house chief of staff mark meadows. in a letter, bennie thompson says there is no legitimate legal basis for him to refuse to cooperate. meadows was set to give a closed-door deposition today. pfizer and biontech are out with no results that will accelerate booster shots around the world. the company's say that initial data shows that a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine neutralizes the omicron variant. pfizer and biontech are working on an omicron specific version of the vaccine that will be ready by march. amazon's cloud computing unit left thousands of americans without working refrigerators and doorbells. the disruption upended package deliveries and took down major streaming services. amazon was able to resolve the problem after nine hours.

russia's second-largest riches man -- riches man -- richest man , his ex-wife is seeking half the value of his stick in a metal producing business, which could be worth more than $7 million -- $7 billion. the billionaire is waiting to see if a court will consider an appeal. global news 24 hours a day on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. ♪ guy: it is 1:00 in new york. welcome to "bloomberg markets."

the rally cools, equities flat after the years best today surge. we will bring you full market coverage and the result from the u.s. 10 year option. boris johnson is set to speak any moment about the u.k.'s response to the omicron variant. we will bring you those comments live as they happen and we will dive into the world of esg investing. the global head of his inability and impacts for global sex -- goldman sachs joins us with her insights. we see the s&p 500 swinging back and forth between gains and losses, but it is pretty sunk right now. this still puts us under the close. a bleak friday as it has been called, took us down

below. the 10 year yield coming to 150, almost 151 now. we were below the 140 level in the one 30's on friday. we have made up considerable ground since then as investors feel safe enough to let go of the perceived safety of government bonds. the dow index has been a safe haven and we saw the bloomberg dollar index in the 1180's. nymex crude continues to come back. not the kind of balance we saw yesterday, but commodities continue to bounce back. $72.57 for a barrel. we are getting results from the 10 year treasury option. ritika gupta is here to tell us what we are seeing. ritika: we have $36 billion worth of that auction coming onto the market. we see it drawing a yield of 1.518%.

we get some weaker demand here and i will bring you the rest of the headlines as well. we get the indirect bid coming here at 68.8%. we are really quite set up for be a bearish tone for treasuries. we have that optimism from pfizer on the omicron news and we have the cpi data on friday and the fed meeting next week where they will be updating the dot plots. these are some key events that investors want to keep on the table. matt: stuff will keep happening everything today. thanks for that, covering the 10 year option. let's get to something that caught my eye and that is the uk's fight against the pandemic. any moment, boris johnson is expected to hold a news conference. he is excited to issue an order to work from home and to mandate the use of vaccine passports inside large venues.

early reports helped to drive stocks down, especially in the u.k. joining us as we await those remarks is roz matheson. this is even more interesting because boris johnson is also having to apologize for a christmas party last year that is almost the equivalent of am eye test. roz: as we wait for the british premier to speak, he is being haunted by the ghost of christmas past because his government is erupting in fury over whether there were parties held it downing street last year when the u.k. was in stringent lockdown and the footage of that only emerged a couple of days ago. that is really taking us back to where we were. the is trying to move the focus forward to where we go from here

. this announcement may come as soon as today because he has said initially that he was going to spend a few more weeks watching the data on omicron to see where it went before considering any measures and this has been expedited over the last 24 hours. the timing of this is very serious. matt: it is very bad timing considering we are about to come out we will want to have christmas parties this year and if the government says you cannot, a lot of people will ask how come you did it last year and joke about it. what is the public perception of these rules like in the u.k.? are people fighting against them? are there a large amount of anti-vaxxers? what is the general feeling? rosalind: there is the opposition of compliance that has attended to be very low in the u.k. we can see boris johnson coming out now. matt: we will listen to what the prime minister has to say. p.m. johnson: we are learning

more every day. we do not know the severity, the exact rate of transmission, nor the effectiveness of our vaccines against it. since i last spoke to you, it has become increasingly clear that omicron is growing much faster than the previous delta variant and it is spreading rapidly all around the world. 568 cases have been confirmed through genomics sequencing across every region of the u.k. and the true number is certain to be much higher. most worryingly, there is evidence that omicron could currently be between two and three days and while there are limits on what we can learn from south africa because of the different rates of vaccination, different rates of previous infection, we are seeing growth in cases here in the u.k. that

mirrors the rapid increases we have previously seen in south africa. south africa is also seeing hospitalizations roughly doubling in a week, meaning that we cannot yet assume that omicron is less severe than previous variants. while the picture may get better, and i hope that it will, we know that the logic of exponential growth could lead to a rise in hospitalizations and deaths. that is why it is neither proportionate and responsible to move -- it is now the proportionate and responsible thing to move to plan b so we slow the spread of the virus and buy ourselves the time to get more boosters into arms and especially in the older and more vulnerable people.

