1) Boris Johnson could face a vote of no confidence
The U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson could face a vote of no confidence if some of his lawmakers turn against him. Pressure has been growing within his political party after several allegations of parties and gatherings of government staff, including the PM himself, during coronavirus lockdowns.
2) U.S. jobless claims rose to 3-month high
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to a three-month high as the spread of a highly contagious Covid-19 omicron variant continued to disrupt the job market.
Claims rose by 55,000 to 286,000 for its third straight week of accelerating, according to the Labor Department reported Thursday.
3) Netflix plunges 20% after missing target of new subscribers
The share price of Netflix, an American subscription streaming service and production company, fell 20% or about $100 per share to nearly $404 a piece in an after trading hours after the company announced its earnings for 2021, while new subscribers in the fourth quarter missed its own target.
Netflix added 8.28 million new subscribers in the December quarter, which is higher than an estimate of 8.23 million new subscribers from analysts, but was lower than the company’s own target of 8.5 million.
4) Fed reveals study of digital dollar, but take no position on materializing
The U.S. Federal Reserve revealed its study of a digital dollar on gaining benefits such as speeding up the electronic payments system, but remained cautious on financial stability risks and privacy protection as well as guarding against fraud and other illegal issues.
However, the report stated that it is not intended to advance a specific policy outcome and takes no position on the ultimate desirability of the digital dollar.
