Just before the 59th US presidential election, President Donald Trump is much discussed by the media. It seems this is a time when people are either really pro- or against the president. Various reports mentioning the American president can have an significant impact on the stock market, which is why PSN highlighted the press releases below that may affect listed companies. How is Trump going to influence stocks in the following days?
The Vaccinerace: Is Trump a realist or optimist?
Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that the United States should have enough COVID-19 vaccines by the third quarter of 2021. Redfield further told a Senate panel that the vaccines are expected to start in November or December 2020, with the proviso that this will be a very limited run only intented for patients who need it urgently.
A statement that Trump absolutely does not agree with, according to the last press conference. He said that when he heard the news, he suspected Redfield was confused. A discussion about another statement followed as Redfield said that masks currently offer more protection than a vaccination. A second argument soon arose about the expected date by which the vaccines should be ready. Trump claims that Redfield has stated several times that he expects a vaccine before the presidential election. After the press conference, the CDC then withdrew Redfield’s testimony and clarified the situation with the following explanation: “He (Redfield) was not referring to the period when COVID-19 vaccine doses would be made available to all Americans.”
Several public health experts support Redfield’s words. They agree that most Americans probably won’t be immunized with a vaccine until the mid-season of 2021. Regardless of which vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it will initially be released in short runs. In addition to public health, logistics, distribution, required instruments and the interval of the different doses must also be taken into account.
The difference between the CDC and the US government is mainly in the interests. While the CDC is working on a plan to make vaccines for Covid-19 available for free to all Americans and is looking at the possibilities of a permit for emergency use of the vaccine, the US government is mainly pushing for time savings and wants a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. The plan is to ship the vaccine to various distribution locations in the United States within 24 hours after FDA approval or emergency clearance.
With “Operation Warp Speed”, the US government has invested billions of dollars in several vaccine candidates last month, including the following pharmaceuticals: Pfizer ($PFE), Moderna ($MRNA), AstraZeneca ($AZN), Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ), Vaxart ($VXRT), Inovio ($INO) and Novavax ($NVAX). All named vaccine candidates are in a phase 3 study and expect to come up with an FDA-approved vaccine by the end of this year.
TikTok: Tensions between the US and China remain
President Donald Trump believes the agreement between the Oracle Corporation ($ ORCL) and TikTok owner ByteDance should not take placem, the American president told a reporter from CNBC yesterday. The US government is demanding that TikTok be operated by an American company, because the Chinese app would threaten the national security of the United States. Under the current agreement, Oracle will manage 20% of TikTok with Walmart ($WMT) as the other minority partner. According to the White House, the agreement is merely a “repackaging” of the Chinese company with which it will conduct business on US soil.
On Monday, the American software company Oracle confirmed that a deal with ByteDance is currently waiting at the desk of the US government. In response, Trump said he has not read the proposal already, but fears the deal will not reach an agreement. The main reason is that Trump doesn’t want ByteDance to still own TikTok. The deal with Oracle would mainly contain agreements about the processing of TikTok data by Oracle, Trump will pass judgment on this within 48 hours. ByteDance has been given a deadline by the US government until September 20 to sign a new agreement with a US company instead. Trump has said that if this does not take place, the popular application may be banned in the United States.
Trump announced he will be briefed today about a revised proposal calling on Oracle to become a trusted technology provider for TikTok’s American operations. It is not the first time that Trump has threatened to ban the app, as the US government wants to receive part of the proceeds.
After a possible agreement with an American company, the storm is unlikely to be over. The Chinese government will not be positive about the sale of TikTok. Although the company is not owned by the government, the government may be able to exert pressure not to proceed with the agreement. The government of China has previously stated that it does not appreciate the state of affairs and believes that a Chinese company should never be sold under pressure.
“We remain opposed to any deal that would allow China-based or controlled entities to retain, control or modify the code or algorithms that operate any US-based version of TikTok.”
American senator, Marco Rubio
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