Highly Infectious U.K. Strain of Covid-19 Expected to Become Dominant in U.S.

Philip van Doorn

Updated Jan. 15, 2021 1:24 pm ET / Original Jan. 15, 2021 10:20 am ET

A health worker wears a protective face mask, face shield and gloves while performing a Covid-19 nasal swab test in New York City.

Noam Galai/Getty Images

Here’s what you need to know about the impact of Covid-19 to navigate the markets today.

• The easily-transmitted strain of the coronavirus that has affected the U.K. is likely to become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March, unless greater protective measures are taken, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention interviewed by The Wall Street Journal. (read more)

• President-elect Joe Biden outlined a $20 billion plan to speed the deployment of Covid-19 vaccines, which includes the hiring of 100,000 additional health-care workers, as part of a broader $1.9 trillion economic plan. (read more)

• The global tally for Covid-19 infections now exceeds 93 million, while the U.S. case count has reached 23.3 million—the most for any country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The world death count from the virus is close to 2 million, with the U.S. again leading, with 388,705 deaths. There were at least 238,391 new coronavirus cases in the U.S. on Thursday, according to a New York Times tracker. There were 128,947 people hospitalized in the U.S. on Thursday, which was the lowest total since Jan. 4, according to the Covid Tracking Project. (read more)

• JPMorgan Chase reported a profit of $12.3 billion for the fourth quarter, partially fueled by a $2.9 billion decline in loan loss reserves. CEO Jamie Dimon said “positive vaccine and stimulus developments contributed” to the reserve releases, but that the bank’s remaining $30 billion in credit reserves reflected “significant near-term economic uncertainty. (read more)

• Retail sales in the U.S. were down 0.7% in December, for their third straight monthly decline, according to the Census Bureau. Economists polled by Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.1% decline. Internet retailers posted an unexpected 5.8% decline in sales. (read more)