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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106873061-1619191861000-bour.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-414033" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106873061-1619191861000-bour.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106873061-1619191861000-bour-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106873061-1619191861000-bour-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla addresses a press conference after a visit to oversee the production of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at the factory of U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Puurs, Belgium April 23, 2021.
John Thys | Pool | Reuters</figcaption></figure>



Pfizer&nbsp;CEO Albert Bourla on Tuesday said the omicron variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 appears to be milder than previous strains, but also seems to spread faster and could lead to more mutations in the future.



“I don’t think it’s good news to have something that spreads fast,” Bourla told The Wall Street Journal during an interview at the paper’s CEO Council Summit. “Spreads fast means it will be in billions of people and another mutation may come. You don’t want that.”



White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said reports over the weekend from South Africa suggest omicron is not as severe as initially feared, while noting that more data is needed to fully assess the risk posed by the variant.



The South African Medical Research Council, in a report released Saturday, said most patients admitted to a hospital in Pretoria who had Covid didn’t need supplemental oxygen. The report also noted that many patients were admitted for other medical reasons and were then found to have&nbsp;Covid.



Bourla cautioned that it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions from the wave of infection in South Africa right now. Just 5% of South Africans are over the age of 60, and younger people normally have milder cases of Covid. However, many people in South Africa are also HIV positive, which would presumably lead to more severe disease from Covid, he said.



The Pfizer CEO said he expects the number of confirmed omicron cases to surge from dozens to millions over the next few weeks.



“We will have a good understanding let’s say before the year-end as to what exactly it means for clinical manifestation,” Bourla said.



Pfizer can develop a vaccine that targets omicron by March 2022, Bourla said, but it’s not clear yet whether there’s a need for a new shot. It will take a few weeks to determine whether the current vaccines provide enough protection against the variant, he said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-imf-chief-says-omicron-could-dent-global-economic-growth">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/imf-chief-says-omicron-could-dent-global-economic-growth/">IMF chief says Omicron could dent global economic growth</a></h3>



Bourla said Pfizer is confident that its oral antiviral medication, Paxlovid, will fight omicron and every other variant of the virus that has emerged so far. The pill inhibits an enzyme the virus needs to replicate, known as a protease.



Most of the virus’s mutations have occurred on the spike protein so far, the mechanism it uses to attach to human cells, Bourla said. Vaccines and antibody treatments that target the spike protein may need updates when mutations occur on that part of the virus, he said.



However, it’s much harder for the virus to mutate in a way where it can live without the protease enzyme that Paxlovid targets, he said.



“It’s very difficult for the virus to create a strain that can live without this protease,” Bourla said. “It’s not impossible. It’s very difficult.”



Bourla doesn’t expect the total elimination of Covid anytime soon, but he said society will start to view the virus like the seasonal flu as more people get vaccinated and more powerful treatments come to market.



“Once we get people vaccinated, once we get politics out of the equation — that’s the small problem,” Bourla said, noting that society will never reach 100% vaccination. “That’s why treatments unfortunately will be needed. But we can live normal lives. Normal lives means that you can go to restaurants and don’t need to wear masks and suffocate everyday.”



Bourla said he expects more normality next year “absent a variant that changes everything.”



“I think we were in a good path mid of next year to be having things under control,” he said.

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Pfizer CEO says omicron appears milder but spreads faster and could lead to more Covid mutations

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106984655-1638720074358-gettyimages-1294303237-01_jan_01_005.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-413986" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106984655-1638720074358-gettyimages-1294303237-01_jan_01_005.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106984655-1638720074358-gettyimages-1294303237-01_jan_01_005-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106984655-1638720074358-gettyimages-1294303237-01_jan_01_005-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>Business Trends Graphs and charts 3d image Vertigo3d | iStock | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/quotes/btc=x/">Bitcoin</a> prices bounced around on Sunday but remained below $50,000, with the volatility continuing a weekend of wild trading that sent the cryptocurrency tumbling more than 17% in just 24 hours.



The cryptocurrency traded at $48,776 around 7:45 p.m. ET Sunday on Wall Street, according to data from Coin Metrics.



Earlier in the day the cryptocurrency slid more than 2% as the cryptocurrency struggles to regain the $50,000 mark. On Saturday prices dropped to a low around $43,000, down from the $57,000 bitcoin traded at Friday morning.



