The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 500 points on Tuesday after Pfizer Inc. announced the company plans to deliver 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the United States by May, instead of an initial timeframe which suggested July as the end date. Also, investors are monitoring big companies to report their quarterly earnings later in the day. The Dow Jones rocketed 1.74% or 524 points at 10:50 am ET while the S&P 500 followed suit, gaining 1.51% at the same time. The Nasdaq 100 rose by 1.37% a minute later.
Pfizer Inc. will be able to supply the U.S. with 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses by the end of May, two months sooner than previously expected, according to its top executive
Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said Tuesday that the drugmaker and its partner, BioNTech SE, will be able to deliver the doses to the U.S. well before an earlier July 31 deadline due to a change in the vaccine’s label that allows health-care providers to extract an additional dose from each vial. The six-dose-per-vial count became effective on Monday and applies to supply contracts going forward, according to a Pfizer representative. In the U.S., Pfizer and BioNTech will deliver 120 million doses in the first quarter, 20 million more than initially promised, Bourla said in an interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Year Ahead Summit, held virtually this year. Bourla added that Pfizer and BioNTech would get more doses to the European Union before the end of the second quarter. The companies’ vaccine regimen requires two doses to provide full protection from symptomatic cases of Covid-19.
As two new stains of the virus spread globally, Pfizer and BioNTech are also developing booster shots that can protect against various mutations.
“Every time a new variant comes up we should be able to test whether or not [our vaccine] is effective,” Bourla said. “Once we discover something that it is not as effective, we will very, very quickly be able to produce a booster dose that will be a small variation to the current vaccine.” Nick Note: party time. Golden shots back on track and BIGBIG stimulus on the way… And plenty of millennials getting ready to die rag….Let me rephrase … Stupid ass millennials flush with a pocket full of happy check money to LOSE!
U.S. stocks rose Tuesday, signaling that major indexes may extend this week’s gains ahead of earnings from technology giants Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet. The S&P 500 rose a day after the broad stocks gauge posted its biggest one-day advance since November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 600 points, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed roughly 200 points Stock markets have steadied globally this week after a choppy January, when extreme moves in some individual stocks, signs of a slowdown in the U.S. economy, and concerns about the pace of the vaccine rollout and new coronavirus variants weighed on share prices. Investor sentiment has been lifted by robust earnings reports from large-cap companies, as well as a decline in coronavirus cases in the U.S. and several other major economies. Investors will parse quarterly earnings from Amazon.com and Alphabet after markets close. Shares of giant tech companies have continued to power the broader market in 2021, pushing the Nasdaq Composite up 4% so far this year. “The bar for tech was actually quite high” coming into earnings season, said Hani Redha, a multiasset portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments. “Overall, for the sector, we are still seeing very strong earnings delivered.” Earnings for the last quarter of 2020 have been better than analysts had anticipated. Of the 189 companies on the S&P 500 index that had reported results by late Monday, 81% have beaten expectations, according to FactSet. Some of the stocks that have been most popular among online day-traders plunged in premarket trading. Shares of GameStop continued to slump, dropping 40% ahead of the opening bell in New York. Headphones-maker Koss and AMC Entertainment Holdings each declined over 25%. Express, Naked Brand and BlackBerry also retreated. Investors are closely following discussions around another round of coronavirus relief in Washington. A group of Senate Republicans on Monday outlined their roughly $618 billion offer, including a round of $1,000 direct checks for many adults. The proposal omits measures favored by many Democrats, such as aid for state and local governments and a plan to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. “There is still hope of arriving at something bipartisan,” said Mr. Redha. Passing a smaller bill than President Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion package along bipartisan lines could be positive for stocks by opening the way to more stimulus spending later in his term, Mr. Redha added.
LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) – The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine may be less able to protect against infection with a South African variant of the virus that has a worrying mutation, according to results of a British study released on Tuesday. The preliminary data, which have yet to be peer-reviewed and involve a small number of patients, also suggest a significant proportion of people aged over 80 may not be sufficiently protected against new variants of the virus until they have had two doses of the vaccine, researchers leading the study said. “Of particular concern … is the emergence of the E484K mutation (found in the South African variant), which so far has only been seen in a relatively small number of individuals,” said Ravi Gupta, a professor at Cambridge University’s Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, who co-led the study.
“Our work suggests the vaccine is likely to be less effective when dealing with this mutation.”
Britain and many other countries have begun rolling out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to try to stem the spread of the pandemic disease. While the highly effective vaccine is designed to be given in two doses around three weeks apart, Britain’s government has opted to extend that time gap to up to 12 weeks to try to swiftly reach as many people as possible with a first dose. The study released on Tuesday used blood samples from 26 people who had received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine three weeks previously to test whether the shot would protect against two variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the UK variant, known as B1.1.7., and the South African variant, which has the E484K mutation. When testing the blood serum samples, all but seven of the participants had levels of antibodies sufficiently high to neutralise the virus – that is, to protect against infection, the researchers said.
