The global financial media last night and this morningThe main headlines of common concern are:
PIMCO: strong market valuations reflect expectations of economic recovery in the second half of the year
John Studzinski, managing director and vice-chairman of PIMCO, the world's largest bond brokerage, said market valuations were strong, but we were "relieved" because it reflected expectations of an economic recovery in the second half of the year.
"there is no doubt that the current market reflects the belief that there will be a reasonable number of fiscal and money purchase programs to support." "the question will be whether financial support will continue for a long time after this year-which could have an impact on inflation or asset valuations," Stazsky said. But I think we are reassured by the current strong market valuations, which reflects the recovery of the US economy in the third and fourth quarters of this year. Of course, globally, it is a China-led recovery. "
Some worry that the stock market is overvalued and overstated by current fiscal and monetary stimulus measures.
Governments and central banks are eager to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted global trade and led to business closures for a long time.
However, others believe that the market rebound reflects optimism that the epidemic will be brought under control once restrictions are lifted, especially with the introduction of the coronavirus vaccine, the global economy will recover soon.
Lagarde: euro zone recovery is a little delayed but not off course
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, pointed out at the cloud forum in online Davos of the World Economic Forum that the euro zone is still in the transition period of economic recovery, which, though lengthened, has not deviated from the established development track.
The euro-zone economy is likely to grow by just 0.6% this quarter, well below the 1.1% expected in December. Lagarde commented that the growth rate of the euro area will remain negative in the fourth quarter, which will affect the growth rate in the first quarter.
"if the 'year of recovery' in 2021 is divided into two parts, the first part is that the vaccine has been put into production and promoted, but the uncertainty is still high because of the emergence of the mutated virus, the blockade will continue to be strengthened." Lagarde is expected to say.
Lagarde explained in detail that in the first stage of recovery, continuous follow-up of fiscal policy is very important, and we should still be very active in supporting the real economy. On monetary policy, Ms Lagarde's message is clear: to continue to support all sectors of the economy and ensure that the financing situation remains conducive to economic recovery.
"in the second stage, after the economy is reopened, the economy will no longer be the 'economy' as we mentioned before, but the new economy, in which there will be a lot of positive improvements and many challenges." Lagarde commented.
Blankfein, former head of Goldman Sachs Group, issued a warning about SPAC listing mode.
Goldman Sachs Group (Goldman Sachs), a former CEO Lloyd Blankfein, believes that the SPAC listing model avoids the rigorous due diligence of the normal IPO process, which can be problematic.
Blankfein said on Monday that while the SPAC boom showed no sign of cooling amid strong demand for shares in new companies, investors should be cautious because the SPAC process bypassed the rigorous due diligence of the normal IPO process.
"when a company first goes public with SPAC, you are reviewing a shell company, which is probably just the reputation of its sponsor," Blankfein said. When that company subsequently merged, it was a merger and acquisition activity, not an IPO with a lot of due diligence obligations. "
The model of public listing through SPAC has been around for many years. In essence, this is a curvilinear listing method of issuing bad checks to set up a bag company and then finding the target company to acquire and merge. The model has helped many smaller and sometimes speculative companies go public. Last year, SPAC's popularity soared, with SPAC raising $64 billion, almost equivalent to traditional IPO, according to Renaissance Capital.
Fauci: the postponement of the second dose of vaccine is worrying or provides an opportunity for mutated viruses.
Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases in the US government, said he was worried about delaying the injection of the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on Monday that it was best to follow the schedule recommended in clinical trials.
At a panel meeting of the World Economic Forum, Fauci said, "I am more worried because the human body will not be fully protected until the second dose of the vaccine is vaccinated, and delaying the second injection may also provide opportunities for more mutated viruses."
Governments around the world are working to strengthen vaccination programmes to curb the spread of worrisome new mutations. France recommended doubling the interval between two doses of the vaccine on Saturday after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it could extend the interval to up to six weeks.
Britain was the first country to adopt this controversial approach. The interval of vaccination designed and tested by Pfizer Inc / BioNTech SE,Moderna Inc is 21 and 28 days respectively. There is no data to show that the protective effect of the first vaccination is sustainable after the second recommended vaccination time. The COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca PLC, has a relatively larger injection interval in clinical trials.
Merck terminated COVID-19 's vaccine research and development program because of data showing insufficient immune response.
Merck will suspend the development of two experimental COVID-19 vaccines after early trial data showed that they could not produce the same immune response as natural infections or existing vaccines.
The US pharmaceutical giant, with a history of successful vaccine development, has adopted a different strategy from competitors such as Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc Inc. And Johnson & Johnson, using a more traditional vaccine technology that focuses on weakening the virus. One vaccine, V590, borrows the technology of Merck's Ebola vaccine, while another V591 vaccine is based on the measles vaccine used in Europe.
Nick Kartsonis, senior vice president of infectious diseases and vaccines clinical research at Merck Research Lab (Merck Research Laboratories), said the results were "disappointing and somewhat unexpected." Compared with people naturally infected with coronavirus, these two vaccines produce fewer neutralizing antibodies and elicit a weaker immune response in humans.
In the face of anti-monopoly regulation, technology giants step up government lobbying activities
Calls for regulation of large technology companies have grown louder in recent years, with supporters of government action saying that technology companies such as Facebook Inc have become too powerful. As a result, tech giants have sharply increased their lobbying spending over the past decade. In the past 12 months, Alphabet Inc-CL C, Amazon.Com Inc, Facebook Inc and Apple Inc spent a total of $51.7 million on US government lobbying, an increase of 29 per cent over 2015 and nearly 500 per cent over 2010, according to official data.
Facebook Inc sharply increased lobbying spending in 2020 in the face of one of the biggest antitrust lawsuits in history. The social media giant spent $19.7 million on government lobbying last year, up 18% from its total in 2019, according to data. This makes Facebook Inc the largest lobbying company in the United States, ahead of technology giant Amazon.Com Inc and telecom group Comcast Corp.
Interestingly, despite strict regulation, Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc-CL C spent less on lobbying in 2020 than in the previous year. Apple Inc came under fire last year for his so-called anti-competitive app store rules, while Alphabet Inc-CL C faces antitrust lawsuits for "illegally maintaining a monopoly position in the search and search advertising market".