NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks edged lower on Tuesday in choppy trading after hitting record highs, as investors worried about the path of economic reopening and whether the Senate would authorize additional pandemic aid checks. Modest gains in early trading brought stocks to an intraday record, but the advance evaporated after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked immediate consideration of the measure calling for an increase in stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000. Final passage of the proposal would require 60 votes and the backing of a dozen Republicans. McConnell said the chamber would address the increased payments this week along with limits on big technology companies and election integrity. McConnell’s comment comes a day after Democratic-led House of Representatives approved the move to bump up direct payments. “The move by Majority Leader McConnell to not endorse the $2,000 disbursements turned equity markets from green to red around midday,” said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. “The plan that was originally signed is baked in. The question as to whether the bigger individual checks get passed is up for debate.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.3 points, or 0.22%, to 30,335.67, the S&P 500 lost 8.32 points, or 0.22%, to 3,727.04 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 49.20 points, or 0.38%, to 12,850.22. Volumes are expected to be light in the holiday-shortened week, which could lead to boost volatility. The S&P 500 is up 15.4% so far this year, with just two trading days left in 2020. Wall Street’s three main indexes opened at new highs for a second straight session after Trump signed a $2.3 trillion fiscal bill that restored jobless benefits and averted a federal government shutdown. More than 2 million Americans have been inoculated, helping investors look past a surge in infections that topped 19 million, with California, a major U.S. virus hot spot, likely to extend strict stay-at-home orders. But a sharp drop in small cap stocks could mark concern surrounding the surge in infections causing a slower than hoped for reopening, according to Stephen Massocca, senior vice president at Wedbush Securities in San Francisco. The Russell 2000 small cap index was off 1.85% on the day, its biggest one-day percentage decline in a month. Unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus measures, along with positive vaccine developments have helped the S&P 500 bounce back from a virus-fueled crash in March. The benchmark index is up more than 10% for the quarter as investors have flocked to economically-sensitive stocks from the so called ‘stay-at-home’ plays on hopes of a recovery. Intel Corp jumped 4.93% after Reuters reported activist hedge fund Third Point LLC is pushing the chipmaker to explore strategic options, including whether it should remain an integrated device manufacturer. [nL1N2J9139] After rising as much as 2.6%, Boeing shares gave back earlier gains to close up 0.07% as its 737 MAX plane resumed passenger flights in the United States for the first time after a 20-month safety ban was lifted last month. Snapchat owner Snap Inc climbed 6.15% after Goldman Sachs raised its price target on the stock on upbeat revenue growth prospects. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.46 billion shares, compared with the 11.14 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.70-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.57-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 83 new highs and 27 new lows. Nick Note: I want to be clear here. and clarify my thoughts to you. I believe the market is a great big ugly bubble that is about to break. Analyticalally the markets players are scared. And the are buying options like i have never sen before. . And the funds are jumping ship. Which means i believe this rally may well be over. And we will trade this accordingly. And i think the attempt for the $2000 additional happy checks looks like its not going to happen
McConnell blocks swift approval of $2,000 checks
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked an attempt by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to unanimously approve a House-passed bill to increase direct payments in the coronavirus relief package to $2,000 from $600.
- President Trump has pushed for larger stimulus checks after threatening to veto the year-end coronavirus relief and government funding legislation.
- Republicans including Georgia Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are running in crucial Jan. 5 runoffs that will determine control of the Senate, have expressed support for bigger checks.
