The bank is forecasting the precious metal to end 2022 at $1,650 a troy ounce but expects it to end the current quarter little changed. "Currently, omicron and inflation risks are keeping some investors holding onto their gold investments, but we think further upside to U.S. real yields and a stronger U.S. dollar will undermine the supportive factors by 2Q22," the bank's commodities strategists said.

Aluminum prices rose after a major French smelter said it would cut output because of soaring electricity prices. The smelter at Dunkirk, which has a capacity of 285,000 tons a year, is to cut production by a total of 15% this week.

The smelter is the latest in Europe to take such steps as a shortage of natural gas drives up energy prices. Aluminum smelters are particularly exposed to rising electricity prices as their production process is very energy-intensive. Meanwhile, copper prices also rose, inching up 0.1% and nickel gained 0.8%.

EMEA HEADLINES

Eurozone Unemployment Rate Fell in November

The jobless rate in the eurozone declined in November, as the recovery of the labor market continued despite supply-chain disruptions, rising prices and a surge in coronavirus cases.

The eurozone jobless rate fell to 7.2% in November from 7.3% in October, data from the European Union's statistics agency Eurostat showed Monday. The reading is in line with the forecast by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

Novartis, Molecular Partners Report Positive Data for Covid-19 Treatment Ensovibep

Novartis AG and Molecular Partners AG on Monday reported positive topline data from their antiviral Covid-19 treatment ensovibep, and will seek expedited regulatory authorizations globally.

The results from a Phase 2 study of 407 patients receiving a single intravenous dose of ensovibep showed a 78% reduction in hospitalization or emergency-room visits related to Covid-19 compared with a placebo, and a improvement in time to a clinical recovery, Novartis said.

Atos Says Preliminary 2021 Figures Fell Short of Objectives

Atos SE said Monday its full-year results for 2021 came in below expectations, according to preliminary figures.

The French IT company said it booked revenue of around 10.8 billion euros ($12.27 billion) for last year, a decrease of approximately 2.4% at constant currency compared with the previously set goal of stable revenue.

Russia Readies Scores of Transport Planes as Troops Pour Into Kazakhstan

Russia sent fresh reinforcements into Kazakhstan on Sunday, deploying troops to help authorities reassert control in the country's biggest cities following days of sometimes violent protests against its leadership.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had prepared a contingent of more than 75 transport planes to allow for continuous deployment of troops into the country. The number sent in would likely be around 2,500, but could go higher, Russian state news agency RIA said last week.

U.S. Offers Russia Dialogue, Eyes Sanctions if Ukraine Is Invaded

WASHINGTON-As the Biden administration and U.S. allies begin contentious talks with Moscow this week, Western officials are eyeing significant financial punishments and targeted technology sanctions if Russia sends troops across the Ukrainian border, while likely avoiding the broadest energy and bank sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter.

To encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the situation, the Biden administration is also prepared to discuss limits on intermediate-range missiles in Europe as well as reciprocal restrictions on the scope of military exercises on the continent, U.S. officials said.

U.K. Manufacturers Expect Positive New Year

U.K. manufacturers are positive on the outlook for the market in 2022, though the optimism is tempered by difficulties in accessing labor and increasing input costs, according to a new survey.

Around three quarters of U.K. manufacturing companies expect conditions to improve in the new year, with 73% now believing the opportunities ahead for their business outweigh the risks, according to data from Make U.K. and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Europe's Workers See Living Costs Rise, but Pay Isn't Keeping Pace

Europe's unemployment rate has fallen below its pre-pandemic level, but a surge in wages this year doesn't seem likely even though higher inflation has weakened workers' spending power, according to economists and officials.

At 7.3%, the eurozone's unemployment rate was below pre-pandemic levels in October, having hit a pandemic high of 8.6% in September 2020. The relatively small size of those swings, economists say, is largely because of furlough programs, in which governments essentially paid businesses to keep idled workers on as employees during the pandemic, rather than letting them go, by covering a large share of their wages.

