News updates from November 29: WHO warns of ‘very high’ risk from Omicron, Dorsey resigns as Twitter CEO, German inflation hits 6%

The top public health agency in the US expanded its recommendation for Covid-19 booster shots, underscoring the risks a resurgence of Covid-19 case and the new Omicron variant present to efforts to control the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday it was “strengthening” its recommendation on booster doses and that “everyone ages 18 and older should get a booster shot” when they are six months after the completion of their initial Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech regimes or two months after a Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“The recent emergence of the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) further emphasizes the importance of vaccination, boosters, and prevention efforts needed to protect against Covid-19,” Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said in a statement. She again urged the 47m Americans who are not yet vaccinated to sign up for their first jab.

In early November, the CDC endorsed Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech booster shots for all adults, with an advisory panel to the agency unanimously recommending that everyone over the age of 50 should go for their additional jab.

US stocks partially recovered on Monday after news of the Omicron coronavirus variant triggered a sharp sell-off late last week, as investors settled in for a renewed period of uncertainty over the pandemic.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 1.3 per cent, after falling 2.3 per cent in a truncated trading session on Friday.

Technology stocks, which were some of the biggest winners during earlier phases of the pandemic, led the gains again on Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rose 1.9 per cent, while the Nasdaq 100 index of the largest companies on the exchange rose 2.3 per cent, reversing all of Friday’s losses.

Analysts cautioned that markets would remain volatile, however, as investors awaited more information on the potential of the new variant to alter the path of economic growth.

The yield on the US benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which rises when prices fall, rose 0.03 percentage points to 1.51 per cent. Friday had marked its sharpest price increase since March 2020 as investors sought “haven” assets.

The euro fell 0.3 per cent against the dollar to $1.128 after nations across the EU issued travel restrictions.

The Vix, a measure of expected volatility of the S&P 500, declined from its highest level since March but remained slightly elevated at a reading of 23. Its average over the long run is about 20.

Read more about the day’s market moves here

Rising Covid-19 cases and the new Omicron variant threatened to imperil the economic recovery and exacerbate ongoing inflationary pressures, Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell is set to tell US lawmakers on Tuesday.

In testimony to be delivered at a joint congressional hearing with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Powell acknowledged the underlying strength of the world’s largest economy as consumer demand remains buoyant and people return to the workforce.

However, he also underscored the vast uncertainty clouding the outlook because of possible pandemic-related setbacks.

“The recent rise in Covid-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation,” he said in prepared remarks released on Monday. “Greater concerns about the virus could reduce people’s willingness to work in person, which would slow progress in the labour market and intensify supply-chain disruptions.”

Powell, who was recently appointed to a second term by President Joe Biden, is set to testify at a tenuous moment for the US economy, which is grappling with the highest rates of inflation in roughly 30 years.

The Federal Trade Commission has asked retailers and consumer goods groups in the US, including Amazon and Walmart, to hand over information about their supply chains as it probes bottlenecks and high prices afflicting the economy.

The move announced Monday by the FTC, the US competition watchdog, will put pressure on corporate America to defend its prices and business practices and take additional steps to ease backlogs ahead of the holiday shopping season — a growing preoccupation for the Biden administration.

“Supply chain disruptions are upending the provision and delivery of a wide array of goods, ranging from computer chips and medicines to meat and lumber,” Lina Khan, FTC chair, said in a statement.

“I am hopeful the FTC’s new . . . study will shed light on market conditions and business practices that may have worsened these disruptions or led to asymmetric effects,” she added.

The FTC is seeking information from nine companies in total, which also include grocery chain Kroger, consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, meat producer Tyson Foods and food company Kraft Heinz, along with several wholesalers.

US stocks partially recovered on Monday after news of the Omicron coronavirus variant triggered a sharp sell-off late last week, as investors settled in for a renewed period of uncertainty over the pandemic.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index gained 1.6 per cent in mid-afternoon trading, after falling 2.3 per cent in a truncated trading session on Friday.

Technology stocks, which were some of the biggest winners during earlier phases of the pandemic, led the gains again on Monday, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index rose 2.1 per cent.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 2.1 per cent to $74.20 a barrel, having lost more than 10 per cent on Friday in its largest fall since April 2020.

The yield on the US benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 0.06 percentage points to about 1.53 per cent after falling the most since March 2020 on Friday, as traders backed out of the “haven” asset.

The euro fell 0.4 per cent against the dollar to $1.127 after nations across the EU issued travel restrictions.

The Vix, a measure of expected volatility of the S&P 500, declined from its highest level since March but remained slightly elevated at a reading of 22. Its average over the long run is about 20.

Read more on the day’s market moves here

The iron ore market received a boost after one of the world’s biggest suppliers narrowed production guidance for this year and issued a lower than expected forecast for 2022.

At its annual strategy day in New York, Brazilian miner Vale said it expected to produce 315m to 320m tonnes of the steel-making ingredient in 2021, compared to an earlier estimate 315m to 335m.

