The clock is ticking for Brexit. After a whole year of negotiations, the United Kingdom and the European Union are nowhere near a compromise on a trade agreement. In a last-minute attempt to find common ground, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is traveling to Brussels today to have a business dinner with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the areas where their negotiations teams seemed to have hit a wall. They have to find out if either side is prepared to make a compromise, allowing the talks to continue. If no concessions can be made, then a deal is as good as done.
Should the two leaders somehow agree that there is room for compromise, von der Leyen will have the opportunity to convince EU leaders to make the necessary concessions at a European Council summit starting tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the world is once again abuzz with vaccine talk. After people in the United Kingdom started getting the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine this week, there have already been a couple of mild allergic reactions reported. Now the UK health authorities are reporting that people suffering from allergies should refrain from getting vaccinated for the moment.
In addition, there is now a third vaccine claiming a high efficacy rate (86%) developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. The information about its efficiency comes from the UAE.
The development of additional vaccines is likely going to be very important in the fight against the coronavirus. Recall that the United States and the European Union have already booked nearly all of the units produced and scheduled for production in the coming months by Pfizer and Moderna. Thus, more companies stepping in with their own drugs will be helpful in catering to the needs of other countries.
Stock indices today are once again ready to grow. This time, the source of optimism is hope that the United States government will be able to agree on a stimulus bill. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin entered the conversation, proposing a bill of $916 billion. With both the White House and the House of Representatives pushing for fiscal stimulus, Senate Republicans are under pressure to finally make a compromise and agree to at least one of the plans.
Lastly, today inflation in China dropped below zero. However, investors have not been too quick to decide that deflation will define the Chinese economy from this point on. Likely, it’s the result of the pandemic and something that China will recover from quickly. The Chinese yuan strengthened against the dollar.
