Bloomberg

Friday’s disappointing U.S. jobs report bolstered calls in some quarters to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief bill. The U.S. added only 59,000 jobs in January. While the unemployment rate dropped, it was primarily due to discouraged Americans who stopped looking. Adding to the bleak news for the U.S.: the November and December jobs reports were revised down. Jumping on the data, Biden dug in on his relief plan, assailed by Republicans and some economists as too big, signaling his readiness to move forward without Republican support. The GOP has presented a much smaller proposal and both sides remain far apart. After a sprint in the House of Representatives, a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris in the Senate and a fight over a minimum wage increase, Congress has cleared the way for the bill that protects it from filibuster or other further delays. Markets rose Friday, perhaps in anticipation of the huge injection of taxpayer dollars into the economy. Here’s your markets wrap. —Margaret Sutherlin

Bloomberg is tracking the progress of coronavirus vaccines while mapping the pandemic globally and across America. 

Here are today’s top stories  

The World Health Organization continues to plead with countries to share coronavirus vaccine doses, pointing out that more than three-quarter of administered vaccinations are in just 10 countries. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his decision to take doses from a global vaccine alliance meant to support developing nations. The Biden administration will use the Defense Production Act to boost supplies for manufacturing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and to ramp up at-home virus tests. In Europe, Germany’s lockdown was extended and the U.K. gave its first timeline for when it may vaccinate the rest of its population. Russian vaccine developers are in talks with China to test a combination of their shots aimed at better result. In one hopeful sign on the fight against variants, AstraZeneca reported its Covid vaccine is equally effective against the more-transmissible, potentially more deadly U.K. mutation. Here’s your virus wrap.

It’s Super Bowl weekend, and Wall Street is placing its bets on gambling companies. DraftKings and Penn National Gaming have continued to surge as cooped-up Americans look to bet on sports in place of traditional in-person events. They’ve each rallied more than 35% this year. Overall, online Super Bowl bets are expected to increase 63% in 2021.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LIV in 2020. His team will be playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2021 Super Bowl L​​​​​​V on Feb.  7.

Photographer: Miami Herald/Tribune News Service

A month after the deadly far-right attack on the U.S. Capitol, evidence has steadily emerged of ominous preparations for the insurrection by Trump-following white supremacists and other extremists. The “Proud Boys” group gathered tactical supplies and raised money, while the “Oath Keepers” held military-style training sessions in Ohio.

Marc Rowan, the quiet strategist behind some of Apollo Global Management’s most lucrative plays, is stepping into the role held for 30 years by Leon Black. Here’s what is ahead for the heir to Black’s empire.

Landlords in Barcelona could be permanently banned from renting out private rooms for short-term stays. Barcelona has aggressively moved to rein in an out-of-control tourist industry in recent years. As Bloomberg Citylab reports, vacation apartments were blamed for housing shortages and rent rises and lowering the quality of life for residents.

Banners reading “No tourist flats” hang from a balcony to protest against holiday rental apartments for tourists in the neighborhood of Barceloneta. 

Photographer: Pau Barrena/AFP

As millions of amateur investors take on Wall Street, cheered on by social media, the uproar is changing security for some of the world’s wealthiest investors. The level of vitriol has experts wondering if merely owning a certain stock, or betting against it, might pose new safety risks.

It rarely rains in Lima. Peru’s capital gets only one-third of an inch of precipitation a year, meaning the arid city’s 10 million or so inhabitants rely on just three rivers for their water supply—and access to the resource  isn’t equal for all.
 

Rosa Gonzales Aliaga uses a hose connected to a water supply truck to fill her water tank in San Juan de Miraflores, an outer district of Lima, Peru.

Photographer: Sebastian Casteñeda Vita fro Bloomberg Markets

What you’ll need to know tomorrow 

What you’ll want to read in. Bloomberg CityLab

When QAnon Stormed a Small Town City Hall

Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory and other far-right extremist and white supremacist movements have set their sights on local office. Now a 7,200 resident town in Washington state is facing a battle for the community’s future.

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Invest Talks with Mark Carney: Join us Feb. 10 when Bloomberg’s Jason Kelly speaks with former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, now Brookfield Asset Management’s head of ESG and impact fund investing. Carney will discuss his outlook for sustainable finance, the broader economic horizon and the shape of the coming global recovery. Register here.

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