Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - China’s other debt problem

Romania’s two largest cities are gearing up for new restrictions, including a night-time curfew, after a surge of Covid-19 cases across eastern Europe over the past two weeks. In Asia, daily infections rose to a record in Singapore, where the spread of the virus despite a high vaccination rate is sowing rare disquiet in the ruling party. With boosters of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot already approved for certain people, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now leaning toward authorizing half-dose shots of the Moderna vaccine. And while reporting more than 108,000 new infections and 2,200 deaths every day, the U.S. nevertheless seems poised to start emerging from its delta variant-fueled fifth wave. Here’s the latest on the pandemic. —David E. Rovella

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

China has another debt problem on its hands. The nation’s hidden local government debt has swelled to more than half the size of the Chinese economy, according to Goldman Sachs.

Apollo Global Management hired a senior executive from Nomura Holdings who was among the officials suspended when that bank lost billions of dollars in the collapse of Archegos Capital earlier this year. 

Three more U.K. energy companies were pushed out of business by sky-high natural gas prices, bringing to more than 1.7 million the number of customers who have lost their supplier and adding to pressure on the government to step in.

French President Emmanuel Macron is getting on the nerves of officials and diplomats across the European Union. His so-called Europe First strategy, which aims to make the EU more independent from Washington for defense and sensitive technologies, is raising hackles in other member states while hindering efforts to forge a united response to the rise of China. It didn’t start with the Australian submarine fiasco, but that really didn’t help, either.

Emmanuel Macron Photographer: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

YouTube will begin removing content questioning any approved medical vaccine, not just those for Covid-19. About 64% of the U.S. population has received at least one shot, with the illness increasingly being limited to those who choose not to be vaccinated.

Stablecoins should be backed by cash and may need to be issued by banks, according to U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican who has been one of Capitol Hill’s most ardent supporters of cryptocurrencies.

If you still consider crypto a world of funny money you’ll never understand, it’s probably time to read up. Even as regulators clamp down on the loosely regulated market, hiring is reaching a fever pitch. On LinkedIn alone, paid U.S. job postings with keywords like “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain” were up more than 600%.

 (Yesterday’s Evening Briefing incorrectly identified Citadel Securities in an item concerning a class action lawsuit.)  

• Why the Philippines is the worst place to be in the pandemic.
• Biden tries to mollify two moderate Democrats holding up his agenda.
• Insider trading is everywhere. No one seems to care.
• New Zealand tries to stem a skilled worker flood with 165,000 visas.
• Rents across America are skyrocketing with “shocking” increases.
• CityLab: Why building more highways doesn’t mean less traffic.
• After 35 years and guarding $200 billion, this Apple veteran is done. 

The destruction of Brazil’s rainforest may have passed the point of no return. But the perpetrators of its demise aren’t just government officials doing the bidding of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro or the industrial farmers profiting from clear-cutting. It’s all about demand, and voracious consumers the world over are also fueling the frenzy that’s killing the “lungs of the Earth.”

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