The EconomistNovember 14th 2020 9
The world this week Business
Pfizer andBioNTech, two
pharmaceutical firms, an-
nounced that their vaccine
against covid-19 is more than
90% effective, according to
early results from trials. The
high success rate raised hopes
of a quicker return to nor-
mality than previously expect-
ed. Other pharmaceutical firms
are also working on vaccines
and are expected to make
announcements in the coming
weeks. Current projections
suggest 50m doses of the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will
be available in 2020, rising to
1.3bn the following year. On the
day of the announcement,
Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s share
prices surged 8% and 14%,
respectively.The news excited stockmark-
ets. In America the Dow Jones
Industrial Average jumped by
2.9% on Monday. The s&p 500
rose sharply when it opened,
before ending the day up 1.2%.
The stoxxEurope 600 climbed
4%. Oil prices increased to $
per barrel. By contrast, many
technology firms that have
been buoyed by the pandemic
faced a sell-off, including
Zoom, a video-conferencing
firm, Ocado, a grocery delivery
company, and Peloton, a maker
of exercise bikes.Regulators continued to take
aim at technology firms on
antitrust grounds. The Euro-
pean Union brought charges
against Amazon. After an
investigation, the European
Commission claimed that the
tech giant uses data gathered
from vendors to give its own
products and services an un-
fair advantage. Amazon said
that it disagrees with the com-
mission’s findings.Meanwhile, India’s competi-
tion watchdog has ordered a
probe into Google’sapp store.
It fears that a requirement that
consumers buy apps using the
firm’s payment service smoth-
ers competition. In China
regulators have drafted new
antitrust rules aimed at tech-
nology firms. They will target a
range of practices, including
treating customers differently
based on their spending behav-iouranddata.Themovefol-
lowsthesuspensionofthe
initialpublicofferingofAnt
Group, a fintechfirm,days
beforeitsflotationinHong
KongandShanghai.Out with the oldIn a surprise shakeup Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s
president, fired the country’s
central-bank governor, only 16
months after sacking his pre-
decessor. One day later the
Turkish finance minister, Mr
Erdogan’s son-in-law, resigned
supposedly because of a feud
with the new central-bank
governor. After the reshuffle,
the banking regulator said it
would curb restrictions on
foreigners trading the Turkish
lira, which were imposed last
year. Investors seemed to
welcome the changes. The lira
rose by more than 7% against
the dollar in the past week,
reversing a long decline.Following two quarters of
contraction, Britain’sgdp
grew by 15.5% between July and
September. The economy is
still 8.2% smaller than it was
before the virus struck and is
likely to shrink again in the last
three months of the year be-
cause of a second lockdown.
Unemployment over the same
period rose to 4.8%, up from
4.5%. Redundancies surged to
a record high, as firms were
forced to contribute more to
the cost of furloughed workers.Unemployment figures from
America were better than
expected. Non-farm employ-
ment rose by 638,000 in Octo-
ber. The unemployment rate
fell by one percentage point to
6.9% in the same month.China’s consumer-price index
dropped to 0.5% in October, its
lowest level in over a decade.
That reflects low food prices,
particularly of pork, supplies
of which were hit by African
swine fever but are now recov-
ering thanks to record imports.
Sluggish consumer demand is
another factor.SoftBank Group announced
profits of $6.1bn in the three
months to the end of Septem-
ber. The Japanese firm booked
losses of $3.7bn with its foray
into investing in publicly listedtechnology companies in
America. But that was offset by
an improved performance by
its Vision Fund, which is now
worth $1.4bn more than the
costs of it 83 investments.
SoftBank also removed several
executives from its board,
following investors’ concerns
about governance.McDonald’sreported revenues
of $5.4bn in the latest quarter,
down 2% from the same period
last year but beating analysts’
expectations. It performed well
in America where same-store
sales grew by 4.6% from the
previous quarter.Beyond Meat, an alternative
protein provider, reported
losses of $19.3m in the third
quarter, compared with profits
of $4.1m in the same period
last year. An easing of covid-
induced consumer stockpiling
and falling sales to restaurants
were blamed.What goes around
Singaporean holiday-makers
itching for escape can now take
a “cruise to nowhere”. Pas-
sengers undergo covid-19 tests
before boarding and are re-
quired to carry contact-tracing
devices. The ship idles in the
waters off the city state for two
days before returning to port.