♪ >> good morning. i'm tom mackenzie. this is bloomberg daybreak europe, and these are the stories that set your agenda. variant concern, a new strain identified in southern africa sparks flight bans and warnings from scientists. stocks and treasury yield slump as investors flock to safety. china escalates its crackdown. a bloomberg scoop reveals

beijing asked dd to do list from u.s. exchanges in what would mark its most severe action to date. plus, it's not just a red friday. it's black friday, too. will supply chain snacks and price snares mean this deal failed to impress? you are seeing heavy selling, a very significant risk off move in the markets today. and we want to focus in on what is behind this. it is this variant that is emanating out of southern africa. we have a terminal chart that shows what is happening on the ground. and since the rate of infections and the gap between the infection rate and the vaccination, and this has always been the morning from epidemiologists, that if you have a proportion of the population that is unvaccinated, that gives space for covid-19 to circulate and for new variants to emanate. some of those will be benign. some of those will be less benign. we are still waiting for less

information as to the severity and the implications of this new variant on the vaccination program, globally, and how easily it is transmitted. but clearly, governments are already taking action. let's check in on the market moves then, significant selloff and a move to safe havens. the msci asia pacific down almost 2%, tracks lower by what is happening in japan, down 2.5% on your nikkei. this is a combination of what you're seeing around the variant and new concerns around chinese tech. the euro stoxx 50 futures, you're looking at losses of close to 2% as they stand. let's switch the board and have a look at the currency space then. the move into safe havens like the japanese yen is pronounced, gains of .6% for that. currency the u.s. currency is big at 154, yields down at nine basis points on the 10 year. brent is lower by 2.5%. that is the oil as -- is at $80

a barrel. let's get market reaction instantly now to what is happening across the risk as it space. the global chief investment strategist at black rock, whaley, fantastic to have you. what is your reaction to what we're seeing across these markets and the depth of your concern about this variant? >> absolutely. so we're entering a bit of a risk off day today, and we'll see how long this last. one observation i'll make is that when we think about positioning for next year and to clients about their positioning for next year, covid concerns is not top of their list. sometimes it's not even their top three, among their top three concerns. there has been discomfort, the debate that comfort or complacency. but there has been discomfort that vaccine advocacy could

afford to how bad covid impacts market can be. i think that's really the route of the debate here in this new variant represent bit of a bigger challenge to vaccine advocacy. and to your point, more information is still kind of coming out that would be very much determining our take on what is happening by now if what we're seeing represents a bit of a delay to the restart story they have seen back-and-forth, one step forward, have a step back. it continues to represent a delay rather than fundamental derailment. at some point, would we want to leave against the very significant risk and markets by now? but if at one point we start to question and challenge the comfort and the support, the

vaccination and treatments that so far has been provided us, then we would consider our overall risk stance. more information comes up, we will pay a lot of attention. tom: the debate over whether the markets have been overly complacent about the covid-19 risks and these new variants. wei li will be staying with us. let's get to our expert now, sam fazeli, director of research at bloomberg intelligence. sam, what do we know about this variant at this point? sam: good morning, tom. thanks very much for having me on this morning. the critical thing to realize about this is that there's still quite a lot of work to be done to really understand what these mutations mean. but it is the most mutated virus that started spreading properly that scientists have come across. 32 mutations in the spike protein. as an example, the delta variant

has 10. it's got 10 mutations just in the area with human cells. the others have three, two or three. so this is what i think people are fairly worried about. tom: sam, what is your take of the government actions so far? the likes of the u.k., israel, singapore, banning, restricti ng flights from africa and other african nations? sam: it's exactly what i expected to happen. it's a lot faster than last time, i have to say, when the variant started rearing its ugly head. but the issue is the travel bans are fine if the whole world of vaccine unison. i think you have to think about it's possible this has already spread. because the virus is probably already in most of the provinces in south africa. tom: ok, thanks to sam fazeli,

