.png?width=200&height=78&name=CH%20Diligence%20(thicker%20line).png "CH Diligence (thicker line).png")
Our briefing for Tuesday, April 5, 2022:
Apr 5, 2022 4:43:54 PM
- The United States Senate has reached a bipartisan deal to secure $10 billion in pandemic relief funding on Monday. If passed, the bill will see funding made available for more testing, vaccines, and Covid-19 treatments. Notably missing from the deal is resources set aside for global pandemic relief which Democrats had hoped to include. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed his frustration with the agreement but said a new deal for further global assistance may be coming later in the spring. “While we were unable to reach an agreement on international aid in this new agreement, many Democrats and Republicans are committed to pursuing a second supplemental [agreement] later this spring,” Schumer said in a statement. “It is my intention for the Senate to consider a bipartisan international appropriations package that could include additional aid for Ukraine as well as funding to address Covid-19 and food insecurity globally.” Utah Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican in favor of global funding, released a statement reassuring fellow Republicans that a new deal would not take money out of the pockets of Americans. “Importantly, this bill is comprised of dollar-for-dollar offsets and will not cost the American people a single additional dollar,” he said. He continued that he is willing to work with his Democratic counterparts to “explore a fiscally-responsible solution to support global efforts in the weeks ahead.”
- Data released from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) showed a 34 per cent increase in daily average case counts as of March 30, suggesting that a sixth wave is now underway. Rising case numbers and hospitalizations have health experts urging the public to continue getting booster shots and wearing masks. The surge in cases has been linked to the removal of pandemic restrictions and the highly transmissible Omicron variant BA.2. Now some experts are saying that the removal of mask mandates was done too hastily and that certain jurisdictions should reconsider their implementation. “Masks need to go back on very quickly. Otherwise, we’re going to have a lot more cases on our hands,” said Dr. Kashif Pirzada, an emergency physician in Toronto. “I think we should be encouraging people to wear a mask in a crowded situation, subway, or a sports arena or in a large classroom … or a shopping mall,” he said. Vaccination rates in the country are also on the decline, although 80 per cent of the population has received two doses of an approved vaccine, only 47 per cent have received a booster or third dose.
- In Ireland, the amount of people in hospital with Covid-19 has dropped to its lowest number in two weeks. Just under 1,400 people were in hospital as of Tuesday, down from 1600 last week and a total of 7,733 new cases were confirmed through the country’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre. In recent weeks, the number of people in intensive care units has remained steady, despite an overall increase in cases. There are currently 54 people in intensive care, with 5 having been released on Tuesday. The BA.2 strain of the Omicron variant is making up roughly 95 per cent of new cases on the island and has now been declared the most infectious respiratory disease ever to circulate in the country. According to health officials, over half of the patients in hospital with Covid-19 were incidental cases who had originally been admitted to hospital for other reasons.
- The outbreak of Covid-19 in Shanghai that now has 26 million people on lockdown has been described by officials in the city as “extremely grim.” Director of Shanghai’s working group on epidemic control, Gu Honghui, told state media that the epidemic in the city is still “running at a high level.” Nearly 10,000 health workers have been sent to Shanghai from across the country to help alleviate the stress on the existing health care system. Similarly, 2,000 military personnel have been recruited to administer testing to residents, some of whom have been unable to leave their houses for weeks. Eastern Shanghai which was scheduled to come off lockdown last Friday is still in a quarantine state, with most services being restricted. Nearly 73,000 cases have been recorded in the city during the most recent outbreak, including another 13,354 on Monday, however, there has so far no been no deaths officially recorded. The vast majority of reported cases are asymptomatic, and almost all of them have been caused by the BA.2 Omicron variant.
