U.S. stock futures declined Monday morning following global equities lower, as concerns over an escalating COVID outbreak in China added to jitters over U.S. economic growth in the face of heightened inflation and monetary policy tightening. Contracts on the S&P 500 fell by nearly 1% ahead of the opening bell, as the index looked to add to last week’s losses. The Dow and Nasdaq each also headed for lower opens. U.S. Treasury yields dropped, and the benchmark 10-year yield hovered just above… Source link
Read More »China’s Covid Lockdowns, Surging Oil Add to Inflation Risks
(Bloomberg) — China’s factory gate prices rose more than expected in March as oil prices climbed, while disruptions from Covid lockdowns drove up food costs, threatening the inflation outlook in the world’s second-largest economy. Most Read from Bloomberg The producer price index gained 8.3% from a year earlier, official data showed Monday, down from 8.8% in February and above the median estimate of an 8.1% increase in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Consumer-price growth accelerated to… Source link
Read More »A new COVID wave is probably coming, and America just doesn’t seem to care
It was a viral moment that elicited both nervous laughs and tears of joy from a pandemic-weary nation: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis awaiting his state’s first COVID vaccine shipment in December 2020, staring at a delivery door like a child stares at a fireplace on Christmas Eve. “Any minute now we’re going to hear a doorbell,” Polis says with childlike glee, his words muffled by a surgical mask. “And then we’re going to ….” He dramatically pauses before saying, “of course, let the… Source link
Read More »New York relaxing COVID vaccine mandate, allowing Kyrie Irving to play
The Brooklyn Nets will get Kyrie Irving back full time after all. New York City relaxed its COVID-19 vaccine mandate Thursday, allowing exemptions for athletes and entertainers. This change will allow Irving to play in home games for the Nets at the Barclays Center, and allows unvaccinated New York Mets and Yankees players to play in home games this season. The NBA and NBPA released a joint statement Thursday thanking New York Mayor Eric Adams for making the decision. The league and its players… Source link
Read More »White House warns of ‘severe consequences’ as Congress cuts COVID aid
After a prolonged back and forth, Congress passed a $1.5 trillion government spending bill last week but dropped from the final package $22.5 billion in pandemic relief that Democrats wanted to include. On Tuesday, the same day as President Joe Biden signed the 2,741-page bill into law, his aides warned that the omission could “have severe consequences as we will not be equipped to deal with a future surge.” The U.S. could soon run out of funding for COVID responses such as booster shots,… Source link
Read More »China Locks Down Shenzhen, Entire Jilin Province as Covid Swells
(Bloomberg) — China placed 17.5 million residents of the southern city of Shenzhen into lockdown for at least a week, spurring a key Apple Inc. supplier to halt production in the vital technology hub, and forbid people from leaving Jilin, the first time an entire province has been sealed off since the dramatic lockdown of Wuhan and broader Hubei in 2020. Most Read from Bloomberg The Shenzhen lockdown, which came after virus cases doubled nationwide to nearly 3,400, will be accompanied by… Source link
Read More »‘It’s embarrassing’ if we repeat our pandemic mistakes, doctor says of new COVID roadmap
COVID-19 cases may be declining globally, but the world is far from out of the pandemic woods. The U.K., for example, is seeing a surge from the Omicron sub-variant, which has also been reported in New York, causing health experts to be wary of rollbacks in COVID-prevention strategies nationally. It’s why a group of top public experts, including former advisers on President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 transition team, have created a new roadmap with recommendations for the government and private… Source link
Read More »As COVID, mask mandates fall, businesses ‘really think hard’ on whether to comply
As COVID-19 cases began to fall after the winter Omicron variant surge, governors across the country are beginning to ditch mask and vaccine mandates — presenting a conundrum for business owners who aren’t entirely certain if they want to follow suit. Places like Florida and Texas have long abandoned indoor masking requirements, but major coastal cities are finally rolling back COVID-related restrictions. Monday will mark the official end of New York City’s vaccine passport system, with the… Source link
Read More »Vincent Zhou out of COVID isolation
BEIJING — Vincent Zhou had the greatest moment an Olympian can have — a medal-winning performance, with the anticipation of another — and then saw it all crumble to pieces. Zhou, one of Team USA’s silver (for now) medal-winning team skaters, tested positive for COVID on Feb. 7, and was immediately sent to isolation. His Games were effectively over, and he could only watch as the rest of Team USA skated on without him. “It was very difficult for me seeing the results [of the men’s… Source link
Read More »IOC forced to address COVID isolation complaints
The International Olympic Committee and the Beijing Organizing Committee said Sunday that it would “address” numerous complaints from athletes about substandard conditions in the isolation centers they were sent to after testing positive for COVID-19. Complaints have come in via official channels and social media accounts about dirty rooms, non-existent internet access, substandard meals and a lack of training equipment or even space for calisthenics. Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova… Source link
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