Plus, Congressional Democrats unveiled a new bill to overhaul police practices in the U.S., the next coronavirus stimulus bill may depend on June’s jobs report, and Beyond Meat shares are rising after the alternative meat producer landed a distribution deal in China.
Stocks were higher to start Monday with the S&P 500 gaining 222 points, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 added 0.4%, while the Nasdaq traded 0.15% higher.
Congressional Democrats unveiled a new bill this morning to overhaul police practices in America following more than a week of protests against police brutality and systemic racism following the police killing of George Floyd. The reform legislation would make sweeping changes at the national level that would deter police use of force and hold officers accountable for abuses, and comes as changes at local levels are already being taken up including the Minneapolis city council voting this weekend to disband and replace their police force on Sunday. While the bill as it is currently written does not meet many activists’ demands to cut funding for or entirely defund police forces, it does include provisions to demilitarize police forces, classifies lynching as a federal hate crime, bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants, and would grant state attorneys general the ability to launch investigations into uses of force. It is unclear if the bill will receive support from Republicans, though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take up the bill quickly.
Following Friday’s blowout jobs report, another coronavirus relief bill now depends on whether the U.S. economy see another surge in hiring in next month’s jobs report. That’s according to Kevin Hassett, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump and former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors. Hassett said that “the odds of there being a phase four deal are really close to 100%,” even after the jobs data from May exceeded expectations. “We had a really good month of jobs numbers, if we get another month like that in June, then I think it would absolutely affect the things that we pursue in July in the phase four deal,” Hassett added. Democrats have said that now is not the time to pull back on federal relief efforts, arguing that the trillions of dollars spent on blunting the impact of the coronavirus on the economy made all the difference in the blowout jobs report, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying that the jobs report “tells us that we still have a long way to go. … Now is not the time to be complacent or take a victory lap.”
In other coronavirus news, New York City has begun to reopen after a more than two month shutdown to stem the spread of the deadly virus, with nonessential retailers now allowed to partially reopen and much of the construction and manufacturing industries set to resume with up to 400,000 New Yorkers expected to return to work. According to a new study published by the journal Nature from researchers at the University of California at Berkeley said that such shutdowns of nonessential businesses and keep people at home over the last two months helped the U.S. avoid nearly 5 million additional confirmed coronavirus cases. “Our results suggest that ongoing anti-contagion policies have already substantially reduced the number of COVID-19 infections observed in the world today,” the researchers wrote in the study, adding that timing was key in such shutdown policies with “seemingly small delays in policy deployment likely produce[ing] dramatically different health outcomes.” Globally, the researchers said that lockdowns, social distancing, travel restrictions, and other interventions likely averted roughly 500 million coronavirus cases.
AstraZeneca made a preliminary approach to rival drugmaker Gilead Sciences about a potential merger, reports broke over the weekend. People familiar with the matter said that AstraZeneca approached Gilead about a potential tie-up last month, and while Gilead has discussed the idea with advisers, no decisions have been made as to how to proceed and the companies are not in formal talks now. If combined, the two companies would have a market capitalization of nearly $240 billion, exceeding Merck’s valuation at $207 billion and Pfizer’s at $200 billion. Jefferies analysts said they do not view the deal as very likely, writing in a note, “We think Gilead believes its HIV business is very underappreciated… [and the company] would prefer to build value over time and do its own tuck-in deals.”
And Beyond Meat shares are up nearly 12% this morning after the alternative meat company announced it has landed a new distribution deal to expand in China. Beyond Meat has partnered with Chinese food distributor Sinodis, which distributes imported foods to 4,500 wholesalers, restaurant chains, and hotels in China, with Sinodis distributing Beyond Beef and Beyond Burger. “Our goal is to increase availability of plant-based meat globally, providing consumers with more choice and access to the nutritional and environmental benefits of plant-based meat,” said Beyond’s chief growth officer, Chuck Muth, in the company’s press release. “China is an important market given its large population and interest in plant-based proteins.”
Stocks We’re Watching
Eidos Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: EIDX): Eidos Therapeutics shares are up nearly 3% this morning after the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company reported its fiscal first quarter results. The company reported $196.5 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2020, compared to $191.2 million on December 31, 2019, and said that it expects results from the Phase 3 clinical trial of its AG10 candidate for the treatment of patients with transthyretin amyloidosis in the second half of this year. “We are living in unprecedented times as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic spreads globally. We know ATTR patients are at great risk from COVID-19, and we are working with our investigators, clinical trial site administrators and patient advocacy leaders to put the health and welfare of our patients first,” said Neil Kumar, PhD, CEO of Eidos. “We have made several operational changes to ensure their safety, critically ensuring that our investigational medicine is supplied without interruption, which in many cases has required direct delivery to study participants at their homes. We continue to believe that AG10 could be a best-in-class, convenient oral therapy for ATTR patients and remain committed to developing the drug as quickly and safely as possible.”