Coronavirus Diligence Briefing

• United States President Joe Biden announced on Monday his administration will share millions more doses of COVID-19 vaccines. President Biden said America will share at least 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of May, which is in addition to the 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that was already committed to  be shared by July 4^th. The additional 20 million doses will be a cross-section of vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca. During a White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki pointed out the 80 million doses is five times more than any other country has donated so far. President Biden has stated before the United States will have enough COVID-19 supply for every American adult by the end of this month. 

• Canada’s vaccine rollout was thrown a bit of a curve ball over the weekend when late Friday evening Major-General Dany Fortin, the public face of the country’s vaccine rollout, announced he would be stepping away. CTV News is reporting Maj.-Gen Fortin is facing a sexual misconduct claim against him that dates back more than 30 years ago when he was a student at the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean, Quebec. The pandemic has almost overshadowed an alarming story in recent months facing the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Operation Honour, a program aimed at ending sexual harassment in the force, recorded more than 700 cases of sexual assault and harassment within the CAF between April 2016 and March 2021. Fortin’s replacement was not revealed on Friday upon his resignation and the Defense Department declined to comment on the case over the weekend.

• The United Kingdom’s mostly successful vaccination campaign has hit a bump in the road thanks to the Indian variant. UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced those 37 years of age and older can now receive a COVID-19 inoculation as of Tuesday and that 2,323 cases of the Indian variant have been confirmed in the country. Hancock noted 483 of those cases were in the Bolton, Blackburn and Darwen areas and that cases overall have doubled in the last week. The health minister went on to add early indications suggest the vaccines are able to protect against the Indian variant, but new variants “could jeopardize the advances that we’ve made” and people would need to stay vigilant.

• In Italy, the government has agreed to shorten a nightly curfew from 11 PM to 10 PM with immediate effect and ease other coronavirus curbs in regions where it is safe to do so. Italy, which has the second highest COVID-19 death toll in Europe next to the United Kingdom, is gradually loosening restrictions on business and people’s freedom of movement as daily deaths and cases decline, while more people get vaccinated. In late April, the government reinstated a four-tier coloured system from white to red to calibrate curbs in 20 regions. As of Monday, 19 of the 20 Italian regions are currently yellow with none in the deemed high-risk red.

• Dubai has updated their coronavirus restrictions and are beginning the trial resumption of entertainment and sporting events for fully vaccinated people. As of Monday, and lasting for a month, permits will be given for community sports, concerts, and social and institutional events, as long as all present have received their COVID-19 vaccination. Hotels can operate at full capacity and entertainment facilities can have as many as 1,500 people for indoor and 2,500 for outdoor events. Bars and wedding events have also seen their person cap rise. 

• An air travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore has been delayed yet again as Singapore battles an increase in unlinked cases tied to a more aggressive COVID-19 strain. The travel bubble between the two Asian financial hubs was supposed to start May 26^th, but according to the Hong Kong government, a further announcement on the travel corridor should be made on or before June 13^th. Singapore had imposed lockdown-like restrictions last week for month set to last until June 13th after a number of new cases were linked to a cluster at Changi Airport, which prompted the closure of two terminals.

Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management

Hedge Fund Millennium to Try Three Office Days a Week This Fall

Brief :Millennium Management will trial a hybrid working arrangement as it seeks to find a best-of-both-worlds approach for staff in the wake of the pandemic. Employees at Izzy Englander’s hedge fund firm will be required to come into the office three days a week and can work the remainder from home, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The approach will start on Sept. 7 and apply to most of the firm’s offices globally, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Firms around the world are grappling with whether to bring all staff back to their offices full time after the global spread of the deadly coronavirus showed that many could effectively do their jobs from home. Millennium plans to monitor the viability of its plan and will settle on a longer-term solution at a later stage, the person said. Millennium, which manages more than $51 billion and employs more than 3,500 people globally, had sent all but a few key people home to work last year as the pandemic spread around the world.

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World Economic Forum Cancels 2021 Annual Meeting in Singapore

Brief: The World Economic Forum has cancelled its annual meeting - the blue riband event for the global elite to discuss the world's problems - due to be held in Singapore later this year, the organisers said on Monday. The COVID-19 pandemic meant it was not possible to hold such a large event as planned on Aug. 17-20, they said. "Regretfully, the tragic circumstances unfolding across geographies, an uncertain travel outlook, differing speeds of vaccination roll out and the uncertainty around new variants combine to make it impossible to realise a global meeting with business, government and civil society leaders from all over the world at the scale which was planned," the WEF said in a statement. The event, which attracts VIPs from the worlds of politics and business, has been held since 1971. It was originally shifted from the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos last December due to concerns about safeguarding the health of participants. Singapore has in recent days imposed some of the tightest restrictions since it exited a lockdown last year to combat a spike in local COVID-19 infections.

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Bets Against Treasuries Build in Defiance of Uncooperative Data

Brief: A robust short base has formed in the Treasury market, expecting an economic recovery, and it’s willing to overlook data points that contradict its preferred narrative. “Investors seem to take the view that what matters is that the U.S. economy is recovering, rather than worry too much about the precise strength of the recovery at any particular moment in time,” Bank of America strategist Ralf Preusser said in a note. Positioning has become a “sea of uncertainty,” he said. Response to the weak U.S. employment report for April, released May 7, was a case in point. Bank of America’s FX and Rates Sentiment Survey for May -- which polls 70-80 institutional investors who combined manage more than $1 trillion -- found that duration underweights increased over the month. Similarly, in JPMorgan’s Treasury client survey, short positioning is most stretched since 2017.

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