Barron's - USA (2021-03-01)

(Antfer) #1
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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you listen to podcasts or at


Barrons.com/podcasts


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

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