Bitcoin’s sharp tumble follows Friday’s risk-off tone in the broader market. All three major averages finished Friday’s trading in the red and posted losses for the week amid fears over what the omicron Covid variant means for the ongoing economic recovery.



Investors ditched equities in favor of safer areas of the market, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury moving lower.



The Nasdaq Composite underperformed the Dow and S&amp;P 500 on Friday, with technology stocks getting hit especially hard. This selling extended to cryptocurrencies, with no fundamental reason prompting the sharp declines across the crypto universe.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-bitcoin-tumbles-from-recent-high-as-cryptocurrencies-take-weekend-hit">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/bitcoin-tumbles-from-recent-high-as-cryptocurrencies-take-weekend-hit/">Bitcoin tumbles from recent high as cryptocurrencies take weekend hit</a></h3>



“It looks like somebody likely got hit with a margin call yesterday and thus was ‘forced’ to sell,” noted Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak. “The Bitcoin market tends to be much more “thin” on the weekends, so that probably exacerbated the decline. Once the dust had settled, the buyer came back in and it stabilized.”



Still, the selling over the last 48 hours builds on recent declines for bitcoin. The cryptocurrency officially entered bear market territory on Nov. 26, after dropping to a then seven-week low around $54,000.



Maley added that where bitcoin stabilized on Sunday — under the $50,000 level — is notable given that it’s below the trend line from the July lows.



“Whether it regains that level or not next week (once regular trading activity resumes) should be important to Bitcoin,” he said.



Bitcoin is now nearly 30% below its all-time high close to $69,000, which it hit in early November.



“Bitcoin is in ‘no man’s land’ right now and that does not seem to be changing anytime soon,” noted Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “The long-term bullish case remains intact but prices seem poised to consolidate between $52,000 and $60,000,” he added.



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/quotes/eth=x/">Ether</a> also stabilized on Sunday, advancing about 1.5% to $4,176. On Saturday the cryptocurrency hit a low near $3,500, after plunging more than 16% between Friday and Saturday morning. Ether is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value.



— CNBC’s Weizhen Tan and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting.

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Bitcoin holds steady below $50,000 in volatile weekend trading

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/104226861-GettyImages-631902232.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-413916" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/104226861-GettyImages-631902232.jpg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/104226861-GettyImages-631902232-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/104226861-GettyImages-631902232-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>The financial offices of banks in the financial district of Canary Wharf, are pictured from Greenwich Park in London on January 17, 2017. Ben Stansall | AFP | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The European Commission has fined five banks for participating in an illegal foreign exchange trading cartel.



UBS, Barclays, RBS, HSBC and Credit Suisse were fined a combined total of 344 million euros ($390 million), the commission said in a statement Thursday.



The investigation, focused on the trading of G-10 currencies, revealed that foreign exchange traders in these five banks discussed sensitive information and trading plans. They occasionally coordinated their trading plans via a professional online chatroom called Sterling Lads, the commission said.



Four of the banks’ fines — UBS, Barclays, RBS and HSBC — were discounted by 10% as they acknowledged their participation in the cartel.



Credit Suisse did not benefit from this reduction as it did not cooperate with authorities, the commission said. Its fine was reduced by 4% to reflect that the bank was not liable for all aspects of the case, however.



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UBS ultimately does not have to pay any fine as the bank received “full immunity” for revealing the existence of the cartel.



“Our cartel decisions to fine UBS, Barclays, RBS, HSBC and Credit Suisse send a clear message that the Commission remains committed to ensure a&nbsp;sound and competitive financial sector that is essential for investment and growth,” Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s competition chief, said in a statement.



UBS and Barclays were not immediately available when contacted by CNBC Thursday. Credit Suisse and HSBC declined to comment.



A spokesperson for NatWest,&nbsp;the parent company of&nbsp;RBS, told CNBC via email: “We are pleased to have reached this settlement regarding serious misconduct that took place in a single chatroom, and that involved a former employee of the bank, around a decade ago.”

