(Boursier.com) – The US rating is expected in positive territory before market on Thursday. The DJIA takes 0.3% and the S&P 500 0.2%, while the Nasdaq is up 0.1%. Operators appreciate the latest news regarding any omicron virulence. A barrel of WTI crude is up 0.5% on the $ 73 on the Nymex. The dollar index agrees 0.1% against a basket of currencies. Bitcoin stabilizes at around $ 48,700.
According to the US government on Thursday, durable goods orders for the month of November 2021 rose sharply by 2.5% compared to the previous month, against 1.8% of FactSet consensus and -0.4% un months before (revised reading). Excluding transport, these orders appreciated by 0.8% against 0.6% consensus and 0.5% a month earlier.
According to the US Department of Labor on Thursday, weekly jobless claims for the week ended December 18 stood at 205,000, in line with market consensus and stable compared to the previous week.
Personal income of US households for the month of November appreciated 0.4% from the previous month, against 0.5% consensus. Personal consumption expenditure increased as expected by 0.6% from the previous month. The core PCE price index rose 0.5%, against 0.4% consensus.
New home sales for the month of November will be published at 4 p.m. (consensus 770,000). The final index of American consumer sentiment measured by the University of Michigan for December will be known at the same time (consensus 70.4).
Note that Wall Street will be closed tomorrow Friday for Christmas. On the Euronext side, tomorrow will be marked by a half-session, with a closing at 2:05 pm (for Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon, Oslo being closed all day).
The Times reports that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is less likely to cause serious illness than the Delta variant, with the risk of requiring an overnight stay reduced by 40%. The results of a study in England also showed that Omicron cases were 15-20% less likely to need to go to A&E (emergency services).
This positive news is offset by lower efficacy of Omicron vaccines, raising fears that health services may still be overwhelmed, even by milder cases, in the weeks to come. The booster injections would thus be important to prevent the virus from setting in.
A second study in Scotland showed that patients who contracted Omicron would be 64% less likely to be admitted to hospital. These first Scottish data, published Wednesday, concern young adults doubly vaccinated and compare the new variant to the Delta.
Bloomberg, for his part, reports South African data relating to Omicron, showing an 80% lower risk of hospitalization, compared to other variants.
The research, published Tuesday by the country’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases, suggests a reduced risk of hospitalization and serious illness in people with Omicron, compared to people with the Delta variant.
Evaluating the results from October 1 to December 6, the data shows that people with Omicron are 70% less likely to suffer from serious illness than with infections in the Delta. However, among people hospitalized, the risk of serious illness would not differ from other variants.
The authors of the South African article, which was not peer reviewed, warned that part of the reduction in hospitalization numbers was likely the result of high population immunity.
Elsewhere, studies from Scotland and England therefore seem to support South Africa’s findings, but with less impressive reduction percentages in hospitalizations and serious illnesses.
Another Bloomberg article finds that the number of cases in South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first discovered, has fallen sharply in recent days.
Studies therefore attest to a greatly reduced risk of hospitalization. Furthermore, these South African data suggest that the huge wave of the new variant appears to be falling as quickly as it has risen. Last positive point, the US FDA has just approved, not surprisingly, Pfizer’s Paxlovid for the home treatment of covid.
Values
You’re here. Elon Musk, who had let Internet users decide for him on a sale of 10% of his stake in the capital of the electric vehicle manufacturer, has almost finished selling shares You’re here. Wall Street took note yesterday, as the title literally soared 7.5% to $ 1,008.9. The market capitalization of the case is thus back on the 1000 billion dollars, while the fortune of Musk reaches 262 billion dollars according to the measurement of Forbes in real time … The objective of Musk will be reached “when the disposals 10b preprogrammed “will be finalized. “There are still a few slices, but it’s almost done,” said the billionaire on Twitter, relieving investors.
The wave of sales of Elon Musk shares exceeds $ 15 billion, notes the Wall Street Journal. In addition, the CEO has now exercised almost all of the stock options expiring in August. The businessman yesterday sold a few more Tesla Inc. shares, bringing the total amount of disposals to more than $ 15 billion since last month. Further sales came as Musk exercised more than 2.1 million Tesla stock options, according to regulatory documents filed Wednesday night. He sold more than 934,000 of the shares of the company he runs, valued at around $ 928.6 million, to cover withholding taxes, according to the previous day’s disclosures. The latest transactions are part of a plan Musk established on September 14 to exercise options and sell shares. The options he exercised are part of approximately 23 million vested stock options that will expire in August 2022. He has exercised approximately 21.3 million of those options.
In addition, Credit Suisse expects Tesla to deliver 290,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter against a consensus of 267,000 units.
Walmart, the American colossus of mass distribution, will passively become the largest shareholder of JD.com, Chinese e-commerce firm. Indeed, the Chinese group of video games and social networks Tencent has announced that it will distribute to its shareholders a dividend of $ 16.4 billion constituting the bulk of its stake in JD.com. Thus, at the end of the transaction, Tencent’s stake in JD.com would drop from 17% to 2.3%, making Walmart the main shareholder of JD – whose share price loses nearly 9% before market to Wall Street. For now, Walmart owns 9.3% of the capital of JD.com according to the Chinese company.
Merck. It is the turn this Thursday of the Covid-19 molnupiravir antiviral pill from the American Merck to obtain the approval of the American regulators of the FDA, giving high-risk patients another option of home treatment as cases virus increases rapidly with the Omicron variant. However, the effectiveness of the treatment would be much lower than that of Pfizer’s product, Paxlovid.
Pfizer took another 1% last night on Wall Street at an all-time high. The FDA, the American drug authority, has in fact approved the emergency use of the New York laboratory’s antiviral treatment against covid, intended for people at risk aged 12 and over. This decision makes the pill the first home treatment available in the United States. This is good news on the health front, as the highly contagious but apparently less virulent Omicron variant has become the dominant strain in just a few days in the United States.
According to test results released last month by Pfizer, Paxlovid would reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by nearly 90% in people at risk of developing severe forms of covid. In addition, the company says, based on recent data, that its treatment would retain its effectiveness against Omicron … The amount of treatment available in the short term will however be limited. To be optimal, treatment will require prompt diagnosis.
The American pharmaceutical giant, which is already developing the most widespread Covid-19 vaccine with its partner BioNTech, said it would be able to deliver 180,000 treatments to the United States by the end of the year and has revised upwards the number of treatments it could provide next year, to 120 million against 80 million previously. US President Joe Biden has meanwhile indicated that 250,000 treatments would be available in the US in January, out of the 10 million treatments that the federal government has ordered from Pfizer. The five-day prescription treatment consists of two antiviral drugs, ritonavir, which was already on the market, and Pfizer’s new antiviral. It should be started as soon as possible after symptoms and a positive screening test …
Novavax. The US laboratory says preliminary data shows that its vaccine against covid triggers an immune response against the Omicron variant.
Intel apologized Thursday to its customers, partners and the Chinese public, after the publication of a letter asking its suppliers not to source products or labor in the western region of Xinjiang.