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The latest job numbers released by the U.S. Labor Department Friday indicates a strong job market as inflation continues to rise, the Associated Press reports. A total of 261,000 jobs were added in October, and the unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 3.7% after hitting a decades-low 3.5% in September.

Growth in jobs and wages, while good for workers, also contributed to rising prices.

“Wages tend to follow inflation higher as workers seek to keep up with price increases. Those pay raises, in turn, can keep inflation high if companies pass on at least part of their higher labor costs to their customers in the form of higher prices,” the AP reports.

Over the past few months, Hong Kong has been preparing for three major events — the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, Fintech Week and the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament — loosening quarantine periods for visitors. With the events now taking place, eventgoers are finding that they’re receiving special treatment compared to residents faced with strict COVID-19 regulations, the New York Times reports.

Bankers who test positive for COVID-19 can skip mandatory quarantine and leave on a private jet, tech executives are allowed to dine in private rooms, and rugby spectators can eat in the stands — all exceptions to otherwise strict virus policies, the newspaper reports.

“If the rules are to be fair, it should be done across all levels of society, and if you think it’s hard to hold these summits, then just open up Hong Kong,” said Virginia Chan, the owner of Humid with a Chance of Fishballs Tours.

Host Hotels & Resorts announced its third-quarter earnings and discussed its latest acquisition of the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Jackson Hole, HNN’s Dan Kubacki reports.

Host CEO Jim Risoleo said the 125-room Four Seasons Jackson Hole, which the company acquired for $315 million in an all-cash deal, will be one of Host’s top three properties in its portfolio.

"A property of that nature is not going to come to market on a regular basis," he said. "I really feel that if we hadn't acquired that asset, it was likely to be acquired by somebody who would likely never sell that hotel."

The Jackson Hole property was part of the Strategic Hotels & Resorts portfolio, a group of 15 luxury assets once owned by now-defunct Anbang Insurance Group. Risoleo said during Thursday's call that if more properties in the Strategic portfolio were put on the market, Host would be a "buyer of choice."

Great Wolf Resorts announced Thursday that John Murphy will take over as CEO of the company after Murray Hennessy’s retirement from the position, HNN’s Trevor Simpson reports.

Murphy, who had been the co-founder and principal of Triton Hospitality since 2021, said he’s “honored to be following in [Hennessy’s] footsteps.”

“It’s abundantly clear that this is a company with a strong culture that truly cares for its people, setting the foundation for everything the team does to support the mission of bringing joy to families,” Murphy said.

Initial testing on Pfizer’s latest COVID-19 booster shows the vaccine is effective in increasing antibody levels, the Associated Press reports. The vaccine, designed to target the omicron strain, increased the antibody levels in people 55 and older 13-fold and young adults 9.5-fold compared to those who received an extra dose of the original vaccine.

The new data “reassures us that this was a good decision to move to this bivalent vaccine,” FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told the Associated Press. “Right now is the time for people to consider going out and get the updated” booster.

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