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Our briefing for Friday July 9, 2021:
Jul 9, 2021 3:08:17 PM
- In the United States, White House officials announced on Thursday that all Covid-19-related hospitalizations and deaths are occurring among unvaccinated people. White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said in a press briefing that cases will continue to rise as the highly infectious delta variant takes hold. Although case numbers are going up, vaccines are still effective against the delta variant. “The bottom line is, there’s simply no reason that anyone 12 or older should be severely impacted by this virus,” Zients said. About 48% of the US population is fully vaccinated, while just over 67% have received one dose.
- In Canada, vaccine uptake has slowed, according to Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam. While Canadians have been especially focused on getting their second doses, the number of people coming forward to get their first dose has stagnated, Tam says. She notes that reaching those who are unvaccinated is priority across all levels of government, and those more reluctant to come forward for a shot include young people, marginalized populations and certain smaller communities. Infectious disease experts are still divided over whether mask requirements should be relaxed in Canada. British Columbia and Alberta have already relaxed their rules, while Saskatchewan’s mandatory mask policy is set to expire on July 11th.
- In the United Kingdom, a leading academic has warned that higher Covid-19 case numbers will risk overwhelming the National Health Service (NHS) test-and-trace system. Jon Deeks, professor of biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, says at least 660,000 tests are going to be needed each day if there are going to be 100,000 daily infections this summer. This would be almost three times the current level of testing in the UK, and more than double the highest volume achieved at any point throughout the pandemic. The system is already showing signs of strain, with positive tests up 71% during the last week of June.
- In Japan, surging Covid-19 case numbers have caused the International Olympic Committee to ban all fans from Olympic venues. A state of emergency imposed by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will go into effect on Monday until August 22nd. Organizers are still holding out some hope that they might be allowed spectators at the Paralympic games which don’t open until later in August. Tokyo announced 896 new daily infections on Thursday. The Olympic games are scheduled to run between July 23rd and August 8th despite opposition from medical experts.
- South Korea will raise coronavirus restrictions to their highest level yet in the Seoul area, as authorities warn the record rise in cases has reached “maximum crisis level.” The new restrictions come into effect on Monday and will last for two weeks. New restrictions include bans on gatherings of more than two people after 6 PM, school closures and the shutting down of all entertainment establishments. Health authorities have said people in their twenties and thirties, who are not eligible for vaccinations, are driving up the numbers.
- In Australia authorities pleaded with Sydney residents to stay home, warning that a three-week lockdown could be extended as they struggle to control their latest Covid-19 outbreak. On Thursday New South Wales reported 38 new coronavirus cases. Premier Gladys Berejiklian says ending the lockdown by next Friday is still possible, “as long as everybody does the right thing.” Berejiklian insists case numbers will have to go down before lockdown measures can lift. “For us to think that we can control a very contagious variant without having a certain proportion of the population vaccinated would be an unrealistic assumption, and that is why it is really important for all of us to do the right thing.”
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
Banks in U.S. poised for weaker results after pandemic windfall
Brief : In the upside-down world of global banking, getting back to normal is bad news for the bottom line. Wall Street churned out massive windfalls during the pandemic, but the economic reopening made possible by widespread vaccinations means this year’s earnings will look weaker by comparison. The big down arrow will be trading revenue, which is expected to show a 28% tumble for the top U.S. investment banks when they begin reporting second-quarter results next week, according to analysts’ estimates. Trading isn’t the only soft spot. Loan growth is still proving elusive as consumers and companies, still flush with cash from trillions of dollars of government stimulus, have yet to demand more bank financing. Total loans for the commercial banks probably fell a combined 3% in the quarter, analysts predict.
Hedge funds generate strongest first half returns in more than two decades
Brief: Hedge funds gained more than 10 per cent in the six months of 2021, the industry’s strongest first half performance in 22 years, despite June seeing a shift in market sentiment which moderated the sector’s monthly returns. Now, managers are positioning for a “dynamic performance environment” heading into the second half of the year, shaped by ongoing Covid concerns, as well as energy and tech trends. Hedge Fund Research’s main Fund Weighted Composite Index – a monthly measure of more than 1400 single manager hedge funds’ performance across all strategy types – gained 0.4 per cent in June, putting the benchmark up 10.03 per cent over the six-month period starting in January. That January-to-June advance is the hedge fund industry’s best first-half performance since 1999, HFR said. It is also the longest run of consecutive monthly positive returns – which together totals 22 per cent – since the index registered 15 months of consecutive gains ending in January 2018.
DN Capital, Early Backer of Auto1, Shazam and OLX, Launches New $350m Fund to Shape Post-pandemic World
Brief: DN Capital, one of Europe’s most established Venture Capital firms, today announces the launch of its latest $350m (£220m, €300m) fund. In a year which has already seen four of the DN Capital portfolio reach billion dollar-plus valuations, the firm’s Fund V will back the most ambitious early stage entrepreneurs across Europe, the UK and the US, who are creating businesses built on the pandemic-accelerated surge in digital adoption, and developing technologies critical to the global recovery. Under the leadership of private equity and VC stalwarts Nenad Marovac and Steve Schlenker - who head up a senior team with a combined 100 years-plus of investment experience - DN’s predominantly young and ambitious team has a consistent track record of partnering with some of Europe’s most promising startups, long before they became market leaders.
Slide in coronavirus-sensitive stocks suggests growing worries over delta variant
Brief : Diverse reasons are driving the rotation in stocks and a slide in bond yields, but weakness in travel, leisure and other COVID-19-sensitive stocks suggest that fears of the Delta variant are doing their part. Declines in the shares of companies tied to the reopening trade have broadly outpaced those of other so-called value stocks, which have been battered on worries that economic growth will be slower than expected in coming months. Shares of cruise stocks Carnival Cruise Lines and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings have slumped 10% and 9%, respectively, in July, while American Airlines Group dropped 4% and United Airlines Holdings was off 5%. MGM Resorts International has fallen 5.5%, while Expedia Group has dropped 1.3%.
U.S. Hotels Finally Surpass Pre-Covid Levels as Travel Surges
Brief: Red-hot demand from leisure travelers boosted a key lodging industry metric higher than it was during the same period in 2019, marking the first time since the pandemic began that U.S. hotels outperformed pre-Covid levels. Revenue per available room, which combines occupancy and prices, increased 5.7% last week compared to the same period in 2019, according to data from lodging analytics firm STR. RevPar in Phoenix increased 43% from 2019, the highest among major markets, while New Orleans and San Francisco notched the steepest decline. Hotels in New York City also continue to struggle.
