW 1.5 23 160.51 34.03 180.67 60.00 Lowe's LU ... 19 14.20 ... 20.17 11.56 LufaxHolding LULU ... 82 348.03 50.23 399.90 128.84 lululemon LUMN 10.3 8 9.75 -26.19 15.30 8.16 LumenTech 233.34 47.80 9.45 LuminarTech LAZR ... dd 34.00 LYFT ... dd 49.13 14.20 54.50 14.56 Lyft -2.98 95.47 33.71 LyondellBasell LYB 4.6 26 91.66

-1.62 1.71 3.24 1.47 0.05 0.49 1.33 0.17 -0.86 -0.04 -2.28 0.80 -1.24 2.76 0.70 0.18 0.16 0.85 1.70 0.10 0.44 -0.22 -1.10 -4.42 -0.29 -0.05 -0.01 0.21 -0.84 -0.13 0.22 1.37 2.04 -12.18 0.89 1.38 0.86 -1.46 1.14 -7.39 -1.80 -1.12 1.98 -0.34 -0.23 2.58 2.22 -0.13 -0.26 0.05 -0.23 -0.80 -0.58 -0.26 0.10 -0.08 0.34 1.83 0.73 1.74 -0.54 -1.09 ...

0.82 0.60 -0.11 -0.05 -0.34 -2.75 0.03 -2.14 -1.21 0.59

MN MTB 3.5 13 127.30 -25.01 174.00 85.09 M&T Bank 1.07 34.37 11.43 MGMGrowthProp MGP 6.2 64 31.30 -5.29 34.63 5.90 MGM Resorts MGM 0.0 11 31.51

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret Fund

DoubleLine Funds ... NA CoreFxdIncmI NA TotRetBdI 10.70 -0.03 3.8 Edgewood Growth Instituti ... NA EdgewoodGrInst NA Fidelity 500IdxInstPrem130.17 +0.84 18.4 Contrafund K6 18.88 +0.06 30.8 ExtMktIdxInstPre 83.48 -0.28 32.2 FidSerToMarket 12.91 +0.06 20.8 IntlIdxInstPrem 45.61 -0.26 8.2 MidCpInxInstPrem 27.01 +0.09 17.1 SAIUSLgCpIndxFd 19.63 +0.13 18.2 ... 7.6 SeriesBondFd 10.78 SeriesOverseas 12.40 -0.06 16.4 SmCpIdxInstPrem 24.98 -0.06 20.0 TMktIdxInstPrem107.72 +0.51 20.8 USBdIdxInstPrem 12.45 +0.01 7.8 Fidelity Advisor I NwInsghtI 37.69 +0.08 24.0 Fidelity Freedom 17.16 +0.01 13.8 FF2020 15.45 +0.01 14.6 FF2025 19.28 +0.01 15.6 FF2030 Freedom2020 K 17.14 +0.01 13.8 Freedom2025 K 15.42 +0.01 14.7 Freedom2030 K 19.26 +0.01 15.7 Freedom2035 K 16.55 +0.01 17.3 Freedom2040 K 11.75 +0.01 18.4 Fidelity Invest 28.28 +0.09 22.4 Balanc 163.08 -0.67 62.2 BluCh 16.76 +0.05 32.5 Contra 16.79 +0.04 32.5 ContraK

Yld Net Sym % PE Last Chg

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret Fund

1.66 0.13 0.32

YTD 52-Week % Chg Hi Lo Stock

MNSO ... dd 26.39 ... 31.60 17.98 MinisoGroup MKSI 0.5 30 150.45 36.76 158.08 66.87 MKS Instrum MPLX 12.7 dd 21.65 -14.96 27.36 6.87 MPLX s 72.95 446.90 218.65 MSCI MSCI 0.7 67 446.53 MMP 9.7 10 42.44 -32.50 65.34 22.02 MagellanMid MGA 2.3 48 70.80 29.10 75.65 22.75 MagnaIntl MFC 4.9 9 17.82 -12.17 21.23 8.62 ManulifeFin -31.35 61.92 15.26 MarathonPetrol MPC 5.6 dd 41.36 MKL ... 32 1033.30 -9.61 1347.64 710.52 Markel MKTX 0.4 79 570.56 50.50 606.45 275.50 MarketAxess MAR 0.0251 131.92 -12.88 152.60 46.56 Marriott 5.02 120.97 74.33 Marsh&McLen MMC 1.6 29 117.00 1.55 287.50 135.08 MartinMarietta MLM 0.8 27 283.97 MRVL 0.5 22 47.54 78.99 48.42 16.45 MarvellTech MAS 1.0 28 54.93 14.46 60.16 27.04 Masco MASI ... 70 268.38 69.80 273.33 143.90 Masimo MA 0.5 54 356.94 19.54 367.25 199.99 Mastercard s 44.12 88.79 41.93 MaximIntProducts MXIM 0.0 35 88.65 11.73 105.50 56.56 McCormickVtg MKC.V 1.4 17 95.57 MKC 1.4 17 95.60 12.65 105.53 56.11 McCormick MCD 2.4 33 214.58 8.59 231.91 124.23 McDonalds MCK 1.0 13 173.92 25.74 187.67 112.60 McKesson MPW 5.0 25 21.79 3.22 24.29 12.35 MedicalProp MDT 2.0 45 117.14 3.25 122.15 72.13 Medtronic -23.25 25.22 10.81 MelcoResorts MLCO 0.0 dd 18.55 192.90 1735.75 422.22 MercadoLibre MELI ... dd 1675.22 MRK 3.2 18 81.80 -10.06 92.14 65.25 Merck MET 3.9 8 46.95 -7.89 53.28 22.85 MetLife 43.67 1228.41 579.40 MettlerToledo MTD ... 48 1139.68 31.89 145.34 53.15 MicrochipTech MCHP 1.1 59 138.11 s 39.79 75.68 31.13 MicronTech MU ... 32 75.18 MSFT 1.0 36 222.42 41.04 232.86 132.52 Microsoft MAA 3.2 46 126.69 -3.92 148.88 82.00 MidAmApt MRTX ... dd 219.64 70.45 249.42 66.01 MiratiTherap -18.42 5.47 3.32 MitsubishiUFJ MUFG 4.4 19 4.43 MFG 4.2 1 2.55 -17.48 3.12 1.96 MizuhoFin -11.82 11.00 6.20 MobileTeleSys MBT 7.2 10 8.95 MRNA ... dd 104.47 434.10 178.50 17.68 Moderna MHK ... 19 140.95 3.35 144.37 56.62 MohawkInds 56.74 224.00 102.85 MolinaHealthcare MOH ... 16 212.68 -16.16 61.94 32.11 MolsonCoorsB TAP 0.0 17 45.19 -4.01 80.00 42.00 MolsonCoorsA TAP.A 0.0 23 62.70 MDLZ 2.2 27 58.47 6.15 59.96 41.19 Mondelez MDB ... dd 359.04 172.81 399.00 93.81 MongoDB s 105.72 367.05 130.12 MonolithicPower MPWR 0.5111 366.23 s 45.52 92.54 50.06 MonsterBev MNST ... 42 92.48 MCO 0.8 30 290.24 22.25 305.95 164.19 Moody's 34.06 68.97 27.20 MorganStanley MS 2.0 12 68.53 s 53.04 232.06 102.59 Morningstar MORN 0.5 57 231.57 MOS 0.9 dd 23.01 6.33 23.70 6.50 Mosaic MSI 1.7 38 170.06 5.54 187.49 120.77 MotorolaSol NICE ... 91 283.54 82.75 288.73 110.59 NICE NIO ... dd 48.74 1112.44 57.20 2.11 NIO NRG 3.2 2 37.55 -5.53 40.25 19.54 NRG Energy NVR ... 19 4079.86 7.13 4530.00 2043.01 NVR NXPI 0.9 dd 159.01 24.95 167.27 58.41 NXP Semi NDAQ 1.5 24 132.74 23.94 139.50 71.66 Nasdaq NTRA ... dd 99.52 195.40 112.93 16.87 Natera NGG 5.3 22 59.03 -5.81 69.08 44.29 NationalGrid NTCO 0.0 dd 20.00 ... 23.90 7.93 Natura&Co NWG 0.0 27 4.52 -29.81 6.49 2.34 NatWest NTAP 2.9 22 66.24 6.41 67.63 34.66 NetApp NTES 1.0 33 95.77 56.16 103.53 53.17 NetEase NFLX ... 87 540.73 67.11 575.37 290.25 Netflix NBIX ...103 95.85 -10.83 136.26 72.14 Neurocrine 241.99 60.42 7.01 NewFortressEner NFE 0.7 dd 53.59 s 53.25 186.40 102.01 NewOrientalEduc EDU ... 80 185.81 NYT 0.5 55 51.77 60.93 52.40 26.13 NYTimes A 10.46 22.09 10.44 NewellBrands NWL 4.3 dd 21.23 NEM 2.7 19 59.89 37.84 72.22 33.00 Newmont NWSA 1.1 dd 17.97 27.09 18.70 7.90 NewsCorp A NWS 1.1 dd 17.77 22.47 18.73 7.88 NewsCorp B 27.44 83.34 43.70 NextEraEnergy NEE 1.8 39 77.15 2.81 22.33 11.62 NielsenHoldings NLSN 1.1 dd 20.87 NKE 0.8 81 141.47 39.64 147.95 60.00 Nike NI -17.60 30.46 19.56 NiSource 3.7 dd 22.94 NOK 0.0 27 3.91 5.39 5.14 2.34 Nokia 3.29 5.46 3.55 NomuraHoldings NMR 3.9 8 5.33 NDSN 0.8 47 200.95 23.40 216.87 96.45 Nordson 22.40 247.98 112.62 NorfolkSouthern NSC 1.6 31 237.61 -12.33 109.88 60.67 NorthernTrust NTRS 3.0 15 93.14 -11.41 385.00 263.31 NorthropGrum NOC 1.9 21 304.72 -18.57 28.70 15.12 NortonLifeLock NLOK 2.4 5 20.78 -56.46 59.78 7.03 NorwegCruise NCLH ... dd 25.43 NVS 2.1 30 94.43 -0.27 99.84 69.18 Novartis NVAX ... dd 111.51 2701.76 189.40 3.65 Novavax NVO 1.3 26 69.85 20.68 73.92 49.24 NovoNordisk NVCR ...978 173.04 105.34 179.62 53.40 Novocure 147.28 44.93 13.51 NuanceComms NUAN ...472 44.09 NUE 3.0 38 53.19 -5.49 57.50 27.52 Nucor NTR 3.7287 48.16 0.52 50.81 23.85 Nutrien NVDA 0.1 85 522.20 121.93 589.07 180.68 NVIDIA

FrankTemp/Frank Adv NA ...

FrankTemp/Franklin A Growth A p 135.43 +0.55 RisDv A p 80.19 +0.64 Guggenheim Funds Tru TotRtnBdFdClInst 29.71 +0.05 Harbor Funds

IncomeAdv

9.7 26 38.38 ... 20 452.57 ... dd 61.16 0.2 dd 17.31 ... dd 254.26 0.3 37 195.18 7.4 54 36.32 4.2 14 62.37 ... 68 32.73 ... dd 19.71 1.8 47 45.46 ... dd 22.73 1.5 20 64.69 4.4 10 11.86 3.9 9 77.33 1.2 34 67.55 1.4 dd 75.76 ... ... 41.41 ... dd 12.46 3.1 9 149.00 2.0 25 62.31 ...224 34.22 1.5 32 144.22 5.9 14 28.20 ... 37 125.44 ...107 119.61 1.5 21 86.28 2.9 28 137.91 ... 67 56.88 ... dd 23.55 ... dd 355.39 0.8119 34.51 1.3 30 272.41 2.7 32 93.18 ...160 452.25 ...183 205.91 ... 88 234.20 0.1 dd 133.26 ...1996 151.72 8.1 20 23.66 ... dd 86.37 1.5 25 53.09 2.8 29 148.30 0.2 39 143.50 5.3 dd 30.72 0.8 dd 11.23 1.5 dd 11.06 4.2 24 36.81 5.8 17 82.79 5.1 dd 69.94 ... dd 177.67 4.2 14 79.95 ... dd 65.90 1.9112 113.89 8.7 dd 8.24 ... dd 33.91 0.6 47 372.50 4.5 11 49.61 2.3 27 139.14 0.4 11 98.88 2.3 46 99.66 ... dd 136.41 5.6 dd 78.07 1.7 dd 36.93 3.4 15 58.30 3.5 36 230.93 1.3 9 43.12 ... 64 52.85 ... 44 166.27 1.7 34 152.34 0.3 27 72.02 1.9 15 119.17 ... 21 179.65

0.26 0.77 -0.38 -0.60 -6.26 1.56 -0.50 0.48 0.25 -1.46 -0.03 -1.54 0.29 -0.15 0.41 0.83 -1.21 -2.60 0.12 2.11 -0.03 0.59 1.00 0.61 1.34 0.10 0.41 0.44 0.95 -1.55 -0.40 -0.55 2.19 1.04 4.34 -0.73 2.69 1.59 -3.24 0.02 -0.72 0.41 0.99 2.92 -0.16 0.02 0.08 0.07 1.31 -0.66 -1.44 0.84 -1.24 -0.68 -0.13 -0.28 5.22 0.83 1.37 1.47 0.84 0.22 0.62 -0.14 0.94 2.00 -0.97 -0.01 -1.10 2.39 0.93 0.84 -5.26

2.3 30 24.66 ... 57 447.52 1.7 31 90.78 0.0 dd 103.74 1.6 16 95.67 2.7 dd 71.51 ...162 87.24 4.5 52 62.17 5.2165 45.59 ... 18 483.11 3.8 20 16.12 2.4 15 115.90 2.1 20 119.75 0.8 13 165.82 ...233 191.63 1.8 30 96.30 0.7 46 212.56 3.4 33 61.11 ... dd 378.97 5.1 17 75.22 1.3 44 69.55 ... 1 20.22 1.7 29 250.81 3.3 20 46.59 ... dd 332.02 0.5 77 39.07 0.5 29 431.09 0.0146 122.81 4.1 14 82.06 0.0 dd 74.69 4.6 dd 35.14 5.7 dd 33.61 1.2 15 50.05 ... dd 109.98 1.0 28 130.39 0.8 33 328.73 0.7 dd 282.13 1.3 19 57.47 2.9 18 24.48 0.8 34 72.75 4.2 38 33.98 ... 19 387.83 ... 58 222.53

-0.10 -1.96 0.28 -0.20 1.44 0.15 0.14 1.12 ...

4.81 0.19 0.50 0.59 1.55 2.49 1.01 2.84 -0.72 -9.06 -0.77 -0.79 -0.94 1.71 -0.13 -6.72 0.82 9.27 0.32 -0.06 0.94 -0.89 -0.74 0.62 -2.01 -0.25 5.10 7.57 0.63 0.13 0.19 0.20 4.28 0.13

RS RELX -2.41 27.25 16.81 RELX RH 109.61 494.40 73.14 RH RPM 18.26 98.35 42.85 RPM RL -11.50 128.29 59.82 RalphLauren 6.94 102.45 54.21 RaymondJames RJF -19.04 93.45 40.71 RaytheonTech RTX RP 62.31 89.20 36.91 RealPage -15.56 84.92 38.00 RealtyIncome O REG -27.74 64.65 31.80 RegencyCtrs REGN 28.66 664.64 328.12 RegenPharm RF -6.06 17.30 6.94 RegionsFin RGA -28.92 164.68 55.39 ReinsGrp RS -0.01 123.09 70.57 RelianceSteel -15.41 202.68 113.27 RenaissanceRe RNR RGEN 107.17 212.55 78.41 Repligen RSG 7.44 103.79 65.37 RepublicSvcs RMD 37.16 224.24 108.85 ResMed -4.17 67.33 25.08 RestaurantBrands QSR RNG 124.68 405.46 134.85 RingCentral RIO 26.72 77.64 35.35 RioTinto RBA 61.93 78.64 25.92 RitchieBros RKT ... 34.42 17.50 RocketCos. ROK 23.75 267.48 115.38 Rockwell -6.20 51.29 32.20 RogersComm B RCI ROKU 147.96 363.44 58.22 Roku ROL 76.73 43.00 20.48 Rollins ROP 21.70 455.72 240.00 RoperTech ROST 5.49 124.16 56.30 RossStores 3.61 84.00 49.55 RoyalBkCanada RY -44.06 135.31 19.25 RoyalCaribbean RCL RDS.A -40.42 61.17 21.25 RoyalDutchA RDS.B -43.96 62.27 19.19 RoyalDutchB ... 56.50 34.80 RoyaltyPharma RPRX RYAAY 25.53 118.17 44.44 Ryanair SAP -2.69 169.30 90.89 SAP SPGI 20.39 379.87 186.06 S&P Global SBAC 17.07 328.37 205.20 SBA Comm -12.23 69.61 35.41 SEI Investments SEIC SKM 5.93 25.26 14.07 SK Telecom SSNC 18.49 74.00 29.51 SS&C Tech STOR -8.75 40.11 13.00 StoreCapital s 54.49 389.06 127.39 SVB Fin SIVB 36.82 284.50 115.29 Salesforce.com CRM

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret Fund

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret Fund

10.2 18.9 67.5 67.7 9.9 9.3 28.3 44.6 46.8 20.6 24.7 10.8 69.7 18.6 4.9 9.3

Parnassus Fds 53.65 +0.39 NA ParnEqFd PGIM Funds Cl Z NA ...

TotalReturnBond 30.6 16.3 PIMCO Fds Instl NA ...

AllAsset 15.3 InvGrdCrBd 11.29 +0.01 TotRt 10.60 ...

0.02 -2.31 0.09 9.54 0.28 -1.15 0.18 -0.21 13.61 8.29 1.45 1.99 3.03 0.04 0.16 0.86 1.39 1.13 1.34 1.04 3.02 0.50 0.18 1.50 0.03 -37.72 1.21 0.55 5.80 1.32 3.26 0.74 1.69 0.35 0.01 0.02 -0.08 -6.66 -1.56 5.92 -0.05 -0.10 0.47 -6.07 5.50 1.02 4.73 0.69 2.52 0.85 3.08 0.73 0.36 1.19 -47.80 -0.38 2.60 0.67 0.07 -0.17 0.07 0.91 -0.16 16.14 0.39 -0.98 4.60 0.18 0.15 -0.50 -0.06 -0.14 1.24 0.32 -0.11 0.39 0.02 0.03 2.12 1.63 1.22 2.11 0.03 -0.21 0.07 -7.45 -0.35 -1.10 0.12 0.25 0.99 -3.63

OPQ OKE -49.28 78.48 12.16 ONEOK ORLY 3.27 487.95 251.51 OReillyAuto ... 64.39 34.98 OakStreetHealth OSH -58.00 47.58 8.52 OccidentalPetrol OXY OKTA 120.39 287.35 88.66 Okta 54.27 213.66 105.80 OldDomFreight ODFL -14.24 45.22 13.33 OmegaHealthcare OHI OMC -23.02 81.17 44.50 Omnicom s 34.25 32.93 8.17 ON Semi ON 96.51 28.80 9.02 OneConnectFinTech OCFT OTEX 3.15 47.84 29.11 OpenText ... 32.39 10.55 OpendoorTech OPEN ORCL 22.10 66.20 39.71 Oracle ORAN -18.71 14.84 9.93 Orange IX -7.29 89.21 52.65 Orix ... 68.21 38.00 OtisWorldwide OTIS 16.34 78.99 28.56 OwensCorning OC ... 51.04 38.09 OzonHoldings OZON PCG 14.63 18.34 6.25 PG&E PNC -6.66 161.25 79.41 PNC Fin PKX 23.09 64.87 26.27 POSCO PPD ... 37.51 10.61 PPD PPG 8.04 149.88 69.77 PPG Ind PPL -21.40 36.83 18.12 PPL s 12.86 126.66 58.67 PRA HealthSci PRAH PTC 59.71 121.75 43.90 PTC PCAR 9.08 95.82 49.11 Paccar 23.14 138.95 71.05 PackagingCpAm PKG s 66.51 57.46 13.58 PagSeguroDig PAGS PLTR ... 33.50 8.90 PalantirTech 53.68 375.00 125.47 PaloAltoNtwks PANW 45.67 40.11 10.61 PanAmerSilver PAAS 32.35 280.29 93.00 ParkerHannifin PH PAYX 9.55 99.95 47.87 Paychex 70.82 471.08 163.42 PaycomSoftware PAYC PCTY 70.43 218.34 66.98 Paylocity PYPL 116.51 244.25 82.07 PayPal PEGA 67.31 140.89 38.01 Pegasystems PTON 434.23 167.37 17.70 Peloton -36.16 40.65 10.58 PembinaPipeline PBA PENN 237.91 99.24 3.75 PennNational PNR 15.74 58.82 22.01 Pentair PEP 8.51 148.77 101.42 PepsiCo PKI 47.79 149.95 62.91 PerkinElmer PTR -38.96 53.55 27.68 PetroChina -29.55 16.30 4.01 PetroleoBrasil PBR -25.87 15.31 4.16 PetroleoBrasilA PBR.A PFE -0.82 43.08 26.41 Pfizer PM -2.70 90.17 56.01 PhilipMorris PSX -37.22 113.18 40.04 Phillips66 s 369.78 182.68 30.20 Pinduoduo PDD -11.10 105.51 60.05 PinnacleWest PNW PINS 253.54 75.44 10.10 Pinterest -24.76 159.01 48.62 PioneerNatRscs PXD -55.19 19.39 3.00 PlainsAllAmPipe PAA PLUG 973.10 37.51 2.53 PlugPower POOL 75.39 391.50 160.35 Pool PFG -9.80 57.16 23.31 PrincipalFin 11.40 146.92 94.34 Procter&Gamble PG PGR 36.59 102.05 62.18 Progressive PLD 11.80 112.37 59.82 Prologis PFPT 18.84 137.84 83.81 Proofpoint PRU -16.72 97.24 38.62 PrudentialFin PUK -3.05 39.09 15.68 Prudential -1.27 62.15 34.75 PublicServiceEnt PEG 8.44 240.75 155.37 PublicStorage PSA PHM 11.13 49.70 17.12 PulteGroup QGEN 56.36 55.27 32.97 Qiagen QRVO 43.05 170.90 67.54 Qorvo QCOM 72.66 161.07 58.00 Qualcomm 76.91 73.98 23.77 QuantaServices PWR DGX 11.59 131.81 73.02 QuestDiag QDEL 139.44 306.72 71.90 Quidel

CapApInst 104.22 -0.28 54.4 PIMCO Funds A Harding Loevner 12.11 +0.01 IncomeFd 28.42 -0.11 NA PIMCO Funds I2 IntlEq Invesco Funds Y 12.11 +0.01 Income 53.46 -0.03 17.5 PIMCO Funds Instl DevMktY JPMorgan I Class IncomeFd 12.11 +0.01 CoreBond 12.28 +0.01 NA Price Funds 19.73 +0.19 NA BlChip EqInc 165.52 +0.48 JPMorgan R Class 60.01 +0.50 DivGro CoreBond 12.30 +0.01 NA EqInc 31.24 +0.26 Lord Abbett A Growth 96.94 +0.21 ... NA HelSci ShtDurIncmA p NA 98.85 -0.04 Lord Abbett F LgCapGow I 61.21 +0.19 NA ... NA MidCap ShtDurIncm 113.08 +0.38 Metropolitan West 82.28 -0.26 NHoriz TotRetBdI 11.18 +0.01 9.1 R2020 22.75 +0.04 TRBdPlan 10.49 +0.01 9.2 R2025 Fidelity SAI 19.37 +0.04 28.45 +0.06 R2030 10.76 +0.01 9.0 MFS Funds Class I TotalBd Growth I 161.77 +0.60 31.6 Fidelity Selects 21.24 +0.05 R2035 45.11 +0.43 3.9 R2040 30.43 +0.07 27.12 +0.11 45.4 ValueI Softwr r PRIMECAP Odyssey Fds 26.87 -0.01 63.7 MFS Funds Instl Tech r IntlEq 30.64 -0.25 11.1 AggGrowth r 53.67 -0.17 First Eagle Funds Schwab Funds 61.26 +0.16 8.3 Northern Funds GlbA 41.99 +0.27 18.3 1000 Inv r 83.56 +0.46 StkIdx Franklin A1 57.42 +0.37 S&P Sel ... 5.3 Old Westbury Fds CA TF A1 p 7.82 17.14 +0.03 15.3 TSM Sel r 66.46 +0.31 NA ... NA LrgCpStr IncomeA1 p 10.72 +0.02 CpInc r 47.68 -0.18 DivIntl 32.87 -0.14 GroCo 32.96 -0.14 GrowCoK 11.92 +0.01 InvGrBd 48.63 +0.12 LowP r 13.05 +0.08 Magin NASDAQ r 161.79 +0.24 17.52 +0.01 OTC 26.02 +0.04 Puritn SrsEmrgMkt 24.96 -0.03 14.34 -0.05 SrsGlobal SrsGroCoRetail 22.77 -0.08 SrsIntlGrw 17.78 -0.04 10.09 -0.05 SrsIntlVal TotalBond 11.32 +0.01

Yld Net Sym % PE Last Chg

TIAA/CREF Funds 21.2 EqIdxInst 27.79 +0.13 VANGUARD ADMIRAL NA 500Adml 346.57 +2.24 44.34 +0.14 BalAdml NA CAITAdml 12.36 ...

7.5 CapOpAdml r177.52 +0.47 8.9 DivAppIdxAdm 38.34 +0.30

EMAdmr 5.4 EqIncAdml 5.7 5.8 34.7 13.9 1.3 36.9 30.1 39.6 24.2 57.7 13.2 14.7 15.9 17.0 18.1 29.0 20.7 18.4 20.7 20.8 18.4 16.4 4.8 22.9 15.5

YTD 52-Week % Chg Hi Lo Stock

-3.21 55.00 37.62 Sanofi SNY 32.12 181.83 78.06 SareptaTherap SRPT -45.70 41.14 11.87 Schlumberger SLB SCHW 11.52 53.33 28.00 SchwabC 87.55 202.63 76.50 ScottsMiracleGro SMG SE 394.90 212.33 35.61 Sea STX 4.47 66.69 39.02 Seagate SGEN 53.28 213.94 90.57 Seagen -15.89 161.87 88.00 SempraEnergy SRE -2.10 54.37 18.25 SensataTechs ST SCI 6.67 52.99 33.93 ServiceCorp NOW 94.97 566.74 238.93 ServiceNow -13.45 20.65 12.20 ShawComm B SJR 25.94 758.00 325.43 SherwinWilliams SHW SHG -21.83 37.76 17.09 ShinhanFin SHOP 184.71 1285.18 305.30 Shopify 60.02 16.59 3.50 Sibanye-Stillwater SBSW -0.97 148.64 68.98 SignatureBank SBNY SimonProperty SPG -42.75 149.89 42.25 SIRI -10.91 7.40 4.11 SiriusXM SWKS 26.47 158.61 67.90 Skyworks WORK 87.90 44.15 15.10 SlackTech SMAR 54.25 75.49 30.91 Smartsheet AOS 15.07 58.66 33.80 SmithAO -12.27 52.26 26.07 Smith&Nephew SNN SJM 11.02 125.62 91.88 Smucker SNAP 206.61 54.71 7.89 Snap SNA 1.03 183.23 90.72 SnapOn SNOW ... 429.00 208.55 Snowflake SQM 83.93 50.89 15.20 SOQUIMICH 235.60 335.80 67.02 SolarEdgeTech SEDG s 48.68 101.40 50.94 Sony SNE SHC ... 29.00 24.05 SoteraHealth SO -3.56 71.10 41.96 Southern s 53.30 65.90 23.43 SoCopper SCCO -13.65 58.83 22.46 SouthwestAir LUV SPLK 13.43 225.89 93.92 Splunk SPOT 110.40 346.44 109.18 Spotify SQ 247.89 243.38 32.33 Square 7.74 195.00 70.00 StanleyBlackDck SWK s 21.68 107.14 50.02 Starbucks SBUX STT -7.99 85.89 42.10 StateStreet 8.31 40.22 14.98 SteelDynamics STLD STE 24.35 196.80 105.69 Steris STM 37.94 41.99 14.67 STMicroelec STNE 110.38 87.23 17.72 StoneCo s 16.72 245.34 124.54 Stryker SYK -16.73 7.48 4.49 SumitomoMits SMFG SUI 1.23 173.98 95.34 SunComms -2.44 50.13 24.37 SunLifeFinancial SLF -48.84 34.56 9.61 SuncorEnergy SU RUN 402.39 82.42 7.83 SunRun SUZ 13.62 11.58 4.43 Suzano -3.61 36.43 12.15 SynchronyFin SYF SNPS 86.24 261.13 104.90 Synopsys SYY -13.19 85.13 26.00 Sysco

2.4 10 48.59 ... dd 170.49 2.3 dd 21.83 1.4 25 53.04 1.2 29 199.14 ... dd 199.05 4.3 16 62.16 ... 69 175.14 3.3 10 127.41 ... 87 52.74 1.7 19 49.10 ...156 550.43 5.1 18 17.56 0.7 36 734.91 3.9 5 29.76 ...725 1131.95 0.6 20 15.89 1.7 14 135.29 7.0 18 85.28 0.9 27 6.37 1.3 32 152.88 ... dd 42.24 ... dd 69.29 1.9 28 54.82 1.7 47 42.17 3.1 15 115.60 ... dd 50.07 2.9 16 171.14 ... dd 281.40 0.9 79 49.09 ... 95 319.12 0.3 14 101.10 ... ... 27.44 4.2 21 61.43 3.1 39 65.12 0.0 dd 46.61 ... dd 169.89 ... dd 314.66 ...356 217.64 1.6 29 178.56 1.7138 106.98 2.9 12 72.78 2.7 16 36.87 0.8 38 189.54 0.4 37 37.12 ...141 83.92 1.0 53 245.04 4.9 8 6.17 2.1 96 151.95 3.8 15 44.46 3.9 dd 16.78 ...2210 69.38 0.0 dd 11.18 2.5 16 34.71 ... 61 259.24 2.4 dd 74.26

0.23 -1.05 -0.05 0.63 2.64 2.30 1.56 -8.56 1.59 0.58 0.54 3.05 ...

7.78 0.23 -31.05 -0.41 1.06 1.31 -0.04 0.13 -0.09 -1.09 0.11 -0.19 0.88 0.72 0.19 -19.52 -0.12 0.02 0.32 -0.36 0.82 -0.70 0.20 -2.49 -4.69 -3.40 0.26 1.01 0.88 0.28 3.25 -0.44 0.68 2.98 -0.01 2.50 0.37 -0.28 1.98 -0.11 0.42 2.33 0.97

...1477 71.51 6.0 12 40.72 1.6 dd 121.07 4.9 25 19.80 1.5113 68.29 ... 44 134.85 2.4 17 151.39 1.3 34 109.04 ... 50 207.79 3.8109 18.20 0.0 dd 31.08 1.5 23 176.53 ... dd 12.60 0.8 dd 18.15 ... dd 199.96 ... 38 391.98 0.3 53 411.57 0.8 26 11.95 8.6 15 8.85 9.7 72 4.04 2.5 18 23.52 ... dd 141.60 0.0 dd 15.95 ... 56 19.24 0.3 30 119.89 ...1410 705.67 ... dd 9.65 2.5 31 164.13 0.2 41 48.33 0.2 38 465.78 1.9 22 81.89 3.4 20 174.79 1.8 56 131.45 1.1 31 94.84 4.4 12 56.42 ... dd 41.91 2.4 16 154.57 1.1 22 140.58 ...275 801.00 0.5 73 62.45 1.5 39 145.16 0.0 75 618.85 0.3 59 99.22 2.4 16 140.37 ... 58 83.72 ... 34 66.77 ... dd 33.73 3.8 16 47.93 ... dd 338.50 ... dd 54.15 ... 96 436.52 2.8 11 64.44 2.6 9 14.13 3.7 86 38.43 ... dd 33.31 ... dd 51.00 0.6 41 278.51 ... 72 287.16 ... dd 138.43 ... dd 14.88 ... dd 17.17 3.0 24 60.36 1.9 27 208.22 ... dd 43.25 1.2 28 8.43 2.4 32 168.40 ... 18 231.91 3.6 15 46.59 1.4 20 350.68 ... ... 153.47 0.3103 229.80 0.0 13 137.50 4.1 32 37.79 2.3 dd 85.41 5.2 19 25.50 0.0244 278.96 ... 34 16.76 6.9 dd 56.57 ... 60 175.01 7.1 dd 8.78 ...127 272.25 3.7 54 49.04 ... 31 216.40 0.5 51 207.59 4.3 13 58.75 ... 23 236.34 2.6 17 37.26 2.5 17 37.82 ... 36 18.74 ... 27 28.11 0.6 46 218.73 2.7 11 19.66 ... 37 140.26 6.3 16 16.48 5.7134 37.34 1.0 dd 58.81 0.9 32 148.31

-0.25 0.54 1.31 -0.04 -0.01 1.57 1.81 0.14 1.44 0.02 -0.37 2.65 ...

