Tag: covid vaccine

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U.S. Jobs Data shows Modest Gains – Top 10 Global News

1. Stocks Hit Record as Small Caps Jump; Dollar Gains

Stocks extended their rally into a fourth day as investors parsed through a flurry of corporate results amid signs the U.S. labour market may be gradually improving. The dollar rose. The S&P 500 climbed to a record, led by banks and tech shares, as the Russell 2000 Index jumped 2%. The bull market in U.S. stocks remains on “solid footing” as the rebound in activity and corporate profits alongside an accommodative Federal Reserve create a supportive environment for equities, according to UBS Group. Selected high-frequency data, such as weekly consumer-confidence readings, also point to some strengthening.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% as of 9:47 a.m. New York time.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.2%.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.8%.

2. U.S. Payrolls Rise Less Than Forecasted After Big Dec. Drop

The recovery in the U.S. labour market disappointed for a second month in January with only modest job growth that highlights persistently difficult prospects for millions of unemployed and bolsters calls for more stimulus. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 49,000 from the prior month after a downwardly revised 227,000 December decrease, while the unemployment rate fell to 6.3%, according to a Labor Department report Friday. The labor force participation rate declined as more people left the workforce. The January data may elicit more urgent calls for another pandemic relief package. 

3. Senate Adopts Blueprint for Stimulus as Harris Breaks Tie

The Senate voted 51-50, after Vice President Kamala Harris broke her first tie, to adopt a budget blueprint for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion virus relief package — following nearly 15 hours of wading through amendments from both parties. The House had already adopted its budget resolution but will likely have to vote again Friday to agree on the Senate’s language. Once that’s done, Democrats will be able to craft a relief bill in the coming weeks that can pass without any Republican votes under special budget rules. Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders said adoption means help is on the way to those suffering from an “economic collapse.”

4. U.K. Plans With CureVac; Russia-China Talks: Virus Update

The U.K. has entered into a collaboration accord with CureVac, under which the company will deliver an initial supply of 50 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19 variants. Britain will require travellers arriving from coronavirus hot spots to quarantine in hotels starting Feb. 15, almost three weeks after the plan was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Russian vaccine developers are in discussions with China’s CanSino Biologics Inc. to test a combination of their shots aimed at better results. Hungary, the first European Union country to approve Russian and Chinese coronavirus vaccines, could gradually start returning to normality this spring by inoculating the most exposed people by March 15.

5. Brace Yourself: Long-Haul Travel May Not Get Going Until 2023

It isn’t clear that vaccines actually stop travellers spreading the disease, even if they’re less likely to catch it themselves. Neither are the shots proven against the more-infectious mutant strains that have startled governments from Australia to the U.K. into closing, rather than opening, borders. An ambitious push by carriers for digital health passports to replace the mandatory quarantines killing travel demand is also fraught with challenges and has yet to win over the World Health Organization. This bleak reality has pushed back expectations of any meaningful recovery in global travel to 2022. Rather than a return to worldwide connectivity – one of the economic miracles of the jet era – prolonged international isolation appears unavoidable.

6. Banks Still Moving $970 Billion of Assets From U.K., ECB Says

Big banks still had 810 billion euros ($970 billion) of capital markets-related assets to move from the U.K. to the European Union at the end of September, underlining the extent of the moves ahead as they adjust to operating after Brexit. International banks have agreed to shift a total of about 1.2 trillion euros of assets to European units, said Andrea Enria, who leads the European Central Bank’s oversight arm. European banks “also planned to move a substantial amount of their capital market business” from the U.K., he said. The ECB and other regulators are prodding the world’s top investment banks to complete their plans to beef up operations in the EU to make sure they can service clients in the region.

7. Astra Vaccine Equally Effective Against New Variant: Study

AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is equally effective against the new strain of the virus that emerged in the U.K., according to a study by its co-developer, the University of Oxford. Protection against symptomatic infection was similar for the new variant as well as the original strain, according to the study, which analyzed swabs taken from volunteers from October through mid-January. The results should ease concerns about the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the mutated form of the virus, which health officials have said may be more infectious than the initial one.BioNTech, the developer of another coronavirus vaccine with Pfizer, has also said its shot appears to maintain effectiveness against the new strain.

