Tag: wealthy

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Business

World financial leaders name for $50 billion from rich nations

World economic leaders call for $50 billion from wealthy nations

People wearing protective face masks wait to receive a dose of COVISHIELD, a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, at a vaccination centre in New Delhi, India, May 4, 2021.

Adnan Abidi | Reuters

Global economic and health leaders called on the world’s wealthier nations to provide $50 billion in funding to accelerate Covid-19 vaccine distribution across the planet and help end the pandemic.

The heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization said Tuesday that nations need to act before the virus has a chance to spread throughout unvaccinated countries and evolve into more dangerous new variants.

The group, which published an op-ed in newspapers across the globe this week, said there was a two-track pandemic brewing with richer nations vaccinating large portions of their populations while poorer countries that have received less than 1% of the vaccines administered so far “being left behind.”

“Even as some affluent countries are already discussing the rollout of booster shots to their populations, the vast majority of people in developing countries — even front-line health workers — have still not received their first shot,” according to the op-ed signed by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Bank President David Malpass and WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

“By now it has become abundantly clear there will be no broad-based recovery without an end to the health crisis. Access to vaccination is key to both,” they wrote, noting that $50 billion will generate some $9 trillion in additional global output by 2025 by accelerating an end to the pandemic.

The money would go toward increasing manufacturing capacity, supply and delivery, which would accelerate the equitable distribution of diagnostics, oxygen, treatments, medical supplies and vaccines.

“Cooperation on trade is also needed to ensure free cross-border flows and increasing supplies of raw materials and finished vaccines,” they said.

They said the money is “a relatively modest investment by governments in comparison to the trillions spent on national stimulus plans and lost trillions in foregone economic output.”

“WTO members can and should deliver on all three fronts,” Okonjo-Iweala said. The trade group currently has members from 159 countries around the world.

The WHO said last week that Africa needs at least 20 million AstraZeneca Covid vaccine doses within the next six weeks to get the second round of shots to people who’ve already received the first. The continent has received only 1% of all of vaccines administered globally and needs another 200 million doses of any cleared Covid-19 vaccines to vaccinate 10% of the continent by September.

“More than 700 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but over 87% have gone to high income or upper middle-income countries, while low income countries have received just 0.2%,” the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom, said in a briefing last month.

Many countries have had to rely on COVAX for their doses, a global collaboration of organizations like the WHO and UNICEF, to speed the production and delivery of Covid-19 vaccines across the world.

The WHO and its COVAX partners hope to vaccinate 30% of the population in all countries by the end of 2021, if they get enough funding.

“This can reach even 40% through other agreements and surge investment, and at least 60 percent by the first half of 2022,” the agency leaders said.

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Business

Extra rich go to money, however millionaire market bears nonetheless minority

More wealthy go to cash, but millionaire market bears still minority

The decline in Netflix stocks after weak subscriber growth has rocked the market as stocks that may have peaked may have peaked and pandemic winners like Zoom and Peloton will be in more pain. Wealthier investors seem to be asking this question – and it’s about more than just the pandemic’s biggest winners, let alone the answer by selling stocks and buying cash.

The percentage of investors with self-managed brokerage accounts of $ 1 million or more who sold out from market positions and went for cash in the second quarter rose from 7% to 16, according to a new poll of high net worth investors % more than doubled Morgan Stanley’s E-Trade Financial shared with CNBC. The general upside has also slowed, and millionaire investors who say they are now bearish rose 6 percentage points from 36% to 42%.

This doesn’t seem like a huge uptrend and the majority (58%) of these investors remain bullish. More of the wealthy expect the second quarter to end with the S&P 500 index rising.

Stocks opened a little higher on Wednesday, although Netflix’s big decline continued.

However, the survey details reveal notable and mounting concerns about the market, inflation and Fed policies, as well as a sharp decline in the upside in the tech sector and an increased appetite to move away from US stocks. Overall, the poll suggests that bear pockets are rising among the rich, even if the majority remain patient with an expensive, potentially overstretched US stock market.

The E-Trade survey was conducted from April 1st to April 12th among a wide universe of self-governing investors. Results from 207 investors with investable assets of $ 1 million or more have been made available exclusively to CNBC.