Next year, Vale said it will mine 320m to 335m tonnes, compared with 346m which was a consensus of analysts.

Since iron ore prices hit a record above $230 a tonne in May they have fallen sharply after China ordered its vast steel industry to rein in production and hold it below 2020 levels.

In recent weeks the commodity has stabilised at about $100 on talk that Chinese mills will lift volumes next month. Vale’s forecast could provide a supply side boost to sentiment.

Vale also used Monday’s update to reveal plans to cut costs by $1bn over the next 24 months via the “removal of inefficiencies” in the company.

The miner also laid out a longer timeframe to dismantle upstream dams in Brazil, a type of structure used to store waste material that has caused two deadly disasters in the country in recent years. The project will now be completed by 2035, against 2030 previously.

US and European stocks advanced on Monday after a sell-off at the end of last week triggered by the Omicron coronavirus variant, as investors settled in for a prolonged period of uncertainty over the pandemic.

Wall Street’s S&P 500 gained 1.6 per cent after the broad US stock gauge fell 2.3 per cent on Friday. In Europe, the regional Stoxx 600 closed up 0.7 per cent, after falling more than 3.5 per cent on Friday. London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.9 per cent.

Analysts cautioned that markets would remain volatile, however, as investors awaited more information on the potential of the new variant to alter the path of economic growth. Both the S&P 500 and Stoxx 600 had hit record highs earlier this month before falling in recent days.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose about 3 per cent to $75.11 a barrel, having lost more than 10 per cent on Friday in its largest fall since April 2020.

The yield on the US benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained 0.04 percentage points to about 1.53 per cent after falling the most since March 2020 on Friday, as traders backed out of the “haven” asset.

Read more on the day’s market moves here

The US will not have to endure a fresh round of lockdowns this winter despite the risk posed by the new Omicron variant, Joe Biden said on Monday, as he promised to tackle any new surge with more vaccinations.

The US president said he would reveal a full plan for dealing with a potential winter surge later this week, but insisted on Monday it would not involve the kinds of heavy restrictions that were imposed last year.

Biden was speaking publicly from the White House for the first time since he shut down travel from a range of southern African countries late last week amid fears that the heavily-mutated variant could evade vaccines.

The president said: “On Thursday, I’ll be putting forward a detailed strategy outline how we’re trying to fight Covid this winter — not with shutdowns and lockdowns, but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing and more.”

And even as other countries race to impose restrictions such as mandatory mask-wearing, while Japan has banned all foreign visitors, the president insisted: “This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”

Read more on Biden’s pledge on lockdowns here

Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón hospital has reported Spain’s first case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The hospital’s microbiology and infectious diseases department said in a tweet that the person infected had travelled from South Africa and that the variant had been confirmed on Monday by sequencing, due to an “an ultra-fast procedure that allows us to have the result in the same day”.

The hospital said the patient was doing well.

The health department of  the Madrid regional government subsequently said the patient was a 51-year-old man who had come back from South Africa via Amsterdam on Sunday. It added that he previously had a positive antigen test at Madrid airport and was only experiencing mild symptoms.

New York City has issued a mask advisory in response to rising concerns about the Omicron coronavirus variant and is “strongly recommending” residents to wear a mask in indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status.

The advisory stops short of a mandate, with officials conceding there was not yet enough data about the new strain’s transmissibility and severity to immediately warrant more stringent measures.

“If you’re indoors, regardless of whether you’re vaccinated or not, everyone should be wearing a mask,” Dr Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, said on Monday.

In justifying the issuance of a recommendation rather than a stricter mask mandate, outgoing mayor Bill de Blasio said he wanted to “keep the focus” on vaccination. “I never want to give people the impression that wearing a mask is a substitute for being vaccinated,” he said during a press conference.

De Blasio said it was too early, given the dearth of data about Omicron, to say whether certain activities, like indoor dining, might again become subject to restrictions. He said he thought the city had “the right approach” with vaccination against Covid-19 a requirement for entry to indoor activities and venues and that “we really want to make sure we don’t need the other kind of restrictions we used to have”.

No cases of the new variant, which was first identified in southern Africa, have thus far been detected in the US, but officials expect its arrival will only be a matter of time.

Over the long weekend, governor Kathy Hochul announced a state of emergency for the state of New York, which will go into effect on December 3. This will allow the state to boost hospital capacity, address potential labour shortages, acquire supplies to fight outbreaks and allow the state health department to give preference to essential or urgent procedures at hospitals.

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, stepped down as chief executive on Monday, as the social network named Parag Agrawal as his successor.

“I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders,” Dorsey said. “My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead.”

Dorsey’s decision to stand down came nearly two years after Dorsey reached a truce with activist investor Elliott Management, which had tried to remove him, saying he was distracted by running Square, the payments company, and by his other interests.

Twitter’s board said Agrawal, who has been Twitter’s chief technology officer since 2017, would be its new chief executive, effective immediately. Bret Taylor will become the new chair of the board.