always important insights. we'll becoming back to sam later in the program, head of research at bloomberg intelligence. now to a bloomberg scoop, research asking dd to put a plan to resist, an on presented -- d list, an unprecedented request. what do we know so far about this request from the authorities in beijing? >> hi, tom. so if you state chinese -- say chinese regulators will come up with their own plans to delist from the new york stock exchange, is because of concerns of sensitive data. the administration is asking the company to work out the details and options currently being considered include straight up ravages asian that would net this -- necessarily take place around the ipo share price or, alternatively, a hong kong

listing followed by a delisting. that could come slightly cheaper near the current eight dollars share price. the move is likely to revise about beijing's crackdown. but details are still being worked out right now. tom: details still being worked out, and clearly a concern about data being flagged. thank you very much for the latest on what the implications are for the asia tech and enter -- editor. thanksgiving marks the start of the annual holiday season of talks. with that comes holiday spending. let's get the details with bloomberg's ed ludlow, tracking how much it's been getting as thanksgiving gets underway, comes to a close. what are you seeing? ed: traditionally, it does mark the start of the spending season. but the spending season has been so in long dated -- elongated. we are on course for record online spending, $5.4 billion

once across thanks giving day. they have lowered their forecast from $4.9 billion, which is interesting. they're pretty transparent. there's a lot to consider out there. first on the fulfillment side, getting a lot of messages saying things are out of stock. supply train -- chain constraints are still there. you cannot get people in the stores doing that bit. it's this elongated period, 17 days in november where u.s. consumers are spending three point million dollars online. the stretch spending is there and it does reflect robust consumer strength. tom: how much of that is front loading amid those concerns? are they not going to get the goods they want for christmas? >> you know, the retailers, the big-box retailers, the name we all know, they're not feeling pressure to discount heavily. amazon, as well. prices are higher. they're being reticent to pass it onto the consumers, but say

let's take 20%, off the latest tv 40%, which is new this year. we're not quite back to pre-pandemic levels. in the hope was this year, they would be. and that would drive the equity story, as well. tom: ed ludlow on the demand of black friday on the back of thanksgiving. and what part of the balance sheet remains supportive. thank you. let's check in on what's happening in this risk off move. treasuries are big. the yields are lower, the yield dropping 10 basis points. yes, 10 basis points to 1.24%, 1.24%. in terms of the two-year, you're looking at a drop of seven, almost eight basis points on the moment, 1.54 in the tenure, a drop of almost 90 basis points. this risk off mood continues. treasuries are big, gold higher,

as well as the end. coming up, efforts, the variant first detected in south africa pushes investors to flock toward haven assets. we discuss the impact on the markets next. plus, amazon imported black friday to europe in 2010. but we're slumping consumer confidence. will this year's event prove a fraught? we'll discuss that later. this is bloomberg. ♪ rg. ♪

♪ tom: welcome back. this is bloomberg daybreak: europe. i'm tom mackenzie in london. a pronounced market shift in markets and the sentiment here, risk off and a bid for safe havens. you can look at the gmm and here's what we're seeing across the equity indexes. you're looking at singapore down

1.5%, the overall msci down 1.75%. the nikkei in japan down to .5%. -- 2.5%. bonds are big. yields are lower. the australian 10-year down 30 basis points. currencies, the yen is big, the safe haven up .6% and the futures are looking grim, down two point set -- 2% across european features. the ftse 100 is to percent lower, as well. still with us is wei li at blackrock. thank you for staying with us. how much risk do you and the team at blackrock want to be taking off the table at this point? alan: i -- wei: i would take a lot depends on what we are seeing in terms of covid developments represents the late or derailment of the restart story. if you think about the lockdown

that we have seen so far, additional restrictions that we have seen so far in europe, for example, in response to rising delta, that we are less concerned about because we believe that represents one to two quarters of delay. the fundamentally, the story is very much in tech, activities that we are not restarting right now. just means that we will have more to restart later. so if we're talking about delay, we're not too concerned about the covid development because ultimately it does not challenge to restart the story. but as more information comes out about the new variant -- and the big focus is around if that represents greater challenge or starts to impact the efficacy of the vaccine, and that would be the biggest kind of factor in us understanding how much risk we want to be taking off the table. now, having said that, more broadly, i would still say that risk sentiment is, as we're

heading to next year, supported by the still reasonably robust growth dynamics, as well as earning combination, especially in developed world, as well as rates are staying in very, very negative territory. real rates are staying in very negative territory. i would say their broader risk vector is robust. but right now the focus is on the new variant, and more information needs to come out before we decide how to combine the two. tom: and the world health organization says you're possibly two weeks away of getting more concrete details about the nature of this variant and how dangerous this could be. what do you think it means, at least in the here and now, for the reopening trade and the stay opening trade? wei: i think until we have a bit more clarity, there could be some counter move to the reopening trade, especially because markets have seen really

