What we’re reading (11/9)
“Pfizer's COVID Vaccine Candidate Shown To Be 90% Effective In Early Findings” (USA Today). “In a major boost to vaccine development, Pfizer and its collaborator BioNTech released early study results Monday indicating that their vaccine, BNT162b2, prevented more than 90% of infections with the virus that causes COVID-19. In the newly released data on the first 94 trial participants to come down with COVID-19, the vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective in preventing the disease. Half the participants received a placebo and half the vaccine, so the new data shows that more people who received the placebo than the vaccine came down with COVID-19.”
“Zoom And Other ‘Stay-At-Home’ Stocks Are Getting Crushed On The Positive Vaccine News” (CNBC). “Shares of Zoom Video fell sharply on Monday morning as names benefitting from people staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic lost their appeal following the release of positive coronavirus vaccine data. Zoom Video traded more than 15% lower in the premarket. Fellow “stay-at-home” stocks Amazon and Netflix dropped 3.4% and 5.4%, respectively. Teladoc Health slid 6.4% and Shopify declined by 5.1%.”
“While the Pandemic Wrecked Some Businesses, Others Did Fine. Even Great.” (New York Times). “Perhaps most surprising: Some companies that had feared for their lives in the spring, among them some rental car businesses, restaurant chains and financial firms, are now doing fine — or even excelling. Wall Street analysts expect earnings to rebound to a record high next year. And, over all, 80 percent of companies in the S&P 500 stock index that have reported third-quarter earnings so far have exceeded analysts’ expectations, said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst for S&P Dow Jones Indices.”
“Affordable Care Act’s Fate Goes Before A Reconstituted Supreme Court on Tuesday” (MarketWatch). “Republican attorneys general in 18 states, backed by the Trump administration, are arguing that the whole law should be struck down because of a change made by the Republican-controlled Congress in 2017 that reduced the penalty for not having health insurance to zero. A court ruling invalidating the entire law would threaten coverage for more than 23 million people. It would wipe away protections for people with preexisting medical conditions, subsidized insurance premiums that make coverage affordable for millions of Americans and an expansion of the Medicaid program that is available to low-income people in most states.”
“With Pick For Treasury Secretary, Biden Will Tip Hand About His Economic Agenda” (Washington Post). “President-elect Joe Biden faces a crucial decision in the coming weeks that could dictate how he plans to run his administration and shepherd the nation’s economy: whom to nominate as treasury secretary. A leading candidate for the post is Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard, who served as a senior Treasury Department official in the Obama administration. Brainard has broad policymaking experience, particularly during economic crises, as well as wide respect among international foreign ministries and central banks from her time as the department’s top diplomat.”
