coronavirus vaccine by pfizer or moderna over the johnson & johnson shot. president biden warned that unvaccinated americans faced what he called a winter of severe illness and death and asked the u.s. supreme court to allow a federal shot mandate for health workers to take effect. pfizer has asked u.s. regulators to grant full approval for their jab in children between the ages of 12 and 15. british airways has put its flights to hong kong on hold until march. the move comes after hong kong imposed strict quarantine rules that forced air lined workers -- airline workers to stay in a makeshift camp.

lawyers for guillain mask well today -- just lay maxwell called a witness, a woman who said she was epstein's sex slave and claimed she was forced into an encounter with them. germany's christian democratic union has picked a new chairman. they hope he will lead the revival following a bitter september defeat. it signals a significant shift to the right. 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.

>> i am greg pennell in for amanda lang. >> i am romaine bostick in for matt miller. we welcome in our bloomberg audience. here are the stories we are following, volatility gripping markets once again, traders taking a more cautious attitude after that fed pivot. we will discuss the outlook for the market. theranos founder elizabeth holmes facing up to 20 years in prison. closing arguments are expected to conclude today. spider-man saved a lot of people, but can he save the theater business? talk right now is how many people will pay to see this thing in the theaters. greg: people are anxious to live in the world despite what we are

seeing with the omicron variant, and that is a big thing for investors. a bit of a mixed picture -- picture on wall street. it seems on wednesday we were happy with the tough medicine that jerome powell gave us. we are more worried about inflation than we are about the pandemic or omicron variant. we think the economy can get through this challenge. there are concerns from that point. we know some of the biggest cities in the world, the broader read of the american market, down almost 0.5%. tech stocks not getting hit as hard today. for what it is worth, some of this volatility, maybe it's a rebalancing of the s&p 500, the expiration of derivatives.

that is a lot for us to digest. romaine: you are old enough to remember when there were four which is back there. this is the last day of the year that you can rebalance, at least if you have large positions to do it. this is a liquidity event. it creates a lot of volatility. it creates a drag down in equity prices. greg: let's bring in julie beale at kane, anderson and rudnick. we were going into today knowing everything was happening out there. longer-term, how are we set up for 2022? inflation is the primary focus. >> i think that is a positive

thing, and i think that has given investors a lot of comfort that we are taking this seriously, and it may not be transitory. people are missing the connections between how covid impacts the supply chain and that most of our goods are produced in countries with zero covid policies. the moment there is a shut down, it ripples through the supply chain. the come to jesus moment of realizing that is a big part of inflation and other factors like housing and wage prices, probably not going to wait either. romaine: i think a lot of markets were relieved to see not only in a good knowledge meant by powell, but the idea they will try to stab this and get it under control. there is a flipside to this that has to do with demand. we got a hint that what was on powell's mind, the idea that

some of these inflationary pressures have caused a change in our spending habits as consumers and businesses, and that was a big part of the team on the fomc. >> we all assume that demand is here to stay. the strength of the u.s. consumer is one of the stories driving the u.s. economy. i'm concerned demand can evaporate quite quickly. there's no reason why there can't be another supply shock, and if you have investing, you need to position yourself to whether that demand. greg: let's talk about that in terms of quality investment. i feel like 2022 will be a year where we have to be more

tactical. if you go long on the market at the beginning of the year, it's a decent return. >> i think you have to be more selective. businesses have a taller order in front of them. demand is uncertain because we don't know how omicron will play out. it's uncertain how interest rates will play out through most businesses, especially small businesses that may be dependent on the credit. it's important to think about investing in companies that have strong competitive positions, because that will enable them to do well in a choppy economy. greg: when i think about some of the things i used to think i understood, even gold, other safe haven plays where we thought in times of trouble, this gets a bid, and sometimes

we've shown gold, no asset classes reacting the way i thought they should. is there a confusion about the old a/d is not working? >> i think there is a realization that it's tough to have a safe haven. this is the struggle i have with cryptocurrency. i think that would be the encouragement for investors in this time period. look for proper earnings stability. i think that is where investors will flock to. it is hard to understand how gold, crypto, all of these assets play into a global market. romaine: for all the folks out there speculating on crypto, some folks look to it as a

diversifier. if you don't look too crypto and other alternative assets as a way to diversify, where do you look? >> having broad diversification in the market overall is a great place to start. we tried to be broadly diversified in our benchmarks. i like still some of the tech sector plays, but tech in particular will require much more selective stock selection. we have a divergence of stocks trading at 100 times revenue. it's not math. that is just narrative. i would rather look at stocks with more well-defined opportunity sets. something like duck creek technologies that serves the insurance market, a lot of these companies are working on old-school mainframes. it is businesses like this, ones

i can do analysis on, that gives me a good level of diversification. romai is there any interest in the moonshot bets, whether we are talking in the ev space? >> we have not found a lot of interesting things because the valuations are so prohibitive. you still have to bend the metal, and that is generally not a great business. it is very sensitive to demand. we are taking a pass, particularly in light of the valuations. romaine: i like the fundamental mindset. while we were speaking to her, this on the ceo of southwest airlines, testing positive for

covid. he has mild symptoms and did test positive for covid with mild symptoms. we will keep an eye on that. the shares are not really reacting to that at all. that theranos trial is about to wrap up. founder elizabeth holmes is on trial and facing up to 20 years for conspiracy and fraud. we will go to san jose and get the latest on what the court heard and what the jury is about to debate.