, a reasonably good and healthy run-up to this year, especially developed markets. so i wouldn't be entirely surprised if we see a bit of a counter move to the reopening trade and the broader risk sentiment in the coming days because of this big uncertainty. it has been off investors and clients radar as we think about assessing the overall risk factors for next year. but as soon as we have a bit of clarity around -- ok, it is a delay, we can see greater restriction. but it doesn't fundamentally derail the restart story. when we see that, i think the broader constructs of risk sentiment we have been seeing supporting the market so far this year will come back. and that's when we would blunt to lean in -- want to lean in against the risk sentiment. tom: do you see it?

derailing central-bank plans to start tightening? wei: we are -- that's a great question. and our real central-bank policy response and mechanisms is yes, a lot of focus is around taper, around the timing of the ultimately what really matters is the cumulative rate hike pack -- path. and what we're seeing right now is still us shallow rate hike pack priced in, in europe, in u.k. moving, but still reasonably shallow. and that being the case, that's what matters over a longer time for risk appetite. so the fact that we're still talking about a shallow rate hike in response to rising inflation is why we believe that the trades to central-bank support is here to stay.

and with think that risk sentiment should be set by that. kind of compared with earlier in the year and earlier last week or two weeks ago or one month ago, repricing has taken place in various parts of the developed markets central banks space. but overall, the broader risk will be muted to rising inflation. tom: ok, wei li stays with us. we get some of your calls after the break. thank you. coming up, germany's new coalition is planning $60 billion for climate protection. we discussed this and hear from the banks vice president. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ tom: welcome back this friday.

this is bloomberg daybreak: europe. i'm tom mackenzie in london. germany's new coalition plans to channel 60 billion euros into a fund to help finance its climate goals over the next four years. for more, we can get to our reporter on the ground, maria tadeo live from berlin. what does the green plan entailed then, and how much investment interest is there that's going to align with this spending, this 60 billion or so euros? maria: yes, and then tom, if you look at this government deal we announced from germany earlier this week, they make it clear they are going into the future looking into an economy that's more progressive. they say they want this to be greener and more sustainable. the greens, for them, this is their entire political agenda. the big question until now is how is germany going to be able to do this? we know this is not a country that has traditionally spent a lot on green. we know the debt will be reinstalled in 2023. so what is the money coming

from? we have sources telling us that there will be a vehicle, a special purpose vehicle that will be set outside of the budget, which will be funneled and channeled through that to pay through all this investment. now, it makes sense to the long-term. you can argue it germany's serious about going green and clean, 80% by 2030, this is the only way to do it. by the way, there's a very clear incentive now. when you look at the price of carbon yesterday, the emissions hitting another record high yesterday for the european ets market. so clearly, ballooning is becoming a lot more expensive. tom: and how to align those two equal demands around fiscal discipline and spending to green. but equally important, i know you've been digging into this, who is going to be replacing the head of the central bank in germany? what do we know at this point? maria: well, this is something that will come down to the social democrats.

the fact he decided to leave with the new government taking offense -- office is not coincidental. it could be a clean break from a cdu environment to a new central-bank new government. yesterday, i was in frankfurt. i spoke with the vice president and asked her, your name has been thrown into this mix. are you potentially that an ex-president? and will anything fundamentally change at the bank? this is what she said. >> nobody knows how long the temporary effect will be and what is the long-term evolution of inflation. certainly there is higher upside risks and that's something monetary policy has to take care of every -- take care of. maria: and that was claudia, the vice president, german central-bank. she is talking about inflation there. but she also talked about when you look at the central bank, we will always stand for price stability, whether this is someone else, our goal is to maintain 2%. tom: maria tadeo, thank you.