The Kentucky Republican faces pressure to act after the House — with nearly all Democrats and a few dozen Republicans on board — voted Monday to boost the cash deposits to $2,000 from $600. Now, Senate Republicans wary of spending more on pandemic aid have to decide how to handle a vote on a bill backed by President Donald Trump and Democrats as they try to hold on to their majority. McConnell brought the chamber back this week with one major goal: overriding Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. He has not yet committed to bringing the $2,000 payment bill up for a vote, and it is unclear now how one would take shape. Still, Democrats tried to use the limited tools at their disposal to force a vote. Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, McConnell said he planned to set up a Wednesday vote on the veto override. He outlined three priorities Trump said he wanted Congress to address when he signed the coronavirus relief and government spending bill into law Sunday: larger direct payments, Section 230 legal liability protections for internet platforms and unfounded concerns about widespread election fraud. Without detailing any specific plans, he said that “this week, the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus.” Schumer then called for the Senate to vote on both the defense bill veto override and the $2,000 payments and “let the chips fall where they may.” When he asked for unanimous consent to increase the size of the checks, McConnell objected. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., then requested a vote on the larger payments after the NDAA vote Wednesday. McConnell again objected. Then, Sanders followed through on his threat to delay consideration of the veto override by objecting to a Wednesday vote. As the Senate needs unanimous support to move quickly on most issues, any one senator can grind activity to a halt if they choose. If the full chamber considers the stimulus check legislation, all 48 Democrats and independents who caucus with them would likely vote for it. It would then need support from 12 of the chamber’s 52 Republicans. The Treasury Department has said the $600 payments will start going out as soon as this week. If Congress approves the increase to $2,000, it will then be added to the original sum. As some GOP senators opposed the $900 billion in spending in the latest relief package, they may not support adding $463 billion — the Joint Committee on Taxation’s cost estimate for increasing the checks to $2,000 — to the price tag. However, several Republicans such as Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia have signaled they will support the $2,000 payments. Sen. .Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who called for $1,200 checks earlier in the negotiating process, might also vote for the increase to $2,000. If it decides against holding a vote on the bill, the GOP would have to defy the man who controls the Republican Party: Trump. He has repeatedly pushed for $2,000 payments since he threatened to veto the aid bill last week. He said he wanted larger direct payments along with less foreign aid funding in the $1.4 trillion government funding package passed in tandem with the relief proposal. Trump relented and signed the legislation into law Sunday night, approving the pandemic aid and preventing a government shutdown. In a tweet Tuesday morning, the president called for “$2,000 for our great people, not $600!” Votes in the House on Monday show the GOP may have become more comfortable bucking Trump. Only 44 Republicans supported the $2,000 check legislation, while 130 GOP representatives voted against it. Republicans also joined Democrats in easily overriding Trump’s veto of the defense bill.
Sanders’ move to keep the Senate in Washington through the week could also hamper Loeffler and Perdue, the Georgia Republicans campaigning in crucial Jan. 5 runoff elections. If Democrats win both races — in which they have hammered the GOP senators for their response to the coronavirus — they will flip control of the Senate.
The Democrats running in those contests, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, have called the GOP senators’ coronavirus response inadequate and pushed them to support $2,000 payments. In Fox News interviews Tuesday, Loeffler and Perdue suggested they would back the larger checks. “I’ve stood by the president 100% of the time. I’m proud to do that and I’ve said absolutely, we need to get relief to Americans now. And I will support that,” Loeffler said when asked if she would vote for the bill. On Twitter later, she fully endorsed the $2,000 payments. Perdue told Fox he is “delighted to support the president” in his push for $2,000 deposits. Both had previously resisted efforts to send higher direct payments as part of the stimulus package. The effort to boost the size of direct payments comes amid widespread concern about whether the rescue package went far enough to help Americans struggling to pay for housing and food. Congress failed for months to renew pandemic-era financial lifelines that expired over the summer as millions started to spiral into poverty. Before he agreed to the $900 billion package, McConnell had pushed for about $500 billion in new spending. Democrats, meanwhile, called for at least $2.2 trillion in aid. The compromise package the parties eventually reached includes $600 direct payments, half of what Congress passed in March as part of the CARES Act. It also adds a $300 federal unemployment insurance supplement, half of the enhanced payment Congress approved in March. The $600 weekly supplement for jobless Americans expired in July after lawmakers failed to renew it. The new package includes $284 billion in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans. It also extends a federal eviction moratorium through Jan. 31 and creates a $25 billion rental assistance fund. The bill puts more than $8 billion into Covid-19 vaccine distribution and more than $20 billion into providing it to Americans for free.It also includes $82 billion in education funding and $45 billion for transportation. It left out any aid for state and local governments struggling as the pandemic drags on. Nick Note: Trump blew it this time. I do not think it will happen. The market is expecting $2000 happy checks. And I believe the market is setting up for a wipe out!