8. Canada Loses 213,000 Jobs, Unemployment Jumps to 9.4%

Employment in Canada fell more than expected in January as a fresh wave of lockdowns weighs on the nation’s economy. The country lost 212,800 positions in the month, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. That’s on top of 52,700 jobs lost in December. The unemployment rate jumped to 9.4%, versus 8.8% previously and a forecast of 8.9%. A new round of restrictions over the last couple of months in some regions — including stay-at-home orders and curfews — have triggered fresh lay-offs that have stalled the recovery. Still, Canada’s labour market is faring better now than it did during the first wave of restrictions in March and April when employment fell by 3 million. Losses were entirely in part-time positions, with full-time jobs increasing.

9. World’s Largest Pension Fund Posts $100 Billion Quarterly Gain

The world’s biggest pension fund posted a 10.4 trillion yen ($98 billion) gain in the three months ended December, lifting assets to a record as global equity markets extended their recovery from the pandemic. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund gained 6.3%, with assets reaching 177.7 trillion yen, the fund said in a statement. Overseas stocks were its best-performing investment, returning 11.9%, followed by an 11.3% return in domestic stocks. Overseas debt gained 1.2%, while Japanese debt added 0.02%.

10. UBS Boosts Middle East Expansion Drive With New Qatari Hub

UBS Group is setting up a second Middle Eastern hub in Qatar that will eventually add investment banking and asset management services to its wealth-management business as part of an expansion in the region. The new Doha wealth office will open within weeks and UBS intends to hire about 20 people by the end of the year. Appointments will include back office and support staff, as well as relationship managers to build a business with Qatari clients. The wealth management business will be tapping into a market where per-capita income is almost six times that of the world average, according to World Bank data. Having a presence on the ground also opens UBS to the opportunity of potentially managing assets on behalf of one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, the Qatar Investment Authority.

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Bitcoin Crashes as Crazy Rally Ends – Top 10 Global News

1. Stocks Climb Toward Record While Bonds Decline

Stocks rose on speculation that widespread vaccine distribution and government stimulus will reignite economic growth and boost corporate profits. The dollar fell toward an almost three-year low. Markets shrugged off concern over a surge in global coronavirus cases and the threat of more stringent restrictions amid a rally in risk assets on the first trading day of 2021. The S&P 500 advanced toward another record, led by commodity, retail and technology companies.
The S&P 500 Index fell 0.1% as of early morning New York time.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index surged 1.3%.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.8%.

2. Bitcoin’s Rally Comes to a Halt as Prices Fall Most Since March

Bitcoin fizzled in Monday trading as the famously volatile cryptocurrency pulled back after a spectacular new-year rally. Prices fell as much as 17% in the biggest drop since March before recovering. The losses are small in the context of Bitcoin’s broader rally, with a 50% jump in December alone. After a parabolic 2020, the digital currency had started the new year with a bang, surging as high as $34,000 and hitting all-time highs on Sunday. As ever in the world of crypto, it’s hard to pinpoint the proximate cause for the latest bout of volatility.

3. Tesla Poised for Expansion After Just Missing 2020 Target

Tesla came close to meeting its 500,000 vehicle-deliveries goals for 2020, setting the stage for a new year in which it’s expanding in China and poised to open new factories in Texas and Germany. The electric-car maker said on Jan. 2 it handed over 180,570 vehicles in the year’s final three months, the most for any quarter but just 450 vehicles shy of the half-million mark Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sought for the year. Tesla has been ramping up output of its more mass-market models to meet rising global demand for battery-powered cars, with 2020’s total jumping 36% from the prior year. Musk and Tesla had a remarkable year, with the company joining the S&P 500 Index in December after five consecutive quarters of profit. The shares rallied 743% in 2020, giving the carmaker a $668.9 billion stock-market capitalization. Musk ended the year as the world’s second-richest person.

4. Dollar Stumbles Into 2021 as Bets on Global Recovery Dominate

The U.S. dollar kicked off the new year with a weak start as expectations for a global economic recovery bolstered demand for riskier assets. It lost ground against almost every major currency on Monday, pushing a gauge of its strength to the lowest level in nearly three years, after purchasing managers indexes across Europe and Asia showed factory activity gathering pace. The euro rose as much as 0.7% against the dollar toward a high last seen more than two years ago, while the greenback touched the weakest level against the Chinese yuan since June 2018. 

