Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Tuesday, January 5th,

and this is your FT news briefing.

Equities were hit hard on both sides of the Atlantic on Monday.

U.S. business leaders push Republicans

to accept Joe Biden's victory,

and why is China's currency rallying?

Plus, the OECD's top economist wants governments to rethink public spending and debt.

I'm Mark Filipino, here's the news you need to start your day. U.S. equities yesterday had their worst day since October.

Traders were concerned about the new strain of the coronavirus and new lockdowns. The S&P 500 slipped 1.5%, shares in more than 80% of the companies in the index lost value.

Many of those shares were in industries hit hardest by the pandemic, airlines, hotels, cruise ship

operators, but the tech-heavy NASDAQ was down 1.5% too.

Traders were also jittery about politics.

Voters in Georgia head to the polls today in a race that will determine which party controls the US Senate.

And tomorrow Congress meets to confirm Joe Biden's presidential victory.

President Trump has been pushing Republicans to block Biden from the White House.

Meanwhile, many business leaders, including the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are urging

Congress to accept the results. In Europe, Monday was the first day of equities trading since Brexit took effect,

and nearly 6 billion euros worth of EU share trading

shifted away from London. Trading inequities such as Santander, Deutsche Bank,

and Total moved to European exchanges according to data provider, Refinitive.

It was a tough change for investors in London.

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