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Barclays, RBS, HSBC, Credit Suisse and UBS fined for taking part in forex trading cartel

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106983366-1638431182463-gettyimages-1227724940-aq5i2313.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-413912" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106983366-1638431182463-gettyimages-1227724940-aq5i2313.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106983366-1638431182463-gettyimages-1227724940-aq5i2313-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106983366-1638431182463-gettyimages-1227724940-aq5i2313-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>Doctor wearing PPE looks on before a house-to-house coronavirus testing drive on July 21, 2020 in Lima, Peru. Raul Sifuentes | Getty Images News | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



LONDON — As more cases of the new omicron Covid variant emerge around the world, experts say it’s likely that the variant, first identified in South Africa last week, had already been circulating for some time.



The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that at least 23 countries from five of the six WHO regions have now reported cases of omicron, “and we expect that number to grow.”



The U.S. then became the 24th country to confirm its first case of omicron. It was detected in a&nbsp;fully vaccinated person in North Carolina, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Wednesday.



Other countries that have&nbsp;identified&nbsp;the variant the&nbsp;U.K., France, Israel,&nbsp;Belgium,&nbsp;the Netherlands,&nbsp;Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and a number of countries in southern Africa.



The U.S., U.K. and EU, among others, responded to news of the variant last week by temporarily suspending flights from southern African countries, or introducing strict quarantines on anyone arriving from the region.



The move sparked anger in South Africa and has prompted criticism from the WHO, which said on Wednesday that such reactions could deter countries which sequence and report virus variants (like the U.K. and South Africa, where major Covid variants have been found) from being transparent in future.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-omicron-circulating-for-a-while"><a></a>Omicron circulating for a while?</h2>



The omicron variant, or B.1.1.529 as it’s formally known,&nbsp;was first reported to the WHO from&nbsp;South Africa&nbsp;on&nbsp;Nov. 24. The first known sample dated back to Nov. 9.



But there are now increasing signs that the variant was in circulation in other countries before South Africa’s health authorities alerted the world to its presence. There are a growing number of cases being discovered with no travel connection to the region, suggesting community transmission is taking place.



In Scotland in the U.K., for example, 9 cases have been detected that have been traced back to a “single private event” held on Nov. 20 and none of the individuals involved are believed to have any recent travel history to southern Africa.



Then, on Tuesday, the Netherlands&nbsp;said it had identified the omicron variant in two test samples taken in the country between Nov. 19 and 23&nbsp;— before the variant was first reported by South Africa and travel bans came into place. It was initially believed that two flights that arrived in Amsterdam from South Africa last Sunday had brought the first cases of omicron to the country (there are now 14 confirmed cases in all).



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/officials-offer-vaccine-reassurance-who-advises-against-travel-bans/">Officials offer vaccine reassurance; WHO advises against travel bans</a></h3>



On Tuesday, Germany also reported an omicron case in a man in Liepzig who had not been abroad, nor had contact with anyone who had been.



Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association and the doctor who first raised the alarm over a possible variant, told the BBC Sunday that she did so after she started to see patients around Nov.18 presenting with “unusual symptoms” that differed slightly to those associated with the delta variant, the most virulent strain of the virus to date.



Meanwhile Botswana, one of the countries affected by Western travel bans in the wake of the variant, said last Friday that it first detected the variant on four foreign nationals who entered the country on a diplomatic mission on Nov. 7 (again, far earlier than it was reported by South Africa) as part of its regular Covid surveillance. It did not identify the foreign nationals’ home country.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Origin not in Africa?</h2>



At a press briefing held by WHO’s Africa office on Thursday, the UN agency’s regional experts told CNBC that the origin of the omicron variant was unknown, and they criticized restrictive travel measures placed on southern African countries.



“Our surveillance system in the global world is not perfect yet,” Dr Abdou Salam Gueye, regional emergency director in WHO’s Africa office, told CNBC Thursday during a press briefing.



“When we detect a variant or virus … usually we’re going to detect it weeks after it started its evolution. The only thing we are sure about, when a country detects a virus, is that that country’s surveillance system is good. That’s what happened in southern Africa, so this discourages the travel ban even more because &#8230; it is like a measure against a good surveillance system.”



He added that it was “not unexpected” that cases were now being discovered in Europe.



“It’s only [with] the investigations that are being conducted that we’re going to know more about the origins of this virus,” he added.