and understand the answers to the key outstanding questions about omicron. first, we will reintroduce the guidance to work from home. employers should use the rest of the week to discuss working arrangements with their employees. monday, you should work from home if you can. go to work, if you must. but if you can, work from home. i know this will be hard for many people, but by reducing your contacts in the workplace, you will help slow the transmission. second from this friday, we will extend the requirement to wear a facemask to most public and/or venues, including theaters -- most public indoor venues including theaters and cinemas except for when eating, drinking, exercising, or singing. we will make the covid pass mandatory for entry into nightclubs and venues where large crowds gather, including

unseeded indoor venues -- unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 5000 people, and any venue with more than 10,000 people. we will keep this under review as the boosters rollout. having taken policitcal advisor since the emergence of omicron, a negative lateral flow test will be sufficient. as we set out in plan b, we will give businesses a week's notice. this will come into force in a weeks time, helping to keep these events and venues open at full capacity while giving everyone who attends them confidence that those around them have done the responsible thing to minimize risk to others. as omicron spreads in the community, we will introduce

daily tasks for contact -- daily tests for contact so we minimize the disruption to daily life. we will take every step to ensure nhs is ready for the challenges ahead. the single biggest thing that anyone of us can do is to get our jabs and to get that booster as soon as our turn arrives. one year to the day since the u.k. became the first country in the world to administer a covid vaccine into the arms of margaret keenan, we have opened up a vaccine booster to all those over 40 and we are reducing the gap between second dose and booster to a minimum of just three months. our nhs staff and volunteers have already done almost 21 million boosters, including reaching 84% of all of the eligible over 18. we need to go further and faster still.

our scientists are absolutely confident that your immune reponse will be stronger if you have been boosted. while you're at it, please get your flu jab too. let's do everything we can to protect ourselves and our loved ones this winter and to reduce the pressures on our nhs. as we learn more, so we will be guided by the hard medical data around four key criteria. the efficacy of our vaccines and boosters, the severity of omicron, the speed of its spread , and the rate of hospitalizations. matt: that was u.k. prime minister boris johnson speaking. we will continue bringing you that on the bloomberg terminal if you would like to follow. the prime minister saying they will reintroduce guidance to work from home on monday. vaccine passports for certain venues in a week and they will

reduce the time between second dose and boosters to three months. let's turn to crypto. the u.s. house holding a hearing today with various executives in the industry. here is what we have heard so far. >> currently, cryptocurrency markets have no overarching or centralizing regulatory framework, leaving investments in the digital aspect space vulnerable to fraud, manipulation, and abuse. >> let's dispel the rumor that digital asset mid-90's are a growing threat to our financial system -- that digital assets are a growing threat to our financial system. that is why we must get this right. matt: joining us now is brett harrison, ftx president. they have some skin in the game. what do you think about the proceedings? do u.s. representatives and

senators understand crypto well enough? brett: i think what is great about this hearing is that regardless of the current level, and there are different levels of understanding, it is clear they want to be educated. they want to learn more about this industry. they want to hear it directly from the industry leaders to understand what are they seeing on the ground, what do they want to happen in terms of regulation , what is holding them back from being able to innovate and make america the dominant force in crypto and that is a very positive thing. matt: what kind of regulation do you think we need? there are clearly different crypto-reveres. crypto is different than the de -fi universe. is there a blanket code of regulation that you think would fit everything? brett: one good thing about this

hearing is that it is doing a good job dispelling a myth that there is no current regulation for crypto. crypto has virtual asset service providers under a variety of different regimes. there is a money services business, money transmitter regime that most companies receive licensure under. ftx also has derivatives, which is a regulated national derivative platform. what we really need is clarity on the spot crypto and changes and how those regulations will interplay with derivative regulations. bitcoin futures right now regulated under the cftc, but what about bitcoin itself? is that a commodity, security? this is the question. being able to have a unified regulatory framework that allows for crypto derivatives to operate under the same platform is going to be critical. matt: why do you think we have not gotten that yet?

