Chester County election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots for the 2020 general election in the United States at West Chester University, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in West Chester, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Thursday, November 5, 2020:
WHERE THINGS STAND
As of this morning, Joe Biden has 264 electoral votes and President Trump has 214, according to the Associated Press, which has called Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden. Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Alaska have not yet been called. Should one of the first four go for Biden, he wins (also assuming that AP’s Arizona call holds). Biden has received more than 71 million votes, the most in history, surpassing Hillary Clinton’s popular vote by more than 5 million. Here’s an explanation of every race that the AP has called: READ IT
LEGAL BATTLE BEGINS
The Trump campaign says it will formally request a recount in Wisconsin. The campaign is suing to stop ballots from being counted in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and said it has also filed suit in Georgia to separate ballots that arrived after the voting deadline. At a convention center in Detroit where mail-in ballots were being tallied, police had to push back crowds as they demanded to be let in. AP
DEM DOWN-BALLOT DISAPPOINTMENT
Even though Joe Biden could very well become president-elect, Democrats had a very disappointing showing down-ballot. In the Senate, the party raised more than $300 million and ended up losing six of the biggest races. In the House, Dems are set to keep control but Republicans are on track to pick up at least seven seats. At the statehouse level, the National Conference of State Legislatures predicts that only four chambers in the whole country will flip -- two for Dems, two for the GOP -- the lowest number since 1946. NY TIMES
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The UK has re-entered a national lockdown, with restaurants, bars and non-essential businesses closing for at least a month and households banned from mixing indoors. Italy is also instituting severe new restrictions via a “traffic-light” regional system. Four regions, including Milan and the surrounding area, are essentially quarantine zones, with no one allowed in or out. The restrictions will be reevaluated every two weeks. Denmark will kill its entire population of mink, culling all 15 million of the animals over fears that a mutated virus among the mink could jump to humans. The U.S. shattered its own single-day record of cases with a tally of more than 104,000 new infections on Wednesday. CNN
RELIEF RALLY
Is a divided government good for business? That may be the takeaway, judging by how the market reacted on the first day of trading post-election. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all surged in a classic “relief rally,” as investors appeared to like the idea of a Democratic White House and Republican Senate. While that all but ensures more gridlock in D.C., it also means it’s less likely that there will be legislation to strengthen regulation or hike corporate taxes. CHEDDAR
BIGGEST IPO ON HOLD
The Chinese fintech giant Ant Group was supposed to be going public today via a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong that would have been the largest IPO in history. But in a shocking move, China’s ruling party stepped in at the last minute and yanked the listing. Beijing says Ant needs to fix some capital requirements if it wants to go public. The message is clear: the government can and will show it’s in charge of the economy, even if that means Chinese investors lose out. BLOOMBERG
NBA SEASON
Normally, the NBA would be in week two of its regular season by now. The league is reportedly close to an agreement with the players’ association on starting the 2020-21 season just before Christmas, on or around Dec. 22. If both sides agree, the plan on the table calls for a reduced 72-game season that would end just before the Summer Olympics next July. ESPN
SPOTTED...
...Michael J. Fox, opening up in a new interview about his struggle with Parkinson’s. Fox reveals that his “short-term memory is shot.” PEOPLE
AUNT BECKY IN JAIL
Lori Loughlin is said to be a “wreck” as she serves out her first week behind bars. The Full House actress reported to federal prison in California last Friday, where she is serving a two-month sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal. Loughlin is reportedly hoping to get released by Christmas. US WEEKLY
LEFTOVERS: BOOZE AND FRIES
It wasn’t just you. Google searches for “liquor stores near me” hit an all-time high as returns started coming in on Election Night. Google Trends reported that searches for “fries near me” also hit a new high. See what else people were Googling: SEARCH TRENDS
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!
Markets closed the day mixed, and well off their lows of the day following a market meltdown earlier in the session. The Nasdaq staged a comeback late in the day, even amid ongoing worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Doug Flynn, certified financial planner and co-founder of Flynn Zito Capito, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the markets' close and what's driving the major indexes.
Two companies recently announced a new partnership aimed at addressing the growing demand to borrow against crypto - digital assets capital markets firm CrossTower is partnering with commercial bank, BankProv. The companies are launching a crypto lending platform that will allow Bitcoin miners to receive loans to invest in crypto mining equipment. The companies say the program also addresses the difficulty of breaking into crypto mining due to the high cost. CrossTower research analyst Martin Gaspar joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-gen social sports platform Break the Love recently raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Break the Love's platform and iOS app allows users to discover and book group-based tennis activities, to either learn, train, or compete. The new company has already gotten support from a few big names in the world of tennis, including the coach of Naomi Osaka, as well as the United States Tennis Association and the brand Wilson. Break the Love founder and CEO Trisha Goyal joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
As the Omicron variant continues to sweep across the country. The US Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments at the end of this week on whether or not the Biden administration can force private companies to vaccinate or test millions of their employees. In addition, the National Nurses United has spearheaded legal action to protect nurses and health care workers, patients, and the public while on the job. President of the National Nurses Union, Zenei Cortez, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
China's ongoing crackdown of its own entertainment industry has been raising eyebrows for once now. With the ruling Communist Party instructing media companies to boycott immoral and overly entertaining stars. But the country has gone even further. Now experts warn that this could lead to further issues such as gender-based violence. Professor at the Institute of Sociology at National Tsinghua University, Hsiu-Hua Shen, and Associate Professor of Politics at Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame Joshua Eisenman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Today marks one year since the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. The Country watched as supporters of then-President Trump stormed what was assumed to be the most secure building in the country in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 Election. Several lawmakers, including the Vice President, could be seen ducking down as they feared for their lives. Democratic Michigan Representative Dan Kildee, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Bed Bath & Beyond delivered disappointing fiscal third-quarter results for 2022. Shares initially dove more than 9% in premarket trading on the news but finished the day up nearly 8%. Bed Bath & Beyond has been a meme-stock target for online investors in the past -- so was meme-stock mania a factor in the recent stock movement for the company? Jaime Rogozinski, the founder of the subreddit WallStreetBets, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell for more, as his forum helped spark the meme stock phenomena. He also discussed some decentralized finance services and trends for the retail investor to watch for in 2022.
Digital medical care provider Pear Therapeutics rang the closing bell on the Nasdaq Friday and President and CEO Dr. Corey McCann, joined Cheddar to talk about how the company plans to grow the business of software-based therapeutics and how the first FDA authorized prescription digital therapeutics company will go about treating illnesses like insomnia and addiction. "These really are pieces of software. In many cases, they're apps and in the cases of our addiction products, these are based on something called cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT," he said. "These products change the patient's brain circuitry to help them be abstinent, to help them stay in treatment, and that's exactly what we see in randomized clinical trials and that's what we see in the real world." He also addressed the ongoing mental health crises brought on by the pandemic. **copy updated to remove IPO information as Pear Therapeutics went public in December**
James Tattersall, director of sales and marketing for Lake Nona Wave Hotel, talks about the hotel's initiatives to foster diversity and how these amenities champion inclusivity in the Orlando area.