- The number of new Covid-19 cases has dropped in France for the last two days potentially signaling an end to the sixth wave in the country. According to la Direction générale de la Santé, the French health agency, there was just over new 102,000 cases recorded on Sunday, a 7 per cent drop from the Sunday before. Figures from the agency have a three-day lag, but if preliminary data is correct, cases could be plateauing. Data from French biomedical research facility Institut Pasteur suggests that the peak of 150,000 cases a day was expected in late March followed by a drop. The research led by infectious diseases modelling expert Dr Simon Cauchemez, has so far accurately reflected case numbers in the country but that may still change. The Institut has said that their modelling is not to be considered a “prediction” and that there are factors that have not been accounted for such as weather and temperature. Warmer weather has proven to slow the spread of the virus, but a recent cold snap could see uptick in new cases.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
What Japan’s Top CEOs Will Take Away From the Pandemic
Brief: As Japan moved to fully lift Covid-19 restrictions at the end of March, the country’s top chief executives said the lessons from the pandemic will be longer-lasting. “The ongoing threat of Covid-19 throughout 2021 reinforced for me the fact that improving human health around the world is an essential part of sustainable social development,” said Sunao Manabe, chief executive of Daiichi Sankyo. Manabe was the top-scoring chief executive in the biotech industry in Institutional Investor’s 2022 All-Japan Executive Team survey, as voted for by buy- and sell-side participants. Manabe says Japanese pharmaceutical companies have much to learn from early delays in the development and production of coronavirus vaccines in the country. Daiichi Sankyo was the first company to develop an mRNA vaccine in Japan, and the first in the world to use its proprietary cationic lipid, which it believes improves the safety of the shot. With support from the Japanese government, the company is developing a vaccine that targets a specific receptor binding domain of the novel coronavirus spike protein, which it hopes will be more effective and safer than other companies’ mRNA vaccines, which target the entire length of the spike protein. Daiichi Sankyo’s vaccine is being developed for general use by the end of 2022.
Moderna Drops as Two Buyers Turn Down More Covid Shots
Brief: Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock fell 4% Tuesday as reports came in that two large buyers have declined options to purchase more of its Covid-19 vaccines, a sign of a waning pandemic bringing down demand. The African Union and Covax, the World Health Organization-backed group, decided not to obtain more of the vaccine as developing nations struggle to turn supplies into inoculations, Bloomberg reported. Less than two months ago, the company had forecast higher vaccine sales for the second half of the year, pinning its estimates on Covid-19 becoming a flu-like endemic illness that would lead people to take shots on a regular basis. While the African Union agreed to purchase 50 million doses for delivery in the first quarter, the body of 55 member states opted not to acquire another 60 million doses in the second quarter, according to the wire agency.
Ray Dalio: 'We're going to have a period of stagflation'
Brief: Billionaire investor Ray Dalio is concerned about the potential for a stagflationary economic backdrop to take form amid persistently high levels of inflation and rising interest rates. "I think that most likely what we're going to have is a period of stagflation. And then you have to understand how to build a portfolio that's balanced for that kind of an environment," the Bridgewater Associates founder and co-chief investment officer said in an interview for Yahoo Finance Presents. Stagflation can be defined as a period of slow economic growth, increased joblessness and rising inflation. And every which way an investor turns right now (even on Google, where searches for "stagflation" have surged 400% since the start of the year) it looks like a speeding train called Stagflation Express. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 7.9% in February, marking the fastest pace of annual inflation in 40 years amid a push higher in rent, food and used car prices. Meanwhile, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index (PCE) rose 6.4% in February, accelerating from a 6.1% increase in January.
Treasury yields invert as traders weigh U.S. recession risk
Brief: The bond market on Monday continued to flash warning signs that the U.S. economy could be headed for a recession after U.S. Treasury yields inverted again. The yield on the 2-year Treasury yield inched marginally lower to 2.424, while the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose about 4 basis points to 2.412%. The yield on the 5-year government bond moved 1 basis point higher to 2.56% and the 30-year Treasury bond climbed about 5 basis points to 2.473%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%. 2-year and 10-year yields, which form the main part of the yield curve watched by traders, inverted once again on Monday. Those Treasury yields flipped on Thursday for the first time since 2019 and did so again on Friday, following the release of closely watched jobs data. “The yield curve inversion continues to be the focus of investors, triggering conversations around the timing of the next recession,” Nationwide chief investment of research Mark Hackett said in a note. “Historically, the yield curve inversion has meant that the fuse is lit for a recession. But the timing of a recession is impossible to predict at this stage.”
CDC Head Plans to Review Agency After Covid Response Criticism
Brief: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to conduct a review after facing a wave of criticism for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In an agency-wide message to her leadership team and staff on Monday, CDC director Rochelle Walensky shared her plans to review the agency’s structure, saying that “never in its 75 years history has CDC had to make decisions so quickly, based on often limited, real-time, and evolving science.” She said that an external senior federal health official was hired for an evaluation of CDC’s structure, systems and processes, according to an earlier report published by the Washington Post. The agency has come under strain and scrutiny as it was forced to quickly take action during the pandemic based on data developed at top speed. “Work is needed to institutionalize and formalize these approaches and to find new ways to adapt the agency’s structure to the changing environment,” a CDC spokesperson said in an emailed statement confirming the review. The agency has repeatedly been criticized for Covid guidelines involving health workers, such as earlier this year when it shortened recommended periods for isolation and quarantine. After that, it came under fire for not backing routine testing for exposed people before resuming normal activities.
