P2JW365000-5-A00100-17FFFF5178F ***** WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER 30,2020~VOL. CCLXXVI NO.153 WSJ.com HHHH $4.00 DJIA 30335.67 g 68.30 0.2% NASDAQ 12850.22 g 0.4% STOXX 600 401.61 À 0.8% 10-YR. TREAS. g 1/32 , yield 0.934% OIL $48.00 À $0.38 GOLD $1,879.70 À $2.50 EURO $1.2251 YEN 103.53 Boeing MAX Soars Again in U.S. After 20-Month Grounding Senate What’s News Leader Blocks Business&Finance Vote on eijing is seeking to B shrink Jack Ma’s tech- nologyand financial empire Aid Boost and potentially take alarger stake in his businesses, ac- cording to Chinese officials McConnell takes steps and government advisers familiar with the matter. A1 to combine bill for ThirdPoint pressed Intel $2,000 checks with to makesweeping strategic Trump agenda items changes afterayear in which the semiconductor giant suf- BY NATALIE ANDREWS feredmoreproduct delays and lost itsrank as America’s WASHINGTON—SenateMa- highest-valued chip firm. A1 jority Leader Mitch McConnell American put passengers moved to derail effortsto back on Boeing’s737 MAXfor quickly passlargerstimulus the firsttime in the U.S. since checks formanyAmericans, REUTERS the aircraft was grounded O/ blocking Democrats’ call fora nearly two yearsago follow- stand-alone vote on the pay- BELL ing two deadly crashes. B1 CO mentssought by President Trump but opposed by most Details of a state attor- MAR ALL CLEAR: American Airlines Flight 718, the first U.S. Boeing 737 MAX commercial flight since regulators lifted a 20- Republicans. neysgeneral lawsuit against month grounding, takes off from Miami for New York on Tuesday. The MAX was banned from passenger flights in March TheKentuckyRepublican Google shed light on the legal 2019 after two deadly crashes and has since undergone a series of software, hardware and training changes. B1 said the Senatewould address battle against the tech giant, Mr.Trump’sdemands to boost which is being accused of il- the sizeofthe checks to legally fixing prices in a2018 $2,000 from $600,but tie ad deal with Facebook. B1 them to two other of the presi- U.S. stocks retreated dent’sconcerns that lack bi- from record levels, with To Curb Ma’s Empire, China partisan support: changes to the Dow and S&P 500 both online-speech rules and his falling 0.2% and the Nas- complaintsabout purported daq shedding 0.4%. B11 election fraud. He took steps to put all three items intoone Kushner Cos., the family Weighs Taking a Bigger Stake bill, without scheduling avote. business of White House “This week the Senatewill senior aide Jared Kushner, begin aprocess to bring these has filed papers to raise at BY lINGLING WEI map that China’sfinancial reg- requirementsapplied to banks. son, has helped define China’s three priorities intofocus,” Mr. least $100 million by sell- ulators laid out this week, fi- That could open adoor forbig neweconomywith the two McConnell said. ing bonds in Israel. B3 Beijing is seeking to shrink nancial technologygiant Ant statebanks or other types of companies he founded—Ant Democratssaid Mr.McCon- TheTreasuryand Fed said Jack Ma’stechnologyand finan- GroupCo. would return to its government-controlled entities andits e-commerce affiliate nell’sdecision to attach the they extended the cutoff date cial empireand potentially take rootsasanonline-payment to buy intothe firm to help AlibabaGroup HoldingLtd. checks to contentious issues forthe Main Street Lending alargerstake in his businesses, provider akin to PayPal Hold- beef up itscapital base,the of- Their businesses span pay- wasdesigned to sink the effort Program from Dec.31to according to Chinese officials ings Inc., while its more prof- ficials and adviserssay. ment services,online retail, forbiggerpayments. Jan. 8toprocess alast-min- and government advisersfamil- itable investment and loan China’snational pensioN cloud computing,wealth man- Such abill “will not pass utecrush to deliver loans. A2 iar with the matter, as regula- businesses would be curtailed. fund, China Development Bank agement and lending.Sepa- the House and cannot become tors zero in on the billionaireiN Theregulators, led by the and China International Capi- rately, Alibabaisfacing an an- law—anymovelikethis by Politicoisacquiring E&E acampaign to strengthen over- central bank,also ordered Ant talCorp., the country’stop titrust probe that could lead Sen. McConnell would be a News,ahigh-pricesubscrip- sight of an increasingly influen- to form aseparatefinancial state-owned investment bank, to an overhaul of its business blatant attempt to deprive tion trade publication fo- tial tech sphere. holding companythat would be are already investors in Ant. and asset divestitures. Americansofa$2,000 sur- cused on the energy industry Under arestructuring road subject to the kind of capital Mr.Ma, China’srichest per- PleaseturntopageA7 PleaseturntopageA4 and environmental news. B3 World-Wide NYSE, Nasdaq Fund Pressures Intel Fight for IPOs Colorado Confirms McConnell moved to de- rail effortstoquickly pass Nasdaq is on track to beat largerstimulus checks for To Make Big Moves the Big Board in IPOs for the First U.S. Case of