Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Burned out bankers

Hard-nosed Wall Street CEOs have been beating the drum of late about how burned out bankers need to stop whining and get back to their desks. Appeasing young stars with perks and flexible work schedules following 17 months of pandemic is the wrong strategy, they argue. But even at those financial firms that have been throwing money at employees—with big raises, bonuses, vacations and even free Pelotons—the worker bees have had enough. “Is it the best time to be a banker in terms of making money? Sure,” says executive recruiter Dan Miller of True Search. “Is it a horrible time in terms of lifestyle? Absolutely.” —David E. Rovella

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

Here are today’s top stories  

Don’t read too much into the stock market’s volatility Friday, especially when it comes to the technology giants. That’s the advice from Goldman Sachs, which says it’s probably just a short-term side effect of a record surge in options trading. Here’s your markets wrap.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will convene top financial-market and bank regulators on Monday to discuss rules for so-called stablecoins, a key part of the cryptocurrency market where government officials are increasingly fretting about a lack of oversight.

In the U.S., it’s almost impossible to avoid news stories about how companies and cities are headed back to some form of pre-pandemic normal. But the reality is that infections are climbing again and that more than 330 Americans are dying every day from Covid-19. Even with half of the U.S. vaccinated, the virus is killing people faster than guns, car crashes and the flu combined. The difference now as compared with the first four waves is that the vast majority of victims are unvaccinated despite near-universal access to shots across the country. Social media platforms like Facebook are “killing people” by spreading false information, President Joe Biden said. Vaccinations have already prevented roughly 279,000 U.S. deaths and 1.25 million hospitalizations, according to an analysis published last week. Since the pandemic began, there have been almost 34 million confirmed infections in the U.S. (though the true number is likely higher) and 608,000 killed by the pathogen. Worldwide, there have been 189 million confirmed infections and more than 4 million deaths. And it’s far from over.

There’s a big gap when it comes to Covid-19 antibodies generated by mRNA vaccines like that of Pfizer-BioNTech and inactivated virus vaccines such as Sinovac Biotech’s shot. The former can generate 10 times as many, according to a Hong Kong study. Elsewhere in Asia, the Philippines just reported its first confirmed case stemming from the delta variant while Singapore will close hundreds of nightlife venues and resume stricter measures for restaurants just days after relaxing them, following a jump in daily cases linked to karaoke clubs. And there’s a new study by India health officials on “breakthrough cases,” those in which fully vaccinated people become infected, and how a small percentage of those victims subsequently die. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

To investors hunting for the next Dogecoin, the more than 19,000% price gain cryptocurrency SafeMoon recently posted was like a fresh bone. More than 2.4 million have already bought it.

The European Union’s climate plan might be the most ambitious attempt yet to force a major economy to abandon fossil fuels. But by some measures, it still won’t be enough to keep global temperatures from rising.  

When a new obesity medication from Novo Nordisk began selling in the U.S. last month, it became the most effective weight loss drug on the market. Wegovy helps patients lose an average of about 15% of their body weight, almost double the rates demonstrated by other prescription treatments. With more than 100 million obese Americans, the market potential is huge—especially since it costs $1,350 for four weekly injections. But there’s a big obstacle: insurance companies frown on weight loss treatments.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

• Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands clean up after flood disaster.
• The race into space is bigger than just three billionaires.
• Temporary or not, inflation is making consumers unhappy.
• This Chinese mobile phone maker just surpassed Apple.
• Softbank puts millions into a Peter Thiel-backed crypto exchange.
• Impossible Foods is planning to sell faux chicken nuggets.
• Russian oligarch settles U.K. divorce for $186 million—keeps yacht.

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Grill Makers Are the Hottest Post-Pandemic IPOs

Buoyed by a rush of locked-down homeowners investing in high-end barbecue gear, grill makers are taking advantage of soaring sales to go public, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Traeger and Weber, the biggest American manufacturers of barbecue grills, will tap public investors for the first time this summer after decades of being closely held.

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