Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Good news on Covid

There were two big developments on the pandemic front Monday, and both were positive. Health officials in England said Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-University of Oxford are highly effective at preventing hospitalization of those infected with the delta variant, a more transmissible mutation first discovered in India. The variant is fueling the latest wave of infections and deaths across many parts of the globe. Also, significant progress was reported on a new vaccine that may help finally defeat the scourge, which has killed 3.8 million. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic worldwide. 

Here are today’s top stories  

The story at Morgan Stanley goes like this: Gary Cohn, then president of Goldman Sachs, boasted he wanted to crush Morgan Stanley like a cockroach. When Ted Pick heard this, he erupted, ordering his troops to stick it to Goldman. Cohn has since receded into the background after working in the Trump White House. Pick is in the running for the top job at Morgan Stanley.

Goldman now requires almost all employees at its New York headquarters to be at their desks, having aggressively ended its Covid-19 work-from-home accommodations. But just up the road at Citigroup, the bank’s offices are still largely empty and most workers still at home. Indeed, many will be allowed to adopt a hybrid schedule longer term.

Myanmar’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, appeared in court on widely condemned charges brought by a military junta that seized power earlier this year. The leaders of the coup, whose forces have shot dead more than 850 civilians including children, overthrew the democratically-elected government on Feb. 1. 

U.S. President Joe Biden warned Russia President Vladimir Putin, who he is to meet this week, that relations would be severely damaged if Alexey Navalny, Putin’s jailed rival and victim of an apparent assassination attempt, died in prison.

U.S. Representative Tom Suozzi of New York, a Democrat behind the push to undo Republican limits on state and local tax deductions, is considering proposing a one-time wealth tax on the richest Americans.

Apple is working on new Apple Watch models and health features, including display and speed upgrades, as well as body temperature and blood sugar sensors. 

Hypercars with $3 million price tags aren’t usually synonymous with environmental sustainability. Christian von Koenigsegg, founder of Koenigsegg Automotive, wants to change that. The Swedish company is experimenting with ultra-high voltage battery packs and biofuels using emissions from volcanoes to build environmentally “benign” and potentially carbon-neutral, high performance cars.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• China’s first global fashion giant has Trump to thank for its success.
• Goldman is moving beyond Bitcoin and expanding into Ether.
• Jamie Dimon warns of revenue drop as Wall Street Covid boom ends.
• After billionaire tax bombshell, Elon Musk says he’s selling his house.
• White supremacists lose Supreme Court bid on deadly neo-Nazi rally.
• Young workers want to go back to the office to save their careers
• Pokémon Go creator has a plan to be more than a one-hit wonder.

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From the Marines to Wall Street, Against the Odds

Mercedes Elias approached her career on Wall Street much like her tenure in the Marine Corps. Failure wasn’t an option. “I didn’t want my gender or race to determine any sort of path for me,” said the former captain who last month was appointed co-chief executive officer of AmeriVet Securities. Rising to the upper ranks of male-dominated Wall Street didn’t come easy for Elias, Bloomberg Equality reports. But after the Marines, she said “I realized that I perform better in a male-dominated industry. That’s why I decided to go into finance—plus I really liked math.”

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