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The World
Major U.S. stock indexes declined for the third consecutive trading session, as the fast-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19 spurred fears that new lockdowns could derail the sputtering global economic recovery. The Dow Jones fell more than 400 points, while oil prices slid in a broad retreat from risky assets. The S&P 500 has had its biggest 3-day drop since September. (Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal)
The CDC said that Omicron variant accounts for 73% of U.S. infections. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said the Omicron variant is spreading faster than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease — adding it would be "unwise" to conclude from early evidence that Omicron was a milder variant that previous ones. (Reuters)
NHL is first U.S. sport to halt schedule amid coronavirus surge, with stoppage starting Wednesday. (ESPN)
School closings surge 82% as Omicron spreads across the U.S. (Bloomberg)
The German government is expected to only allow a maximum of 10 people to take part in private gatherings, with the rules also applying to vaccinated people. Clubs and discos will also shut down nationwide. If passed, the new curbs are expected to begin on December 28. (Deutsche Welle)
U.S. hospitals are again suspending non-urgent surgeries to make room for patients in need of care most immediately. (Healthcare Dive)
The World Economic Forum deferred its Davos meeting over Omicron concerns. (Financial Times)
China’s expanding grip on data about the world’s cargo flows is sparking concern in Washington and among industry officials that Beijing could exploit its logistics information for commercial or strategic advantage. Even cargo that never touches Chinese shores often still passes through Beijing’s globe-spanning logistics networks, including through sophisticated data systems that track shipments transiting ports located far from China. Control over the flow of goods and information about them gives Beijing privileged insight into world commerce and potentially the means to influence it, say cargo-industry officials. (Wall Street Journal)
Chile’s currency and its local stock market fell sharply after the leader of a leftwing coalition that includes the Chilean Communist party won the country’s presidency by more than 11 percentage points. (Financial Times)
21 U.S. states and 35 cities and counties are set to raise their minimum wages on or about New Year’s Day, according to a report provided exclusively to USA TODAY by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). Base hourly pay will climb from $11 to $12 in Illinois; from $9.25 to $10.50 in Delaware; from $9.50 to $11 in Virginia; from $12 to $13 for most workers in New Jersey; and from $10.50 to $11.50 in New Mexico. (USA Today)
The EPA announced strengthened limits on pollution from automobile tailpipes in a bid to reduce a major source of the carbon dioxide emissions that are heating the planet. The more stringent rule — the most significant climate action taken to date by the Biden administration and highest level ever set for fuel economy — would require passenger vehicles to travel an average of 55 MPG of gasoline by 2026, from just under 38 MPG today. (New York Times)
Glaciers across the Himalayas are melting at an extraordinary rate, with new research showing that the vast ice sheets there shrank 10 times faster in the past 40 years than during the previous seven centuries. (Wall Street Journal)
Economy
With Biden spending plan blocked, economists lower 2022 growth forecasts. Goldman Sachs lowered its GDP growth forecast for 2022 as did Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics. (Reuters)
Shopping in stores on the final Saturday before Christmas down 26% from pre-pandemic levels. A lack of foreign tourists opening up their wallets and another wave of coronavirus cases in some major U.S. cities played a role. (CNBC)
Turkey’s financial strains worsened and the country’s business community went into revolt, signs that the currency crisis dogging the economy was heading into a dangerous new phase. The lira plunged nearly 9% to more 17.86 against the dollar, a record low, after President Erdogan vowed to cut interest rates further in defiance of business leaders who have spoken out against the government’s monetary policy in recent days. The lira’s dizzying fall is amplifying concerns among investors and economists that Turkey’s heavily dollarized financial system could be headed for a banking crisis. (Wall Street Journal)
Citigroup is changing to a Saturday-Sunday weekend from the New Year in the UAE, becoming the latest international bank in the gulf nation to switch its work week. Reuters had reported on Sunday of Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Societe Generale’s move to switch to a Saturday-Sunday weekend from 2022 in UAE. (Reuters)
