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INTERNATIONAL EDITION | FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2021 In the U.S., Wild risks a creeping haven’t lost mediocrity their appeal in markets

SAN FRANCISCO

Nicholas Kristof Many expected amateurs to lose interest and back away. They haven’t yet. OPINION BY ERIN GRIFFITH “America is back” became President Biden’s refrain on his European trip this All year, amateur investors, propelled month, and in a narrow sense it is. by a social media frenzy and a bit of We no longer have a White House boredom, have poured money into risky aide desperately searching for a fire investments like meme stocks, SPACs alarm to interrupt a president as he and Bitcoin. humiliates our country at an interna- With the pandemic easing in the tional news conference, as happened in United States and the country reopen- 2018. And a Pew Research Center sur- ing, many market watchers expected vey found that 75 percent of those polled the investment world to return to some- in a dozen countries expressed “confi- thing resembling normalcy. dence in the U.S. president to do the That hasn’t happened. Over the last right thing,” compared with 17 percent a month, overlapping investment manias year ago. have become even more unpredictable. Yet in a larger sense, America is not Special purpose acquisition companies, back. In terms of our well-being at home known as SPACs, a trendy way for com- and competitiveness abroad, the blunt panies to go public, have dried up. In- truth is that Amer- vestments in digital art — another pan- The big ica is lagging. In demic favorite — have also slumped. problem isn’t some respects, we Bitcoin has lost nearly 30 percent of its are sliding toward value in just the past week. But so-called Russia or mediocrity. meme stocks have soared. China. The Greeks have PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIAN OTIENO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Over the Memorial Day weekend at major threat higher high school Waiting for coronavirus test results in Kisumu County, Kenya, the site of a sudden rise in infections and deaths driven by the Delta variant of Covid-19, which first emerged in India. the end of May, individual investors ral- to America is graduation rates. lied on social media to drive up the stock America itself. Chileans live longer. price of AMC, the beleaguered movie Fifteen-year-olds in theater chain, sending shares up 71 per- Russia, Poland, cent. Riding the momentum, AMC an- Latvia and many nounced a fresh $230 million investment other countries are better at math than from a hedge fund. Hours later, the fund their American counterparts — perhaps Covid cases surging in Africa dumped the shares, calling AMC “over- a metric for where nations will stand in a valued.” The stock surged even higher. generation or two. KISUMU, KENYA turning away patients for lack of beds or That sent a clear message: The whip- As for reading, one-fifth of American oxygen, health officials say they fear a lash that has defined investing in the 15-year-olds can’t read at the level wave like the one that ripped through pandemic is not going away, as people expected of a 10-year-old. How are those India in April and May could be looming with money to burn jump from one novel millions of Americans going to compete Health systems distressed, over Kisumu. idea to the next, inflating the value of in a globalized economy? As I see it, the “The India example is not lost to us,” stocks and digital items beyond what greatest threat to America’s future is and the alarming example said Dr. Nyunya, the county health offi- many traditional investors would con- less a surging China or a rogue Russia of India is ‘not lost on us’ cial. sider rational. than it is our underperformance at Though data on infections and deaths “Volatility is moving from market to home. BY ABDI LATIF DAHIR is spotty, more than 23 percent of the market,” said Gavin Baker, an investor We Americans repeat the mantra that people tested for the virus in Kisumu at Atreides Management, which backs “we’re No. 1” even though the latest Before Kenya’s president and other last week had positive results — more stocks and private companies. “I’m Social Progress Index, a measure of leaders arrived in late May to observe a than double the national rate. Kenya’s treating it as the new normal.” health, safety and well-being around the major public holiday, health officials in overall positivity rate is similar to that of Some are pinning the volatility on world, ranked the United States No. 28. Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, saw disaster the United States when the pandemic quirks of the pandemic. Past downturns Even worse, the United States was one brewing. Coronavirus infections were peaked there in January. But the Delta hurt the economy in predictable ways, of only three countries, out of 163, that spiking, hospital isolation units were fill- variant was still rare then, the American leading to predictable recoveries. But went backward in well-being over the ing up and the highly contagious Delta health system is far more robust than the pandemic decimated some sectors, last decade. variant had been found in Kenya for the Kenya’s and the U.S. government was like travel, leisure and dining, while oth- Another assessment this month, the first time — in Kisumu County. ramping up vaccination on a grand ers, like e-commerce, social media and I.M.D. World Competitiveness Ranking Dr. Boaz Otieno Nyunya, the county scale. software, soared. 2021, put the United States No. 10 out of executive for health and sanitation, said All of Africa is vulnerable as the latest The biggest driver of risky invest- 64 economies. A similar forward-look- he and other health specialists argued Dr. Boaz Otieno Nyunya, a Kisumu County health official, said the Covid toll could far wave of the pandemic sweeps the conti- ment manias has been a surplus of cash ing study from the World Bank ranks and pleaded for the politicians to hold a exceed official tallies because there has been a surge in deaths with no recorded causes. nent, driven in part by more transmissi- in people’s pockets. Bank deposits grew the United States No. 35 out of 174 coun- virtual celebration and skip the mass, ble variants. Fewer than 1 percent of Af- further in the first three months of the tries. in-person events that could super- rica’s people have been even partially year, hitting $18.5 trillion, compared So it’s great that we again have a charge an outbreak. Just weeks earlier, ister, Raila Odinga, and others de- deaths in the county of just over 1.1 mil- vaccinated, by far the lowest rate for any with $15.8 trillion in the same period of president respected by the world. But huge political rallies had helped fuel the scended on Kisumu, drawing large and lion people, with the virus sickening continent. 2020. While that could slow as leisure we are not “back,” and we must face the catastrophic Covid-19 wave in India, mostly unmasked crowds who thronged mostly young people. Dr. Patrick “I think the greatest risk in Africa is to spending resumes, interest rates re- KRISTOF, PAGE 9 where the Delta variant first emerged the streets to watch their slow-moving Amoth, the acting director general of look at what happened in Italy earlier on main low, pushing people to take more and became dominant. motorcades through the city and gath- Kenya’s Ministry of Health, said the and what happened in India and start risks with their money. The New York Times publishes opinion Their objections were waved away, ered to hear them at marketplaces and Delta variant was driving the upswing. thinking we are safe — to say it’s very Prominent investors have begun to from a wide range of perspectives in the health officials said. President parking lots. With medical supplies depleted, vac- far away from us and that we may not go speak out about those risks, even hopes of promoting constructive debate Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President In the weeks since, all reports show cines scarce, doctors lamenting physi- the same way,” said Dr. Mark Nanyingi, though the VIX, an index measuring vol- about consequential questions. William Ruto, the former prime min- an alarming surge in infections and cal and mental fatigue and hospitals KENYA, PAGE 4 MARKETS, PAGE 7