still with us is wei li. what are you and the team thinking? how are you thinking about the trajectory of inflation within the euro zone as we look ahead to 2022? wei: well, in the near-term, we do see a spurt of inflationary pressure having to do with supply chain bottlenecks, as well as spending behavior shifting from services to greater focus on goods and again pushing up demand. so in the near-term we do see that plans are not only in the euro area but also in the u.s. and more broadly, globally, as well. but over time, we do start -- expect restart inflationary drivers to restart over the course of 2023. but what is underappreciated our medium-term inflationary pressures. so here, specifically, i'm

talking about over the longer-term shift of the supply chain from previously, focusing on cost efficiency to know focusing on resiliency. that's here to stay, that trend. and also the fact that we have to think about fiscal dominus -- dominant, raising debt levels, how high rates can go. because of a combination of factors like these, we are thinking medium-term inflation is somewhat underappreciated, even as restart related kind of factors get washed out. tom: what are the technical implications of that underappreciated, medium-term, elevated inflation? you see inflation coming off as we look to 2022, but it is clear it was pre-pandemic. what are the technical implications of that? wei: absolutely. so we do believe that we are entering what we have entered, a higher regime compared to what we got used to in recent decades. and that means we prefer link to

bonds over nominal bonds in a whole portfolio approach. where do we get duration? inflation bonds over longer bonds. and over a medium-term kind of horizon, we also do think equity does provide inflation protection that we want over that medium-term horizon, as well. so when it comes to duration in prefer this, we prefer inflation bonds over new bonds. tom: ok, wei li, thank you so much for joining us on this important morning. have a great friday. have a great weekend. we appreciate it, as ever. coming up, it is the day after thanksgiving, of course. that only means one thing. it is black friday. consumers return to in person shopping. how supply chain constraints impact the shopping extravaganza. we discuss all that next. the markets, the futures in europe looking to two percentage

points lower. this is bloomberg. ♪ this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities.

♪ tom: good morning from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. i'm tom mackenzie. this is bloomberg daybreak: europe and these are the stories that set your agenda. variant concern, a new strain identified in south africa sparks flight bans and warnings from scientists. stocks and treasury yields slump as investors flock to safety. china escalates its crackdown. a bloomberg scoop reveals beijing had asked didi to

delist from u.s. exchanges in what would mark its most severe action to date. plus, it's not just a red friday. it's black friday, too. but will supply change snags mean this year's deals fail to impress? let's check in on the markets. and dani, you are seeing significant risk rotation. wei li from blackrock telling us earlier that maybe this presents an opportunity if you look through the volatility. many questions remain unanswered, but clearly, we are in a place where investors are selling now and they will be asking questions later. you're seeing this play out across the risk space as a move to havens, as well. within the havens of space, the sovereign yields are coming lower. bonds, treasuries are big. you're looking at an eight basis point move lower, nine basis paint -- point move lower.

in the commodity space, significant spelling. brent is down 2.8%. wti is down 3.5%. you're looking at $75 a barrel now on wti. cast your mind back a week and it was $80 plus. in terms of the equity space, the nikkei over in japan down to by 5%, futures in europe -- 2.5%, futures in europe down. u.s. futures lower by 1.3%. that is the state of play as investors way up this new variant and the implications across these risk assets. ok, let's switch back to the consumer story, the strength of the retail and households. today, of course, is black friday, when the shopping season reaches its peak in terms of that shopping frenzy. in person shopping has returned after a long pandemic induced hiatus. it could boost sales to record levels. but a series of uneven reports

are feeling concerns about the sector. for more, we are joined by charlie wells. charlie, black friday major retail event, what do we know about how sustained the spine is going to be, a lot of footfall, that retail is going to profit from this? charlie: interesting you mention freefall here. black friday has been here for about 10 years, very much and american import started by amazon. and what we know is consumers here today in the u.k., for instance, 29% of them plan to shop in-store. compare that with 45% of american shoppers. here in the u.k., it's very online. but shoppers are looking to spend, seeing as it's going to be more of a normal holiday season. tom: you say normal, but what about the supply chain? the iphones, the sneakers, whatever it is, are going to have to wait? charlie: yes. also comparing the u.s. and europe is interesting. bloomberg economics has measuring supply strain --

