The Weekly Rundown

Market Data

Headlines (Politics, General News)

Immunisation against coronavirus could begin in the UK from next month, said Matt Hancock. The U.K has pre-ordered 40m doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was 90% effective in trials (across all age, gender, and ethnic groups), and should receive 10m doses by the end of the year. The Moderna vaccine, of which the UK government recently secured 5m doses, also reported nearly 95% effectiveness and requires only -20°C storage conditions compared to -75°C for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Boris Johnson laid out his 10 point plan for Britain’s green recovery, which will utilise £12 billion of Government investment and potentially three times as much for the private sector in an aim to create 250,000 green jobs.
U.S Covid-19 deaths rose to their highest level in 6 months, with the average deaths per day over the past week standing at 1,162, their highest level since May.

Economy and Central Banks

Andrew Bailey said that the potential reallocation of labour after the recovery from coronavirus could be comparable to the 1980s shift away from heavy industry and mining in the UK.
Jerome Powell, made another appeal to Congress on Tuesday for a coronavirus relief package to help troubled businesses and unemployed Americans.
According to the ONS the average price of a UK property sold for an all-time high of £245,000 ($326,000), this marked a 4.7% increase Y-o-Y. London’s property prices also hit a new record high of £496,000.
1/7 UK businesses have ‘low or no confidence’ that they will survive the next 12 weeks, according to the ONS.
Data published by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) has shown the UK government debt has reached £2.1 trillion ($2.7 trillion), total debt now stands at 100.8% of the size of the entire UK economy, the highest ratio since the early 1960s.
28% of people said their incomes had dropped during the pandemic according to the BoE. However, 57% said their spending had decreased.

Finance and Markets

Data from Hargreaves Lansdown shows that British investors have heavily invested in Chinese equity funds following the outcome of the U.S election. Investment into Chinese and Asia Pacific equity funds has increased by 84%, as investors believe Joe Biden will restore U.S-China relations.
Norway’s $1.2 trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund is allowing $18 billion more to be allocated with external managers. It increased the limit of money under external management from 5% of equities to 5% of total assets.
Perella Weinberg Partners’ advisory business is to go public via a Spac. It will be valued at $1 billion. Its asset management business will remain independent.
Q4 2020 has been the strongest quarter for M&A in two decades. $612bn have been agreed since October, compared to $461bn since the same period last year.

Companies

Airbnb filed for a $1 billion IPO, which is expected to take place in December. It is to be listed on the NASDAQ.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares rose 19.7% this week upon the announcement it will be added to the S&P 500. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jones upgraded his price target for Tesla from $360 to $540 based on the EV company’s software and services business.
The US Federal Aviation Administration issued an order on Wednesday to allow Boeing’s 737 Max to return to the skies.

Published by The Sweeney Club