U.S. Markets Cool Down; Pfizer Promises Results against Omicron
Stocks in the U.S. market fell just after opening on Thursday. The market is slowing down after rallying for many days. The threat of restrictions slowing down economic recovery is also present.
There is also the issue of Evergrande default once again being in the news. The group has been officially labelled as a defaulter for the first time.
Stoxx Europe is down by 0.12%
Dow Jones is down by 0.41%
NASDAQ is up by 0.01%
Omicron Four Times More Transmissible Than Delta, Study Says
According to a study conducted by Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor of health and environmental sciences at Kyoto University, the omicron variant of Covid-19 is 4.2 times more transmissible in its early stage than the delta variant. Nishiura said that the new variant is strong enough to beat immunity built naturally and through vaccines. This data brings a lot of concerns and fears among the economies. But major vaccine companies have already said that three shots of vaccines are efficient against the new Omicron.
U.S. Jobless Claims Decline to Lowest Level Since 1969
Applications for the U.S. weekly state unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since 1969. This shows difficulties adjusting the raw data for seasonal effects.
Initial unemployment claims totaled 184,000 in the week ended Dec. 4, down 43,000 from the prior period, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 220,000 applications.
Watches Of Switzerland Reports Strong November Sales
Luxury watch retailer Watches of Switzerland Group (WoS) said on Thursday that the company witnessed strong November sales and are in line with the estimates. WoS, the biggest Rolex retailer in Britain, in November upgraded its full-year revenue outlook to 1.15-1.20 billion pounds(Rs 11473-11972 crores), after the acquisition of five U.S. stores with combined annual revenue of about $100 million. Which all companies listed in India come to your mind, that have a strong market share in the Watch and ornamental business? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Italy Fines Amazon $1.3 Billion For Abuse Of Market Dominance
Italy’s antitrust watchdog said on Thursday it has imposed a fine of 1.13 billion euros (Rs 9,678 crores) on tech giant Amazon for alleged abuse of market dominance. This is one of the biggest penalties imposed on a U.S. tech giant in Europe and in response to this, Amazon said that it will appeal against the decision. The regulator said that Amazon uses Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) and Prime label to boost the business, but it prevents third-party sellers from associating the Prime label with offers not managed with FBA.
Crypto and Meme Stocks Rival Afghanistan Atop Google’s Year in Search
Meme stocks and cryptocurrencies rivaled major sport and the fallout from the Taliban’s rise to power as the biggest search and news trends for Google in 2021. When searching for news, Google users were mostly interested in Afghanistan, according to the latest annual trending report of Alphabet Inc.’s search giant. The rest of the top places were dominated by Reddit stock favorites such as GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., together with popular cryptocoins Ethereum and Dogecoin.
Better.com CEO Admits He ‘Blundered’ in Firing 900 Workers in a Zoom Call
Vishal Garg, chief executive officer of mortgage and real estate startup Better HoldCo Inc., apologized for firing 900 workers over Zoom after clips of the incident went viral and prompted the departure of executives. “I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution,” Garg said in an apology posted on the company’s website. “I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be.”