Short term bear market is back

For Mitch Goldberg, a New York-based investment advisor at ClientFirst Strategy, who believed a year ago that stocks had bottomed after the March 23 low and were bought because of that belief, sentiment about the short-term has turned Downside moves changed that has led him to relax some equity positions and park money in cash even when interest rates offer little.

“In the short term, I’m bearish, for the next two months or so,” he said. “I raised some money, not a crazy defense. I just think stocks have risen sharply and I’ve bought a lot. It was very bullish when I had to be. Now it’s time to take something off the table.”

Since bonds are not an attractive alternative to stocks, at least not yet, even in a market where inflation fears mount, “O.1% cash is fine for now because it will hold up for the short term,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll have 2001 or 2008-2009. I still have money in stocks, just a little less.”

After the volatility of stocks in the first quarter, there was “a bit of profit-taking,” said Mike Loewengart, chief investment officer at E-Trade Capital Management. “Raising cash is in line with a long-term perspective … as we have strong performance in 2020 and Q1, profit-taking is perfectly in line,” he said. “Over time, we know that the market is generally rising, but in a short period of time, volatility can be painful.”

While many investors and market forecasters remain concerned about a larger decline before the end of the year, the S&P 500 has seen an average growth rate of 6% over the past century, and the bull markets have a long history.

Sentiment has fallen sharply in the top sectors of the S&P 500

Millionaires in the e-trade survey are more focused on international markets and real estate as S&P 500 sector betting conviction falls. Both the information technology and healthcare sectors saw high net worth investors decline 19% when asked to rate the sectors with the greatest potential today. Both were previously the top picks of more than half – healthcare two-thirds – of the wealthy investors in the survey. Meanwhile, interest in real estate as the best bet has doubled from 16% to 31%.

“”Real estate fits that market, “said Lew Altfest of Altfest Personal Wealth, whose company launched its first private real estate fund this quarter.” The crux of the matter is that people are optimistic while realizing that optimism and spending could lead to inflation and are rightly concerned as it will lead to increased competition for stocks from bonds when interest rates rise. Some will get off the boat because of inflation, “he said.

Fears of inflation, the number one threat to portfolios, rose from 5% to 18% from quarter to quarter in the E-Trade survey.

According to a second quarter 2021 e-trade survey, wealthier investors will make money and cast doubts about the strongest parts of the market, including technology, but the bulls are still in the majority.

Getty Images

It is not just home trading that has gone too far and too fast for some, but the market as a whole.

The rotation trade away from big tech and the pandemic winners to the reflation stocks was also “way ahead” in Goldberg’s opinion. The higher moves make sense given a U.S. economy that pulled a lot of growth expectations for the second half into the first half, but because it was so strong that Goldberg cut positions in not only some growth names, but also big cyclical ones but not completely sold out.

A spillover effect from these biggest winners, whether it’s a tech stock or a booming consumer staple, puts him on the defensive. And after Goldberg has seen and invested in multiple bull and bear markets in the past, there’s more reason to worry that more stocks will collapse when the biggest names in the market like Netflix, the “first tier” stocks of the market, fail Start Even though Netflix issues may be more company-specific and are in a stock with a long history of large fluctuations in earnings.

It is not about time investors bet on their favorite blue chips like a Microsoft, but rather that investors who have seen previous market corrections remember that the more speculative names in the market fall first, and investors move on to bigger, safer stocks to lead. But ultimately, this top tier becomes even more expensive and is not immune to a pressurized market.

More cautious millionaire investors

“There is no doubt that they are more careful,” said Löwengart. Overall, 68% of the wealthy in the poll say the market will rise this quarter, but 35% of them expect no more than 5% profit. “They see room for further improvement, although it will be a little different from what we saw last year,” he said. “Basics will be important again.”

The millionaires perspective should be seen in the context of recent performance and the fact that so much has already been priced into reopening trade but weighed against the fact that the accommodative monetary policy backdrop of the Fed and the stimulus plan remains in place The prospect of infrastructure spending, which will create “an extremely favorable environment for further market gains,” he said.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, recently noted that checking accounts of $ 2 trillion are pent up, making demand in the consumer economy topped up and ready to be spent.

This explains the majority expectation for stocks to continue rising, even amid the rising bear market. “More and more people are being vaccinated and the business is opening up and really only the economy is coming back to life, working again and spending more people,” said Loewengart.

