5 things to start your day

[Bloomberg]( Taper’s coming, markets drop, and vaccines have a delta problem. This year Minutes from the July Federal Open Markets Committee showed that most officials agreed they could start [slowing the pace of bond purchases this year](. There were differences over the path of inflation and the strength of the labor market. Those have been publicly aired recently, with Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren among policy makers open to [announcing tapering at the next meeting](bbg://news/stories/QXYAG5DWRGG201), while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari wants a “[few more](” strong jobs reports before adjusting policy. Treasury yields dropped slightly and the dollar rose following the release. All investor eyes are now on next week’s [Jackson Hole symposium]( for further guidance. Efficacy Covid-19 shots are [less effective against the delta variant]( and the protection from vaccines wanes after 90 days, a large scale U.K. study has found. While vaccination still staved off the majority of infections, people who had been inoculated were shown to carry the same viral load as those who had not been, casting doubts on the possibility of [achieving herd immunity](. President Joe Biden said the U.S. will start offering [booster shots to all vaccinated adults]( from Sept. 20 as the delta outbreak shows little sign of waning with deaths passing 1,000 on Tuesday. Elsewhere Australia suffered its [highest number of cases]( since the pandemic started and China has contained its latest outbreak. Sponsored Content The Well-Tempered Retiree: Rational Choice in an Uncertain Retirement Behavioral science has helped investors save for retirement through interventions such as auto-enrollment to a 401(k), auto-escalation and other nudges. For those entering decumulation, there has been less progress. [Read PIMCO’s research]( on applying behavioral insights to the “decumulation dilemma.” [PIMCO]( China policy The [selloff in Chinese tech giants]( continued with shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. falling to a [record low in Hong Kong]( after policy makers showed little sign of [slowing their crackdown](. Authorities in Beijing recently released a five-year blueprint [calling for greater regulation](, the scope of which spread far beyond just the tech sector. Commodity prices are not immune to the policy changes either, with [iron ore plunging]( as authorities urged steel mills to cut back production. Markets drop Weeks of quiet in global equities has come to a sudden end as gauges across the world drop on fears over the delta variant, tapering and Chinese regulation. Overnight the MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.7% while Japan’s Topix index closed down 1.4%. In Europe the Stoxx 600 Index was 1.9% lower at 5:50 a.m. Eastern Time with miners and luxury goods makers among the hardest hit. S&P 500 futures pointed to a [continuation of yesterday’s selling](, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 1.232%, oil plunged to the [lowest since May]( and gold was broadly unchanged. Coming up... The recent trend of lower initial weekly jobless claims is expected to continue when the data is released at 8:30 a.m. The August Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook is also at that time. The Leading Index for July is at 10:00 a.m. Tesla Inc. holds an [artificial intelligence event](. Kohl's Corp., Macy's Inc., Applied Materials Inc. and Estee Lauder Cos Inc. are among the companies reporting results. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the last 24 hours. - Odd Lots: David Woo on [what economists got wrong]( about the stimulus. - These are the [shadowy Taliban figures]( now running Afghanistan. - Trump-approved ConocoPhilips Alaska project [voided by judge](. - California’s [Dixie fire]( burns clear across a mountain range. - China’s births [may drop to record low]( in 2021, Jefferies says. - An [$8.8 billion IPO wave]( sweeps across India as startups soar. - Further evidence of a [200-million year cycle]( for Earth’s magnetic field. And finally, here’s what Justina’s interested in this morning There were many stunning stats out of Robinhood’s first earnings [report](as a public company: Most notably, crypto revenue jumped 4,560% from a year earlier and 62% of that came from Dogecoin. Despite strong growth overall, the stock still dropped after the company warned the boom might not last. Just how long-lasting the explosion in retail trading will be is a question for many people in the market. In U.S. equities, retail as a percentage of volume dropped from the 24% peak in the first quarter to 20% in the second, which is still higher than the preceding years, Bloomberg Intelligence data show. That shows the cohort formerly known as mom and pop has some staying power even after life started returning to normal. Similarly, in crypto, total spot and derivative volume peaked at $9 trillion in May but has since drifted down to $4 trillion last month, still more than four times higher year on year, CryptoCompare data show. There’s the case that between commission-free trading and many Americans’ newfound discovery of financial markets as a hobby, the level of retail speculation will stay somewhere between the pandemic peak and the pre-Covid days. I [wrote]( last week about how their activity is now influential enough for investors to scrape social media to avoid the next AMC or AMD, and for some to even use retail flows as part of their stock-momentum model. Specifically, I spoke to a few quants who’ve thought about how the Reddit army now affects them, which is striking given systematic portfolios already tend to be more diversified. Yesterday, my colleague also had a [story]( about fresh research showing the $160 billion thematic ETF market beloved by retail traders is almost in direct opposition to quant tilts toward value and high-quality stocks. So while we’re past the GameStop craze, it seems like r/WallStreetBets remains a force to be reckoned with and Robinhood will try to keep it that way. Follow Bloomberg's Justina Lee on Twitter at [@justinaknope]( Like Bloomberg's Five Things? [Subscribe for unlimited access]( to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Follow Us Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things - Americas newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022