The major indices won Monday amid optimism for another COVID-19 stimulus package after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s comments yesterday that lawmakers are reaching agreement on a $ 1 trillion bill. The proposal is expected to include another round of $ 1,200 checks and could potentially extend an eviction moratorium.
the Nasdaq compound (NASDAQINDEX: ^ COMP) surpassed the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. The index rose 173 points, driven by gains in major tech stocks like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).
CEO Tim Cook. Image source: Apple.
Next week in technology
It will be a very busy week for the tech giants. Apple CEOs Amazon Facebook (NASDAQ: FB)and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Subsidiary Google agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee as part of a landmark antitrust hearing. The hearing was originally scheduled for today, but was postponed to Wednesday for congressional legislators to pay their respects to Representative John Lewis, the civil rights icon who passed away earlier this month.
Antitrust scrutiny by large tech corporations has intensified in recent years, and critics argue that companies collectively wield too much market power and that different aspects of their respective businesses undermine competition in various ways. Lawmakers are expected to question Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai as they gather evidence on those allegations as part of a broader antitrust investigation launched last summer.
The four giants are set up to report earnings the next day after the market closes.
Moderna Gets Government Funds for Vaccine Research
Actions of Modern (NASDAQ: MRNA) It jumped 9% after biotechnology announced yesterday that it had obtained an additional $ 472 million from the U.S. Government’s Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to support a larger Phase 3 program for the candidate for Moderna’s COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, mRNA-1273. That funding comes after biotechnology previously received $ 483 million from BARDA and raises the total value of the awards to $ 955 million.
The expanded Phase 3 program, which began today, will include 30,000 participants and will be carried out in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Moderna says it is on track to deliver 500 million doses per year starting in 2021, with the potential to increase to 1 billion doses per year.
Image source: Getty Images.
“We thank BARDA for this continued commitment to mRNA-1273, our COVID-19 vaccine candidate.” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement. “Encouraged by the Phase 1 data, we believe that our mRNA vaccine can help address the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent future outbreaks.”
Hasbro results impacted by coronavirus
Toy manufacturer Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS) saw its shares lose 7% after announcing second-quarter earnings. The company lost revenue expectations because many retailers closed due to the COVID-19 crisis. Second-quarter revenue fell 29% to $ 860.3 million, less than the $ 992 million in sales that analysts had expected. That led to an adjusted net income of $ 2.7 million, or $ 0.02 per share.
Hasbro said it was unable to meet strong consumer demand due to store closings and a shortage of products. Partner factories in China, which account for 55% of the company’s total production capacity, have now resumed operations and are operating at normal levels. Management is optimistic that conditions will improve during the rest of the year.
“While the impact of COVID-19 throughout the year remains geographically unpredictable, as stores reopen and begin to return to production for entertainment, we expect the environment to improve in the third quarter and prepare us for run a good holiday season, “said Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner.
