EMEA Morning Briefing : Latest U.S. Inflation -2-

Europe's Omicron Battle Plan: Hassle the Unvaccinated

Rarely has a European leader spelled out the continent's Covid-19 strategy as bluntly as French President Emmanuel Macron, who said last week: "The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off."

The question facing the European Union is whether progressively excluding vaccine holdouts from work places and leisure spaces will be enough in the face of the Omicron variant to prevent a crisis in hospitals and avoid further lockdowns. France, Germany, Italy and many other EU countries are pressuring unvaccinated adults to get inoculated by excluding them from more everyday activities, while stopping short of a universal vaccine mandate. European arm-twisting contrasts with more laissez-faire approaches in the U.K. and U.S., but doesn't satisfy public-health experts who say it would be more effective to make vaccination mandatory.

Europe's Workers See Living Costs Rise, but Pay Isn't Keeping Pace

Europe's unemployment rate has fallen below its pre-pandemic level, but a surge in wages this year doesn't seem likely even though higher inflation has weakened workers' spending power, according to economists and officials.

At 7.3%, the eurozone's unemployment rate was below pre-pandemic levels in October, having hit a pandemic high of 8.6% in September 2020. The relatively small size of those swings, economists say, is largely because of furlough programs, in which governments essentially paid businesses to keep idled workers on as employees during the pandemic, rather than letting them go, by covering a large share of their wages.

U.S. Offers Russia Dialogue, Eyes Sanctions if Ukraine Is Invaded

WASHINGTON-As the Biden administration and U.S. allies begin contentious talks with Moscow this week, Western officials are eyeing significant financial punishments and targeted technology sanctions if Russia sends troops across the Ukrainian border, while likely avoiding the broadest energy and bank sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.

To encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the situation, the Biden administration is also prepared to discuss limits on intermediate-range missiles in Europe as well as reciprocal restrictions on the scope of military exercises on the continent, U.S. officials said.

Russia Readies Scores of Transport Planes as Troops Pour Into Kazakhstan

Russia sent fresh reinforcements into Kazakhstan on Sunday, deploying troops to help authorities reassert control in the country's biggest cities following days of sometimes violent protests against its leadership.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had prepared a contingent of more than 75 transport planes to allow for continuous deployment of troops into the country. The number sent in would likely be around 2,500, but could go higher, Russian state news agency RIA said last week.

U.S. to Discuss Scaling Back Military Exercises, Missile Deployments in Europe in Monday's Russia Talks

WASHINGTON-The Biden administration is ready to discuss the deployment of U.S. missiles in Europe as well as reciprocal restrictions on the size and scope of military exercises on the continent when it meets on Monday with Russian negotiators in Geneva, U.S. officials said.

The Biden administration's efforts are an attempt to defuse tensions with Russia, which has deployed about 100,000 troops near Ukraine's border. But they fall far short of Moscow's demands that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization call a halt to its eastward expansion, and cease training, exercises and military support to Ukraine and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

Iran Navy Port Emerges as Key to Alleged Weapons Smuggling to Yemen, U.N. Report Says

Thousands of rocket launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles and other weapons seized in the Arabian Sea by the U.S. Navy in recent months likely originated from a single port in Iran, according to a confidential United Nations report that provides some of the most detailed evidence that Tehran is exporting arms to Yemen and elsewhere.

The draft report prepared by a U.N. Security Council panel of experts on Yemen said small wooden boats and overland transport were used in attempts to smuggle weapons made in Russia, China and Iran along routes to Yemen that the U.S. has tried for years to shut down. The boats left from the Iranian port of Jask on the Sea of Oman, the U.N. report said, citing interviews with the boat's Yemeni crews and data from navigational instruments found on board.

PC Slowdown Sets a New Battleground for Chip Makers

After a spectacular run, personal computer sales are expected to cool significantly this year. Ironically, that makes the market an even more important battleground for Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

The rivalry in PCs between the two chip makers goes back decades. But it really started to pick up in 2018 after AMD began shipping processors fabricated on the most cutting-edge production lines at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, or TSMC. That gave AMD's chips an edge compared with those from Intel, which had been struggling with updating its own production process. According to Mercury Research, AMD accounted for about 21% of the central processor chips sold for PCs in the third quarter of 2021-more than double its 8% market share just four years prior.

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Expected Major Events for Monday

00:01/UK: Dec UK Regional PMI

05:30/NED: Nov Manufacturing output

06:00/FIN: Nov Industrial Production

07:00/DEN: Nov Industrial production & new orders

07:00/ROM: Nov International trade

07:00/DEN: Nov Balance of payments (provisional figures)

07:00/DEN: Nov External trade (provisional figures)

07:00/DEN: Dec CPI

07:00/NOR: Dec PPI

07:00/NOR: Dec CPI

07:00/TUR: Nov Employment / Unemployment

08:00/CZE: Dec Unemployment data

08:00/HUN: Nov Preliminary External Trade

08:00/SVK: Nov Industrial production

08:00/AUT: Nov Production Index

08:30/SWE: Nov New orders & deliveries in industry

08:30/SWE: Nov Industrial Production Index

09:00/ITA: Nov Unemployment

09:00/BUL: Nov Industrial Production

09:30/UK: Dec Narrow money (Notes & Coin) and reserve balances

10:00/EU: Nov Unemployment

10:00/GRE: Nov Industrial Production Index

10:00/CYP: Nov Foreign Trade (provisional)

10:00/MLT: Nov International Trade

10:00/LUX: Nov Industrial Production

11:00/POR: Nov International trade statistics

11:00/IRL: Nov Industrial Production and Turnover

All times in GMT. Powered by Kantar Media and Dow Jones.

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-10-22 0047ET