As 2021 approaches, watch out for a Y2K-style stock-market correction, says strategist
Welcome to the last trading week of 2020, a year we can’t see the back of fast enough. Stocks are higher after President Donald Trump signed that $900 billion stimulus bill, despite 11th hour demands for bigger relief checks. With just a handful of trading days before the year finishes, our call of the day says investors need to brace for a bumpy start to 2021 if we close out the year with stock-market records. It’s been an “unprecedented year for financial assets,” with equity markets melting down earlier this year on the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by an impressive surge as authorities poured on the stimulus, notes John Hardy, head of FX strategy, at Saxo Bank. “Market historians looking back to another incredible year—1999—in which the S&P 500 closed the year at a new all-time high, will recall that the initial few days of the year 2000 saw a vicious correction. Yes, times were different, and the focus then was on Y2K and the concentrated bubble of the time, but investors need a reminder that even during major bull market runs, one can see significant setbacks,” Hardy said, in a note to clients that published Monday. Fresh closing highs hardly look like a far-fetched idea for Monday’s session. On Thursday, the S&P 500 closed just 0.5% off its record close of 3722.48 seen December 17. Stock futures are indicating the S&P may not open too far away from that level.
Others have discussed ominous parallels between this market and 1999. The S&P 500 finished that year up 19%, but fell 10% in 2000. That’s as market bears remain tough to find these days, with a median year-end price target for the S&P 500 of 4,027.21 among Wall Street’s big forecasters.
Stocks DJIA, +0.68% SPX, +0.87% COMP, +0.74% are moving higher. European markets SXXP, 1.09% are up, helped as well by last week’s post-Brexit trade deal, which is giving sterling GBPUSD, 0.23% a big boost. London stocks are closed for an extended bank holiday. Asian markets mostly rose, and bitcoin BTCUSD, 0.30% is hovering at $26,000, after topping a record $28,000 over the Christmas weekend. President Trump signed the stimulus bill, but also said Congress would vote on lifting individual stimulus payments to what he wanted — $2,000—from the agreed $600. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would hold another vote on Monday, but Republicans blocked such an effort last week.
The EU’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign kicked off over the weekend. U.S. officials are “very seriously” looking at a new strain of the virus in the U.K., says the government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He also warned of a possible “surge upon a surge” after Christmas in the U.S. Nick Note: I want to be clear here. I see a major epic record stock market crash. I believe this crash is eminent and recommend we position ourselves accordingly
House passes bill for $2,000 stimulus checks Now Ball is in Republican Controlled Senate
https://youtu.be/-lxMta2qE88
(CNN)The House of Representatives on Monday passed a measure to increase stimulus checks for Americans under a certain income level to $2,000 after President Donald Trump championed the effort, sending the bill to the Senate where its future is less certain. The legislation, which passed with a 275-134 vote, comes a day after Trump signed a sweeping coronavirus relief bill into law Sunday evening. That measure, which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis, provides for $600 in direct payments, but after a deal was brokered and passed out of Congress, Trump railed against the amount as too low and called for $2,000 checks instead, prompting House Democrats to push for an increase. Democrats have seized on Trump’s 11th-hour complaint over the direct payments in a bid to push congressional Republicans to accept a higher amount, forcing GOP lawmakers to decide whether or not to defy the President after many have argued that the overall cost for a stimulus package should not rise too high.
When and if the Senate will consider the measure is uncertain. The Senate Democratic leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, announced Monday that he planned to try and quickly pass the measure in the GOP-led chamber through requesting a unanimous consent agreement, which can be blocked by any senators who opposes it.
“This week on the Senate floor Mitch McConnell wants to vote to override Trump’s veto of the $740 billion defense funding bill and then head home for the New Year. I’m going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class,” Sanders tweeted. House Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to advance $2,000 checks last week, but the House tried again on Monday with a floor vote that required a two-thirds majority to pass since it is taking place under a suspension of the rules, a threshold that means it needed a wide margin of bipartisan support to be approved. “The President must immediately call on congressional Republicans to end their obstruction and to join him and Democrats in support of our stand-alone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000, which will be brought to the Floor tomorrow,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Sunday evening after Trump signed the stimulus legislation.