His colleague, Dr Nicksy&nbsp;Gumede-Moeletsi, a senior virologist in WHO’s Africa office, told CNBC that the number of countries reporting the omicron variant was increasing daily.



“It seems that the majority of these countries that are [reporting omicron cases] now &#8230; are coming from abroad rather than here in Africa, so we don’t know where it started and we need very good scientific evidence to study the molecular evolution of the omicron variant further.”



Experts based in Europe tend to agree that omicron has likely been circulating for longer, and more widely, than initially thought.



“The origin of Omicron is still unknown, including the location where it first spread,” Moritz Kraemer, lead researcher on the Oxford Martin Programme on Pandemic Genomics at Oxford University, told CNBC Thursday.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/omicron-poses-very-high-global-risk-world-must-prepare-who/">Omicron poses “very high” global risk, world must prepare -WHO</a></h3>



“That in part is due to limited sequencing coverage and surveillance in some countries” he noted, adding that South Africa has a well established system of genomic surveillance.



“I personally do not think there has been wide undetected circulation for a very long time,” Kraemer said. However he added that he expects the number of countries with imported and local transmission of omicron to be much larger than reported.



Experts are widely expecting this variant to spread quickly given early indications from South Africa, where 74% of virus genomes sequenced in the last month belonged to the new variant.



Lawrence Young, professor of molecular oncology at Warwick University, told CNBC Wednesday that “it’s no surprise that omicron has been circulating more widely and for longer than has been reported previously.”



“Once a variant is identified, particularly one that is likely to be more infectious, it will have spread far beyond the few original cases and countries. That’s the nature of infectious disease in a world where international travel is so common,” he said.



Some epidemiologists have speculated that the omicron variant could have started to spread internationally around the end of October, a hypothesis agreed with by other experts spoken to by CNBC.



Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the Norwich School of Medicine at the University of East Anglia, told CNBC Wednesday that, given the earliest known omicron sample was taken on Nov.9 in South Africa, “clearly the infection must have been circulating a little before that unless the index case was the person in whom the variant evolved, but probably not much earlier.”



While Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said he’d “certainly agree it’s a possibility” that the omicron variant was spreading earlier than November, and that there was no certainty it originate in South Africa.



“The point that it came to attention through rising cases and excellent sequencing around Goateng [in South Africa] from the second week of November neither proves it arose near there or that this was the starting point.”

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Omicron Covid variant likely circulating for longer — and more widely — than thought, experts say

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982023-1638258044807-gettyimages-1344573386-ad616d16-e12a-4c32-885a-480db1b6bbe9.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-413877" width="643" height="361" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982023-1638258044807-gettyimages-1344573386-ad616d16-e12a-4c32-885a-480db1b6bbe9.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982023-1638258044807-gettyimages-1344573386-ad616d16-e12a-4c32-885a-480db1b6bbe9-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982023-1638258044807-gettyimages-1344573386-ad616d16-e12a-4c32-885a-480db1b6bbe9-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 643px) 100vw, 643px" /><figcaption>Yating Kuo | iStock | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Coffee prices have reached a 10-year high, and analysts expect tightness in the market to continue all the way into 2023.



Coffee contracts for December delivery ended Monday’s trading session at $2.34 per pound. On Thursday, coffee futures on New York’s Intercontinental Exchange reached $2.46, marking the highest price since 2011, when the commodity broke above $3 per pound.



Meanwhile, the International Coffee Association’s benchmark price was $2.07 per pound on Friday, up 85% from a year earlier.



Ole&nbsp;Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank,&nbsp;told CNBC that over the past 12 months, “a perfect storm of events [has been] conspiring to give our beloved bean a boost.”



“The question for future price action is how much of these developments are potentially longer-lasting,” he said in a phone call. “I think we need to focus on what’s been unfolding in Brazil this year, where we’ve had a generational low in temperatures, a very quick spell of frost which hit some of the growing areas, and we’ve had a period of drought – this has left the 2022 crop in a bit of a precarious state.”



Hansen added that these adverse weather events would affect the yield later this year, as well as in 2022 and potentially even 2023.



“We saw coffee rally to about $3 per pound back in 2011, when we had another Brazil scare,” he said. “These are really the kind of numbers that prompt the market to speculate whether we can reach those levels once again, and I think with Brazil in mind, and if the projections over the coming months continue to confirm a slowdown or reduction in output, then the risk of our brew getting more expensive is very real.”