gansler clearly understands the crypto world quite well. the fcc located derivatives for the futures products, but not for the underlying security, i will say. brett: the issue is that there is no clear market oversight regulatory framework for spot crypto exchanges. you cannot just go in and register as a national securities exchange for a spot crypto exchange because there are so many differences between filing form one for a stock exchange and what is actually required to operating crypto exchange. crypto exchanges are also custody and clearing and risk and marketing and mobile app providers. there is not a clear regulatory framework for spot crypto exchanges. as a result, we have not seen an easy path or a clear path for

the various crypto changes to register. this is something we are looking at very closely with the ftc in relation to our existing licenses with the cftc because they have really great market oversight for making sure there is market integrity, and time and ability and, and we are looking for to working with both of these agencies to push that forward. matt: what do you think about the volatility we have seen in the crypto world? we have seen price swings. bitcoin has dropped 20% from its all-time high. at the same time, we have seen similar swings in bigger stocks like tesla and facebook in which there are a lot of institutional interests. how volatile are they really? brett: there is no question that empirically speaking crypto assets are on average higher volatility. that has a lot to do with the needs to mature this market and

bring more institutional money into the market. a big thing holding that back is clear regulatory oversight over the crypto exchanges. we talk with large institutions all the time that want to get into crypto, that want to hold crypto on their balance sheets, provide crypto services for their customers. what is missing is the clear green light to be able to hold crypto and be able to engage in this industry and a big part of that has to do with the lack of regulatory oversight. when we get more institutional money into crypto, banks, hedge funds, mutual funds, pensions, we will see some of that volatility dampen. matt: thanks for your time. really appreciate your insight. it is great to get the view from ftx, brett harrison is the president of that exchange. still ahead, bringing diversity to the board room. how policies affect public

companies. that is next. this is bloomberg. >> i have no real words. every time we have been recovering, if you look at the minute people start to feel like we are through the crisis, the demand for meeting an amends skyrockets. people are dying to get out.

♪ matt: this is "bloomberg markets." as we head into the new year, new changes are coming to the board room. goldman sachs asset management has announced an update for its standards, hoping to drive that change. joining us now is the global head of sustainability and impact, margaret chinwe anadu as well as sonali basak.

sonali: it has been months since you have taken over as head of sustainability and i am wondering if this decision to vote against any members who do not meet expectations of more diversity standards my what does it say about the active stance goldman sachs asset management is about to take in sustainability efforts? margaret: first and foremost, this is about performance. we are still words of capital for our clients and the body of evidence and research that suggests that at many levels of performance, diversity can create outperformance. that is something we have to pay attention to and focus on. there are many tools we use to drive those outcomes, but proxy voting and policies have been a powerful tool. if we look at what we did in 2019, voting against the nominating chair of companies in

the u.s. that did not have at least one female board member, there are a lot of aspects that have been a part of this change. we have. that year, we voted against 250 companies who did not have a single woman on the board. two thirds of those companies now have a woman on the board. what we are doing is advancing that policy. with our proxy policy that will go into effect march 1 of next year, we will be requiring from the s&p 500 and plessis 100 each one of those boards to have at least one member from an underrepresented minority group. we are excited about the progress we have seen on gender. we have more ways to go there. we will be requiring two women on the board unless the board is less than 10 people. with that change and the change on ethnic diversity, we expect to see some of the progress we have seen on gender. matt: do you expect goldman sachs to take an even more activist role? at the end of the day, at least

in theory come up more diversity will grow more revenue and make my money for the company and investors. margaret: it is more than revenue. we have seen higher return on equities with boards with more diversity. we have seen lower stock volatility. even getting granular around innovation. we have seen more revenue from new products and services. we are just getting more and more evidence. this is not going the other way. you described as taking an activist approach. this is only one tool. even beyond when we get to those annual meetings, that is also after a long time of engagement with these companies, discussing what ceos, what we expect. when we do not see as much progress as we would like, we would be willing to use our voting problem -- voting power as a tool of engagement. sonali: esg has become a big