“Jack returned to Twitter and turned the company around at the most critical time,” Taylor said. “Jack has given the world something invaluable and we will continue to carry it forward.”

Shares in the company jumped 10 per cent in pre-market trading, which was halted shortly after the news broke on CNBC.

Read more on Dorsey’s departure here

A forward-looking indicator of US home sales jumped more than expected last month as consumers anticipating higher mortgage rates rush to snap up homes.

The pending home sales index, or signed contracts for homes where transactions have not yet closed, gained 7.5 per cent in October to 125.2, the National Association of Realtors said on Monday.

That exceeded economists’ expectations for a 0.9 per cent rise and was the highest level for the year.

“Motivated by fast-rising rents and the anticipated increase in mortgage rates, consumers that are on strong financial footing are signing contracts to purchase a home sooner rather than later,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

Following October’s gain, NAR predicts sales of previously owned homes in the US will exceed 6m this year, “which will shape up to be the best performance in 15 years”.

Home prices, which have hovered near record levels, are expected to rise at a slower pace as rising mortgage rates temper demand, which surged during the pandemic.

The UK Covid-19 booster programme should be expanded to all over 18s and the gap between second and third doses halved to three months, government scientific advisers said on Monday.

Scientists on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation told a briefing that they had also recommended that 12-to-15 year olds should be give a second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The third booster jab should not be administered any sooner than three months after the second dose, the advisory body noted. This contrasts with previous guidance that suggested a six-month gap between second and third doses.

The expansion of the booster programme should follow the same prioritisation order as outlined during phase one and phase two of the vaccine programme, they added, to ensure that the most vulnerable are provided with the necessary protection first.

The announcement follows growing concern among politicians and scientists over the global spread of the Omicron variant, first identified in South Africa.

US president Joe Biden is poised to meet the chief executives of top retailers today as he faces pressure to ensure that the supply chain bottlenecks afflicting the American economy do not undermine the holiday shopping season. 

According to the White House, Biden was scheduled to meet Corie Barry of Best Buy, Ynon Kreiz of Mattel, Meg Ham of  Food Lion and KS Choi of Samsung in person at the White House today, among others. Doug McMillon, the chief executive of Walmart, was expected to attend virtually.

White House officials have been encouraged by recent data showing an easing of backlogs at US ports, showing that some of the strains in the supply chains are beginning to heal. But the Biden administration is still on the defensive as it tries to ensure that high inflation and product shortages do not hurt the holiday season.

Larger retailers have expressed confidence that their spending to bring goods into the country earlier than usual will help them meet strong consumer demand that National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay said had been “juiced” by historic levels of fiscal stimulus. 

Indeed, early data covering the long Thanksgiving weekend suggests that in-store spending rallied strongly from last year’s pandemic-depressed levels but online spending came in at the low end of analysts’ expectations. 

“Overall, consumers are in a great place; they’ve got $4tn in savings, they’re out shopping, sales are up in a big way this year [and] we expect a great holiday season,” Shay told CNN on Friday: “Because retailers have got inventory in place [consumers] are going to find the gifts that they have on their lists.”

Moderna’s chief executive has warned vaccines are likely to be less effective against the Omicron variant, but he said it is “tough” to know yet if they will elicit fivefold or eightfold fewer antibodies. 

Stéphane Bancel said it was important to remember that, unlike antibody treatments, vaccines enable your body to respond with a “soup of antibodies”. 

“Some will be protective at neutralising, even if [there is] a mutation,” he told CNBC. 

The Boston-based vaccine maker was testing a higher dose of the existing booster and studying two vaccine candidates that include strains with some similar mutations to those found in Omicron. On Friday, it announced it is starting work on a booster specifically targeted to Omicron.

Inflation in Germany has surged to its highest level since 1992, increasing the pressure on the European Central Bank to explain why it still thinks it would be premature to tighten its ultra-loose monetary policy.

German inflation, as measured by the harmonised index of consumer prices, exceeded the expectations of most economists with a 6 per cent rise in November from a year earlier — its highest level since shortly after the country’s reunification three decades ago.

Sharp price rises are a sensitive subject in a country where people’s approach to money is haunted by the hyperinflation of the 1920s and 1940s that wiped out most Germans’ savings.

Isabel Schnabel, an ECB executive board member, said in a televised interview with Germany’s ZDF on Monday that “November will prove to be the peak” for inflation in the country.

Several factors indicate German inflation will fade next year. One is that the rebound in prices from last year’s temporary cut in sales tax will drop out of the inflation data by January. Restrictions announced this month to contain a record surge in coronavirus cases could also have a cooling effect on consumer spending and prices.

Figures published today showed that Spanish consumer prices rose 5.6 per cent this month, the fastest pace since 1992. Prices in Belgium also rose 5.6 per cent this month.

Tomorrow, eurozone figures are expected to show inflation in the 19-country bloc rose 4.4 per cent this month, the biggest rise in 13 years.