5. U.K. Mortgage Approvals Surge to 13-Year High

U.K. mortgage approvals reached the highest since 2007 in November as housing continued to boom in spite of a broader economic downturn. The housing market is surging largely because of a tax cut on house purchases that is worth as much as 15,000 pounds ($20,000) to buyers. That’s pushed prices higher in a nation where demand has outstripped supply for decades, while measures to control the pandemic have also led to a change in working habits, boosting interest in larger properties and those outside of city centres. The jump also reflects pent-up demand from the first lockdown, when the market was largely shuttered and mortgage approvals collapsed.

6. Hong Kong Extends School Closures Until Lunar New Year

Hong Kong pushed back the re-opening of classrooms for more than a month as part of government measures to stamp out the spread of the coronavirus. The suspension of in-person classes at kindergartens through high school, a restriction originally scheduled to expire Jan. 10, will be extended until the lunar new year holidays, which begin on Feb. 12. The city reported 53 new cases for the day, 43 of which were local. Hong Kong has been one of the most aggressive places worldwide to close schools despite research from the likes of the United Nations warning about the adverse consequences of doing so.

7. Johnson Faces Third Lockdown as Virus Surges Across U.K.

Boris Johnson’s government is on the brink of another pandemic U-turn with a third national lockdown looking increasingly inevitable. A surge in infections threatens to overwhelm hospitals and throws his plan to get English children back into classrooms into disarray on a day the British prime minister had hoped to celebrate the delivery of the first shots of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. Instead, the government is back in crisis mode, with new virus cases exceeding 50,000 a day and hospital admissions soaring past the peak of the first wave in April. Johnson on Monday warned that a “surging epidemic” means stricter rules are coming.

8. Treasuries Inflation Gauge Exceeds 2% for First Time Since 2018

Traders see U.S. inflation averaging at least 2% per year over the coming decade, the first time that expectations have climbed that high since 2018. The 10-year breakeven rate — a measure that draws on pricing for inflation-linked Treasuries — rose as high as 2.0025% Monday, a level last seen more than two years ago. The gauge has gained momentum as traders prepare for an uptick in the world economy in the wake of a deal on Brexit and congressional approval for additional virus-relief aid. The roll-out of vaccinations against the coronavirus has also fueled the move higher. The Federal Reserve is setting the tone for markets, making a renewed push to revive inflation — which has been too low for years. 

9. Oil Fluctuates With OPEC+ Gathering to Decide on Feb Output

Oil swung between gains and losses ahead of an OPEC+ meeting to decide whether the group can keep lifting output as a surging virus threatens the global energy demand recovery. OPEC and its allies are gathering to gauge whether the market has the appetite to absorb another increase in supply after they raised output by 500,000 barrels a day for January. The demand outlook for the first half of this year is mixed and there are still many downside risks to juggle, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on Sunday. There are signs that lockdowns in some countries are set to be extended, potentially curbing oil demand. Germany is poised to prolong stricter lockdown measures beyond Jan. 10, while Japan is considering another state of emergency for the Tokyo area.

10. Israel Sets Pace on Vaccine Rollout; Schools Close: Virus Update

Global coronavirus infections climbed above 85 million, after daily cases in the U.S. soared to a record of nearly 300,000 following the New Year holiday. Germany is set to extend its lockdown, while Hong Kong won’t re-open classrooms for more than a month, as many nations opt to delay reopening schools. Japan’s prime minister is considering another state of emergency for the Tokyo area, with cases at records and a vaccine rollout more than a month away. Israel said it plans to vaccinate 70% to 80% of its population by April or May. The U.K. gave the first shots of AstraZeneca’s vaccine on Monday, in a race against a faster-spreading variant that’s prompted lockdowns across the country.

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Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine Prevents 90% Infections – Top 10 Global News

1. Joe Biden Wins U.S. Presidency After Bitter Contest With Trump

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. has defeated Donald Trump to become the 46th U.S. president, unseating the incumbent with a pledge to unify and mend a nation reeling from a worsening pandemic, faltering economy and deep political divisions. Biden’s victory came after the Associated Press, CNN and NBC showed him winning Pennsylvania and Nevada and gaining more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency. Biden was at home with his family when he learned he’d won the election, a campaign aide said.

2. Stocks Surge to All-Time High on Vaccine Progress

The clearest sign yet of progress on a Covid-19 vaccine is fueling a rally across global stock markets. The strongest gains in the market were among small-cap stocks, which have been hit hard by the economic toll of lockdowns. Futures on the Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks jumped 7% and S&P 500 contracts rose 4.2%. Nasdaq 100 Index futures pared gains, but were still up 0.5%.