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Alongside bad weather, global supply constraints have had a substantial impact on the coffee market because producers and roasters — the companies that refine coffee into the product we drink — are often located in different countries. Market uncertainty is also stemming from exporting countries such as Ethiopia, which is on the brink of a civil war, and Vietnam, which is seeing a rise in Covid-19 cases that could hit production.  



“I think on balance we have a market which is, for the first time in years, starting to show some tightness,” Hansen added.



Maximillian Copestake, executive director of European coffee sales at Marex, said that coffee was engaged in “a huge price race that is predominantly driven by freight dislocations.”



“For the last five to eight years, we’ve had supply [concentrated in] one or two big coffee-producing origins, one of them being Brazil, one of them being Vietnam,” he told CNBC via telephone.



“If you have damage in one or two of those countries, which we have had, all of a sudden the market goes crazy to try and encourage other countries to produce coffee. That is the underlying principle, and then the cherry on the top has really been the freight disruptions. So, what was already a tight balance sheet, which should have traded out in the prices rallying potentially later on in the crop, have been accentuated by these freight disruptions we’ve seen.”



Copestake noted that it takes around two years for coffee production to respond to a change in price.



“I don’t think we’re by any means out of the woods yet,” he told CNBC. “But when the price rallies, you drag every bag of coffee available in every farmer’s warehouse out to the market to commercialize, because the prices are excellent. So there is incentivization to plant more, but also to minimize stocks at origin and bring those stocks to destination. I think we’re probably in the course of doing that.”



He added that he expects prices to remain high and volatile looking ahead.

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Coffee prices are at 10-year highs, and analysts say they have much further to go

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982305-1638291480394-gettyimages-1356399616-5y5a8415_20211130110622443.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-413872" width="594" height="396" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982305-1638291480394-gettyimages-1356399616-5y5a8415_20211130110622443.jpeg 594w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982305-1638291480394-gettyimages-1356399616-5y5a8415_20211130110622443-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/106982305-1638291480394-gettyimages-1356399616-5y5a8415_20211130110622443-135x90.jpeg 135w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption>Photo: via CNBC</figcaption></figure>



Federal Reserve Chairman&nbsp;Jerome Powell&nbsp;indicated Tuesday that the central bank could step up the removal of its efforts to boost the economy as it battles escalating inflation pressures.



In an appearance before a Senate committee, the Fed chief said he thinks reducing the pace of monthly bond buys can move more quickly than the $15 billion-a-month schedule announced earlier this month.



Powell said he expects the issue to be discussed at the December meeting.



“At this point, the economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are higher, and it is therefore appropriate in my view to consider wrapping up the taper of our asset purchases, which we actually announced at the November meeting, perhaps a few months sooner,” he said. “I expect that we will discuss that at our upcoming meeting.”



The initial tapering schedule would have seen bond purchases wrap up around June; if the committee chooses to accelerate, that could mean a close earlier in the spring, giving the Fed leeway to raise interest rates anytime thereafter.



Stocks fell following Powell’s comments, while government bond yields rose. The remarks added worry to a market already skittish over the&nbsp;emergent omicron strain of the coronavirus, though early indications are that the variant is milder than previous versions.



The Federal Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policy including interest rates and the Fed’s efforts to boost activity through bond purchases, said following its November meeting that&nbsp;the pace would be cut by $15 billion a month&nbsp;— $10 billion in Treasurys and $5 billion in mortgage-backed securities.



However, the post-meeting statement indicated that would be the case for November and December but noted it “is prepared to adjust the pace of purchases if warranted by changes in the economic outlook.”



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Minutes from the meeting&nbsp;indicated that committee members were prepared not only to cut the asset purchases but also to start raising interest rates if inflation persists.



The Fed had been buying at least $120 billion a month — $80 billion in Treasurys and $40 billion in MBS.



Powell said the bond buying, which has added $4.5 trillion to the Fed’s $8.73 trillion balance sheet, has been “supporting economic activity.” However, he said the economy’s progress has taken the urgency out of the program, often referred to as quantitative easing.



“The need for that has clearly diminished as the economy has continued to strengthen, as we’ve seen continued significant inflationary pressures, and that’s why we announced that we would taper, and it’s why we’re now saying we’re going to discuss a somewhat faster taper at our next meeting,” he said.