A hit at Eurovision. Next up, the world?

ROME notable exceptions). But Maneskin’s members are hoping to build upon their existing fame in Italy and their newly The weekend paper that won international interest to become a Italian rock band takes aim rare long-term Eurovision success gets to the point. at a rare feat: To build on story. A post-curtain controversy that Award-winning news, opinion, lifestyle, its success from the event dogged the band last month has only in- creased its notoriety. On the night of the culture and more. In one concise paper. Eurovision victory, rumors spread on BY ELISABETTA POVOLEDO Pick up the Weekend Edition. social media after a clip from the broad- When the rock group Maneskin won this cast went viral, showing the lead singer, year’s Eurovision Song Contest, it was Damiano David, hunched over a table little known outside Italy. The competi- backstage. At a news conference later tion catapulted the band in front of 180 that evening, a Swedish journalist asked million viewers and propelled its win- whether David had been sniffing co- ning song, “Zitti e Buoni,” or “Shut Up caine on live TV, and the singer denied and Behave,” into Spotify’s global Top wrongdoing. 10, a first for an Italian band. David took a drug test, which came The song has been streamed on Spo- back negative. The European Broad- tify nearly 120 million times. With nearly casting Union issued a statement saying 23 million listeners in the past month, that “no drug use took place” and that it Maneskin was performing better on the “considered the matter closed.” streaming service in the same period So it’s been quite a world-stage debut than Foo Fighters or Kings of Leon. for a foursome whose combined ages VALERIO MEZZANOTTI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES Eurovision acts typically disappear add up to just 83. (David is 22; Victoria The Italian rock band Maneskin, from left: Victoria De Angelis, Ethan Torchio, Damiano from the spotlight as soon as the compe- De Angelis, the bassist, is 21; and both David and Thomas Raggi. The group hopes to ride its Eurovision win into wider fame. tition wraps (ABBA and Celine Dion are EUROVISION, PAGE 2

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