Futures on the S&P 500 Index surged 3.4% as of early morning NY time.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index surged 4.5%.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 1.1%.

The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 1.7%.

3. Pfizer’s Covid Vaccine Prevents 90% of Infections in Study

The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE prevented more than 90% of infections in a study of tens of thousands of volunteers, the most encouraging scientific advance so far in the battle against the coronavirus. Eight months into the worst pandemic in a century, the preliminary results pave the way for the companies to seek an emergency-use authorization from regulators if further research shows the shot is also safe.

4. Gold set for best week since July as Biden closes in on victory

Gold headed for the biggest weekly gain since July and copper rose as Joe Biden tightened his grip on the race for the White House, while investors also weighed prospects for further Federal Reserve stimulus under the Biden presidency. Gold bullion broke out of a narrow trading range seen over the past month as uncertainty over the election and renewed stimulus hopes boosted demand for the haven. 

5. China’s Yuan Extends Best Week Since 2017 on Biden’s Victory

The yuan extended its recent rally as the dollar weakened following Joe Biden’s presidential victory in the U.S. The offshore yuan was 0.37% stronger in Hong Kong, following last week’s 1.6% surge that was the biggest gain since January 2017. The currency has been on a rise since the start of June as China’s economy rebounded, and China’s currency has rallied to a more than two-year high.

6. Global Stocks Surge to Record High on Biden Presidency

Global equities jumped to a record high amid optimism about the outlook for risk assets during a Joe Biden presidency. The MSCI All-Country World Index rose as much as 0.5% on Monday, surpassing its previous highs. After surging nearly 8% last week in the biggest rally since April, global stocks on Monday extended their gains after Biden was declared the winner of the U.S. election over the weekend. Biden in his victory speech promised swift action against the pandemic and an orderly transfer of power, though President Donald Trump is weighing legal challenges and has so far refused to concede.

7. EU Gives Green Light to Trigger $4 Billion Tariff Strike on U.S.

European Union trade ministers gave the go-ahead for EU tariffs on $4 billion (29,500 cr) of American goods in retaliation over illegal aid to Boeing, seeking to prod the U.S. to scrap its duties prompted by unlawful subsidies to Airbus. The green light paves the way for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, to trigger the import levies on Monday. U.S. aircraft-related products as well as other goods ranging from spirits and nuts to handbags and chemicals were included on the bloc’s planned target list last month. The imminent tariff strike is meant to give the EU more leverage in pushing for a truce that has been elusive with the U.S. President Donald Trump, who will remain in office until Jan. 20. The tit-for-tat move may make it easier for President-elect Joe Biden to embrace longstanding European calls to settle the transatlantic dispute over aircraft aid at the negotiating table.

8. SoftBank Posts Vision Fund’s Record Profit

Masayoshi Son is making his case for SoftBank’s turnaround. The Japanese conglomerate reported a record $7.6 billion (INR 56,000 cr) profit in its Vision Fund business for the three months ended Sept. 30, a sign the fund’s investments in startups are paying off amid a broad rally in technology stocks. One Chinese startup quadrupled SoftBank’s money after going public in August.

9. French bank Societe Generale to cut 640 jobs in France, no forced redundancies

French bank Societe Generale said on Monday it planned a net reduction of about 640 positions in France but said there would be no forced redundancies. The bank said the plan would concern market activities and associated functions and would help reduce costs by about $535 million (INR 4000 cr) by 2022-2023. French business newspaper Les Echos reported on Sunday that the cuts would be mainly in the investment banking division.

10. Oil-Rich Abu Dhabi to Start Trading Crude Futures From March

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi will open a commodities exchange in March to rival those of Middle Eastern neighbours, letting investors trade its crude using futures contracts for the first time. The ICE Futures Abu Dhabi exchange will open on March 29 and offer contracts based on the emirate’s flagship Murban crude grade, pending regulatory approvals. The Atlanta-based operator of trading and clearing platforms is setting up the exchange with government producer Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and other oil suppliers. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates — OPEC’s third-largest producer — and it holds most of the UAE’s oil. Murban crude, pumped from onshore fields, comprises more than half of the country’s output, now at around 2.6 million barrels daily.