-0.29 -3.61 0.88 4.01 0.11 -0.02 0.01 -0.04 -1.01 -0.14 0.02 -0.40 10.89 0.05 1.43 -0.11 4.05 -0.12 0.68 0.10 0.50 -0.01 -0.76 0.48 -2.18 -17.00 0.87 0.33 2.71 0.58 1.29 -0.07 0.44 0.48 0.56 -11.06 -0.18 7.59 0.85 0.07 0.46 -0.04 -2.15 -0.42 4.18 -5.94 -0.20 -0.28 -0.54 2.24 -1.40 -0.23 2.17 1.85 0.44 5.69 -1.35 -1.28 1.37 0.35 -0.74 -0.17 1.98 -0.19 -0.15 0.28 -0.08 -3.81 0.63 1.90 1.81 0.61 3.66 0.36 0.21 0.61 0.35 0.37 0.17 2.21 -0.17 0.91 0.53 1.84

2.7 24 92.03 ...197 203.53 5.9 27 70.58 1.2 dd 54.08 0.7 30 73.20 4.7 81 39.88 1.5 21 144.15 1.3 dd 37.99 0.8131 102.57 1.8 33 117.93 ... 31 247.42 3.1 34 226.55 ... dd 225.81 ... 25 40.99 1.3 81 30.18 3.8208 64.62 0.2 69 283.31 0.0 dd 55.39 4.1 13 21.94 1.3 36 81.60 1.5 35 14.90 1.8 dd 43.53 3.0 51 33.53 1.1 44 41.74 2.8 13 180.49 8.0113 20.05 2.1 15 101.84 1.3 26 210.68 0.2 25 5.65 ... dd 249.96 0.3 32 121.53 ... dd 239.61 0.0 dd 112.83 ... 57 39.67 ...234 119.20 2.6 24 66.67 1.1 58 141.77 ... dd 42.83 1.0 82 101.79 ... 70 69.58 ... dd 17.00 1.7 32 108.56 0.8 31 57.09 0.0 31 29.16 ... ... 135.34 ... 44 384.33 ... dd 143.12 ... dd 129.80 ... dd 135.94 0.6 dd 154.09 0.6 48 165.50 ...236 337.32 ... dd 48.23 ... dd 199.71 ... dd 9.87

1.48 2.40 0.88 -0.42 0.80 0.54 -0.03 ...

0.73 1.00 1.86 -1.29 -4.86 -0.03 0.43 0.82 3.37 5.86 0.16 0.27 -0.06 0.10 -0.12 -1.19 -3.90 0.11 -1.63 4.54 0.01 -6.92 -0.25 2.68 -0.57 -0.81 0.63 1.02 -0.33 0.54 1.01 0.08 0.74 -0.95 -0.03 0.16 1.23 0.58 1.83 -0.65 -0.81 1.87 1.23 -16.08 1.20 -1.60 0.15

TUV 48.36 83.67 44.24 TAL Education TAL TRP -23.62 57.92 32.37 TC Energy s 26.33 121.23 48.62 TE Connectivity TEL TU 2.25 20.91 13.54 Telus TJX 11.84 68.89 32.72 TJX s 71.96 135.00 63.50 T-MobileUS TMUS TROW 24.25 154.33 82.51 TRowePrice TSM 87.68 109.70 42.70 TaiwanSemi 69.72 209.26 100.00 TakeTwoSoftware TTWO -7.75 20.42 12.43 TakedaPharm TAK TPR 15.24 31.65 10.18 Tapestry TGT 37.69 181.17 90.17 Target TTM -2.55 14.03 3.92 TataMotors TECK 4.49 18.95 5.60 TeckRscsB 138.84 253.00 81.30 TeladocHealth TDOC 13.11 398.99 195.34 TeledyneTech TDY s 9.33 412.99 221.27 Teleflex TFX ERIC 36.10 12.61 6.15 Ericsson -38.20 14.68 7.08 TelefonicaBras VIV TEF -42.04 7.11 3.22 Telefonica -17.47 29.37 16.06 TelekmIndonesia TLK TXG 85.70 166.31 48.78 10xGenomics TS -29.55 23.54 8.86 Tenaris 63.88 20.18 9.22 TencentMusic TME TER 75.82 122.37 42.87 Teradyne s 743.44 718.72 70.10 Tesla TSLA TEVA -1.53 13.76 6.25 TevaPharm 27.94 167.24 93.09 TexasInstruments TXN TXT 8.36 51.53 20.26 Textron 43.37 532.57 250.21 ThermoFisherSci TMO 14.37 89.55 52.23 ThomsonReuters TRI MMM -0.92 182.54 114.04 3M TIF -1.65 134.42 103.89 Tiffany TTC 19.04 95.39 52.07 Toro 0.52 57.50 33.74 TorontoDomBk TD TOT -24.21 56.91 22.13 Total TM 9.98 156.30 108.01 ToyotaMotor 50.45 157.07 63.89 TractorSupply TSCO TTD 208.34 972.80 136.00 TradeDesk TW 34.74 69.06 33.23 Tradeweb TT 40.77 153.72 70.00 TraneTech TDG 10.51 673.51 200.06 TransDigm TRU 15.90 102.80 52.50 TransUnion TRV 2.50 141.87 76.99 Travelers TREX 86.29 87.88 28.11 Trex TRMB 60.16 67.93 20.01 Trimble TCOM 0.57 38.95 20.10 Trip.com TFC -14.90 56.68 24.01 TruistFinl TWLO 244.42 374.49 68.06 Twilio TWTR 68.95 56.11 20.00 Twitter TYL 45.50 466.21 247.22 TylerTech TSN -29.22 94.24 42.57 TysonFoods UBS 12.32 14.78 7.48 UBS Group UDR -17.71 51.25 29.20 UDR USFD -20.48 42.28 8.32 US Foods UBER 71.49 56.02 13.71 Uber UI 47.38 284.89 110.01 Ubiquiti ULTA 13.44 304.65 124.05 UltaBeauty 224.12 179.65 31.99 UltragenyxPharm RARE -22.42 19.43 6.37 UnderArmour C UA -20.51 21.96 7.15 UnderArmour A UAA UL 5.58 63.89 44.06 Unilever UNP 15.17 211.14 105.08 UnionPacific -50.90 90.57 17.80 UnitedAirlines UAL UMC 214.55 9.40 2.10 UnitedMicro UPS 43.86 178.01 82.00 UPS B 39.06 249.60 58.85 UnitedRentals URI USB -21.42 59.48 28.36 US Bancorp UNH 19.29 367.95 187.72 UnitedHealth ... 174.94 65.11 UnitySoftware U OLED 11.52 246.98 105.11 UnivDisplay -4.15 148.27 65.20 UniversalHealthB UHS VER -18.20 50.90 17.77 VEREIT VFC -14.30 100.25 45.07 VF VICI -0.20 28.75 9.85 VICI Prop MTN 16.32 300.00 125.00 VailResorts VALE 26.97 17.46 6.49 Vale VLO -39.59 98.03 31.00 ValeroEnergy VAR 23.24 176.19 89.62 VarianMed VEDL 1.74 9.41 3.24 Vedanta 93.55 313.99 118.11 VeevaSystems VEEV VTR -15.07 63.38 13.35 Ventas VRSN 12.31 221.30 148.77 VeriSign 39.00 210.66 116.61 VeriskAnalytics VRSK VZ -4.32 61.95 48.84 Verizon VRTX 7.94 306.08 197.47 VertxPharm -11.22 42.37 10.10 ViacomCBS B VIAC -15.71 46.90 13.12 ViacomCBS A VIACA VTRS -6.77 23.11 12.75 Viatris VIPS 98.38 28.38 11.53 Vipshop V 16.41 220.39 133.93 Visa VST -14.48 23.60 11.30 Vistra VMW -7.60 163.17 86.00 VMware VOD -14.74 20.53 11.46 Vodafone -43.85 68.67 27.64 VornadoRealty VNO -3.56 63.81 29.75 VoyaFinancial VOYA VMC 3.00 153.88 65.56 VulcanMatls

WXYZ WEC -0.22 109.53 68.01 WEC Energy WEX -2.83 236.51 71.12 WEX WPC -11.82 88.99 38.62 W.P.Carey WPP -23.06 70.69 27.18 WPP WAB -5.91 81.50 35.07 Wabtec -32.36 59.78 33.36 WalgreensBoots WBA WMT 21.30 153.66 102.00 Walmart ... 39.19 25.61 WarnerMusic WMG 12.97 111.04 70.87 WasteConnections WCN WM 3.48 126.79 85.34 WasteMgt WAT 5.89 252.67 154.39 Waters WSO 25.76 249.30 132.97 Watsco W 149.87 349.08 21.70 Wayfair WB -11.56 52.33 28.93 Weibo WFC -43.90 54.03 20.76 WellsFargo WELL -20.98 89.99 24.27 Welltower 88.46 305.00 124.53 WestPharmSvcs WST -12.73 72.00 27.40 WesternDigital WDC -18.07 28.45 17.39 WesternUnion WU 16.32 84.90 28.99 WestlakeChem WLK -12.25 17.29 7.98 WestpacBanking WBK WRK 1.44 45.58 21.50 WestRock 11.03 34.70 13.10 Weyerhaeuser WY 40.30 57.89 18.66 WheatonPrecMet WPM WHR 22.34 207.30 64.00 Whirlpool WMB -15.47 24.17 8.41 Williams 38.67 114.65 26.01 Williams-Sonoma WSM WLTW 4.33 220.97 143.34 WillisTowers WIT 50.67 5.74 2.52 Wipro WIX 104.25 319.34 76.81 Wix.com WWD 2.61 129.06 46.51 Woodward WDAY 45.70 259.01 107.75 Workday -18.75 153.41 35.84 WynnResorts WYNN XP 2.99 52.94 15.50 XP 49.56 123.59 38.47 XPO Logistics XPO XEL 5.01 76.44 46.58 XcelEnergy XLNX 45.00 154.12 67.68 Xilinx XPEV ... 74.49 10.00 XPeng s 29.19 101.87 54.62 Xylem XYL YNDX 59.99 72.40 27.93 Yandex ... 21.00 15.17 YatsenHolding YSG YUM 7.77 110.66 54.95 YumBrands YUMC 18.91 60.97 38.33 YumChina ZTO 24.88 38.99 21.58 ZTO Express s 225.41 135.66 38.64 ZaiLab ZLAB ZBRA 50.46 388.92 150.06 ZebraTech ZEN 86.77 144.59 50.23 Zendesk Z 182.54 144.30 20.04 Zillow C ZG 197.20 149.44 18.65 Zillow A 2.95 165.15 74.37 ZimmerBiomet ZBH ZTS 25.05 176.64 90.14 Zoetis ZM 395.77 588.84 65.81 ZoomVideo ... 64.40 30.83 ZoomInfoTech ZI ZS 329.48 212.59 35.00 Zscaler ZNGA 61.27 10.69 5.65 Zynga

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret Fund

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret Fund

41.68 +0.12 15.2 WelltnAdml 76.60 +0.34 79.33 +0.72 3.1 WndsrAdml 71.40 +0.56 31.5 VANGUARD FDS 32.2 DivdGro 33.24 +0.27 3.8 INSTTRF2020 NA ...

40.2 INSTTRF2025 NA ...

12.7 INSTTRF2030 NA ...

5.4 INSTTRF2035 NA ...

11.0 INSTTRF2040 NA ...

59.7 INSTTRF2045 NA ...

9.8 INSTTRF2050 NA ...

10.4 INSTTRF2055 NA ...

15.5 IntlVal 40.25 -0.16 18.2 LifeCon NA ...

5.5 LifeGro NA ...

5.2 LifeMod NA ...

6.3 28.98 +0.15 PrmcpCor 3.4 NA ...

STAR 1.9 NA ...

TgtRe2015 17.3 TgtRe2020 NA ...

-4.7 NA ...

TgtRe2025 19.1 NA ...

35.3 TgtRe2030 NA ...

TgtRe2035 4.7 NA ...

5.2 TgtRe2040 NA ...

7.7 TgtRe2045 NA ...

TgtRe2050 4.5 NA ...

11.3 TgtRet2055 NA ...

21.0 TgtRetInc ...

21.1 TotIntBdIxInv 11.70 65.63 -0.13 10.3 USGro 28.33 +0.12 58.7 WellsI 44.36 +0.20 2.3 Welltn 38.72 +0.24 14.5 WndsrII 8.5 VANGUARD INDEX FDS

ExplrAdml 119.72 -0.18 ExtndAdml 124.75 -0.42 GNMAAdml 10.74 +0.01 GrwthAdml 130.46 +0.38 HlthCareAdml r 90.95 +0.45 HYCorAdml r 5.98 ...

28.32 +0.06 InfProAd IntlGrAdml 160.29 -0.48 ITBondAdml 12.59 +0.01 ITIGradeAdml 10.47 +0.01 LTGradeAdml 11.79 +0.03 MidCpAdml 256.40 +1.04 MuHYAdml 11.96 ...

MuIntAdml 14.86 ...

MuLTAdml 12.23 +0.01 ...

MuLtdAdml 11.26 ...

MuShtAdml 15.95 PrmcpAdml r153.85 +0.75 RealEstatAdml120.38 +1.23 SmCapAdml 93.22 ...

SmGthAdml 94.01 -0.17 ...

STBondAdml 10.87 ...

STIGradeAdml 11.03 TotBdAdml 11.62 +0.01 ...

TotIntBdIdxAdm 23.39 TotIntlAdmIdx r 32.46 -0.05 TotStAdml 94.74 +0.46 TxMCapAdml197.63 +1.09 15.23 -0.05 TxMIn r USGroAdml 169.97 -0.34 46.41 +0.42 ValAdml WdsrllAdml 68.69 +0.42 WellsIAdml 68.63 +0.29

Yld Net Sym % PE Last Chg

Net YTD NAV Chg %Ret

10.7 ExtndIstPl 307.84 -1.05 19.40 -0.04 7.5 IdxIntl MdCpGrAdml 91.26 +0.10 12.1 SmValAdml 61.07 +0.10 11.46 +0.01 NA TotBd2 NA TotIntlInstIdx r129.79 -0.21 129.82 -0.21 TotItlInstPlId r NA 94.71 +0.45 NA TotSt NA VANGUARD INSTL FDS 44.35 +0.14 NA BalInst NA DevMktsIndInst 15.25 -0.05 NA DevMktsInxInst 23.83 -0.08 9.0 ExtndInst 124.74 -0.43 NA GrwthInst 130.47 +0.38 InPrSeIn 11.54 +0.03 NA 331.47 +2.14 InstIdx NA 331.48 +2.14 InstPlus 12.1 InstTStPlus 73.96 +0.35 NA MidCpInst 56.64 +0.23 NA MidCpIstPl 279.34 +1.13 NA SmCapInst 93.22 +0.01 NA STIGradeInst 11.03 ...

NA STIPSIxins 25.62 +0.02 NA TotBdInst 11.62 +0.01 NA TotBdInst2 11.46 +0.01 NA TotBdInstPl 11.62 +0.01 NA TotIntBdIdxInst 35.10 +0.01 NA TotStInst 94.75 +0.45 NA ValueInst 46.41 +0.42 4.6 WCM Focus Funds 58.6 WCMFocIntlGrwIns 24.75 -0.08 8.5 Western Asset 10.6 CoreBondI NA ...

14.5 CorePlusBdI NA ... ...

CorePlusBdIS NA

32.2 11.2 34.5 5.8 7.3 11.3 11.3 20.9 16.4 10.3 10.3 32.2 40.2 11.0 18.4 18.4 21.0 18.3 18.3 19.1 5.3 5.0 7.7 7.4 7.7 4.6 21.0 2.3 32.8 NA NA NA

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | B11

* * * *

MARKETS

BY CHONG KOH PING AND DREW FITZGERALD

The New York Stock Exchange will delist Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three large telecom carriers, following a U.S. government order barring Americans from investing in companies it says help the Chinese military.

China Mobile Ltd.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;which is among the most valuable of Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s listed state-owned enterprisesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;will be kicked off the Big Board after more than two decades, along with China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. The NYSE decision is the latest setback for U.S. investors in these companies, which rank among the largest global telecommunications providers but have largely lagged behind the broader markets since the companies began listing here more than two decades ago.

The exchangeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision is unlikely to harm the Chinese telecom giants seriously in the near term. Mounting pressure from Washington has already stymied their ability to operate in the U.S., a country that makes up a negligible amount of their international business.

The top three service providers still benefit from hun-

dreds of millions of customers in their home country. That has attracted investors to their Chinese-listed shares. The cellphone carriers have spent billions of dollars on new fifthgeneration wireless networks over the past two years with support from officials in Beijing, who have called 5G upgrades a national priority.

A China Telecom spokesman had no immediate comment.

The broader U.S. market impact of the delistings is likely to be limited, in part because large telecom companies havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been a hot part of the market recently and in part because these companies will continue to be traded in Hong Kong, where they are more closely followed by analysts and investors.

At the same time, the imminent delisting will get the attention of portfolio managers, following a yearslong push to ensure Chinese firmsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; compliance with U.S. audit rules.

While the final outcome of that effort is unclear, the NYSE decision underscores the fraught politics of the U.S.-China relationship as the Trump administration comes to a close. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The delisting issue is a live one with financial clients,â&#x20AC;? said

COLIN ZIEMER/NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

NYSE Plans To Delist China Firms

The telecommunications providers have lagged behind the broader markets since they began listing here more than two decades ago.

Leland Miller, chief executive of China Beige Book International, which provides data on Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy to international investors. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are some jittery people out there.â&#x20AC;?

NYSE said that it would suspend trading in securities issued by the three companies

by Jan. 11. NYSE said it would also halt trading in closed-end funds and in exchange-traded products listed on its NYSE Arca exchange if they hold banned stocks.

On Friday, China Unicom said it would release a statement in due course. China Mobile didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t immediately respond to requests for comment.

An executive order signed

by President Trump in November will block Americans from

investing in a list of companies the U.S. government says supply and support Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s military, intelligence and security services. The ban starts on Jan. 11 and investors have until November to divest themselves of their holdings. The list includes 35 companiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest chip makerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;as well as surveillance, aerospace, shipbuilding, construction and technology companies.

It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t initially clear whether the order covered subsidiaries as well as parent companies. However, the Treasury Department said recently that it would add subsidiaries to the blacklist if they were majorityownedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or controlledâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;by a company that has been named.

The Treasuryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office of For-

eign Assets Control, which handles economic sanctions, also said the ban covered derivatives and depositary receipts, as well as exchange-traded funds, index funds and mutual funds.

Last month, index compilers including MSCI Inc., FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones Indices said they would remove some Chinese stocks from their benchmarks because of the order, though they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exclude shares issued by subsidiaries and affiliates.

Other U.S. initiatives could also bring more delistings. Last month, Mr. Trump signed legislation that could have Chinese companies kicked off U.S. markets if American regulators canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t inspect their audits

within three years.

China Mobileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.S. stock is thinly traded compared with its Hong Kong securities, FactSet data shows. About 2.1 million American depositary receipts traded daily on average over the past three months, compared with 34 million Hong Kong shares a day. Each ADR is equivalent to five ordinary shares in Hong Kong.

Since their listing on the NYSE, after the privatization of its predecessor in 1997, China Mobileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.S. shares have returned 648%, compared with 501% for the S&P 500, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

But the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s market performance and that of its Chinese peers have fallen in recent years.

Gold Faces Challenges After Glittery 2020 Performance Gold wrapped up its best annual performance in years.

What comes next hinges on a handful of unpredictable dynamics, ranging from the strength of the global economic recovery to the health of the U.S. dollar.

Most-actively traded gold futures for February delivery ended Thursdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s session at $1,895.10 a troy ounce, finishing the year COMMODITIES up more than 24%â&#x20AC;&#x201D;its best year since 2010. That also outperforms the S&P 500, which gained 16% in 2020. Frontmonth futures settled Thursday at $1,893.10.

After soaring earlier in the year, gold prices have retreated from a record of $2,069.50 an ounce reached in August, dragged down by signs of improvement in the global economy. Investors tend to buy the metal when nervous about holding riskier assets such as stocks or corporate bonds.

That leaves some investors expecting more moderate gains in 2021 as the economic outlook improves. From Nov. 6 to Dec. 18, investors pulled more than $10 billion from gold-backed exchange-traded

BlackRock Fund Trims Ambitions Continued from page B1 nies.

So far, BlackRock has raised less than one-third of its original goalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;$3.4 billion, as of the end of 2020, according to people familiar with the matter.

BlackRock, which had an initial year-and-a-half window to raise money for the fund, missed internal fundraising deadlines and asked investors for a few more months to seek money, according to some of the people familiar with the matter. Now BlackRock canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t raise further money until 80% of that money is invested, fund documents dictate.

Firm executives have told investors BlackRock is committed to the fund. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As one of the largest firsttime private equity funds ever, we look forward to investing in and working with more companies seeking a longterm strategic partner to help them grow their business,â&#x20AC;? said AndrĂŠ Bourbonnais, who heads the strategy known as Long Term Private Capital.

In 2019, the fund bought a

DAVID GRAY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

BY SEBASTIAN PELLEJERO

From Nov. 6 to Dec. 18, investors pulled more than $10 billion from gold-backed exchange-traded funds. funds, according to data from the World Gold Council, a notable reversal from the record inflows earlier in the year.

Much will depend on the strength of the U.S. recovery.

A resurgence in the coronavirus pandemic and a runoff election in Georgia on Jan. 5 to determine control of the Senate could prompt market volatility in early 2021, traders say, providing support for gold prices.

But many investors anticipate a strong recovery in 2021.

The rollout of coronavirus vac-

cines is expected to accelerate hiring and gross-domesticproduct growth starting in the second quarter, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.

Crucial to investorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; gold outlook: the direction of what are known as real yields, or the returns on bonds when adjusting for inflation. With the real yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note sitting around minus 1%, the cost of holding goldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which pays no yieldâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;instead of government bonds is relatively low, said

James Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke, economist at Capital Economics. He expects real yields to fall further and gold prices to finish 2021 at $1,900 an ounce. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Real yields arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always the driver of the gold price, but with such low interest rates and higher inflation expectations, they are the primary driver,â&#x20AC;? he said.

A strong recovery, meanwhile, could spur a climb in real yields and hurt the value of gold. Significant moves in real U.S. Treasury yields have been paired with inverse

Size of BlackRockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s illiquid alternatives business*

Share of asset-management industry revenue, by segment

BlackRock to settle for more modest fundraising goals.

The fundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s architect, Mark Wiseman, hoped that a selling point of the fund was that fees would fall as it got bigger.

BlackRock found it harder to attract new investors after Mr. Wiseman was pushed out of the firm in late 2019 for failing to disclose a relationship with a subordinate. Investors questioned if the team would stay together.

Mr. Bourbonnais, the executive leading the fund, was a top candidate in 2020 for the top job at Canadian pension fund giant Caisse de dĂŠpĂ´t et placement du QuĂŠbec, said people familiar with the matter. He remained at BlackRock.

When the pandemic struck, it was tough getting pensions excited about untested strategies.

Despite missing the $12 billion fund target, BlackRock was still successful in raising over $22 billion for illiquid alternative projects in the year ended September 2020, a person familiar with the matter said.

A group led by former Goldman Sachs investors is on track to raise in excess of its $1.5 billion target by early 2021 to buy secondhand fund stakes. BlackRock sealed $5.1 billion in 2020 for a fund to invest in power plants and energy infrastructure.

$80 billion

7

7

70

12

11

Passive Hedge funds

60

13

13

Solutions

50

16

16

Fixed income

24

21

Equity

40 30 20 10 0

28%

32%

Private markets

Quarterly 2019

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;20

2019

2024 projection

*Invested assets Sources: the company (assets); Deloitte consulting arm Casey Quirk (share of revenue)

stake in Authentic Brands Group, which owns brands including Sports Illustrated and Nine West. It invested in a luxury perfume maker in 2020.

BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink has pushed the firm with $7.8 trillion in assets to grow its illiquid alternatives business. BlackRockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s illiquid alternatives franchise has roughly $80 billion invested across infrastructure, credit and other strategies in hardto-trade wagers. This business punched above its weight, delivering 4% of the firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fee revenues in the third quarter

even while accounting for 1% of assets. The business has grown as pensions and endowments hunt for returns in a low-interest era.

However, BlackRockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiment in private equity has been a tough sell.

The fund was structured differently from traditional private-equity funds that exit bets and give investors their money back within a set period of time. Some institutions balked at tying up money in BlackRockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fund with no deadlines for returning investor money or a proven track record. Some investors asked

moves in gold prices since the 2008 financial crisis, according to data from JPMorgan Chase & Co., which found for every 0.25 percentage-point increase in real 10-year Treasury yields, gold has moved $80 an ounce in the opposite direction.

After recommending clients buy gold for 2½ years until this past July, Natasha Kaneva, head of commodities research at JPMorgan, now expects real yields to climb and gold prices to fall to $1,650 an ounce by the end of 2021. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If real yields are going up, why would you be buying gold?â&#x20AC;? she said.

Still some expect a weakening dollar to limit gold declines. Many Wall Street forecasters predict that increased government spending and a shift toward riskier assets will drag on the U.S. currency, which touched multiyear lows in 2020. Since gold is bought and sold with dollars, a weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for foreign investors.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against 16 foreign currencies, lost more than 5% during 2020, its biggest yearly decline since 2017.

Silver prices also notched a record year. Most-actively â&#x20AC;&#x153;As clients are increasing their exposure to private markets, we have raised record amounts for our illiquid strategies over the last year across private credit, real assets and private equity,â&#x20AC;? said Edwin Conway, the head of BlackRockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alternatives business.

To knit staffers more

traded silver futures contracts finished Thursdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s session at $26.412. That marks a 47% gain for the yearâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;silverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best performance since 2010.

Because silver is used to make products as diverse as electronics and solar panels, some analysts said demand might remain elevated even as the global economy recovers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The story with silver is largely quite similar to gold.

What differs is that a recovery in industrial demand will help push the price of silver up a little bit more relative to gold next year,â&#x20AC;? Mr. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Rourke said.

AUCTION RESULTS

Here are the results of Thursday's Treasury auctions.

All bids are awarded at a single price at the marketclearing yield. Rates are determined by the difference between that price and the face value.

FOUR-WEEK BILLS $94,159,910,800 Applications $32,415,107,600 Accepted bids $886,346,000 " noncompetitively $1,000,000,000 " foreign noncompetitively 99.993778 Auction price (rate) (0.080%) 0.081% Coupon equivalent 78.08% Bids at clearing yield accepted 912796B65 Cusip number The bills, dated Jan. 5, 2021, mature on Feb. 2, 2021.

EIGHT-WEEK BILLS $102,076,231,200 Applications $37,818,231,200 Accepted bids $175,656,400 " noncompetitively $1,000,000,000 " foreign noncompetitively 99.986778 Auction price (rate) (0.085%) 0.086% Coupon equivalent 31.77% Bids at clearing yield accepted 912796C23 Cusip number The bills, dated Jan. 5, 2021, mature on March 2, 2021.

closely to the success of the alternatives business, BlackRock is in early discussions over new ways for professionals to share in profits typically reserved for select executives, investment staff and firm shareholders for future funds, people familiar with the matter said.

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HEARD STREET ON THE

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY

This Battery Startup Might Zap Tesla One of the wildest plotlines in the great 2020 electric-vehicle rally was the late-year rise of QuantumScape, a battery startup that has yet to report any revenue. If investors are even close to being right about its roughly $44 billion market value, they may need to worry more about the fortunes of Tesla.

QuantumScape’s shares have soared since going public in November. The company revealed promising test results for a limited version of its “solid state” battery in early December, but otherwise the stock’s meteoric ascent has been hard to explain.

Based in San Jose, Calif., and backed by Volkswagen and Bill Gates, the company now has a market value greater than Ford. Investors have gotten used to dizzying valuations for electric-vehicle startups positioning themselves as the next Tesla.

With QuantumScape, the mania has reached potential suppliers too.

Solid State vs. Detroit Market value Ford

GM

QuantumScape*

$70 billion 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

As of Dec. 30

Dec. *Assumes a fully diluted share count of 447.6 million for QuantumScape, as per company presentations Sources: FactSet; QuantumScape

Solid-state batteries have long been seen as a way of breaking through performance limitations associated with today’s electric vehicles. Like your smartphone, a Tesla or BMW i3 is powered by a battery with a liquid electrolyte that carries lithium ions back and forth between the cathode and anode during charging and discharging. These liquid electrolytes are bulky and liable to overheat. General Motors recalled almost 69,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles in November after five reported fires.

The promise of solid state is to get rid of the liquid, and with it the fire risk. Moreover, “lithium-metal” cells being developed by QuantumScape, among others, combine the lithium component with the anode, further reducing bulk and potentially delivering more power at a lower cost. This is also critical: Electric vehicles have long been held back by the relatively high cost of batteries, which makes them more expensive than combustionengine equivalents.

Other advantages of solid state include rapid charging and longer life expectancy. QuantumScape said in December that its cell as tested could be recharged to 80% in 15 minutes and retained more than 80% of its capacity even after 800 charges. Such numbers would make owning an electric vehicle much more similar to owning a gas-powered one today.

Many in the battery industry see solid state as the most likely technology of the future. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk is a prominent exception. Solid state wasn’t among the many developments discussed in the company’s September “battery day.” Mr. Musk told analysts on the third-quarter results call that removing the conventional anode “is not as great as it may

JASPER JUINEN/BLOOMBERG NEWS

QuantumScape says its electric-vehicle battery will offer more power for less money

A Tesla Model S is fitted with a battery pack in the Netherlands. Tesla is skeptical about ‘solid state’ batteries. sound” in terms of delivering space savings in the cell.

Tesla’s skepticism may also be related to its own battery technology, which would likely make it harder than for others to adapt to solid-state electrolytes. Tesla uses cylindrical batteries formed from rolled cells, whereas its competitors typically favor so-called prismatic batteries, in which cells can be stacked. Because solid-state cells are more brittle than liquid ones, they will be much easier to stack than to roll.

Adapting most of today’s electric-vehicle battery factories to the new technology won’t be too disruptive, says Graeme Purdy, chief executive of Ilika, a U.K.-based solid-state company that is working with Jaguar Land Rover to ensure a smooth transition. But it might be another story for Tesla. This could

OVERHEARD

Ulta Beauty’s online sales are up. Will shoppers return to stores in 2021?

TOP: GABBY JONES/BLOOMBERG NEWS; COSTFOTO/BARCROFT MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES (OVERHEARD)

A New Foundation for The Future of Makeup Some things are just a tough sell online. Traditionally, makeup and fragrances have fallen squarely in the category of goods that consumers want to sample in person. Yet even this industry might not be immune to the pandemic’s effects on consumer behavior.

Major department stores like Nordstrom and Macy’s got around a quarter of sales through e-commerce channels in the fiscal year ended Feb. 1. Cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty, however, derived only 13% of its sales online.

Yet e-commerce sales are growing fast at Ulta: by 200% in the quarter ended Aug. 1 compared with a year earlier. Even when stores had fully reopened, online sales were up 90%, hinting at some e-commerce stickiness.

This might pose a dilemma for beauty retailers. Push hard on ecommerce and they risk making consumers too comfortable with online shopping, potentially lowering the barrier for online competition and rendering their store fleets obsolete. A similar dynamic has played out with apparel, for example, as newer competitors flooded the market, notes Simeon Siegel, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

On the surface, Ulta Beauty’s decision to place its shops inside Target stores and Sephora’s plan to set up inside Kohl’s department stores look like bets on traditional bricks-and-mortar. But look more

closely and they are also smart hedges against an online future.

These setups require fewer resources than stand-alone stores and also include an online component, as Target and Kohl’s will be showcasing Ulta Beauty and Sephora products on their websites.

Consumers’ newfound familiarity with buying beauty products online could have far-reaching impacts.

Even when consumers choose to go out to shop in person again, there is the risk they will treat bricksand-mortar stores as showrooms— places where they try out products but ultimately transact online. That will be less of a concern if customers are going directly to those retailers’ websites, but a headache if they migrate elsewhere.

Amazon is dipping its toes into beauty, just as it has with a few luxury brands. The category is attractive: Makeup and fragrance tend to be high margin, small in size, popular as gifts and also something that needs replenishment.

Beauty retailers might take comfort in Best Buy’s example. The retailer was once known as Amazon’s showroom for electronics, but impressively managed to hold on to its market share through investing in ecommerce capabilities and creating a great in-store experience.

Ulta Beauty and Sephora can end up like Best Buy if they make the right moves now.

—Jinjoo Lee

A Chinese craze for “blind box” toys has caught fire in the stock market, and drawn some unwelcome attention from the government.

Last week, official state media organ Xinhua criticized the new craze for “blind boxes,” which contain a collectible toy with the exact design a mystery to the buyer. The format drives repeated purchases, especially from young people who want to get their hands on their favorite toys.

Xinhua isn’t amused. “Once you enter into the abyss of blind boxes, your wallet will become like a stranger passing on the street,” it said. The article compares the phenomenon to gambling and urges tighter regulations.