In the E-Trade survey, consumer discretionary saw the biggest jump among the sectors with the greatest potential this quarter. They jumped from 17% to 31% of the rich, saying this was their top S&P 500 bet.

“There have been a handful of very large technology companies that are driving the overall market, and now investors are focusing on consumers and real estate that are clearly benefiting from the reopening,” Loewengart said.

The E-Trade survey shows that investors are generally optimistic about the US economy. Those who rate the US economy with a D or F have dropped from around a third (34%) in the last quarter to 17% now.

Altfest remains convinced of the US economic outlook as a driver of corporate earnings, but says it is difficult for investors to judge whether GDP growth projections of 6% can be sustained or whether the economy is returning to a world of 2% GDP, that would make the market a less attractive investment. “If we have a term of five years here, corporate profits can grow very quickly. And that can quickly offset a decline in the P / E ratio caused by inflation and still generate good returns.”

Indeed, many rich people remain in an attitude of risk. More respondents in the survey said their risk tolerance increased from 24% to 30% in the second quarter, while the value of millionaires was unchanged from the previous quarter, which said their risk tolerance had decreased. Altfest sees investors who stay go-go looking for alternatives to large-cap stocks not always for the right reasons. And that worries him more than any sensible re-evaluation of the ratings.

“Some are nervous and looking for new investments. I’ve never called anyone about bitcoin or crypto, and now I get calls about them.”

Amid the bearish mood, the second quarter e-trade survey found increased interest in cannabis stocks, bitcoin and SPACs.

Altfest has the same answer every time he receives one of these calls. “It’s not something you want to deal with, I’m telling them.”

And he does not see the interest as investors who are looking for a hedge against inflation or who analyze the price / earnings ratio of stocks as high, but more simply: “It speaks for greed. … what rises will go on.” up is still a lot of people’s philosophy when it should be exactly the opposite. “

This “exactly opposite” view is becoming increasingly popular – SPAC deals have actually stalled as investor interest cools and regulatory scrutiny increases – and the e-trade poll shows more millionaires are still in the minority are. take it as their current view and act on it.

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Business

Asia, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong costliest cities for the rich

Asia, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong most expensive cities for the wealthy

Asia is still the most expensive place in the world to get rich. This emerges from a new report in which the region’s resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic kept high prices stable.

The world’s most populous continent remained the most expensive for high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Bank Julius Baer’s Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2021, as its swift response to the global health crisis and overall currency stability kept the cost of luxury goods in the region up .

Four of the top five most expensive cities for HNWIs – those with investable assets of $ 1 million or more – are now in Asia, according to the annual report.

Shanghai, China jumped to the top of the ranking of 25 world cities and was named the most expensive place for a wealthy individual. Hong Kong, number one last year, slipped to third place while Tokyo, Japan stayed in second place.

Monaco, a small affluent state in Western Europe, and Taipei, Taiwan rounded out the top 5.

Covid did not become an epidemic (in Asia) like the other countries in the index.

Rajesh Manwani

Bank Julius Baer, ​​Head of Markets and Wealth Management Solutions (Asia Pacific)

“Covid did not become an epidemic (in Asia) like the other countries in the index,” said Rajesh Manwani, head of markets and wealth management solutions for the Asia-Pacific region at Bank Julius Baer.

Europe and the Middle East took second place, with the majority of global cities represented in the region being sustained by the strength of the euro and the Swiss franc.

America, badly hit by the pandemic, turned out to be the cheapest region to live a luxurious lifestyle as the US dollar and Canadian dollar fell against other major global currencies.

The new must-have luxury goods

The ranking is based on the price of a basket of luxury goods representing discretionary purchases by HNWIs in the 25 world cities.

This year, significant changes were made to the list as four of the 18 items were replaced as the pandemic changed consumption habits.

Personal trainers, wedding banquets, botox, and pianos have been rolled out and replaced with bikes, treadmills, health insurance, and a technology package including a laptop and phone.

“During a year ravaged by global bans, personal technology and treadmills have grown in popularity while the price of women’s shoes has fallen,” the report said.

“We expect all of these items will continue to have a place on the list,” added Manwani, predicting the shifts caused by pandemics will be permanent.

Overall, the luxury goods that saw the largest drop in US dollar prices were women’s shoes (-11.7%), hotel suites (-9.3%) and wine (-5.3%). Business class flights (11.4%), whiskey (9.9%) and watches (6.6%) saw the largest increases.

