From deploying experts amid global travel restrictions to managing extreme storage conditions, and even inventing new kinds of vials and syringes for billions of doses, the path is strewn with formidable hurdles, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen vaccine developers and their backers. Any hitch in an untested supply chain - which could stretch from Pune in India to England's Oxford and Baltimore in the United States - could torpedo or delay the complex process. Col. Nelson Michael, director of the U.S. Army's Center for Infectious Disease Research who is working on the government's "Warp Speed" project to deliver a vaccine at scale by January, said companies usually have years to figure this stuff out....
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity futures slipped on Thursday as investors struggled to look past a global resurgence in coronavirus infections that sapped risk appetite yesterday. Treasuries edged higher with the dollar.S&P 500 and Dow Industrials contracts traded modestly in the red, while pre-market gains in large-cap tech shares helped Nasdaq 100 futures erase most of an earlier decline. In Europe, stocks swung from a loss to a gain, with Deutsche Lufthansa AG rallying as its biggest shareholder backed a government rescue package. German fintech Wirecard AG plunged 80% after filing for insolvency. Core European bonds gained.Worries that lockdowns will be reimposed and economies re-opened more slowly has hurt but not poisoned sentiment, as investors weigh reports of new daily records for infections in Texas, Florida and California. Meanwhile, health leaders called on the U.K. to prepare for a possible second wave, and Australia recorded its largest spike in cases since April.“The...
(Bloomberg) -- Wirecard AG’s main banks are facing potential losses on about 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of loans to the scandal-hit fintech after it started insolvency proceedings.A group of about 15 banks led by ABN Amro Bank NV, Commerzbank AG and ING Groep NV had been negotiating next steps with the firm on a 1.75 billion-euro facility that was about 90% drawn, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this week. Talks on next steps with lenders came to an abrupt halt with the insolvency filing that surprised some of the banks, people with knowledge of the matter said.Wirecard’s decision to file for insolvency caps the swift downfall of the financial firm once lauded as one of Germany’s most successful up and coming businesses. The bank’s descent quickened earlier this week when it said that 1.9 billion euros ($2.15 billion) previously reported as cash on its balance sheet probably...
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equity futures fluctuated while European stocks turned higher on Thursday as investors attempted to look past a global resurgence in coronavirus infections that sapped risk appetite earlier in the week.Contracts on the S&P 500 and Dow Industrials struggled for traction, while pre-market gains in tech shares helped Nasdaq 100 futures erase an earlier loss. In Europe, stocks edged higher, with Deutsche Lufthansa AG rallying as its biggest shareholder backed a government rescue package. The dollar nudged higher versus a basket of its peers, while Treasuries and core European bonds gained.Worries that lockdowns may be reimposed and economies re-opened more slowly has hurt but not poisoned sentiment, as investors weigh reports of new daily records for infections in Texas, Florida and California. Meanwhile, health leaders called on the U.K. to prepare for a possible second wave, and Australia recorded its largest spike in cases since April.“The market really got...
* Founded in 1999, Munich-based Wirecard has 5,800 employees in 26 countries around the world. * Wirecard's expansion was driven by its long-serving chief executive and leading shareholder Markus Braun, an Austrian who led the company since 2002 until he resigned last Friday. * In Feb. 2019, Singapore police said they were looking into reports by the Financial Times of alleged financial irregularities at Wirecard's local office, allegations that had driven its shares sharply lower....
(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire wildcatter Harold Hamm bought more shares in the shale drilling company he controls as oil prices recover from their historic plunge.Hamm added $57.1 million of shares in Continental Resources Inc., where he’s executive chairman, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. The 3.44 million shares he purchased bring his total of direct and indirect shares to 288 million, or about 79% of the company.He bought the shares at an average price of $16.62 starting June 22. Continental fell 10% Wednesday to $15.12, but is still up more than double from when it bottomed out March 9. U.S. oil futures fell to a historic low of minus $40.32 a barrel on April 20 and have since recovered to about $38.Hamm, 74, is a legend in the oil industry, having risen from the bottom of the business to a self-made billionaire, largely from being one of...
