What we’re reading (12/8)
“Pfizer Says Booster Neutralized Omicron But Variant May Elude Two Doses” (Wall Street Journal). “Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE said that a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine neutralized the Omicron variant in lab tests but that the two-dose regimen was significantly less effective at blocking the virus. A third dose increased antibodies 25-fold compared with two doses against the Omicron variant, the companies said.”
“Americans’ Pandemic-Era ‘Excess Savings’ Are Dwindling for Many” (New York Times). “Infusions of government cash that warded off an economic calamity have left millions of households with bigger bank balances than before the pandemic — savings that have driven a torrent of consumer spending, helped pay off debts and, at times, reduced the urgency of job hunts. But many low-income Americans find their savings dwindling or even depleted. And for them, the economic recovery is looking less buoyant.”
“Where Are All The Gig Workers And What Are They Doing?” (Bloomberg). “The Great Resignation is turning into the biggest economic puzzle of our time. Quits are up and hires are down, and employers from investment banks to McDonald's Corp. are complaining they can’t find workers. Where have people gone? It could be they are trying something new: life as an independent contractor or gig worker.”
“The Stock Market’s Covid Pattern: Faster Recovery From Each Panic” (New York Times). “The stock market has often been a barometer for the path of the pandemic, tumbling after concerning milestones, and rising on advancements of vaccinations and new treatments. But the two haven’t always moved in lock step, and Wall Street’s performance has at times disregarded the human toll of the pandemic as it instead zeroed in on other factors that could drive corporate profits, like low interest rates and government spending.”
“NFT Project Sells For $91.8m, Debatably Achieving The Highest Price Ever For A Work By A Living Artist” (The Art Newspaper). “Sold from Thursday through Saturday in an open edition on the NFT platform Nifty Gateway, more than 28,000 buyers spent an eye-watering total of $91.8m to acquire 266,445 total units of mass (for those who did not join in on the sale, ‘mass’ is analogous to ‘digital token’ and allows for some interesting wordplay with the terms of the sale). According to Nifty Gateway that could make this sale the most expensive ever for a work by a living artist.”