change strains. things like labor market issues, order versus inventory, those are starting to decline a bit, actually getting worse in europe, which for merchants, could spell trouble for this holiday season. tom: we can't avoid brexit. is there a brexit affect? charlie: there is certainly a brexit effect. what we do know is that there's been some friction into the way merchants can hire labor. the also, there's some back and issues. we've been reporting about these credit card charges. we saw this come to the for a few days ago with amazon and u.k. issued visa cards, which amazon will no longer accept going forward the next year. but the charges that merchants face have been increasing since brexit. we know 150 million pounds in increased costs have come to merchants in the u.k. and in europe, so that certainly is a pressure that they are facing. tom: charlie wells breaking down

everything happening within black friday as hordes head to the shops. joining us is diane wilde. more analysis on what is happening in the consumer space and retail in this shopping festival period area diane, thank you for joining us. what do you expect to see in terms of the numbers? do you have a forecast you can give us? diane: yes, we do. we look at percentage change rather than numbers because we run an index similar to the pricing index, a sample of locations across the u.k. we're expected today the footfall will be 15% higher. and over the week, we are expecting footfall to be 8% higher, a bigger increase we've seen any week since before covid, really. other than when stores reopen after lock down, we are expecting a bump a day. and that's because people haven't had the chance to shop

last year and are trying to make up for that this year. but also, they know there is an issue around supply. they are concerned about that. they want to get their christmas presents, so they are going early. tom: so there is front loading. i wonder what that tells them about the demand over this holiday season. diane: you're absolutely right. we see a dip in footfall as people stock up on presents and there is less of a pressure on europe. that wraps up very quickly. we've only got four weeks until christmas anyway. in the last trading week, it tends to be on the front end of that. so we will see a slight dip over the next week or so, but then it will ramp up very quickly again. tom: do you and the team at springboard have any clarity as to where the supply chain issues are felt most acutely, as far as the breakdowns of goods that

you're seeing across the retail space? diane: we talked to a lot of retailers. and really it's around import. but a lot of retailers have taken action and they are recognizing this in the early summer and they were putting plans in place to make sure they had inventory to cover christmas. it's across the board. anything there is an import issue, whether a whole or part of that product area that covers every vertical in retail, every category in retail. as charlie said, the issue of brexit. there is also a potential staffing issue. that very alert to that, as well. they will be putting a brave face and working very hard. tom: how are we seeing the breakdown between online and off-line? diane: online is still strong. it's dropped significantly since the peak in the lockdown.

we were over a third of what retail spending was online. that's dropped back to over a quarter as people have flocked back to stores. and we're still seeing that. but over 80%, around 75-80% of spending is in-store and people want to go to stores. particularly this time of year, a lot of destinations across the u.k. lit themselves up, christmas decorations and events very early. so there's much more of a festive atmosphere across the u.k. shoppers want to experience that, particularly as they did it last year. so we're expecting footfall, and that's volume of shopper activity, particularly in large shopping malls because they put on a really good show. and they have all the big retailers and the big square footage. they will be very busy today. we're expecting a 15% increase in activity today alone compared to last week. tom: when you speak to retailers, is it too early for

them to start factoring in additional concerns? we'll see what's happening in europe around lockdowns and other countries. is this something retailers are talking about now and having to prepare for that once again? diane: undoubtedly. i think everyone in the u.k. is talking about it. we start talking about people being quarantine from certain countries. we know there's a risk. that will play over into retail. that will undoubtedly come into their debates on what they do next year, in terms of putting precautionary measures around covid safety for customers. you are very hard supporting retailers and measuring the number of customers occupancy to make sure they didn't bridge covid regulations. that's gone by the bio the last few months since the regulations were relaxed. but if this continues, they will likely come back and retailers will be concerned about making sure they don't exceed a requisite number of people to