“Every Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny the American people the relief they need,” Pelosi said.
The President’s last-minute objections to the stimulus legislation initially threw into question whether he would sign it at all. When Trump finally did sign the legislation Sunday evening, he signaled in a statement that he signed the coronavirus relief bill only after securing a commitment for the Senate to consider legislation to increase stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, did not reference that commitment in his own statement Sunday night praising the President for signing the relief bill. Now that the bill has passed House of Representatives, it will put McConnell in a tough position of having to decide whether to bring the provision to the floor in the Senate as a standalone bill.
While the President has been urging Republicans to up the payments, many Republicans in McConnell’s ranks have made it clear they don’t think an increase is warranted given how much it would increase the price tag of the stimulus bill. A vote on the checks would likely divide the GOP conference and force some members to endure Trump’s ire in his final days in office.
Eligibility for the checks is determined by a person’s most recent tax returns. Anyone who made under $75,000 as an individual or $150,000 as a couple would receive the full amount. The amount individuals receive decreases by $5 for every $100 a person makes over $75,000. In short, that means that individuals who make over $99,000 would not be eligible nor would couples making more than $198,000. “Following the strong bipartisan vote in the House, tomorrow I will move to pass the legislation in the Senate to quickly deliver Americans with $2,000 emergency checks,” Schumer said in a statement. “Every Senate Democrat is for this much-needed increase in emergency financial relief, which can be approved tomorrow if no Republican blocks it — there is no good reason for Senate Republicans to stand in the way.” And Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, has threatened to delay a crucial vote to override Trump’s veto on a defense funding bill unless the Senate holds a vote on $2,000 checks. Nick Note: I want you to have a sense of what a colossal cluster fuck this Stimulus happy check boondoggle has become. Trump has thrown the Republican party, Senate and the run off elections for control of the senate in the Georgia run offs into the shit. Oh yes and the stock market. The stock market is actually pricing in and additional $2000 in happy checks on the bases that the house passed the additional stimulus bill. Said bill now heads to the senate where it will surely fail. Trump also vetoed the military spending bill where a possible override of his veto is possible. Their are plenty of land minds in Trumps field of glory. Georgia has a lot of military bases and retired military. It does not play well in Atlanta that their pay raise is hung up by a republican president. Georgia also has a huge voting block of low skilled low pay workers. And they will vote their wallets against a perceived Republican senate that does not feel their pain.
UK variant linked to high viral loads, Neanderthal gene offers protection
The highly infectious COVID-19 coronavirus variant that has been circulating in Britain is linked to higher loads of the virus in the blood, according to a research report published on medRxiv on Sunday ahead of peer review. Around 35% of patients infected by the variant form had very high levels of the virus in their samples, compared to 10% of patients without the variant, study leader Michael Kidd of Public Health England and Birmingham University told Reuters. Higher viral loads have been linked with worse COVID-19 outcomes. The tests were conducted at the Birmingham Turnkey Lab. Kidd said additional study was needed to confirm or refute the findings. If confirmed, he hopes scientists will investigate how this particular variant manages to make more copies of itself in infected patients. A specific form of a protein passed down from Neanderthals protects against severe COVID-19, and medications that boost levels of this protein could potentially help treat the disease, according to a study reported on medRxiv on Thursday ahead of peer review. The protein, called OAS1, is involved in the body’s response to viruses. People with higher levels of the Neanderthal-related form of OAS1 are less susceptible to COVID-19, and if they do become infected, they are at lower risk for hospitalization, intubation and death, the researchers found. “This protective form of OAS1 is present in sub-Saharan Africans but was lost when the ancestors of modern-day Europeans migrated out of Africa. It was then re-introduced into the European population through mating with Neanderthals” who lived more than 40,000 years ago, said coauthor Brent Richards from the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University in Montreal. An earlier study linked a cluster of genes inherited from Neanderthals to higher risks of hospitalization from COVID-19. “These findings further implicate Neanderthal ancestry in COVID-19 severity,” Richards said. The speed of patients’ antibody production – rather than the volume of antibodies they produce to fight the new coronavirus – determines whether they will survive COVID-19, new data suggest. Researchers who studied more than 200 COVID-19 patients, including 179 who were hospitalized, found those who produced so-called neutralizing antibodies within 14 days of developing symptoms eventually recovered, while those who did not produce neutralizing antibodies until more than 14 days had elapsed developed higher viral loads and more severe disease. “It is unclear why antibodies generated after this time point are unable to promote viral clearance and recovery in COVID-19 patients,” the researchers said in a report posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review. Study leader Akiko Iwasaki of the Yale University School of Medicine tweeted on Saturday, “It’s possible that virus somehow becomes resistant by hiding in inaccessible tissues.” The new findings, she added, suggest therapy with so-called monoclonal antibody drugs – such as those from Regeneron given to U.S. President Donald Trump — is likely to work only if used soon after infection.
