Plus, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is stepping down, House Speaker Pelosi said Democrats and Republicans are at a “tragic impasse” on coronavirus relief negotiations, Abbott Laboratories inked a deal with the U.S. government for 150 million of its rapid coronavirus antigen test.
Stocks were higher to start Friday with the Dow adding 46 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 gained 0.3%, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.6%.
Japan’s longest-serving prime minister is stepping down. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced today that he has resigned due to worsening health after his health started to decline last month. The prime minister, who suffers from chronic ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, said he was resigning because he doesn’t want his illness to result in any policy mistakes. “I needed to fight against the disease and be treated, and I was not really in a perfect state in terms of the health condition,” Abe said. “I would like to send my apologies to the people of Japan.” Abe will fulfill his duties as prime minister until the next prime minister is appointed.
Recovery from the coronavirus pandemic “is going to be a slow one.” That’s according the Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester. “There’s more pain out there that we’re going to have to support the economy through,” Mester said. “What that looks like, we’re going to have to take our time to evaluate that, but I think accommodative monetary policy is going to be very important throughout this recovery. Philadelphia Federal Reserve President added this morning that it will take a significant amount of time before the U.S. sees unemployment figures return to their pre-coronavirus lows. “Right now, you’re seeing some signs of recovery, but basically it’s moving sideways,” Harker said of the U.S. labor market. “We still have 27 million that are on some form of unemployment and we won’t get fully back to the kind of employment—we had this great employment picture before the crisis—for quite a while.”
As the U.S. economy continues to struggle amid the pandemic, Democrats and the White House are at a “tragic impasse” on the next round of coronavirus stimulus, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. After a 25-minute phone call between Pelosi and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Pelosi said in a statement, “this conversation made clear that the White House continues to disregard the needs of the American people as the coronavirus crisis devastates lives and livelihoods. Democrats are willing to resume negotiations once Republicans start to take this process seriously. Lives, livelihoods and the life of our democracy are at stake.” Negotiations between Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin collapsed earlier this month amid disagreements on unemployment aid, state and local government relief, and school funding, among other issues. As Democrats seek a broader $2.2 trillion bill, Republicans are drafting an alternative bill that would cost around $500 billion that would address unemployment insurance, a new authorization for small business loans, school funding, and COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccines.
Abbott Laboratories shares are up again this morning following the U.S. government’s announcement of a deal to buy out the vast majority of Abbott’s new rapid COVID-19 tests. Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense will pay $760 million for 150 million of Abbott’s BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card rapid tests, just one day after the FDA issued emergency use authorization for the antigen test, which can return results within 15 minutes with no specialized equipment. “By strategically distributing 150 million of these tests to where they’re needed most,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar, “we can track the virus like never before and protect millions of Americans at risk in especially vulnerable situations.”
And Coca Cola shares are up after the multinational beverage company announced a workforce restructuring plan that will include voluntary job cuts. The company said it will offer voluntary layoff packages to employees who qualify, starting with around 4,000 workers in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico who were hired on or before September 1, 2017. Among the other changes, Coca Cola said it will replace 17 business units with nine new divisions and will focus on scaling new products faster and eliminating the duplication of resources. The company is also “conducting a portfolio rationalization process that will lead to a tailored collection of global, regional and local brands with the potential for greater growth.”
Stocks We’re Watching
Veoneer Inc (NYSE: VNE): Veoneer shares are up 26% over the last two days following news that it has teamed up with Qualcomm on developing a software and chip platform for driver-assistance systems. “This is a significant even for Veoneer which we are very happy to announce,” said Veoneer Chairman, President and CEO, Jan Carlson. “This relationship not only strengthens our product portfolio, but also broadens our go-to-market position and opportunities, while giving customers more ways to access world-leading technology.”