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Our briefing for Friday, October 15, 2021:
Oct 15, 2021 3:31:17 PM
- In the United States, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel has recommended a third dose of the Moderna vaccine for elderly and immunocompromised people and those whose jobs expose them to Covid-19. The panel met on Thursday and voted unanimously 19-0 to approve the mRNA booster. If the FDA gives final approval, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will determine exactly who gets the booster shots. The FDA often follows the advice of the advisory panel but it is not required to do so. An advisory committee will meet to weigh in on Merck’s Covid-19 pill on November 30.
- In Canada, the province of Saskatchewan took over the operations of five nursing homes after officially ending their relationship with operator Extendicare. The government made the announcement on Thursday after the homes were reviewed. An ombudsman report from August found that Extendicare was ill-prepared to deal with a deadly Covid-19 outbreak that happened in 2020, killing 39 residents of its Parkside home in Regina. Scott Livingstone, CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, apologized for not being able do more to prevent the situation. The health authority will take over the operations of the five Extendicare long-term care homes, home to more than 540 residents.
- In the United Kingdom, about 43,000 people may have been wrongfully given negative coronavirus tests, health officials said. The U.K. Health Security Agency announced suspension of operations at a private lab in central England, after an investigation found reports of people who tested positive on rapid tests were testing negative on PCR tests. “Around 400,000 samples have been processed through the lab, the vast majority of which will have been negative results, but an estimated 43,000 people may have been given incorrect negative PCR test results," the health agency said. Officials say the problem is an isolated incident that can be attributed to the one laboratory.
- Italy is gearing up for more civil unrest as its strict vaccine mandate comes into effect. Beginning today, all workers in the public and private sectors are required to present a coronavirus health pass in order to enter their workplaces. The health pass requires a person to be fully vaccinated, have proof of a negative test taken within 48 hours or recent recovery from Covid-19. Failure to comply could result in fines or suspension without pay. Although 80% of Italy’s population over 12 are fully vaccinated, an estimated 2.5 million workers have yet to get their shots. More protests along with staff shortages are expected in the coming days.
- India will reopen to fully vaccinated international travellers, the first time it has allowed foreign tourists for 19 months. Commercial flights will be able to enter the country beginning on November 15, officials announced. The country has not granted any tourist visas since March 2020, when the government closed borders to address the coronavirus pandemic. Travellers must be fully vaccinated and test negative within 72 hours of their flight. Daily case numbers in India have fallen below 20,000, down from their peaks of 400,000 in May, as more people get vaccinated. About 70% of the eligible population in India have had at least one dose of vaccine.
- Australia’s city of Sydney will allow fully vaccinated international tourists to enter without quarantine, authorities announced. Premier Dominic Perrottet said the new rules will come into effect on November 1. "We want people back, we are leading the nation out of the pandemic ... we are opening Sydney and New South Wales to the world," Perrottet told reporters in Sydney. The announcement comes as New South Wales approaches the 80% full vaccination milestone, well ahead of the rest of the country. Australia initially closed its borders in March 2020 in response to the pandemic.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
Return-to-office plans are colliding with a shortage of key supplies
Brief: Your return to the office might come with no desk, toilet paper or refrigerator to stash your lunch. The supply-chain disruptions and chip shortages that have retailers fearing empty shelves for Christmas are complicating employers’ plans for a smooth reopening of offices, according to a report this week from consultancy Korn Ferry. Office managers are saying that orders for breakroom refrigerators they need in January may not be fulfilled until next summer, said Elise Freedman, a senior client partner at Korn Ferry who is advising companies on their return-to-work strategies. New desks are also months behind schedule, she said, though that’s a smaller issue as offices are slow to fill to capacity. With workers already reluctant to go back to the five-day office routine — a third of professionals responding to a Korn Ferry survey in August said they’re never returning full-time — each hiccup makes it harder for the employer to make reliable plans.
CFA Level I Pass Rate Climbs to 26% Following Pandemic-Era Lows
Brief: The pass rate for the first level of the chartered financial analyst exam rose from the record low set in July. In August, 26% of candidates passed the Level I test, up from 22% for those who sat for the exam the previous month and 25% in May, according to the CFA Institute’s website. The 10-year average pass rate is now 41%. “We see a similar phenomenon in the lower-than-average pass rate from the August Level I administration as we did earlier this year,” Peg Jobst, managing director for credentialing at the institute, said in a statement Thursday. “As Covid-19 continues to challenge a large number of candidates on their journey through the CFA program, we continue to see the impact reflected in the lower pass rates.” The latest results follow historically low pass rates across all levels of the CFA exam. The institute said its pass rates would improve in the future, approaching pre-Covid levels as long as pandemic pressures subside.
U.S. Economy Is Losing Its Bounce as Recovery Turns Into a Grind
Brief: Just a few months ago, the U.S. economy looked like it was roaring back from the pandemic slump. Now the recovery is starting to look more like a grind. The spread of the delta variant has held back millions of Americans from spending on services like restaurants and hotel rooms. Supply chains are still creaking and Hurricane Ida, which caused havoc in petrochemicals hub Louisiana as well as roughly $20 billion of flooding damage in the Northeast, may have made them worse. And high inflation is stretching household budgets. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s real-time estimate of economic activity now predicts growth of just 1.3% in the quarter that ended in September. Two months ago it was forecasting 6%. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg are more upbeat. Still, the consensus growth forecast for the third quarter has dropped sharply since August. None of this means the U.S. rebound is heading into reverse, says Nathan Sheets, newly appointed chief economist for Citigroup Inc. “I think recession’s too strong,” he says. “But it’s certainly softer.” Here are five indicators that illustrate and explain the gathering gloom.
Energy Crisis Fuels U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index Rally to Pandemic High
Brief: The U.K.’s benchmark equity index is clawing back pandemic losses, driven by a rally in mining, energy and banking stocks. The FTSE 100 Index rose as much as 0.5% to 7,242.73 on Friday, taking it to the highest level since February 2020, when market jitters about the pandemic started to surface. “Having underperformed for so much of the last 18 months, the FTSE 100 is now reaping the benefits of its heavy weighting of basic resources, energy and financials,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. A surge in metals and energy prices as well as rising yields are lifting miners, oil companies and banks higher, he said. Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc have both soared more than 15% over the past month, with HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc also among the top performers. Meanwhile, reopening beneficiaries Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc and British Airways owner IAG SA have benefited from easing travel restrictions.
Wall Street Bosses See Windfall Lasting, Fueling Pay and Hiring
Brief: The dealmaking and trading windfall that the pandemic unleashed on Wall Street firms just keeps piling up as the economy recovers -- and U.S. banking leaders are pointing to signs that it’s far from over. A fresh round of earnings reports by five of the nation’s largest lenders included revenue hauls from investment banking at Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp. that were at or near record levels, and dramatic surges in equities trading across the industry, such as a surprising 40% jump at Citigroup Inc. Closely watched Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reports its third-quarter results Friday. The latest phase of the 18-month frenzy was driven by companies eager to do deals as they adjust their businesses, and by traders betting on the pace of an economic recovery amid supply-chain woes and inflation worries. The outlook, according to several financial industry leaders, is more of that, along with mounting pressure on the Federal Reserve to reduce its emergency pandemic support for the economy.