He did not indicate by how much the taper would accelerate. Citigroup economists said the Fed could double its reduction to $30 billion a month.



Powell has stressed that the tapering should not be seen as an indication that rate increases are looming.



Markets are currently pricing in at least two quarter-percentage point hikes in 2022 and possibly a third by December, while the September projections from Fed officials pointed to a less aggressive timetable. Those projections also will be updated in December.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-good-time-to-retire-transitory"><a></a>‘A good time to retire’ transitory</h2>



Since the November FOMC meeting, additional data points have show inflation running&nbsp;at its highest pace in more than 30 years.



During Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Powell faced multiple questions about inflation and what policy adjustments the Fed was considering to deal with the issue.



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Fed officials long have maintained that inflation is “transitory,” a word Powell defines as not leaving a lasting mark on the economy. The word appeared in the post-meeting statement in November, though the chairman said it’s probably not useful anymore.



“The word transitory has different meanings for different people. To many it carries a sense of short-lived. We tend to use it to mean that it won’t leave a permanent mark in the form of higher inflation,” Powell said. “I think it’s probably a good time to retire that word and try to explain more clearly what we mean.”



Powell vowed the Fed would be vigilant in controlling inflation.



“You’ve seen our policy adapt and you’ll see it continue to adapt. We’ll use our tools to make sure that higher inflation does not become entrenched,” he said.

106982305-1638291480394-gettyimages-1356399616-5y5a8415_20211130110622443

Powell says Fed will discuss speeding up bond-buying taper at December meeting

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/106982020-1638257720512-gettyimages-1227935093-AUSTRIA_VALNEVA.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-413859" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/106982020-1638257720512-gettyimages-1227935093-AUSTRIA_VALNEVA.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/106982020-1638257720512-gettyimages-1227935093-AUSTRIA_VALNEVA-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/106982020-1638257720512-gettyimages-1227935093-AUSTRIA_VALNEVA-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>A lab technician wearing a full body protection suit handles a bottle containing growth media for virus production during coronavirus vaccine research at the Valneva SA laboratories in Vienna, Austria. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



LONDON — As the new omicron Covid variant spreads around the world, hopes are being pinned on vaccine makers’ ability to develop effective shots against the strain.



Global market sentiment nosedived on Tuesday morning amid fears that the Covid-19 vaccine currently in use could be less effective against the new omicron variant. The strain was first identified in South Africa and designated a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday.



The sharp reversal for European and U.S. stock futures came after Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told the Financial Times that he expects existing vaccines to be less effective against the new variant.



Bancel told CNBC on Monday that it could take months to develop and ship a vaccine that specifically targets the omicron variant. He added that will take at least two weeks to determine how much the mutations have impacted the efficacy of the vaccines currently on the market.



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The omicron variant has more than 30 mutations on the spike protein that binds to human cells. Some of the mutations are associated with higher transmission and a decrease in antibody protection, according to the WHO.



The UN health agency reiterated on Monday that there are still considerable uncertainties and unknowns regarding this variant, however.



First of all, experts don’t yet know just how transmissible the variant is and whether any increase in infections is because it can escape prior immunity or because it is more transmissible. Secondly, there is uncertainty over how well vaccines protect against infection, transmission, severity of illness and death when it comes to the omicron. And thirdly, it is unknown whether the variant causes more severe symptoms.



The WHO has said it will take weeks to understand how the variant may affect diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tweaks"><a></a>Tweaks</h2>



The world now faces an anxious waiting game as experts strive to discover what challenges and risks the omicron variant poses.



Any new variant is closely examined to see whether current vaccines are effective against it — if not, vaccines will need to be tweaked to target the new strain. The Covid vaccine makers are confident they can do this, but it will take time to develop, test, manufacture and deploy these new shots to hundreds millions of people.



Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla said the impact of omicron on its own two-dose vaccine — which was developed with German biotech BioNTech and has been widely deployed in the U.S. and Europe — remains to be seen.



“I don’t think that the result will be the vaccines don’t protect,” Bourla told CNBC on Monday, adding, “I think the result could be, which we don’t know yet, the vaccines protect less.”



