1) The pharmaceutical company Moderna Inc. has announced its experimental coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective against Covid-19, the second vaccine to hit a key milestone in U.S. testing. The 30,000-subject trial, which is still underway, indicates it is effective at preventing disease that causes symptoms, while also showing signs of being safe. Moderna said it plans to ask federal health authorities to clear the vaccine by early December, and if approved, could go into distribution that month, making it one of the first Covid-19 vaccines to go into distribution in the U.S., where reported coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are surging. Earlier this month two other companies, Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, said their experimental Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective at protecting people from the virus in a large clinical trial.
2) American retail sales rose at a slower-than-expected pace last month, as spending slowed amid steady increases in weekly applications for unemployment benefits as the pandemic continues to accelerate. Retail sales for the month of October rose 0.3% to $553.3 billion, less than the forecasted 0.5% advance. Amazon, the online retail giant, is considered to be nearing its peak retail expansion in selling and delivering hard goods. Their problem is there’s really not much left to sell except maybe automobiles.
3) The spiraling COVID-19 crisis will confront president elect Joe Biden starting on day-one. But so far, there’s no indication he has any real plan and how he will get it done. He has vowed to enact a swift and aggressive national approach to combating COVID-19 with a federal mask mandate and impose similar restrictions at a local level. He wants to expanding testing and contact tracing efforts and use a more evidence-based approach in issuing guidance. But his success will partly hinge on the daunting task of controlling a spiraling pandemic that has constrained the country for nearly a year, and then repairing the economic damage it has wrought.
4) Stock market closings for – 19 NOV 20:
Dow 29,483.23 up by 44.81
Nasdaq 11,904.71 up by 103.11
S&P 500 3,581.87 up by 14.08
10 Year Yield: down at 0.85%
Oil: down at $41.58