When the scientists added all the key mutations found in B1.1.7 variant, however, they found the efficacy of the vaccine was affected, with, on average, two-fold higher concentrations of antibody required to neutralise the virus.
When the E484K mutation was added, even greater levels of antibody were required for the virus to be neutralised – with an average of a 10-fold increase needed, the researchers said. Dami Collier, who co-led the work, said the findings suggest “a significant proportion of people aged over 80 may not have developed protective neutralising antibodies against infection three weeks after their first dose of the vaccine.” Clinical trial data released last week on two other COVID-19 vaccines – from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson – also found the South African coronavirus reduced their ability to protect against the disease. (Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Timothy Heritage)
Despite a good start to Monday trading for both the broader market and recently booming meme stocks, shares of GameStop took a steep turn for the worst before the close after new data revealed the number of investors shorting the stock has fallen.
After posting their worst weekly performances since late October last week, the Dow Jones industrial average ended the day up 229 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped about 1.6% and 2.6%, respectively.
Meanwhile, shares of leading meme stock GameStop, which surged 400% last week, plunged 31% after market data firm S3 Partners said shorted shares of the stock fell by about 57% since Friday, with Managing Partner Ihor Dusaniwsky noting that short-sellers “have found opportunities and price exit points to trim their positions.” Other meme stocks also lost momentum: AMC Entertainment ticked up just 0.3% after skyrocketing about 275% last week as online brokerage Robinhood relaxed its trading restrictions on Reddit-fueled stocks. The softer gains come as Reddit traders turned attention to silver on Monday, pushing the commodity’s price up 11% to an eight-year high in an attempt to once again squeeze money out of Wall Street firms, but many on the discussion board warned the effort would only divert attention away from meme stocks. Heading up gains in the S&P, shares of International Flavors & Fragrances surged 14% after the firm announced it is set to complete its previously announced merger with DuPont’s nutrition and biosciences business, creating a combined company with annual revenues of more than $11 billion Global stocks also largely pushed higher after a lukewarm end to last week, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 closing up 1.6% Monday, while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.9% and Germany’s DAX index 1.4%.
Washington, DC – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer today announced they have filed a joint budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2021 that gives Congress an additional legislative tool to pass the urgently-needed bipartisan COVID relief legislation that enacts President Biden’s comprehensive American Rescue Plan which helps defeat the virus and provide workers and families the resources they need to survive the pandemic while the vaccine is distributed to every American.
Introduction of a joint budget resolution is the first step to potentially enacting a Budget Reconciliation bill, one legislative tool available to Congress to quickly pass bipartisan COVID relief legislation. The Resolution outlines the “reconciliation instructions” for each House and Senate committee, or how much funding can be spent in their jurisdiction. If both the House and Senate pass identical Budget Resolutions (which do not require a Presidential signature), both chambers can begin work on the Reconciliation bill that is signed by the President. According to an analysis of research from the Congressional Research Service, reconciliation bills has been passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis 17 times in recent years, including to pass the bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1997.
“Congress has a responsibility to quickly deliver immediate comprehensive relief to the American people hurting from COVID-19,” said Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer. “The cost of inaction is high and growing, and the time for decisive action is now. With this budget resolution, the Democratic Congress is paving the way for the landmark Biden-Harris coronavirus package that will crush the virus and deliver real relief to families and communities in need. We are hopeful that Republicans will work in a bipartisan manner to support assistance for their communities, but the American people cannot afford any more delays and the Congress must act to prevent more needless suffering.”
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Specifically, the Joint Budget Resolution Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer filed offers instructions to the relevant Congressional Committees to provide relief including but not limited to:
Immediate relief for individuals and families throughout 2021 including $1,400 per-person and per-child direct payments, an extension of Unemployment Insurance programs through September 2021 with a $400/week federal enhancement and $350 billion in critical state, local, Tribal and territorial fiscal relief. The resolution will also provide funds to greatly increase health care coverage to Americans that have lost it through no fault of their own during the pandemic.
Funding to help defeat the coronavirus including through support for vaccines, testing and public health programs. It also includes funding to help K-12 schools safely re-open and provides crucial support for the child care system.
Relief funds for the millions of Americans struggling to make rent and mortgage payments, as well as those experiencing homelessness. The resolution also includes funding for transit agencies deeply impacted by the pandemic and support for the use of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of supplies critical to beating the coronavirus.