UK and South Africa new viral variant
Investors Double Down on Stocks, Pushing Margin Debt to Record
Chasing bigger gains, some have exposed themselves to potentially devastating losses through riskier plays, such as concentrated positions and trading options
Some investors have been tempted to chase bigger gains—and have exposed themselves to potentially devastating losses—through riskier plays, such as concentrated positions, trading options and leveraged exchange-traded funds. Others are borrowing against their investment portfolios, pushing margin balances to the first record in more than two years, to buy even more stock.
The stock market is on the verge of closing out one of its frothiest runs in years. Some of the biggest fortune makers include Tesla, up 691% so far this year, and fuel-cell company Plug Power Inc., more than 1,000% higher. Zoom Video Communications Inc. has added 451%, while scores of biotech stocks have also soared, including Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna Inc., up 532%.
“The stock market is euphoric right now,” said James Angel, a Georgetown University finance professor. “A lot of people are extrapolating from the recent past and going, ‘Wow, the market’s gone up a lot and I think it’ll go up more.’ We’ve seen this play out before, and it doesn’t end well.”
In the final week of 2020, investors will be watching for last-minute changes to a Covid-19 relief package after President Trump demanded higher payouts for Americans. The pandemic itself remains in focus as cases, hospitalizations and deaths soar across much of the country.
A strong indicator of stock-market euphoria flashed red last month. Investors borrowed a record $722.1 billion against their investment portfolios through November, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, topping the previous high of $668.9 billion from May 2018.
The milestone is an ominous one for the stock market—margin debt records tend to precede bouts of volatility, as seen in 2000 and 2008.
Investors using margin debt pledge their securities in exchange for loans from brokerage firms to make further investments. They can get into trouble if their collateral falls below a certain threshold, triggering a margin call. They then have the option of either putting up more money or selling the securities underlying the loans. Many investors also use their margin balances to trade options, contracts that give them the right to buy or sell shares at a specific price, later. Options trading exploded this year as individual investors flocked to the stock market. A record number of options contracts have traded this year. An average of 29 million changed hands each day this year, a 48% jump from 2019, according to data from Options Clearing Corp. Traders can tap options to hedge their portfolios from stock declines or make bets that major indexes and individual companies will go up or down in value. Using some of the riskier strategies, traders can also lose more than they put in. Of course, individual investors who overextend themselves have been burned before. Nick Note: If ever their was a market I want to short this is it.
Trump signs massive measure funding government, COVID relief
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a $900 billion pandemic relief package Sunday, ending days of drama over his refusal to accept the bipartisan deal that will deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and avert a federal government shutdown. The massive bill includes $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September and contains other end-of-session priorities such as an increase in food stamp benefits. The signing, at his private club in Florida, came amid escalating criticism over his eleventh-hour demands for larger, $2,000 relief checks and scaled-back spending even though the bill had already passed the House and Senate by wide margins. The bill was passed with what lawmakers had thought was Trump’s blessing, and after months of negotiations with his administration. His foot-dragging resulted in a lapse in unemployment benefits for millions struggling to make ends meet and threatened a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic.. But signing the bill into law prevents another crisis of Trump’s own creation and ends a standoff with his own party during the final days of his administration. It was unclear what, if anything, Trump accomplished with his delay, beyond angering all sides and empowering Democrats to continue their push for higher relief checks, which his own party opposes.