Johnson & Johnson has begun work on a jab targeting the Omicron variant, as vaccine makers pledge to move quickly to produce new shots in case the current vaccines prove significantly less effective against the variant.

Mathai Mammen, global head of J&J’s pharma division’s research and development, said it will not be “complacent”, as the variant highlights the importance of continued surveillance, testing and vaccination.

“Building on our long-term collaboration with scientists on the ground in South Africa and the ongoing real world effectiveness studies being conducted with the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, we will work together to generate new data on Omicron,” he said.

Pfizer is another one of the many vaccine makers that have begun working on a tailored vaccine that could be deployed if necessary. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, said if a new modified vaccine is needed, the US drugmaker will be able to produce almost 4bn doses in 2021, around its previous forecast for next year.

The Scottish government will next year start formal preparations for a second referendum on independence from the UK that it wants to hold before the end of 2023, first minister Nicola Sturgeon told her Scottish National party on Monday.

The campaign to build support for independence will “resume in earnest” at the end of winter, coronavirus pandemic permitting, Sturgeon said in a speech closing an online SNP conference.

“In the course of next year, I will initiate the process necessary to enable a referendum before the end of 2023,” Sturgeon said.

The SNP leader gave no details, but has previously said that she will seek to pass legislation through the Scottish parliament at Holyrood that would pave the way for a rerun of the 2014 independence referendum, in which voters backed remaining in the UK by 55-45 per cent.

The UK government insists its approval is needed for any Scottish independence plebiscite, but Scottish ministers and some legal experts have in the past argued that Edinburgh could unilaterally hold an advisory referendum on the issue under current devolution law.

Sturgeon did not say what she would do if the UK government or others were able to block her referendum legislation in the courts, saying only that if Prime Minister Boris Johnson had any respect for democracy, he too would “let the people decide”.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the speech reflected the SNP’s “obsession with separation”.

“It is deeply disappointing and irresponsible, in the face of a deepening public health crisis, that the focus of the first minister is once more on sowing division between Scotland and the rest of the UK,” Baillie said.

Countries across the EU have issued a medley of travel restrictions to stem the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, contradicting guidance from the European Commission that such measures should only be applied to countries outside the bloc.

After Switzerland and the UK introduced testing and quarantine obligations for all incoming travellers, Polish media reported today that the government was planning to introduce quarantine for anyone coming in from countries where Omicron was detected, including EU nations.

The commission said that Warsaw had not communicated any intention to do so.

Portugal has informed the commission that as of Wednesday it will require travellers from other EU countries to present a negative PCR test in addition to vaccine certificates.

“In principle, member states should refrain to impose additional travel restrictions to holders of the EU Covid certificate and should inform the European Commission and other member states 48 hours in advance about any such measures,” said the commission.

“It is important for member states to stick to a co-ordinated approach, to ensure safe and free travel in the EU,” it added.

European leaders are considering holding an emergency summit to co-ordinate the responses via videoconference on Friday, according to EU officials.

The details of the meeting were still being ironed out today, with several leaders yet to confirm their attendance. The European Commission last week put out guidance on how to deal with the new variant, but insisted that travel bans and restrictive measures should be limited to countries outside the EU.

Markets: Futures contracts tracking the broad-based S&P 500 index added 0.9 per cent. That suggests US stocks will come off one of their worst sessions of the year amid concerns over a new coronavirus variant that sent stocks and bond yields lower. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 advanced 1 per cent, partially recovering from its more than 3.5 per cent fall in the previous session.

Cyber Monday: Online stores will be offering more deals for Cyber Monday, which traditionally brings about a bump in holiday spending as people return to work after the long Thanksgiving Day weekend. Cyber Monday is one of the busiest days of the holiday season for couriers like FedEx, which expects to deliver 100m more holiday packages this year than in 2019.

Home sales: The National Association of Realtors will publish its latest report on pending home sales in the US amid persistent supply shortages. Signed contracts to buy existing homes, a gauge of future real estate transactions, are forecast to have climbed 1 per cent in October from the previous month, rebounding after a 2.3 per cent fall in September. Existing home sales were up 0.8 in October, even as prices remained near record highs.

Elizabeth Holmes trial: Holmes, the founder of defunct blood-testing start-up Theranos, is expected to return to the witness stand today in a trial stemming from fraud charges. Cross-examination could begin today, after she spent 10 hours on the witness stand across two days last week.

The World Health Organization has urged nations to back targets to ensure everyone is vaccinated against Covid-19 over the next six months.

“Vaccine equity is not charity; it is in every country’s best interests,” said the WHO’s director-general in a briefing to member states. “No country can vaccinate its way out of the pandemic on its own. We are all in this together.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on every member state to support the target to inoculate 40 per cent of the population of every country by the end of this year, with everybody by the middle of next.

He added that 103 countries have not reached the 40 per cent target and more than half are at risk of missing it by the end of the year, mainly because they cannot access enough vaccines.