make sure there's enough space to shop safely. tom: as you look to 2020 two remains elevated. energy prices are very high. you did have the savings affect throughout the pandemic through a number of households. do you have a sense of the resiliency firm the u.k. consumer as we look into next year? diane: yes. inflation hasn't hit consumers in a slightly lagged effects. as long as consumers are feeling confident about job security and economic prospects, they will spend. and really, the potential of job losses fx spending much more than inflation. because what will happen is as inflation rises, that will play into salaries, so employers, particularly areas around the u.k. where the strong employment and is hard to get started since brexit and a lot of is this is, it's very hard, salaries will

creep up. and so as inflation moves up, salaries will move up slightly. the pinch point will come when and if employers start retracting on staff numbers and people feel vulnerable around job prospects. tom: solid insights. diane, thank you very much indeed. let's get to the first word news now. and germany's new government planning is channeling 60 billion euros into a fund to help finance its climate goals over the next four years. bloomberg understands the money will be air marked by a supplementary budget from existing outlays. hello schulz's new administration -- olaf scholz's new administration plans to end coal use by 2030. france's leaning -- leading union says it will block access to two of the reports to step up

pressure on the u.k. over post-brexit fishing licenses. the protests will start with a one hour blockade of the port in the morning with access to the euro block. the u.k. is -- has urged the french authorities to ensure there is no illegal actions and trade is not affected. china is set to ask didi to delist over security fears. sources say tech regulators want the management to take the company off the new york stock exchange because of concerns about leaking sensitive data. we're told didi is being ordered to work at precise details, both under consideration. that is your first word news. coming up, we will dig deeper into what we know about the new variants with sam fazeli from bloomberg intelligence. that is next. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ tom: welcome back. this is bloomberg daybreak: europe. i'm tom mackenzie in london. risk off as investors weigh the implications of the new variant in southern africa. the actions of the government's of singapore, israel, taiwan restricting flights from africa and other nations, restrictions in place. this is playing out across the markets within the commodity space, for example. you're looking at losses between 2% and 3% into bti, iron or lower. the shift to havens, including treasuries, you're seeing that play out in terms of lower yields across the u.s. treasuries space. nine basis points lower for the u.s. tenure at 1.54, the two-year lower by seven basis

points. in terms of equity markets, the nikkei down to my 5%. the ms -- 2.5%. in the futures for europe pointing to losses of 2.3%, u.s. futures pointing to losses of 1.2%. this new strain of covid-19 is dramatically different, and scientists are still working out if it's more transmissible or more deadly than previous ones. let's get to our expert, sam fazeli, director of research at bloomberg intelligence. sam, thanks for sticking around. just get us up to speed on what we know about this new variant. it's yet to be given an official name by the who, but it is causing, of course, concern. sam: yeah, good morning, tom. thanks for having me back on. i think that's going to likely happen today, to get what we call a greek letter for this virus. and what we know is that it's

got more mutations than we've seen in any other variants so far, 32 variants in so-called spike proteins, that eases to stick to human cells, versus 10 maximum in most of the other variants we seen so far. that's why, logically, people are thinking this may have more capability to infect cells. and that obviously has to be proven still, at least as bad as new variants. tom: and sam, there's obviously a lot of unknowns at this point. the who has said it may be two weeks before we have around, clearer picture of what this variant needs. but one of this picture is will the vaccines hold up against this? what do we know from previous variants around the efficacy of vaccines when you do get these mutations? sam: yeah, so we know that at least the new variants are

the ones most capable of escaping the anti-variance we have in our bodies after having been vaccinated or having an infection. so that, when the virus arrives, if it's this one and it is more able to evade immunity, you're going to get an infection much easier than if it was an alpha variant or one of the older variance. so that's step one. the question really is, how does it impact the ability of the vaccines and our immunity to prevent severe disease? and that's the critical one. we won't know the actual answer to that. globally will hopefully know is whether it can escape the cellular immunity, the other part of the immune system, which is usually much more difficult to escape. and i think hopefully w'ell find that most of that is still preserved even against this new variant. tom: let's hope that is the case. a brighter future can be painted for 2022. i wonder because i know you have