A booster dose of an authorized vaccine is currently the only way to bolster waning immunity against Covid-19, but vaccine producers are also looking at developing shots specifically targeting the omicron variant.



Bourla said Pfizer had already begun work on a new vaccine if necessary. The company made its first DNA template on Friday, he said — the initial step in the development process of a new vaccine.



Pfizer and BioNTech also said last week that they are investigating omicron, first labeled B.1.1.529, and can adapt their vaccine quickly if needed.



“We have made multiple times clear that we would be able to have the vaccine in less than 100 days,” Bourla said. He noted that the company was able to create vaccines for the beta and delta variants quickly, though they ultimately weren’t used because the original shots remained effective.



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Moderna said last week that it was testing three existing Covid booster candidates against the omicron variant and would also create a new omicron-specific vaccine candidate. 



Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s shots are messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines which teach our cells how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response in our bodies. This response then produces antibodies that help to protect people against Covid infection.



Johnson &amp; Johnson and AstraZeneca have also produced widely available and effective Covid-19 vaccines (although the AstraZeneca shot is not yet authorized in the U.S.), but their shots are known as “viral vector” vaccines.



This type uses a modified version of a virus (a vector) to deliver genetic instructions to the body’s cells. The cells then produce&nbsp;harmless&nbsp;pieces of the virus called antigens which trigger an immune response in the body. If you are exposed to the real virus later, your immune system will recognize it and know how to fight it.



Both Johnson &amp; Johnson and AstraZeneca have said they are investigating and testing the new variant.



Rafael Bayarri Olmos, a researcher&nbsp;at the Copenhagen University Hospital, told CNBC on Tuesday that variants are “taking a toll” on how well Covid vaccines can prevent infection.



“Now we have omicron that has 32 mutations in the spike protein, some of them have been seen before and they are concerning — they can make the virus more transmissible, they can make them better at avoiding immune recognition, or avoiding your defenses — so we do expect that the vaccines won’t be so, so effective but that doesn’t mean they are not going to work,” he added.



“They are one of our best tools now to curb the spread of this virus.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Omicron risks</h2>



Omicron has now been found in more than a dozen countries, causing many to impose travel restrictions and implement tighter Covid measures, such as compulsory mask-wearing and advising people to work from home.



It comes as many countries are already dealing with high daily infections due to the delta variant, which is globally dominant.



Covid symptoms linked to the omicron variant have been described as “extremely mild” by the South African doctor who first spotted the new strain. Nonetheless, the World Health Organization warned Monday that the omicron variant is likely to spread further and poses a “very high” global risk.



Francois Balloux, director of UCL Genetics Institute&nbsp;at University College London, stressed that very little is known about how contagious and deadly the variant is, compared to the delta variant.



“What we can anticipate, what we’re quite confident about, is that this variant is more likely to infect and reinfect people who have been vaccinated or have immunity from prior infection,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Tuesday.



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“But in terms of intrinsic transmissibility, irrespective of the immune system, and its virulence we know, I would say, almost nothing at this stage… We Just have to wait before we can say.”



There is quiet optimism that omicron could be a more infectious, but less virulent, version of the virus, meaning it could turn into an infection more akin to the common cold.



Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett told the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday that “there is a possibility that we are seeing a more infectious and less virulent version of the virus, which would be one of those steps along a happier route to living with the virus,” she said. “We’ve got as many signals that it might [be] OK as we’ve got signals that it might be a bit of a worry.”



Many countries are not taking any chances and have announced a ramping-up of Covid vaccinations, booster shots and more restrictive measures.



On Monday, U.S. President Joe Biden ruled out another lockdown and travel curbs for now, although it and a raft of countries have temporarily suspended travel from a number of southern African countries.



— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed reporting to this story.

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World faces an anxious wait as Covid vaccine makers prepare for omicron variant

Why Warehouses Are Taking Over The U.S.

<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49668784568_cc4a0dd9f1_b.jpg" alt="White House Press Briefing | Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director … | Flickr" width="840" height="560"/><figcaption>Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Taskforce, addresses his remarks at a coronavirus update briefing, March 2020,| Via Flckr</figcaption></figure>



The world is on high alert due to the new omicron Covid strain — but delta is still responsible for most of the current infections globally, the World Health Organization pointed out on Monday.



