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The prospect of Congress approving the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement improved, after Democrats reached a deal with the White House to revise the trade deal. The reworked USMCA weakens intellectual-property protections for the drugs industry, which Democrats insist will lead to lower health-care costs, and beefs up workers’ rights, putting more onus on employers to enforce labour standards. The USMCA will eventually replace NAFTA.
在民主黨與白宮就修改貿易協定達成一致后，國會批準《美國-墨西哥-加拿大協定》(USMCA)的前景有所改善。修改后的《美墨加協定》削弱了對藥品行業的知識產權保護，民主黨堅持認為這會降低醫療保健成本，增強工人的權利，讓雇主有更多的責任強制執行勞工標準。《美墨加協定》最終將取代《北美自由貿易協定》。
Still licking its wounds from its disastrous investment in WeWork, SoftBank was reportedly selling its 50% stake in Wag, a service that connects dog owners with people who will walk their pooch for them. Wag has struggled to compete against Rover, a rival. It has also been hounded by bad publicity about lost or dead dogs under its care.
報道稱，軟銀仍在舔舐其在WeWork的災難性投資帶來的創傷，它正在出售Wag的50%股份。Wag是一項將狗主人與愿意代替其遛狗的人聯系起來的服務。Wag一直在與對手Rover展開競爭。因遛狗員失誤導致狗狗丟失或死亡的事故，也導致該公司聲譽受損。
A judge on the New York state Supreme Court cleared Exxon Mobil of fraud related to its accounting for climate-change regulations. New York’s attorney-general had sought to show that the oil company committed fraud by using two methods to estimate costs posed by possible climate policies. The ruling lowers the likelihood of similar litigation in other states.
紐約州最高法院的一名法官澄清了埃克森美孚公司在氣候變化法規會計方面的欺詐行為。紐約總檢察長曾試圖證明，這家石油公司利用兩種方法來估算可能的氣候政策造成的成本，從而犯下了欺詐罪。這一裁決降低了其他州發生類似訴訟的可能性。
Chevron said it would record impairments of more than $10bn in its fourth quarter. More than half of the write-down comes from shale assets in the Appalachian region. An abundance of shale gas has depressed prices, which are at their lowest in 20 years.
雪佛龍表示，第四季度將減記資產逾100億美元。減記資產中，超過一半的來自阿巴拉契亞地區的頁巖資產。豐富的頁巖氣壓低了天然氣價格，目前天然氣價格處于20年來的最低水平。
America’s boundless production in shale energy has also kept down oil prices. In an agreement by which they hope to shore up prices, opec and Russia agreed to cut output by another 500,000 barrels a day, extending a strategy started in 2016. Saudi Arabia wanted deeper reductions, which were resisted by Russia.
美國在頁巖能源領域的豐富產量也壓低了石油價格。在一項旨在提振油價的協議中，歐佩克和俄羅斯同意將日產量再削減50萬桶，延續了始于2016年的一項戰略。沙特希望進一步削減產量，但遭到俄羅斯的抵制。
Saudi Aramco’s share price surged when it began trading on the Riyadh stock exchange. Although just 1.5% of the state-controlled oil company’s shares were sold, it raised $25.6bn in its IPO, the most ever. Aramco is now the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, hitting $2trn on December 12th. That is the value that Muhammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, has decreed Aramco is worth, despite scepticism from global investors. Tranches of the shares are held by the Saudi elite, who have reportedly been pressed to trade the stock in order to reach the target.
沙特阿美(Saudi Aramco)在利雅得證券交易所上市交易時，股價飆升。盡管這家國有石油公司僅出售了1.5%的股份，但其IPO融資256億美元，創下歷史最高紀錄。沙特阿美如今是世界上最有價值的上市公司，12月12日達到2萬億美元。盡管全球投資者對此持懷疑態度，但這正是沙特事實上的領導人穆罕默德·本·薩勒曼宣稱的沙特阿美的估值。部分股份由沙特精英持有，據報道，為了達到目標，他們被迫進行股票交易。
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