Watch Asia prosperity trends

Asia is expected to maintain its stronghold as the most expensive region in the world for the rich in the coming years as economic growth continues to accelerate, the report said.

India – currently home to one of the region’s more affordable world cities, Mumbai – will be one of the leading countries, said Mark Matthews, director of research in Asia Pacific at Bank Julius Baer.

India is getting more expensive. Now it’s a bargain.

Mark Matthews

Head of Research (Asia Pacific), Bank Julius Baer

“India’s growth rate will increase,” he said. “India is getting more expensive. Now it’s a bargain.”

China, meanwhile, will remain the world’s leading luxury goods market as the affluent Chinese consumer moves in, he said. By 2025, China is projected to account for 47% to 49% of the luxury goods market, up from 16% to 18% in America and 12% to 14% in Europe.

However, two other trends could change the way wealthy individuals spend their money in the coming years, the report added: conscious consumption and preference for experience over goods.

“We believe that the consumer conscious lifestyle has really become mainstream,” said Manwani. Hence, people can restrict long-haul flights and buy electric vehicles, change their diet and reject fast fashion.

“Zillennials are interested in this trend,” he said, referring specifically to Generation Z consumers.

Do not miss: These are the most expensive cities in the world for expats

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Health

Covid-19 Information: Even in Poorer Neighborhoods, the Rich Are Lining Up for Vaccines

Covid-19 News: Even in Poorer Neighborhoods, the Wealthy Are Lining Up for Vaccines

“It looked like Ward 3 was being punished for being more familiar with computers,” said Mary Cheh, a member of the city council who represents the station, who routinely has homes near American University or the Potomac River sold for more than $ 2 million. “I was inundated with emails from people who were just really angry about it.”

The day after the policy change, Ms. Cheh wrote to constituents, quoting the shooting data, and saying that “our fear of getting one right away shouldn’t tarnish the pursuit of fair vaccine distribution.”

“When I sent this message, people were like, ‘Oh, thanks, I understand now,” Ms. Cheh said. Still, she called the city’s new system “a very blunt instrument” and said it was fairer to meet the needs of that Basing the risk of an individual, not that of a whole neighborhood.

70-year-old Adora Iris Lee lives in one of Washington’s most important neighborhoods – Congress Heights, part of Ward 8 in the southern part of the district, which is severely black and has seen the highest number of Covid deaths. She said she was on hold for more than three hours but was given appointments for herself and her mother, who is 93 years old.

“Being able to call at a time that was reserved for us was good for me,” said Ms. Lee. “People who live in Station 3 and people who live in Station 8 have different social realities. We’re not kidding. “

Even so, Mr. Jones of Bread for the City said that even with the new system, hardly any of the people who came to his clinic for admissions were his regular patients. The clinic began reaching out to its regulars and, with the permission of the city, reserved all first doses for them and for clients of other social organizations last week.

“It’s not just about keeping the seats for the people,” said Jones. “Somehow we have to persuade them to use these spots.”

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Business

The rich are investing like market bubble is right here, or at the very least close to

The wealthy are investing like market bubble is here, or at least near

If an investor with a market share of $ 1 million or more believes that there is already a stock bubble – or one is coming soon – what is the correct answer? According to a new survey by E-Trade Financial, the answer is to keep investing in stocks with an emphasis on undervalued sectors of the market.

Only 9% of the millionaires surveyed by E-Trade believe the market is nowhere near a bubble. The rest of the wealthy investor set:

  • 16% think we are “full in a bubble”
  • 46% in “something like a bubble”
  • 29% believe the market is getting closer

However, these wealthy investors do not run away from the market or park money in cash. With bubble fears mounting mounting fears, the same investors say their risk tolerance increased significantly in the first quarter of 2021, and the majority expect stocks to end the first quarter with more gains.

The introduction of the Covid-19 vaccines, albeit slow to start, and the prospect of another even bigger stimulus package from President-elect Biden are causing investors to do what market history dictates: look ahead.

“There is broader recognition of an improving economy and evidence that the factors for higher market development are in place,” said Mike Loewengart, chief investment officer of E-Trade Financial’s capital management unit.

