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Our briefing for Monday, November 15, 2021:
Nov 15, 2021 3:30:42 PM
- The United States has hit a new high for weekly Covid-19 vaccinations, administering over 9.5 million doses in the past seven days. This is the highest weekly number of vaccinations the U.S. has seen since late May, White House officials said. Vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 became available this week and are included in the total. President Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff tweeted that the increase is also due to vaccine mandates and booster shots. The news comes as cases in the U.S. are trending upwards, reaching the highest they’ve been in more than a month for the week that ended Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins University.
- Canada has authorized use of the Moderna vaccine as a booster shot, allowing for half-doses to be given to those who are eligible at least six months after they’ve received their regular second shot. It is similar to the Pfizer booster, which was authorized by Health Canada last week, but it is different in that it only involves a half dose, whereas Pfizer’s involves a full dose. Booster shots are recommended in Canada for different populations including those over 70 and those who are immunocompromised, as well as for some frontline healthcare workers.
- The United Kingdom has expanded the eligibility of its booster program to include people ages 40 to 49 in England and Scotland. The move comes as an attempt to prevent the National Health Service (NHS) from becoming overwhelmed this winter. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) also recommended children ages 16 and 17 should be eligible for a second dose at least 12 weeks after receiving their first shot. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said all parts of the U.K. would accept the JCVI recommendations. “I have asked the NHS to prepare to offer those eligible for a vaccine as soon as possible,” he said.
- In Germany, coronavirus infections continue to reach their highest levels since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Robert Koch institute. The seven-day incidence rate (the number of new infections per 100,000 people over the week) rose to a record 303, up from 289 the previous day. The number of deaths increased by 43, bringing the total number to 97,715. The three parties in talks to form Germany’s next government are planning to tighten some coronavirus restrictions in response to the numbers. They will focus on measures for the unvaccinated and will also include contact restrictions, according to Reuters.
- Japan is preparing for a resurge in Covid-19 cases this winter, as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida outlined his plans to increase hospital beds and other medical resources. The government plans to increase hospital bed capacity by about 30%, and to collect data to be able to predict which hospitals will come under pressure. "In parallel with strengthening the medical system, from December we will use IT systems to make public the number of hospital beds and conditions at each hospital," Kishida said. The country will also rollout booster shots beginning next month.
- In Australia, vaccines for children under age 12 likely won’t be available until 2022, officials said. Health Minister Greg Hunt said the country’s regulators are still reviewing the health and safety data and are unlikely to make a decision this year. "The expectation that they have set is the first part of January, hopefully early January," Hunt told television reporters. "But they're going as quickly as possible." On Friday Australia reached the 90% threshold for single vaccine doses, with 83% of people ages 16 and over having had both doses. Health ministry data also shows 57.7% of children ages 12 to 15 have been vaccinated.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
New Research Finds Almost Half of Financial Executives Expect a Return to Normal Growth by 2022
Brief: OneStream Software, a leader in corporate performance management (CPM) solutions for the world’s leading enterprises, has announced the results of its "Enterprise Financial Decision Makers Outlook - October 2021" survey. The study, conducted by Hanover Research, targeted finance leaders across North America and identified the factors driving their budgets and technology adoption plans for 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic had a long-lasting impact on many companies, but 2021 led to some positive business resurgence. Of the organizations surveyed, four out of ten indicate they have grown since the start of the pandemic. Of those growing, 70 percent are experiencing growth equivalent to pre-pandemic business results.However, 31 percent are still stagnated and another 30 percent have shrunk since March/April 2020. Many financial executives have a renewed focus on the future, exploring people-focused initiatives, technology adoption and new reporting measures for next year.
Yellen says inflation will come down as US economy recovers from Covid
Brief: US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has said that the only way to bring inflation back down is to continue to “make progress against the pandemic”, according to the FT. "The pandemic has been calling the shots for the economy and for inflation," Yellen told CBS's ‘Face the Nation' programme. "And if we want to get inflation down, I think continuing to make progress against the pandemic is the most important thing we can do." US inflation reached its highest level since 1990, as October's consumer price index soared 6.2% year-on-year, and recorded a month-on-month increase of 0.9%, exceeding consensus expectations. The FT reported that Yellen expects the recent rise in prices of certain goods, such as fuel, to come down in the second half of next year as long as the economy recovers from Covid-19.
Pandemic Pushes Asia Fund Managers to Consider Outsource Trading
Brief: Firms such as State Street Corp. and CF Global that offer outsourced trading services are seeing more inquiries in Asia as fund managers and family offices look to cut costs and set up contingency plans. Asia, and China in particular, has lagged behind other regions on the outsourcing front because of a reluctance by particularly family offices to go outside for help, according to executives in the industry. That is now slowly changing in part as the pandemic revealed the need to have backups. “Asia is catching up,” said James Woodward, APAC head of portfolio solutions who runs the outsourced trading desk at State Street, which has been offering the service in Asia since 2010. “There’s obviously an education phase, but as we move forward, some of those Asian funds embrace the benefits that can be garnered from some of these firms’ investments in all the technology and infrastructure and capability sets.”
The Pandemic Has Changed the Way European Asset Managers Do Business
Brief: It's a new world for European asset managers. In the wake of the pandemic, a growing number of their clients have begun to opt for online communication tools rather than in-person conversations, and these businesses have been forced to rapidly rethink their sales and marketing strategies to meet the demand. According to a Cerulli report, managers in major European economies such as the U.K., Spain, and France are planning to increase their sales headcount and adjust their marketing strategies to catch the latest communication trends. More resources will be deployed to video production, social media, and brand development, a trend that will likely continue as managers compete for digital attention.During the early stages of the pandemic, European asset managers rushed to develop virtual communication tools to show their clients that “they were there if needed,” according to Fabrizio Zumbo, associate director of European retail and wholesale research at Cerulli.
Astra moves to profit from vaccine as earnings fall short
Brief: AstraZeneca Plc is moving to profit from the COVID-19 vaccine it developed with the University of Oxford after watching Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. reap huge returns over the past year of the pandemic. The U.K. drugmaker will start generating modest profits from the shot as new orders are received, AstraZeneca said in a statement Friday. The vaccine will continue to be sold at cost for developing nations. The company is shifting to a for-profit model even as many countries grapple with rising COVID cases. AstraZeneca Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said COVID is moving into an endemic phase, and the move is in line with the company’s plan early in the crisis, when it pledged not to profit from the vaccine as long as the disease remained a pandemic.
