💉 Enter: Plan Omicron

Doesn’t roll off the tongue... “Omicron” is living rent-free in investors' minds. Markets have been on edge since the new Covid variant was identified in South Africa late last month. Omicron has since been detected in 20+ countries, including the US, which reported cases in at least 16 states. Some infected people were fully vaxxed. Experts said it would take weeks to assess Omicron’s severity, but here's what we do know:

• Most Omicron cases have been mild so far. The WHO’s chief scientist said existing vaccines were likely to offer some protection.
• Omicron is spreading more than twice as quickly as Delta in South Africa, and accounts for the bulk of new cases there.
• FYI: Several Covid variants have been identified, but Delta and Omicron are the only “variants of concern” so far.

Crank out the test tubes... Biden said he doesn’t expect to impose more lockdowns or vax mandates this winter, but he's working with vax makers on plans for Omicron-specific doses in case they're needed. BioNTech's founder said Omicron is unlikely to cause severe illness in vaxxed people, but Moderna’s CEO said it could make shots much less effective. How vax makers are prepping:

• Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, and J&J have already started working on Omicron-specific shots, in addition to testing the protection of existing ones. Pfizer and Moderna say an Omicron-focused vaccine could be ready in under 100 days.
• Financial boosters: Vaccines can translate into big profits. Moderna made $7.3B in profit on $11.3B in vax sales in the first nine months of this year. Pfizer, which is also selling vaccines at a profit, expects $36B in 2021 Covid vax sales.

Anchoring your digital yacht… next to your virtual mansion. From virtual Gucci bags to digital plots of land, people have been pouring money into metaverse possessions. A meta-yacht sold for a record $650K last week, while a virtual developer bought a property from gaming company Atari for $4.3M. The market for real estate in digital worlds like Decentraland and Sandbox is growing: Some developers have even built and rented out digital malls. But experts warn the digital real-estate market is far riskier than actual real estate given crypto’s volatility.

No coal in the stocking… As if gas prices weren’t enough, coal prices have hit a 10-year high. That could make it hard for some to warm their homes this winter. While natural gas has replaced coal as the US’s main source of energy, demand for coal has held steady this year. As the world moves away from fossil fuels, nuclear energy — which provides 20% of the US’s juice — is gaining traction. A Bill Gates-backed startup, Commonwealth Fusion, just raised $1.8B. And the EU might allow certain nuclear investments to be labeled as “green.”

Sports-bra stand-off… Lockdowns may be over, but the leggings life isn’t. Lululemon’s sales soared 63% last quarter as shoppers visited Lulu’s digital and physical stores for stretchy tanks. Lulu’s on track to exceed its 2023 sales goals this year. But it's not all peace and vinyasa: Last week, Lulu sued Peloton over its “copycat” yogawear. And it has a fledgling revenue stream to grow: Lulu bought connected-fitness company Mirror for $500M. We’ll see whether the athleisure life is still revving when it reports on Thursday.

Just binged “Selling Sunset”… The housing market is still #thriving, with the median US home price hitting a record $360K last month. The boom has been good for the US’s largest homebuilders, including Lennar, Pulte Group, and Toll Brothers. US home sales are on track for their best year in more than a decade, and homes for sale just hit a new low. That translated into record income for Toll last quarter. But home building has cooled since peak pandemic, while rising costs for materials like lumber have pushed homebuilders to raise prices. We’ll see if that bruised Toll when it reports earnings tomorrow.

• Ping: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk warned employees that the rocket startup could face bankruptcy if it doesn’t ramp up production of its Raptor engines — but his SOS seems mostly to be a move to drive results.
• Namaste: Jack Dorsey stepped down last week as Twitter CEO to focus on being the full-time CEO of Block (fka: Square), letting Twitter join the ranks of tech titans like Amazon and Google that have also ditched their founders to evolve.
• Woolly: Allbirds saw huge demand for its eucalyptus-pulp-infused sustainable sneakers in its first-ever earnings report — but it needs to grow its customer base if it wants to turn a profit.

• Solo: Being single in the US is more expensive than being in a relationship, even though more people are single or living solo than ever. Housing, healthcare, taxes, and Social Security all play a role.
• Wrap: How to shop for holiday gifts without wasting money — because “your order has been delayed” is the catchphrase of 2021. For starters: Shop locally.
• Play: High demand for hard-to-find video-game consoles has led to brawls at retailers, and a cottage industry of bot-makers, scalpers, and YouTubers.

• Monday: Earnings expected from: GitLab, MongoDB, and HealthEquity
• Tuesday: Earnings expected from: AutoZone and Stitch Fix
• Wednesday: Earnings expected from: Toll Brothers, UiPath, GameStop, Restoration Hardware, Campbell Soup Company, Udemy, The Lovesac Company, Rent the Runway, and The Duckhorn Portfolio
• Thursday: Weekly jobless claims. Earnings expected from: Oracle, Costco, Broadcom, Lululemon, Chewy, Dave & Buster's, and National Beverage Corp.
• Friday: November Consumer Price Index. Earnings expected from: Johnson Outdoors

Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Amazon, Moderna, Pfizer, Twitter, Square, and Google

ID: 1945770