Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - A more contagious omicron

Back-to-back quarterly advances in a key index are illustrating how a tight U.S. labor market has forced businesses to raise wages to attract and retain employees. In some instances that’s led to leaner profits, but as is often the case, many companies have simply passed along those costs to consumers. In stocks, Friday was a comeback day after a decidedly ugly January. Here’s your markets wrap. —David E. Rovella 

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

An omicron subvariant appears to be even more contagious than the original fast-spreading strain, U.K. health authorities said, though vaccine booster shots remain an effective shield. The new version is already in dozens of countries, including across America. Data from contact-tracing shows the subvariant, BA.2, spreads more frequently in households, where the rate of transmission is 13.4%, compared to 10.3% for the original omicron. In the U.S., some 60 million households have availed themselves of free Covid-19 tests being distributed by a Biden administration program. A drug developed by Merck showed activity versus omicron in six lab studies, raising confidence it may be useful in battling the variant. While the initial omicron wave has peaked in some places, worldwide it continues to infect millions daily. There were 3.5 million new confirmed infections and 10,200 Covid-related deaths on Thursday alone. Over the past two years, there have been 364 million confirmed cases and 5.6 million deaths, though the actual numbers are likely much higher. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, shot down over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. All 298 people aboard were killed. Photographer: Pierre Crom/Getty Images Europe

Airlines are avoiding much of Ukrainian airspace as Russia continues to mass troops and equipment on that nation’s borders, stirring global fears of another unprovoked attack on its neighbor. Many carriers have largely avoided overflights since 2014 following the deaths of 298 people from 10 countries—including the Netherlands, Indonesia and Australia—when a Russian-made missile downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine. An international probe concluded Moscow-backed separatists who have been fighting Ukrainian forces since Russia annexed Crimea were behind the mass killing. Russia has denied any role, though Australia and the Netherlands accused the Kremlin of complicity. Meanwhile, the U.S. is calling for a United Nations Security Council meeting in which Russia would be asked to explain its moves toward Ukraine, a session that may evoke memories of a 1962 UN meeting following the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Ukraine’s leaders, for their part, appear less worried that an attack is coming. Here’s the latest on the crisis.

The bar for China’s financial markets to do better this year was so low that virtually everyone on Wall Street was saying the country’s stocks and bonds could only go up. That bet hasn’t gone so well.

Traders who shorted Cathie Wood’s exchange-traded funds in this month’s tech stock face-plant have already made more money than in all of 2021—just shy of $1 billion. Four ARK funds are among the 10 most-profitable ETF shorts for January by percentage gain.

The former UBS and Citigroup trader who became the face of the Libor manipulation scandal says a U.S. court ruling exonerating two ex-Deutsche Bank traders proves he was wrongfully convicted, too.

After being assailed by a London judge for alleged dishonesty, one of Britain’s most prominent tech tycoons awaits a final decision by the U.K. government over his extradition to the U.S. to face fraud charges. Mike Lynch dressed-up his software company Autonomy Corp. for sale, and “induced” Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. to acquire the firm for $11 billion, Judge Robert Hildyard said on Friday. 

Mike Lynch Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Working from home has a new twist at Apollo Management. Come August, the private equity giant plans to allow staff in its buyout unit to work anywhere they like for the entire month.

• Wall Street briefed by White House on possible Russia sanctions.
• Antibiotic-resistant germs could be worse than Covid-19.
• European powers now see Iran nuclear talks entering final stage.
• Infrastructure bill too late to keep this U.S. bridge from collapsing.
• Goldman says this is the worst move rich clients can make right now.
• New York and New England are about to get a lot of snow. Maybe. 
• Yes, Valentine’s Day is coming. Maybe a luxury cabin is the way to go?

A decentralized-finance project called Wonderland is being rocked by controversy following the disclosure that it was being run in part by a felon with ties to one of the biggest cryptocurrency scandals. The fiasco is another example of how the world of “DeFi,” which largely operates under a cloak of anonymity and faces increasing attention from regulators, may not be ready for prime-time.

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