The Morgan Stanley E-Trade survey was conducted Jan. 1-7 of an online sample of 904 self-managed active investors who manage at least $ 10,000 in an online brokerage account. The millionaires record, created exclusively for CNBC, consists of 188 investors with investable assets of at least $ 1 million.

The apparent contradiction in the sustained upward movement at a time of mounting bladder anxiety is not as strong as it seems. This bull market has taken all risks and market experts continue to believe that the path of least resistance is up. Although the bullish path may require some optimization of the portfolio with a greater emphasis on undervalued sectors of the stock market.

Here are some results from the e-trade survey that show where investors are right now between risk and reward.

1. Millionaires are more optimistic than the wider investing public

There is currently a lot of talk and talk about an overstretched market and a dotcom bubble-like environment, making it difficult for many investors to shut down the noise. But among these wealthy investors, even as their own bubble fears mount, they are increasingly bullish and bullish than the broader investor universe. 64 percent of millionaires are bullish, up 9 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2020 compared to 57 percent of the broader investor universe who remain bullish.

Among these investors, the percentage who said their risk tolerance increased in the first quarter rose 8 percentage points (from 16% to 24%). The majority (63%) said that it will remain at the level of the previous quarter. Only 13% of millionaires said their risk tolerance has decreased.

Wealthy investors don’t expect great returns. The largest group expects the market to grow no more than 5% this quarter. However, after the sharp rise in the markets that are already on the books, this is a safe, albeit bullish, reaction, Loewengart said. Fifty-nine percent of millionaires expect another quarterly profit in the S&P 500, with 43 percent of those seeing a profit of no more than 5 percent. Those who believe the market is due for a quarterly decline fell from 28% to 22%.

2. Further portfolio changes will be made

Even if the risk remains the mode for many, more and more investors are optimizing their portfolios. Rotation in value stocks, small-cap stocks, and depressed sectors like energy and finance is already a well-mapped phenomenon – called the “big rotation” – and these investors are no exception.

The percentage of millionaires who report making changes to the allocations in their portfolios rose 6% for the second straight quarter to almost a third (32%) overall. The percentage of millionaires who invest in cash is still very low (7%) but increased from 5% in the last quarter.

While growth stocks have outperformed in recent years, investors are taking the opportunity to move into more cyclical sectors of the market.

“Everything outside of big tech turned into better potential opportunities,” Loewengart said.

According to CFRA, small caps have underperformed the S&P 500 since late 2018.

The price growth gap between S & P 500 Growth and S & P 500 Value was at its highest level in history last August (since the mid-1970s) and is currently as large as it was in December 1999, even after a certain amount of stock rotation .

The 12-month price-performance ratio of the S&P 500 is 45% above the 20-year average. The CFRA 2021 profit increase for the S&P 500 growth component of the index is 13.3% versus 20.1% for the value group.

3. Home trading may have peaked but it is permanent

Even if millionaires are more likely to say they’re making changes to their portfolio allocations, the upside in the S&P 500 sector hasn’t changed as much as the survey suggests. This shows that names and names are given to every investor that participates in the rotation. With more cyclical games, there are still many who put their market money on the winners.

“There’s the momentum factor. People want to keep believing where they’ve seen strong returns, it will go on, but some are realizing it can’t go up forever,” Loewengart said.

While interest in financials as the sector with the greatest potential has increased slightly (3%) this quarter, a bet on a quick financial recovery, information technology and healthcare overall remain the top bets in the fall in this bull market, according to Loewengart . Healthcare (at 66%) and technology (at 53%) remain the two most popular sectors and investor interest has not declined.

Technology, for all its winnings, is hard to bet on.

“We can talk a lot about how the home trade is over and other segments will do better. However, when we see similar industry expectations, that also reflects the market tied to technology and the fact that Covid is changing the world has, “said Loewengart. “Some things are not going to be what they were before and we are going to see multiple expansion in big tech names,” he said.

He added that given recent valuations, investors should expect earnings to be more modest than the opportunity in cyclical sectors, where more stimulus and vaccine use can result in more significant valuation growth. “There is a possible change in market leadership,” said Loewengart.

4. International market opportunities are more attractive

The data shows more clearly that overseas interest is growing than that sector bets are changing significantly in the US market. This is in part because these millionaires have typically long preferred US stocks.

