P2JW323000-5-A00100-17FFFF5178F ***** WEDNESDAY,NOVEMBER 18,2020~VOL. CCLXXVI NO.119 WSJ.com HHHH $4.00 DJIA 29783.35 g 167.09 0.6% NASDAQ 11899.34 g 0.2% STOXX 600 388.82 g 0.2% 10-YR. TREAS. À 10/32 , yield 0.872% OIL $41.43 À $0.09 GOLD $1,884.50 g $2.80 EURO $1.1863 YEN 104.18 In Wake of Peace Deal, Armenians Mourn Their Losses Retail What’s News Sales Growth Business&Finance Loses .S. retail sales rose in UOctober at their slow- est pace since the spring, Steam another sign the economic recovery is losing steam as coronavirus cases surge October’s rise of 0.3%, across the country. A1 other U.S. data signal Amazon is adding aphar- macy counter to its virtual aconsumer pullback store, along-anticipated push as virus cases surge deeper intohealth care that sent shares of traditional BY HARRIET TORRY drugstores tumbling. A1 S Senate Republicans failed U.S. retail sales rose in Octo- to secureenough votesto PRES ber at their slowest pacesince advanceShelton’sconfirma- ZUMA the spring,another sign the na- tion to the Fed’sboardastwo S/ tion’seconomic recovery is los- GOP senatorswereabsent AS ing steam as coronavirus cases because of coronavirus-re- surge acrossthe country. UMIN/T lated health precautions. A2 RY Consumer spending data from privatecompanies sug- The Dow and S&P 500 ANDER gest shoppersturned morecau- fell a day after setting re- ALEX tious this month, too, as last cords, closing down 0.6% SOMBER NIGHT: Armenians at a military cemetery mourN the deaths of soldiers killed in Nagorno-Karabakh during the month’sjump in virus cases ac- and 0.5%, respectively. The six-week conflict with Azerbaijan. Turkey on Tuesday approved plans to deploy peacekeepers to Azerbaijan. A8 celerated in November,prompt- Nasdaq retreated 0.2%. B1 ing some officials to impose RogerFerguson,the long- newrestrictions,mask man- serving CEO of TIAA and dates and other mitigation one of Wall Street’s most- strategies to slowits spread. prominent Black executives, “We’regoing intoadifficult will retire in March. B1 AmazonTakes On Pharmacies winter,” said James Sweeney, chief economist at Credit Suisse, Walmart registered pointing to rising Covid-19 in- strong sales for the latest fections,new local businessre- quarter, but they rose at a strictions and dimming pros- slower pace than earlier in By Selling Medications Online pectsfor afresh government the coronavirus pandemic. B1 relief packagethis year. Home Depot reported Slowing payroll gains and strong sales growth, con- BY SHARON TERLEP with the Covid-19 pandemic, accustomed to trips to the day, erasing $12 billion in mar- waning government assistance tinuing to thrive as people AND ALLISON PRANG which has kept manyconsum- corner pharmacist. ketvalue.Smaller rival Rite mean “howeveryou cut it, we spendmoretime on home- ersathome moreoften and re- CVSHealth Corp.and Wal- AidCorp.’sshares fell 16%. should have weaker consumer improvement projects. B3 Amazon.comInc. is adding sorting to online ordering. greens BootsAllianceInc.have Those companies,plus Wal- spending over the next quarter apharmacycounter to itsvir- Thee-commerce giant’sad- been bracing forthis moment, mart Inc., account forthe much or two than we had this sum- About 300 companies tual store, a long-anticipated vanceintothe pharmacybusi- rolling out their ownsame-day of the 3.8 billion prescriptions mer,” Mr.Sweeney said. that received as much as push deeper into health care nesswill test itsability to deliveryorexpanding into filled each year in the U.S. TheCommerce Department half abillion dollarsinpan- that sent shares of traditional crackamarket wherenational medical services.But investors “Pharmacyisnot just a said Tuesdaythat retail sales,a demic-related government drugstores falling. chains and big insurancecom- feared they might suffer the shopping transaction,” said PleaseturntopageA2 loans have filed forbank- Amazon’sdecision to start panies oftencontrol how same fateastraditional book- Jim Peters,RiteAid’schief op- ruptcy,ananalysis found. A3 selling prescription medicines drugs are dispensed. Amazon stores or toyshops afterAma- erating officer, adding that the Walmart sales rise but pace Twitterislaunching anew comes about two yearsafter the hopes to use the convenience zonencroached on their turf. chain’spharmacistsinteract eases up........................................ B1 feature that will allowusersto companyacquired online phar- of itsPrime shipping program Shares of CVSfell 8.6% and with customersupto30times Heard on the Street: Retailers post text, audioand video that macyPillPack Inc.and coincides to wrest the loyalty of patients Walgreens shed 9.6% on Tues- PleaseturntopageA7 face a Grinch............................ B14 disappear after24hours. B4 World-Wide INSIDE Covid Va ccines Biden named aslateof key WhiteHouse staff membersamid acontinued Usher In New Way standoff with the Trump administration over coop- QUE/REUTERS BHANI/REUTERS erating with the president- MAR SO LA To Fight Disease elect’stransition effort. A4 AN KEVIN C-SP Trump fired the DHS cy- OMAR bersecurity official who over- WORLD NEWS U.S. NEWS U.S. NEWS Thestrong early resultsfor An mRNA vaccine has never saweffortstosafeguardthe election and had disputed un- The Pentagon detailed Trump fired Chris Trump’s Fednominee, two leading Covid-19 vaccines been cleared by regulators. It have implications that go far is now the basis for Covid-19 substantiated claims of fraud plans to draw down Krebs,who oversaw Judy Shelton, fell short beyond the current pandemic: vaccines from Moderna Inc. advanced by the president. A4 U.S. forces from Iraq efforts to safeguard of votesneeded in and Pfizer Inc.and itspartner The CEOs of Facebook and Afghanistan. A9 the election. A4 Senate. A2 By Peter Loftus, BioNTech SE. and Twittertold lawmakers Jared S. Hopkins Both have shown in recent they did betterinfending off and Bojan Pancevski days to be more than 90% ef- election interferencein2020, fectiveatpreventing symp- while acknowledging mis- China Urges NewMigration Era— They suggest the time has tomatic Covid-19.That perfor- takesand signaling an open- come foragene-based tech- manceisinline with some nesstomoreregulation. A3 nologythat could provide new oldervaccines even though treatmentsfor cancer,heart the newshotsweredeveloped Thenumber of newly re- Back to the Countryside disease and other infectious in a fraction of the time. ported Covid-19 cases in the diseases. “It’s 21st-century science,” U.S. climbed and hospital- izations hit a fresh record, Theunproven technology, said William Schaffner,profes- PleaseturntopageA6 as the latest surge of the Xi wants to repopulate rural towns with entrepreneurs, consumers named messenger RNA after the molecular couriersthat pandemic accelerated. A7 delivergenetic instructions, Number of patients in TopDemocratic lawmak- BY JAMES T. AREDDY push to create new opportunities for China’s has long eluded researchers. hospitals skyrockets.............. A7 erssent alettertoMcCon- nell requesting that talks on have-nots, Ms. Wang is back in her hilltop another coronavirus relief For decades, just about the only way for hometown. Last year, she and her family re- bill restart this week after someone born in DawaN to make money was turned and plowed their modest savings into to follow the winding dirt road down from a guesthouse they named “Meet Come En- months of stalemate. A2 the mountain village and move to one of joy.” ThePentagon announced China’s big cities. China’s rural poor have been a tool of Salesforce. adrawdownofU.S.forces That is what Wang Liangcui did in the Communist Party strategy since Mao Zedong from Iraq and Afghanistan, early 1990s, when she was 20. She landed in rallied them in his revolution, then herded instituting ordersgiven by Shanghai, where she worked in factories, them into communal farming, with disas- #1 CRM. Trump to reducethe American drove a taxi and hawked pancakes. All over trous results. Decades later, Deng Xiaoping militarypresencetheredays China, people just like her moved to the city sent them to urban construction sites and beforeBiden takesoffice. A9 from similar hardscrabble hamlets, supplying factories. Mr. Xi is pressing them into ser- Ranked #1 for CRM Applications basedon IDC 2020H1 Revenue Market ShareWorldwide. TheJusticeDepartment the inexpensive labor that got the nation’s vice for a third time. To narrow the gulf be- economy sizzling. tween China’s urban rich and rural poor, he 19.8% said it would drop charges Now, thanks to President Xi Jinping’s PleaseturntopageA10 against aformer Mexican defense minister accused of taking bribes from drug gangs and return him to Mexicoto Video Looky-Loos See Perils of Virtual Home Tours facepossible prosecution. A8 iii ThePalestinian Authority said it would resume coop- Open houses on FaceTime don’t always give the full picture eration with Israel aftercut- ting off contact in May. A9 BY DEREK HALL starting aprofessorship for 5.3% the fall semester in Nashville, 4.8% CONTENTS Personal Journal A11-12 Marques Jerrell Ruff didn’t Tenn. Aleasing agent in Nash- 3.9% Arts in Review... A13 Property Report... B6 3.8% Business News.. B3,5 Sports....................... A14 think house hunting in a pan- ville hoisted an iPad to live Crossword.............. A14 Technology............... B4 demic would be easy,but all it stream views of an apartment Heard on Street.B14 U.S. News............. A2-7 took wasaFaceTime tour to that checked everybox—two 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020H1 Markets.................... B13 Weather..................