Blind-box maker Pop Mart International Group has kicked off a stock-market frenzy too.

Its stock has more than doubled since its initial public offering three weeks ago, valuing the company at $14.7 billion— higher than Hasbro’s $12.9 billion or Mattel’s $6.1 billion. Pop Mart’s revenue grew nearly 1,000% from 2017 to 2019 and its blind boxes earned a gross profit margin of 70.5% in the first half of 2020.

But scrutiny from state media is rarely a good thing: Pop Mart’s shares have lost 5.6% this week.

be the point where the company’s batteries, which have been a competitive advantage to date, turn into a competitive disadvantage.

Tesla does have time on its side, if it needs to change tack. Toyota probably has the most advanced solid-state batteries today: It planned to have them powering prototype vehicles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed a year, and is targeting a mass-produced model by 2025. But the technology probably won’t be cost competitive with today’s batteries until the late 2020s at the very earliest.

QuantumScape’s investors are playing a very long game. The business plan doesn’t envisage meaningful revenues before 2026. There is also no guarantee that the company’s solution will win out over those of Toyota and others. The test

results QuantumScape announced last month were for single-layer battery cells. Private U.S. startup Solid Power is already producing multilayer solid-state batteries in a factory in Louisville, Colo. “The manufacturing challenges get exponentially harder as you move to multiple layers,” says Mark Newman, an analyst at brokerage Bernstein who focuses on the battery industry.

The valuations of companies like Tesla and QuantumScape require investors to look far into the future and assume mass disruption to the status quo. The wrinkle is that if QuantumScape’s plan works out—a big if—Tesla itself could be one of the companies most disrupted. In 2020, investors bought almost anything related to electric vehicles.

This year they need to become more discerning.

—Stephen Wilmot

For Plane Makers, China Is Their Co-Pilot With airlines in the West expecting to take years to recover from Covid-19, aircraft manufacturers are depending on the resilience and growth potential of the Chinese market. But China’s own aerospace ambitions and the geopolitical tensions that surround them could make it a turbulent ride.

China has recovered from the pandemic to become the world’s largest domestic aviation market.

Traffic is 8% higher than a year ago, data by Oliver Wyman’s PlaneStats show. In the U.S. and Europe, it is still down 41% and 68%, respectively. With another 500 million Chinese expected to join the middle classes over the next few years, the country is also the industry’s big growth opportunity.

Following a mild liberalization of its airline industry in 2004, China has become the second-largest source of revenues for the two major plane makers, Boeing and Airbus, which have since opened plants there. It is one of their few bright spots too: In November, Boeing downgraded its 20-year global aircraft demand forecast by 2%, but upgraded China’s by 6.3% to 8,600 planes.

Relative to the rest of the world, China is especially important for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families, which are the backbone of low-cost airlines. It has accounted for a quarter of deliveries for the 737 MAX, which Boeing is scrambling to remarket after a 20month grounding.

China’s true catch-up potential, though, is in long-haul routes, and thus the wide-body jets worst-hit

by Covid-19. Traditionally, only the A330 had broad acceptance among the big Chinese state-owned carriers. Current orders, however, are finally skewed toward the nimbler A350 and 787 jets that Airbus and Boeing are focused on.

Backlogs underplay how many planes China will end up needing.

The country represents 4.4% of Boeing and Airbus’s combined firm orders, which seems far too low. As Barclays analysts point out, this suggests fewer than 20 deliveries of the A320 in 2023, compared with a recent annual average of 120.

The alternative, which Western

Expected average annual growth in passenger journeys between 2019 and 2039 5.0%

Asia Pacific Middle East

4.4

Africa

4.4 3.4

Latin America North America 2.2 Europe

2.2

Source: International Air Transport Association

companies fear, is that the narrowbody gap will be filled by the C919, made by Chinese state-owned manufacturer Comac. Ironically, its development would have been difficult without the help of the foreign manufacturers it may now disadvantage.

To be sure, the C919 is delayed and unlikely to enter service before late 2021, with limited initial production capacity. Its international adoption is constrained by a shorter range and worse customer service than its peers. But it is key for Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” industrial plan. This shouldn’t be underestimated, especially in the later half of the decade. The Chinese government can sell the plane at discounted prices, and it owns a big chunk of the customers.

Geopolitics may determine the outcome. A few days ago, the Department of Commerce published a list of Chinese companies with military ties that will be banned from buying a range of U.S. goods and technology. It included some Comac subsidiaries, potentially dealing the C919 a heavy blow. It is unclear whether President-elect Joe Biden will keep such a hard line, but Beijing may retaliate by refusing to unground the MAX. Western aerospace’s dependence on the Chinese market has never been greater. Neither have the risks to its continued dominance.

—Jon Sindreu

Success Stories Lessons from the countries that mounted the best responses to Covid-19 C4 |

SCIENCE

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POLITICS

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HUMOR

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CULTURE

REVIEW

She Come by It Natural

You’re Never Too Old To Become a Beginner Learning a new skill as an adult is challenging—which is why it brings so many cognitive and emotional benefits.

By Tom Vanderbilt

H

ave we ever needed a fresher start

than the one promised by 2021?

As we head into a new year with all its hopes—new year, new you, newly recovered world—there is one thing from the outgoing annus horribilis we should carry forward and even deepen: the spirit of the novice.

The pandemic turned us all into beginners. Suddenly, the usual ways of doing things were no longer an option. Governments and businesses scrambled to develop new protocols, and we all struggled to reinvent the activities of everyday life. From queuing to Zoom to mask etiquette, we were faced with an unsettling societal learning curve.

Inside TABLE TALK

Once a drab duty for dieters, salads are now cutting-edge cuisine.

No American dish has gone through more transformations. C5

Team or Rivals?

Lessons from the history of White House infighting can help Joe Biden handle internal squabbles. C3

Just as noteworthy is how many has an air of gentle pity. It implies people, in the face of such disruption, learning something that you perhaps decided that they wanted to learn new should have learned already. things. Online learning sites like Though the first steps can be diffiSkillshare, Duolingo and Coursera saw cult, it’s worth the effort: Becoming a extraordinary growth. Enrollments in beginner is one of the most life-enonline art and music classes spiked, hancing things you can do. while novice bakers flooded the help A good starting point is to take up lines of the Vermont-based flour comjuggling. The innocuous little act of pany King Arthur Baking. throwing balls into the air Even before “The Queen’s has been found, in a numGambit,” online chess lesber of neuroscience studLearning to sons were flourishing. ies, to alter the brain. juggle From gardening to campThis “activation-depening to bicycling to sewing, dent structural plasticity,” starts to people have been taking as it’s called, pops up in alter up new pursuits with as little as seven days. abandon.

Juggling changes not only the brain But cultivating new gray matter, the brain’s in as skills and habits is a chalprocessing centers, but lenge. Even as we commit also white matter, the little as to new activities, we networked connections seven days. struggle to shake off the that bind it all together. stasis of familiar routines, “Learning a new skill reespecially if we are older. quires the neural tissue to I had this feeling a few years function in a new way,” says ago when I suddenly realized, Tobias Schmidt-Wilcke, a neushepherding my young daughroscientist (and juggler) at ter to any number of classes Germany’s University of Boand lessons, from swimming to pichum. ano, that I couldn’t remember the last After that initial burst of activity, new skill I had learned. I had gently osthe brain settles down. By the time you sified into a finished being, coasting can do the skill without much thinkalong on midcareer competence. ing—when it becomes automatic—gray Please turn to page C2 So I decided to become a beginner in a number of things that I’d long This essay is adapted from Mr. wanted to try to learn, from singing to Vanderbilt’s new book, “Beginners: surfing. Being a beginner is hard—it The Joy and Transformative Power feels better to be good at something of Lifelong Learning,” which will be than to be bad. It’s even harder for published by Knopf on Jan. 5. adults. The phrase “adult beginner”

WEEKEND CONFIDENTIAL

MIND & MATTER

Novelist Charles Yu worries that Asian-Americans remain outsiders in the U.S. C6

Research shows that owning a dog is good for body and soul, especially in a pandemic. C4

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REVIEW

The Rewards of Being a Beginner

Learning doesn’t have to be careerrelated to help in your career.

When we expand ourselves through new activities, we are able to see more. someone new, which you can’t help excitedly telling other people about.

As the old joke has it, how do you tell if someone’s a triathlete? They tell you.

In the course of my own learning, I met people for whom learning some new skill was instrumental to reclaiming their identity in the wake of a dissolved marriage or redefining their life after a big setback.

Adrian was singing to recover his speech faculties in the wake of a brain tumor; Steve was trying to juggle five balls to stay nimble in his 80s; Patricia had learned to swim, at first via YouTube, in her 70s—and was now leaving others behind in open ocean jaunts.

This sense of self-expansion can apply to couples as well. Research suggests that couples who undertake novel and challenging activities together recapture some of the initial exhilaration of when they first met, and the positive feelings they experience—from, say, taking a dance class—get transferred to the relationship itself.

There’s also a feeling of growth in meeting new people who are like-minded in their desire to learn new things, in their willingness to appear foolish. In psychology, this is called “openness to experience.” It’s one of the so-called “Big Five” personality traits—along with extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism and agreeableness—that various psychological models have suggested define us. It’s also come to be increasingly linked with longevity. The exact reasons are still unclear, but psychologists theorize that openness entails a cognitive and behavioral flexibility that is useful in addressing the challenges of later life.

Even experts in a field can benefit from maintaining what the Zen Buddhist monk Shunryū Suzuki called “beginner’s mind”—the lack of preconceptions that novices typically exhibit. The potential benefits of this outlook can be seen in psychology’s famous “candle problem,” in which subjects are asked to attach a candle to a wall using nothing more than a matchbook and a box of

For toddlers learning to walk and adults learning to swim, setbacks are a key part of the process.

tacks. People struggle to solve the problem because they think of the box merely as a container for the tacks, not realizing that it can be tacked to the wall and used as a shelf for the candle.

In an experiment published in the journal Cognition in 2000, however, one group did pretty well on the candle problem: five-year-olds. Why? Compared with older children or adults, “Younger children have a wider criterion for what can count as an object’s function,” wrote psychologists Tim German and Margaret Anne Defeyter. “They view object function in terms of any goals of its users, rather than in terms of one specific originally intended function.”

We often associate learning new skills with career enhancement, which is certainly a worthy goal. But skills don’t necessarily need to be career-related to help in your career. When we expand ourselves through new activities, we are able to see more. As David Epstein notes in his book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World,” Nobel laureates, compared with other scientists, “are at least 22 times more likely to partake as an amateur actor, dancer, magician or other type of performer.”

Take, for instance, Claude Shannon, the brilliant MIT mathematician and polymath who helped to invent the digital world in which we live today. He plunged himself into all kinds of pursuits, routinely becoming a beginner, an openness that informed his work. As Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman write in “A Mind at Play,” their biography of Shannon, “Time and again, he pursued projects that might have caused others embarrassment, engaged questions that seemed trivial or minor, then managed to wring breakthroughs out of them.” One of his favorite leisure activities? Juggling.

How, then, to prepare ourselves to become better beginners?

We can draw crucial guidance

from a group of research subjects who are beginners in the fullest sense of the word: infants learning to walk. At New York University’s Infant Action Lab, headed by the psychologist Karen Adolph, researchers have learned a great deal about how infants get around. Each hour, the average toddler (from 12 to 19 months old) travels the length of about eight football fields, taking some 2,400 steps. Some 2.6 million steps later, they’ll become proficient walkers.

But along the way, they will fall— a lot. Novice walkers, who struggle to regain balance with nearly every step, can take up to 30 tumbles an hour. They are learning machines, relentlessly curious and engineered with errors in mind. They take 14,000 steps a day with a failure rate that would be deeply discouraging—

maybe even catastrophic—for adult beginners trying to learn a skill.

If babies just kept crawling, they wouldn’t fall so much. But walking brings all sorts of benefits. “Infants are faster in the first week of horrible walking than they are in their 21 weeks of crawling,” says Dr. Adolph.

That’s not all. It frees up their hands. It allows them to see more, since crawling infants look mostly at the ground. It helps them gain “social agency” and gives them more control over their environment.

Strikingly, babies don’t seem to transfer anything they learned from crawling into walking. In a series of experiments at the lab, infants were exposed to a variety of novel situations, like an opportunity to descend a steep slope. A striking pattern was observed. Infants looking at a daunting 36-degree decline would, as knowing crawlers, avoid it or approach it cautiously. New walkers, however, would blithely plunge down slopes or toddle off cliffs— usually into the rescuing arms of a trained experimenter.

Wouldn’t it make sense for babies to preserve the knowledge of these risks? Not necessarily, says Dr. Adolph. Babies grow at astonishing speeds—whatever worked for the crawling infant is not necessarily going to work for the walking infant.

Most important, she says: “You don’t want the baby to learn to stop trying.” As the ultimate beginners, infants need a kind of learning— learning how to learn—that is flexible, that is powered by exploration, that can allow them to adapt to novel situations, that accepts plenti-

ful errors, often without any seeming cause.

For adults, the lessons are clear. One is that skills take time. Infants spend roughly a third of their day for six solid months practicing walking (and don’t truly perfect it until several years later). So don’t worry if you’re still terrible at tennis after a few months.

Another is the importance of changing up your practice. Infants never take the same walk twice.

They don’t do drills; they explore. You don’t want to teach an infant one “proper” way to walk, to be repeated in lockstep.

When it comes to learning, variability is key.

What might look like clumsiness or randomness can simply be beginners exploring a range of possible solutions, which seems to help promote faster learning.

Infants also remind us that progress is often not linear. Learning happens in fits and starts. Stages are only rough benchmarks. Development does not always march uniformly in one direction.

Infants may learn to walk, then briefly revert to crawling. Progress is often U-shaped, meaning that kids (and adults) often get worse before they get better. And finally, says Dr. Adolph, infants seem to learn best “when operating near the limits of their current skill level.” In other words: Always be at the edge of what you can’t currently do.

None of this is easy. If it feels easy, you’re not learning. Infants experience fall after fall, until, slowly, their brain and body figure out how, in all sorts of situations, to stop fall-

Infants live what might be called the beginner’s creed: If you don’t learn to fail, you’ll fail to learn. ing. Infants live what might be called the beginner’s creed: If you don’t learn to fail, you’ll fail to learn.

So let “beginner” be your watchword for 2021. But watch for overreach in your resolutions. Don’t declare that you’re going to master the piano or paint like Picasso. You may dwell longer than you like in the beginner stages, even growing resentful of this thing that is supposed to change your life. Resolve instead simply to try to learn new skills— the more the better—and, even more important, to give yourself permission to be bad at them. Let the process of learning itself be your goal.

FROM TOP: STEVE HANSEN/THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES; GETTY IMAGES (2)

Continued from the prior page matter density declines. So you try a new juggling trick, and the process begins again. Interestingly, the changes in brain density happen for older people just as much as for younger people.

But there’s a caveat: The older you are, the harder you’re going to have to work. “As people age,” Dr. Schmidt-Wilke says, “they should do not less, but more to keep and maintain their abilities.” There’s a happy twist, however: The more learning that older adults take on, the faster they seem to learn—the more they become like younger adults.

And learning a skill, even if you don’t achieve mastery, has benefits beyond the skill itself. In a study of people aged 60 to 90 conducted by the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas, subjects were split into two groups. One took classes in digital photography and quilting, the other simply met and socialized. The subjects who took the classes had larger improvements in a variety of cognitive areas, ranging from episodic memory to processing speed.

Boosting your brain is hardly the sole reason to become a beginner.

There’s also the feeling of growth, the sense that you’ve just become

Claude Shannon, the pioneering computer scientist and mathematician, juggling hoops in 1979.

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REVIEW

BY TEVI TROY

BEN ZIMMER

How to Handle White House Infighting

“with a very cutting, infuriated response.” The next day, she recalls, Mr. Obama summoned her to the Oval Office and greeted her with the admonition, “So, I hear you sent quite an email.”

Another time, when White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel “couldn’t help venting to friends around town” (as Mr. Obama writes) History suggests that President-elect Joe Biden should insist on strong about his unhappiness with the addecision-making processes and deal firmly with staff misbehavior. ministration’s early approach to health care reform, the president called him on the carpet. Mr. Emanhad “been playing me off against ministration, White House counsel uel was contrite, and Mr. Obama forodds, as a less disciplined National Morris, taking the best from both of Robert Lipshutz tried to assert himgave him with a condition. “You Security Council process bred leaks us and turning it into something betself by saying, “I guess because I’m know what your real punishment and policy dysfunction. ter.” A more moderate Mr. Clinton the oldest one here. I’ll call this is?” Mr. Obama said. “You have to go Finally, presidents set the tone for romped to reelection. meeting to order.” It didn’t work. Mr. pass the goddamn health care bill!” how and whether to express dissent.

The second lever is process, Carter’s chief strategist, Hamilton The Biden team has seen both President Gerald Ford was reluctant which determines how information Jordan, was asked how to proceed peaceful and tumultuous periods. In to confront troublemakers. His White and said enigmatically, “We’ll have a the primaries, reports of staff battles House became one of the most rivalmeeting when there’s something to during his early losses in rous in history, chaotic President Reagan meet about.” Another aide, Mark Iowa and New Hampand leak-prone. “You with his ‘troika’ of Siegel, witnessed this and wondered, shire led to a reshuffling don’t suspect ill motives key aides (left to “My God, what would the KGB think of his top campaign perof anyone until you’re right): Michael if they could see us now?” Carter sonnel. The rejiggered kicked in the balls three Deaver, James A. speechwriter James Fallows later group proved more discitimes,” Ford’s friend and Baker and Edwin wrote that “a year was wasted as we plined during the general speechwriter Robert HartMeese, April 1981. blindly groped for answers and did election, with scant pubmann told him. “As a hufor ourselves what a staff coordinalic evidence of infighting. man being, that’s a virtue. tor could have done.”

Like so many presidents before As a president, it’s a weakness.”

George W. Bush, the first presihim, Mr. Biden will soon be rePresident Barack Obama mainMARK SIEGEL dent with an MBA, recognized the minded that campaigning is one tained his “No Drama Obama” ethos Former Jimmy Carter aide importance of process, at least on thing and governing another. As by making it clear that he disapdomestic policy. His political adviser, campaign promises give way to polproved of backbiting and aides who Karl Rove, said that team members icy realities, disagreements quickly acted out of line. His recent memoir flows, who attends key meetings and could “go to the Oval Office and adbecome more serious. If the presiadmits to some internal “friction” when timelines are set for decisions. vocate a perspective diametrically dent-elect wants to avoid letting inand “tension,” as does the memoir of Poor processes set up administraopposed to the point of view of the fighting define his tenure, he will former White House deputy chief of tions for unhealthy forms of dissent, person on the sofa across” from need the lessons of history—and the staff Alyssa Mastromonaco. As she including leaking while in power and them, and even in defeat, “you can resolve to enforce them. relates, she once took offense at an score-settling for years afterward. link arms and go on, and be certain article describing her as “responsible Dr. Troy served in 2007-09 as depPresident Jimmy Carter’s White that your [losing] view won’t appear for overseeing scheduling, personnel uty secretary of the Department of House was plagued by a bad deciin the paper.” But the same disciand much more.” She saw the deHealth and Human Services. His sion-making process from the start. pline didn’t carry over to foreign scription as a sexist slight and susmost recent book is “Fight House: Mr. Carter initially refused to have a policy. Mr. Bush’s State Department, pected it came from a colleague, leadRivalries in the White House From chief of staff, leading to chronic turDefense Department and Office of ing her to “reply all” to a senior staff Truman to Trump” (Regnery). bulence. On the first day of the adthe Vice President were often at email sharing the offending article

‘My God, what would the KGB think if they could see us now?’

When Covid-19’s Symptoms Last and Last IT ALL STARTED WITH A BAD hair day.

On the morning of April 11, Amy Watson, a preschool teacher in Portland, Ore., went to get tested for Covid-19 at a drive-up site after suffering a

who had contracted Covid and were still experiencing a range of chronic symptoms, she decided to set up a support group on Facebook. “I was sitting in my living room, and that hat I wore in the picture was on the coffee table,” Ms. Watson told me. The trucker hat got her thinking of long-haul trucking, inspiring her to name the Facebook group “Long Haul Covid Fighters.”

As the group kept growing, members began calling each other “long-haulers.” People gravitated toward the term, Ms. Watson recalls, because “it was validating as a group of patients to have a name given to what we were experiencing.”

Early on in the pandemic, medical professionals didn’t know what to make of the symptomatology of these Covid survivors and had no name for it. But by early June, the expression

[Long-hauler] chronic fever. She hadn’t washed her hair, so she threw on a trucker hat with a picture of a squirrel on it, snapping a selfie to share on social media.

Two days later, her test came back positive. Later that month, after connecting with others

“long-haulers” started getting picked up in the media, beginning with an article by Ed Yong for The Atlantic, and the medical community soon took notice.

In a congressional hearing in September, Dr. Anthony Fauci reported on patients who, weeks and months after recovering from Covid-19, were suffering from such debilitating symptoms as fatigue, myalgia, fever and an inability to concentrate. “They’re referred to as ‘long-haulers,’” Dr. Fauci said, giving his imprimatur to the term.

Now the stories of “long-haulers” have become a central component of how scientists, doctors and policymakers view longterm effects of the coronavirus.

As a current article in the jour-

nal Social Science & Medicine explains, researchers are scrambling to keep up with what patients report in online support groups such as Ms. Watson’s. Co-author Elisa Perego, a research associate at University College London, is a long-hauler herself, and dubbed the post-viral condition “long Covid” on Twitter in May. Both “long-haulers” and “long Covid” are fast becoming standard terminology in the medical field.

Kate Porter, a digital marketer from Beverly, Mass., and an administrator for Ms. Watson’s group, has watched as the “longhauler” term exploded in popularity. Ms. Porter, who tracks the latest research and policy initiatives on the Covid-19 Recovery Awareness website, told me, “Even if it’s not necessarily the most scientific term, you get the gist right away—you don’t even need to really explain it.”

For speakers of American English, at least, the “long-

hauler” metaphor is familiar.

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the expression “long haul” to 1839 in U.S. usage for transporting goods or passengers over big distances. By the end of the 19th century it also was used more figuratively for “a lengthy or difficult task or process.”

References to “long-haulers” crop up in U.S. newspapers as early as 1887 to refer to those shipping goods across the country via railroad. With the advent of commercial trucking after World War I, “long-haulers” took to the roadways. In a 1923 article in the Los Angeles Evening Express, an auto company president explained that truck drivers operating locally “use more gasoline than the long hauler on the state highway.”

Ms. Watson, for her part, is pleasantly surprised that an idle decision to name a Facebook group after her favorite trucker hat has resulted in a vital addition to the Covid-19 lexicon. And she hopes that her coinage raises public awareness for the chronic illnesses that patients like her continue to experience months later. “I never imagined that the long haul would be anywhere near this long,” she said.

JAMES YANG

WORD ON THE STREET

MICHAEL EVANS/CNP/ZUMA PRESS

A

s President-elect Joe Biden builds his administration, he has drawn on his long experience in national politics, filling key positions with White House veterans and a sprinkling of newcomers. But the success of Mr. Biden’s administration will depend not just on who gets big jobs but on the thoughtful management of his team. The new president needs a staff and cabinet that are cohesive in debate and unified in action.

Administration infighting is inevitable, but it needn’t be paralyzing.

Mr. Biden’s goal should be to manage conflict, not to eliminate it. History points to three primary levers at his disposal: recognizing and managing ideological conflict, maintaining a strong decision-making process and dealing firmly with staff and cabinet misbehavior.

The most frequent White House divisions are along ideological lines.

President Ronald Reagan’s administration was plagued by clashes between moderates, led by White House chief of staff James A. Baker, and committed conservatives, led by counselor Edwin Meese. Mr. Baker, in particular, was a master leaker and infighter. Still, when Reagan chose Mr. Baker over Mr. Meese as chief of staff, he directed Mr. Baker to “make it right with Ed.” The two joined with deputy chief of staff Michael Deaver to form the “troika” that ran the early Reagan White House.

The lack of trust among the troika members wound up leaving them joined at the hip, reluctant to let each other meet privately with Reagan for fear that the others might use facetime with the president to their advantage. This need to stick together applied even after Reagan was shot in 1981. When the troika visited his hospital bed together, Reagan joked, “I should’ve known I wasn’t going to avoid a staff meeting.” Yet getting the perspective of the two main competing ideologies within the GOP helped Reagan to hold on to both sides.

President Bill Clinton also used his ideologically divided staff to his advantage. His team initially pulled his administration leftward with an unsuccessful health care initiative, a tax hike and a push to end the Pentagon’s ban on gay people serving in the military. The liberal drift contributed to the Democrats’ loss of both houses of Congress in 1994.

Smarting, Mr. Clinton brought in a secret adviser—whom he codenamed “Charlie”—to help moderate his administration. This adviser’s tactics and mysterious identity unnerved liberal White House staffers like George Stephanopoulos and Harold Ickes, who found that progressive decisions made by day would shift to the right overnight.

“Charlie” was soon revealed as the conservative consultant Dick Morris, which enraged many liberal staffers. Mr. Ickes was gleeful when Mr. Morris fell from grace in 1996 over his relationship with a prostitute. But the internal tensions may have been part of the plan. Mr. Stephanopoulos, who loathed Mr. Morris, later wrote that Mr. Clinton

C4 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

REVIEW MIND & MATTER SUSAN PINKER

GETTY IMAGES

LAST SUMMER my life was upended when I was given an oversize 4-month-old puppy for my birthday. Otis’s arrival created joy and anxiety in equal measure. Already well into the pandemic, my husband and I wondered what effect this shaggy, disoriented creature would have on us. Would he provide comfort? Or would his chewing, nipping, soiling, lunging and barking only multiply our stresses?

By April 2020, the adoption rate for dogs in the U.S. had increased by more than 30%, according to Sara Kent, CEO of the nonprofit database Shelter Animals Count. By year’s end, spending on pet care and supplies had reached a record $99 billion. Lots of Americans expect dogs to lift their spirits, it seems.

We’re not alone: A new study of the human-dog relationship during the early days of the pandemic, by Liat Morgan and her research team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of British Columbia, found that in Israel, too, dog adoptions ramped up as social and economic restrictions increased.

Disasters like earthquakes and floods usually prompt people to give up their pets, but the study found that during the pandemic, far fewer people relinquished their pets to shelters—a trend echoed in the U.S., said Ms. Kent.

I soon became besotted with Otis, who is now an 80-pound adolescent.

Still, I wanted some proof: Do pets really reduce our loneliness and make us feel happier?

In 2019, a study led by Lauren Powell, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, looked at whether getting a dog improved the owner’s activity level, cardiovascular health and psychological state.

The researchers used advertising and social media to recruit 71 people living in Sydney, Australia, and separated them by inclination: People who planned to get a dog within a month, people who wanted a dog but agreed to wait until after the study was complete, and people who had no interest in ever acquiring a dog.

Owning a dog boosts oxytocin flow.

All participants were evaluated at three junctures: at baseline; three months later, after those in the first group got a dog; and again after eight months. Each time they were poked, prodded and scanned to test their physical activity, substance use and cardiovascular levels.

Their psychological states were checked too, via standardized evaluations of anxiety, loneliness and depression. The researchers then compared the dog-owners to members of the two dogless control groups, statistically manipulating factors such as education, age and appetite for exercise, to make sure that the canine alone accounted for any differences.

The results showed that after three months, people with dogs walked 2,589 more steps a day than the control groups. “But at eight months there was a drop-off, so the difference was no longer significant,” said Dr. Powell, speculating that “people were really excited at first, but maybe the novelty wore off.”

The psychological impact of a dog packed a bigger punch. “Basically we found that the loneliness in the group that got a dog decreased by 40% and stayed at that lower level at eight months,” said Dr. Powell.

But how exactly do dogs make us happier? In a previous study, Dr. Powell’s group had shown that owning a dog promotes the flow of oxytocin, a hormone that decreases our heart rate and fosters feelings of well-being and relaxation. Plus, she adds, dogs “encourage their owners to get out in nature, maintain a sense of routine, and stay in touch with their neighbors. All the things that benefit our mental health in normal times are just more important during Covid.”

I’m a witness, and couldn’t agree more.

FROM TOP: SEONGJOON CHO/BLOOMBERG NEWS; AHMED JALLANZO/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Dogs Really Do Make Us Happier

Which Countries Have Responded Best to Covid-19?

A medical flights. As a result of this nies to avoid largeworker near-total isolation, scale layoffs. Notable performs a American Samoa has not mentions go to India, temperature had to implement widethe European Union check in Seoul, spread closures, distancand Australia, which South Korea, ing or testing. Similar quickly provided inMay 2020. actions 100 years ago alcome supplements to lowed the territory to lower-income people swift, expert, comprehensive reavoid any deaths from the 1918 inusing electronic cash transfers. sponses. fluenza pandemic.

Colombia went out of its way to Best at crushing the curve: Best at testing: South Korea. protect vulnerable Venezuelan miNew Zealand. 1 reported Covid-19 1 reported Covid-19 death per grants, who weren’t eligible for death per 204,360 people.

63,290 people. cash transfers, by establishing Like Taiwan, New Zealand is an When it became clear that peoshelters and food centers. island, which makes it far easier to ple without symptoms could Best at public communication: enforce travel bans. Initial models spread Covid-19, South Korea Finland. 1 reported Covid-19 showed that community spread of tested early and aggressively, condeath per 10,510 people.

Covid-19 in New Zealand could poducting more than twice as many A few countries have fought rutentially overwhelm the health tests per capita as other countries mors and distrust by sharing incare system. The country began in the pandemic’s first weeks. formation with the public widely implementing its pandemic influAlong with other measures, inand openly. Finland, helped by its enza plan in February, including cluding extensive and highly effechigh media literacy, was able to preparing hospitals and instituting tive contact tracing and quaranbuild on a 2014 initiative that eduborder control policies. Because tine, this kept cases from cated people about how to counter New Zealand lacked sufficient increasing rapidly. false information. One Finnish testing and contact tracing capacBest at quarantining: Hong project partners with social-media ity, national leadership impleKong. 1 reported Covid-19 death influencers to spread accurate inmented a countrywide lockdown in per 54,810 people. formation on digital platforms. late March with the goal of elimiHong Kong has one of the highSouth Africa has also excelled nating Covid-19 entirely. est population densities in the at clear communication, including

By June, the pandemic was deworld, yet it kept cases low by esstrategic use of an alert-level sysclared over in New Zealand, with tem that empowers people to unthe country reporting one of the derstand their risk and helps the lowest coronavirus-related mortalgovernment make transparent and ity rates among all 37 OECD nabalanced decisions about closures. tions. Later cases were all from inGermany’s leaders have also been ternational travelers, who were models of clarity and effective kept in isolation for two weeks communication, with Chancellor post-arrival, and not from commuAngela Merkel calling for citizens nity spread. to exhibit “patience, discipline and Prime Minister Jacinda Arden solidarity”—three essential ashas exemplified empathetic, clear pects of an effective pandemic recommunication, which greatly insponse. creased New Zealanders’ willingMost people, including many ness to cooperate and was essenhealth professionals, never imagined the toll that Covid-19 would take. The countries that performed best have learned from their mistakes and used data to continuously improve public health, primary care, emergency response and health communication. Even as we begin to roll out vaccines, we need to keep learning from experience what works in fighting Covid-19.

This isn’t the last disease threat our world will face, and the past year has shown that we are all connected: Until every country is safer, all of us are at risk.

When the next pandemic strikes, the whole world needs to implement best practices to save lives and Men wash their tablishing mandatory tial to the country’s protect livelihoods. Now is our ophands at a isolation protocols and success. portunity to improve global precheckpoint outside quarantine centers for Best location in paredness; if we don’t apply the Monrovia, Liberia, people with Covid-19 the U.S.: American lessons of 2020 in 2021, we never April 2020. and those who came Samoa. Deaths from will. in close contact with Covid-19: Zero.

Dr. Frieden was the director of them.

American Samoa remains the the Centers for Disease Control Best economic protection: only territory in the U.S. without and Prevention from 2009 to Denmark. 1 reported Covid-19 any Covid-19 cases, in part be2017. He is the president and death per 4,970 people. cause health authorities were alCEO of Resolve to Save Lives, Some countries excelled at proready on high alert following a an initiative of the public-health tecting people economically and measles outbreak in late 2019. In organization Vital Strategies, socially. In Denmark, the governan effort to stave off the virus and a senior fellow at the ment has covered a portion of emearly, the territory of 55,000 peoCouncil on Foreign Relations. ployees’ salaries in private compaple halted all incoming passenger

The world should learn from the most successful strategies for testing, quarantine, public communication and economic support.

BY TOM FRIEDEN

I

t has been a year since Covid-19 began to spread.

Which countries did the best job of responding to the pandemic in 2020, and what can we learn from them?

A successful response to Covid-19 turned out to depend on more than a country’s wealth, scientific prowess and history of public health successes. The U.S. enjoys all of these advantages but mounted one of the worst responses to the pandemic: 1 in every 990 Americans has died from Covid-19 since the pandemic began. Bad politics, quite simply, can trump good public health.