romaine: this is bloomberg markets. i am romaine bostick alongside greg pennell.

one of the most fascinating figures, elizabeth holmes, the founder of their nose. she was charged with defrauding investors, and after several weeks of a trial, closing arguments are expected to conclude today. she faces up to 20 years in. joining us is bloomberg's ed ludlow outside the courthouse in san jose. how close are we to actually learning the outcome of this case? ed: we are close. the defense is in the final stretch of their closing remarks. the prosecution will have a chance for a rebuttal, and then the judge will need to instruct the jury. we may have to wait until next week. we put up a chart of the private stock price, same it's $.92 in

2009, $17 per share in 2014, and the investors could not have been misled. all they wanted to know was about the commercial relationships. the defense is poking holes in this idea that theranos never had a relationship with the military. they did exist, and the language elizabeth holmes used, the prosecution didn't present. >> is it credible, these later stages of the trial, the deliberations that need to be made? if we go to the beginning of the story, it's about protesting. it would make people healthier in the end, and here we are today. ed:ed: it has been the three months.

the prosecution has presented a large body of evidence that try to make this clear cut. elizabeth holmes misled not only investors, but the public about the capabilities of what the theranos devices could do, knowing that they had issues, that they weren't returning active results. they presented evidence around that. she genuinely believes in the mission of the company and what they were working toward. she was working towards a goal, regardless of how successful. being a failure is not a crime is basically their argument. greg: fascinating stuff outside of the courthouse. let's turn to the pandemic, the

cdc same it recommends the moderna advisor vaccines in adults over the johnson and johnson -- the moderna and pfizer vaccines in adults over the johnson and johnson. this has been a headache for people who have gotten different shots over the course of this. >> it is complicated, but the cdc is recommending the mrna shots over the johnson and johnson. what the advisory panel said was there was this rare side effect from the johnson & johnson shot, but it turns out newer data is indicating it is slightly less rare than we thought. there are a number of deaths from that side effect. not many. the vaccine is still there, but they are recommending that people should really use the moderna and pfizer shots as the primary option. that is the new recommendation.

romaine: talking about capacity here, i don't know what it is like where you are sitting, but anyone walking around manhattan, there are lines around these clinics for people looking to get tested. do we have any update from the local government in terms of their capacity for this surge in booster shots and testing? robert: that is a really good question. that strategy of omicron will require even more tests.

certainly, testing capacity is very important. the other thing it will be important for is when this pfizer pill gets on the market. it can help to prevent severe consequences, but it only works in several days of developing symptoms. testing capacity will be very important. certainly, and you asked about vaccine capacity, and there are lines for boosters right now. the number of vaccines that exist, we have enough physical vaccine to give to people in terms of boosters. the main thing is getting those appointments. omicron came along, and a lot of people said, we want the booster now. now they are not putting it off anymore, and that creates long lines. romaine: great stuff, bob.

a very serious issue here, the pandemic not over. while he was speaking, we saw a pretty interesting move in the u.s. treasury market, short-term yields rising, a flattening of the treasury curve. this seems to be out of the governments of federal reserve governor waller same he wants to put march on the table for a potential lift off to a rate hike. he said they can start balance sheet striking sooner. we are talking about a taper, and he's talking about a balance sheet reduction and a lift off. these are the words of one person, one federal reserve governor talking about this. you are seeing a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. the 530 is where we see most of the action, flattening out to about 64 basis points. we will be back in a moment,

greg parnell and romaine bostick here. you are watching bloomberg. ♪

greg: i'm greg pennell alongside romaine bostick. time now for stock of the hour. shares of retail darling amc surging as fundamentals add fuel to the stock's rally, pretty goop to looking at the gains. >> it is all about spider-man a. analysts are noting may be that movie theater momentum will drop in light of the omicron variant. amsi shares are up after a blockbuster debut. 1.1 million viewers. that makes it their best december debut ever when it comes to a movie opening. that is not something confined to domestic amc theaters.

when we think about amc, we think about the mean trade from earlier. still up 27% year to date, but it is something worth thinking about. amc, still making money, still able to maintain some of that. the theaters weren't actually making money, and amc did something very smart. they took advantage of that, pricing in some secondary offerings. they ended up raising $1 billion. romaine:, i supposed to believe this is a fundamental story? looking at earnings with that right in front of them. still looking at revenues, that's probably a third or a fifth of that. >> are we allowed to say it is a combo? romaine: are these the amc people or gamestop people? >> the amc people, i believe.

coming back to the rally for a second, those shares are up. you have the likes of gamestop, and that stock. romaine: this is in the moment reporting. greg, are you still there? greg: i'm still here. my son got his first part-time job, movie theater. he said it was insane last night, all about spider-man. romaine: a great job for a kid. all the popcorn and candy. greg: he has to pick up the popcorn and candy. i'm greg pennell. this is bloomberg. ♪

romaine: if the trial is successful, they will approach the u.s. fda for an for that age group in the first half of 2020. the vaccine partners amended their clinical trial after it was discovered the regimen did not prompt a strong immune response in young children. a previous covid-19 recovery provides little shield against infection with the omicron variant. that is according to a large study from imperial college london. having a had a had covid only offers about 19% protection against omicron. the study underlines the importance of booster shots. the u.s. and europe are finding rare common ground with russia and china in talks aimed at bringing iran back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.