The variant's ability to spread more easily than previous dominant versions of the virus has driven rapidly rising Covid-19 caseloads even in highly vaccinated countries such as the U.K. and Israel. There, the vaccines have suppressed serious illness and deaths. But, in many parts of the rest of the world, the pandemic that has already sickened at least 200 million people and killed more than four million is intensifying.
Private-Equity Firms Spark Bidding Wars in U.K.
Blackstone Group Inc., Carlyle Group Inc. and other buyout firms are bidding for U.K. publicly listed companies at a faster rate than they have in years. The reason: Post-Brexit Britain is one of the few markets where investors think big assets are going for cheap.
Covid-19 Pill Race Heats Up as Japanese Firm Vies With Pfizer, Merck
A Japanese company has started human trials of the first once-a-day pill for Covid-19 patients, joining Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. in the race to find treatments for the disease.
Osaka-based Shionogi & Co., which helped develop the blockbuster cholesterol drug Crestor, said it designed its pill to attack the Covid-19 virus. It said the once-a-day dosing would be more convenient. The company said it is testing the drug and any side effects in trials that began this month and are likely to continue until next year.
Covid-19 Vaccine Holdouts Face Restrictions in Europe as Delta Variant Spreads
European governments worried about the rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant are nudging, and in some cases pushing, people to get a shot by introducing restrictions to daily life for those without a Covid-19 vaccination.
In most cases, vaccination still isn't obligatory, with a few exceptions such as healthcare workers in Italy. Yet by closing off the unvaccinated from aspects of daily life such as indoor dining at restaurants or going to the gym, governments are looking to make life more difficult for people holding out against getting vaccinated.
GLOBAL NEWS
A Key Gauge of Future Inflation Is Easing
One of the most important signals of future inflation has begun to ease in the past month, a development that should reassure the Federal Reserve in its prediction that the recent inflation surge will prove largely temporary.
Hot Used-Car Market Boosts Auto Lenders and Borrowers
Red-hot demand for used cars is turning the auto-lending world upside down.
Prices are so high that some lenders are coming out ahead on defaulted auto debt. And far fewer borrowers are underwater on their car loans, meaning they don't owe more than the car is worth when they trade it in. It is a tricky time to buy a car, but a pretty good time to owe money on one.
Bitcoin Jumps 20% to a Six-Week High
The price of bitcoin jumped to a six-week high on Monday, with some investors attributing the rally to short positions being liquidated and speculation that Amazon.com Inc. may be venturing into digital currencies.
Bitcoin soared to $39,112.05, up more than 20% from its 5 p.m. EDT level Friday, according to CoinDesk, reaching its highest level since mid-June. Ether, its rival currency, jumped more than 16%.
Senators Try to Finalize Deal on Infrastructure Package
WASHINGTON-Lawmakers pushed to finalize an infrastructure agreement Sunday, but said they were still struggling to resolve a dispute over how much to increase public-transit funding, a snag that could delay their goal of advancing the bill in a Senate vote early this week.
GOP senators had blocked efforts by Democrats to begin consideration of the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Wednesday, saying too much of the package remained unresolved. Lawmakers in a bipartisan group crafting the legislation said late last week that they hoped to finish in time to reverse that outcome in a second vote in the next few days.
U.S. Set to Push Global Economy Over the Recovery Line
The U.S. economy likely returned to its late-2019 size during the three months through June, helping to lift global output above its pre-pandemic level for the first time.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimate that figures to be released Thursday will show that the U.S. gross domestic product rose at an 8.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter. That likely left U.S. GDP-the value of all goods and services produced across the economy, adjusted for seasonality and inflation-above the $19.2 trillion level reached in the final quarter of 2019, the last before the spread of Covid-19 pushed large parts of the global economy to shut down and contract, they say.
What's Holding Back China's Recovery? The Kids Aren't Alright
What is holding back China's economic recovery, particularly in services and consumption?
China's Digital Yuan Puts Ant and Tencent in an Awkward Spot
HONG KONG-China is calling on private-sector pioneers Ant Group Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to help it develop a state-backed digital currency that threatens the pair's highly popular payment networks.
The People's Bank of China in recent months has accelerated the testing of its digital yuan, putting the operators of Alipay and WeChat Pay in a difficult spot: They have little choice but to take part, despite the risk of eroding the huge user bases they have grown over years. Most of China's 1.4 billion people use at least one of the private services to make mobile payments.
Investors Are Buying American
Investors around the globe are pouring money into U.S. financial assets, a sign of confidence that the world's largest economy remains poised to pull through the Covid-19 pandemic better than many others.
Talking Markets: Delta Variant Stunts European Households' Confidence
Consumer confidence in Europe is wobbling amid the spread of the more infectious Covid-19 Delta variant, denting the region's prospects of a strong, consumer-led recovery this summer.
The eurozone's consumer confidence indicator fell in July following five consecutive months of gains, preliminary data from Eurostat showed Thursday. The last decline was registered in January amid a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases. The U.K.'s consumer barometer, compiled by research firm GfK, increased in July, but showed that Britons' expectations about the economy's short-term performance are worsening.
Senators Try to Finalize Deal on Infrastructure Package
WASHINGTON-Lawmakers pushed to finalize an infrastructure agreement Sunday, but said they were still struggling to resolve a dispute over how much to increase public-transit funding, a snag that could delay their goal of advancing the bill in a Senate vote early this week.
GOP senators had blocked efforts by Democrats to begin consideration of the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Wednesday, saying too much of the package remained unresolved. Lawmakers in a bipartisan group crafting the legislation said late last week that they hoped to finish in time to reverse that outcome in a second vote in the next few days.
U.S. Set to Push Global Economy Over the Recovery Line
The U.S. economy likely returned to its late-2019 size during the three months through June, helping to lift global output above its pre-pandemic level for the first time.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal estimate that figures to be released Thursday will show that the U.S. gross domestic product rose at an 8.5% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter. That likely left U.S. GDP-the value of all goods and services produced across the economy, adjusted for seasonality and inflation-above the $19.2 trillion level reached in the final quarter of 2019, the last before the spread of Covid-19 pushed large parts of the global economy to shut down and contract, they say.
What's Holding Back China's Recovery? The Kids Aren't Alright
What is holding back China's economic recovery, particularly in services and consumption?
China's Digital Yuan Puts Ant and Tencent in an Awkward Spot
HONG KONG-China is calling on private-sector pioneers Ant Group Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to help it develop a state-backed digital currency that threatens the pair's highly popular payment networks.
The People's Bank of China in recent months has accelerated the testing of its digital yuan, putting the operators of Alipay and WeChat Pay in a difficult spot: They have little choice but to take part, despite the risk of eroding the huge user bases they have grown over years. Most of China's 1.4 billion people use at least one of the private services to make mobile payments.
Investors Are Buying American
Investors around the globe are pouring money into U.S. financial assets, a sign of confidence that the world's largest economy remains poised to pull through the Covid-19 pandemic better than many others.
U.S. Intensifies Airstrikes in Afghanistan as Taliban Offensive Nears Kandahar
The U.S. has stepped up airstrikes in southern Afghanistan amid growing apprehension over a Taliban offensive threatening Kandahar, the country's second-largest city and spiritual capital of the Taliban movement.
The fall of Kandahar would deal a heavy blow to the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, which is trying to impart calm to its citizens as the Taliban has seized swaths of the countryside, but so far failed to take a major city.
Write to sarka.halas@wsj.com
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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-26-21 0615ET
