| Elon Musk and Tim Cook are heading to China's Davos. Covid-19 is sending more children to hospital. The potential winners and losers from a new soccer super league. Here's what you need to know to start your day. Faster-spreading Covid-19 variants are sending more children and young adults to the hospital. Fatalities remain low, but doctors say the virus is now making the young sicker, some gravely, and cautionary tales are beginning to multiply. Elsewhere, with coronavirus cases in India surging the U.K. government has added the country to its travel ban list; the World Health Organization is working "very intensely" with Russian and Chinese authorities to get their vaccines pre-qualified; and New York City's positive test rate dipped below 5% for the first time in several months. Asia stocks are set to open lower on Tuesday after weakness in the technology sector pulled U.S. indexes from all-time highs, with investors following the drumbeat of corporate earnings. The dollar fell. Futures pointed lower in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index underperformed in the U.S. session, while the S&P 500 Index posted its biggest drop in almost four weeks. Tesla contributed the most to the decline as one of its electric cars that no one appeared to be driving crashed and killed two passengers. It rose after the end of regular trading when Elon Musk said Autopilot wasn't a factor in the accident. Treasury yields edged back up to around 1.6%. Meanwhile, Wall Street bears battered by the Reddit crowd earlier this year have yet to regain their gumption, even with stocks at records and valuations near two-decade highs. China's high-profile Boao Forum for Asia — an opportunity for the government to try to lure foreign investors, sometimes described as the Chinese equivalent of Davos — is back. It's the first major meeting to be held offline this year in the world, with U.S. executives such as Tim Cook and Elon Musk among the 2,000 in-person attendees. Investors will be keen to learn about any new plans to open China's economy and markets to attract foreign investment, while another focus will be any new climate goals. Inbound investment is already booming this year, rising almost 40% to $45 billion in the first three months of 2021 — the highest for that period in comparable data back to 2002. Indonesia's two most valuable startups — transport and delivery provider Gojek, and e-commerce company PT Tokopedia — are set to merge into a giant holding company called GoTo, according to people familiar with the matter. GoTo will have three business units: ride-hailing, e-commerce and payments and financial services. The merged company is targeting a valuation of up to $40 billion and Gojek co-CEO Andre Soelistyo is set to become its head, the people said. Read more about Southeast Asia's growing tech scene here. A group of major soccer clubs shocked the world with plans for a breakaway league that could herald the sport's biggest shakeup in decades and make elite teams even wealthier. The clubs would share an upfront payment of 3.5 billion euros ($4.2 billion), financed by JPMorgan, and teams including Arsenal and Manchester United would have permanent membership in the new system. Some ultra-wealthy club owners stand to benefit if the plans come to fruition, but only some. Here are some of the potential winners and losers. Meanwhile, UEFA is in discussions with Centricus Asset Management over a 6 billion euro ($7.2 billion) financing package to overhaul its flagship tournament and stop plans for the new league, according to people familiar with the matter. What We've Been ReadingThis is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours: And finally, here's what Tracy's interested in todayThe great thing about listening to hedge fund manager John Hempton talk is that he puts everything in a historical context. Like, really historical context. For instance, when asked about Greensill — the supply chain finance company that collapsed last month — Hempton starts by looking at the birth of trade finance in the late 1800s. Goods had to cross oceans by sailboats and steamers back then, so trade — and payment — took ages. If you were a farmer selling wool to a merchant in another country, for instance, it could take you months to get paid. To bridge this gap, banks began offering trade finance that would advance money, so that exporters wouldn't have to wait for payment. But the world has changed massively since the 19th century and trade finance has consequently shrunk. As Hempton puts it: "With modern communications and fast delivery etc. trade finance has gone from being a very, very big and very important business to a small business." Hindsight is of course 20/20, but looking at Greensill from this historical perspective throws up an immediate red flag. Greensill created a new business by solving a very old problem. Another way of putting it is that it placed a shiny new wrapper on something that's been stagnating for over a hundred years. You can listen to Hempton on Greensill and a lot of other things in the latest episode of the Odd Lots podcast. You can follow Tracy Alloway on Twitter at @tracyalloway. | 
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