Other developed countries that did well initially, such as Canada and some European nations, have faltered during the second or third surge of infections, because their governments and people grew tired of implementing effective strategies. In many Asian countries, it has long been common for people to wear masks when feeling ill, so they adopted masks early and widely.

Best at early action: Taiwan.

1 reported Covid-19 death per 3,366,140 people The world’s first awareness of Covid-19 came from cases among travelers arriving in Taiwan from Wuhan, China. The country quickly halted flights from much of China, quarantined travelers from other areas, stopped cruise ships from docking, implemented widespread testing and quadrupled production of face masks within a month.

Taiwan also provided intensive support, including stipends, to patients with Covid-19 and people with whom they had come into contact, helping to increase adherence to public health recommendations. These early actions were pivotal in keeping Taiwan to under 800 cases all year, while avoiding lockdowns. The U.S. now has more cases and deaths every 5 minutes than Taiwan has had all year.

Best at learning from recent epidemics: Liberia. 1 reported Covid-19 death per 55,040 people.

Liberia, hard hit by the Ebola epidemic in 2014, was one of the first countries to start screening for Covid-19 at airports and to adopt other control measures, such as rapid testing, complete contact tracing and quarantine.

Many other countries in Africa, including Senegal and Uganda, also used their experiences from past disease outbreaks to implement

The U.S. now has more cases and deaths every 5 minutes than Taiwan has had all year.

A

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | C5

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REVIEW

The Great American Salad Revolution

s 2021 begins, the dish I find myself craving the most, slightly to my surprise, is salad. The version I’ve been making most often lately is a concoction of raw Brussels sprouts, shredded finely and mixed with a Vietnamese-inspired dressing of garlic, mint leaves, chillies, fish sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice and cashew nuts. I don’t eat this salad because it is healthy—though it undoubtedly is—but because it wakes up my taste buds quicker than a double espresso. With its brightness and crunch, it tastes as close as I can get to a fresh start.

The rules of salad have changed. To be a salad eater is no longer an act of dieting or denial.

Now you can eat salad because you want to eat it. The word no longer needs to bring to mind a flavorless bowl of cold tomatoes and watery lettuce. Rather, it could be any combination of crisp and sharp ingredients that you happen to find in your refrigerator and feel like having with dinner. A carefully made salad, as food writer Nigella Lawson writes in her new cookbook “Cook, Eat, Repeat,” will lift the spirits and “add poetry to the prose of everyday life.”

Growing up in Britain, as Ms. Lawson also did, I often looked to the U.S. for salads that were fuller and more generous than ours, which might consist of a couple of disks of undressed cucumber with some raw onion and vinegary beetroot. I dreamed of America’s Caesar and Cobb salads, with their flavorful dressings and lavish scatterings of croutons.

There have been many ages of No longer a drab exercise in dieting or self-denial, salads have salad at the American table. Perhaps no other dish has undergone become a sharp, spicy reflection of the best in culinary trends. so many transformations over the decades. Salads hold up a mirror Salad eaters are capricious bewith dates, olives, crème fraîche to the changing culinary obsescabbage that has turned blue, ings. Certain salad ingredients that and delicious cheese crisps called sions of the times, from the curidribbled with lurid orange-colored were once ubiquitous—such as the frico. This is a salad you make not ous gelatin-based concoctions of dressing.” raspberry vinegar and wild rice of to lose weight but to extract as the 1940s to the baked goat cheese Part of what distinguishes the the 1980s—have now almost vanmuch pleasure as possible from a and frisée salads of the 1980s to salads of today from those of the ished. Others, such as iceberg letcarrot. the raw kale of the 2010s. When past is that vegetables that used to tuce, rose, then fell, then The new excitement about salsalade Niçoise became be raw may now be roasted or rose again. As long ago as ads is perfectly captured by a defashionable in the 1960s, grilled (radishes, lettuces) while the 1940s, some recipe lightful newsletter created by food it reflected the new popuvegetables that are traditionally columns were complainwriter Emily Nunn called “The Delarity of foreign travel to cooked may be served raw (kale, ing that iceberg was partment of Salad.” Every issue, Europe. This mixture of beets, Brussels sprouts). The tasteless compared with the newsletter runs thoughtful intuna and black olives and prime example of this is the kale romaine. By the 1980s, in terviews with fellow salad enthusigreen beans seemed salad invented by brilliant salad “The Silver Palate Cookasts and celebrates a different asdeeply sophisticated comchef Joshua McFadden at Franny’s TABLE book,” chefs Julee Rosso pect of American salads, from pared with the old deli restaurant in Brooklyn in 2007. Mr. TALK and Sheila Lukins comCaesar (“Never ever, ever use staple of tuna salad made McFadden invented the kale salad mented that iceberg mayo”) to blue cheese dressing with mayonnaise and BEE should only ever be used and how “it never seems to be as chopped celery.

WILSON “as a last resort.” And yet good as what you recall having It can be hard to renow, against the odds, the had that time at that place you member how the vast iceberg “wedge” salad has been once went.” choice of salad stuff now compares resurrected, as a backdrop to rich But above all, “The Department with a few decades ago. Take raand retro dressings such as Green of Salad” is about redefining salad dicchio. These bitter purple-andGoddess. What the iceberg lacks in as comfort food, whether it’s a white leaves were almost unheard flavor, it makes up for in its satisclassic Greek salad or a modern of among American cooks until the fying crunch. panzanella of roasted fall vegetamid-1970s, when in the space of Salad-making today feels so bles. Ms. Nunn decided to start six months it seemed that every much more driven by passion than making salads for herself as a conexpensive restaurant in New York in the past, helped by the glorious solation for the drab loneliness of added radicchio to its menu, startselections of leaves at greenmarthe pandemic. The quality of the ing with Le Cirque. kets, from purslane to pea shoots. berries and tomatoes and other Arugula had a similarly stratoGone are the days described by produce she could buy near her spheric rise in the 1970s. When Laurie Colwin in her 1988 book home in North Carolina was so this spicily pungent leaf first bebecause he was bored with the se“Home Cooking” when salads were “luxurious and inexpensive and came popular, food writers could lection of salad greens available cobbled together by people who glorious” that her salads turned not agree what to call it, as David over the winter. seemed to hate eating them. Ms. out “dazzling and delicious, like Kamp recounts in his 2006 book Mr. McFadden’s 2017 cookbook Colwin recalled being served salbouquets of flowers that you could “The United States of Arugula.”

“Six Seasons” is one of the first I ads in “a small, fake wooden bowl eat.”

Some called it roquette and others turn to for salad ideas because he containing the chopped carcasses This is the best reason that I rucola or rugola before arugula fihas such a keen sense of salad as of what were once edible plants, have yet heard to eat more salad. nally became the accepted word in something joyful. I particularly usually the unfairly treated roWe could all do with some edible the U.S. (In the U.K. we call it like his recipe for carrots cooked maine, with some depressed red bouquets in our lives right now. “rocket.”) in oil and water made into a salad

SONIA PULIDO

Perhaps no other dish has undergone so many changes over the decades.

EXHIBIT

© 1998 CHRISTIE’S IMAGES, LTD.

Treasures of Czarist Russia “UNTIL NOW, almost everything we know about Imperial Russian jewelry is tied to one name,” write Marie Betteley and David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye in their new book “Beyond Fabergé” (Schiffer). That name, of course, belongs to the firm most famous for the bejeweled eggs that it made in the decades before the Russian Revolution. But the book shows that a far larger network of jewelers provided the ruling Romanov family and other wealthy patrons with enough extravagant trinkets to set off several more revolutions.

The designer Pavel Ovchinnikov (1830-88), born a serf, started a silversmith workshop in Moscow that became the biggest in the Russian Empire. In 1876, he created a 6-inch-long jewel casket of silver gilt A jewel casket and enamel in the shape of a designed in the traditional Russian cottage (left). shape of a This was a bid to attract lovers of cottage, 1876.

“Style Russe,” a nationalist fashion popular in Moscow. Another star in the book is Carl August Hahn (1836-99), an Austrian-born court favorite. His designs include a diamond-studded pattern conjoining the initials M&A, for the dowager empress Maria Feodorovna and the ill-fated Czarina Alexandra, who was killed with her husband Nicholas II and their children in July 1918. —Peter Saenger

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING AMANDA FOREMAN

Awed by the Meteors of the New Year’s Sky IF YOU WISH UPON A star this week, you probably won’t get your heart’s desire. But if you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to an outstanding display of the Quadrantids, the annual New Year’s meteor shower that rivals the Perseids in intensity and quality of fireballs. The Quadrantids are exceptionally brief, however: The peak lasts only a few hours on January 2, and a cloudy sky or full moon can ruin the entire show.

Meteor showers happen when the Earth encounters dust and rock sloughed off by a comet as it orbits the sun. The streaks of light we see are produced by this debris burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Human beings have been aware of the phenomenon since ancient times. Some Christian archaeologists have theorized that the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah was inspired by a massive meteor strike near the Dead Sea some 3,700 years ago, which wiped out the Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam in modern Jordan.

Aristotle believed that comets and meteors weren’t heavenly bodies but “exhalations” from the Earth that ignited in the sky. As a result, Western astronomers took little interest in them until the rise of modern science. By contrast, the Chinese began recording meteor events as early as 687 B.C. The Mayans were also fascinated by meteor showers: Studies of hieroglyphic records suggest that important occasions, such as royal coronations, were timed to coincide with the Eta Aquarid shower

SMITYUK YURI/TASS/ZUMA PRESS

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

A long-exposure photograph of the Draconid meteor shower in 2018. in the spring.

Even before telescopes were invented, it wasn’t hard to observe comets, meteors and meteor showers. The 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry contains a depiction of Halley’s comet, which appeared in 1066. But people couldn’t see meteors for what they really were. Medieval Christians referred to the annual Perseid shower as “the tears of St. Lawrence,” believing that the burning tears of the martyred saint lit up the sky on his feast day, August 10.

Things began to change in the 19th century, as astronomers noticed that some meteor showers recurred on a fixed cycle. In November 1799, the Leonid shower was recorded by Andrew Ellicott, an American surveyor on a mission to establish the boundary between the U.S. and the Spanish territory of Florida. Ellicott was on board a ship in the Florida Keys when he observed the Leonids, writing in his journal that “the whole heavens appeared as if illuminated with skyrockets, flying in an infinity of directions, and I was in constant expectation of some of them falling on the vessel.” When a similar spectacle lit up the skies in the eastern U.S. in 1833, astronomers realized that it was a recurrence of the same phenomenon and that the meteor storm must be linked to the orbit of a particular comet.

The origin of the Quadrantids was harder to locate. Astronomers kept looking for its parent comet until 2003, when NASA scientist Peter Jenniskens realized that they were on the wrong track: The shower is actually caused by a giant asteroid, designated 2003 EH1, which broke off from a comet 500 years ago. It is somehow fitting that a mystery of the New Year’s night sky yielded to the power of an open mind.

C6 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

REVIEW

MOVING TARGETS JOE QUEENAN

Fuel and safety mandates have made them all look the same.

Expect California to step in again.

shocked when Harvard Review published it. Over several years, he wrote a dozen stories and got 40 or 50 rejections for each one he managed to get published.

That eventually gave him enough for a first short-story collection, “Third Class Superhero” (2006). His witty first novel, “How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe” (2010), won favorable notices and elicited comparisons to Douglas Adams and Philip K. Dick. Hollywood agents began taking him to meetings with buyers of TV and film rights.

One of those meetings led to a surprise offer to write for HBO’s sci-fi series “Westworld.” That opportunity and further TV-writing work finally let him give up his job as a lawyer, although he wor-

‘I sort of wandered sideways into this career over the course of 20 years.’

WEEKEND CONFIDENTIAL | JAMES R. HAGERTY

Charles Yu A witty, award-winning novelist explores the complexities of immigration and the state of Asian-Americans today.

Looking around his house as a child, he noticed that its jumbled décor didn’t resemble the homes he saw on TV or in glossy magazines.

Household items seemed to have been bought purely for function, not for the way they might blend into a color scheme. That observation found its way into his latest novel: “Matching pillow and [expletive], that’s for White people. Our [expletive] is functional, like a table is where you eat and do homework.”

Mr. Yu’s parents wanted him to become a doctor. He went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he dutifully pursued a premed degree, with a sly minor in creative writing. In his senior year,

A New Rule for Cars: Don’t Look So Standard!

FIRST, CALIFORNIA BANNED the sale of gas-powered cars after the year 2035. Then it got car companies to sign on to its own tough emission standards.

It’s obvious what’s next, isn’t it?

California will become the first state to mandate that by 2035, cars must cease to be visually interchangeable.

“You’ve got the Accord that looks like the Camry that looks like the Sonata, and this just has to stop,” says a high-ranking state official. “It’s incredibly boring to get on the 101 and drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco and maybe see three cars that don’t look like every other

he realized that he wasn’t going to get into medical school and wasn’t cut out to be a physician anyway.

Yet Mr. Yu worried that a writing career wouldn’t be secure financially. He spent a year at the Pacific Exchange as an optionstrading clerk (“I got yelled at a lot because I was slow”) while studying for the Law School Admission Test—in part, he says, “to put off the real world.” He did well enough to get into Columbia Law School, where the reading and writing he did wasn’t fiction or poetry but at least “adjacent to what I enjoyed doing.”

After earning his law degree in 2001, he worked for the giant international law firm Sullivan & Crom-

car. And it makes it harder to catch speeders, because all the cars look the same.”

“It’s really bad with vans,” adds a second, more medium-ranking official. “Car companies developed a couple of basic designs in the 1990s, and they’ve stuck with them. A van that rolled off the assembly line in 2004 doesn’t look much different than one you bought yesterday. I know. I bought one in 2004.”

Car companies agree that their products suffer from a pitiful uniformity. They nod remorsefully that it would be nicer for everyone if cars were not so bland, generic, sleep-inducing.

Then they point out, with some pique, that aerodynamic and structural innovations intended to make cars more fuel-efficient and safer are largely to blame.

“Look, you’re basically dealing with a rectangular-shaped box,”

well in Los Angeles, poring over technical documents for securities offerings. “I wasn’t going to make partner,” he recalls. “I wasn’t even going to come close.” He later worked as an in-house lawyer for a company doing visual effects for movies and another one making computer cables and routers.

In his spare moments, Mr. Yu wrote short stories. “I was looking for some kind of mental space or outlet to make sure I didn’t get completely swallowed up” by legal work, he says. One of his early stories, “Problems for Self-Study,” is a bleak tale of love told through a series of physics questions. About 30 literary magazines rejected the story, he recalls, and he was

says one Motor City CEO. “Short of adding Nifty Fifties fins or running boards or some kind of weird sunroof or turret, there’s just no way to make one car look different from every other car.”

“You could start making cars in the shape of a rhombus or a parallelogram,” says a veteran Japanese car industry executive.

“You could add garish hood ornaments shaped like flying squid or Medusa. But how long would it be before the fickle public started complaining about that?”

Other states are furious at California’s high-handed attitude. This is largely because people in other parts of the country have some different ideas about aesthetics.

“We don’t care that every pickup truck looks like every other pickup truck,” fumes one official from the Montana DMV. “Half the year they’re covered in ice, and half the year they’re covered in mud. What difference would it make if they had a more opulent design?”

“First it’s draconian emission standards, then it’s unrealistic fuel mileage, and now it’s government-mandated visually compelling design,” adds an Alabama congresswoman who still tools around in a 1996 Saturn station wagon. “What gives Californians the right to lord it over the rest of us? A lot of us like uninteresting cars. It makes car thieves less likely to steal them.”

Privately, many in the auto industry concede that if five contemporary sedans got put into a police lineup, all five would go free. They admit that if your fob goes on the fritz outside the

ried about whether TV writing would allow him to pay a mortgage and support his family. “I’m very risk-averse,” Mr. Yu says, but his wife, Michelle Jue, encouraged him to bet on his writing. “I sort of wandered sideways into this career over the course of 20 years,” he says.

Mr. Yu now lives in Irvine, Calif., with Ms. Jue and their two children. Nearly a decade ago, he began thinking about whether he had something to say about his own family’s immigrant experience. In 2013, he started the project that became “Interior Chinatown”—and abandoned it several times. Ms. Jue prodded him to keep trying.

Then an opening line popped into his head: “Ever since you were a boy, you’ve dreamt of being Kung Fu Guy.” The novel—whose title evokes a screenplay scene-setter— turned into a spoof of the TV show “Law & Order,” in which white and Black characters get the sexy, glamorous roles and Asian-Americans are interchangeable bit players with such screenplay labels as “Generic Asian Man” or “Background Oriental Male.” The best they can hope for in Hollywood, in the world of “Interior Chinatown,” is to become “Kung Fu Guy.” By turns nightmarish and hilarious, the novel ends on a hopeful note. The protagonist gazes at his daughter and sees “this dream of assimilation, a dream finally realized, a real American girl.” She will teach him, he thinks, to “move freely between worlds.”

Mr. Yu cautions that the ending isn’t a prediction about the trajectory of Asian-Americans. “I wouldn’t even try to guess at the answer,” he says. “I’m going to just watch it unfold.”

Rose Bowl you’ll never find your Honda Civic. But they object to California mandating an unrealistic time frame to fill the roads with more exciting vehicles.

“It took years to design the original Mustang, the 1966 Pontiac Bonneville,” says one engineer. “It’d be nice to just flip a switch and presto—boring sedans would be replaced by sleek, sexy sports cars. But Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was the Corvette Stingray.”

Libertarians are particularly incensed. “You let nerdy bureaucrats up in Sacramento start deciding what looks good and what doesn’t look good and you’ll end up with a country flooded with dinky little cars like the Volkswagen Beetle,” says a spokesperson for the obscure Catullus Institute. “Remember when everyone thought those cars shaped like bread trucks were the wave of the future? How did that work out?”

Adds an award-winning designer: “For anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to ask car makers to give us brilliant new looks, I’ve got two words: PT Cruiser.”

NISHANT CHOKSI

MATT FURMAN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

R

aised by Taiwanese immigrants in Los Angeles, Charles Yu grew up trusting that American society was on a steady march toward greater racial harmony. With each new generation in the U.S., he says, “I always thought there was a progression toward inclusion.”

But the 45-year-old novelist is no longer so sure that applies to Asian-Americans. His second novel, “Interior Chinatown” (2020), which won the National Book Award for fiction last November, examines why some Chinese and other Asian immigrants and their children still feel confined to stereotypes and secondary roles in the U.S. Italian and Irish immigrants were reviled at first but eventually became part of mainstream U.S. society. But the main character in Mr. Yu’s novel, a Chinese-American actor named Willis Wu, struggles to find an answer to his question: “After two centuries here, why are we still not Americans? Why do we keep falling out of the story?”

Over the past several years, Mr. Yu has found it harder to feel optimistic about prospects for AsianAmericans. The election of President Trump in 2016 signaled a growing hostility to immigrants of all kinds, he says. Meanwhile, China is increasingly viewed as America’s most dangerous rival, and Mr. Trump has branded Covid-19 as the “China virus.”

Mr. Yu’s own winding road to literary stardom seems like an affirmation of the opportunities that can await immigrants and their children in the U.S. “My experience is probably just about as good as you can really come by,” but it is far from universal and filled with complexity, he says. For most of his life, Mr. Yu has felt fully American, but he has received repeated reminders that others see him differently. At one literary event, a comedian mocked him and the other Asian-American participant as interchangeable.

“There’s a mismatch between how I feel inside and how I look on the outside,” Mr. Yu says. In “Interior Chinatown,” the protagonist thinks, “You are Asian! Your brain forgets sometimes. But then your face reminds you.”

Mr. Yu’s father came to the U.S. from Taiwan in the 1960s, studied mechanical engineering at Mississippi State University and the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked in the aerospace industry. His mother was an accountant.

Mr. Yu and his younger brother were born in Los Angeles and grew up there. At home, young Charles learned some Taiwanese but mostly spoke English with his parents.

He was reading billboards at age 3. When he was 8, inspired by a trip to Yosemite National Park, he began writing poems.

Prosody & Pedagogy Dana Gioia honors his mentor in poetry Elizabeth Bishop C11 READ ONLINE AT WSJ.COM/BOOKSHELF

BOOKS THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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Talent Squared Anni & Josef Albers: Interdependent by design C12 Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | C7

Here She Comes Again

A radiant entertainer finally gets her due as a composer and lyricist—and champion of resilience amid a heap of troubles.

BLOND AMBITION Dolly Parton in 1978.

BY EDDIE DEAN

I

N THE LATE 1960S, Dolly Parton got her big break as the “girl singer” on “The Porter Wagoner Show,” a syndicated television program that brought hard-core honky-tonk and down-home humor into the living rooms of America. It may be hard to believe now, but back then Ms. Parton was only the second most flamboyant performer onstage. One of country music’s most magnetic stars, Wagoner had a peroxide pompadour and eyepopping, rhinestone-studded Nudie suits that defined Nashville glitz. Meanwhile, “Miss Dolly,” as he called her, was kept buttoned up in demure outfits despite her natural radiance and zest.

Underpaid and underappreciated, Ms. Parton would later compare her seven-year stint with Wagoner to the time that indentured servants were required to work in order to earn their freedom. It was indeed a raw deal, but it was worth it. It gave her national exposure and performing experience with a peerless entertainer twice her age. It also allowed her to hone her songwriting talent, which had brought her to Nashville in 1964 as an 18-

Beyond Time And Style

BY ALEX BEAM

L

OUIS KAHN (1901-1974) was indisputably one of the greatest architects of the 20th century. When Kahn showed Philip Johnson, the founder of the Museum of Modern Art’s architecture and design department, the drawings for his breakthrough Richards Medical Research Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania, Johnson responded: “When this building is done you’ll be the most prominent architect in the country and we’ll give it a show at the Museum.”

The show opened in 1961 and Kahn, then entering his 60s, was finally launched. Further successes followed quickly. Just a few years after designing the Richards, Kahn became a prisoner of international airport lounges, jetsetting among commissions in India, East and West Pakistan (now Bangladesh and Pakistan), Israel and the United States. He reeled off a string of masterpieces, including the Kimbell

Smarsh puts it, Dolly Parton has had to “answer more questions about her measurements than her songwriting.”

“Songteller” displays previously unseen photographs of precious tokens of Ms. Parton’s life, especially her writing life, such as Wagoner’s dry-cleaner receipts, on which she scrawled the lyrics to her signature song about a mother’s devotion, “Coat of Many Colors.” One of the most poignant images is of a corncob doll with corn-silk hair. It evokes an upbringing “as poor as Job’s turkey” in the remote mountains of east Tennessee, one of a dozen in a sharecropping family. Her first song, “Little Tiny Tasseltop,” composed at age 6, was an ode to one of these homemade dolls. But “Songteller” is packed as well with luminous photos of Ms. Parton in all her celebrity splendor.

She seems at ease with the gap between her exaggerated appearance (“a country girl’s idea of what glamour was”) and her artistic aims—as well as the gap, some would say chasm, between her “sad-ass songs” and the sunny disposition she is famous for.

“I’ve killed a lot of puppies and kids and ladies in my songs. I’ve killed myself a few times,” she deadpans in Please turn to page C9

year-old from the Smoky Mountains.

One day, as the Wagoner tour bus headed to the next town, something caught Ms. Parton’s fancy. “We rode past Dover, Tennessee, and my mind started going,” she recalls in “Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics” (Chronicle, 376 pages, $50). “There was this field of clover waving in the wind. So there we were, Dover-clover, and that started me off: ‘The sun behind a cloud just cast a crawling shadow o’er the fields of clover. And time is running out for me. I wish that he would hurry down from Dover.’ ” The verses that flowed from this roadside epiphany told a story from the point of view of a pregnant girl deserted by her lover and abandoned by her scandalized parents. Alone but still hoping for her lover’s return, she decides to have the baby, which is stillborn. With its Southern Gothic overtones, “Down From Dover” evokes the dark fatalism of the mountain ballads that Ms. Parton heard as a child. Its subject matter was taboo for country radio when it appeared on a 1970 album, so “Dover” was never the hit that she thought it could be. But it remains a favorite of Ms. Parton and many of her fans, and it has enjoyed an

afterlife as one of her most covered songs, not only by country singers (Skeeter Davis) but also by campy pop sirens (Nancy Sinatra) and New Wave chanteuses (Marianne Faithfull).

“Down From Dover” is one of 175 Parton compositions over a six-decade career featured in “Songteller,” a lavishly illustrated compendium of annotated lyrics and back-story anecdotes.

The songs range freely across genres, from classic country weepers to protofeminist hits like “Just Because I’m a Woman” to frothy upbeat pop crossovers; from stark acoustic bluegrass and movie-soundtrack blockbusters like “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You” to Broadway show tunes. It is only a portion of Dolly Parton’s staggering output of 450 recorded songs.

A pair of timely new studies, by a journalist and a musicologist, both unabashed Dolly fans, trace the thematic threads that run through this canon.

Both offer reappraisals of Ms. Parton as a complex and often contradictory artist overshadowed by her largerthan-life image as an entertainer and the proprietor of a multi-media empire.

Sarah Smarsh’s “She Come by It Natural” (Scribner, 187 pages, $22) is a bracing personal account that cele-

Art Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), the Salk Institute (La Jolla, Calif.) and the library at Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter, N.H.).

Kahn’s reputation is unshakable, and yet three recently published books illuminate lingering questions about his life and work. What transformed a standard-issue modernist into a creative force of indomitable originality in his mid-50s? And how should we understand Kahn’s vastly complicated personal life?

Furthermore, what about Kahn’s gnomic utterances, of which the best known is “‘What do you want, Brick?’

And Brick says to you, ‘I like an Arch.’”

and a union headquarters.

Carter Wiseman’s com“The Gallery for Kahn was pact “Louis Kahn: A Life in like being picked from the Architecture” (Virginia, 126 chorus line to act on Broadpages, $26.95) addresses the way,” according to one of his unexpected blossoming of students. the architect’s talent. Almost Kahn made another fateby accident, the “relatively ful connection at Yale. In the obscure forty-six-year old” neon-lit Waldorf Cafeteria on landed a gig as visiting critic Chapel Street, the alreadyat Yale’s department of armarried Kahn first met the chitecture in 1947. Yale had vivacious young drama stuwanted to hire the Brazilian dent Harriet Pattison. Kahn, superstar Oscar Niemeyer, whose face had been badly but he was denied entry to scarred by a childhood firethe United States for politplace accident, nonetheless ical reasons; instead they easily charmed both men settled for what was then and women (“He is the one merely one of the more comman I could put my arms petent architects in Philaaround,” Jackie Kennedy obdelphia. Kahn flourished at served). He made a lasting Yale, where the School of impression on Ms. Pattison, Fine Arts and the depart- ON THE CUSP OF GREATNESS Kahn at the as she relates in her affectment of architecture cross- Yale University Art Gallery in 1953. ing and informative memoir fertilized each other. Giants such as Josef Albers, Paul Hindemith had been aware of since his school- “Our Days Are Like Full Years” (Yale, and Willem de Kooning roamed the days, would come to mean more to 448 pages, $48). On this snowy day, “his blue eyes sparkled like the snowKahn any other living architect. streets of dowdy New Haven.

“Although brief, the trip clearly flakes he brushed off” his coat, she While at Yale, Kahn served a threemonth stint as resident architect at the added to his rapid—if late—maturing remembers. Trying to reconstruct the American Academy in Rome, which as an architect,” Mr. Wiseman writes; meeting later that day, Ms. Pattison allowed him to visit the Egyptian pyra- “Kahn resumed his teaching at Yale, wrote: “I met an amazing man.”

Mr. Wiseman’s succinct new biogmids, the temples at Athens and Kar- but with fresh eyes.” Yale offered Kahn nak, and, most significantly, Le Corbu- his first significant commission, to de- raphy tells you almost all you need to sier’s famous concrete landmark, the sign an addition to its Beaux-Arts style know about Kahn’s professional life.

Unité d’Habitation, then under con- University Art Gallery. Before this, It comes 13 years after the publication struction in Marseille. This last was Kahn’s list of credits included unmemo- of Mr. Wiseman’s fuller “Louis I. Kahn: Please turn to page C8 a revelation: “Corbu,” whose work he rable public-housing work, a synagogue

A middling modernist until his mid-50s, Louis Kahn was one of architecture’s great late bloomers.

Was Kahn a true sage, as John Lobell argues in “Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy” (Monacelli, 195 pages, $50), or just a bushwa artist conning the eggheads at Yale and Penn, where he taught?

Builder; philanderer; philosopher.

We are slowly assembling the story of Louis Kahn, the man in full.

LOUIS I. KAHN COLLECTION, ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVES, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

RICHARD E. AARON/REDFERNS

3-6-1-6-6-7-5-1-3

brates how Ms. Parton has given a liberating voice to an often ignored segment of the American working class—resilient and independentminded blue-collar women. Lydia R. Hamessley’s “Unlikely Angel” (Illinois, 286 pages, $19.95) offers a scholarly

From country weepers to proto-feminist hits to pop crossovers and stark acoustic bluegrass tunes. analysis of representative songs, as text and in performance, to explore Ms. Parton’s creative process.

This trio of books makes a solid case for a composer due to receive her just deserts as “one of our greatest American songwriters,” asserts co-author Robert K. Oermann in his preface to “Songteller.” From self-described “Backwoods Barbie” to American Bard may seem a stretch, but there is merit in the argument that, for too long now, Ms. Parton’s formidable body of work has been overlooked for the sake of her relentlessly scrutinized body. As Ms.

C8 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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BOOKS ‘A painter leaves his emotions behind him for posterity to share.’

—AU G U STU S JO H N

FIVE BEST ON WRITINGS BY ARTISTS

Celia Paul The author of the memoir ‘Self-Portrait.’

Gwen John: Letters and Notebooks Edited by Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan (2004)

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The Welsh painter Gwen John had a passionate relationship with the sculptor Auguste Rodin, who was 36 years her senior. Describing the details of the affair to her friend Ursula, she writes: “I had a visit from Rodin yesterday morning and still feel rather faint after it. As you thought, he likes to make me furious, or at least it seems so.” She also wrote about her lover in her notebooks: “Today I woke unwell. I have hurried dreadfully to meet R. He did not come.” The voice of her letters is frank: “I don’t pretend to know anybody well.

People are like shadows to me.” Her life was filled with shadows—her melancholy paintings were full of them. Nonetheless, throughout the tempestuous affair with Rodin, and others in her later life, Gwen John remained committed to her art—that is, to the production of paintings of ever greater intensity.

Chiaroscuro

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Augustus John painted all the most famous people of his time. In his memoir, he describes them with a portraitist’s insight. Oscar Wilde is “an easy-going sort of genius, with an enormous sense of fun, infallible bad taste, gleams of profundity and a romantic apprehension of the Devil.” D.H. Lawrence “made a point of compensating himself for his physical drawbacks by a dazzling display of cerebral fireworks. Originality or Death seemed to be his motto.” Further, John writes, “Amedeo Modigliani was normally a charming man, but he was rarely normal. His habit of chewing hempseed, if it inflamed his imagination, distorted it as well.” Of Gwen John, his sister, we learn, her “apparent timidity and evasiveness disguised a lofty pride. . . .

She was capable of a degree of exaltation combined with ruthlessness which, like a pointed pistol, compelled surrender: but the pistol would be pointed at herself.”

Walter Sickert: The Complete Writings on Art

BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

By Augustus John (1952)

SIBLING RIVALRY ‘Portrait Group’ (1898) by Gwen John depicts, among others, the artist (through the window) and her brother Augustus (in the hat). what you might say exact. It is the other way about almost. It is what you see in children’s drawings sometimes. They will suddenly draw their nurse or their dog or something and it is astonishing how ‘alive’ the drawing is. They lose this capacity afterwards and never seem to recover it. I am ‘getting on’ and it is difficult for me to recover precisely the same innocence as I had in the nursery but I have gone a long way to get somewhere near it. . . . If you want precise information you can get it, goodness knows, with a precision which makes you reel, with a precision which makes you sick. That is not what we are out for.”

Edited by Anna Gruetzner Robins (2000)

Louis Kahn: A Life in Architecture Continued from page C7 Beyond Time and Style: A Life in Architecture.” In the earlier book, Mr. Wiseman included some details of Kahn’s affairs with Ms. Pattison, with whom he had a son, and his colleague Anne Tyng, with whom he had a daughter.

In the new book, Mr. Wiseman focuses mainly on the architecture, concluding that “Kahn’s personal history can cloud the merits of his work.”

Or embellish them. Ms. Pattison’s book not only details the compromises that attended their surreptitious relationship, it also abounds in architectural detail. Kahn filled his letters and postcards to her with drawings, sketches and ruminations about his varied commissions, and of course shared details of the “unusual adult biography”—Mr. Wiseman’s term—that he and Mr. Lobell shy away from.

Ms. Pattison calls their 15 years together “a season of fantasy that we both indulged in, imagining often how wonderful it would be to live together and have a family—although when I tried to talk about specifics, Lou would fall silent or say something poetic that effectively put the discussion off.” The cruelties inflicted upon the “other woman”—Kahn never stopped living with his wife, Esther—are palpable.

