rss

ICYMI – US Senate moves to punish China on coronavirus

From the US afternoon, when equities and risk currencies dropped away …. or more accurately, continued to drop away …

US Senator Lindsey Graham, (persistent brown nose to Trump), weighing in yet again to try to cover up from the disastrous US fumbling of the crisis:
  • accused China’s Communist Party of deception over the virus
  • “I’m convinced China will never cooperate with a serious investigation unless they are made to do so.”
Graham proposed a “COVID-19 Accountability Act”
  • requiring China provide “a full and complete accounting to any COVID-19 investigation led by the United States, its allies or UN affiliate such as the World Health Organization
  • require certification that China had closed all wet markets
  • bill would authorize the president to impose a range of sanctions
all within 60 days.
It weighed on markets and there is a little more follow through in early Asia.

Germany’s daily coronavirus case count has nearly tripled – harsh lockdowns may be reintroduced

Justin updates the German count each day, and its getting ugly again.

In brief:
  • Germany reported 933 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday
  • That is just about 3 times as many as the day before (admittedly coming off a weekend the numbers can be skewed)
  • rising figure comes 6 days after the country reopened shops, some schools
  • Germany’s “R” rate has  climbed above 1 for the past 3 days (see below for what R is)
Authorities are considering reintroducing lockdown measures
  • Trigger for this is if there are more than 50 cases per 100,000 people
Watch this not just in German, but other countries. Yesterday I posted on a rise in cases in South Korea:
  • Coronavirus – South Korea seeing a cluster infection linked to clubs and bars in Seoul
R rate of 1 means that on average an infected person infects one other
Above 1 means that the outbreak is worsening
Justin updates the German count each day, and its getting ugly again.

Gilead to make remdesivir coronavirus treatment in 127 countries

Gilead has struck a licensing agreement with five generic drugmakers around the globe

  • deal is to make antiviral drug remdesivir in 127 countries
  • deal is “royalty-free” until WHO says the Covid-19 outbreak is no longer a global health crisis or “until a pharmaceutical product other than remdesivir or a vaccine is approved to treat or prevent Covid-19.”
Back in mid-April I posted the breaking the news on this:
  • Early data on Gilead coronavirus medicine remdesivir is very encouraging
The news prompted swings not only in stocks but also in other markets (FX of course) . Since then there have been various updates, it works, it doesn’t, the usual. Much of of it ill-informed (again, the usual).
Anyway, the latest is this licensing agreement for the drug. Beats drinking bleach I guess.
Here you go, the recipe! (via Wikipedia if memory serves)Gilead has struck a licensing agreement with five generic drugmakers around the globe

Stanley Druckenmiller says negative interest rates make no sense

The Druck has no truck with subzero rates!

  • stimulus programs are pretty ‘anti-capitalist’
  • stimulus programs not building future wealth
  • stimulus will be deflationary, not inflationary
  • US is likely to see higher taxes, more regulation
  • a “V” shaped recovery is a fantasy
Druckenmiller was speaking at an event for The Economic Club of New York – summary remarks via Bloomberg
The Druck has no truck with subzero rates! 

Overnight – LA County’s stay-at-home orders will be extended for the next 3 months

This via remarks from Los Angeles County’s Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer

  • stay-at-home orders will “with all certainty” be extended for the next three months
Ferrer fell short of issuing an official order to that effect but did say that timeline would only change if there was a “dramatic change to the virus and tools at hand.”
Adds she hopes to slowly lift restriction over the next 3 months but they unlikely to be completely removed.
LA is part of the largest US state economy … its going to be a slow recovery if Ferrer is correct.
 Los Angeles County

Stocks slide and tumble into the close. Major indices close near session lows.

NASDAQ and S&P index fall over -2%

The major stock indices tumbled lower into the close, with the NASDAQ and S&P index both closing over -2% on the day. The final numbers for the major indices are showing:
  • S&P index -60.2 points or -2.05% at 2870.12
  • NASDAQ index -189.79 points or -2.06% at 9002.55
  • Dow -457.21 points or -1.89% at 23764.75
At the highs the:
  • S&P index is up 0.53%
  • NASDAQ index is up 0.64%
  • Dow industrial average is up 0.66%

The small-cap Russell 2000 index fell by -2.85% after being up as high as +0.43%.

The Canadian TSX/S&P index fell -1.23%
European shares ended mixed with Germany, France, and Portugal moving lower while UK, Spain, and Italy rose.