With most COVID restrictions lifted, China rang in the Lunar New Year on Sunday, with family gatherings and temple visits to mark the biggest celebration since the start of the pandemic, the Associated Press reported. The Lunar New Year is the most important annual holiday in China. Each year is named after one of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac in a repeating cycle, with this year being the Year of the Rabbit. For the past three years, celebrations were muted in the shadow of the pandemic.
In the U.S., the seven-day average of new U.S. COVID cases stood at 47,290 on Sunday, according to a New York Times tracker. That’s down 28% from two weeks ago. The daily average for hospitalizations was down 22% at 37,474. The average for deaths was 489, down 4% from two weeks ago. The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 668.9 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.73 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with 102 million cases and 1,104,118 fatalities.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.