Ukraine pitches Davos

A diplomat in Geneva quit over Moscow’s three-month war on Ukraine in a rare public protest by a Russian government official. A court in Kyiv sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for murdering a Ukrainian civilian, concluding the first war crimes trial stemming from an invasion in which thousands of civilians have been killed. And US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said 20 nations have agreed to send more security assistance to Ukraine, including Harpoon anti-ship missile and artillery systems. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking to the World Economic Forum in Davos, said it remains critical that Russia’s economy be shut off from the world—and that global investors shift resources to Ukraine to help rebuild the country. —Natasha Solo-Lyons

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

Stocks rose on Monday after President Joe Biden signaled he’d reconsider China tariffs imposed under the previous administration. Big banks led gains in the S&P 500 and the euro climbed after European Central Bank Chief Christine Lagarde said higher interest rates are coming in July. “The markets have been due for a rally for quite some time,” wrote Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management. Here’s your markets wrap.

Risk appetite is making its way back in the stock market, but among options traders, concern is high that the selling isn’t over yet. One of the key signals for the options market, demand for hedging against losses in individual companies, shows that a seven-week rout did little to tame traders’ appetite for the hedges.

Jamie Dimon said the US economy remains strong and potential obstacles to growth are not set in stone. “Strong economy, big storm clouds,” the JPMorgan CEO said Monday. “I’m calling it storm clouds because they’re storm clouds. They may dissipate.”

US labor board officials found that Activision illegally threatened staff and enforced a social media policy that conflicts with workers’ rights. The finding is a setback for the company as it tries to fend off a unionization effort and finalize a $68.7 billion sale to Microsoft.

The US Supreme Court turned away a challenge to New York’s requirement that schoolchildren be vaccinated against serious diseases, refusing to question the state’s repeal of an exemption for families with religious objections. Meanwhile, Beijing reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases for its current outbreak, reviving concern China’s capital may face a broad lockdown as authorities seek to stamp out community spread of the virus.

Biden said the US military would intervene to defend Taiwan in any attack from China, comments that appeared to break from longstanding US policy of “strategic ambiguity.” The administration however said American policy regarding the democratic island hasn’t changed.

Chinese social media users are speculating the US could be the source of monkeypox infections now reported in at least a dozen countries. The viral infection has been highlighted as a trending topic on popular social media platform Weibo for the past three days.

Anil and Sunil Varanasi moved to Virginia when they were barely teenagers, speeding through high school and graduating early. For fun, they hacked their Xbox to make it do their bidding and built and sold custom PCs. Once in college, the brothers thrived in classes ranging from biochemistry to economics to computer engineering. They were set for a bright future and likely could have done whatever they wanted. So, for some reason, they decided to improve your office Wi-Fi.

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