What’s going on: Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that Germany will go into a “tough” lockout from this week until Christmas. Non-essential shops and schools will be closed from Wednesday, and Christmas meetings will be reduced from 10 people to five people from two different homes.
The announcement comes after Germany recorded nearly 30,000 new coronavirus infections and nearly 600 deaths within 24 hours.
“If we act wisely, we can re-protect the country’s economy,” Altmeier said. But it “depends very decisively on the course of events,” he stressed.
As to the extent of the new restrictions, economists are concerned.
“Germany needs to control itself for a second recession,” Dr George Groomer, chief economist at Commerce Bank, told customers on Monday.
Big picture: Germany is not the only country with recurrent health status. South Korea has warned of rising cases and may announce new social remote measures. The mayor of London is urging the government to close schools before the holidays rather than increase epidemics in the city.
While the release of vaccines is an important moment for a catastrophic epidemic, it is a reminder that it may not be an immediate cure for the dual health and economic crisis.
“Germany has struggled for the past few weeks after being a European success story associated with a wave,” Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank said in a research note Monday. The new lock is a short-term “blow to function and confidence, even if the damage is limited by knowledge of the immediate vaccine roll,” he said.
‘Blank check’ companies have billions to spend in 2021
Special purpose acquisition companies, or so-called “blank check” companies, all work with cut contracts. These companies raise funds from investors by going public, and then have two years to put that money to work.
According to Goldman Sachs, 206 SPACs have raised $ 70 billion in IPO revenue this year, a five-fold increase from 2019. Registered contracts are declared or closed by SPACs.
Remember: Companies like Draft Kings and electric truck maker Lordstown Motors went public in 2020 by merging with SPACs, a faster route than a traditional IPO. Since then the shares of both companies have risen, which helps to increase interest in the process.
This pace is expected to continue into 2021, with the wall of capital still waiting to be used.
Goldman estimates that $ 61 billion of equity IPO revenue accumulated by 205 SPACs is “currently looking for acquisition targets”. That money must be used to find a home in 2021 or 2022, or return it to investors.
By far, electric and autonomous car companies are one of the most popular SPAC targets. But there are only so many of those companies, which means the scope of interest should expand.
“[There’s an] The imbalance between supply and demand is that more capital is being mobilized and less explicit targets, ”Dirk Albersmeier, co-chairman of JPMorgan Global Connections and Acquisitions, told me.
Albersmier noted that as competition for US acquisition targets heats up, most of that money could go to Europe and Asia.
Look at this place: The massive demand for high-growth companies already re-emphasizes the conversation about whether ratings are too stretched and falling. The need in SPACs can only feed those fears.
Many SPACs are focused on technology and with a limited time to use the capital, buyers will “bid on themselves,” Albersmeier said.
Pfizer and Moderna will monetize vaccine sales
It does not take into account the goodwill incentives these companies receive by putting an end to the worst epidemic in a century. The effect is magnified for modern biotech company Moderna, which some have heard of before 2020.
Investor Intelligence: Pfizer’s stock is up just 10.7% this year, following the S&P 500’s 13.4% profit. But shares of German partner Bioendech, which trades in New York, rose more than 275% to $ 30.7 billion.
Moderna’s share is up 702% this year, giving the company a $ 62.1 billion market cap. Investors see the effectiveness and safety results for its corona virus vaccine as a validation of the entire pipeline of Modernna’s products. They are increasingly convinced that this will not be the company’s only blockbuster.
But the profitability of vaccine sales also attracts criticism. More than 1.6 million people worldwide have now died of Govt-19 disease.
“It’s completely wrong for pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna to make a profit, and it’s very wrong for US executives to make personal fortunes from the US taxpayers’ massive subsidy and support from the Govt-19 vaccine,” spokesman Eli Jupnik told Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog. And the Patient Advocacy Committee.
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