Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - ‘Green’ fossil fuel is here

From organic chicken to fair-trade coffee, consumers have increasingly shown they’re prepared to pay more for products that meet higher environmental and social standards, or at the very least are advertised as such. The broader battle for sustainability is arguably derived from the war against global warming, and the burning fossil fuels that have caused it and the climate catastrophe that’s followed. But none of that is stopping the industry that makes billions of dollars selling fossil fuels from trying to jump on that bandwagon. Witness the U.S. natural gas sector, which is rolling out what howling climate defenders consider a greenwashing whopper: they call it “responsibly sourced gas.” —David E. Rovella and Natasha Solo-Lyons

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

President Joe Biden said he thinks Vladimir Putin will “move in” on Ukraine after amassing more than 100,000 troops on the nation’s border. At a news conference Wednesday marking his first year in office, the Democrat reiterated that the U.S. and its European allies are united on making sure Putin faces “severe economic consequences” if he attacks. “It is going to be a disaster for Russia,” Biden warned.“He’s never seen sanctions like the ones I’ve promised.”

Joe Biden  Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa

Putin’s audience is often a domestic one, Tyler Cowen writes in Bloomberg Opinion. Noting the crackdown on dissent throughout Russia, where Covid-19 raging and living standards stagnating or falling, Putin’s threatening moves serve many purposes.

U.S. stocks fell, pushing the Nasdaq Composite over the threshold into correction territory as fear for earnings growth amid the potential for monetary policy tightening drives investors. The S&P 500 fell for a second day, closing below a key technical support level for the first time since October. Here’s your markets wrap.

Boosters don’t block omicron, according to a South African study that found the extra shots failed to stop infections from the latest Covid-19 variant. Even worse, the mutation may be more dangerous for children than earlier strains. In China, Xi Jinping’s Covid-zero strategy seems to be no match for omicron as it plays havoc with ports and shuts down cities—just in times for the Winter Olympics. In Europe, cases are still soaring as France reported a record of nearly 465,000 new infections while Italy and Germany registered all-time highs. Switzerland decided to extend a work-from-home order to the end of February as cases surge. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Travelers walk past a sign for Beijing Winter Olympics at Taizicheng Station in Zhangjiakou, China, on Jan. 3.  Photographer: Andrea Verdelli/Bloomberg

JPMorgan is raising pay for its junior bankers again. The U.S. lender is increasing first-year investment banking analysts' wages to $110,000, up from $100,000. Second- and third-year analysts are seeing bumps, too, as the Wall Street fight for talent intensifies.

U.S. housing is still red-hot with homes priced north of $800,000 driving bidding wars. Low mortgage rates and booming demand are keeping supply tight, with nearly two-thirds of pricey homes experiencing competition in December. Here’s where the market is hottest.

New data show Americans can expect 30% to 40% of their workdays to be remote long after the pandemic is over. Bloomberg Businessweek reports how working from home is becoming a permanent part of how jobs are done.

• QuickTake: Is Covid becoming endemic, and what does that mean?
• Why some vaccinated people resist omicron and others don’t.
• Fed seen hiking rates eight times in 2022 to curb inflation.
• The biggest Bitcoin fund just took a huge dive.
• Google hires a PayPal veteran to reset its financial services strategy.
• New York’s case against Trump and his business is accelerating.
• Battered clean energy stocks may recover sooner than you think.

The lights may be dim at the Eccles Theater and Park City's Main Street will have fewer cinephiles packing the snowy sidewalks when the Sundance Film Festival begins its 44th edition Thursday night. But if 2021 proved anything, it’s that the world’s premier independent film festival is more than its ski town locale.

John Boyega in a scene from "892," an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Source: Chris Witt/Sundance Institute via AP 

Like getting the Evening Briefing? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters.

The Bloomberg Power Players Summit brings together senior executives, world-class athletes and other powerbrokers to discuss the game-changing shifts of the $600 billion-dollar global sports business. Join us Feb. 11 as the most influential industry leaders in sports convene for networking and candid conversations on the intersection between business, technology and culture. In person at the iconic Sheats–Goldstein Residence in Los Angeles or virtually. Register here.