Plus, Novavax started its late-stage coronavirus vaccine trail in the U.S., Myovant shares are surging on news that it has partnered with Pfizer, and bitcoin rose to more than $28,000 over the weekend.
Stocks were higher to start Monday with the Dow adding 306 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 gained 0.9%, while the Nasdaq rose 0.4%.
President Trump signed the $900 billion COVID-19 aid bill into law on Sunday, averting a government shutdown and extending unemployment benefits to millions of Americans. By waiting until Sunday, Trump cost as many as 14 million Americans one week of expanded unemployment assistance. Trump’s signing of the bill comes just days after he hinted that he would veto the package unless the $600 direct payments included in the deal were increased to $2,000, a call that was rejected by Republicans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is staging a roll-call vote on the $2,000 checks today in order to spotlight Republican opposition to the politically popular idea, while Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a tweet that he will seek consent this week in the Senate to pass the House bill, which will force Republicans to either buck the president or confirm the $2,000 checks party leaders have previously dismissed as too large. “Every Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny the American people the relief they need,” Pelosi said in a statement.
As U.S. cases of the coronavirus surpass 19 million, Dr. Anthony Fauci issued a warning on Sunday that an already-rising tide of COVID-19 infections may get another boost from holiday travel despite warnings from public health officials. “We very well might see a post-seasonal—in the sense of Christmas, New Year’s—surge, and as I’ve described it, as a surge upon a surge. When you are dealing with a baseline of 200,000 cases per day and 2,000 deaths per day with the hospitalizations over 120,000, we are really at a very critical point,” Fauci, a White House advisor and one of the country’s leading infectious disease experts, said, adding that “traveling and the likely congregating of people for the good warm purposes of being together for the holidays” will add pressure to the already worsening crisis.
Novavax has started the large late-stage trial for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. after twice delaying its trial due to issues in scaling up its manufacturing process. The company will enroll up to 30,000 participants across 115 sites in the U.S. and Mexico, with two-thirds of the volunteers receiving the shot in two doses, 21 days apart, and the rest getting placebo. While Novavax lags behind drugmakers like Pfizer and Moderna, whose vaccines have already been approved for emergency use, experts have said multiple vaccines will be needed to end the pandemic that has killed more than 333,000 in the U.S. and more than 1.7 million globally. Novavax already has signed supply agreements for its vaccine, including 100 million doses to the U.S. and 60 million doses to the U.K., and interim data from the late-stage trial is expected in the first quarter of 2021.
Myovant shares are up more than 25% this morning after announcing that it will work with Pfizer to jointly develop a treatment for prostate cancer and women’s health in a deal worth up to $4.2 billion in upfront and potential milestone payments. As part of the deal, Myovant will receive an upfront payment of $650 million to develop relugolix, a once-daily, oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonist for use in oncology and women’s health in the U.S. and Canada, with Pfizer reviving the exclusive option to commercialize relugolix in oncology outside the U.S. and Canada, excluding certain Asian countries. “We are thrilled to partner with Pfizer to unlock the full potential of ORGOVYX in advanced prostate cancer and relugolix combination tablet in uterine fibroids and endometriosis, advancing our mission to redefine care for women and for men,” said Lynn Seely, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Myovant Sciences, Inc. “Pfizer is the ideal partner for Myovant given its impressive capabilities and track record across both oncology and women’s health. This transformative collaboration will significantly strengthen the upcoming launch of ORGOVYX and the potential launches of relugolix combination tablet in women’s health, while substantially enhancing our financial position and enabling us to expand our pipeline of potential new medicines.”
And bitcoin surpassed $28,000 for the first time over the weekend, putting the digital coin on track for its longest monthly winning streak in more than a year. Bitcoin hit a record high of $28,352.63 on Sunday before retreating to $27,053 at the time of writing. “My sense is we’re very close to a top – we could hit $30,000 though,” said Vijay Ayyar, head of business development with crypto exchange Luno in Singapore. “We should definitely see a pullback, but the magnitude is probably lesser. We might only see 10% to 15% drops.”
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SIFCO Industries (OTC: SIF): SIFCO shares gained nearly 78% on December 24 after the company announced fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal 2020 results. “2020 was an unprecedented year,” said CEO Peter W. Knapper in the company’s earnings release. “The COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent worldwide response has impacted all of us personally and professionally. Through it all, we focused on maintaining the health and safety of our team while continuing to safely provide our customers with products, services and expertise they needed from us during uncertain times. As the effects of the pandemic weighed on the commercial aerospace market in the year and is expected to continue to impact such segment, we saw growth in our revenues from our support of the military aerospace market. Operationally and financially, we saw benefits of the consolidation completed over the last few years as well as our continuous improvement journey. The year marked the first time since fiscal 2014 that the business generated positive net income for a full year, while also posting positive net income for 4 of the last 5 quarters. All sites contributed to these improvements. Our results enabled us to accelerate investment in our business, allowing us to competitively support our current commitments as well as respond to market opportunities as they arise.”