Plus, House Democrats released the first round of draft text for part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, Eli Lilly shares are down after announcing the resignation of CFO Smiley, and Avaya shares are up after delivering an earnings beat.
Stocks were lower to start Tuesday with the Dow dropping 85 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 also slid 0.3%, while the Nasdaq traded just below the flatline.
Uber and Walgreens are teaming up to make it easier for people to get to the pharmacy to get their COVID-19 vaccines. The companies announced today that Uber will offer free rides to Walgreens stores and clinics for those who book an appointment and live in underserved parts of the country, and will work with charitable partners to identify people who need the rides. The pilot program will start in Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and El Paso, and the free rides will begin as early as next week after Walgreens begins vaccinating priority groups in its stores starting on Friday.
In other COVID-19 news, the World Health Organization said today that the coronavirus “most likely” originated in animals before spreading to humans, dismissing the theory that the disease had been leaked by a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan as “extremely unlikely.” WHO official Ben Embarek said that the virus may have been introduced to the Huanan wet market in Wuhan, which many of the first COVID patients were linked to, by a person who was infected or by a product that was sold there. “Among the more interesting products were frozen wildlife animals,” Embarek said. “Some of these species are known to be susceptible to these kinds of viruses.” Embarek added, “We embarked on a very detailed and profound search for other cases that may have been missed early on in 2019. The conclusion was we did not find evidence of large outbreaks that could be related to cases of COVID-19 prior to December 2019 in Wuhan or elsewhere.”
House Democrats released the first round of draft text for key pieces of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief bill. As part of the bill, Democrats are forging ahead with plans to bump the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, and make another round of stimulus payments, among other measures. Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will also meet with the chief executives of JPMorgan, Walmart, Gap, and Lowe’s to discuss the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan and outlook for the American economy today. The White House said the group will review the “critical need” for the massive rescue plan, while the industry heavyweights are likely to press for more vaccine availability.
Eli Lilly shares are down more than 2% this morning after CFO Josh Smiley resigned after an independent investigation found inappropriate personal communication with some Lilly employees. After the allegations first came forward, the drugmaker said it had taken “swift and significant action” and immediately hired external counsel to conduct an independent probe. The investigation reverend consensual though inappropriate personal communications between Smiley and certain Lilly employees. Smiley had been with the company since 1995, becoming CFO in 2018, and will be replaced by Anat Ashkenazi, who was most recently the senior vice president, controller, and chief financial officer of Lilly Research Laboratories. Lilly said in a statement that it “holds all employees accountable to its core values and strongly believes its executive officers carry an even higher burden in ensuring those values are upheld.”
And Avaya Holdings shares are up more than 12% at the time of writing after the company posted better-than-forecast fiscal third quarter results. The telecommunications software company posted revenue of $743 million, up 4% year-over-year, and well above consensus estimates for $724 million. “We are pleased to report first-quarter results that exceeded expectations across all key metrics,” said CEO Jim Chirico in a statement. “Navigating a very challenging business environment, we emerged from 2020 even stronger. This success reflects the significant progress we continue to make on our transformation into an enterprise leader in cloud-based communications and collaboration solutions.”
Stocks We’re Watching
Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ: RIOT): Riot Blockchain—a bitcoin mining company—shares are up more than 16% this morning over surging as much as 41% yesterday following the company’s announcement that it has appointed Jason Les as CEO. “In early 2020, Riot made the strategic decision to completely focus on expanding its mining capabilities, which has positioned the Company well to take advantage of significant opportunities in the current Bitcoin environment,” said Benjamin Yi, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Strengthening our management team to take advantage of these opportunities has been a high priority for the Board, and we are pleased to appoint Jason to lead the Company. Having worked closely with Jason as a Board colleague for the past two years, the Board is confident that he will continue to leverage his unique skill set and background in Bitcoin to drive the Company’s continued growth.”