JPMorgan Chase has partnered with Siemens to develop a blockchain system for the German industrial group’s payments, in what the two companies said was a first-of-its-kind application. It highlights the applications that banks are trying to find for blockchain — digital ledger technology that records and verifies transactions and underpins cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, to further automate areas like payments. (Financial Times)
Software company MicroStrategy is learning in real time the downside of investing a big portion of its cash reserves in cryptocurrencies. Even at its current nose-bleed price of just above $47,000, bitcoin has fallen 32% from its all-time high of $69,000 in November. MicroStrategy’s stock has seen a similar decline over the same period, with its shares closing at $546 on Monday, a 33% decline. (The Information)
Tesla loses all the gains from a 35% rally stoked by the Hertz EV deal. Shares have fallen as CEO Elon Musk reduced his stake in the electric-car maker. (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk says he’ll pay over $11 billion in taxes this year. (The Verge)
Technology
Oracle announced its largest deal ever, a roughly $28.3 billion purchase of electronic-medical-records company Cerner that vaults the business-software giant deeper into healthcare technology. The deal extends Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s longstanding willingness to buy his way into new markets, including his desire to elevate Oracle in the fast-growing, cloud-computing business where the company has long lagged behind other tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. The Cerner deal gives Oracle a major presence in an industry that is one of the top drivers of growth for cloud computing. (Wall Street Journal)
The new get-rich-faster job in Silicon Valley: Crypto start-ups. Tech executives and engineers are quitting Google, Meta, Amazon and other large companies for what they say is a once-in-generation opportunity with crypto. A growing contingent of the tech industry’s best and brightest sees a transformational moment that comes along once every few decades and rewards those who spot the seismic shift before the rest of the world. With crypto, they see historical parallels to how the personal computer and the internet were once ridiculed, only to upend the status quo and mint a new generation of billionaires. (New York Times)
Google says the “number of users engaging with Android apps” on Chrome OS is up 50% YoY; in May, it said Chrome OS grew 92%+ YoY, 5X faster than the PC market. (Chrome OS)
The EV revolution’s next big roadblock: access to chargers: Electric vehicles are set to play a critical role in our clean energy future, but in order for everyone to reap the benefits of EVs, they’ll need access to chargers. While the Build Back Better bill suffered a major setback over the weekend that could mean significantly less funding for the transition to electric vehicles, there’s still hope that the bipartisan infrastructure law passed in November could bring EV charging infrastructure to places that have been left out until now. That could make it easier for drivers from marginalized communities to switch to electric vehicles. (The Verge)
China’s top ecommerce influencer Huang Wei, commonly known as Viya, was fined 1.341 billion RMB ($210 million) for tax evasion, and her social media accounts, which have more than 120 million followers combined, have been taken down. In recent years, Viya has emerged as powerful force in livestream ecommerce, a new shopping method that has taken China by storm and dwarfed traditional ecommerce activities. On the evening of Oct. 20 alone, Viya sold $1.3 billion worth of products in her livestream. She has also become an entertainment celebrity, even performing for the most important national holiday celebration. Among all livestream influencers, Viya not only stood out for her sales numbers but also for how closely she has aligned with China's government. She was co-opted as a member of the All-China Youth Federation and won a National Poverty Alleviation Award for the voluntary work she has done in promoting China’s rural e-commerce products. (Protocol)
Smart Links
Christie’s sells $7.1 billion in art, the highest in five years. (Wall Street Journal)
Goldman’s Abby Joseph Cohen, known for bullish calls, to retire. (Bloomberg)
Large employers may now be subject to OSHA ETS in addition to NYS and NYC COVID-19 mandates. (Herrick)
From metaverse to DAOs, a guide to 2021's tech buzzwords. (Reuters)
Spotify has a Gen Z problem. (Bloomberg)
Google Cloud’s software crackdown disrupts customer deals worth hundreds of millions. (The Information)
The 18 books VCs think startup founders need to read. (Protocol)