insights for this, as well, how the pharmaceutical industry will be reacting to this, what the implications are to the drugmakers, the astrazeneca's of the world. diane: i would expect --sam: i would expect straightaway all the mrna scenes and possibly the johnson & johnson and astrazeneca will scramble now to at least create -- it doesn't take very long for them -- to create an adaptive vaccine for this variant, which probably makes sense to be ready for. i don't think they should wait to find out whether it does invade or doesn't invade or whatever. it's got lots of mutations. it's so different, it's worth doing that. and it might be harder for the antigen vaccine folks because they have been taking a long time to do it, so novavax, etc. then you've got the drugs. you have the antiviral pills that pfizer brought on. it looks like the virus has very

little mutations in what they interact with, so hopefully, fingers crossed, they will remain active against this virus. and then you've got the antibodies from gsk, astrazeneca, wash, and regeneron, which may use some efficacy. certainly the one i'm most worried about. and then the others, time will tell. all of that will be clearer in two or three weeks. tom: such important context, sam fazeli, thank you, director of research at bloomberg intelligence. now, even before this new covid variant emerged in south africa, austria had taken measures to reduce covid. and the spread of covid by going into lockdown. bloomberg's lizzy burden has been analyzing restrictions across this nation. what do we know at this stage about what they have put in place over these measures? lizzy: tom, even before the latest measures were imposed, austrians were avoiding public spaces. the latest data show they are avoiding public transport and

eating out less. tom: ok, and other measures that have been considered by governments across europe and what it may mean for households and retailers and consumers? lizzy: well, people are not just in austria, but in germany as well, going out less. and it's not just germany. it's also italy, france, and the u.k., just slightly lower levels than before. tom: what has the adjustment been in the u.k.? have people been changing? lizzy: we've got a slight uptick in grocery shopping and people staying at home. but what you really can't get to do is go back to the office. so even now, it's almost 30% below pre-pandemic levels before -- for office levels in the u.k. tom: thank you. coming, beijing asks didi to delist in an unprecedented move.

we get the details next. this is bloomberg. ♪ loomberg. ♪

♪ tom: this is bloomberg daybreak: europe. i'm tom mackenzie in london. we had reaction from south africa to this u.k. decision to ban flight. they say it has been rushed and they are concerned about the impact of tourism on that country. the u.k., israel, and taiwan restricting flights to the country. chinese regulars are asking didi to put together a plan to delist from u.s. exchanges. let's get more. how would didi go about listing? what would be the mechanisms for going about this? >> tom, the devil's in the details. will be no now is beijing's government directed didi's management to go about a proposal to go about delisting.

some of the options they considered could involve a strata prioritization from new york, which would probably have to take lace around their $40 ipo price that happened in june. an alternative would be a cdc listing in hong kong. and subsequently after that delisting from new york, that could potentially come in a little bit cheaper, somewhere around the eight dollar mark that didi shares are trading right now. but again, the details are being worked out. the beijing government has to approve any proposal, as well. tom: and what would it mean? what would a delisting mean, if it comes to that, for didi shareholders and for the company itself? shiyin: certainly, it's an unprecedented move. i don't think china's government has ever done such a thing, so investors are concerned about what it might mean for other companies who might potentially come under the same scrutiny. i mean, we saw that shopping --

something shares falling by present today -- soft bancshares falling -- softbank shares falling today. who is going to pay for delisting? who's going to find all this? what would that mean for management? there are other things that the company has to grapple with right now, for example get apps still not available engine. there are a lot of questions out there. tom: we're longer way away from that. thank you for bringing us that scoop around didi and the pressure from beijing to potentially delist that company from u.s. exchanges. let's check back in on this risk off friday as investors weigh the applications of this new covid-19 variant the who says we will get more details on for potentially one or two weeks. you're seeing heavy selling across equities move into treasuries. the commodity space is under pressure, wti down more than 3%,

futures in the u.s. pointing to lowe's as a drop of more than 1%. and futures in europe pointing to losses of 2.3%. the yen is bid up more. bloomberg markets era. this is bloomberg. ♪

>> our markets live editor joining us from singapore to take us through the market action and there was a lot overnight. cash trade an hour away. here are your top headlines. a strain discovered in south africa sparks flight bands and warnings from scientists. investors flock to 50