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Here’s what you need to know about the impact of Covid-19 to navigate the markets today.
• President Donald Trump said Friday that McKesson would work with the U.S. government to spread a coronavirus vaccine if one is approved. Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump said the joint effort was taken during Operation Warp Speed by the federal government, which aims to deliver Covid-19 vaccine doses to the American public. Shares of McKesson were up nearly 3% in recent trading action. Just before Trump mentioned the company, the stock was up about 1.7%.
• A meeting between US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Prime Minister Liu He to delay the US-China Trade Department was delayed, according to an exclusive Reuters report. The meeting was scheduled to take place through video conference on August 15th.
• Rent the Runway, a clothing subscription startup, has decided not to reopen stores, said company president Anushka Salinas during a CNBC interview.
• Stein Mart closes all its stores in the wake of the retailer’s bankruptcy. Here is the complete list of stores that hold liquidation sales.
• Canada’s Competition Bureau investigates Amazon.com
for his conduct and bearing in that country, saying “there is at present no conclusion of traffic,” but also inviting input from the public.
• US retail sales rose 1.2% in July, which was below the 2% consensus estimate among analysts surveyed by FactSet. The modest gain followed sequential increases of 8.4% in June and 18% in May, after the 15% plunge in April.
• The UK Government will purchase another 90 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including 60 million from Novavax and 30 million from Janssen Pharmaceutica, a unit of Johnson & Johnson.
The UK has now agreed to buy 340 million doses of coronavirus vaccine. Here is a roundup of the latest developments in antiviral medications and vaccines.
• European Commission announces deal to buy 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca,
with an option to buy 100 million more, once the vaccine has been proven to be safe and effective.
• European equities fell after the UK added France to its quarantine list and China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported mixed news for July, including a 4.8% increase in industrial production a year earlier and a 1.1% decline in retail sales.
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, suggested that schools keep classes out of as many classes as possible, that school buses keep their windows open, and that students wear face masks, during a Facebook Live chat with Good Rainaondo of Rhode Island.
• Fauci also said that immunity to herds is not possible for Covid-19, because trying to reach instead of holding safety procedures while waiting for a fax would result in an “enormous” death toll. During an interview with actor Matthew McConaughey on Instagram, Fauci also discussed contact tracing and the success of smaller island nations in harnessing the coronavirus.
• A federal judge rules that a lawsuit filed by a group of hair salons and restaurant owners in Kansas and Missouri to pay an insurance company for lost income due to the pandemic could advance. Plaintiffs argued that their claims should be covered by “all risk” policies that do not exclude loss caused by a virus. In other cases, judges rejected insurance claims for business disability because they only cover losses resulting from “direct physical loss.” or damage. “
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