“The bright light of vaccines has also become a blinding light to the continued need for other tools to stop this virus spreading,” he said in the briefing today.

“Science has been undermined; misinformation has abounded. And it will all happen again unless you, the nations of the world, can come together to say with one voice: ‘never again’,” Tedros said.

He stressed the need for a legally binding agreement that would offer a package of measures to address future global health threats.

Such a pact would “strike a balance between protecting the rights, freedoms and livelihoods of individuals, while protecting the health and safety of the most vulnerable members of communities”, Tedros said.

The first ministers of Scotland and Wales have called on the UK government to tighten coronavirus controls on people arriving from overseas as a precautionary measure to limit the spread of the new Omicron variant.

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon told a briefing that she and Welsh counterpart Mark Drakeford had jointly written to UK prime minister Boris Johnson earlier today to call for all arriving passengers arriving in the UK to be asked to self-isolate for eight days.

Arrivals should also be required to take a PCR test on the eighth day after arrival as well as the current test taken on the second day, Sturgeon said.

Sturgeon confirmed that some of the six cases of infection with the Omicron variant discovered so far in Scotland were among people who had not travelled to the southern African countries where it was first identified, nor had known direct contact with anyone who had travelled there.

This suggested community transmission of the variant, the first minister said. She said that while there was no evidence this was widespread and it was still unclear how much of a threat the new variant would be, people should “treat it seriously” and carefully follow Scottish rules and guidance on use of face coverings, enhanced hygiene and working from home where possible.

The global overall risk from the Omicron coronavirus variant is “very high”, the World Health Organization has warned, as scientists sought to understand its impact on the severity of Covid-19 and on natural and vaccine-caused immunity.

In a technical sheet shared with member states, WHO on Monday gave guidelines for surveillance and epidemiological studies. On Friday it designated Omicron, first detected this month in southern Africa, as a variant of concern.

Anecdotal reports from South Africa over the weekend appeared to suggest the disease was mild, especially in younger vaccinated patients.

The WHO said on Sunday its impact on severity was not yet known, adding that there was “substantial uncertainty” regarding Omicron’s ability to transmit and potential to pierce through natural and vaccine immunity.

In its technical sheet, the WHO said, that while most cases identified are travel-related, “we expect this to change as more information becomes available”.

UK consumers borrowed the largest amount on credit cards in 16 months and saved less this October, according to data from the Bank of England that suggests a healthy recovery in spending ahead of Christmas.  

Individuals borrowed £700m in net consumer credit in October. Of that, £600m was on credit cards, the strongest net borrowing since July 2020 and beating the £400m forecast from economists polled by Reuters.  

Consumers returned to spending as Covid-19 infections were declining, and before news of the Omicron variant created new uncertainty. The amount of savings they piled up in banks also returned to near pre-pandemic levels.

Households deposited an additional £6.4bn with bank and building societies, well below the average net flow of £11.9bn in the 12 months to September 2021 and only slightly higher than £5.5bn in the year to February 2020, before the health crisis.

The BoE also said that approvals for house purchases fell to 67,200 in October, from 71,900 in September and the lowest since June 2020, largely reflecting the end of the stamp duty discount.

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said the fall was “not surprising following the flurry of activity in September as buyers brought forward moves in an effort to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday”.

“The market is settling down a little after what has been a frenzied few months,” he added.

The price of oil rose today, recovering ground after fears about the emergence of a new variant of coronavirus sent markets plunging at the end of last week.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 4 per cent to $75.58 a barrel this morning, recovering from a 10 per cent fall on Friday — its largest drop since April 2020.

The spread of Omicron hit oil prices, which have soared following the reopening of the global economy from last year’s pandemic lockdowns, as investors feared new restrictions would hit demand. However, the knock on confidence appeared to be shortlived with losses partially recouped when futures markets opened late yesterday.

US president Joe Biden has also announced the country’s largest ever release of stored oil last week in an effort to drive down the price of petrol, although the initial market response has been muted.

Gazprom has reported record profits for the first nine months of the year on the back of soaring gas prices, which the Russian state-run group expects to boost performance further in the final quarter.

Famil Sadygov, deputy chair, said today that earnings of Rbs1.55tn ($20bn) in the nine months to the end of September were “already higher than in any full calendar year in the company’s history”.

“Given the current dynamics, we expect even more impressive results in the fourth quarter,” he added.

Shares in Gazprom rose 2 per cent to Rbs332 on Monday.

Gazprom, which holds a monopoly on Russia’s pipeline gas exports, has benefited from a surge in gas prices in Europe, its main export market. It has been fulfilling its contract obligations but with no additional spot sales, helping sustain high prices caused by factors including redirected global gas supplies to Asia.

Gas prices have risen for six consecutive quarters. Third-quarter prices nearly tripled year on year to $304 per 1,000 cubic metres, according to Gazprom, helping it recover from last year’s losses.

As temperatures dropped over the weekend, analysts said the pace of withdrawals from storage in Europe had accelerated to 2.5bn cubic metres, up from 1.8bn cubic metres the week before.