Ms. Pattison, who became a landscape designer, worked on the plantings for the Kimbell Art Museum, but when it opened to the public in 1972, “I wasn’t there for the event, as I was not invited. Lou took Esther.” When Ms. Pattison worked in Kahn’s Philadelphia

The Letters of Paul Cézanne Edited by Alex Danchev (2013)

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The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

The most significant of Paul Cézanne’s letters are those written in his old age to the young painter Émile Bernard.

In these Bernard is advised to “treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone, everything placed in perspective, so that each side of an object, of a plane,

Edited by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger (1914)

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The artist writes to his brother, Theo: “If now you can forgive a man for making a thorough study of pictures, admit also that the love of books is as sacred as the love of Rembrandt, and I

office, she reports, “I kept the door with its frosted-glass panel locked to avoid confrontations when Esther Kahn paid a visit.”

Kahn, the glamorous world traveler (“Tomorrow, Sunday, I see the Mayor of Jerusalem . . . I see the Prime Minister”), was often broke, so notes such as “yesterday I intended to send you the money but just plumb forgot” tend to repeat themselves. For most of their years together, Ms. Pattison is raising their son—born in 1962—alone and in financial straits. In 2003, Nathaniel Kahn would make architectural history of a different kind, re- GATHERING INSPIRATION Inside the leasing his Oscar-nominated movie “My Architect,” a biographical portrait before this masterpiece of Corbusier’s.” of his absent father, which included Kahn wrote to her when he learned of extended interviews with Ms. Pattison, Le Corbusier’s death: “Yesterday someAnne Tyng, and his two half-sisters, thing died in me in the loss of [the] Sue Ann Kahn and Alexandra Tyng. someday when I could have met Le Just as buildings on the same street Corbusier with the feeling of the right are said to “speak” to one another, to give him my reverence.” Absent Le Corbusier, Kahn lamented, “Who will I design for now?”

The three books also remind us For Kahn, Le Corbusier of less portentous, shared qualities set the gold standard. among architects. Item: No great archiKahn often asked the tect creates under his birth name. Kahn was born Leiser-Itze Schmulowsky; rhetorical question, Frank Lloyd Wright’s parents named ‘How am I doing, Corbu?’ him Frank Lincoln Wright, and so on.

Item: Architects—Mies van der Rohe, Kahn—aren’t good with finances and these three books are occasionally in don’t know how to drive. Item: Archidialogue. It is Mr. Lobell who quotes tects make mistakes, but they may live Kahn saying that, in the 1930s, “I lived long enough to correct them. Both in a city called Corbu,” and notes that Messrs. Wiseman and Lobell note that Kahn would later ask, repeatedly, “How Kahn allowed too much sunlight into am I doing, Corbu?” But it is Ms. Patti- the labs at Richards Medical, a problem son who has the dispatches from the he rectified at the sunnier Salk site in field, e.g., Kahn’s letter from Le Cor- La Jolla with cantilevered, overhanging busier’s famous Convent of La walkways that shaded the floor-toTourette, near Lyon: “The building is a ceiling glass walls of the laboratories coming together of spaces boldly and below. even violently meeting each with its Ms. Pattison and Mr. Lobell harmoown light quality. I felt all humility nize on a key aspect of museum design,

even think they complement each other. . . .

My God, how beautiful Shakespeare is!

Who is mysterious like him? His language and style can indeed be compared to an artist’s brush quivering with fever and emotion.” A gifted writer, van Gogh wrote letters eloquent in their recording of a life filled with tragedy. In an early one he expresses the realization that he has lost his way: He has failed as an art dealer, a schoolteacher, a priest; he is not yet an artist: “As moulting time—when they change their feathers—is for birds, so adversity or misfortune is the difficult time for us human beings. One can stay in it . . . one can also emerge renewed; but anyhow it must not be done in public . . . therefore the only thing to do is to hide oneself.” In the next letter, he has found his vocation: “I write to you while I am busy drawing and I am in a hurry to get back to it.” The last letter was found 10 years later on his dead body. Vincent craved reassurance from his beloved Theo that it was art and not financial success that truly mattered: “Well, my own work, I am risking my life for it and my reason has half-foundered because of it.”

GRISCHA RÜSCHENDORF/RUPHO

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Walter Sickert, the German-born British painter, pupil of Whistler and Degas, was the most highly regarded of the Camden Town group of painters.

He told Virginia Woolf: “I have always been a literary painter, thank goodness, like all the decent painters.” He wrote prolifically, with wit and candor, as in his lecture on drawing: “Drawing is not (and I am sorry to say this to people concerned with precise morality)

leads to a central point. Lines parallel to the horizon give breadth, be it a section of nature or, if you prefer, of the Spectacle that Pater Omnipotens Aeterne Deus spreads before our eyes. Lines perpendicular to this horizon give depth.” The letters carry a clear sense of the writer’s urgency to communicate his vision.

He is, he writes, “old, and ill, and I have vowed to die painting rather than sink into the degrading senility that threatens old people.” As though in keeping with his vow, the last letter is to a color merchant with a demand that his order for paints be filled: “Monsieur, a week has gone by since I asked you for ten burnt lakes no. 7 and I have had no reply. What is going on? A reply, and a speedy one, I beg you.”

National Assembly of Bangladesh. a subject Kahn knew a great deal about. Ms. Pattison recalls Kahn saying, “The first thing you want in most museums is a cup of coffee—you feel so tired right away.” Mr. Lobell notes that Kahn included “a garden for the tired visitor” at the Kimbell, and at Yale’s Center for British Art, “after some time in the galleries,” you are led by the floor plan “into the light court, where there are sofas.” Finally, an architect who is feeling our pain!

What do we learn about Kahn the architect-philosopher? Abba Tor, an Israeli engineer who worked on the Yale Center, once kidded Kahn about his oft-cited “What do you want, Brick?” quote. According to Mr. Wiseman, Tor “kidded Kahn by saying, ‘Lou, what did the wall say the last time you talked to it?’”

To be fair, even Kahn evinced some skepticism about his windy, rhetorical flights. Writing to Ms. Pattison, he tried to explain his bizarre coinage “Ina”: “I did not like the word consciousness. It sounds like a cheap perfume, so I invented INA. Now the reason is that there can be consciousness without will but there can be no will without consciousness. So INA is pure

consciousness without will (so far it makes no sense to me either).”

(For her part, Ms. Pattison defines Ina as “the place from which Lou felt artistic inspiration and realization arose.”)

Yet when Mr. Lobell discusses Kahn’s essentialist idea that a building possesses an “existence-will” even before it is built, the argument rings true. Mies often spoke of architecture as “Zeitwille,” or the will of the epoch, and the monumental, incantatory power of Kahn’s best work cannot be denied. Comparing two famous projects on the Indian subcontinent—Le Corbusier’s planned city of Chandigarh in India, and Kahn’s National Assembly building in Bangladesh—Mr. Wiseman notes that Corbu’s design “was considered somewhat alien to the Indian environment.”

By contrast, he quotes a Bangladeshi architect praising Kahn’s work at Dhaka: “When parliament was out of session, the building stood like our conscience, watching us, waiting for us to do the right thing.” Inspiration trapped in poured concrete—it is hard to imagine a greater compliment to an architect.

Here is another compliment. Concluding his book, Mr. Lobell notes that Kahn’s work conforms neither to the Beaux-Arts values that characterized his training, nor to the Modernist aesthetic that dominated the profession during his lifetime. “But what if there is a third choice?” Mr. Lobell asks.

Indeed. What if you ask the building: “What style are you?” The edifice answers: “I am the style of Louis Kahn.” That is architectural eloquence of the highest order.

Mr. Beam is the author, most recently, of “Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece.”

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | C9

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BOOKS ‘Borders? I have never seen one. But I have heard they exist in the minds of some people.’

—TH O R H EYERDAH L

Time to Be Moving Along The Next Great Migration

By Sonia Shah Bloomsbury, 387 pages, $28

BY TUNKU VARADARAJAN

Continued from page C7 an annotation for a lesser-known gem from 1969, “Gypsy, Joe, and Me,” in which a family of drifters are wiped out: First, the dog Gypsy is hit by a car; then the narrator’s boyfriend Joe dies from exposure; then the narrator herself jumps off a bridge in despair.

“Lord, I just can’t get depressing enough, can I?” Ms. Parton writes.

In fact, the lyrical content at the heart of “Songteller” shows the wide sweep of her oeuvre, a blend of darkness and light with natural affinities for the scorned and the misunderstood.

There are outcasts and misfits of all sorts: hermits, prostitutes, winos, orphans, clairvoyants, gamblers and, not least, resourceful women of all stripes, but mostly poor and rural, in every conceivable predicament. Wordplay and O. Henry-like plot twists abound.

No subject is off-limits: suicide, insanity, lust, faith and doubt, adultery, depression, illegitimacy; there is even a song called “PMS Blues.”

To help explain Ms. Parton’s prodigious output, Ms. Hamessley, in “Unlikely Angel,” credits the rich musical heritage back in the Smokies, especially the gripping ballads of tragedy and death that Ms. Parton’s mother sang and the eerie folk hymns that Ms. Parton heard in the local Pentecostal churches. A music teacher at Hamilton College and a clawhammer banjo enthusiast, Ms. Hamessley is especially

DISPLACED Rohingya refugees near the Balukali camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in 2017. came not merely from other lands but also from within national boundaries—over just a few decades, nearly six million Southern blacks, she observes, moved to the country’s industrial North. By the turn of the 20th century, “immigrants and their progeny” outnumbered those whose parents had been born in the U.S. America’s “scientific elites” at the time, says Ms. Shah, were obsessed with the “biological menace of migration”—a eugenicist fear that a mixing of peoples would result in a rise in crime and disease. She argues that the roots of their resistance to incomers—which continues on the less-elite nativist right to this day— traces back to the 18th century, “when European naturalists first started cataloging the natural world.” Western Christian civilization came to see people and species as being “from” specific places that had been determined for them by the Creator.

Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist, was the prime mover of this idea. In his view, writes Ms. Shah, nature was a reflection of God—ergo, perfect—“with each living creature in its place with a specific function to fulfill.”

Since migration would have violated God’s natural order, Linnaeus dismissed it as an impossibility. And since the Creator did not intend man to migrate, it was his conviction that the physically distinctive people that European explorers encountered on their voyages to Africa, Asia or the Americas did not share a common origin with Homo sapiens europaeus (to use Linnaeus’s term).

Linnaeus imposed an elegant taxonomical order on the world, devising a system that endures to this day. But on the question of migration, he faced a sturdy contemporary

attuned to the subtle ways in which Ms. Parton interweaves old and new musical strands—for instance, by ornamenting her verses with archaic flourishes and stock phrases from centuriesold ballads: “My life is like unto a bargain store”; “all ye maidens heed my warning.” In her 1973 hit “Jolene,” a bank teller who flirted with Ms. Parton’s husband is transformed into a classic femme fatale, whose “beauty is beyond compare / With flaming locks of auburn hair.”

Some of Ms. Parton’s best-known tear-jerkers, such as “Me and Little Andy,” about an abandoned girl and her puppy seeking refuge in a storm, have been savaged by critics through the years. (“As heinous as any of her past offenses against good taste,” wrote one.) In fact, these songs, concert staples still beloved by fans, reveal Ms. Parton working in the tradition of the sentimental Victorian-era parlor tunes with which, we learn, her mother serenaded her.

Ms. Hamessley supplements her close readings (and close listenings) with incisive comments from Ms. Parton, who sent responses via cassette to the author’s inquiries, mostly about her native Appalachia’s folk roots. When asked about the early 19th-century hymn “Wayfaring Stranger,” whose stark melody re-appears in a number of her compositions, the now 74-yearold Ms. Parton dredged up a childhood memory of an old man at a local church in faded overalls who stood up mid-service and sang it impromptu: “It was the saddest, most beautiful, most lonesome thing I’d ever heard,” she tells Ms. Hamessley.

Early in her career, Ms. Parton mined her past not only for these emotional touchstones but for raw mate-

challenge from the Comte de Buffon, a French naturalist. All humans, Buffon wrote, regardless of where they live, “derive from the same stock and are of the same family.” A migrationist by conviction, Buffon believed that observable physical differences between peoples derived not from intrinsic biological

The migratory impulse comes naturally—it is rooted in human biology. More people live outside their lands of birth today than at any time in recorded history. distinctions but from a variable process of change and adaptation.

Though Buffon’s core belief has been borne out over time, the persistent differences between peoples—cultural, philosophical and physical—have made migration a perennially contentious matter, something Ms. Shah seeks to address with science, not sentiment.

Her overarching goal in “The Next Great Migration,” after showing the evolutionary logic of the migratory impulse, is to align herself with the “lumpers” of this world, as against the “splitters.” These opposing camps, first posited by Charles Darwin in a letter to a fellow biologist, defined the former as those who look for underlying similarities between “disparate data points” (Ms. Shah’s phrase) and the latter as those who would rather focus on the differences. Linnaeus, “who would sniff out any hint of a distinction to draw

yet another biological border,” was a splitter.

There are a few places in this thoughtful and eloquent book in which readers will take issue with Ms. Shah’s narrative. For instance, having made the perfectly good assertion that economists have “long struggled to detect” any negative economic effect of migrants on locals, she makes the overwrought claim that, in a 2015 study, George Borjas, a Harvard economist, “overturned” a near-consensus on the positive nature of migration. Mr. Borjas is a longstanding pessimist when it comes to immigrant labor’s effect on U.S. wages. And while his work isn’t scoffed at by other economists, it is not embraced either. He is an academic outlier.

Ms. Shah’s focus on Mr. Borjas was prompted by the endorsement, by outgoing President Trump, of some of his findings. Yet the truth is that the U.S. has enabled millions of migrants to become substantially better off while causing no discernible loss to American labor— an accomplishment too few Americans boast about. “Most every migrant,” writes Ms. Shah—herself the daughter of migrant doctors from India—“could accurately describe their movements as motivated by the desire for work and economic security.” Her parents had grown up in cramped tenements in India, sleeping on stone floors. In New York City in 1966, by contrast, they had so many offers of medical jobs that they evaluated them “based on whether they included apartments, and whether those apartments had balconies.” What would dear old Linnaeus have made of that?

Mr. Varadarajan is a Journal contributor and a fellow at New York University Law School’s Classical Liberal Institute.

rial. By the time of her 1973 nostalgia- Parton’s music has helped “hard-luck drenched album “My Tennessee women” make their own escapes from Mountain Home,” her boss Wagoner deadbeat men and dead-end lives. had had enough. As her producer, he Women like Ms. Smarsh’s Grandma controlled much of what she recorded, Betty, who survived a string of abusive often in slick arrangements that went husbands and helped raise Ms. Smarsh against her wishes. For him, the money even as she juggled low-paying jobs. was in love songs. “Dolly, nobody gives “When I was a kid, Betty would put a shit about ‘Mama’s Old Black Kettle,’ or ‘Daddy’s Working Boots,’ ” he told her. “Who cares?” Her response was “Jolene,” her biggest hit yet, garnering her new fans outside country music, and it wasn’t long before she broke free from Wagoner and went solo.

For Ms. Smarsh, a Kansasbased freelance journalist and author, Ms. Parton’s tumultuous relationship with Wagoner is only too familiar for the women Ms. Smarsh herself grew up with on the Kansas plains. Through the years, and even after Wagoner’s death in 2007, Ms. Parton has played down and publicly forgiven the abusive treatment at his hands. Ms. Smarsh puts back MUSIC AND LYRICS On stage in 1971. the hurt and sting.

“Parton had left home for the lights of Nashville and found suc- one of Dolly’s tapes in the deck of her cess,” she writes. “But, in some ways, old car while we rolled down some she was just as trapped as she would highway,” she writes. “It’s the only have been as a knocked-up kid in a music I remember her singing and cryshack in Sevier County. . . . She wound ing to in that emotionally repressed up professionally and contractually Midwestern culture and class.” bound to a man who fancied himself In 2016, Ms. Smarsh treated the 71her husband, her father, her owner. . . . year-old Betty to a concert at a Kansas What she’d stepped into was the City arena packed with the usual wealthier, show business parallel of a rainbow coalition of long-time Dolly life she’d meant to escape.” fanatics and recent converts, from farm Bristling with sharp insights and kids to drag queens. “Unlike Parton, righteous anger, “She Come by It Natu- [Betty] hasn’t had high-priced doctors ral” is a moving account of how Ms. keeping her well-oiled over the years, LES LEVERETT/GRAND OLE OPRY

Dolly Parton, Songteller

KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES

I

N 2009, people in Tibet began to suffer from a novel form of unpleasantness— unconnected to the torment of living under Chinese rule. There were widespread reports of “strange itchy bites,” the first time anyone in that elevated tundra on the northern side of the Himalayas “could ever remember being bit by a mosquito.”

So writes Sonia Shah, an accomplished science journalist and the author of “The Next Great Migration.” A quick search on the internet—prompted by a disbelief likely in anyone plagued by this omnipresent insect— turns up scientific papers that corroborate her story. Mosquitoes had indeed, about a decade ago, made a home in Tibet, no doubt in response to changing temperatures and patterns of forestation. Put simply: The mosquitoes had migrated. Just as people do.

Human-rights groups are inclined to assert that there’s a moral right to migrate inherent in all persons, accompanied by a right to be resettled. Ms. Shah, equally liberal in her politics, states her case differently: She asserts the existence of an irrepressible “migratory impulse” that is embedded not just in human nature but in the nature of all living things. Fish migrate.

Birds migrate. War-ravaged Syrians migrate.

Even coral reefs migrate: Scientists have discovered two reef species off Japan that move northward at a rate of nearly 9 miles every year.

Ms. Shah is quick to distinguish the movements of “wild species” from those of human migrants. The former are shaped by “their own biological capacities” and the “geographic features they encounter on their journeys,” such as the steepness of mountains or the swiftness of currents. By contrast, the paths taken by human migrants “are shaped primarily by abstractions.” To be sure, these abstractions can sometimes be all too painfully concrete, and the news today, Ms. Shah writes, “is full of stories of people on the move”: African migrants fleeing hardship or oppression “cram themselves onto leaky boats” to get to Europe; and “women hauling toddlers on their hips walk hundreds of miles” from Guatemala to the U.S. border in search of employment.

The statistics Ms. Shah marshals are eyecatching: Fifteen million people fled their countries in 2015, more than at any time since World War II. More people live outside their lands of birth today than at any time in recorded history. By 2045, the enlarging of deserts in sub-Saharan Africa could force 60 million people to “pick up and leave.” By 2100, rising sea levels could add an additional 180 million to their ranks. “The next great migration,” she says, “is upon us.”

Ms. Shah’s book, at times tendentious, is always humane. She strives throughout to ground her arguments in empirical data and to calm those who would fear impending mass movements of “foreign” people by stressing that “migration is a force of nature, rooted in human biology and history,” whose benefits have outweighed its costs.

Yet she acknowledges the resistance to migrants in much of modern history, even in countries whose credo celebrates migration. In the case of the U.S., one such country, migrants

and her knees were aching in our cramped seats halfway up the enormous arena,” she writes. “I got her to stand up and dance with me during ‘9 to 5,’ for which the whole place was on its feet near the end of the show, but a woman who lived the song might not feel so jubilant.”

It is fitting that both “Unlikely Angel” and “She Come by It Natural,” defending Ms. Parton as an important American composer, end at the same place—a humble bronze statue outside the Sevier County Courthouse in east Tennessee. It is a downto-earth depiction of a beaming Ms. Parton wearing jeans and hugging her guitar around the time she left her mountain home for Nashville. “Most surprisingly,” notes Ms. Hamessley, “she is barefoot—superstar Dolly wears at least 5” heels—and her toes have the sheen of a venerated icon. . . . She is represented as if she were still that mountain girl from Locust Ridge who dreamed of being a songwriter.”

That mountain girl had left on a bus with her guitar and three paper bags full of dirty clothes, the hooting laughter of her high-school classmates ringing in her ears after she had announced on Graduation Day that she was headed to Music City to make it big. Along with “Songteller” and these appreciative studies, the statue’s smile is proof that Ms. Parton has had the last laugh.

Mr. Dean is co-author of Dr. Ralph Stanley’s “Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times.”

C10 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

BOOKS ‘High birth is a form of congenital insanity.’

—VIRGINIA WOOLF

MYSTERIES TOM NOLAN

ALAMY

A Butcher And His Enemies

The Weight of the Estate House of Trelawney

By Hannah Rothschild Knopf, 366 pages, $27.95

BY MOIRA HODGSON

I

N A SONG of 1938, Noël Coward wrote: “The stately homes of England / How beautiful they stand, / To prove the upper classes / Have still the upper hand. / Though the fact that they have to be rebuilt / And frequently mortgaged to the hilt / Is inclined to take the gilt / Off the gingerbread . . .”

Hannah Rothschild’s new comic novel “House of Trelawney” is about an ancestral home in Cornwall where the gilt has definitely come off. Trelawney Castle, situated on a bluff overlooking the ocean, has belonged to the same noble family for 800 years. “The castle was their three-dimensional calling card, the physical embodiment of their wealth and influence,” writes Ms. Rothschild.

“Each Earl added an extension until it was declared the grandest, if not the finest, stately home in the county of Cornwall.”

It sounds wonderful. It’s not.

The novel opens in 2008, and the castle has fallen into “chaos and decrepitude.” The bungling and ineptitude of the last eight dissolute earls, “along with two world wars, the Wall Street Crash, three divorces and inheritance taxes” has eaten up the estate. There were once medieval oak woods, meadows and waterfalls on the 500,000 acres known as “Trelawneyshire.” Now ponds have silted up, hedges are bedraggled, and arches are covered with vines.

Inside the castle, which has a room for each day of the year, empty squares discolor walls where great paintings once hung.

In the rooms “the huge side tables were covered in a layer of dust and detritus, and a grand piano sat in a pool of water.” And the decay is accelerating: “Occasionally a great crash of avalanching plaster could be heard falling like a tree in a faraway wood.”

In 1988 the 24th Earl of Trelawney, now aged 85, handed the pile to his feckless son and heir, Kitto. His oldest and smartest child, Blaze, couldn’t inherit

Once an aristocratic family’s pride, a Cornish manor is now a symbol of their long-held illusions. because she was female. Such were Britain’s archaic rules of primogeniture. With no funds left for its upkeep Kitto, like many an earl or duke before him, was forced to marry for money. Jane, his dowdy bride, possessed a fortune. But, inevitably, Jane’s money ran out.

So did the heating and hot water.

Now she is martyr to the cause, the house “skivvy,” feeding her aging parents-in-law and three teenage children cut-price mince (ground beef). She delivers pots of hot water to the freezing elderly earl and countess who reside upstairs in a fantasy world peopled with imaginary housemaids and butlers. They still change into formal clothes (now rather shabby) for dinner.

Meanwhile, in London, the estranged Blaze is living in a different world. There are no drip-filled buckets or creeping mold in the modern white-and-beige apartment, complete with four-person Jacuzzi, she has bought near

Tower Bridge. A financial wizard, Blaze is a senior partner at the highly successful firm of Kerkyra Capital, where she has been riding out the turbulence of the 2008 crash. Her life and Jane’s are reconnected when a long-lost, wildly beautiful friend who married a maharaja 20 years before writes from India that she is dying of dengue fever (seriously).

She asks Blaze and Jane to take in her daughter, Ayesha. Of course, when the 19-year-old arrives, she brings a new layer of chaos.

Nothing is left out in this madcap, convoluted novel, which parodies British aristocracy on one hand and the social-climbing world of new money on the other.

There are odd, unlikely romances, a suicide, and babies born out of wedlock. Blaze becomes dismally involved with a brilliant but reclusive hedge-fund manager, a paragon of niceness who, we’re asked to believe, would rather be herding sheep when he’s not raking in his millions.

Ms. Rothschild is an intelligent writer and an elegant prose stylist. The first female chair of the National Gallery, she describes her characters’ physical characteristics with the eye of someone who’s spent a lifetime looking carefully at paintings. Her first novel, “The Improbability of Love” (2015), was a clever satire of the art world she knows well.

It worked because a thread of suspense kept the story moving.

That’s what’s missing from this unwieldy book. The characters are one-dimensional. One exception, the most vividly depicted and believable personality, is an elderly castle resident, Tuffy, sister of the earl, who studies fleas, or Siphonaptera, as she refers to them in her scholarly fashion. She spends hours rooting through birds’ nests

and putting insects dead and alive into specimen boxes and plastic bags. Tuffy bears more than a passing resemblance to a real person, Miriam Rothschild (1908-2005), the remarkable entomologist and flea expert who was the author’s great aunt.

Even given the meandering plot, with so many comings and goings it’s hard to keep track, Ms. Rothschild provides some good lines. “Maybe I’ve got to that age when a woman turns to God, gardening or genealogy,” Blaze jokes ruefully. The countess states, “I only like living somewhere surrounded by my own land. Looking at other people’s property would make one feel ill.”

Like many owners of grand estates falling upon hard times, the family decides to open it to the public. But there’s a twist: They’ll show the castle as a ruin. “Visitors would walk with wonder: viewing the sky through gaping holes in the roof, crunching fallen plaster underfoot, observing the inhabitants at rest and play.

Anyone who felt moved to could contribute to a restoration fund.”

Ms. Rothschild writes, “The decline and fall of the House of Trelawney would mirror the history of Britain; like the country, Trelawney was a shadow of its former self, a mere elegy and an effigy.”

The castle will be saved in an unexpected way. Meanwhile Britain, that “sceptered isle,” is a shadow of its former self. But one thing the British haven’t lost is their sense of humor, and Ms. Rothschild provides a large dose of it in this quirky satire.

Ms. Hodgson is the author of “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: My Adventures in Life and Food.”

THOMAS PERRY’S gang-world protagonist Michael Schaeffer first appeared in Mr. Perry’s 1982 debut novel, “The Butcher’s Boy,” which told how Schaeffer was adopted at age three by Eddie Mastrewski, a Pittsburgh butcher with a second job as a hired hitman. In his teens, Schaeffer became partners with his surrogate father in both professions. In “Eddie’s Boy” (Mysterious Press, 274 pages, $26), an unanticipated but welcome series entry, Schaeffer is 60, retired and living low-profile in England with his titled wife.

Schaeffer’s violent past catches up to him every decade or two, in the form of professional assassins bent on collecting payoffs from retributive mobsters. At the start of “Eddie’s Boy,” Schaeffer is forced to deal with a quartet of thugs who come after him one evening in his wife’s ancestral home. The chillingly focused Schaeffer kills the assailants with a minimum of fuss and an absence of emotion—then apologizes to his wife: “I’m sorry for all the noise and commotion.” His THIS WEEK spouse, privy to her husband’s past, responds: “You know, Eddie’s Boy

By Thomas Perry Michael, you’re not thirty anymore. Maybe we could ask some men we trust to help out.” Schaeffer prefers not to involve others.

He does take his wife’s suggestion that he lay low in Australia for a while, though he reflects: “They both knew that it was unlikely he’d live to return home one more time.”

But Schaeffer was well-trained by his mentor: “Eddie had taught him how to be the one who survived.” Before he can catch his departing flight, however, he feels compelled to kill two men who are shadowing him at the airport.

After landing in Sydney, he overpowers another group of attackers on the train into the city.

Schaeffer realizes hiding is no longer an option.

Who specifically, though, wishes him eliminated?

“There were plenty of suspects. . . . He could think of about twenty men.”

Few authors write action sequences, build suspense and spring surprises as well as Mr. Perry. And few readers will expect anyone who’s roused Schaeffer’s alarm to escape his fatal attentions. In an attempt to find out who wants him dead, Schaeffer next travels to the U.S., to the Virginia home of Elizabeth Waring, an official in the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Section, with whom he’s had previous dealings.

His proposal: If she tells him who’s after him, he’ll give her information on unsolved mob murders she can bring to belated trial.

Waring does get some useful facts out of Schaeffer, as she tries to convince him to enter witness-protection and spend the rest of his life testifying against indicted mobsters. But Schaeffer won’t go that far; instead, he engineers ingenious, deadly traps into which he lures his enemies. “It’s not a duel,” Schaeffer says of his current predicament. “It’s more like a hunt. I’m the wolf. . . . No matter how things go, the deer doesn’t get to eat the wolf.”

Ferreting for Mountweazels

FICTION SAM SACKS

A novel for those who feel that language doesn’t furnish them with words to match their daily experiences.

‘WHAT WOULD BE in your personal dictionary?” asks a character in Eley Williams’s “The Liar’s Dictionary” (Doubleday, 270 pages, $26.95), and the question will resonate with anyone who has ever felt that language doesn’t sufficiently furnish them with words to match their daily experiences.

What Mallory, the novel’s narrator, would like is “a word for knowing when the pasta is perfectly cooked just by looking at it”; “a word for mispronouncing words that you had only ever seen written down”; “a word for being surprised by an aspect of your physicality.” Nothing is more individualized than the act of naming. How maddening that we’re limited to the words that have been deemed appropriate for general usage.

In Ms. Williams’s entertaining office-place whodunit, the personalized reference book is no longer just a dream. Mallory is an intern at Swansby’s New Encyclopaedic Dictionary, an erstwhile competitor to the Oxford English Dictionary that has since been mostly forgotten.

Swansby’s heir wants all its files digitized for posterity but he faces an awkward problem: The volumes appear to be filled with fake words. Mallory’s impossible task is to find and excise all the fabrications. Meanwhile, alternating chapters set in turn-ofthe-century London follow a transformative day in the life of Peter Winceworth, a wallflower

researcher who works in the Swansby “Scrivenery.”

While bringing the storylines to a convergence, Ms. Williams indulges in delightful digressions.

Dictionaries have a rich history with phony words, it happens— known as “mountweazels,” they were included to guard against plagiarists. Mallory discovers that the Swansby’s mountweazels give her some idea of the personality of the rogue lexicographer who snuck them in. (“Mammonsomniate (v.), to dream that money might make anything possible.”) A sense of subjectivity and error begins to creep into the meanings of things. Underneath this novel’s extremely bookish mystery is the idea that our identities are as improvisatory as the words we affix to them, and that even the dictionary, the most seemingly staid and impartial arbiter of truth, is an “unreliable narrator.”

In André Gide’s novel “Marshlands” (NYRB, 116 pages, $14.95), the narrator is a writer struggling to write a book called “Marshlands,” about a man living alone in a tower surrounded by swamps whose futile existence expresses the “boredom, vanity, [and] monotony” of the narrator’s life. When not writing his book, the narrator looks for material to add to it—that is, he persists in the desultory routine of pontificating about it to unappreciative friends, establishing a perfectly recursive circle in which life and

art reinforce the same “useless contemplation.” The upside, though, is that the narrator gets to feel intellectually superior about his pointlessness. Considering a philistine acquaintance, he grouses that the man “cannot accept that an author, writing not to instruct, may still not be writing to entertain.”

THIS WEEK The Liar's Dictionary

By Eley Williams

Marshlands

By André Gide

A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself

By Peter Ho Davies Gide published “Marshlands” in 1895, when he was in his mid-20s, and sporadically revised it and commented upon it throughout his lifetime, as if trying to puzzle out just what his younger self was getting after. That he was writing to entertain there is no doubt, and as a satire of the self-important aesthete the book is witty and frequently hilarious. (The narrator’s meticulously updated daily planner includes items such as “Ten o’clock. Go explain to Magloire why I think he’s such a jerk.”) But is there instruction, as well? In a journal entry decades later, Gide called his narrator an “agitated agitator” whose

role is to sow unrest by awakening people to the “sordid apathy” of their existences. It’s true that the wallowing author is only able to complete “Marshlands” once he has succeeded in transferring some of his despair to his long-suffering girlfriend: “Wait! What? Now you’re crying.

—Good! I am happy! I act!”

Fair enough. But to me this sarcastic ode to stagnation is foremost a comedy of ideas, a superb example of the genre the Hungarian author Antal Szerb dubbed “neo-frivolity.” The translator Damion Searls has kept the language jokey and loose, emphasizing the mood of casual absurdity. (Mr. Searls has a long association with the text, having adapted it for a short story of his own in his 2009 collection “What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going.”)

This antic, light-fingered Gide is a figure quite different from the éminence grise who wrote “The Counterfeiters” in 1925.

Here’s hoping Mr. Searls resurrects more lesser-known gems from the author’s youth.

The recursions inherent to autobiographical fiction are present in Peter Ho Davies’s “A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 228 pages, $24), but without the playfulness.

The author, or his fictionalized stand-in, recounts the abortion his wife underwent after their unborn baby was diagnosed with a rare chromosomal abnormality.

They later have a son, but their love for him is complicated by their remorse for their decision, the guilt they feel about their son’s developmental issues and their shame at being obsessively consumed by shame.

Indeed, the self-flagellation is so intense and unremitting that the book quickly comes to feel like a purely therapeutic exercise (we tell stories, the narrator rationalizes, in order to “redeem ourselves”). Mr. Davies notes that fiction provides deniability for the writer, because no one can really know how much has been made up. But this misses the point. What matters isn’t the technicality of “truth” but the impression conveyed to the reader, and the overwhelming sense here is that this is not a work of literature, in which experience has been transmuted by language and reflection, but the unmediated confessions of a troubled stranger.

