Vaccine? .. The CDC has put States on notice: "Be ready for a Covid-19 Vaccine by late October". Hmmm.. The first wave will likely be healthcare workers. But, it looks like the general population will see vaccines before year end. Asked if they can be safe when the new vaccine process normally takes years one expert said, "Yes. Normally they do Phase one, tow and three in order. Due to the need, they overlapped the testing phases on the promising vaccines. So, Phase one, two and three will all be done, just some of the phases at the same time" .. Hmmm....
Oh Yeah? You and What Army ??? .. NY Governor Cuomo seemed to threaten President Trump yesterday saying, "if he plans to come to NYC and walk around he'd better bring an Army. NYer's want nothing to do with him..". .. Uh.. Wow..A State Governor threatening a sitting President on behalf of the states citizens... Cuomo seems to be responding to Trump's threat to cut off Federal funding to NYC and other cities that allow lawlessness. Trump asked all Federal agencies to make a list of funds that can be redirected from NYC, DC, Seattle and Portland. Those cities are free to refuse National Guard and other Federal troops to help bring peace.. but they are also free to lose federal money ..
Its not just here in the USA and in Belarus .. In Bulgaria there were 60 arrested as thousands protested in the city of Sofia to demand the resignation of PM Borissov. It "started peacefully" but when it got dark protesters turned violent and threw things at cops. (Sound familiar??) The difference is that the news shows the violent protesters and doesn't pretend their "peaceful" ..
In Germany/Russia: German doctors have confirmed that Putin enemy Alexei Navalny was indeed poisoned with, "Novichok" which is a nerve agent. When asked, the Kremlin said: "Germany has not told us that" .. Ahh.. The old lie and deny tactic.. Let's see how that works for them ..
In Da Swamp: "Salon Gate" is all the buzz in DC .. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has now apologized for getting her hair done at a salon that was supposed to be "Covid-Closed". Believe it or not .. there are some people turning this into a conspiracy saying it was a "Set-up" because she was filmed... ahahahahah... . she was filmed by a standard security camera. I have one like it on my doorbell. .. Geez.. why didn't she just have the guy come to her house? She got tons of money .. and..
Biden will go to Kenosha following Trump's visit. He plans to meet with Jacob Blake Sr. His campaign says he will go to listen and help the city heal .. His opponents say, "you're meeting with a racist, anti-white, anti-semite who has dozens of social media posts like, 'A cracker jew can do anything to a white woman but let a jig try it" .. and 'a jew can't tell me sh*t. Period' .. and.. 'The Jewish media chooses who is a terrorists and is not'" .. Umm.. Hmmm.. Joe?? .. maybe pick another guy to stand with? ..maybe the Mayor? ..
I got a big one !!!! Oh.. wait.. .. Careful where you fish in California. A man reeled in "a big one" that was not a fish.. when he got what he thought was an anchor to the boat it turned out to be a pipe bomb !! .. When police came an defused it they said it was likely set to blow up and shock a bunch of salmon (they basically just are paralyzed and float to the top). I've heard of people doing that with M-80's but never a bomb.. and...
A woman in Toronto was kicked out of Bingo for not wearing her mask.. on her NECK .. She is a cancer patient and refused to put a mask over the "breathe hole" in her neck so they booted her out.. Sounds a little mean .. but.. why is she out of the house, anyways???
War is over !! .. Yesterday was V-J day part deux. Most celebrate it on August 14 or 15 .. but.. Sept 2 1945 is the day the Japanese officially surrendered on the USS Missouri ending WWII. ..and on September 3, 1783 Great Britain and the USA signed the "Treaty of Paris" which officially ended the Revolutionary War .. Tell your kids .. because instead of teaching them stuff like this they are teaching them to "identify micro-aggressions" and other important snowflake things...
SPORTS: NHL: Did you listen? Did you take the Avalanche? ... Colorado beats Dallas 4-1 and forces a game seven. Tonight the Flyers try to force a game seven with NY Islanders and Vancouver tries to force game seven with Vegas..
GOLF: The Tour Championship starts today at noon and Dustin Johnson leads by two. If you're saying, "Huh? How does he have a lead if it hasn't started yet??" it's because that's they way they seed the leaders of the Fedex Cup. He is -10 and #2 Jon Rahm is -8 with the 25-30th players even par and a LOT of ground to make up..
Tennis: A bunch of players that I don't know played a bunch of other players I don't know.. but.. One thing happened of note: The #1 seeded woman lost. #1 Karolina Plisko lost to unseeded "Sweet" Caroline Garcia 6-1, 7-6 .. Wow.. more later..
CELEBRIDIOTS:
Magician David Blaine rose 18,000 feet above the Arizona Desert holding on to nothing but a bunch of big helium balloons. Then he let go and a parachute opened and he glided to the ground. He called the trick, "Ascension". .. Uh.. Thats not really a "Trick" is it? .. I mean. It's a cool stunt .. but.. You went way up in the air and parachuted down....
Happy Birthday to Carlos Estevez, aka Charlie Sheen, 55. Sheen used to be a WEALTH of material for the Rant but has been kind of off the grid. Hey Charlie, where you been hiding your, "Tiger Blood and adonis DNA?" ... and..
It's the RE-Match of Caroline Garcia .. HERE .. and Karolina Plisko .. HERE .. Garcia may have won on the court yesterday .. but YOU decide who "Wins" in the RANT ...