The government’s scientific advisers are expected to recommend an expansion of the booster programme to all adults in the UK, as a further six cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant were confirmed in Scotland.

The booster programme will be expanded to all over-18s and the six-month gap between second and third doses will be “substantially reduced” to maximise immunity as the Omicron variant begins to spread, following new guidance from the government’s vaccine advisers.

Scientists believe that the new Omicron variant, which was identified in South Africa last week and has already spread to multiple countries around the world, may be more transmissible than the highly infectious Delta variant and has mutations that could make it resistant to vaccines.

Children aged between 12 and 15-years-old will also be offered a second dose of a Covid-19 jab. The advice is expected to be handed down by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation today, after the group convened an emergency meeting on Saturday.

“Mutations raise [the] significant likelihood that [the Omicron variant] will be able to evade neutralising antibodies to a significant degree but not entirely,” said one JCVI member. “[The] only response available with respect to vaccines is to maximise [antibody levels] in blood of as many people as possible as soon as possible to try to compensate for those theoretical concerns.”

Read more on the booster programme here.

Scotland has detected six cases of the latest coronavirus variant, extending the spread of the more transmissible strain from the handful identified in England over the weekend.

Four cases of the Omicron variant are in the Lanarkshire area while two are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, the Scottish government said on Monday.

“This will be a worrying time for the six people now identified as having the new variant,” said health secretary Humza Yousaf. “All will receive expert help and support and Public Health Scotland will undertake enhanced contact tracing in all cases.”

Contact tracing is seeking to establish the origin of the virus and anybody the infected people have come into contact with in recent weeks, the statement said.

Until more is known about the variant, Yousaf said, “we must be cautious and do everything we can to minimise the risk of spreading infection”.

Scotland is aligning its border restrictions with those being introduced by the UK government, and will impose measures “as soon as possible”.

European stocks advanced on Monday after a sell-off at the end of last week triggered by the Omicron coronavirus variant, as investors settled in for a prolonged period of uncertainty over the pandemic.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose 1.1 per cent in early dealings, recovering from a fall of more than 3.5 per cent on Friday. London’s FTSE 100, Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac 40 all increased around 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, futures tracking the US S&P 500 index added 0.9 per cent after the broad US stock gauge fell 2.3 per cent on Friday.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 4 per cent to $75.59 a barrel, having lost more than 10 per cent on Friday in its biggest fall since April 2020.

Analysts cautioned that markets would remain volatile as more information emerged about the potential of the new variant to trigger fresh social restrictions in developed nations and change expectations of the path of economic growth.

“It will be at least two more weeks before more will be known as scientists around the world build a better understanding of the new variant and as the severity of infections becomes clearer,” Moody’s Analytics said.

Read more here

Santander UK has appointed Mike Regnier to replace Nathan Bostock its chief executive, bringing the bank’s seven-month search to an end.

The Spanish bank has been hunting for a head for its UK operation since April, when it announced Bostock, who has led the bank since 2014, would step down at the end of the year.

“I am confident that he will provide the strategic leadership required to drive the bank forward,” Santander chair William Vereker said.

Regnier comes from leading the Yorkshire Building Society, where he held the top role from 2017. He was previously at Lloyds Bank, TSB and Halifax.

Santander UK has around 14m customers and 20,900 employees. Much of Bostock’s tenure was marked by falling profits and cost-cutting measures. The bank company had to write down its goodwill value last year, driving to its first ever quarterly loss.

Cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant are likely to rise in the UK, a junior health minister has said, as the government and its advisers consider how to adapt the booster programme to slow down the spread of the more transmissible strain.

“We’ve taken some precautionary measured steps to help slow down the spread” of the Omicron variant, said Edward Argar, UK health minister. Three confirmed cases have been detected in the UK, a number that Argar said he expects to rise.

“We are trying to give ourselves time,” he added on Sky News on Monday.

It is “concerning but it is still early days in terms of understanding in how it actually reacts in transmissibility and in terms of how dangerous it is”, Argar added.

Health secretary Sajid Javid is expecting an update on Monday on expanding the availability of booster vaccines for under-40s from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, a body of academics and clinicians who advise on vaccine policy.

The JCVI is also considering whether to reduce the time between the second and booster shot to five from six months, Argar added.

From Tuesday, face masks will once again be mandatory in shops and other indoor locations such as hairdressers, as well as on public transport in England.

The UK is sequencing 60,000 genomes a week, as the country attempts to track the spread of coronavirus variants.

“This is an absolutely remarkable endeavour,” said Nick Loman, professor of microbial genomics at the University of Birmingham.

“The world has now sequenced over 5m genome sequences and that’s more than pretty much everything we’ve ever sequenced put together,” he added. “In the UK it’s nearly 1.5m genomes,” Loman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday.

However, this is only a fraction of the country’s coronavirus infections. “At the moment we’re managing to sequence about 60,000 genomes a week, which is unfortunately not near the total number of cases,” Loman said.