marketing tool for so much of the asset management industry. how do you parse reality from just talk? matt: good question. sonali: a lot of times we get asked the question is driving diversity on the board because we think it is the right thing to do, it is a moral obligation. in this conversation, it is much more straightforward to focus on the performance. this is certainly part of our sustainability work. we think that having a more diverse management team and more diversity all the way through the workforce has lots of other societal benefits. at the end of the day, if we think we can see alpha from more diverse management teams which are bringing a diversity of ideas, opinions, and more robust way to approach a customer base, we think that alone should be enough to drive this change. matt: not enough time. i hope we can get you back on the program very soon. margaret chinwe anadu of goldman

sachs asset management talking to us about the importance of diversity, what goldman sachs is doing about it, and how it improves the results that we see for the companies and for the investors. sonali basak as usual, bringing us fantastic guests. thanks for that. coming up, the bank of canada keeping borrowing costs unchanged. we will discuss the move as inflation and omicron variant risks cloud economic recovery. we are joined by frances donald, chief economist of manulife investment. typically, she is on "real yield." we have stolen her from jonathan. she is out next. -- up next. this is bloomberg.

>> has joined the united states, u.k. and australia in a

diplomatic boycott over beijing winter olympic games. justin trudeau says canada is extremely concerned by the repeated human rights violations by the chinese government. athletes from the country will take part in the games but no government officials will attend. republicans are ramping up their efforts to roll back president biden's vaccine and testing mandates. the washington post reports indiana senator wants to roback the federal vaccine mandate -- roll back the federal vaccine mandate. it would take just 51 votes to revoke the mandate. the effort would face an uphill battle in the house of representatives. schultz has been sworn in as chancellor. schultz has been angela merkel's vice chandler -- vice chancellor. the white house says president

biden has can draw -- has congratulated him and wants to work closely with him. -- they determined that the man was not the same person named in an international arrest warrant. he was killed and dismembered in 2018. u.s. concluded that, ordered to kill him --. he has denied it. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on bloomberg quicktake, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm mark crumpton. this is berg. ♪ -- this is bloomberg. ♪ >> welcome to bloomberg markets.

>> welcome our bloomberg audience. it here are the top stories we are following for you. the bank of canada keeps its rates unchanged. matt: on -- elevated inflation will lead to tax hikes. we will dig into that decision. in the usa, the labor market remains a weak spot as more people are rethinking their work life balance. the pandemic taking a mental toll on workers and a lot of them quitting their jobs or just lying flat. we will take a deeper look at what pfizer says is the key to fighting the omicron variant. all of that and more coming up. >> we are seeing markets taking a little bit of a breather after yesterday will be sought tacked -- tech stocks marketing.

don't let the market full you. it's not a momentum day. half on the s art half on the s&p are positive, -- s and p are positive and have are negative. there's your 10 year back at 1.5. what it's worth, we were waiting for an uneventful day from the bank of canada. it came, but we did get a statement officials highlighting the strength of the labor market and worries about the persistence of inflation means that interest rate heights --hikes, people pulling forward a little bit. we heard from at least one economist. >> that would be very soon, and

a couple of weeks. i wonder in canada as well as in the u.s., globally how much it matters if we get one or two hikes. the question is how much financial conditions would really tighten. right now, we are still in positive territory. you can look at financial conditions for a number of countries. in the western world, it is still very loose. >> it's a good point that you're making, especially people worrying about their oregon just -- mortgages. even if we saw three or four hikes, it would still be an incredibly low rate. it's the beginning of something more or even worse, that we have central banks behind the curve. but i know that's what people are afraid of. they think any hike is bad and i think they are right. >> is also a concern for markets

because we saw what happened after jerome powell pivoted hawkish if central banks, even expected to hike already, get even more hawkish. you could see risk assets fall further, bitcoin gets liquidated and it becomes a problem for retail and consumers. and that's not something that any central bank leaders what to see happen either. amanda: let's bring in manulife asset management limited global chief economist and global head macro strategy. what they are seeing and what's on the table. >> this is a central bank that wants, we've heard from the bank of canada. at the labor market has endorsed