Europe's Omicron Battle Plan: Hassle the Unvaccinated

Rarely has a European leader spelled out the continent's Covid-19 strategy as bluntly as French President Emmanuel Macron, who said last week: "The unvaccinated, I really want to piss them off."

The question facing the European Union is whether progressively excluding vaccine holdouts from work places and leisure spaces will be enough in the face of the Omicron variant to prevent a crisis in hospitals and avoid further lockdowns. France, Germany, Italy and many other EU countries are pressuring unvaccinated adults to get inoculated by excluding them from more everyday activities, while stopping short of a universal vaccine mandate. European arm-twisting contrasts with more laissez-faire approaches in the U.K. and U.S., but doesn't satisfy public-health experts who say it would be more effective to make vaccination mandatory.

For Dying Towns, the Pandemic Offers Challenges-and Hope

SAN XOÁN DE RIO, Spain-The small building in a village near this town was once a school filled with children. Now it is a mortuary, a stark illustration of the demographic forces shaping Europe's future.

It has been years since there were enough children to sustain a local school in many villages in this rural corner of Galicia, northwestern Spain, that have been hollowed out over decades by migration to cities and low birthrates. Other defunct schools have been left to crumble, or in some cases repurposed as social centers for the elderly, who now make up a majority of the population.

U.S. to Discuss Scaling Back Military Exercises, Missile Deployments in Europe in Monday's Russia Talks

WASHINGTON-The Biden administration is ready to discuss the deployment of U.S. missiles in Europe as well as reciprocal restrictions on the size and scope of military exercises on the continent when it meets on Monday with Russian negotiators in Geneva, U.S. officials said.

The Biden administration's efforts are an attempt to defuse tensions with Russia, which has deployed about 100,000 troops near Ukraine's border. But they fall far short of Moscow's demands that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization call a halt to its eastward expansion, and cease training, exercises and military support to Ukraine and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

Iran Navy Port Emerges as Key to Alleged Weapons Smuggling to Yemen, U.N. Report Says

Thousands of rocket launchers, machine guns, sniper rifles and other weapons seized in the Arabian Sea by the U.S. Navy in recent months likely originated from a single port in Iran, according to a confidential United Nations report that provides some of the most detailed evidence that Tehran is exporting arms to Yemen and elsewhere.

The draft report prepared by a U.N. Security Council panel of experts on Yemen said small wooden boats and overland transport were used in attempts to smuggle weapons made in Russia, China and Iran along routes to Yemen that the U.S. has tried for years to shut down. The boats left from the Iranian port of Jask on the Sea of Oman, the U.N. report said, citing interviews with the boat's Yemeni crews and data from navigational instruments found on board.

GLOBAL NEWS

Richmond Fed's Barkin Says a March Rate Rise Is Conceivable

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said Friday he supports the central bank's hawkish outlook for monetary policy and is open to raising interest rates when its bond buying stimulus effort winds down.

"I'm very supportive of what we did in December," Mr. Barkin said in a Wall Street Journal interview, referring to the decision at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting last month to accelerate the Fed's draw down of its asset purchases.

Omicron Threatens to Spoil IPO Coming-Out Parties

It is a brand new year, but for listing exchanges and companies making stock-market debuts, the start of 2022 feels like a rewind to 2020.

Soaring Covid-19 cases in the U.S. are sending Americans back into retreat. The wave also has companies that are on deck for initial public offerings re-evaluating their listing-day plans and, in some cases, delaying debuts.

Retirement Funds Bet Bigger on Private Equity

Government retirement funds are pumping record sums into private equity, defying concerns about risk and cost as they try to plug pension shortfalls.

U.S. pension funds' private-equity investments swelled to an average 8.9% of holdings in 2021 after three years of straight growth, according to analytics company Preqin. That amounts to roughly $480 billion of state and local pension fund assets tracked by the Federal Reserve, up from about $300 billion in 2018.

Fed's Daly Sees Quick Shift to Balance-Sheet Cuts After Rate Rises Start

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco leader Mary Daly said she is on board with a faster drawdown in central bank asset-buying stimulus and supports a relatively quick shift toward shrinking the size of Fed holdings once interest-rate rises start.

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01-10-22 0625ET