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Our briefing for Monday, November 22, 2021:
Nov 22, 2021 3:14:41 PM
- The United States’ chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci urged Americans to get their booster shots ahead of the busy Thanksgiving holidays. The nation’s top infectious disease expert warned that colder temperatures are starting to drive cases back up, and that 60 million people across the country are still unvaccinated. “We have a lot of virus circulating around. You can’t walk away from the data, and the data show that the cases are starting to go up, which is not unexpected when you get into a winter season. People start to go indoors more and we know that immunity does wane over time,” Fauci said on CNN’s State of the Union. Fauci also recently clarified that the definition of fully vaccinated remains the same (2 doses of vaccine), despite some officials saying that people are no longer fully vaccinated until they’ve had booster shots.
- In Canada, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is calling on the federal government to make working conditions safer for frontline healthcare workers. In a statement released Thursday, the CMA calls on Ottawa to make changes to the Criminal Code that would make it an offence to obstruct access to any healthcare facility, and to threaten or intimidate any healthcare worker or person seeking healthcare. On September 13, during the federal election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that his government would make these changes if re-elected. Now the CMA is urging Ottawa to keep that promise, as well as contacting an array of social media companies to work on an action plan that would stop online harassment and threats against healthcare workers.
- In the United Kingdom, the government is investigating whether built-in racial bias was present in some medical devices, which may have caused people of colour to get sick and die of Covid-19 in disproportionate numbers. Oximeters, which estimate the amount of oxygen in a person’s blood, have been shown to be less effective for people with dark skin, which may have led to thousands of unnecessary deaths during the pandemic. “There are research papers already on this and no one did anything about it,” Health Secretary Sajid Javid said. “Now, I’m not saying this was deliberate by anyone, I think it’s just it’s a systemic issue potentially, with medical devices and it may go even further than that with medical textbooks, for example.” Javid said findings from a U.K. review that also looked at gender bias will be released in January.
- The French government sent dozens of special forces to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, amid an eruption of protests over Covid-19 restrictions that escalated into looting and rioting. In Pointe-a-Pitre, the island’s largest urban centre, three people were injured after clashes with police and several shops were looted. Over 30 people were arrested overnight into Sunday morning. Demonstrators were protesting mandatory vaccinations for healthcare workers and France’s Covid-19 health pass. Vaccination rates in Guadeloupe are much lower than in the rest of France, at 33% compared with 75%.
- Germany has declared a nationwide state of emergency amid surging Covid-19 cases, the head of the Robert Koch Institute announced on Friday. Lothar Wieler called for urgent additional measures to address the rise in cases as they topped 50,000 for the third day in a row. “All of Germany is one big outbreak," Wieler told reporters. "This is a nationwide state of emergency. We need to pull the emergency brake.” His comments came right after the upper house of parliament approved new restrictions that will come into effect on Wednesday. The new restrictions will require proof of vaccination for access to shared workplaces and public transportation.
- Australia will allow fully vaccinated foreign visa holders to enter the country from early December, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced. Australia’s borders have been closed since May 2020, with only restricted numbers of citizens and permanent residents allowed in. From December 1, the rules will change to allow students, business visa holders, and refugees to arrive. Fully vaccinated tourists from South Korea and Japan will also be allowed to enter. “Steps we are taking today are about securing our economic recovery, steps we are taking today are about Australians looking forward, steps we are taking today is about taking Australia forward,” Morrison said at a press briefing.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
JPMorgan to Reimburse $5,000 to Hong Kong Bankers for Quarantine
Brief: JPMorgan Chase & Co. is offering to reimburse Hong Kong employees up to $5,000 to compensate for their quarantine stay as the financial hub sticks to its zero-Covid policy. All Hong Kong-based employees who are executive directors and below may claim the amount for a single quarantine stay for personal trips undertaken by employees visiting immediate family members, which includes spouses, domestic partners, children, parents and grandparents, according to an internal memo. A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman confirmed the content.“We recognize that the costly quarantine measures in place in Hong Kong associated with COVID-19 have impacted many of you with respect to visiting family and loved ones overseas,” JPMorgan’s Hong Kong chief Harshika Patel said in the memo. The program applies to employees under quarantine between Dec. 1, 2021 and Nov. 30, 2022, the memo said.
European markets retreat slightly as Covid-19 concerns weigh
Brief: The pan-European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.2% by mid-afternoon, with telecoms climbing 1.3% while travel and leisure stocks fell 1.3%. U.S. stock futures pared earlier gains but were still up marginally in premarket trading on Monday ahead of the holiday-shortened week stateside. U.S. markets will be closed on Thursday on Thanksgiving Day and the stock market closes early at 1 p.m. ET on Friday. Stocks have a track record of posting gains in Thanksgiving week, which will potentially set the stage for a year-end Santa rally. European investors will be keeping an eye on the spread of Covid-19 across the continent after Germany and Austria re-imposed strict containment measures last week. Another big market-moving event this week will be President Joe Biden’s nomination for the next Federal Reserve chief.
Second Winter of Woe Threatens Global Economy
Brief: The world economy is approaching the northern hemisphere winter in disarray, unable to shake off the coronavirus crisis amid persisting supply disruptions, soaring prices and resurgent outbreaks. Global surveys of purchasing managers this week are likely to point that way. Among the outcomes anticipated by economists are slowing manufacturing and services activity throughout the euro zone and the U.K., and only modest improvement in the U.S. With parts of Europe confronting renewed restrictions to contain another wave of the virus, China’s rebound fading and rising infections taking hold in America too, much of the global economy is now staring at the threat of a second northern winter of woe, compounded by a cost-of-living squeeze amid surging gas prices and supply bottlenecks.
Manulife set to reopen Canadian offices in late January
Brief: Manulife Financial Corp. plans to reopen its Canadian and U.S. offices on Jan. 24, with some employees on hybrid models that will bring them into the workplace three days a week. Many workers will visit the office on Mondays, Wednesdays and one additional flex day per week, Chief Executive Officer Roy Gori and the firm’s executive leadership team said in a memo to staff on Friday. “We have listened to your feedback, heard from medical experts and government officials, and talked with our peers across the market,” the executives said in the memo. “Our goal is to balance the flexibility many of us have enjoyed as a silver lining to the pandemic with our amazing on-campus culture where we can get it done together.” Manulife’s announcement comes two days after Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada’s third-largest lender by assets, set Jan. 17 as the date it would start a phased return to office.
Less of the same: Investors should brace for positive but below average returns in 2022, says Pictet's Paolini
Brief: The outlook is still good for investors, says Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management. “Equity prices have reached a record high, up nearly 100 per cent from the pandemic low, much faster than anticipated. Whilst the outlook should seem good for investors, some factors will cap the expected returns for both equity and bonds in 2022. “Record valuation, tighter monetary/fiscal policy and the surge in inflation will keep the pressure on, resulting in single digit return for equities. Bonds, we think have entered a secular bear market, although a significant breakout in yields looks unlikely.” “Next year will be ‘less of the same’, rather than a turning point. We are in the last third of the expansion in what has been the most accelerated market and business cycle in history.”