From SeekingAlpha.com
"Prepare for a Covid-19 vaccine to be ready by Nov. 1," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared, notifying public health officials in all 50 states and five large cities to prepare for distribution. Technical specifications were given for two candidates, dubbed "Vaccine A" and "Vaccine B," including requirements for shipping, mixing, storage and administration. The details appear to match vaccines being developed by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and partner BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), as well as Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), which both require two shots 28 days apart. Pfizer has also stated publicly that it is on track to seek an emergency use nod as early as next month. Go Deeper: Sanofi starts COVID-19 trials after positive early data.
Traders look set to pare the robust gains seen on Wall Street this week after a rally that lifted the DJIA above 29,000 for the first time since February. Some signs of profit-taking were already in the air as high-flying names like Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 2% and 5.8%, respectively, on Wednesday, though the losses only curb significant YTD gains for each stock. On the economic calendar, reports today include the latest jobless claims, July's trade balance, revisions to Q2 productivity and labor costs, and the ISM's non-manufacturing PMI for August.
The Congressional Budget Office projects a federal budget deficit of $3.3T in 2020, more than triple that of 2019's shortfall, mostly from the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing legislative response. In the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, federal debt held by the American public is also projected to reach or exceed 100% of U.S. GDP for the first time since WWII. That would put the U.S. in an exclusive club of nations including Japan, Greece and Italy, which all have debt loads that exceed their economies.
Leading gains across Europe, France's CAC 40 climbed 2% as the country unveiled a €100B dose of stimulus to get the economy moving again (GDP contracted 14% following pandemic-induced lockdowns in Q2). The "France Relaunch" plan will narrow in on boosting supply and encouraging investment, as well as wage subsidies and a €10B tax cut for industry production next year. It's not the only news boosting European equities this morning. Over in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling bloc backed plans allowing for extraordinary deficit spending in 2021.
Several European nations, including the U.K., France and Italy, have gone ahead with implementing Digital Services Taxes (DST) on Big Tech as negotiations with the U.S. fell apart months ago. As the new taxes come into force, U.S. tech giants have responded by passing on some of the costs. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has announced it will raise charges for developers on the local App Stores, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) is increasing fees for all ads bought in the U.K. and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is upping costs for third-party sellers by 2%.
The 118 mostly China-based apps are "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India" as well as "security and public order," the country’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement. It follows multiple rounds of high-level military talks with Beijing that failed to end the recent standoff over the two nations' disputed border. Included in the bans are versions of Tencent's (OTCPK:TCEHY) popular game PUBG, Xiaomi's (OTCPK:XIACF) ShareSave, Baidu's (NASDAQ:BIDU) apps and Ant Group's (NYSE:BABA) Alipay.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has signed a production deal with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, after they stepped away from the British royal family and moved to California. They have a multi-year agreement to produce nature series, documentaries and children's programming, however, Markle, who most recently starred in Suits, will not be acting. The deal is of a piece with the one Netflix struck with former president Barack Obama and wife Michelle, which established a slate of programming the Obamas would produce for the streaming giant.
Juul Labs (JUUL) is planning another significant round of layoffs after cutting about one-third of its 3,000 workers earlier this year, WSJ reports. Plagued by regulatory crackdowns and investigations into its marketing practices, the e-cigarette maker may also pull out of Europe and Asia to combat a sharp drop in sales. In the first quarter of this year, Juul reported a loss of $46M on sales of $394M, weighing on the returns of the startup's biggest investor. Altria (NYSE:MO) took a 35% stake in 2018 at a price that valued Juul at $38B, though that figure has shrunk to $12B.
On a "mature unicorn" hunt, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Tontine Holdings (NYSE:PSTH.U) has been rebuffed by Airbnb (AIRB), according to a Bloomberg report. Pershing Square Tontine six weeks ago raised a SPAC-record $4B in an IPO. Other possibilities for Ackman? Perhaps Bumble, which is said to be prepping an IPO in the $6B-$8B valuation range, or Robinhood (RBNHD), which recently raised $200M at an $11.2B valuation, and has massively shaken up the brokerage industry. Go Deeper: Skillz set to go public via SPAC at $3.5B valuation.
What else is happening...
Tesla's (TSLA) largest independent investor cuts stake due to concentration rule. Robinhood (RBNHD) faces SEC fine over high speed trading deals - WSJ. DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) soars after Michael Jordan comes on board. Another heat wave set to test California electric grid. Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Amazon (AMZN) may invest $4B in Vodafone Idea - Mint.
Wednesday's Key Earnings
Crowdstrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) -6.3% AH despite beat-and-raise after rally. Macy's (NYSE:M) +0.6% after narrower-than-expected Q2 loss. PVH Corp. (NYSE:PVH) +4.2% AH posting strong digital commerce growth.
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan +0.9%. Hong Kong -0.5%. China -0.6%. India -0.1%. In Europe, at midday, London +0.6%. Paris +1.8%. Frankfurt +1.2%. Futures at 6:20, Dow flat. S&P -0.2%. Nasdaq -0.6%. Crude -1.6% to $40.85. Gold -0.3% to $1939.80. Bitcoin -3.8% to $11380. Ten-year Treasury Yield +1 bps to 0.66%
Regards,
Roger “Raj” Searing rajsearing@gmail.com "Raj Searing™”, "Read this First™", "@rajsearing™", "TheRantRoom™" and “TheRantroom.com™” are Trademarks of RRRAJ, LLC. All Rights Reserved-2003.
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