“Over 99% of cases around the world are due to the delta variant and more deaths are occurring in the unvaccinated,” WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan told CNBC’s “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/asia-squawk-box/">Squawk Box Asia</a>” on Monday. “I think that’s our priority while we wait to find out more about [the omicron] variant.”



Last week, the global health agency recognized the omicron variant, first referred to as lineage B.1.1.529, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/who-labels-newly-identified-covid-strain-as-omicron-says-its-a-variant-of-concern.html">a variant of concern</a>. That means it could be more contagious, more virulent or more skilled at evading public health measures, vaccines and therapeutics. The strain was first identified by South African scientists.



Delta, on the other hand, was first detected in India.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-are-health-experts-worried"><a></a>Why are health experts worried?</h2>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/covid-variant-emerges-in-south-africa-heres-what-we-know-so-far.html">Health experts are concerned</a>&nbsp;about the omicron variant’s transmissibility given its unusual constellation of mutations and profile that differs from previous variants of concern.It’s really important that everybody out there who’s still unvaccinated, or has received only one dose, must get a full course of vaccination.Soumya SwaminathanCHIEF SCIENTIST, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION



“The profile of the mutations strongly suggest that it’s going to have an advantage in transmissibility and that it might evade immune protection that you would get, for example, from a monoclonal antibody or from the convalescent serum after a person’s been infected, and possibly even against some of the vaccine-induced antibodies,” U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/news/meet-press-november-28-2021-n1284846" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday</a>.



“So it’s not necessarily that that’s going to happen, but it’s a strong indication that we really need to be prepared for that,” Fauci added.



WHO’s Swaminathan told CNBC that scientists need time to conduct experiments and collect data that would help them answer some of the fundamental questions surrounding the new variant.



“What we would like to know is, is this variant more transmissible, even more than delta? We would like to know if there is a different clinical pattern, is it less severe, more severe when it causes disease?” she said, adding, “And thirdly, and very importantly, is this variant able to evade immune responses either after natural infection or after vaccines.”



She also called on countries where the omicron variant has been detected to share their clinical data and genomic sequence data through WHO’s platforms for scientists to study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>How fast is the variant spreading?</h2>



The omicron variant has now been detected in multiple places, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/27/the-world-is-on-alert-as-the-uk-reports-cases-of-omicron-covid-variant.html">United Kingdom</a>, Israel, Belgium,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/suspected-omicron-case-found-germany-regional-minister-2021-11-27/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Germany</a>, Italy, Hong Kong,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/28/netherlands-australia-find-omicron-variant-cases-as-travel-restrictions-spread.html">the Netherlands, Denmark, and Australia</a>. Many countries have stepped up restrictions on travel from southern Africa to try and contain the spread of the new strain.



Covid vaccine makers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/PFE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pfizer</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/BNTX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BioNTech</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/MRNA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moderna</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/JNJ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Johnson &amp; Johnson</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/AZN-GB" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AstraZeneca</a>&nbsp;said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/26/pfizer-biontech-investigating-new-covid-variant-jj-testing-vaccine-against-it.html">they are investigating and testing the omicron variant</a>.



WHO’s Swaminathan said that for the moment, it should be assumed that the existing vaccines will provide some protection, if not full protection against the new strain.



“It’s really important that everybody out there who’s still unvaccinated, or who has received only one dose, must get a full course of vaccination,” she said.



“I think we still have a huge number of people around the world who haven’t had their first course of vaccines and we also know that at the moment, it’s the delta variant that’s the major cause of the pandemic around the world,” Swaminathan added.



<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&amp;amp;facet=none&amp;amp;pickerSort=asc&amp;amp;pickerMetric=location&amp;amp;Interval=7-day+rolling+average&amp;amp;Relative+to+Population=true&amp;amp;Align+outbreaks=false&amp;amp;country=~OWID_WRL&amp;amp;Metric=People+vaccinated+%28by+dose%29" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Information compiled by Our World In Data</a>&nbsp;showed around 43% of the world population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. But only a small percentage of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/27/vaccine-inequality-could-cost-the-global-economy-trillions-report.html">The WHO has repeatedly criticized global vaccine inequity</a>&nbsp;as most shots have been administered in affluent or middle-income countries, including booster doses.

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