What we’re reading (11/10)
“In The Race For A Covid-19 Vaccine, Pfizer Turns To A Scientist With A History Of Defying Skeptics—And Getting Results” (STAT News). Great article (from August) about Kathrin Jansen, the scientist leading the charge for Pfizer on the coronavirus vaccine front—an effort we (and markets) learned yesterday has been a massive success.
“A Dodgy Deal Helped Make Him A Billionaire. It Worked, Until Now” (Washington Post). “Over the past five years, Robert F. Smith became one of the nation’s most prominent billionaire philanthropists….[t]hroughout this munificence, though, Smith had a secret: He’d played a role in what federal prosecutors allege was the biggest tax evasion scheme in U.S. history, an effort by his longtime associate, Texas billionaire Robert Brockman, to hide $2 billion from tax authorities in an offshore scheme featuring a computer program called Evidence Eliminator and code names such as ‘Redfish’ and ‘Snapper.’”
“GM Plans To Hire 3,000 New Workers To Deepen Tech Expertise” (Wall Street Journal). “General Motors Co. plans to hire 3,000 new workers to bolster its engineering and software-development expertise, the latest auto maker to bulk up on tech talent as competition with Silicon Valley intensifies for the future automobile. GM said Monday the hiring will start now and continue through the first quarter of next year, focusing mostly on filling positions in engineering, IT and design, where the company is trying to operate more virtually in its development of vehicles.”
“Why The S&P 500’s Return Over The Next 10 Years Will Be Nothing Like The Last 10” (MarketWatch). “Kevin Lansing, a research advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco…developed a model that predicts where the Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings Ratio (CAPE) will be at any given time. While this model historically has been impressively accurate, a big divergence has emerged over the past few months between the actual CAPE ratio and the model’s prediction. If the model is right, then the U.S. market is due for a sizeable drop.”
“The European Union Wants One More Tussle With Trump” (Dealbreaker). “Imagine the cost to purchase a jumbo jet and ship it across the Atlantic. Now add 15%. The European Union announced yesterday it will proceed with $4 billion of annual tariffs on Boeing aircraft and other U.S. goods, the latest retaliation in a protracted trade battle.”