What to do with a book like this? Critiquing a work of art— engaging with it—is one of the great pleasures afforded us.

But judging a person, especially a person in torment, is morally abhorrent and degrades everyone involved. Mr. Davies is a good writer—I liked “The Fortunes,” his novel-in-stories about the history of Chinese-Americans— but the wounds he exposes in this work are so raw and open that the only proper response for those who don’t know him personally is sorrowful silence.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | C11

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BOOKS ‘Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation.’

—ROBERT FITZGERALD

The Personal Is Pedagogical system of letters, running, from best to worst, NAAB, NB, NTB and PB—the first being “not at all bad,” the last “pretty bad.” (Or so I assume: Mr. Gioia doesn’t spell it out.)

He twice managed NAAB but avoided PB. In addition to the piece about Cheever, funny and melancholy in equal parts (Cheever was going through one of his periodic attempts to stop drinking), the book includes an interview conducted by Mr. Gioia and two colleagues in 1976. Just about everything in this is worth quoting. Cheever is asked if, as an occasional teacher of creative writing (a term he disdains in favor of “Advanced Composition”), he gives his students writing assignments. He does, though he prefers to call them drills. “My favorite drills are:

Studying With Miss Bishop

By Dana Gioia Paul Dry, 182 pages, $16.95

D

ANA GIOIA WRITES that, by the time he went to college in the early 1970s, he had “already developed a deep suspicion of all theories of art that did not originate in pleasure.” To help build on this sensible foundation, he had the good fortune, during his student days, to encounter some of the leading literary figures of the time. In his final semester as a graduate student at Harvard in 1975, Mr. Gioia was presented with a choice of teachers: Robert Lowell, then at the height of his fame, or Elizabeth Bishop, not well known and often spoken of as a Lowell protégée. Lowell’s seminar on 19th-century poetry was much in demand. “Everyone who fancied himself a poet talked about taking it,” Mr. Gioia writes.

As for Bishop’s course on contemporary verse: “I had never heard anyone mention it at all.”

The words come from the first of the six short memoirs in this highly enjoyable book.

In addition to his classes with Bishop, Mr. Gioia recalls his encounters with John Cheever, whose wit and idiosyncratic wisdom light up each of the 50 or so pages on which he features; Robert Fitzgerald, translator of Homer and Virgil and a fierce defender of metrical forms; the wild-man poet and novelist James Dickey, to whom Mr. Gioia had once given a poor review in an obscure magazine, which turned out to be neither forgotten nor forgiven; and two people unknown in the literary world—an uncle who passed on a love of books to his nephew and a little-published poet, Ronald Perry, whom Mr. Gioia had encouraged during an exchange of letters and who died unexpectedly on the eve of their planned first meeting.

To these six must be added the author’s younger self, about whom he writes as engagingly as he writes about anyone else.

Mr. Gioia was raised among “a tight enclave of Sicilian relations” in a working-class home in Hawthorne, Calif. None of them read much.

He made an early decision to be not only “among the poets,” as Keats put it, but of that minority who have jobs in the larger world— in his case as an executive at General Foods.

Mr. Gioia’s achievements are said to include a reversal of the decline in sales of Jell-O. In a brief postscript, he describes his efforts to keep his literary life hidden while he was there. “Whenever something of mine appeared in the New Yorker, I would discreetly buy all five copies in the company shop, mail one to my parents, and slip the others into the bottom of the finance department’s bulging recycling bin.”

Elizabeth Bishop’s approach to teaching makes the reader long to be transported back to the mid-1970s, to sit in her class. After all, there was no shortage of places. She began

ROLLIE MCKENNA/ROSALIE THORNE MCKENNA FOUNDATION/CENTER FOR CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY, THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION

BY JAMES CAMPBELL

Bishop told her students she was ‘not a very good teacher’ and required them to memorize 10 lines of verse a week.

ENDOWED CHAIR Elizabeth Bishop in Brazil in 1954. by asking the dozen or so students who were denied the opportunity to study with Lowell to propose “three or four poets they would like to read and talk about. Does anyone have a suggestion?”

Someone mentioned John Ashbery, then beginning his ascent to what John Berryman used to refer to as “No. 1.” Bishop brushed the notion aside. “Oh no, we can’t read Ashbery. I wouldn’t know what to say about him.” W.H. Auden was likewise dismissed, on the eccentric grounds that “We just read him in my other class.” The poets she liked talking about most before Mr. Gioia and his fellows were William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens (two other poets with day jobs, as it happens: one as a doctor, the other as an insurance executive).

Bishop informed the class that she was “not a very good teacher” and so, “to make sure you learn something,” she issued the unpopular instruction that students should

memorize 10 lines of verse a week. When she assigned Lowell’s “Skunk Hour,” they waited in expectation of some special insight. “She always explained dedications to us,” Mr. Gioia writes, and “Skunk Hour” bore the dedication “For Elizabeth Bishop.” This fact went unmentioned when she began talking, until Mr. Gioia pointed it out. “‘Oh, yes, it is dedicated to me, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘I can’t really remember why.’” Rummaging in her memory, she recalled a visit to Lowell in Maine, when skunks were seen going through the garbage.

“He must have remembered I was there that night.”

Fitzgerald’s approach to texts and his presence in class were the opposite: rigorous in respect of the first, commanding in the second. He asked his students not just to memorize poems but to write them, with the assurance that he did not expect works of art, but evidence of a developing understanding of form and language. Grading came in a

give me three pages on your imagined introspection of a jogger, write me a love letter written in a burning building . . .” One of the interviewers wants to know his views on that perennial topic, the state of the novel. “The fact that the novel is declared dead three times a year is its very nature, because it’s a form of resurrection. It’s a very powerful and chancy way of life. And we call novels (only in the English-speaking world) something meaning ‘newness’ . . . it’s always a newness.”

All these encounters are treated with sympathy and light humor by Mr. Gioia who, in addition to having since made a career as a poet and man of letters, has occasionally drawn on his corporate experience to advise the founders of little magazines and otherwise promote the poetry business. Anyone attached to the values discussed here—craft, clarity, an understanding of tradition, which, T.S. Eliot wrote (Mr. Gioia quotes him), can only be obtained “by great labour”—might fear that the business is in a shaky state.

Under present orthodoxy, identity-approval is apt to trump critical approval in many places where poems are published, discussed and judged. But poetry, too, is a “form of resurrection.”

“Studying With Miss Bishop” offers the opportunity to encounter writing as an act of civility. Mr. Gioia says that Bishop and Fitzgerald marked his student papers severely. Nothing like that would happen with this finely produced book, but someone could have prevented the author from referring to Stephen Spender as “Lord Spender.” Sir Stephen could be lordly, but he never sat in the House of Lords.

Mr. Campbell’s biography of James Baldwin, “Talking at the Gates,” will be published in a new edition in February.

A Tale From the Past, a Parade for the New Year

CHILDREN’S BOOKS MEGHAN COX GURDON

A youngadult novel that breathes a love of literature and freedom that, in this cultural moment, makes it exceptional.

GARY D. SCHMIDT does something delightful in “Just Like That” (Clarion, 385 pages, $16.99), a novel for readers ages 9-14. He arranges for his characters to discover great books—“Treasure Island,” “Oliver Twist” and “The Wonderful World of Oz” among them—even as he borrows ideas and personality types from great books for the story he is telling about his characters. In this way, Mr. Schmidt’s tale of two young people and their journeys from darkness to light becomes, in itself, a testament to the formative power of literature.

“Just Like That” is set in and around 1968, and at first there are two strands to it. The first belongs to Meryl Lee Kowalski, who’s reeling from the accidental death of her best friend and has just arrived for eighth grade at St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy in Maine. Here, in the manner of many a boardingschool tale, she encounters snooty classmates, demanding teachers, and the endless temptation to go out of bounds.

The tone is arch and the words often capitalized in Meryl Lee’s part of the story.

She imagines that the school’s headmistress, Dr. Nora MacKnockater, exudes Awful Dignity. She and her classmates at St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy, as it is always named, archly and in full, know that it is their mission to develop Resolution, overcome Obstacles and become Accomplished.

There’s not much humor in the novel’s second strand, which attaches to Matt Coffin, an illiterate boy more or less

Meryl Lee’s age. Enslaved by a gang of pickpockets in New York City for most of his childhood, the traumatized Matt has lately escaped with a bag of loot. When Dr. MacKnockater discovers the boy living in a tumbledown shack near her house, she begins to gentle him, feeding him meatloaf and chowder and Robert Louis Stevenson. But it’s only a

THIS WEEK Just Like That

By Gary D. Schmidt

The Little Bookroom

By Eleanor Farjeon Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

Maisy’s Chinese New Year

By Lucy Cousins matter of time before the homicidal gang boss, a Dickensian villain named Leonidas Shug, tracks him down. Matt knows it, and we know it.

The two story-strands come together midway in a scene that captures the book’s dichotomous mood.

On Thanksgiving, hearing someone at the door of Dr. MacKnockater’s house, where he’s staying, Matt rushes down wearing only boxers and brandishing a hatchet. He is prepared to kill Leonidas Shug.

Instead he finds Meryl Lee, a girl who, like Dorothy in Oz, has embarked on a journey that will take place as much within her as without.

In this heart-expanding story, the talented Mr. Schmidt is not at his most economical

—the book gets baggy in the second half—but once again, as in “The Wednesday Wars” (2007) and “Okay for Now” (2011), he ably conjures the accoutrements and sensibilities of a lost era. The Vietnam War looms large here, as does the author’s sorrow over it; so does his evident dislike of Spiro Agnew and his cronies. By setting a novel in the late 1960s he’s also able to remind young readers that once upon a time kids their age had real scope of movement: Matt is constantly taking the Greyhound bus up and down the coast, and by the end Meryl too travels alone.

“Just Like That” may not be a brilliant book, but it breathes a love of literature and freedom that at this point makes it exceptional.

A generation earlier, anecdote suggests, children had even more independence.

We get a glimpse of this from one of the stories that Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) tells in “The Little Bookroom” (NYRB Kids, 314 pages, $12.99), a reissue of the 1955 collection that earned the British author the inaugural Hans Christian

CANDLEWICK

Andersen prize. In a story titled “Pennyworth,” a little boy finds a coin and goes off in search of the machine he once saw at a train station that he knows will, if he inserts his penny, produce a bar of “Chocklit.” The child ends up on one train after another before trundling home near bedtime. Yet is his mother alarmed when the little fellow fails to turn up after school?

No, we read, for “Johnny’s comings and goings in [their] Sussex market town were no anxiety to her . . . and anyhow, he was five and getting quite a big boy.” (Five! It’s impossible to imagine a present-day writer letting such a young child elude adult supervision for the day.)

The stories are a bit touchand-go, with anachronisms (“gypsies,” “simpletons”) that will not find favor in every household. But the book is worth revisiting if for Edward Ardizzone’s cozy illustrations alone, with their inky crosshatches and marvelous feeling of possibility—that sense that there is more to see just outside the edges of his pictures, if only we could.

Lucy Cousins brings her

familiar joyous, color-soaked style of illustration (see below) to a seasonal celebration in “Maisy’s Chinese New Year” (Candlewick, 26 pages, $12.99), a picture book for 3to 7-year-olds. Here the wellbeloved white mouse prepares and hosts a gathering of friends to mark the New Year.

“Maisy visits a market to buy food, decorations, and a new red outfit,” we read as our hostess contemplates heaped baskets of foodstuffs and a rack of crimson frocks. “Red is a lucky color. What red things can you see?” Well, lots of them, a child will think: I see red lanterns, red parcels, red bows on a bear’s shoes, and a red ribbon around that peacock’s neck. As the pages turn, the partygoers convene at Maisy’s house. Tiger arrives with presents. Old friends Tallulah, Charley and Cyril (a chicken, a crocodile and a squirrel, respectively) come too. There’s a feast, and storytelling, and fireworks and “lucky red packets with money inside” for all. A parade the next day ends with a spectacular dragon dance: “Happy New Year, Maisy!

Happy New Year, everyone!”

C12 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

* ***

BOOKS ‘One line plus one line results in many meanings.’

—JOSEF A LB ER S

The Interaction of Talent

By Nicholas Fox Weber Phaidon, 511 pages, $150

BY ANN LANDI

T

HE 20TH CENTURY produced its fair share of powerhouse artist couples, among them Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe, Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler and Robert Motherwell, and Willem and Elaine de Kooning. But for sheer longevity and high-voltage aesthetic give-andtake, none rivals the union of Josef and Anni Albers, who met at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany, arrived in the U.S. to teach at Black Mountain College in 1933, and were married for 51 happy and productive years.

Numerous books and exhibitions have covered the career of Josef Albers, famed for both his teaching and his rigorous brand of geometric abstraction; fewer have been devoted to the accomplishments of Anni, whose weavings elevated simple craftsmanship to sublime and often monumental statements. No biographer considered the two in tandem until Nicholas Fox Weber published a slim volume about their furniture, textiles and other works in 2004. Now he has written “Anni & Josef Albers: Equal and Unequal”—a mammoth, profusely illustrated doorstopper of a book.

Mr. Weber, the author of biographies of Balthus and Le Corbusier, is in an intimate position to present the Alberses as individual artists and married partners—“fiercely ‘independent’ and ‘interdependent’ to rare effect,” as he describes them. He met and became close to the couple in the early 1970s when he was a graduate student at Yale, where Josef was teaching, and since 1979 he has been the head of the foundation that bears the couple’s name.

Mr. Weber’s approach in this book is not so much straightforward biography as a smorgasbord of chapters, long and short, detailing the artists’ lives but also examining their relationships with students, collectors, mathematical systems, pre-Columbian art, Duccio and Giotto, Paul Klee and Marcel Breuer (among others), along with the couple’s own tastes in dress, furnishings and even food. With its staggering array of photos and reproductions, this is a book meant to be browsed and savored rather than read straight through.

Given their dissimilar backgrounds and an age difference of 11 years, it seems a lucky accident of spontaneous combustion that Anni and Josef should connect at the Bauhaus, that legendary experimental institution for teaching art and design. Josef was the son of a devoutly Catholic painter-decorator in Bottrop, in the northwestern industrial Ruhr region; he worked as an elementary-school teacher before enrolling as a student at the Bauhaus at

ARNOLD NEWMAN PROPERTIES/GETTY IMAGES; ON C7: TIM NIGHSWANDER/IMAGING4ART/THE JOSEF AND ANNI ALBERS FOUNDATION/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK/DACS, LONDON

Anni & Josef Albers: Equal and Unequal

QUAD AND MAN Josef Albers and one of his paintings in 1952. the age of 32. Anni, born Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischman, was from a prosperous Jewish family in Berlin; her father “sold expensive dressers and sofas from his vast Art Nouveau showrooms to the swells of Berlin,” Mr.

For sheer longevity and high-voltage aesthetic give-and-take, few artist couples rival the Alberses.

Weber reports, while her uncles “lived in the most impressive mansions in the city [and] all had their clothes custommade for appearances in the best seats at the opera or for carriage rides from one of their fabulous residences to another.” Anni would soon reject the life of privilege and excess, as she did her artistic education up until that point, whether from her art teacher, a second-generation German Impressionist named Martin Brandenburg,

or the instruction she received at the School of Applied Arts, where they taught what she called “sissy stuff, mainly needlepoint.”

When she arrived at the Bauhaus in 1922, Josef was making radically abstract constructions from shards of glass and bits of wire and metal scavenged from dumping sites on the outskirts of town. Anni gravitated to weaving workshops, where, Mr. Weber tells us, “she wanted to use the medium of woven thread to make art as singular as the paintings of the weaving workshop’s form master, Klee.” It was a style she would adhere to for the rest of her life, creating works of geometric simplicity in mesmerizing patterns, often incorporating odd materials such as cellophane and horsehair.

Shortly after the school moved to Dessau in 1925, the Alberses, now married, spent six years there living among a faculty that included pioneers of Modernism like Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Oskar Schlemmer in a “splendid group of nine residences

[that] enabled the best-known and most important teachers to live with unprecedented luxury as well as groundbreaking simplicity in a natural setting overlooking a bucolic pine forest.”

The idyll was a brief one, though, since the Dessau government closed the Bauhaus in 1932, declaring it could no longer pay salaries. Though the Nazi minister of culture told Mies van der Rohe, the director of the school, that the Bauhaus could reopen if it adhered to the cultural policies of the party—“to propagandize all that the new government stood for”—Mies and the other Bauhaus masters decided to shut down the school for good.

Soon Anni and Josef, through the exertions of architect Philip Johnson— an admirer of both—found themselves bound for the fledgling Black Mountain College in 1933. At first they thought North Carolina might be in the Philippines, but a little research disclosed that it wasn’t all that far from Mexico, “where much of the art they both adored in Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum had been made centuries earlier.”

The short-lived, freewheeling institution in the bucolic western reaches of the state was founded on the “learning by doing” principles of John Dewey and became renowned for its roster of teachers and students, including Ruth Asawa, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Ray Johnson, Franz Kline and Robert Rauschenberg.

The Alberses flourished as teachers and artists, making trips to Cuba and Mexico that influenced their respective visions. In brief chapters, Mr. Weber details their relationships with some of their colleagues and students, and offers up the occasional corrective, as with the bond between Rauschenberg and Josef, which has been characterized as one of conflict and rebellion when in reality “their mutual respect went deep” and the younger Rauschenberg never failed to acknowledge his debt to his fiercely disciplined mentor.

After leaving Black Mountain in 1949, the Alberses lived briefly in New York, where Anni had a triumphant solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, before Josef became the head of the department of design at Yale. They bought their first house, and Anni learned to cook (previously they’d always eaten refectory-style); their pared-down furnishings included an abandoned automobile seat for a living-room sofa. The same year they relocated, Josef started “what is probably the largest series of consistent paintings in the history of art”—the 2,000 works that make up the “Homage to the Square.” Each painting comprises four superimposed squares in colors applied with a palette knife straight from the tube; it was a project that occupied him for 25 years.

For the rest of their lives (Josef died in 1976, Anni in 1994), the couple enjoyed increasing fame while maintaining a disarmingly modest lifestyle; both disapproved of moneyed excess and indeed made fun of ostentation in others. There were tensions between them, as Mr. Weber acknowledges, briefly alluding to Josef’s extramarital dalliances, but they “were partners in the truest sense. They could fly into rages at one another, each arguing in very different styles—Josef sparky and outspoken, Anni reticent but no less firm—and each was resolute that he or she was right, so compromises did not come easily, but they were two incredibly like-minded people and absolutely great artists, each in a very different way.”

The author’s mysterious and ambiguous subtitle, “Equal and Unequal”— a reference to one of Josef’s paintings that hung in the couple’s bedroom— sums up the partnership of two strongwilled personalities from different backgrounds, of different temperaments, who nonetheless forged a union that led to revolutionary ways of making and thinking about art. For all their economy of means, they deserve a book this sprawling in scope.

Ms. Landi writes about culture and art from Taos, N.M.

Bestselling Books | Week Ended December 26 With data from NPD BookScan

Hardcover Nonfiction TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

Hardcover Fiction

Methodology

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

A Promised Land Barack Obama/Crown

1

1

Untamed Glennon Doyle/Dial

6

—

Cat Kid Comic Club Dav Pilkey/Graphix

1

1

Midnight Sun 6 Stephenie Meyer/Little, Brown Young Readers

8

Greenlights Matthew McConaughey/Crown

2

2

Magnolia Table, Vol. 2 Joanna Gaines/Morrow

7

—

The Deep End Jeff Kinney/Abrams

2

2

Ready Player Two Ernest Cline/Ballantine

7

9

Modern Comfort Food Ina Garten/Clarkson Potter

3

4

Caste Isabel Wilkerson/Random House

8

10

Dog Man: Grime and Punishment Dav Pilkey/Graphix

3

3

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and...

8

4

Becoming Michelle Obama/Crown

4

Humans Brandon Stanton/St. Martin’s

9

3

The Ickabog J.K. Rowling/Scholastic

4

6

The Return Nicholas Sparks/Grand Central

9

—

Guinness World Records 2021 5 7 Guinness World Records/Guinness World Records

Bag Man Rachel Maddow/Crown

10

6

A Time for Mercy John Grisham/Doubleday

5

5

The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett/Riverhead

10

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Nonfiction E-Books

Nonfiction Combined THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

THIS WEEK

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TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

THIS WEEK

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TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

8

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

TITLE AUTHOR / PUBLISHER

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

Charlie Mackesy/HarperOne

Fiction E-Books

Fiction Combined

NPDBookScan gathers point-of-sale bookdata frommorethan16,000locationsacross theU.S., representing about85%ofthenation’sbooksales.

Print-book dataproviders includeallmajorbooksellers, webretailersandfoodstores. E-bookdataproviders includeallmajore-bookretailers.Freee-booksand thosesellingforlessthan99centsareexcluded.

Thefiction andnonfiction combinedlistsinclude aggregated salesforallbookformats (exceptaudio books,bundles, boxedsetsandforeign language editions) andfeaturea combination ofadult,youngadultand juvenile titles.Thehardcover fiction andnonfiction listsalsoencompass a mixofadult, youngadultandjuveniletitleswhilethe businesslistfeatures onlyadulthardcover titles.

Referquestions toTeresa.Vozzo@wsj.com.

Hardcover Business

THIS WEEK

LAST WEEK

Breath James Nestor/Riverhead

1

—

A Promised Land Barack Obama/Crown

1

1

The Guest List Lucy Foley/Morrow

1

—

Cat Kid Comic Club Dav Pilkey/Graphix

1

1

Atomic Habits James Clear/Avery

1

1

A Promised Land Barack Obama/Crown

2

1

Greenlights Matthew McConaughey/Crown

2

2

The Order Daniel Silva/Harper

2

—

The Deep End Jeff Kinney/Abrams

2

2

Total Money Makeover Dave Ramsey/Thomas Nelson

2

2

What Unites Us Dan Rather/Algonquin

3

—

Interesting Stories for Curious People

3

6

Let It Be Marie Force/HTJB

3

New

The Night Before Christmas Clement Clarke Moore/Running Press

3

—

Dare to Lead Brené Brown/Random House

3

3

Strength Training for Seniors Paige Waehner/Skyhorse

4

—

Becoming Michelle Obama/Crown

4

8

Normal People Sally Rooney/Hogarth

4

—

Dog Man: Grime and Punishment Dav Pilkey/Graphix

4

3

Extreme Ownership 4 Jocko Willink & Leif Babin/St. Martin’s

4

Mortuary Confidential Todd Mckenzie & Ken Harra/Citadel

5

—

Modern Comfort Food Ina Garten/Clarkson Potter

5

5

The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett/Riverhead

5

6

A Time for Mercy John Grisham/Doubleday

5

4

The Daily Stoic 5 Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman/Portfolio

5

The Splendid and the Vile Erik Larson/Crown

6

—

Untamed Glennon Doyle/Dial

6

—

A Time for Mercy John Grisham/Doubleday

6

4

The Ickabog J.K. Rowling/Scholastic

6

7

Good Company Arthur M. Blank/Morrow

6

6

Greenlights Matthew McConaughey/Crown

7

5

Caste Isabel Wilkerson/Random House

7

—

The Henna Artist Alka Joshi/Mira

7

—

The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett/Riverhead

7

—

Principles Ray Dalio/Simon & Schuster

7

10

Caste Isabel Wilkerson/Random House

8

4

Guinness World Records 2021 8 10 Guinness World Records/Guinness World Records

The Duke and I Julia Quinn/Avon

8

—

Ready Player Two Ernest Cline/Ballantine

8

8

Never Split the Difference Chris Voss/Harper Business

8

8

Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston/Amistad

9

—

Magnolia Table, Vol. 2 Joanna Gaines/Morrow

9

—

Deadly Cross James Patterson/Little, Brown

9

5

Midnight Sun 9 Stephenie Meyer/Little, Brown Young Readers

—

StrengthsFinder 2.0 Tom Rath/Gallup

9

7

The Admirals Walter R. Borneman/Little, Brown

10

—

Bag Man Rachel Maddow/Crown

10

7

A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles/Viking

10

—

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

9

The 4-Hour Workweek Timothy Ferriss/Harmony

10

—

Bill O’Neill/LAK

J.K. Rowling/Scholastic

10

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | C13

* * * *

PLAY NEWS QUIZ

NUMBER PUZZLES

From this week’s Wall Street Journal

DANIEL AKST

Cell Blocks

B. “Elizabeth is Missing” C. ”The Elizabeth Stories” D. “Becoming Elizabeth”

1. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced the first U.S. case of a fast-spreading new version of Covid-19—in which county?

SOLUTIONS TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLES Cell Blocks Divide the grid into square or rectangular blocks, each containing one digit only.

Every block must contain the number of cells indicated by the digit inside it.

6. According to author Sal Westrich, what is New Jersey’s “best kept secret?”

A. Elbert B. Hubbard C. Glenn D. John

Killer Sudoku Level 1

A. Its nudist colonies B. Its intentional communities C. Its gardens D. Its wines

2. President Trump signed a big new pandemic-relief bill. Which of these elements wasn’t in it?

7. Which new source is expected to provide 10% to 30% of natural gas by 2040?

A. An extension of the federal eviction ban B. A $600 per week supplement to unemployment benefits C. A $600 payment to everyone meeting certain income and tax requirements D. $26.5 billion in aid to foreign countries

As with standard Sudoku, ill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9. Each set of cells joined by dotted lines must add up to the target number in its top-left corner.

Within each set of cells joined by dotted lines, a digit cannot be repeated.

8. What new method are a few ingenious souls using to dispose of Christmas trees?

A. Eating them B. Making them into organic sandals C. Using them in homemade Venetian marbled paper D. Using the needles in acupuncture

A. Clement Atlee B. Ed Miliband C. Jeremy Corbyn D. Keir Starmer

A. “Elizabeth Costello”

Answers are listed below the crossword solutions at right.

THE JOURNAL WEEKEND PUZZLES edited by 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

22

23

35

31

36

38

43

53 56

63

64

67

70

68

71 78

79

83

72

80

96

69

73

74

86

89 93

105

87

95

98

104

76

90

94

97

75

82

85

88 92

57

65

81

84

44

48

55

66

17

39

47

62

16

34

52

61

15

25

33

51

60

77

14

42

54 59

13

29

32

46 50

12

28

41

45

11

21

37

40

49

10

24 27

30

91

9 20

26

58

8

19

99 106

100

101 102 103

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

New Beginnings | by Mike Shenk Across

45 Erin Burnett’s employer 46 Layout options 47 Pound, e.g.

48 Sub system 49 Products of crimping irons?

52 Shakespeare’s Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth or Mustardseed 53 Before now 54 Staff worker 55 Shopping cart course 56 Was an indulgent grandparent 58 Cocky walk 61 “Don’t close the barn door once the horse has run away,” e.g.?

65 Enlightened 66 Sits on the counter, say 67 Hostile group 68 Strike setting 70 Good times 71 Slopes 72 Romantic rendezvous on the Orient Express?

77 Smoke alarm alerts 80 Without repair 81 Unneeded embellishment 82 Bit of fiction

83 Eschewing fancy neckwear?

85 Vestige 86 Nut case 88 Ring quartet 89 Computer network’s coverage area?

91 Gadot who plays Wonder Woman 93 Tipsy 94 “Not another word!”

95 “The King and I” setting 96 “My Favorite Year” star 98 Play set in a Kansas diner 100 Bellyaches 104 Sinbad finding a way to bind himself to a roc, e.g.?

106 New beginning, as spelled by the new beginnings in this puzzle’s theme answers 108 Avocado or olive 109 Title teenager in an MTV animated series 110 Allowed 111 Yen 112 Roddick with a racket 113 Wasn’t impartial 114 Goes on 115 Figurehead position

Down 1 Radio type 2 Was dashing?

3 Forget to mention 4 Do for Prince Valiant 5 Longbow material 6 Maricopa Co.’s state 7 Cabs may be found on them 8 Recliner features 9 Pester persistently 10 Lessen 11 Toothbrush choice 12 Chiding sound 13 Designer’s place 14 ___ mater 15 Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier,” for one 16 Bury 17 “The Discovery of India” writer 19 Parts of hearts 23 Orchestra section 25 Fills a recent vacancy, say 28 Yoga equipment 31 They’re on the record 33 Coldhearted 35 Sicilian peak 36 “Pretty please?”

O H A R E

O L M O S

R O U T S

O T H E R

V I O L A

W I T T Y

E L T O N

L S O P U R A D E C P E H A K A N S E N T L E E T W I P T N E F A E L S R E P R D O E N D O G R E C R

T A L O N E D Y A H O O S S E E S T O

I R S N D A S A G A R O S E M I E T N L E E N S T E I S T N N E M E R F R O A S S S O P E N U B I N A A K Y

Candy Canes S A L K C A S H A R P G L O C O T E E L I N O R D O G G E D A R N O T R S C A R E T H E M P O N E R O T I C D E P L A N A S T O R I D I A B L O O N E S E L R O B O T S A F F R O N

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R P L P A E H R C A O G G D R

S A Y A P S Y E K R S E S S E

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The numbered letters spell GOLDEN RINGS.

Answers to News Quiz: 1.A, 2.B, 3.D, 4.D, 5.B, 6.D, 7.C, 8.A

MIKE SHENK 37 Pull some strings?

38 Garden ornamental 39 P, sometimes 40 PTA meeting place 42 Dirties 43 Brewery product 44 Undermine 46 Craze 47 Ill-fated batter 50 Julia with a Drama Desk Award 51 Funny folks 52 Contenders at Cannes 55 Helps when one shouldn’t 56 Butler’s last word 57 Was short 58 Tank acronym 59 Knocks more than a few back 60 Optimistic 62 Ribs 63 Best Musical at the 1977 Tonys 64 Starbuck, Queequeg, Tashtego and crewmates 69 Dressing base 71 Diamond unit 72 Pasta purveyor 73 Sushi bar supply 74 Oscar winner Guinness 75 Glazed square 76 Twisty fish 78 Music category 79 Blanche’s sibling 81 Wee pest 84 Close group 85 Weigh station units 86 Practices in the ring 87 Chew the scenery 89 1979 Pro Bowl MVP Ahmad 90 Spy 91 “I ___ Feeling” (Black Eyed Peas hit) 92 Take ___ for the better 94 Adorable tot 97 Bow to 98 Pole explorer Richard 99 Hunt’s partner 101 Henry VIII’s third Catherine 102 As a result 103 Hearty dinner 105 Avril follower 107 Bro’s twin, perhaps

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Thinking Inside the Box | a cryptic puzzle by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon When all clue answers are entered in the grid, the inner box will be surrounded by 16 different letters of the alphabet. Use the remaining 10 letters of the alphabet to construct a three-by-three crossword for that inner box—with a pair of letters occupying the central square. We request that you attempt to get a hint across; this slight deed is crucial to the orientation of the grid.

12 Ironic sort of cheer rodeo animals heard (5)

3 Rocky road led back from Idaho gold rush town? (2,6)

13 Arm Jack donated to the president in 1975 (5)

4 One way to sing number in a record (5)

16 NBA star and analyst dwelling without frills, reportedly (4)

5 Verse writer about horror film’s conclusion (4)

17 Males surrounding one of nine females on a farm (4) 22 Toot your own horn at start of def jam (5) 24 Constant refusal about a moving challenge (5) 26 A plastic clip on a star in Hollywood (2,6) 27 Zodiac symbol 51 (only half) (4)

Across 1 Part of a flight to initially book, say (5) 5 Stony layer around flag (6)

6 Prohibition March woman picked member of a country group (5) 7 Prominent Confederate gang with a malicious look (7) 8 Fork in front of a road’s railroad sites (5) 14 Speaker interrupted by gym manager (8) 15 Arctic fish deceive commercial tuna (7)

28 Gown worn by depressed actor (3,4)

18 Tallies small nuclei (6)

29 Clamor about alien American’s first arrest (6)

19 Social lady oddly viewed barista’s possible injury (5)

30 AFC team bearing red leaves (5)

20 Black-and-white parked by a safari boss (5)

9 Trollope novel missing back Down 21 Flower string (5) of the flexible cover (4,3) 1 Firm backtracking, adopting 23 Bagel dipped in dry red 10 Live next to a field (4) kid groups (6) wine: heaven (4) 11 Bend in river that leads to the Baltic Sea shrub (8)

2 Right propeller noise like thunder (4)

25 Denizen of a pond not seen before the present time (4)

Get the solutions to this week’s Journal Weekend Puzzles in next Saturday’s Wall Street Journal. Solve crosswords and acrostics online, get pointers on solving cryptic puzzles and discuss all of the puzzles online at WSJ.com/Puzzles.

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1 Surmounting 5 Ketch’s kin 9 “___ luego” (“See you later”) 14 As neat as ___ 18 “The Persistence of Memory” setting 19 Eagle’s abode 20 In the neighborhood 21 Rehearsal request 22 Either of two on a vampire bat?

24 Roofer’s calculation?

26 One in a shower 27 Ski resort of southern Switzerland 29 Throw that’s not quite a ringer 30 Salt container?

32 Auto dealer’s offering 33 Répondez ___ vous plaît 34 Base of the NCAA’s Golden Eagles 35 Painters of financiers’ portraits?

