.png?width=200&height=78&name=CH%20Diligence%20(thicker%20line).png "CH Diligence (thicker line).png")
Our briefing for Tuesday, October 5, 2021:
Oct 5, 2021 3:26:20 PM
- In the United States, New York City’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate for teachers and school staff has come into effect. The vaccine mandate applies to about 150,000 people who work in the school system including teachers, principals, custodians and lunch workers. Mayor Bill de Blasio said that about 95% of all full-time school staff have received their first dose of vaccine, and that includes 96% of teachers and 99% of principals. Vaccination rates rose significantly after the mandate was announced on August 23, de Blasio said. Some 8000 employees have been placed on unpaid leave because of a refusal to be vaccinated.
- In Canada, the government is working to demonstrate the effectiveness of mixed vaccines to other countries including the United States. Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the Public Health Agency of Canada has presented data on the effectiveness of mixed doses to the U.S. and other countries. Many countries including the U.S. only recognize people with two identical doses as being fully vaccinated. Tam says Canada is working to provide information on the effectiveness of mixing the AstraZeneca vaccine with mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna. "They have not used AstraZeneca vaccine in the U.S. and certainly not a mixed-dose schedule. As a result, they don't have domestically generated information on that front," said Tam at a news briefing.
- In the United Kingdom, experts are warning that the worst of Covid isn’t over yet. As the weather gets colder and students return to school, and offices reopen again, the U.K. could very well see another major surge in cases. Covid-19 cases in the U.K. have been averaging around 35,000 per day, with hospitalizations and deaths kept relatively low as a result of high vaccination rates. But keeping the vaccination rates up will be crucial as the colder months unfold, says Professor Mark Woolhouse of Edinburgh University. “We need to finish the job and give the maximum number of jabs,” Woolhouse told the Guardian. “Unfortunately, our vaccination programme has stalled and rates are regularly dropping below 100,000 doses a day – that’s lower than many other countries, including many in Europe.”
- India will pay compensation to the families of Covid-19 victims, as a top court approved the decision on Monday. Around 50,000 Indian rupees will go to every family who lost a loved one to the coronavirus (about $670). Families of the more than 448,000 people who died are eligible for the compensation. If the compensation is provided to everyone who already lost someone, it will end up costing provincial governments around 300 million. The government has outlined a process for submitting a claim, and the Supreme Court says the compensation should be paid no more than 30 days after the claim is submitted.
- New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the country will no longer pursue a Covid-19 elimination strategy. As the delta variant continues to spread, New Zealand’s latest outbreak has grown to more than 1300 cases, with some of them detected outside of Auckland. As she announced a plan to ease some restrictions in Auckland, Ardern acknowledged that the country must learn to live with the virus. “For this outbreak, it’s clear that long periods of heavy restrictions has not got us to zero cases,” Ardern said. “But that is OK. Elimination was important because we didn’t have vaccines. Now we do, so we can begin to change the way we do things.”
- Australia has ordered 300,000 courses of Merck’s antiviral drug used to treat Covid-19. Molnupiravir would be the first oral treatment for coronavirus if it is approved by regulators. It’s a capsule that gets taken twice a day for five days by patients with Covid-19 symptoms. Though still in its late clinical trials, Molnupiravir has proven to be effective at preventing hospitalizations, serious illness and deaths. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the treatments mean the country will better be able to live with the virus. If approved by the country’s regulator, the drug could be available in Australia by as early as next year.
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
Gen X Leaves Boomers Trailing With 50% Wealth Jump in Pandemic
Brief: Generation X, the oft-overlooked demographic group squeezed between the Baby Boomers and Millennials, has experienced a wealth boom in the U.S. since Covid-19 was declared a national emergency. During the pandemic, household wealth distribution has shifted from older generations to those who are reaching their peak earnings years, according to data from the Federal Reserve. Gen Xers, who are age 41 to 56, saw robust gains in equities and pension entitlements, while their share of the nation’s consumer debt declined, the data show. The Covid-19 crisis marks a rebound of sorts for the cohort that was worst-hit by the 2008 financial crisis. Millions of Gen Xers, who were in their 30s and early 40s at the time, lost jobs and housing wealth.
Ken Griffin Sees Young People Making ‘Grave Mistake’ Working at Home
Brief: Employees just starting out are risking their career advancement by continuing to work remotely, hedge fund manager Ken Griffin said. “If you are early in your career, you are making a grave mistake not being back at work,” Griffin said Monday in a conversation with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker at the Economic Club of Chicago. “It’s incredibly difficult to have the managerial experiences and interpersonal experiences that you need to have to take your career forward in a work-remotely environment.” Griffin, who runs Citadel’s hedge fund business and Citadel Securities, also said working outside the office hinders innovation and indicated it may hurt the country’s competitiveness. Workers in China have returned “literally from almost the start” of the pandemic, he said.
JPMorgan bans business travel for unvaccinated U.S. employees - memo
Brief: JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Monday it will restrict business travel for U.S. employees who are unvaccinated or have not disclosed their vaccination status to the bank, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. The bank has also mandated such staffers to be tested twice a week, and said they would need to contribute a higher cut of their pay towards medical insurance, to account for testing expenses. The Wall Street bank has urged its employees to get their COVID-19 shots, but not mandated vaccines, in line with peers such as Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co. JPMorgan Chase will also require proof of vaccination from employees participating in client events in-person, effective immediately, according to the memo.
India’s $1 Trillion Opportunity
Brief: India’s digital economy is poised to mirror China’s, and is expected to be worth a staggering $1 trillion in the next five to six years. According to a white paper by Investcorp, expected to be released Monday, India’s digital advancement has further accelerated amid the pandemic as consumers relied on technology to meet everyday needs — from purchasing groceries and other essentials to accessing education and healthcare services. In a country that has been one of the hardest-hit by the pandemic, 11 new unicorns (private tech companies with a valuation of at least $1 billion) were created in 2020 — the equivalent of the previous three years combined. In the first half of 2021, India boasted 15 new unicorns, which raised a total of $6 billion at an aggregate valuation of $28 billion. Investcorp now estimates that 100 new unicorns will be created in the country by 2025.
Are we on the cusp of a global capex boom?
Brief: It has been an eventful time for petrol stations across the UK. Panic buying of fuel has seen demand overwhelm supply. More broadly, the huge pent-up savings from the pandemic has seen a significant demand surge for goods. While global manufacturing continues to supply goods at a record pace, supply chains have not been able to keep up - from used cars, semiconductors and furniture, to Nandos' chicken. This has been further exacerbated by global capital expenditure (capex) levels having slumped in recent years. Capex levels have not kept pace with depreciation since 2017, and the pandemic unsurprisingly caused a further depression in capital spending. The MSCI AC World Capex to depreciation ratio (ex-financials) dropped to around one in 2020, indicating companies in recent years have mostly been spending on maintenance - investing ‘for balance sheet rather than for growth'.