so there's lots of inflation in the system. ths a central bank that wants to go, but it's telling us not into the middle of the year. it makes sense to anticipate one or two from the bank of canada in 2022. that is not the real call. -- versus one or two in the united states. so even if we were going to get rate hikes, that's already in place. when you think of what side of that do you want to take, it's pretty easy to say it's pretty unlikely. in the u.s., not fighting for that level of hawkish nest. isis -- hawkishness. matt: the last time we were looking at economic growth at zero or near zero. you've heard a lot, the argument that central banks should

consider raising rates. i haven't heard anyone talk about that lately. it doesn't matter? >> that's because central banks of pushback against the idea that hike interest rates drive harder. you have to use -- you're getting another part of the story which is interesting. are like myself who have the crummy drop -- crummy job of forecast, are central banks going to early slower or are they going to go late and faster. when it seems like the market is anticipating, the central banks like the bank of canada going really early and essentially flatlining after the next year. that's the opposite from the fed where the market is looking at a little bit more of a later but faster path. in the long term, if you are a long-term investor, it doesn't

make a huge difference, but in the first year we could see hiking aggressively while the federal reserve says we have to wait and see. both the bank of canada and the fed have marched to market. they talk about where we are now , but not very much focused on the last have -- first half of 2000 what you do. we expect it -- 2022. amanda: that's really interesting because there are so many factors at play. one of them which could be a very good news -- very good news of omicron. this is a great new story. it's going to become fast spreading and take over and be much milder than the first strain of covid. what are the biggest factors? what are your concerns that you could see a slowdown in the

first half of 2022? >> i have confirmed that the first half of 2022, we were looking at manufacturing. the impact of china tightening. lots of liquidity activity. lower housing. the list goes on and on. we've been talking a lot about omicron as if it's a binary situation. what we have to start taking about is moving away from the idea that it's about one single wave and a short-term shutdown and more what environment we are able to roll in waves. that's the real child inch for this market. -- that's the real challenge for this market. matt: after seeing huge jumps in germany before omicron was a word we were regularly debating, i see cases pop up in the u.s.

as well. they continue to rear their ugly heads, these giant jumps and infections. frankly, i don't really want to travel is much not just because i don't want to get sick. i don't want to fill out the paperwork. i don't want to take the test. i don't want to be quarantined. i've got this nice protective bubble. do a lot of consumers feel the same way? is that why we see goldman sachs cut their growth forecast for this year and next year to mark -- dear? --next year? >> and then we see a rebuild. the change we have to make is to stop thinking about the virus is a two-week shutdown and more shaving a semipermanent amount of growth activity. shut down for three weeks at 0%,

but 5% of activity after permanently derailing. that's a different story than a natural disaster model we've been looking at. that's why omicron is relevant. how we have to change the way we are thinking about this endemic. amanda: does that change, is that going to the calibration of existing outlooks? do you think some forecasters are getting it wrong? >> here's my classic response, it depends. not on the virus itself, but on its key component which i cannot forecast and that is government responses. the virus impacted the economy and our behavior and more importantly, does it create lockdown? we are already seeing that. of course we care about the severity of the disease.

of course we care about hospitalizations. there should be some correlation between that and lockdowns. but there is not the constant correlation across countries. what happens in the u.s. will be different from what happens in europe which will be different from what happens in china. creates the biggest known unknown which will how -- which is how the government will continue to respond? will they limit how many people can go to the movies? this is what determines the outcome for 2022. matt: we are under lockdown right now for the unvaccinated in germany. the u.k. had boris johnson on live television saying they are taking a slightly different approach. dave and busters had great earnings. who would think that people are crowding into restaurants play video games? you were saying that you expect the bank of canada to flatline

but chill out for a while. does the fed raised rates a couple of times next year? a couple of times in 2000 when he very? -- a couple of times in 2023 as information comes in? >> my official forecast is 2023, i'm hanging onto it. we expect growth to grow and we do expect inflation to come down very rapidly at the end of 2022. that will buy them some time. the forward direction is going to be higher interest rates. now it's just about the pace that these policymakers choose to take and whether the data gives them that flexibility. it's much easier for a central bank like the fed.