38 Takes the helm 40 Collar inserts 41 Does a bouncer’s job 42 Golf green feature?

J O N A H

M O T O R L A T O L O O I M P

Place the numbers 1 to 9 in the spaces so that the number in each circle is equal to the sum of the four surrounding spaces, and each color total is correct.

FROM TOP: DAVID ZALUBOWSKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS; ISTOCK ALL PUZZLES © PUZZLER MEDIA LTD - WWW.PUZZLER.COM

5. Glenda Jackson returns to the small screen in a new mystery. What’s it called?

Backflips

Suko

4. Which Latin American country just made abortion legal up to the 14th week of pregnancy?

A. Brazil B. Mexico C. Venezuela D. Argentina

Suko

Killer Sudoku Level 2

A. Water desalinization B. Airborne methane recovery C. Hog manure and other organic waste D. Asteroid drilling

3. The UK Parliament approved a free-trade pact with the European Union as part of Brexit, and the Labour opposition went along. Who heads that party?

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For previous weeks’ puzzles, and to discuss strategies with other solvers, go to WSJ.com/ puzzles.

C14 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

REVIEW ICONS

New Art For a New Year Five artists featured in upcoming exhibitions share what they are looking forward to seeing and doing in 2021.

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he pandemic wreaked havoc on museums’ exhibition schedules in 2020, and the 2021 calendar remains somewhat unpredictable. But a number of expansive, well-considered shows are planned for this year, including solo exhibitions spotlighting innovative contemporary artists.

Several of those artists shared thoughts on the past year and what they’re looking forward to in 2021.

(Dates may change, so it’s best to check with museums before visiting.)

Intense physicality and an expres-

sive hand give the geometric abstractions of Sean Scully, 75, a resonantly human touch. His retrospective, “Sean Scully: The Shape of Ideas,” is slated to open in June at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Much of Mr. Scully’s studio time last year was devoted to his continuing “Landline” series of paintings, in which horizontal bands of varying colors evoke landscapes and horizons. He also worked on “more nihilistic, pessimistic paintings, with black squares in the middle. Which I find very symbolic of the time,” he said. In 2021, he is looking forward

to “Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror,” a nearly 500-work retrospective that will open Sept. 29 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

For Bisa Butler, the term that best describes the current moment is “hyperdrive.” After months of focused studio time, “I feel my own mind so full of ideas, projects and future collaborations,” she said, noting that the lockdown “has emboldened me to connect with people I admire.” Ms. Butler, 47, reinterprets vintage photographs of African-Americans as oversize, brilliantly colored quilts, playing pattern against pattern and layering fabrics to create nuanced tones. “Bisa Butler: Portraits” opened at the Art Institute of Chicago in November, a few days before the museum shut down; the show will continue when the Art Institute reopens.

Among the artists Ms. Butler is hoping to see more of in 2021 are Faith Ringgold, Romare Bearden and El Anatsui. She is also looking forward to the emergence of new work by other artists, noting that “as these projects come to fruition, we will see the creative abundance of the lockdown.”

Pat Steir, 80, creates abstract paintings by pouring, splashing and flinging color at the canvas. Often an element of chance is skillfully factored into the process.

Between uninterrupted studio time and postponed ex‘Anaya With Oranges,’ a quilt by Bisa Butler.

hibitions, “the lockdown is a kind of dream and nightmare in one,” she said. When the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. reopens, “Pat Steir: Color Wheel”—a massive, 30-painting installation spanning the circular inner gallery on the museum’s second floor—will resume its interrupted run.

Ms. Steir particularly admires two artists, Mickalene Thomas and Barbara Kruger, who manage the difficult task of making great art that is also political. “Mickalene Thomas: A Moment’s Pleasure,” a two-story immersive work, is currently installed

‘I want art that inspires desire over fear.’

SHAHZIA SIKANDER

at the Baltimore Museum of Art, which is scheduled to reopen Jan. 16.

A retrospective of Ms. Kruger’s work is expected to debut later this year at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Over a four-decade career, photographer Dawoud Bey, 67, has portrayed members of underrepresented communities and explored aspects of American history, including the Underground Railroad and the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. For him, 2020 was “a very difficult year.” Last spring the lockdown halted work on his current series, which focuses on “the plantation experience—the places where AfricanAmericans first enter the American narrative,” he said. But the pause also had an unexpected upside, giv-

Paintings from ‘Pat Steir: Color Wheel’ at the Hirshhorn Museum. ing the artist time to prepare a new book, “Street Portraits,” which will be published this spring.

A major exhibition of his work, “Dawoud Bey: An American Project,” is currently on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and will move to the Whitney on April 17. In 2021, he is looking forward to the fifth iteration of the Prospect New Orleans Triennial, postponed from last year and now scheduled to open Oct. 23.

Mr. Bey sees this as “the year where art, and the institutions that exhibit art, become even more engaged and reflective of the larger social world that we live in.”

Shahzia Sikander, 51, is known for bringing traditional Indo-Persian miniature painting into contemporary art. Debuting June 18 at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, “Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities” explores the first 15 years of her career, which brought the artist from Pakistan to the U.S. With the pandemic slowdown, “I am in this fortunate place of reflection,” Ms. Sikander said, thinking about how, going forward, she can “open up more vantage points” with paintings and sculptures that are “becoming more allegorical.”

On the museum calendar, Ms. Sikander is looking forward to “Alice Neel: People Come First,” opening March 22 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “I want to see her watercolors, especially the erotic ones,” Ms. Sikander said. She is also looking forward to more work by Pakistani-born artist Salman Toor, whose first solo museum show runs through April 4 at the Whitney. But her greatest hope for 2021 is more fundamental: “I want art that inspires desire over fear.”

FROM TOP: LEE STALSWORTH. COURTESY OF PAT STEIR AND LÉVY GORVY; © BISA BUTLER. PHOTO BY MARGARET FOX

BY SUSAN DELSON

Blooming Brilliance On a Grand Scale

BY PETER PLAGENS SOME ARTISTS ARE IDENTIFIED with a single work. With Leonardo da Vinci it’s the Mona Lisa, with Grant Wood it’s “American Gothic.” Which brings us to Jay DeFeo (1929-1989) and her strange, huge sculptural painting, “The Rose” (1958-66).

DeFeo was one of those lucky kids whose talent and enthusiasm for art was noticed early on by a highschool teacher; in her case it was Lena Emery in San Jose, Calif. The mentoring led to museum visits in San Francisco and, eventually, a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, followed by a grant for a trip to Europe and North Africa. In 1954 she married Wally Hedrick, one of the weirder of the many weird Bay Area artists, and set up shop in a large second-floor space on Fillmore Street in jazz- and beatnik-infused San Francisco. By 1958, DeFeo was ready to start a work that she seems to have known, in an inchoate way, would end up her masterpiece with a capital M. In it, she grayed down her colors from her earlier Abstract Expressionism-influenced paintings, and then built up the paint by applying it almost like plaster. She’d painted small

pictures of relatively realistic single roses before, but this one would be a monumental rose—a huge painting so physically thick that it would border on sculpture. In DeFeo’s words, it was simply an “idea that had a center to it.” That idea initially checked in at about seven feet wide by nine feet tall, but within a year the artist—with the help of some friends— mounted the work on an even larger canvas, about 11 feet high. DeFeo painted and painted and painted— from 1958 into 1966—chiseling into the material when it had dried. To prevent the work from sagging to the point of collapse, she inserted wooden dowels from the rear to prop up its surface. In the end, “The Rose”—which DeFeo called “a marriage between painting and sculpture”—weighed over a ton.

“The Rose” is built on one of the hokiest compositional clichés—a starburst from a pinpoint center— and it’s executed in another decorator’s commonplace, fluting that causes its ostensibly unoriginal arrangement to exist in actual light and shadow. Superficially, “The Rose” has no right to come across as anything more than a rococo-modernist backdrop for some megabank’s conference room. But it’s a genuinely beau-

tiful and powerful work of art.

The center of “The Rose” is as threatening as it is pretty, as knifelike as it is floral. Its burst, as it were, doesn’t extend conveniently all the way to the edges of the painting. Instead, as the furrows expand outward from the center, they gradually transition into being defined at their edges by larger lumps of paint until just before the physical borders of the work.

Most important— and, of course, least provable—“The Rose” exudes the feeling of DeFeo’s sustained passion, doubt, sweat, gritty hard work, perseverance, and aesthetic daring.

“The Rose” was almost completed in 1965 when DeFeo and Hedrick were evicted from their apartThe final work ment (they divorced weighs 2,300 in 1969). The abpounds. surdly heavy, 11by-8-foot work of art had to be moved, of course, which meant expanding window openings and loading it by crane into a Bekins moving van. “The Rose” was shown first at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1969, where it was then stored for a while. (DeFeo, a petite

woman, would visit from time to time to work on tweaking small details.)

It ended up in San Francisco, where it was lodged—covered in plaster and hidden behind a false wall in a classroom—at an art school, the San Francisco Art Institute. In 1995, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York bought it, executed some exotic repairs (after which

it weighed 2,300 pounds), and gave it a triumphal return in an exhibition about the Beats. “The Rose” was also the centerpiece of a 2013 DeFeo retrospective at the Whitney Museum’s old location on Madison Avenue, and now hangs at the new Whitney in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. The work will be on view through May 2022.

While “The Rose” seems to be living happily ever after, DeFeo had a semifraught existence after her masterwork was completed. She made a lot of very good art, especially drawings; became a tenured professor; and had a long-term and apparently happy romantic relationship. On the other hand, she drank and smoked to excess, suffered severe gum disease, and died of lung cancer at only 60 years old.

A big question raised by “The Rose” is whether it can be appreciated minus its compelling backstory—if its power as a work of art comes almost solely from what it looks like. Answering “Yes” affirms that it’s simply a great abstract painting—but one that somehow expresses, in its form and evident obsessive, loving labor, much more about life itself.

Mr. Plagens is an artist and writer in New York.

2020 THE JAY DEFEO FOUNDATION / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK

MASTERPIECE | ‘THE ROSE’ (1958-66), BY JAY DEFEO

You, Sir, Are No Mustang Ford’s cynically named new electric car D8 FASHION

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OFF DUTY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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Why Clogs Are Clicking The new vogue for an age-old shoe D3

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | D1

Outdoor Gear Is In

JASON RAISH

Why urbanites are adopting Everest-worthy ‘gorpcore’ wear for the everyday

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BY JACOB GALLAGHER

ORPCORE, named for the trail-mix acronym that’s short for “good ol’ raisins and peanuts,” represents the convergence of outdoorsy gear and more quotidian men’s fashion. Think of the technical parkas and backpacks you’d wear while nibbling on nuts and dried fruit during a hike up a mountain. Now transfer that same gear to city streets, maybe paired with your prosaic sneakers.

The term “gorpcore”—coined by New York Magazine’s style site the Cut in 2017—has been bubbling up in men’s fashion for a few years. It emerged as an outdoor-specific offshoot of the 2010s’ normcore trend, which recontextualized humble, pragmatic clothes as lust-worthy fashion. The defining gorpian image might be a photo (see D2) of taciturn singer Frank Ocean trekking to a Paris fashion show in 2019 wearing a fitted, clementineorange jacket by 159-year-old Swiss mountaineering brand Mammut and a greenish beanie from 32year-old North Vancouver outdoor brand Arc’teryx, with bluejeans and hiking boots. He looks as if he’s wandered off the Pacific Crest Trail and into the Tuileries.

That Mr. Ocean wore Arc’teryx and Mammut during fashion week and not, say, Prada is telling. Gorpcore is not about designer labels cynically co-opting the outdoor look, creating fragile mountaineering boots that look the part but would falter on the trail. It’s about a deep appreciation of genuine, all-weather brands stretching from Japan’s And Wander to California’s Patagonia.

Those two brands represent two distinct classes of gorpcore. And Wander, a Tokyo-based label founded in 2011, is one of several relatively new brands that sell high-design gear that could nevertheless withstand a toe-tingling winter squall. Think fleeces with reflective details and sturdy pocket-packed poly pants. Also in this category: fellow Japanese labels Snow Peak and F/CE, the Swedish cold-weather brand Houdini, and Gyakusou, a Nike offshoot focused on running garb.

The other class of gorpcore brands—including REI, Marmot and Patagonia—are long-established stalwarts traditionally valued for placing function over design. Freshly coveted by young gorpcore fanatics, this group includes seasoned global brands like Helly Hansen (Norway) and Goldwin (Japan), and cultier, trail-rooted labels such as Gramicci, Manastash and La Sportiva.

The events of the past year have turbocharged the gorpcore trend. As Tristin Dorsey, a 22-year-old gorp zealot, said, when gyms closed due to Covid lockdowns, more people started exercising outside and identifying with that lifestyle. “I find myself outdoors most days, whether it’s hiking or climbing or stuff like that,” said Mr. Dorsey, a student in Fort Collins, Colo. On the trail and in his everyday life he wears goanywhere water-resistant Helly Hansen nylon pants and thick-soled yet handsome hiking boots from Italian label Roa. Gorp fans worship practicality, but they also cherish the hints of high design that brands lace into their outdoor gear. La Sportiva’s trail shoes offer traction but aren’t just functional black blobs. They come in enticing yellow and olive color schemes. Snow Peak’s MM FR Riders Down Jacket isn’t just waterproof and wind-resistant, it also has an intriguing asymmetrical zip design. And while Patagonia would never be mistaken for a Parisian fashion label, its plush fleeces boast Please turn to page D2

Inside

NOT QUITE MEATLESS Want to cut back but not go full-vegetarian? Try these recipes D5

WHERE DÉCOR TRENDS ARE HEADING We asked over 200 design pros what’s in and out for 2021 D7

SNOW CONDITIONS Escape to Vermont—if you’re willing to take a few Covid precautions D6

NEWBORN BOTTLES Lettie Teague investigates the curious phenomenon of ‘baby wines’ D4

D2 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

STYLE & FASHION ON 1

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Rugged Designs To Wear Anywhere These clothes and accessories are smart enough for the city yet technical enough to protect you on that overly ambitious winter hike

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Into Thin Air...Or A Car Continued from page D1 patterns so mesmerizing that vintage numbers have become collector’s items worth nearly $1,000.

Such enticing pieces have made gorpcore a potent trend on social media. Trees-and-togs Instagram pages like @unownedspaces, @114.Index and @Organiclab.zip have over 200,000 followers combined. Visual encyclopedias of gorpcore, these accounts mix transporting shots of cliff faces and tents pitched in stunning locales with photos of covetable gear. Fans of Salomon trail shoes, beige Kapital fleeces and vintage Gerry puffers are piling up the likes. Unclear: How many of these fans have ever scaled a cliff face or pitched a tent.

Arc’teryx president Jon Hoerauf said the company’s design studio uses the internal term “ping” to describe a technical garment that works stylistically. “If something pings, which means it’s beautiful, it’s going to be desirable in addition to being functional. That was always high on our priority list.”

Last month, I experienced ping.

Days before the first true cold snap in New York, I invested in a $299 Arc’teryx “AR Atom” synthetic, insulated shell from Hatchet Supply in Brooklyn. (Though not particularly woodsy, New York City has been one of Arc’teryx’s largest markets for over two decades.) The coat was unexpectedly sleek—my fiancée actually used the term “slim.” I cut a less flabby figure in

it than I had in last winter’s marshmallowy Uniqlo puffer jacket.

Some outdoor brands have begun partnering with showy fashion labels with results that go beyond merely pinging—they holler. Take the rowdy five-color fleece from the union between the North Face and Los Angeles label Brain Dead, or the towering platform sneakers from the pair-up between the nearly 75-year-old trail-shoe brand Salomon and Comme des Garçons.

And the collaborations keep coming. In late 2020, Gucci and the North Face trotted out a camp-inspired collection that featured prismatic printed puffers. This year, Arc’teryx will further elevate its wares’ ping potential by partnering with minimalist high-fashion label Jil Sander.

Core gorp nuts remain focused on the technical advantages of these considered parkas and pants.

Ted Berkson, 24, an account manager at a technology company in

San Jose, Calif., is passionate about Acronym, a Germany-based “techwear” label. He spoke rapturously about the brand’s tapered “P10-DS” pants which never bunch up thanks to extra room at the knee. Mr. Berkson also extolled the label’s use of Schoeller Dryskin material, which he finds so water repellent he can slog through a downpour and come away bone dry. No matter that he’s a self-professed “lazy outdoorsman” who prefers mellow two-mile jaunts.

For gorpsters like Mr. Berkson who are not full-time trailblazers, what is the point of all this engineering wizardry? To put it simply, dudes love reading about, bragging about and obtaining gear. Sam Lobban, a senior vice president at Nordstrom in New York, admitted that he relishes “getting very nerdy” about techy breakthroughs.

Lately, he’s been fascinated by the way designers work with Gore-Tex

to make their materials lighter and more breathable. Mr. Lobban thinks of such highly developed outdoor gear as the sports cars of the clothing world. If you own a German race car, you might never unleash it at its peak speed of 188 mph, but knowing you’ve got that much horsepower under the hood is reassuring. Likewise, it’s nice to know that when it’s 22 degrees and you’ve got to run errands, you won’t be shivering, because your parka has been lab-tested to withstand up to -22 degrees. Some men collect Porsches. Mr. Lobban and his crunchy cohort collect Arc’teryx coats.

Though gorp gear will save you in extreme conditions, many modern hoarders prize how it makes their lives easier in the everyday.

Arkady Abbott, 26, a graduate law clerk in Adelaide, Australia, who runs the @unownedspaces Instagram account in his spare time, ap-

preciates that the zippers on And Wander jackets never get stuck and can be easily whisked open with one hand. He once favored more avant-garde labels like Helmut Lang and Rick Owens, ones associated with fashion for fashion’s sake. But the fussiness of these clothes wore on him. They looked remarkable, but they made his life more complex. “I wanted clothes that I could wear to a job interview and also out on a walk or run,” said Mr. Abbot. In And Wander he could set out on an impromptu trail trek after work without having to change.

For some gorp fans, the more outdoorsy the clothes they buy, the more they’re inspired to actually get outside. When Mr. Lobban purchased a pair of Hoka One One trail sneakers made in collaboration with New York label Engineered Garments, he “instantly wanted to go outside and climb up rocks.”

And then he hit the trail.

People Who Decry Gorpcore—and Dress Dandily Outdoors IF YOU’RE SCALING the Himalayas, leading an expedition to the North Pole or even taking a leisurely hike, technical outdoor gear makes sense. If you’re walking three blocks to pick up a matcha latte, it does not. Memsor Kamarake, 45, a stylist in New York, finds city folk in full gorpcore perplexing.

“Every so often, when I see those guys, I’m like, ‘Where the hell are you going?’” he said. Mr. Kamarake, who favors classic clothes but appreciates a good puffer, noted that many people are leaving cities during the pandemic.

“Maybe they’re just grabbing a coffee before they go to their bucolic estates. But if the

roughest thing your boots have seen is the inside of your car...you should be wearing something else.”

Even in inclement weather, gorp-ing in a city is overkill.

“Those clothes are designed so specifically for certain climates and activities,” said gorpcore skeptic Julia Gamolina, 30, a New Yorker who founded the architecture website Madame Architect. Hailing a cab in a drizzle doesn’t qualify. Like wearing prescription-free eyeglasses, urban gorpcore seems affected. Plus, “in Manhattan, it looks crazy,” said 33-year-old real-estate developer Alexander Hankin, who splits his time between

New York and Philadelphia.

He’s so gorpcore-averse that, on a recent vacation to Antarctica, he tried to flout coldweather gear recommendations by bringing a “fuzzy” pair of Christian Louboutin boots and designer looks. “If I’m going to go to Antarctica, I want to look fabulous.” Ho-hum technical clothes lacked flair.

While some extol the practicality of gorpcore garments, Conor Mosli Lynch, a Londonbased surgeon, does not.

“None of these clothes are particularly convenient or comfortable,” said Dr. Mosli Lynch, 34. “If you’re going to work and you’ve got a carabiner banging off your belt, that’s not conve-

nient.” Whether seeing patients, biking, skiing or hiking, he steadfastly relies on threepiece British wool suits. “They fit absolutely perfectly. They’re warm, they’re waterproof. To state that some Gore-Tex jacket is going to do the job better, I think, is nonsense.”

Mr. Kamarake agreed that gorpian clothes, often crafted from synthetic fabrics, are “by no means comfortable.” That makes their rise in this era of WFH loungewear more confounding. “Maybe it’s to counter the fact that we’re all stuck inside,” he mused. “But what are you going to do next?

Spray imitation pine?”

—Katharine K. Zarrella

JASON RAISH (ILLUSTRATION); GETTY (FRANK OCEAN); F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (DESCENTE ALLTERRAIN, BYBORRE)

TRAIL REMIX 1. Jacket, $300, marmot.com 2. Models “hiking” in Gucci’s new collaboration with the North Face 3. Pants, $118, gramicci.com 4. Descente Pause Shirt, $125, hatchetsupply.com 5. Backpack, $169, mysteryranch.com 6. Sweater, about $560, byborre.com 7. Hat, $55, arcteryx.com 8.

Frank Ocean in an Arc’teryx hat at Paris Fashion Week in 2019 9. And Wander Jacket, $554, mytheresa.com 10. Roa Boots, $571, farfetch.com 11. Klattermusen Bag, $40, hatchetsupply.com 12. Pants, $320, klattermusen.com

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | D3

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STYLE & FASHION

MATT CHASE (ILLUSTRATION); GETTY (70’S MODELS, AIGHEWI); F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (COMEY, NO. 6)

PLATFORM FOR CHANGE From left: A clogged trio in 1972 captures the folksy feeling of ’70s versions; model Adesuwa Aighewi wears a slim new style at a 2019 fashion show.

FASHION WITH A PAST / NANCY MACDONELL

How Clogs Clomped Into the Present Day ON HER FIRST DATE with Joe Biden, in 1975, Jill Biden, then a college student at the University of Delaware, immediately noticed his shoes. As she later recounted, “I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, he came to the door and he had a sport coat and loafers and I thought, ‘God, this is never going to work, not in a million years.’”

As the incoming first lady observed, the divide between the clogged and the unclogged can seem vast. On the one side, bohemian aplomb; on the other, an uptight suspicion of any shoe that shares an etymology with plumbing mishaps. But reader, she married him. Is the gap really as yawning as we assume it to be?

It’s certainly narrowing, espe-

cially now that both mass-market and luxury brands are bringing new designs to eager consumers.

In September, Crocs released a collaboration with the Puerto Rican rap star Bad Bunny that sold out in 16 minutes. And this season, Hermès, which is better known for handbags with yearslong waiting lists, is releasing its anticipated iteration; priced at $990, it’s in the

new category of luxury clog. The Hermès design comes on the heels of Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior and Chanel versions, not to mention more affordable offerings from Everlane and Gap, all of which are late to the party compared with No. 6, the New York brand whose earthy pairs made wood-soled shoes a fashionable class signifier 15 years ago.

This clog blossoming suggests not just a high-fashion takeover of a shoe formerly associated with artisans and hippies, but its newly broad appeal.

As with everything this year, the growing visibility of clogs has been shaped by the pandemic.

With less of a reason to wear formal shoes, either because of unemployment or closed offices, clogs’ slip-on, slip-off ease is understandably appealing. And perhaps because their comfort and support makes them a favorite of health care workers, 2020’s superheroes, they’ve taken on an associative feel-good glow.

They convey an aesthetic message as well. Said Lauren Mechling, a writer (who has contributed to The Wall Street Journal) and the founder of the clogappreciation Instagram account @thecloglife, “The attitude is, ‘I’m too cool to be bothered.’” If your shoes don’t have backs, you’re inherently relaxed.

They’re also an indicator of a nonconformist taste and opinion, said Lana Bittman, a librarian at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “When I look at images of clogs on social media, I’ll get a platonic girl crush on women whose clogs I like. I’ll want to know what books she reads and what her living room looks like.”

Wood clogs date to the medieval period and were primarily peasant shoes, made from a cheap, readily available material that offered protection from occupational hazards associated with farming and other dangerous, physically demanding labor. They were also fairly damaging in themselves, as a team of archaeologists found when they excavated a 19th-century Dutch graveyard in 2011 and found skeletons with visible chunks missing from their foot

bones, a result of doing hard work in hard shoes.

Clogs began to be adopted by the well-off in the 1920s, when the open-toe “sand clog,” along with the suntan, another former symbol of the working class, became fashion accessories associated with resorts such as the Riviera and Palm Beach. These later gave way to the current bulbous form of the clog that migrated from Scandinavia to Europe and North America in the late 1960s. It was part of a wave of nostalgic, back-to-the-land fashions that arose alongside a growing interest in anti-technology pursuits like handicrafts and environmentalism, which you would be right to recognize as sounding similar to our prairie-dress-wearing present.

But perhaps the most interesting instance of clog-wearing in recent history occurred in occupied France during World War II. When the Nazis invaded, they requisitioned France’s industrial output,

‘When I look at images of clogs on social media, I’ll get a platonic girl crush on women whose clogs I like.’ including the lion’s share of the shoe production. This left the French to make do with…clogs.

But these were not ordinary peasants’ sabots. Thanks to severe rationing, fashion under the German occupation was a form of protest known as “système D”—a reference to the fourth-choice quality of many of the materials available.

Using whatever they could get their hands on, Frenchwomen concocted huge turbans (the pink pussy hats of their day), patriotic accessories and towering wooden shoes, all as a way of asserting their individuality as they lived under occupation. Carmel Snow, then the editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, wrote about the sound those clogs made when everyone left their offices every evening.

Perhaps, if clogs continue to clatter into our wardrobes, we’ll hear that sound again, at some point in the not-too-distant future.

If that happens, we’ll know clogs have crossed into acceptable office attire—and then they might mean something entirely different.

Babes in The Wood Modern fashion clogs come in all styles—and unless it’s snowing, they offer a great opportunity to show off all those socks you got for Christmas

Here’s the pair on every fashion editor’s wishlist. Shoes, $990, Hermès, 212-751-3181

Rachel Comey offers a strong clog selection, like this shiny high design.

Shoes, $450, rachelcomey.com

FAST FIVE

Worth the Zip Please, ma’am, set aside the sweatshirt. We’ve got a similarly sporty, less-slovenly option: the half-zip sweater. These natty pullovers feel fitting for January weather. Zip up for gusty school drop-offs, zip down for sweltering heat in the car.

Clockwise from top left: Sweater, $350, acnestudios.com; Sweater, $200, filoro.com; Sweater, $295, lalignenyc.com; Sweater, $650, toteme-studio.com; Nanushka Sweater, $425, farfetch.com

Clogs are not generally considered ‘cool’ but these black, trim ones are. Shoes, $920, celine.com

For a cozy, midwinter spin on the clog, try these from stalwart brand No. 6. Shoes, $305, no6store.com

D4 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

EATING & DRINKING cessful, most selling out in a few hours,” he noted.

I asked Véronique Boss-Drouhin, winemaker of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy, what she thinks about finding this word used to describe her family’s wine. “Baby: pure marketing,” she wrote in an email. “Personally I don’t so much like the association.” Burgundians might call young wines in the cellar “babies,” but Ms. Boss-Drouhin had never heard a Burgundy winemaker talk about a Baby Chablis.

Gerald Weisl, owner of Weimax Wines & Spirits in Burlingame, Calif., isn’t a fan either. “There is a reliance on associative marketing to help convince a consumer they ought to give this probably more obscure, likely less prestigious wine a try,” he said in an email. To him the word has the drawback of being useful only to a customer with some knowledge of wine. If you don’t know Barolo, you will hardly understand what “Baby Barolo” means.

MICHELA BUTTIGNOL

‘Chances are you’re getting it at a much cheaper price.’

ON WINE / LETTIE TEAGUE

Baby Boom: Why Retailers Are Infantilizing Wines OH BABY, there sure seem to be some great wine deals around. In the past several months, I’ve been offered highly touted Baby Brunello and Baby Sancerre and even Baby Bâtard-Montrachet in wine merchants’ emails. The word Baby didn’t appear on the labels but was, rather, the way the wines were characterized by the sellers—a shorthand I suspect would actually mystify many customers. In each case, the merchant promised an outstanding value, but beyond that, the exact meaning of “Baby” was unclear.

Associative marketing words have been pegged to wines as long as wine merchants have been selling them. For example, Cabernet and Shiraz are routinely called “masculine,” while just about any rosé gets labeled “feminine.” The “Baby” moniker—a fairly recent development in wine-marketing lingo— might be less offensive, but is it truly effective for selling wine?

Mystified myself by the term—or its rather imprecise usage—I decided to ask retailers what they

mean by it and what kind of success they have had using it. I quizzed other wine professionals and winedrinking friends as well. Did they like or even understand the word when it is applied to a wine?

I contacted Daniel Lipman, director of marketing and ecommerce at Bottle King, a group of 15 New Jersey wine and liquor stores, about an email I received from the company in August. It advertised a Baby Barolo—aka the 2017 Rocca Giovanni Giaculin ($14). Mr. Lipman told me a handful of customers had asked what the word meant. “They thought the wine was young and not ready to drink,” he said.

Mr. Lipman did a bit of research and found he’d used the “B” word four times in promotional emails: once for that would-be Barolo, twice for aspiring Brunellos and once for a white wine from the Rhône. To him, attaching “Baby” to a wine means it is not quite as good as the wine it’s compared to, and “chances are you’re getting it at a much cheaper price.” There is no such thing as a

$14 Barolo; the real deal can cost many multiples of that number.

Justin Grover, president and owner of Fine Wines International in San Francisco, recently sent an email offering a Baby Bâtard-Montrachet, the 2017 Jean Pascal et Fils Puligny Montrachet Les Enseignères ($56). When I asked why he’d identified it this way, he noted the proximity of the vineyard from which the wine is sourced to two legendary white Burgundy vineyards: Bâtard-Montrachet and Bienvenues Bâtard-Montrachet. “Les Enseignères is a village lieu-dit, or designated vineyard, and shares the taste characteristics of its high-rent neighbors: a nice balance of richness and minerality, with weight, long length and aftertaste,” he wrote. At $56, his Baby Bâtard-Montrachet goes for a fraction of the high-three-figure price tag regularly attached to a Bâtard.

Mr. Grover was surprised to learn the word “Baby” is in general use. “I didn’t know it was a thing,” he said.

To him, the term means “greatness

adjacent.” And yes, he said, associating the lesser-known wine with a famous one had helped sell bottles.

More than the word Baby itself, that association appealed to oenophiles who knew and loved—but perhaps weren’t prepared to pay for—the “grown-up” Bâtard.

In the past few months, Manhattan’s Sherry-Lehmann Wine & Spirits has emailed offers of Baby Pommard, Baby Ruinart, Baby PulignyMontrachet, Baby Sancerre and Baby Château Latour. One email touted a Baby Drouhin Clos des Mouches Blanc, the 2018 Joseph Drouhin Côte de Beaune Blanc ($60), containing fruit from young vines of the storied Clos des Mouches vineyard. Sherry-Lehmann’s general manager, Matt Wong, explained in an email that the term “Baby” is meant to leverage brand recognition attached to certain wines in order to raise the profile of producers and vineyards at a more “entry-level” price point—a response to “unprecedented times” in the wine business.

“The campaigns have been very suc-

Mr. Weisl noted that retailers aren’t the only ones enamored of the word. He forwarded a pitch from Andrew Miramontes, the Northern California sales representative for Weygandt-Metzler Importing, offering a Baby Tavel rosé, the 2019 Château de Manissy La Belle Étoile Rosé. “Just had a final drop of 25 [cases] of our ‘Baby Tavel,’ ” Mr. Miramontes wrote. He explained that the wine, made by a Tavel producer, was deemed best suited to a shorter maceration, producing a lighter, leaner wine than the typical Tavel. “Fresh, delicious and cheap” was his ultimate assessment.

As I hadn’t previously seen “Baby” pinned to a rosé, I called Mr. Miramontes. “Tavel is a classified region known for its very substantial rosés; this is a much lighter wine,” he said. “When you use the term it helps give context to the wine.” Do Tavel producers use it?

They do not, he replied. But to him, “Baby” is cute, charming: “Who doesn’t love a baby?”

When I polled wine-drinking friends, several seemed baffled by this use of “Baby.” “It sounds like the wine is immature or small,” said my friend Bruce. My friend Alison mused, “I like baby vegetables and fruits because they have more delicacy. Are baby wines the same?” Another friend, Alan, took umbrage: “I’m offended on behalf of Brunello producers.” He insisted he had no idea what the term means, “except that they are trying to sell wine.”

For my part, I find the term less obnoxious than others I’ve heard.

And since these wines are usually quite reasonably priced—and potentially “greatness adjacent”—I think “Baby” sounds like a promising word.

Email Lettie at wine@wsj.com

Shrimp and Cauliflower Sauté With Rosemary-Caper Butter

The Chef Rebecca Wilcomb Her Restaurant Gianna in New Orleans What She’s Known For Cooking that honors Italian grandmothers, including her own, for whom the restaurant is named.

Pristine ingredients, the best local produce and Gulf seafood.

