Der Stand der Dinge - 22.5.2020
News: I have lost my patience with the BBC Morning News: at 6:15 this morning I endured what felt like a half-hour long report on the pros and cons of opening schools next week. The report regurgitated information we had seen already, over several previous days, and finished with an interview of a nine-year old who during a previous interview had argued strongly for the re-opening of schools and now had changed his mind and thought it was not a good idea. WTF? What kind of propaganda are we watching on the BBC? My eyes glazed over after five minutes and I switched to Quest to watch some rubbish about a used car dealer… Get a grip and focus on real news!
What is real? The relaxation of lockdown restrictions in all 50 US states has generated the much-feared “second wave” of infections. Th state of Alabama was one of the first to cancel the lockdown. The city’s hospitals have now run out of ICU beds. The same thing will happen in Texas, in Florida and other countries. In case you missed it, China is grappling with new outbreaks of Covid-19 infections in the North-East of the country and has imposed a Wuhan-style lockdown. Supposedly the outbreak was triggered by a student who returned from New York. Food for thought: are you flying anywhere for your summer holiday…?
Boris Johnson finally relented and cancelled the NHS surcharge of ￡400pa which the service imposed on its non-EU migrant workers as a contribution for treatment when they get sick. In PM Question Time on Wednesday he claimed the surcharge generated “over ￡900m” when in fact it amounts to only a tenth of that. That’s low. Given that these employees already pay National Insurance contributions like everyone else, the fee was grossly unfair. BJ only caved in after massive pressure from his own party. Shame on him. He made further headlines yesterday as it was announced he would not face a criminal inquiry over accusations that he granted political favours to Jennifer Arcuri. Well, yes, it’s quite possible that the favours were not of a “political” nature…
Financial Markets: Stock markets were down yesterday as US-China relations are set to deteriorate. US unemployment claims are still rising, albeit at a lower rate. There are now 38m people officially unemployed. Assuming that the total US “Labor” (sic) Pool currently stands around 170 million people (the latest available number of 160m is from 2018) that works out at an unemployment rate of over 22%. In other words, if we add those who couldn’t claim yet or having given up trying to claim for unemployment benefits, a quarter of the US working population currently is unemployed. That implies a serious disruption to US consumption as well as social dislocation and perhaps unrest. Not good.
Check here for Regulatory News. Germany has announced that the Pharmaceutical sector has been added to its list of security relevant sectors. This tightens up reporting requirements for investors. Check your holdings – or buy our software.
Stay safe!