Additional relief for our nation’s small businesses and hard-hit industries through increased funding for EIDL Advance grants, the creation of a dedicated grant relief program for restaurants, expanded PPP assistance for nonprofits and digital media services, more funds for Save Our Stages grants to independent live venues, independent movie theaters and cultural institutions and new community navigator technical assistance to help connect underserved communities with critical resources.
Funding for crucial investments in broadband and distance learning and relief for Amtrak and the aviation sector struggling with declining revenues and volumes due to COVID-19.
Funding for the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund to ramp up the President’s national vaccination program and provide flexible, targeted assistance to state, local, Tribal, territorial and the District of Columbia governments, as well as those individuals hit hardest by the pandemic.
Support for hungry families through programs like SNAP, WIC and Pandemic-EBT. This also includes critical funding for the food supply chain and the Agriculture Department’s lending and financial assistance programs to support farmers across the country.
Health care and other support to meet the needs of veterans during the coronavirus pandemic. These funds will support vaccine distribution, expanded mental health care, enhanced telehealth capabilities, extended support for veterans who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless, PPE and supplies for clinical employees, and improved supply chain management.
Critical funding for the Indian Health Service, Administration for Native Americans, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education and Native American housing programs to maintain essential health, education and social services and mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Native communities.
Funding to the Economic Development Administration and environmental justice grants to help low-income, minority communities who have been hardest hit by COVID.
Funding for critical programs to aid in the global response to and recovery from the pandemic. These instructions include significant funding for humanitarian assistance and Global Health programs.
Shares on the major stock market indexes in the United States extended gains on Monday with Nasdaq 100 rising more than 340 points led mostly by strong performances of tech behemoths Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corporation. All eyes were still on the COVID-19 relief package talks scheduled between US President Joe Biden and the Republican senators, as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki expressed optimism that the stimulus can be both large enough to help the economy exit the crisis, and accepted by both the Democratic party and the GOP. The Nasdaq 100 surged 2.66% or 343 points at 1:09 pm ET, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average concurrently jumped 0.81% or 239 points. A minute later, the S&P 500 soared 1.60%. The euro plunged 0.57% versus the dollar, selling for 1.20661 at 1:12 pm ET.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has agreed to meet a group of 10 Republican senators who have proposed spending about one-third of the $1.9 trillion he is seeking in coronavirus aid, though congressional Democrats are poised to move ahead without Republican support. Sunday’s invitation to the White House came hours after the lawmakers sent Biden a letter urging him to negotiate rather than try to ram through his relief package solely on Democratic votes. The House and Senate are on track to vote as soon as this week on a budget resolution, which would lay the groundwork for passing an aid package under rules requiring only a simple majority vote in the closely divided Senate. The goal is for passage by March, when extra unemployment assistance and other pandemic aid expires. The meeting offered by Biden would amount to the most public involvement for the president in the negotiations for the next round of virus relief. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are far apart in their proposals for assistance. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday that Biden had spoken with the leader of the group, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Though Biden is wanting “a full exchange of views,” Psaki reiterated that he remains in favor of moving forward with a far-reaching relief package. A meeting could come in a matter of days. “With the virus posing a grave threat to the country, and economic conditions grim for so many, the need for action is urgent, and the scale of what must be done is large,” Psaki said. In challenging Biden to fulfill his pledge of unity, the group said in its letter that its counterproposal will include $160 billion for vaccines, testing, treatment and personal protective equipment and call for more targeted relief than Biden’s plan to issue $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans. Winning the support of 10 Republicans would be significant for Biden in the 50-50 Senate where Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaker. If all Democrats were to back an eventual compromise bill, the legislation would reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to overcome potential blocking efforts and pass under regular Senate procedures. “In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the Republican senators wrote. “Our proposal reflects many of your stated priorities, and with your support, we believe that this plan could be approved quickly by Congress with bipartisan support.” The plea for Biden to give bipartisan negotiations more time comes as the president has shown signs of impatience as the more liberal wing of his party considers passing the relief package through a process known as budget reconciliation. That would allow the bill to advance with only the backing of his Democratic majority. The Republicans did not provide many details of their proposal. One of the signatories, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, said that it would cost about $600 billion. “If you can’t find bipartisan compromise on COVID-19, I don’t know where you can find it,” said Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who also signed the letter. But even as Biden extended the invitation to the Republican lawmakers, Psaki said that $1,400 relief checks, substantial funding for reopening schools, aid to small businesses and hurting families, and more “is badly needed.” “As leading economists have said, the danger now is not in doing too much: it is in doing too little,” Psaki said. “Americans of both parties are looking to their leaders to meet the