YOU MIGHT CALL Rebecca Wilcomb an ingredient whisperer. At Gianna, her restaurant in New Orleans, she’s known for her high standards when it comes to sourcing as well as the way she understands and combines those immaculate ingredients.

This delicious sauté, her final Slow Food Fast recipe, begins with a local catch. “I love Gulf shrimp and I love to highlight our seafood,” Ms. Wilcomb said. She matches the shrimp with cauliflower, highlighting the sweetness and subtlety of both. First she roasts the cauliflower in the oven to coax out its natural sugars.

Then she sautés the cauliflower and shrimp together, with some chopped almonds for crunch. A compound butter flavored with rosemary, capers, garlic and Total Time 25 minutes Serves 4 2 cups roughly chopped cauliflower florets 3 tablespoons olive oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature 1 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped 1 tablespoon capers, lightly chopped 1 teaspoon garlic, minced 1 lemon, zested and juiced 11/2 pounds jumbo shrimp, peeled

lemon zest cloaks the other ingredients in a savory, aromatic glaze.

That butter freezes nicely, Ms. Wilcomb said, so consider keeping a batch on hand to punch up other seafoods, steak and poultry. Here, it complements without overpowering the shrimp, which is the true star of this recipe. Buy the freshest you can find and avoid overcrowding the pan when cooking it, Ms. Wilcomb warned, as that lowers the temperature and prevents proper searing. Keep an eye on the clock, too. “Overcooking your shrimp is a big no-no,” the chef said. It only takes a few minutes to get the right tender texture. Indeed, the whole dish comes together quickly, as easy and elegant as it is comforting. —Kitty Greenwald

1/

cup almonds, roughly chopped 1 tablespoon minced parsley 4

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss cauliflower with 1 tablespoon oil and a pinch of salt. Spread cauliflower across a sheet tray and roast until browned in spots and al dente, about 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make compound butter: In a small bowl or food processor, mix butter, rosemary, capers, garlic and lemon zest until well combined. Cover and refrigerate at least 10 minutes.

3. Pat shrimp dry and season with salt and pepper.

Set a large sauté pan over high heat. Once hot, add remaining oil. Lay shrimp into pan, spread out evenly in a single layer, and sear on one side, 2 minutes. Add roast cauliflower, almonds and compound butter. Cook, tossing, until shrimp is just cooked and butter slicks everything, 1-2 minutes. If pan looks dry, add a splash of water to stretch the buttery glaze. Toss in parsley and season with salt and lemon juice. Serve immediately.

SPECIAL SAUCE Prepare an extra batch of the rosemary-caper butter and keep it in the freezer, ready to make a meal of most any protein.

MICHAEL HOEWELER (PORTRAIT); CHELSIE CRAIG FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY PEARL JONES, PROP STYLING BY BETH PAKRADOONI

SLOW FOOD FAST / SATISFYING AND SEASONAL FOOD IN ABOUT 30 MINUTES

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | D5

NY

BY ANDREA NGUYEN

N

EW YEAR’S resolutions never worked for me, but perimenopause got me to rethink my cooking and eating for the long haul.

The random pain, indigestion, fatigue and inflammation led me to ask my mother, 85, about going through “the change.” She sympathized but explained that her generation of Vietnamese women didn’t know of menopause. “It didn’t exist to us. We just endured,” she said. “Stay busy so you don’t focus on it.”

My contemporaries told an-

Reworking favorite comfort foods stoked my sense of culinary adventure. I also lost about 15 pounds. other story. “It takes over your life,” one friend said. “It’s something different every day,” said another. My primary-care physician offered practical advice: Monitor what’s going on and if it doesn’t stick, you’re likely OK. Many of my issues were gut-related—hardly surprising, given my career. For nearly 20 years I’d been paid to cook, eat, drink, travel and write. Dealing with a BMI on the edge of being overweight and negotiating renegade hormones, my 50-year-old body called for a course correction. Not prepared to give up entirely on foods I relish, I struck a new balance by consuming less refined sugar and white rice, and majorly boosting my vegetable intake. That didn’t mean I relegated meat to a side dish or cancelled it altogether, but I did commit to sourcing my meals from both the plant and animal kingdoms.

A Realistic Resolution Not ready to go fully meatless? These recipes strike a healthy balance between beef and veg Tofu-Meatloaf Sheet-Pan Dinner Active time 20 minutes Total time 11/2 hours Serves 4 1 (14-ounce) package firm tofu, water discarded 1/ 2 cup panko bread crumbs (regular or gluten-free) 2/ 3 cup finely chopped scallions, green and white parts 1/ 2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, cilantro and/ or dill with stems 2 cloves garlic, minced and mashed or pressed 1/ 2 cup grated Parmesan 11/2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon paprika 3/ 4 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for seasoning 3/ 4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning 2 large eggs 11/4 pounds ground beef, veal, pork, lamb and/or darkmeat turkey 1/ 2 cup ketchup 2 tablespoons applecider vinegar 31/2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil 11/4 pounds small carrots and/or fingerling or baby potatoes, halved lengthwise 1 pound broccoli crowns, cut into florets

HOLY SHEET PAN The meatloaf and veggies cook together for a meal that’s easy as well as healthy.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set a rack in middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Lightly grease.

2. Break tofu into 10-12 chunks and set on a clean towel or double layer of paper towels.

Let drain 10 minutes.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine panko, scallions, parsley and garlic. Add drained tofu, then massage and squish to mush tofu and combine well.

4. Add Parmesan, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, paprika, salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add eggs and meat, using your hands to mix well.

Roughly shape into a loaf and transfer to one side of prepared baking sheet. Press into a neat 9-by-5-inch loaf.

5. Combine ketchup, vinegar, remaining soy sauce and remaining pepper. Pour over meatloaf, then use a brush to spread onto

sides and ends. Bake 30 minutes.

6. In a large bowl, season potatoes with a generous pinch each of salt and pepper, then toss with 1 tablespoon oil. Once meatloaf has baked 30 minutes, add potatoes to empty side of baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes, stirring potatoes occasionally, then increase heat to 450. Bake until top is burgundy with some dark spots, 15 minutes.

Let cool 20 minutes.

7. In the mixing bowl, season broccoli with 2 or 3 pinches of salt and toss with 21/2 tablespoons oil. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet. While meatloaf cools, cook broccoli, stirring midway, until stems are just tender and tops brown, 15-20 minutes. Slice meatloaf and serve with vegetables. Leftovers keep, covered and refrigerated, 5 days.

During the pandemic, I’ve gravitated to comforting dishes like Chinese mapo tofu, which combines a few ounces of meat and a pound of tofu in a satisfying blend that’s just rich enough. It got me thinking about tofu as a versatile flavor sponge and ultimately led me to combine it with a mix of ground meats in a made-over meatloaf.

Because beancurd is edible raw, you can safely taste and tweak the flavor before adding the raw meat, dialing in as much garlic, soy sauce and spice as you like. I’ve found that as long as I keep a 1:2 ratio of drained tofu to raw meat, it’s pretty foolproof. Increasing the tofu ratio diluted the meaty flavor and made for crumbly results, whereas getting the balance right produced a light, moist texture.

Intent on letting veggies share the spotlight, I turned the recipe into an easy sheetpan dinner with the addition of potatoes and broccoli that cook alongside the meatloaf.

Bonus: It yields plenty of leftover meatloaf to see you through the week in sandwiches, fried rice or tacos.

Next I pondered a 50/50 veggie-beef burger. To create a multidimensional savory depth and the right nubby texture, I leaned on chopped mushrooms this time to complement the meat. Caramelized onion and carrot amped up the umami, and fresh herbs brought vibrancy.

During a brief pan-fry, the patty developed a craveable crusty exterior to rival a classic smash burger’s. And the uncooked burger mixture could sit in the fridge for days, at the ready for a quick meal.

Reworking favorite comfort foods stoked my sense of culinary adventure. I also lost about 15 pounds in 2020 and feel much better. Maybe Mom was right about staying busy.

Find a recipe for 50/50 Burgers at wsj.com/food.

GAMECHANGER

Totally Radicchio, Dude This chicory comes in striking hues, has a life-affirming bite and holds up valiantly in the fridge. No wonder it’s having a moment.

Do a sheet-pan supper.

Toss radicchio wedges with olive oil, salt and pepper.

On a sheet pan, roast Italian sausages at 425 for 10 minutes.

Flip sausage, add radicchio and cook until wilted. Garnish with pomegranate seeds and aged balsamic vinegar.

Grill it.

Cut the head into wedges, brush with oil and season with salt. Cook on a grill (or hot cast-iron skillet) until charred and softened. Top with shaved Parmesan and garlicky vinaigrette.

ISTOCK

Make pizza.

Stretch out pizza dough and brush well with olive oil. Sprinkle on walnuts and a heap of chopped radicchio tossed with olive oil and salt. Dot with blue cheese. Bake in a hot oven.

THE LAST THING anyone needed was antemperatures—keeping farmers busy during other virtual meeting. And yet, in October, the slow season—as well as its flavor and more than 1,100 fans of radicchio tuned in range of vivid hues. Most of us know (and to “Rad TV,” a day’s worth of YouTube promost supermarkets offer) the densely laygramming to fete their favorite ered, burgundy-leaved Radicchio di bitter vegetable. Academics reChioggia. Other tempting varieties Where to Buy told its history (did you know rainclude the pale-green, speckled Radicchio di dicchio only became a staple in Variegato di Castelfranco, the deliChioggia is Italy in the 20th century?), plant cate, pink Rosa del Veneto and the widely available oblong, almost tentacled Rosso di breeders shared growing techat grocery niques, chefs demo’d recipes such Treviso Tardivo. These are seasonal, stores, but look available now through early spring. as radicchio tarte tatin and for late-winter grilled radicchio salad with anBesides being gorgeous, the varieties such chovy dressing. fresh, grilled or wilted leaves set as Treviso TarBitter vegetables don’t usually off the season’s rich, fatty foods divo at farmers’ and add much-missed freshness to have fan clubs. But radicchio, a markets and kind of chicory, has earned a pasa winter plate. And unlike those sionate following of small farmers, specialty stores wimpy, bagged salad greens, radicsuch as Eataly. chefs and plant breeders who chio will last weeks in the fridge. prize its capacity to grow in cold —Jane Black

HAPPY RETURNS

A warm winter welcome Now more than ever, we’re committed to making your next stay even better with exceptional experiences, gracious service and the unparalleled amenities you’ve come to expect from our iconic oceanfront resort. Relax in one of four beachfront pools, enjoy championship golf, our luxurious spa, award-winning dining, shopping and more. Once you stay, you’ll understand®

Visit thebreakers.com, call 877-881-9051 or contact your travel advisor.

Take comfort in knowing that the highest standards of comprehensive health and safety precautions are in place to protect our team, guests and community.

For information, visit thebreakers.com/bsafe.

CHELSIE CRAIG FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY PEARL JONES, PROP STYLING BY BETH PAKRADOONI

EATING & DRINKING

D6 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

ADVENTURE & TRAVEL

ANNIE KILLAM (THE LODGE); ASHLEY BURNS (GOLDEN DOOR)

PEACE OFFERING From left: The entrance to Mii amo resort in Sedona, Ariz.; lakeside at the Lodge at Woodloch in Hawley, Penn.

Calm During the Storm No to facials. Yes to ‘eye hugs.’ Welcome to spa resorts in the age of Covid.

BY DEBRA KAMIN

N

EVER MIND the Sweet Slumber massage or the Spiritual Warrior facial. The greatest relaxation Sarah Evans experienced during her October getaway to Miraval Berkshires spa in Lenox, Mass., involved hands-off treatments. These included opportunities to hurl hatchets at tree trunk targets or to enjoy a shamanic sound healing, where Ms. Evans, a New York City publicist and mother of three young children, lay on a yoga mat bathed in the vibrations of crystal singing bowls. Hands-on cures—the antithesis to social-distancing—may have lost their appeal during the pandemic but spas still tout their stress-busting activities, and some weary quarantiners are heeding their call.

Lynne McNees, president of the International Spa Association (ISPA), a trade group, said that it’s too early to gauge Covid-19’s impact on the $19-billion spa industry. But, she added, since most large destination spas reopened in June, demand has been steady, with individual visits rising even as groups like bridal parties have stayed away. Ms. Evans

GOLD TOUCH A pandemic-friendly outdoor massage area at Golden Door. has already booked another spa break for this month, this time in the Hamptons. “It would be incredible to go sit on a beach somewhere, but I want to take care of myself,” she said. “Everything feels more intense right now.”

The isolation brought on by the coronavirus has created a secondary crisis. Reported symptoms of anxiety, depression and other disorders have more than tripled since 2019, according to a September study by the American Medical Association. With their ample open spaces, destination spas say they

can help. Their activity calendars were packed with rituals focused on stress relief and spiritual well-being long before the term “coronavirus” entered our lexicons, and they’re now positioning themselves as points of refuge in the pandemic.

That spin has merit, said Dr. Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist and professor at Montclair State University, in New Jersey. Spabased activities like rock-climbing and hiking boost health in multiple ways. “We know that stress has an impact on the immune system, and cardiovascular activities help calm

you,” said Ms. Silvera. “So if you can do them outside, with spacing, there’s a lot of value and benefit.”

No evidence suggests that Covid-19 can spread in chlorinated pools. Saunas are a fairly safe bet, too, if heated to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit, said Dr. Silvera. The virus cannot survive those temperatures. But Dr. Silvera cautioned that no magic scenario, whether outdoors or not, can entirely erase the risk of Covid-19. Masks, social distancing and strict sanitation remain important measures. “Imagine that each preventive behavior is a layer of Swiss cheese that has some holes, and when you layer them, those holes go away,” she said.

In response to Covid-19, most U.S. spas have bolstered cleaning protocols, instituted mask-wearing and implemented social-distancing guidelines during classes. But many have also gotten creative.

At Mii amo, a destination spa tucked into 70 acres of Arizona red rocks at the larger Enchantment Resort in Sedona, general manager Jim Root has instructed his staff to greet guests with what he calls an “eye hug”—a longer, more personal gaze—since physical touch is limited. And at the spa’s Crystal Grotto, the round clay belly of the resort’s canyon, meditations and shaman-guided rituals are limited to five or six participants. The schedule of outdoor activities like canyon bathing and labyrinth walks has been expanded.

Golden Door, the luxury destination spa in northern San Diego County, shut down from March until September. Kathy Van Ness, the gen-

eral manager said she used the time to build the Starlight Massage World—a series of open-air treatment cabanas fitted with twinkling lights. “We have 600 acres, and we built outdoor arenas that we’ll use beyond Covid,” she said. The resort is now closed again due to California’s new Stay at Home order. When it reopens, Ms. Van Ness said, most treatments and classes will be offered outside.

Canyon Ranch has resorts in Tucson, Ariz., and Lenox, Mass., both of which are seeing an uptick in firsttime guests this year. One consequence: The staff must respond to an increased demand for the resorts’ outdoor adventure programming, which includes options like geocaching, aerial adventure ziplines and photography hikes.

Smaller resorts that don’t have swaths of open space to work with have had to shuffle in a different way. Estancia La Jolla, a 210-room hotel and spa on 10 acres in La Jolla, Calif., moved all fitness classes outside and offered spa treatments in tents along the resort’s shady courtyards.

The outdoor offerings at the Lodge at Woodloch include a vibrational therapy session called Gong with the Wind.

At the Lodge at Woodloch, which sits on 1,200 acres in Hawley, Penn., tents for fitness classes were put outside and outdoor offerings expanded, including forest bathing, birding, “nature” yoga and a vibrational therapy session called Gong With the Wind. Outdoor farm dinners were also offered a few times a week (they are now paused for the winter). And new activities were added, including hatchet throwing. “Everyone needs to throw a hatchet now and again,” said TJ Walsh, the resort’s Covid-19 Taskforce leader.

A Hibernating How-To If you’re going to lean into winter, Vermont’s the place. Here, three ways to quarantine cozily HIDING OUT in Vermont’s snowy Green Mountains presents some challenges during Covid-times—but that’s the allure. The state’s strict regulations, wide-open spaces and intelligent epidemic management have led to one of the country’s lowest rates of infection. A tough place to visit, Vermont requires all out-of-state travelers to quarantine for seven days if they have a negative Covid test or 14 days without one—either before they leave home or after arrival. The state also limits locals and visitors alike from gathering with people from other households. Lodgings and restaurants and even ski resorts, however, are open at limited capacity.

The obstacles have kept most visitors at home, but if you don’t mind quarantining and don’t want to socialize, Vermont can be your own private snow globe this winter. And if you’re a skier, 50% lower capacity on peak weekends on the mountains means 50% fewer people scraping off the powder. We recommend these three, extra-safe lodging strategies, all focused on southern Vermont counties with even lower Covid rates than the rest of the state. Strap on your snowshoes. —Valerie Stivers

The owners of the Homestyle Hotel Inn + Restaurant in Ludlow recently took over a motel in an 1830s building across the street and turned it into the Main + Mountain Bar and Motel.

The transformed hostelry’s secondfloor accommodations feature cool hues of white and gray, with live-edge headboards and white subway tile.

Covid-safety bonus The motel has contactless check-in and pickup from the bar downstairs, and every room’s doors and windows open to the outside. Best of all, this fall the owners closed the hotel part of their property across the street and turned its former guest rooms into private dining rooms for the Homestyle Restaurant.

Surroundings The homey mill town of Ludlow has emerged as one of

Southern Vermont’s best dining destinations, and is about a five-minute drive from the access road to Okemo Mountain.

From $154 a night, mainandmountain.com

LES JORGENSEN

Base yourself at a gourmet motel

Rent your very own farm Owned by a couple who raise goats and make caramels, the classic hilltop Big Picture Farm is situated on 100 acres of pastures and woodlands in Townshend. Renters can book a rambling, 10-bedroom farmhouse built in 1790 or a two-bedroom barn or onebedroom cabin, all renovated with modern touches. A few towns away, in South Londonderry, Bent Apple Farm is on a former horse farm.

There you can sleep in a renovated 5bedroom farmhouse with gables and wide pine flooring or a 2-bedroom vintage barn reconstructed in the

PERSISTENT CHEER The Dorset Inn, tucked away from ski crowds, opened in 1796 and never closed. style of the owner’s mother’s dollhouse.

Surroundings Both farms are within 30 to 45 minutes of multiple ski and cross-country destinations.

Covid-safety bonus Families have been renting both properties since the pandemic started, looking for larger spaces for remote work and school.

Big Picture, from $1,400 a week for the cabin, $3,000 for the colt barn and $5,500 for the farmhouse; big-

picturefarm.com. Bent Apple, from $280 a night for the barn and $565 a night for the farmhouse, bentapplefarmvt.com

Take a room at a secluded country inn You’ll find the Dorset Inn—which opened in 1796 and has never closed—in the small town of Dorset, known for gorgeous old houses and a classic white-clapboard village. The inn’s local-hangout tavern now seats

only 4 tables—a wonderfully warming and near-private experience if you can score a reservation. Rooms are upscale-traditional with framed prints and patterned textiles.

Surroundings Dorset is well off the beaten ski-mountain trail but outdoor recreation options include snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

Covid-safety bonus Staying far away from partying ski bums will give many travelers peace of mind.

From $175 a night, dorsetinn.com

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021 | D7

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DESIGN & DECORATING LOOK, MA, NO HANDLES These kitchen cabinets in a Brooklyn factory conversion (by local firm Alloy Development) exemplify the new hardware-free look.

What’s Hot, What’s Kaput in 2021 We asked 200 design pros which trends feel fresh vs. finished as we enter a new year. They forecast a hunger for hushed, murky rooms and hardware-less kitchen cupboards—and a quick fade for farmhouse white and open shelving.

PAVEL BENDOV (ALLOY KITCHEN); GETTY (BATHROOM); WHITNEY LAWS/GALLERY STOCK (OUTDOOR SHOWER); SHUTTERSTOCK (SATIN PILLOW, OPEN SHELVE, BLACK FAUCET, MODERN FARMHOUSE); MALI AZIMA (EMERALD ROOM)

OUT

Lab-Like Bathrooms

Open-Air Showers

While we still need me-time in the bath to maintain our sanity, the white-on-white loo has lost its allure. “Bathrooms have become less austere, less like operating theaters,” said Boston designer Mally Skok. Oncepopular materials are faltering.

“Bookmatched marble is so beautiful, but it’s almost echo-y white. It feels cold,” said Ms. Skok. And Sara Hillery, a designer in Richmond, Va., finds fabricated quartz looks too manufactured: “Design trends are headed toward a softer, more natural look, and these man-made options fall short.”

Meanwhile, the al fresco shower has acquired powerful appeal, part of the continuing push to “make the outdoor as well-designed and comfortable as the indoor,” as New York architect West Chin put it. San Francisco designer Jay Jeffers, who often installs showers like the one at right on clients’ properties in Napa Valley, points to the dreamy sense of escape they conjure. “You’re almost in a different world—Mexico or the Cayman Islands or Anguilla—somewhere else that’s not your home.”

Glitzy Textiles

Fabrics That Feel Good

Miami designer Allen Saunders, among others, foresees a rejection of slick surfaces in general. Mr. Jeffers zeroed in on shiny fabrics, a played-out way to bestow a design scheme with glossy glamour. “They give this connotation of a dressier room, which people are just not as excited about these days,” he said. As pillows or upholstery, these light-catching lamés and shimmery satins not only look chilly, they skimp on tactile comfort.

“They’re a little harder in terms of their touch and hand,” he said.

We’re gravitating to touchable textiles like velvet, mohair and soft bouclé, said Robbie McMillan, co-owner and lead designer of AubreyMaxwell in San Francisco. “Bouclé is everywhere,” concurred Andrew Kline, design director at New York’s Workshop/APD. “We have nowhere to go in our Chanel blazers, so we’re translating the look to sofas,” he said.

Elizabeth Cooper, another Bay Area designer, highlighted furry alternatives such as alpaca (see the Arhaus pillow at right), while Bethesda, Md., designer Marika Meyer likes the tactility of crewel embroidery.

Chaos-Courting Open Shelving

Neat Cabinets Sans Hardware

Sure, floating shelves look great in photos when styled by a pro or even by a layperson with a good eye. The rest of us struggle to keep exposed tableware looking organized and pretty, which has scuttled this “deconstructed kitchen” trend. “For some, open shelving always felt too cluttered,” said Kobi Karp, principal of the eponymous architecture and interior-design firm, in Miami. Another reason to shelf open shelving: Dishes end up covered in (unappetizing, time-consuming) dust and grease.

“Since cabinetry usually takes up most of the space in kitchens, a ton of exposed hardware can create an eyesore,” said Houston designer Nina Magon. For a serenely seamless facade and an opensesame effect, look for push latches. Also good: drawers with grabbable undersides like the ones at right, made by London kitchen company Lanserring. The result is a decidedly more tidy kitchen. “It expresses the less-is-more approach and helps focus on the beauty of the cabinetry and surfaces,” said Ms. Magon.

Matte Black Fixtures

Faucets You Can Talk To

Industrial and farmhouse trends ushered in flat black faucets, but they’re now heading out. “Black is one-dimensional...really visually bold and heavy,” said Indianapolis designer Whittney Parkinson. The color “immediately draws your eye to an element that shouldn’t have much relevance.” Ms. Parkinson also noted that some manufacturers spray on the black finish, which means it will eventually scratch off. “People want pieces they feel will age really well,” she said, versus ones that must be replaced in a few years.

Want to minimize contact with germy handles and taps? Just connect Siri or Alexa to a voice-activated fixture. “You can say, ‘Faucet, two cups of water.’ You put the pan under and it dispenses two cups!” said Sacramento, Calif., designer Kerrie Kelly. You can also program the flow’s temperature and duration for, say, rinsing dishes. Designer Dennese Guadeloupe Rojas, in Silver Lake, Md., points out that touchless faucets don’t get dirty in the first place, so finishes like matte white, as on the version at right by Jason Wu for Brizo, stay looking clean.

Modern Farmhouse

Dusky Rooms

With apologies to Chip and Joanna Gaines, who popularized the farmhouse look on HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” its white shiplap walls, fauxtiques and dark metal details are being sent to pasture. “People want home to represent who they are and the life they’ve led,” said Dallas designer Michelle Nussbaumer. “Farmhouse is too quiet, too not-real.” Another agri-feature getting the ax: sliding barn doors. Even closed they leave gaps, so they only work in places where sound and privacy are not an issue, said Mr. Karp. Places like a barn.

Design pros are noting a shift to darker, moodier spaces, like this emerald-enveloped bar at right, by Atlanta designer Melanie Turner. Ms. Kelly noted that in kitchens, warm woods are being mixed with deep green or blue paint. Mr. Jeffers predicts those colors, plus dark gray, will also surface in bedrooms: “Deep tones evoke calm and make the perfect sleeping atmosphere.”

Andrea Goldman’s team, in Chicago, creates at least one cozy, relaxing space per project: “We start with wall color, using darker jewel hues.” —Kathryn O’Shea-Evans

IN

D8 | Saturday/Sunday, January 2 - 3, 2021

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

GEAR & GADGETS FOAL THROTTLE Despite its ample figure, the Mach-E can race from 0-60 mph in as fast as 3.5 seconds. gets to be too much, drivers may turn on a synthesized performance sound that swells in the cabin, rising and falling in pitch with torque output. Some people call me the Space Cowboy, yeah…

The Mach-E also offers the selectable option of one-pedal driving, which increases the car’s regen drag/slowing under coasting to the point where drivers rarely need to engage the brake pedal. Works great. The only quibble I had with driving was the brake pedal’s slight touchiness in two-pedal mode.

Ford can be rightly chinned for exploiting the Mustang brand, but is also gambling with it, betting that the new car is charismatic enough to

FORD

Really? This high-sitting four-door hatchback with the dad bod screamed Mustang to management?

That’s...surprising.

RUMBLE SEAT / DAN NEIL

Ford’s All-Electric Mach-E: A ‘Mustang’ in Name Only WHEN I LEARNED that Ford was calling its all-electric crossover Mustang Mach-E, I rolled my eyes and made the skeptical emoji face.

Ladies and gentlemen of Dearborn, please. Can we not go down the road of misty pony-car nostalgia, again?

Must we give credence to this weird non sequitur? For 56 years the nameplate has denoted two-door coupes and convertibles; now, for no particular good reason I can tell, it also denotes a midsize electric fourdoor hatchback—oh, sorry, fastback.

They might as well have called it a Cobra, or Crown Victoria, or the Barney Oldfield 999 Special.

Ford’s engineering execs have been on teleconference press tours this fall in support of the company’s first mass-market EV, to be built in Mexico, with global sales expected to be around 50,000 in the first year. They have explained how, late in the design phase, vice president Jim Farley (now CEO) sent the team back to the drawing boards with orders to make the then-unnamed project more Mustang-ish—more raked windshield, faster hatch, blacked-out C-pillar— until finally someone suggested they just call it a Mustang.

Really? This high-sitting fourdoor hatchback with the dad bod screamed Mustang to management? That’s... surprising. Ford execs repeat this story as if it weren’t a parable of creative laziness.

2021 FORD MUSTANG MACH-E ER EAWD Base Price $49,700 (available $7,500 tax credit) Price, as Tested $56,200 Powertrain Front- and rear-axle mounted permanent-magnet AC synchronous motors; 88 kWh lithium-ion battery pack; AWD Power/Torque 346 hp/428 lb-ft

Not to be a killjoy. Some of the Mustang-themed features are charming: the three-bar taillights; the illuminated galloping mustang logo in the nose (GT trim and above). The three drive modes are “Whisper,” “Engage” and “Unbridled.” Oh, honey! The latter mode corresponds to a typical sport mode, putting a sharper edge on the throttle response and adding heft to the steering feel. The Unbridled mode also permits a certain value of wheel spin, at both front and rear axles, so you can horse around a bit...sorry.

Idiomatic note: In UK-market cars the sport mode is called Untamed. Grrr. No word on rippedbodice upholstery.

Crammed under the floorboards are blocks of pouch-style lithiumion batteries, arrayed in either 68 or 88 kWh packs (standard and ex-

tended range), for which LG Chem must charge a pretty penny. The base MSRP comes in at $42,895 (RWD, 230 miles) before any federal, state or local incentives. Our two-motor, all-wheel drive version with the larger battery (270 miles range) came in at a solidly premium $56,200. That’s $6,300 more than the Model Y Long Range AWD. Talk about nostalgia. The MachE’s steep price reflects Ford management’s oft-repeated insistence that, among its other miracles, the program has to generate a profit out of the gate. Why? It took years of investment and rivers of red ink before Tesla turned the corner of profitability.

Ford’s freshman effort, though worthy in many respects, falls short of the Teslas in range, fast-charge support, sophistication, brand value, and driver assistance. So where

MY TECH ESSENTIALS

Wolfgang Puck

NETFLIX (THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT); GETTY (THE WEEKND)

The restaurant mogul and executive producer of HBO Max’s new docuseries ‘The Event’ on his most important kitchen tools, cooking to music and playing tennis solo

I’m not a big TV-watcher or movie-goer. After a long day, I’d rather take a melatonin and head to sleep. But my wife sometimes gets me interested in a show. Recently she said I had to try ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ on Netflix. I watched it straight through and really enjoyed it. It’s extremely well done.

Often I start my day with juice, a bit of fruit and two double espressos. So, when people ask me what the most important part of my kitchen is, I always say my espresso machine. It’s a Nuova Simonelli, which is similar to what we use in our restaurants.

We like them because they don’t break down. I have my espresso machine on 24-7.

When I was a kid, to make extra money, I picked up tennis balls and cleaned the courts at an Austrian seaside resort where my mother was a chef. When I came to California, I started to play regularly and I love it. I have a Playmate tennis ball machine so I can take some swings when I’m alone, hit 100 backhands and get a little exercise. The machine never complains or calls a ball out, and she’s always there when I need her.

The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers frequently are not the sole retail outlets.

Length/Width/Height/ Wheelbase 185.6/74.1/64.0/117.5 inches Curb Weight 4,838 pounds 0-60 mph 4.8 seconds DC Fast Charge Up to 150 kW EPA Estimated Range 270 miles Cargo Space 29.7 cu. ft.

does Ford get off charging more?

This thing needs a $10,000 haircut.

Monthly payments notwithstanding, the Mach-E feels great.

The cabin is bright and airy (thanks to a full-length panoramic roof), buttoned up, and smartly appointed. The interior’s centerpiece, the 15.5-inch vertical touch screen, is a thing to behold, like a Big Print edition of infotainment.

It’s loaded up with the latest version of Ford’s SYNC 4A interface, which works quite well. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless charging...you know the drill.

The EV mechanism is serene and refined, slow or fast. Yet against the acoustical backdrop of a missing engine and drivetrain, remaining sources of cabin noise—tire howl, wind around the outside mirrors—can worm their way through the well-ordered hum. If the quiet

change the generational conversation, from track bars and Tremec five-speeders to amps and watts.

In this work the Mach-E has a natural ally: acceleration. With a 0-60 fun function ranging from 6.1 seconds (Extended Range, RWD) to a targeted 3.5 seconds (GT Performance Edition eAWD), even the slowest Mach-E will zip, sing and sizzle at a whim or whistle. Our Extended Range AWD tester—with front and rear e-motors totaling 346 hp and 428 lb-ft—could loft itself to 60 mph in less than five billowing seconds. They might have called it the Zephyr.

On highways, our garnet-red tester surged effortlessly to seize openings in traffic, a remorseless appliance taking advantage of the stumble-footed gassers around us.

The Mach-E reserves of overtaking delta V don’t start to run out until about 90 mph.

If the Mach-E actually does make any converts—if that theoretical old-school Mustang fan does wander into a showroom, scratching his or her belly, thinking Mach-E, huh? What the hell, I’ll give ‘er a toss—it will be in those first miles of a test drive, when they experience the fine control torque, the zero-lag throttle response that makes EVs feel so casually fast.

For the sake of efficiency, gaspowered Mustangs usually putter around in a state of semi-somnolence—in high gear, at low rpm, with throttle response fully sedated. But let’s say a matter of honor suddenly arises and you have to throw down. From the moment you stomp the pedal it can take hundreds of milliseconds for a gas engine to spool up, from turbos to output shaft. Meanwhile a concatenation of clutches, gears, shafts and axles must be hurriedly reorganized by their electromechanical masters.

By that time the Mach-E is already putting torques to the ground.

Mustang people might like that.

One high-tech kitchen gadget I love is the PolyScience Sonicprep ultrasonic homogenizer, which uses sound waves to infuse food with flavors extremely quickly.

You can, for example, put alcohol and fruit in the machine and craft an amazing pineapple-flavored vodka in only a couple of hours instead of waiting four weeks.

I’ve driven Cadillac Escalades for years. Right now I have a black 2020 and it’s great: I can go to the fish market or the farmers’ market, but I also take my wife out for dinner in it. —Edited from an interview by Chris Kornelis

When my son and I are in the kitchen cooking together we listen to a lot of music on his phone via Spotify. He really likes The Weeknd, who I think has great lyrics and melodies. Of course, given my age, I always like listening to Queen, the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.