What’s Going On Here? French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi agreed to buy US biotech Principia Biopharma for $3.4 billion. What Does This Mean? Sanofi’s a pretty traditional pharma outfit, so its purchase of Principia should help push it toward more innovative therapies, which might lift earnings growth. Most of the world’s big pharma and biotech companies…
Tag: coronavirus
Ep 113: U Up?
What’s Going On Here? Facebook reported higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue. What Does This Mean? With the world forced to stay home, there wasn’t much else to do but scroll through Facebook and watch Instagram Live’s quarantine concerts. That helped the tech giant clock 10% more monthly active users. Still, it hadn’t factored in just how much…
Ep 111: All Scrude Up
What’s Going On Here? The price of a barrel of oil crashed to its lowest price since 1986 – and the reason might well be found in the “futures” market. What Does This Mean? The 34-year low is partly down to: the same falling oil demand that’s caused issues for weeks: falling demand that…
Journal Report 9: COVID-19 – McKinsey Briefing note
Epidemiological swing factors for COVID-19 Growth of new transmission complexes and evidence of seasonality; Impact of physical-distancing measures; The readiness of the health system to navigate recurrence; The emergence of herd immunity. Two new insights Beyond coronavirus: The path to the next normal; Safeguarding our lives and our livelihoods: The imperative of our time. Image…
Ep 108: AirbnBillion
What’s Going On Here? Airbnb welcomed a new $1 billion investment this week as private investors helped the accommodation marketplace #stayhome and #stayalive during the coronavirus pandemic. What Does This Mean? Neither Airbnb nor its two new investors gave all the details, but they did reveal that the investment was a mixture of equity and debt,…
Ep 107: Climb And Punishment
What’s Going On Here? Take a long look at your dividends, because they could be your last for a while: Goldman Sachs reckons coronavirus support for large companies has put cash payouts at risk. What Does This Mean? In its analysis of major European companies’ dividends, Goldman concluded that since this year’s payouts are mostly paid…
Ep 106: Climb And Punishment
What’s Going On Here? As coronavirus fatalities in Europe and the US show signs of letting up, analysts at investment bank JPMorgan think they can see an end to stock markets’ steep decline. What Does This Mean? JPMorgan looked at the relationship between newly reported coronavirus cases and stock market volatility, and it found they’re positively correlated….
Ep 103: Coronavirus is affecting everything, even Diet Coke
What’s going on here? Coca-Cola said it depends on Chinese suppliers for sweeteners that are a key ingredient to the popular diet soda. The company also warned of possible supply chain issues in the long term, should the outbreak continue to grow. What does that mean? Coke says it is implementing procedures to procure the…
Ep 95: US companies suspend China operations, restrict travel as coronavirus outbreak spreads
What’s going here? Disney, McDonald’s, Starbucks and other U.S. companies with significant exposure in China are suspending operations as response to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The municipal government of Shanghai also issued a notice ordering companies not to resume work after the CNY holiday until Feb. 3, instead of Jan. 31. The virus has…
Ep 94: Sorry, We’re Closed
What’s Going On Here? Investors ditched their stocks on Monday, as the deadly coronavirus continued to disrupt the Chinese – and global – economy. What Does This Mean? Chinese authorities confirmed on Monday that the virus has killed 80 people and infected almost 3,000 more. And they warned its spread could accelerate with the millions…
with HT 