10 BARRON’S March1,
REVIEW
30,932.
Dow Industrials:-561.
Dow Global Index:-17.
1.46%
10-year Treasury note:+0.
TARGETING MUTANT OUTBREAKS
Inflation Rumbles
Treasury yields rose as investors antic-
ipated a strong economic recovery and
inflation. The yield on the 10-year note
hit 1.61%, the highest in a year. Bitcoin
fell after Treasury’s Janet Yellen called
it “an extremely inefficient way of con-
ducting transactions” and even Elon
Musk suggested that prices were high.
Tech stocks plunged, then rallied, after
Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell
reiterated a low-rate policy.GameStop
and other “meme” stocks popped. For
the week, the Dow industrials slid
1.8%, to 30,932.37; the S&P 500 lost
2.4%, to 3811.15; and the Nasdaq Com-
posite retreated 4.9%, to 13192.35.
A Third Vaccine
The U.S. passed 500,000 deaths from
the pandemic. The Food and Drug
Administration’s advisory committee
signaled thatJohnson & Johnson’s
one-dose Covid-19 vaccine would win
approval. The Biden administration’s
$1.9 trillion relief measure looks likely
to pass the House, though the $
minimum wage appears threatened
after the Senate parliamentarian de-
clared it couldn’t be treated as a bud-
get bill. In Texas, meanwhile, power
returned in much of the state, but cus-
tomers girded for massive bills.
Seeking Consent
Federal Judge Merrick Garland ap-
peared likely to be confirmed as the
new attorney general after Senate Ju-
diciary Committee hearings. Garland
said his first priority would be to in-
vestigate the Capitol insurrection and
combat domestic terrorism.
Trump Taxes
The Supreme Court denied former
President Trump a hearing on the
release of his taxes to the Manhattan
district attorney, who is examining
business practices at the Trump Or-
ganization. D.A. Cyrus Vance has
built a team reportedly examining a
range of possibly fraudulent practices.
More Flak for Boeing
The engine on aBoeing777 caught
fire and rained debris, but the jet
landed safely. Similar planes with
Pratt & Whitney engines were
Healthcare
On the Attack
The pandemic tested the innovative capacities of health-
care—and so far it’s performed impressively.
Today, the struggle against Covid-19 is being waged with
large-scale vaccinations. “We cannot wait for [the virus]
to show signs of resurgence,” Pfizer’s chief scientist, Mi-
kael Dolsten, toldBarron’sHealthcare Roundtable.Pfizer
developed its vaccine with German partnerBioNTech
and is working on oral and intravenous Covid treatments
that, he said, “are able to act against all mutants and
many different coronaviruses.” The intravenous antiviral
is expected to begin Phase 2 and 3 trials in the second
quarter, with the oral version just behind.
The speed with which Pfizer,Moderna, and (any day
now)Johnson & Johnsonwon approval for effective
vaccines bodes well. “We’re only scratching the surface of
the power of proteomic analysis, genomic analysis, whole
genome sequencing, circulating tumor DNA, and on and
on,” said Blue Ox Healthcare Partners CEO Charles Ken-
nedy. “I’m looking for investments that can be brought to
market that reduce costs and improve patient outcomes.”
Cantor Fitzgerald senior healthcare analyst Louise
Chen likes Pfizer and J&J among large-cap pharmas with
pipelines “focused on large unmet needs, such as immu-
nology and inflammation, rare and orphan diseases, and
oncology.” China, she said, is underappreciated, predict-
ing: “Within the next 10 years, we think the Chinese do-
mestic pharma market could become one of the largest
pharmaceutical markets in the world, if not the largest.”
Two of her biotech picks are Chinese:I-MabandHutchi-
son China MediTech.—Shaina Mishkin
$28 B
The Wall Street Journal estimate
of the amount Texans paid to
retail power producers above
traditional utility rates after de-
regulating in 2004.
$215 M
Macquarie’s profit from selling
natural gas to Texas during the
recent Arctic freeze.
$9 K
Price level for a metric ton of
copper last week, highest in a
decade, and up 14% in 2021.
38 %
Percentage of North American
movie theaters opened in mid-
February.
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THE NUMBERS
HE SAID
“Elon Musk
could announce an
electric airplane
tomorrow. He
can. He has the
capital. He has
the name.”
Former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt
in an interview with Barron’s
grounded, after several other incidents of
engine fires had been reported.
Annals of Deal-Making
Goodyear Tire & Rubberagreed to buy
Cooper Tire & Rubberfor $2.8 billion...
M&T Bankreached a deal to buyPeo-
ple’s United Financialfor $7.6 bil-
lion...Activist investor Starboard Value’s
special purpose acquisition company
agreed on a $3.4 billion acquisition of data
center provider Cyxtera Technologies...A
Churchill CapitalSPAC saw its shares
plunge after agreeing to buy electric-vehi-
cle maker Lucid Motors...A group of four
activist investors revealed a 9.5% stake in
Kohl’s, and is seeking nine of 12 board
seats...Verizonwon more than half of the
wireless spectrum in a U.S. auction that
drew a record $81 billion in bids...AT&T
is selling TPG its stake in struggling Di-
rectTV and other assets for $1.8 billion,
and spinning them off into a new com-
pany. AT&T will retain 70% of the
spinoff, valued at $16.25 billion. Illustration by Elias Stein; Christophe Morin/Bloomberg