Loman added that the new Omicron variant had an “unusual origin”, and that sequencing 20 per cent of coronavirus infections gives a “very good view” of the spread of different strains in the UK.

The United Arab Emirates has started a vaccination booster campaign for all adults who took the BioNTech/Pfizer or Sputnik jabs more than six months ago.

The move comes as fears grow about the transmissibility of the Omicron variant. The UAE, like other Gulf states, has halted flights from southern Africa, but the country, especially Dubai, is a tourism hotspot.

“We advise everyone to make sure they receive booster doses on time and not to delay,” the health sector spokesperson, Dr Farida Al Hosani, said late on Sunday.

To date, the boosters had been reserved for those inoculated with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, as well as the elderly and those suffering from various health conditions.

The UAE has one of the world’s most extensive vaccination drives, with more than 90 per cent of the population fully inoculated and more than 99 per cent having received at least one dose.

EU: The eurozone publishes consumer confidence data on Monday. November’s flash consumer confidence indicator fell 2.1 points to minus 8.2, marking the first time confidence dropped below its pre-pandemic levels since March.

Germany: Europe’s largest economy issues flash consumer price index data. German inflation, as measured by the harmonised index of consumer prices, rose 4.6 per cent in October from a year earlier — its highest level since shortly after the country’s reunification three decades ago.

UK: The Bank of England releases consumer credit and mortgage lending data. Average house prices increased 11.8 per cent over the year to September, from 10.2 per cent in August, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. This was also the second-fastest pace since records began in 2006.

Markets: Asian markets continued their decline on Monday as investors reacted to concerns over the Omicron variant of Covid-19, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down 1.3 per cent and Japan’s Topix down 1.9 per cent in the afternoon. Futures for the FTSE 100 and the Euro Stoxx 50 were both up 1 per cent ahead of the open.

Within hours of sounding the alarm over the new Omicron variant of Covid-19, Tulio de Oliveira, the scientist helping to steer South Africa’s pandemic response, was fielding calls from biosecurity agencies worldwide asking for live samples.

“We have always [been] very collaborative . . . so the key questions can be answered as fast as possible”, says de Oliveira, a bioinformatics professor at Stellenbosch University.

De Oliveira’s colleagues have been working round the clock to cultivate the new strain of the heavily-mutated virus, designated B. 1.1.529. Packages will be urgently dispatched to the US National Institutes of Health facility in Bethesda, Maryland, and the UK Health Security Agency laboratory at Porton Down.

But, despite the ease of cross-border scientific collaboration over Omicron, some global health experts fear the international law on pathogen sharing is more likely to hamper, rather than hasten, the development of diagnostics, drugs and vaccines to combat future pandemic threats.

Their anxiety centres on the rules enshrined in the Nagoya Protocol, a legally binding agreement that guarantees 196 signatory countries access to the products of scientific research done on plants, animals and genetic resources — including pathogens — emerging from their territory. The US is one of the few major nations that never signed up to the protocol.

Read more on the Nagoya Protocol here.

Japan will ban foreign citizens from entering the country, reversing a three-week old relaxation of its rules, as Tokyo responds to the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Prime minister Fumio Kishida on Monday announced the decision, which will take effect at midnight on Tuesday.

“We’re handling the Omicron variant with a strong sense of crisis,” Kishida told reporters. “It appears to be spreading around the world so we continue to look at further strengthening our border control measures.”

The new ban covers foreign students, trainees and workers moving to Japan and business travellers on short trips. Under the relaxation announced three weeks ago, vaccinated business travellers could visit Japan with a quarantine as short as three days.

Japanese nationals returning from South Africa, neighbouring countries and other nations with Omicron cases would have to quarantine at government controlled facilities, Kishida said.

Traders in Tokyo said that despite the Omicron news over the weekend, Tokyo’s morning session had been relatively positive, with opening dip pared back before the lunch break as NY futures continued to trade positively.

However, the headlines regarding Japan’s new policies on foreign arrivals hit sentiment hard, driving down stocks that had previously been trading higher on expectations of a gradual return to the tourism market.

Shares in Japan Air Terminals and several of the large railway companies fell sharply.

“Japan had just started to open up for short-term visitors and this looks like a step back,” said CLSA head of execution services Takeo Kamai. “There is a lot of uncertainty and the Tokyo market is always going to trade conservatively at a time like that.”

British Airways has suspended flights to and from Hong Kong following the quarantining of its flight crew in the city.

BA said in a statement that it would suspend flights on the route until November 30. The UK flag carrier’s website shows no available flights from Hong Kong to London until December 4.

“We have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend flights to Hong Kong while we review operational requirements for this route,” the statement said.

On Saturday, the South China Morning Post reported that the crew of a BA flight had been sent to a government quarantine centre following the detection of a case of Covid-19. BA is one of the major operators flying the London to Hong Kong route.

BA said the company was supporting crew who were currently isolating in Hong Kong, but declined to comment on the length of the quarantine period and the reasons for it.