In his statement, Trump repeated his frustrations with the COVID-19 relief bill for providing only $600 checks to most Americans instead of the $2,000 that his fellow Republicans already rejected. He also complained about what he considered unnecessary spending by the government at large.
“I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed,” Trump said in the statement. While the president insisted he would send Congress “a redlined version” with items to be removed under the rescission process, those are merely suggestions to Congress. The bill, as signed, would not necessarily be changed. Democrats, who have the majority in the House, immediately vowed to prevent any cuts. Democrats “will reject any rescissions” submitted by the president, said Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y. , in a statement. Lawmakers now have breathing room to continue debating whether the relief checks should be as large as the president has demanded. The Democratic-led House supports the larger checks and is set to vote on the issue Monday, but it’s expected to be ignored by the Republican-held Senate where spending faces opposition. For now, the administration can only begin work sending out the $600 payments. Republicans and Democrats swiftly welcomed Trump’s decision to sign the bill into law.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would offer Trump’s proposal for $2,000 checks for a vote in Senate — putting Republicans on the spot.
“The House will pass a bill to give Americans $2,000 checks. Then I will move to pass it in the Senate,” Schumer tweeted. “No Democrats will object. Will Senate Republicans?” Democrats are promising more aid to come once President-elect Joe Biden takes office, but Republicans are signaling a wait-and-see approach.
Congress will push ahead Monday, with the House expected to vote to override Trump’s veto of an annual must-pass Defense bill, confronting the president on another big issue in the final days of the session. The Senate is expected to follow on Tuesday.
In the face of growing economic hardship, spreading disease and a looming shutdown, lawmakers spent Sunday urging Trump to sign the legislation immediately, then have Congress follow up with additional aid. Aside from unemployment benefits and relief payments to families, money for vaccine distribution, businesses and more was on the line. Protections against evictions also hung in the balance. “What the president is doing right now is unbelievably cruel,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “So many people are hurting. … It is really insane and this president has got to finally … do the right thing for the American people and stop worrying about his ego.” Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said he understood that Trump “wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks, but the danger is he’ll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire.” Toomey added: “So I think the best thing to do, as I said, sign this and then make the case for subsequent legislation.” Nick Note: Trump blinked first. He played a winning hand into a loser. These $600 stimulus checks Trump agreed to are too little, to too few people and to late. The money has already been spent little left for eLtoro to get a horn up their ass or Robin Hood with a arrow to the heart.. If Trump had stuck to his guns the $2000 check for every man women and child was a game changer. The Republicans have made and are about to make another colossal blunder. They will be fighting the Democrats this week. Voting against more money for the teaming masses. This will not play well in Georgia where i predict the Republicans could well lose the senate. After a couple day (shorting opportunity) stock market celebration the markets might get a wake up call when the Republicans lose big time in Georgia. But the really big “supprise” will be when nation wide lock downs are instituted sometime in January or February..
Britain can take the lead in fintech as it shrugs off Brussels bureaucracy
https://youtu.be/F-IZou8U540
In recent years, our fintech sector has evolved at an incredible rate. Rather than going away as traditional banks would have hoped, younger financial players like Monzo, Starling, Revolut and TransferWise have matured into global brands in their own right, and formidable rivals for customers and their cash, putting pressure on the rest of the financial services sector to step outside its comfort zone, innovate rapidly and embrace a fail-fast culture. Nick Note: its our time for financial innovations and England is ready!