moment.” Biden also spoke on Sunday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who are facing a growing push from the more liberal Democratic members to move forward with Biden’s legislation with or without Republican support. The other GOP senators invited to meet with Biden are Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Todd Young of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Brian Deese, the top White House economic adviser who is leading the administration’s outreach to Congress, said earlier Sunday that administration officials were reviewing the letter. He did not immediately commit to a Biden meeting with the lawmakers. But Cedric Richmond, a senior Biden adviser, said the president “is very willing to meet with anyone to advance the agenda.” When asked about the senators’ plan, Richmond said, “This is about seriousness of purpose.” Deese indicated the White House could be open to negotiating on further limiting who would receive stimulus checks. Portman suggested the checks should go to individuals who make no more than $50,000 per year and families capped at $100,000 per year. Under the Biden plan, families with incomes up to $300,000 could receive some stimulus money. “That is certainly a place that we’re willing to sit down and think about, are there ways to make the entire package more effective?” Deese said. As a candidate, Biden predicted his decades in the Senate and his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president gave him credibility as a deal-maker and would help him bring Republicans and Democrats to consensus on the most important matters facing the country. But less than two weeks into his presidency, Biden showed frustration with the pace of negotiations at a time when the economy exhibited further evidence of wear from the pandemic. Last week, 847,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits, a sign that layoffs remain high as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage. “I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans if we can get it. But the COVID relief has to pass — no ifs, ands or buts,” Biden said on Friday In the letter, the Republican lawmakers reminded Biden that in his inaugural address, he proclaimed that the challenges facing the nation require “the most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity.” Cassidy separately criticized the current Biden plan as “chock-full of handouts and payoffs to Democratic constituency groups.” “You want the patina of bipartisanship … so that’s not unity,” Cassidy said. Jared Bernstein, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Biden remains willing to negotiate but that officials needed to see more details from Republicans. At the same time, Bernstein pressed the administration’s argument that doing too little to stimulate the economy could have enormous impact on the economy in the near- and long-term. “Look, the American people really couldn’t care less about budget process, whether it’s regular order, bipartisanship, whether it’s filibuster, whether it’s reconciliation,” Bernstein said. “They need relief, and they need it now.” Portman and Deese were on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and Deese also was interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Cassidy and Bernstein appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and Richmond was on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Popular trading app Robinhood relaxed some of its restrictions on the trading of heavily shorted stocks such as GameStop on Monday, increasing the number of shares users can purchase of these companies. According to the updated rules, users can now buy four shares of GameStop instead of one. Additionally, Robinhood users can also buy up to 75 shares of AMC and 200 shares of Express. The news comes amid a report from the Wall Street Journal which said the broker managed to raise another $2.4 billion from shareholders amid the investing frenzy. Shares of electronics and video game retailer GameStop dropped nearly 30% an hour into Monday’s session amid what appeared to be profit-taking for some investors who have purchased the stock early in the standoff between WallStreetBets and hedge funds last month. On Sunday, it was reported the hedge fund Melvin Capital Management sustained a 53% loss in January amid the GameStop short squeeze. GameStop was as high as $483 now down to $230 per share losing over half its value. Nick Note: See the millennials are all in. They bought in low. But they kept buying and borrowing. Starting to book losses. Now they are getting them to stay in. See the message reprinted from the blogasphere. They will ride big profits into huge losses they always do!!!! And when they get their next happy check they will do it all over again. They just can’t help themselves
Manufacturing activity in the United States improved in January, a report by IHS Markit revealed on Monday. The index measuring the sector activity increased 2.1 points month-on-month to reach 59.2, the highest figure reported by the survey so far.
The upward trend was attributed mostly to strong client demand, and a significant rise in new orders. The report also noted that foreign client demand accelerated, due, in part, to eased coronavirus situation, but warned that supplier delays still posed a hindrance, much like the month prior, although not to the same extent.
“Demand from both domestic and export customers picked up sharply in January, buoyed by several driving forces. Consumer demand has improved while businesses are investing in more equipment and restocking warehouses, preparing for better times ahead as vaccine roll outs allow life to increasingly return to normal over the course of 2021,” IHS’s Chief Business Economist Chris Williamson said.
Greylock Capital Associates, LLC, No. 21-bk-22063 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.)
Case Title
Greylock Capital Associates, LLC
Case type
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Court
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
Index Number(s)
2021bk22063
21-bk-22063
21-22063
Case Opened
January 31, 2021
Search for this case: Greylock Capital Associates, LLC, No. 21-bk-22063 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y.)
Nick Note: In the dead of the night Sunday these FUCKS went belly up. As of this AM the financial media have not picked it up. Our algorithm search was given a priority to look for the hedge funds vulnerable in the Redditt Millennial short squeeze. This puts enormous pressure on the regulators to stop what is a market manipulation by blog. The biggest retirement funds in America are taking huge loses. I am telling you they will NOT NOT NOT let this happen.
