Boris Johnson: We do not need to shut down our country again. Cable hits 8-week high

Leaders around the world are weighing whether their healthcare systems can handle the strain of omicron and acting accordingly.

Johnson is re-iterating today that the UK doesn’t need to shut down again. I think it was a close call before Christmas but he’s growing increasingly confident in forecasts around hospital demand.

The pound hasn’t traded off of omicron but it’s now at an 8-week high. At this point, there’s probably an advantage to high infections as it makes the country more resilient going forward with the combination of good vaccine uptake and high post-infection immunity. There’s also something to be said for more-engaging attitudes of consumers who have been previously infected with mild cases.