Millionaires are shaking their prejudices about their home country and are becoming more interested in investing outside the US. Interest rises 9 percentage points this quarter. The percentage of millionaire investors who said international markets were more attractive to them in the first quarter of 2021 rose from 27% to 36%.

“It’s definitely a big step in terms of millionaires, a significant step,” said Loewengart.

For the past three years, the S&P 500 has outperformed the international and emerging market indices developed by S&P. The last time these international markets outperformed the US large-cap index was in 2017.

While the dollar has rallied recently, its broader weakness over the past few months has been a key element of global equity performance.

“This means that the millionaire is better prepared for the opportunity,” said Loewengart.

How much of this new interest overseas is broadly based compared to China is not clear from the survey. “China could be the only G8 member to see GDP growth in 2020. This is a clear indicator that the world outside of the US, developing countries, is moving past the virus,” he said.

5. The US political risk factor has fallen sharply

If political risk and election risk were a major factor in the fourth quarter, there was a significant investor downgrade that quarter.

The end of the e-trade poll was the Georgia runoff election and the unrest at the Capitol that set the market another record. When it comes to the biggest question – the presidential election – millionaire investors are no longer nearly as concerned as they were last quarter.

The percentage of wealthy investors who see the new presidential administration as the greatest risk to their portfolio decreased from 50% to 30% this quarter. 26% of these investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the US economy under President-elect Biden, while 60% showed some degree of optimism, ranging from moderate (38%) to high (22%).

Market volatility, meanwhile, saw risk factors spike, from 18% of millionaires who viewed this as their biggest portfolio threat, to just over a quarter (27%).

6. Millionaires are less risky when it comes to the riskiest assets

The most recent phase of this bull market, the phase after Covid Spring 2020, was marked by a risk appetite for new offers, IPOs and SPACs, as well as an increase in new asset classes such as cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. Millionaires, while remaining at risk, are less interested in betting like this:

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World News

Covax, a world well being group, broadcasts vaccine offers to assist much less rich international locations.

Covax, an international health group, announces vaccine deals to help less wealthy countries.

Leaders of an international body promoting global access to coronavirus vaccines, known as Covax, announced on Friday that additional efforts were being made with manufacturers that would provide access to nearly two billion doses of vaccine candidates, more than that Half were intended to be shipped to low and middle income countries.

The aim of the effort is to ensure vaccination of a fifth of the population of the 190 participating countries and economies before the end of next year.

The new contracts cover vaccines that are still under study for efficacy and safety, one from AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and one from Johnson & Johnson. As of the ongoing discussions, no agreements have been made to source the FDA-cleared BioNTech Pfizer vaccine, which is already being used in countries such as the US and the UK.

The international effort was led by the Gavi public-private health partnership, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organization.

Friday’s announcement contained the news that a mechanism had been developed for countries with overdoses to share it.

Many high-income nations have agreements with multiple manufacturers that could result in significantly more doses than are required to vaccinate their entire population. Officials from Canada and France announced that they intend to contribute their additional doses via Covax, although they have not given a schedule or say whether they would vaccinate their entire population first.

France will “start exchanging vaccines as early as possible,” said Stephanie Seydoux, the country’s ambassador for global health, at a press conference.

  • In other developments around the world:

  • in the South AfricaScientists and health officials on Friday announced the discovery of a new line of coronavirus that is rapidly dominating virus samples tested in the country. The variant, named 501.V2, has also been associated with faster spread and higher viral load in swabs in a preliminary analysis. Scientists are studying it closely because the variant contains several changes in the part of the virus that allows it to attach to human cells, which is an important target for antibody therapies and vaccines.

  • in the Europe, In the run-up to Christmas there is a patchwork of guidelines across the continent as 500,000 people die. . Germany has put a strict lockdown on Christmas week, and the Netherlands and Italy will take stricter measures during the holidays. France and Spain have some restrictions but have opposed new national bans. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticized for lifting restrictions on Christmas gatherings despite the rise in new infections. The Regional Director of the World Health Organization, Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge said in a statement on Friday that it is not now time for Europeans to ease restrictions.

  • As coronavirus cases and hospital stays in Sweden continue to rise, the government issued several new recommendations on Friday, including the use of face masks. “We have to do more now because the medical system is tense,” said Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. The new recommendations include a limit of four people per table in restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as a ban on selling alcohol after 8 p.m. Stores, shopping centers and gyms are asked to limit the number of customers further.