The Weekly Rundown

Market Data

Headlines (Politics, General News)

On Tuesday, Britain became the first Western country to formally start vaccinating its citizens using the Pfizer and BioNtech vaccine. Four million people are to be vaccinated across the U.K by the end of the year.
The Food and Drug Administration has given emergency approval for the Pfizer vaccine, which is expected to be administered within 24 hours of President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday.
U.S regulators have stated that the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine works within 10 days of the first dose. U.K medical regulators have advised that individuals with a history of allergies should not receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, warned that there is a strong likelihood that Britain will exit the EU without a deal. This was revealed on Friday following talks with the EU Commision in Brussels.
Pennsylvania Republicans failed to overturn Biden’s victory in the state as the U.S Supreme Court rejected their request.
Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, has initiated Japan’s third fiscal stimulus of the year with a ¥30.6 trillion ($294 billion) package to speed up Japan’s economic recovery.
Cuba is planning its biggest currency devaluation since the 1959 Communist Revolution.

Economy and Central Banks

The Trump administration has proposed a $916 billion coronavirus relief deal to help the economy recover.
U.S jobless claims jumped to 853,000 last week, their highest level since mid-September, due to a surge in Covid-19 cases causing new shutdowns.
The Asian Development Bank has set in motion a $9 billion vaccine initiative to support developing countries roll out a Covid-19 vaccination.

Finance and Markets

Global Market Strategists at JP Morgan predict that next year will see a $600 billion increase in demand for equities relative to this year, and a $500 billion drop in supply.
JP Morgan mentioned in this week’s Goldman Sachs financial virtual conference that the bank’s revenues in trading and investment banking are up around 20% in Q4. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated that BofA experienced similar significant increases with Trading revenues up 15% from last year
30 leading asset managers, together managing $9 trillion, have formed the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. They set a goal of net zero carbon emissions in their portfolios by 2050.
Joseph Safra has died aged 82.

Tech

AirBnB went public on the Nasdaq, ending the week with a valuation of $83 billion.
Doordash went public on the New York Stock Exchange, raising over $3.4 billion and ending the week with a $56 billion valuation.
In a bid to counter terrorism, the European Commision has called on EU countries to form a plan that will require social media companies to remove terrorist content within an hour of publication.

Companies

Tesla raised $5 billion for R&D by offering new shares on the public market. Elon Musk also announced that he will be moving to Texas to be closer to gigafactory and SpaceX operations.
Oracle, currently based in Redwood City, California, has also announced that they will be moving their headquarters to Texas.

Published by The Sweeney Club