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(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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The World Health Organisation is urging countries to continue using the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as global medical leaders meet to discuss reports of blood clots. WHO's global advisory committee on vaccine safety will hold a meeting on Tuesday, while the European Medicines Agency will also meet, with a view to publishing further guidance on Thursday. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO's chief scientist, told a media briefing "we do not want people to panic", as she said no association has been found so far between blood clots and Covid-19 vaccines. She said the rates at which blood clots have occurred in people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine "are in fact less than what you would expect in the general population". A small number of cases of blood clots in people having the jab have been reported in Europe, prompting several European countries including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Norway to halt rollout of the vaccine. Sweden added itself to the list on Tuesday, saying the move was precautionary.
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Separately, AstraZeneca said it has modified an existing agreement with the US government to supply up to 500,000 additional doses of AZD7442, a long-acting antibody combination which is in late-stage development for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said the new US government deal builds on earlier deals for a total of 200,000 doses with the US Department of Health & Human Service and Department of Defense. The value of the extended agreement is USD205 million and is contingent on AZD7442 receiving and Emergency Use Authorisation from the US Food & Drug Administration. AstraZeneca said the total value of current agreements with the US government for the development and supply of AZD7442 in 2021 is about USD726 million. The extended agreement is not anticipated to effect the company's financial guidance for 2021.
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AstraZeneca also said it has completed the sale of its 27% stake in Viela Bio to Horizon Therapeutics. It will receive USD775 million in cash proceeds and profit from the Viela stake sale, but this also isn't expected to affect its guidance for 2021.
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Credit Suisse confirmed that it has made "a strong start" to 2021, achieving the highest level of pretax income in both January and February in a decade. The Swiss bank said its Investment Bank division is benefiting from a "particularly strong" performance in capital markets issuance activity and from a continued "good" performance across sales & trading. Investment Bank year-to-date revenue is up over 50% compared to the prior year, Credit Suisse noted. It also reported increased client activity year-on-year, which was boosting all of its three Wealth Management-related businesses, while net interest income was also stabilising and recurring commissions and fees continued to trend up. "Notwithstanding the continued Covid-19 pandemic, our credit loss experience remains benign, with signs of improvement in the global economy beginning to benefit allowance for credit losses under the current expected credit loss accounting methodology," said Chief Executive Thomas Gottstein. Turning to the suspension and liquidation of the supply chain finance funds - with net asset value of USD10 billion - managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management with assets originated and structured by Greensill Capital, Credit Suisse said its priority remains the recovery of funds for its investors.
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Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia said it will slash up to 11% of its workforce within two years, as part of a EUR600 million cost-cutting programme. Announcing the wide-ranging restructuring led by new Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark, Nokia said that market developments in the next two years will determine the exact number of job losses. "Planned restructuring is expected to result in an 80,000–85,000 employee organisation, over an 18–24-month period, instead of the approximately 90,000 employees Nokia has today," the company said in a statement. The firm will also streamline its portfolio and reduce "site fragmentation" in the long-term, the statement said. Nokia has struggled in the three-way race against Ericsson and Huawei to dominate the super-fast 5G equipment market, losing out on a major Verizon contract in the US last year and failing to make inroads in China.
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Chilean copper miner Antofagasta hiked its dividend as it reported positive annual results and a strengthened balance sheet. For 2020, revenue was up 3.3% to USD5.13 billion from USD4.94 billion in 2019. Pretax profit was USD1.41 billion, up 4.4% from USD1.35 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 12% to USD2.74 billion in 2020 from USD2.44 billion the year prior. The miner declared a final dividend of 48.5 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 54.7 cents per share, up from 17.8 cents in 2019.
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Plumbing and heating products supplier Ferguson said it delivered good top-line growth in the first half of its financial year and despite "challenging personal and professional" circumstances. For the half year ended January 31, revenue was up 4.2% to USD10.31 billion from USD9.89 billion at the same time the year before, and pretax profit rose 18% to USD739 million from USD628 million. Ferguson declared an interim dividend of 72.9 US cents, having paid out nothing the year before and said that now the disposal of its UK side has completed, a special dividend of 180 cents per share will be paid in May. It also announced a new USD400 million share buy back scheme. Ferguson completed the GBP308 million sale of heating & plumbing distribution business Wolseley UK to US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice at the start of February.
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MARKETS
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Asian and European stock markets rallied on Tuesday, following a strong lead from the US. However, Wall Street itself was pointed to a mixed open on Tuesday. In London, AstraZeneca was up 3.2%, while in Zurich, Credit Suisse was up 1.7%. "Even though several European countries have paused the rolling out of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine due to health concerns, the optimism connected to the recovery narrative hasn't been derailed," commented David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK. "Government bond yields are a little lower this morning, so that is assisting equities also."
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CAC 40: up 0.1% at 6,041.59
DAX 30: up 0.6% at 14,551.83
FTSE 100: up 0.5% at 6,783.62
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DJIA: called down 0.1%
S&P 500: called marginally lower, down 1.00 point
Nasdaq Composite: called up 0.3%
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Hang Seng: closed up 0.7% at 29,027.69
Nikkei 225: closed up 0.5% at 29,921.09
S&P/ASX 200: closed up 0.8% at 6,827.10
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EUR: flat at USD1.1933 (USD1.1931)
GBP: down at USD1.3835 (USD1.3885)
USD: up at JPY109.20 (JPY109.08)
Gold: up at USD1,732.02 per ounce (USD1,730.28)
Oil (Brent): down at USD67.83 a barrel (USD68.70)
(currency and commodities changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Two secretaries from US President Joe Biden's administration and their Japanese counterparts on Tuesday shared concerns about China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region during their first in-person meeting in Tokyo. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin held the so-called two-plus-two talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi. Speaking at a joint news conference, Motegi said the two countries expressed their concern about a new Chinese law which allows Beijing's coastguard to use weapons on foreign ships. Chinese coastguard vessels are frequently spotted near a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, a source of diplomatic tension between Beijing and Tokyo. The Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan, where they are known as Diaoyu/Tiaoyutai. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said earlier this month the law does "not target any specific country."
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Consumer prices in France were flat in February on the prior month but were higher than a year ago, figures from Insee showed. In February, the consumer price index was flat on a monthly basis, after rising by 0.2% in January. Year-on-year, consumer prices rose by 0.6% in February as in the previous month. The harmonised index of consumer prices was stable over one month. Year-on-year, it increased by 0.8%.
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Portugal will be removed from England's travel ban red list, the UK Department for Transport said. The decision means returning travellers will be able to quarantine at home, rather than in a hotel at a cost of GBP1,750. But Ethiopia, Oman, Somalia and Qatar have been added to the red list to "protect the country against new variants of Covid-19", the DfT said. The changes come into force at 4am on Friday. Portugal's Algarve region is a popular hotspot destination for UK holidaymakers.
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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