also boxes them into a path than those who have less ability. matt: thanks so much for joining us. frances donald with manulife asset management limited. coming up. the great resignation. why millions of people are leaving their jobs and refusing to come back. 24 million and a short span of time this year alone, 24 million people have quit their jobs, especially happening with people under 40. the bloomberg big take is next. this is bloomberg ♪ . -- this is bloomberg. ♪

matt: this is bloomberg markets. u.k. prime minister boris johnson has been holding a news conference. this whole entire hour. it continues. i'm not sure if he's taking questions. that seems like that must be what's happening because even boris johnson couldn't talk -- couldn't speak for that long uninterrupted. he is kind of on the hot seat right now for his employees, they had a christmas party and some videos have been released and they were joking about how they weren't supposed to be doing that, they weren't allowed to be doing that. now they are making new worlds and the u.k. as we head into the christmas season so the concern is that people are going to think if they don't care, why should i? amanda: some of the headlines

the rate of the transition -- -- rate of transmission of omicron matches africa. at the lot down measures are not severe. there will be vaccine passports and there will be renewed testing. could have an worse. one thing we do know is this has changed the way people have thought about work. millions around the globe are rethinking their quality of life as it relates to work. the great resignation has many countries seeing the same movement. let's -- katerina simonetti, great to have you with us. whether it is a lasting phenomenon. based on what you've seen, what does the data suggest? >> i don't really know. we've talked to a lot of people

who are in the u.s. living off savings they accumulate it i would say probably not. that doesn't mean that people are rethinking about what kind of jobs they want to have going forward, whether they want to do career switches at least in the u.s.. we are picking up in other countries and not necessarily giving up on work entirely, but working less hard. matt: i wonder how these people can afford this, especially as the cost of living continues to increase. inflation at six point 7% on friday. how can these kids, -- 6.7% on friday. how can these kids afford to leave their jobs to hang out? >> a lot of them have pared back their spending and are rethinking. in japan, we spoke to somebody

who embraced minimalism. his wardrobe consists of four shirts -- four shirts with long sleeves and four t-shirts. i think it depends on what we are willing to sacrifice in order to have a live that you want. -- have to -- in order to have the life that you want. similar rhetoric. it gave way to the 90's where people wanted to work really hard and make lots of money. amanda: so good to have you for this. that is our big take bloomberg businessweek feature that you can catch today. coming up, we are what -- we are watching pfizer. stay with us. ♪

♪ >> goal -- doses of pfizer vaccine would provide protection . amanda: this is bloomberg markets. that was the ceo of pfizer. they say there -- they say that covid asked -- covid vaccine and the right dosage and what' being said and how it is playing out in the market. >> good news when it comes to the efficacy against the omicron variant. do we actually have, the take away is you need all three shots

for the efficacy to work. the variant becomes a little less dangerous, particularly once the booster shot which increases the antibody by 25 fold. they are working on a vaccine that targets omicron specifically and it is due by march 2022. they don't release them, but they develop them. it lets talk about pfizer because the vaccine revenue is starting to make up a bigger and bigger portion to the tune of 61%. when it comes to, you've seen pfizer shares go up. it depends on whether or not it makes a difference. i want to end how much of covid shots belong to pfizer because they are leading the charge compared to their competitors. matt: if you look over the year, pfizer shares are up.

vaccine success, is there a concern that they are creating evaluation bubble? >> there is absolutely that concern. i believe we have a terminal chart that compares. you can see they are trading at a very -- at a cheaper valuation. it's not necessarily cheap by historical terms but cheap compared to its peers. matt: thank you for the deep dive. for a laing, i'm matt miller -- four amanda lang, i'm matt miller. this is bloomberg markets. ♪

>> here in new york. this is bloomberg markets the close. the stock rally cooling a little bit on this wednesday afternoon. a breather after the biggest -- stopping by to discuss where opportunity and risk remains. plus, sir richard charles branson is here. and some of the biggest names in crypto testify on capitol hill, advisory service. here to talk regulations