Asia-Pacific stocks began the trading week lower, extending a decline triggered on Friday by the Omicron coronavirus variant, but markets showed signs of recovery by mid-morning on reports that the virus strain presented only mild symptoms.

Australia and Japan recorded the region’s biggest declines on Monday, where shares fell sharply in early trading before recovering some losses.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 shed as much as 1.4 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trading before regaining ground to be down 0.6 per cent by mid-morning.

Japan’s Topix fell 1.5 per cent on opening but pared losses to about 1.1 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 1 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index started the morning 0.7 per cent lower.

On Friday, global stocks suffered the biggest sell-off in more than a year as countries around the world announced travel bans and containment measures to combat the spread of the new variant.

Scientists believe Omicron may be more transmissible than the highly infectious Delta variant and carries mutations that may make it resistant to vaccines.

Read more about Monday’s market moves.

The pandemic could cost the global tourism industry as much as $1tn in 2021 after countries around the world imposed travel restrictions and lockdowns to combat the spread of the virus.

The UN World Tourism Organization said on Monday that revenues from international tourism could reach $700-800bn for 2021, higher than last year’s $400bn, but less than half of the $1.7tn recorded in 2019.

While travel picked up over the summer months in Europe, international tourist arrivals remained 64 per cent below 2019 levels, the UNWTO added.

In some regions, including southern and Mediterranean Europe, the Caribbean and North and Central America, arrivals were higher than they were in 2020.

UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili said the results for the third quarter of 2021 were “encouraging” but noted that travel remained well below pre-pandemic levels and that any recovery had been geographically “uneven”.

On Friday, countries around the world reimposed travel restrictions that they had largely discarded after Omicron, a new variant of Covid-19 which some scientists believe may be more transmissible than previous strains, was found in southern Africa. The news knocked shares in travel companies and airlines.

“We cannot let our guard down and need to continue our efforts to ensure equal access to vaccinations, co-ordinate travel procedures, make use of digital vaccination certificates to facilitate mobility and continue to support the sector,” Pololikashvili added in light of the emergence of new variants and rising cases in Europe.

Chinese property developer Fantasia Holdings Group said it would halt trading in its shares on Monday morning, as doubts over the health of the Chinese property development sector persisted following a string of missed bond payments.

Fantasia said its Hong Kong-listed stocks would be suspended pending the release of a further announcement about the company which would constitute inside information.

Colour Life Services, a property management subsidiary of Fantasia, also suspended trading in its shares.

It is standard practice to suspend trading in shares of a company prior to the announcement of a sale or merger in order to avoid the possibility of insider trading.

In October, Fantasia, a mid-sized developer, defaulted on a dollar-denominated debt, raising fears of a liquidity crisis at the company.

Similar concerns have rippled throughout the Chinese property sector with a number of other developers missing payments on offshore bonds in recent months.

Neither of Monday’s announcements gave further details of the reasons for the halts.

Virgil Abloh, an American designer known for bringing streetwear into luxury fashion and a rising star within the LVMH group, has died of cancer at the age of 41, the company said on Sunday.

Abloh, who had designed menswear for the Louis Vuitton brand since 2018, infusing lines with a mix of sportswear and tailoring that had won praise, had been promoted in July to a broader role within the world’s biggest luxury goods conglomerate.

The DJ and creator of the Off-White high-end leisurewear label, a first-generation American born of Ghanaian parents, was one of the most high-profile black people working in the luxury industry and within LVMH.

“Virgil was not only a designer with a lot of genius, a visionary, he was also a beautiful soul and a man with a lot of wisdom,” Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s chief executive and controlling shareholder, said in a statement.

In a post on Abloh’s Instagram account, his family said he had been battling an aggressive form of cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma, and had chosen to keep his 2019 diagnosis private. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Read more about Virgil Abloh.

Australian equities declined sharply in early trading on Monday as a blow dealt by the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 continued to depress market sentiment across the Asia-Pacific region.

The country’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 shed as much as 1.4 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The decline signalled another day of weakness for Asia-Pacific stocks, which fell across the board on Friday on concerns over the new variant.

Futures in Japan were down 3.3 per cent ahead of the open, while Hang Seng index futures were down 1.2 per cent.

In currency markets, the South African rand gained 1 per cent after dropping 1.9 per cent on Friday. Oil also rose back above $70 a barrel as traders considered the extent of Omicron’s impact.

Data: Japan releases its retail sales figures and Malaysia publishes its imports and exports data for October.

Earnings: Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto and China Gas Holdings publish earnings today.

China-Africa: Chinese president Xi Jinping delivers a key note speech via video link to the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation in Dakar, Senegal.

Markets: Equities slid around the world on Friday, taking a hammering from investor concerns over the new Omicron variant of Covid-19. Asia Pacific stocks looked set to continue their decline this week, with Australian markets declining sharply in early trading and futures in Japan and Hong Kong both down ahead of the open.