manyAmericans,blocking second year in a row. B11 Democrats’ call forastand- BY ASA FITCH put from all investors regard- alone vote on the payments ing enhanced shareholder Moneyraised in IPOs, New Covid Strain sought by Trump but opposed Activisthedgefund Third value.Inthat spirit, we look by exchange, $150 by most Republicans. A1 Point LLC pressed Intel Corp. forwardtoengaging with in billions to makesweeping strategic ThirdPoint LLC on their ideas BY lUKAS I. ALPERT spread and contain the virus Colorado reported the Nasdaq changes after a year in which towards that goal.” AND DANIELA HERNANDEZ at alllevels,” Colorado Gov. firstcase in the U.S. of a NewYork Covid-19 variant that wasini- theU.S.semiconductor giant Third Point’s demands fol- Jared Polis said. suffered more product delays lowyearsofengineering Stock Exchange Colorado reported the first Health officials said they tially detected in the U.K. and 100 and lost its rank as America’s struggles at Intel and growing case in the U.S. of afast- were working to identifyother led to a widespread lockdown highest-valued chip company. pressurefromrivals who out- spreading variant of Covid-19 potential cases and contacts and travel curbs there. A1 In a letter Tuesday to Intel source their chip manufactur- that was detected in the U.K. through contact-tracing proto- The Louisville, Ky., po- Chairman Omar Ishrak, Third ing to factories in Asia—in- and led to a widespread lock- cols.Authorities said the man licedepartment is moving to Point Chief ExecutiveDan cluding Nvidia Corp., which down andtravelrestrictions is recovering in isolation and fire two detectives connected Loeb said Intel’swoes could this year surpassed Intel in 50 there. no close contactshad been to the killing of Breonna Tay- threaten the U.S. technology market capitalization. Intel Health officials said the case identified so far. lor during aMarch raid. A3 industry and urged it to con- this year pushed back produc- wasconfirmed by astate lab TheCDC said the agency Federal prosecutorssaid sideralternatives,including tion of itsmost advanced andfound in aman in his 20s wasaware of Colorado’s re- selling some of itsacquisitions chips,was dumped by Apple in Elbert County,southeast of port of the firstU.S.case asso- they wouldn’t bring charges and splitting itsdesign and Inc.asthe supplier forits Mac Denver. Theman, who had no ciated with the U.K. variant. against two Cleveland police 0 manufacturing operations—a computer processors, and lost historyoftravel, had been PleaseturntopageA5 officersinthe fatal shooting movethat would end Intel’s market sharetoAdvancedMi- 2010 '15'20 placed intoisolation and de- of Tamir Rice in 2014. A3 long-heldstatus as the U.S.’s croDevicesInc., long adistant Note:2020dataare through Monday. tails of his case were reported Hospitalizations rise in South TheTrump campaign leading integrated semicon- rival. Source:Dealogic to the U.S. Centersfor Disease and West...................................... A5 said it wasasking the U.S. ductor maker. “Without immediatechange Control and Prevention. Businesses hit by pandemic Supreme Court to over- Intelsaid it “welcomes in- PleaseturntopageA2 “We areworking to prevent sue insurers................................. B1 turn Biden’selection vic- tory in Wisconsin. A4 An appeals court affirmed aTrump administration pol- ‘ThereWas aPiece Missing’: Bank icyrequiring hospitals to dis- Salesforce. close secret ratesthey negoti- atewith insurancefirms. A5 Push on Racial InequityPays Off TheJusticeDepartment #1 CRM. raised the possibility that a man accused in the murder of Afteryears of efforts, Boston-based Eastern says it has ‘a long waytogo’ Daniel Pearl could be brought Ranked #1 for CRM Applications basedon to the U.S. fortrial. A16 IDC 2020H1 Revenue Market ShareWorldwide. 19.8% BY RUTH SIMON thirdofthe bank’sboard, 17%ofits manage- TheU.S.issued newdietary ment committeeand 40% of newhires. guidelines that keep current allowances forsugar and alco- Eastern Bankshares Inc.isn’t the largest Eastern’sdriveisdecades in the making.It hol consumption unchanged, bank in Boston, or the most profitable.But in wassparked by the 1995 appointment of the rejecting recommendations to itshometown—and acrossthe country—it bank’sfirst Black director,facilitated by char- stands out as acompanywith historically itable donations that provided opportunities make significant cuts. A10 whiteleadership wheresustained effortsto forexecutives to interact with diverse com- Died: PierreCardin,98, promoteracial diversity have takenroot. munities and spearheaded by an Irish Catho- fashion designer. B1 ... Luke Eastern’slead director and president are lic chief executivewho wasinspired in part Letlow,41, GOP congress- both Black.People of color account forone- PleaseturntopageA8 man-elect from Louisiana. A4 5.3% 4.8% CONTENTS Opinion.............. A13-15 3.9% Arts in Review.... A11 Personal Journal A9-10 At MIT,Swim Like Your Degree Depends on It 3.8% Business News.B3-5 Property Report... B6 Crossword.............. A12 Sports........................ A12 iii Equities......................