Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Tuesday, November 30, 2020:

COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Anyone who traveled over Thanksgiving should “assume that you were exposed” to the coronavirus and get tested this week while avoiding contact with people who are elderly or have underlying conditions. That plea came from Dr. Deborah Birx on Sunday, and followed Dr. Fauci’s warning of a “surge upon a surge” that will hit in the next few weeks. In an abrupt change, NYC will reopen public elementary schools a week from today and abandon the controversial 3 percent test-positivity threshold. Middle and high schools in the country’s largest public-school system remain online-only for now. NY TIMES

BIDEN TRANSITION

President-elect Biden has announced an all-female communications team to be led by Jen Psaki, a former Obama adviser, as White House press secretary. He is also said to have also chosen Neera Tanden, a divisive figure in Democratic circles, to lead the budget office. Arizona and Wisconsin are set to certify their election results today (a recount in Wisconsin is over and reaffirmed Biden’s win there). The president-elect will likely have to wear a boot for a while after he fractured his foot while playing with his dog over the weekend. NPR

IRAN VOWS REVENGE

The supreme leader of Iran is calling for “definitive punishment” over the killing of the country’s top nuclear scientist. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated by a 12-person hit squad near Tehran on Friday in a sophisticated plot that had all the hallmarks of being conducted by Israel’s Mossad. Iran’s hardline state media has been casting Fakhrizadeh, who will be buried with full honors, as a martyr. There is growing concern that the brazen killing could destabilize the region just as a new U.S. administration is coming in. One Iranian newspaper called in an op-ed for a strike on the Israeli port city of Haifa. Israel’s embassies around the world have been put on high alert. REUTERS

TRANSATLANTIC ALLIANCE

The European Union is reportedly working on a proposal for a new transatlantic alliance with the U.S. in the post-Trump era. The draft plan proposes rebuilding ties on issues from trade to digital regulation as a way to counter the rise of China. Relations between the U.S. and many EU member states have been strained under the Trump administration. FT

IN MEMORIAM: TONY HSIEH

Tributes continue to pour in across the business world for Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos.com who died on Friday from injuries he sustained in a house fire. Hsieh was known as a visionary entrepreneur who was among the first to understand how to get customers to buy things on the internet -- namely, through a fanatical devotion to customer service. He pioneered a famous employment policy in which Zappos would pay new employees $1,000 to quit. The idea being: if they took up the offer, they didn’t have the sense of commitment the company was looking for. Hsieh was 46 years old. INC

CYBER MONDAY

In a Covid world, is there even a difference between a Black Friday that primarily happened online and the typical Cyber Monday online sales event that takes place today? Who knows. But the deals are still aplenty. The hottest big-ticket items this year are arguably the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, but good luck finding them in stock, virtually or physically. CBS NEWS

FOOTBALL: HIGHS & LOWS

NFL IN DISARRAY: The NFL’s marquee regular-season weekend did not go smoothly. The Broncos played their Sunday game against the Saints with a practice wide receiver at QB after all of the team’s quarterbacks were all sidelined under the COVID-19 protocol. It did not go well. Meanwhile, the Steelers-Ravens matchup that was supposed to be the big Thanksgiving night game was postponed to Sunday and then postponed again until tomorrow. In the NFC East, the N.Y. Giants are in first place with a record of ... 4-7. SBNATION

HISTORY MADE: Meanwhile, history was made in college football on Saturday when Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play for a Power 5 team. Fuller, who is normally a goalkeeper for Vanderbilt’s soccer team, kicked off to open the second half in the Vandy-Mizzou game: WATCH THE KICK

'CROODS' CRUSHES

The box office just had its biggest opening of any movie since before the pandemic. The Croods: A New Age took in $9.7 million domestically, or $14.2 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, beating out Tenet for the best opening haul since Disney’s Onward in March. Box office analysts were shocked by the opening and say it shows that the movie theater experience is resilient and could be set for a huge rebound post-vaccine. VARIETY

SPOTTED...

...the actress Rebel Wilson, who has been chronicling her weight loss on social media, announcing that she has hit her goal weight for her “Year of Health” journey a month early: SEE PICS

LEFTOVERS: MISSING MONOLITH

A large, silvery metal monolith that mysteriously appeared in the Utah desert has just as mysteriously vanished. The Bureau of Land Management says the monolith was removed sometime on Friday. No one knows what it was or who put it there, though the art world has been speculating that it was the work of the late sculptor John McCracken, who reportedly wanted his art to be left in remote places to be discovered after his death. AP

Listen to the N2K Podcast! Looking for more context and analysis on the big stories of the day? Check out our podcast! Hosts Jill and Carlo break down the headlines, every weekday morning Listen on Apple or Spotify, or watch on YouTube, and send us your feedback!

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Dating App Hinge Is Giving Single Daters With Kids $100 to Go to Childcare
Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
Despite Black Participation in Stock Market Lagging, Investment Gap Might Improve
According to the Federal Reserve, the investment gap between Black and white Americans has remained substantial, with only 34 percent of Black households joining in on the historic rise in the markets. Stacey Tisdale, the first Black woman to have reported from the NYSE and the CEO and president of Mind Money Media Inc., said that the data might not be as disheartening as it seems. "I think that number is very deceiving. That Federal Reserve study is actually from 2019, and it's very important that we all look beneath that number and look beneath the surface because there is nothing short of an investing revolution going on in the Black community," Tisdale said.
Meta Stock Plummets as Facebook Loses Users for First Time; Zuckerberg Blames TikTok
Facebook parent Meta’s miss on Q4 earnings raised alarm bells amongst investors. The tech giant lost users for the first time as it invests a lot into the metaverse, its virtual realm, in the hopes that consumers will move their social media consumption there. The stock dropped around 25 percent on the report, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg chalked it up to people flocking toward apps like TikTok, even as his own platform attempts to make a big pivot to the metaverse future. "It's gonna take a long time to develop and it's gonna take a long time to bring to fruition," Rebecca Walser, president of Walser Wealth Management told Cheddar. "In the meantime, the world is moving on. We have a very short attention span, especially on social media, and we want the short little videos. And Tiktok has just taken off."
Interest Rates Remain Unchanged Though Hikes Loom
Wall Street saw another volatile day after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged for now, with plans to raise rates in March at its next meeting in order to ease inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed has not made decisions on the size of rate increases, adding that the Fed is not trying to get inflation below two-percent. Ken Johnson, CFA and Investment Strategy Analyst explains why Powell thinks that high inflation is a significant threat to the labor market.
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