The drug that gives ‘instant immunity’ to coronavirus
UK trials new antibody therapy that can stop people who have been exposed to COVID becoming ill and it could save MILLIONS of lives across the globe
https://youtu.be/I86AkjZo1xI
- Drug would offer immediate and long-term protection to patients when it would be too late to offer a vaccine
- It could be given as an emergency treatment to hospital inpatients, care home residents and university students to help reduce the spread of the virus
- Scientists from the University College London Hospitals NHS (UCLH) have injected ten people with the drug
A new antibody treatment with the potential to give people instant immunity after being exposed to Covid-19 and prevent illness is being trialled by scientists in the UK. The drug would offer immediate and long-term protection to patients when it would be too late to offer a vaccine, potentially saving thousands of lives. It could be given as an emergency treatment to hospital inpatients, care home residents and university students to help reduce the spread of the virus. People who live with someone has caught COVID or been exposed to them could be injected with the drug to stop them becoming infected, even if they have not had a coronavirus vaccine. British scientists from the University College London Hospitals NHS (UCLH) have already injected ten people with the drug as part of the new trial called Storm Chaser, with an aim to trial the new treatment on 1,125 people globally. The participants received two consecutive doses of the drug. They hope the treatment would provide protection from Covid-19 for between six months to a year. A new antibody treatment with the potential to give people instant immunity after being exposed to Covid-19 and prevent illness is being trialled by scientists in the UK. Pictured above a patient at a hospital in Houston, Texas Scientists from the UCLH have also begun a second clinical trial named Provent, to examine the use of the antibody for people who may not benefit from vaccines, such as patients with a compromised immune system, or those at increased risk of Covid-19 infection due to factors such as age and existing conditions. UCLH injected the ten people – including medical staff and university students – as part of the Storm Chaser trial at its new vaccine research centre after the study entered phase three trials on December 2. Key groups of the trial include healthcare workers, students who live in shared accommodation and patients who have been recently exposed to anyone with Covid-19, as well as those in long-term care, the military and industry staff such as factory workers. In the first trial, the antibody, known as AZD7442, has been developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which has also created a vaccine with Oxford University that is awaiting approval for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). UCLH virologist Dr Catherine Houlihan, who is leading the Storm Chaser trial, said: ‘We know that this antibody combination can neutralise the virus, so we hope to find that giving this treatment via injection can lead to immediate protection against the development of Covid-19 in people who have been exposed – when it would be too late to offer a vaccine.’ Dr Houlihan said the treatment would be an ‘exciting addition’ to the efforts being tested and developed to fight corovavirus, reports The Guardian. ‘If we can prove that this treatment works and prevent people who are exposed to the virus going on to develop Covid-19, it would be an exciting addition to the arsenal of weapons being developed to fight this dreadful virus,’ she said.
UCLH infectious diseases consultant Dr Nicky Longley, who is leading the university’s portion of Provent, said: ‘We want to reassure anyone for whom a vaccine may not work that we can offer an alternative which is just as protective.’
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia and an expert in infectious diseases, said the new treatment in the Storm Chaser trial could save thousands of lives.
‘If you are dealing with outbreaks in settings such as care homes, or if you have got patients who are particularly at risk of getting severe Covid, such as the elderly, then this could well save a lot of lives. Providing it’s borne out in phase 3 trials, it could play a big role in keeping alive people who would otherwise die. So it should be a big thing,’ he said.
‘If you had an outbreak in a care home, you might want to use these sorts of cocktails of antibodies to bring the outbreak under control as soon as possible by giving the drug to everybody in the care home – residents and staff – who hasn’t been vaccinated. ‘Similarly, if you live with your elderly grandmother and you or someone else in the house gets infected, then you could give her this to protect her.’
The potential breakthrough in the instant immunity treatment is welcome news in the U.S. and across the globe as nearly 119,000 Americans spent Christmas Day in hospital with COVID-19 and 1,541 more deaths were recorded.
But according to the COVID Tracking Project, 20 states provided no update on their numbers on Friday, meaning the true number of deaths nationwide could be much higher. While overall hospitalizations dropped to 118,948 on Friday after setting a new record of 120,151 the previous day, the seven-day average climbed to a new high yet again on Christmas Day, reaching 117,029.
On Friday, there were 124,498 new cases reported yet the COVID Tracking Project warned that data had been affected by the holiday closures.
