Joker's Google Blog: Business Intelligence Monitor 211208

※ Property developer didn’t pay $82.5 million of interest payments originally due Nov. 6 on two sets of dollar bonds, say people familiar with the matter

• WSJ: SGH Macro Economist Says March Rate Increase Possible

• WSJ: Why the Turkish Lira Is Falling Like a Rock

• WSJ: U.S. Strikes India Deal in Bid to Loosen China’s Grip on Solar Panels

• WSJ: EPA Cuts Ethanol Levels for Gasoline as Biofuel Pressures Pump Prices

• WSJ: Stuck at Port for 54 Days: How One Ship’s Delays Hurt Small Businesses

• WSJ: Elon Musk Comes Out Against Federal Electric-Vehicle Spending

• WSJ: Companies Plan Big Raises for Workers in 2022

• WSJ: Intel CEO Aims to Capitalize on Increased Car Automation With Mobileye IPO

• WSJ: The Digital Car Is Coming. It Might Not Be More Profitable.

• NYT: Americans’ Pandemic-Era ‘Excess Savings’ Are Dwindling for Many

• NYT: As Omicron Threat Looms, Inflation Limits Fed’s Room to Maneuver

• NYT: Ahead of Biden’s Democracy Summit, China Says: We’re Also a Democracy

• NYT: With Putin-Biden meeting, skirmishes break out between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists.

• NYT: Can Germany’s New Chancellor Revive the Left in Europe?

• FT: US to demand halt to Nord Stream 2 if Russia invades Ukraine

※ Washington asks Berlin to back threat to gas pipeline to deter Putin from military action

• FT: World’s first plant-based Covid vaccine a step closer to launch

• FT: Offshoot of Omicron variant could make global tracking more difficult

• FT: Omicron adds to doubts over ECB’s commitment to further stimulus

• FT: Boost, check, test: EU seeks a co-ordinated Covid-19 response

• FT: EU plan to tackle ‘coercion’ against member states faces resistance

• FT: New German finance minister signals openness on EU fiscal rules

• FT: Johnson ‘increasingly concerned’ about rapid spread of Omicron

• FT: Carbon price surge triggers UK ‘cost containment’ market mechanism

• FT: The mixed messages Biden is sending to oil and gas producers

• FT: Doubts over efficacy of Chinese vaccines stoke anxiety at home and abroad

• FT: Beijing seeks to orchestrate slow-motion collapse for Evergrande

• FT: Embassies blast South Korea over ‘discriminatory’ foreign vaccines policy

• FT: How Uruguay’s trade talks with China threaten Mercosur

• FT: The next quant revolution: shaking up the corporate bond market

• Guardian: Scientists find ‘stealth’ version of Omicron that may be harder to track | Coronavirus | The Guardian

※ Variant lacks feature that allows probable cases to be distinguished among positive PCR tests

• Bloomberg: Omicron Variant: Pfizer Vaccine Provide Partial Protection in South Africa Study

※ Laboratory head Sigal advocates booster to combat variant

• Bloomberg: How Effective Is Covid Vaccine? 8 Billion Doses A Year After First Pfizer Shot

• Bloomberg: Winter Olympics 2022: China Warns U.S. for Boycotting Beijing Games

※ Event should not be a platform for politics, Zhao Lijian says

• Bloomberg: Rouse Expects U.S. Economy to ‘Largely Power Through’ Omicron

• Bloomberg: Summers Sees Up to 40% Chance for Recession Amid Inflation, Labor Shortages

• Bloomberg: Yellen Says Supply-Chain Shift May Need Protectionist-Like Steps

• Bloomberg: Fed’s Powell, Brainard Are Headed for Senate Hearings Next Month

• Bloomberg: As It Turns Out, Jay Powell Is Popular and Millennials Really Like Him

• Bloomberg: Scholz Inherits Bruised German Economy With Outlook Souring

• Bloomberg: French Economy Shows Little Sign of Succumbing to Omicron Angst

• Bloomberg: Poland, Hungary Likely to Miss EU Recovery Funds in 2021

• Bloomberg: BOJ Likely to Scale Down Longer Covid Aid, Former Executive Says

• Bloomberg: Japan’s Bigger Tax Breaks Seen Struggling to Spur 3% Pay Gains

• Bloomberg: Less Than One Covid Death a Day in Japan As New Cases Plummet

• Bloomberg: Fragile Five to Financial Independence: Erdogan’s Plan in Charts

• Bloomberg: Brazil's Bolsonaro Gets a Step Closer to Controlling Fuel Prices

• Bloomberg: Peru’s President Gains Key Allies in Fight to Block Impeachment

• Bloomberg: Yardeni Says Tech Will Save Stocks as Fed Winds Down Stimulus

• Bloomberg: Oil Demand Isn’t Taking a Big Hit From the Omicron Variant Yet

• Bloomberg: Traders Take Long-Shot Bets on Chance of U.S. Oil Export Ban

• Bloomberg: Iraq says our policy in OPEC is based on reservations about unjustified increase in production

• Bloomberg: First-Ever Covid-Killing Steel Can Inactivate 99.8% of the Virus

• Bloomberg: EU Aims to Unveil Green Rules for Gas, Nuclear Projects Dec. 22

• Reuters: Fauci says early evidence points to Omicron being more transmissible but less severe

※ Although more data is needed, early cases of Omicron seem to require fewer hospitalizations and patients are less likely to need oxygen

• Reuters: WHO advisory group looking at 'mix and match' COVID-19 vaccines

• Reuters: Mixing Pfizer, AstraZ COVID-19 shots with Moderna gives better immune response -UK study

• Reuters: France registers surge in COVID-19 hospitalisations

• Reuters: Denmark sees society-wide infection with Omicron variant

• Reuters: Sweden to reintroduce many COVID-19 measures as cases rise

• Reuters: Novavax COVID-19 vaccine could be approved very soon, says EMA chief

• Reuters: BoE rate hike plan up in the air again due to Omicron risks

• Reuters: ECB should keep policy commitment short, focus on APP - Kazimir

• Reuters: Analysis: China Evergrande teeters again, but investors less fearful

• AP: Omicron v. delta: Battle of coronavirus mutants is critical

• AP: European drug regulator backs mixing COVID-19 vaccines

• AP: EXPLAINER: What's behind Russia-Ukraine tensions?

• CNBC: Omicron Covid variant has spread to more than 50 countries and 19 U.S. states, CDC director says

※ CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said researchers are still working to understand the severity of omicron, but the public health measures used for past variants should provide some protection.

• CNBC: Green hydrogen hub backed by $5 billion of investment planned for the UAE

• MarketWatch: After brief omicron scare, Dow is now poised for the best start to a December in 24 years. Here’s what history says happens next.

• Fox Business: Fed poses bigger risk to stocks than omicron variant, Morgan Stanley says

• SCMP: China ‘unlikely to take sides’ in a Russia-Ukraine conflict

• SCMP: Amid winter Omicron unknowns, China to lean into ‘dynamic zero-Covid strategy’

• SCMP: China says world’s multilateral trade system key to post-pandemic economic recovery

• SCMP: Ahead of China’s key economic meeting, ‘risk of potential instability’ looms large in decision-making

• SCMP: US and Taiwan aim for new trade framework to tackle supply chain and semiconductor issues

• Caixin: Energy Insider: Yunnan’s Big Battery Plans

• Caixin: China’s Coal Inventories Hit Two-Year High

• Nikkei Asia: Japan to curb thermal power to spur production of renewables

• Nikkei Asia: Apple's nightmare before Christmas: Global supply chain crisis delays gift deliveries