· CORONAVIRUS UPDATES:
Ø Total confirmed cases: More than 3,218,184
Ø Total deaths: At least 228,026
Ø The coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories around the world and 2international conveyances: the Diamond Princess cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan, and the Holland America's MS Zaandam cruise ship.
Ø US cases: At least 1,064,194 (+28,429) and deaths: 61,656 (+2,390)
Ø Spain cases: At least 236,899 (+4,771) and deaths: 24,275 (+453)
Ø Italy cases: At least 203,591 (+2,086) and deaths: 27,682 (+323)
Ø Thailand cases: At least 2,947 (+9) and deaths: 54
· FDA in ‘ongoing’ talks with Gilead to make remdesivir available to coronavirus patients ‘as quickly as possible’
The Food and Drug Administration has been in “sustained and ongoing” discussions with Gilead Sciences to make antiviral drug remdesivir available to Covid-19 patients “as quickly as possible, as appropriate,” the agency said Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said data from a coronavirus drug trial testing Gilead’s drug showed “quite good news” and sets a new standard of care for Covid-19 patients.
Speaking to reporters from the White House, Fauci said he was told data from the trial showed a “clear-cut positive effect in diminishing time to recover.”
The New York Times reported that the FDA plans to announce as early as Wednesday an emergency use authorization for remdesivir.
· Data on Gilead drug raises hopes in pandemic fight, Fauci calls it 'highly significant'
The top U.S. infectious disease official said Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental antiviral drug remdesivir will become the standard of care for COVID-19 after early results from a key clinical trial on Wednesday showed it helped patients recover more quickly from the illness caused by the coronavirus.
Preliminary results from a U.S. government trial showing that patients given remdesivir recovered 31% faster than those given a placebo, were hailed by Dr. Anthony Fauci as “highly significant.”
“This is really quite important,” Fauci told reporters at the White House, likening it to a moment in 1986 “when we were struggling for drugs for HIV and we had nothing.”
· Spain readies to ease lockdown, warns will need discipline
Spain’s lockdown is making progress against the new coronavirus but a gradual easing from next week will require even more discipline, officials said on Wednesday, after the country recorded 325 deaths from the infection overnight.
The lockdown, one of the toughest in Europe, has halted public life since March 14 and nearly paralysed the economy.
· Dollar drops as Fed repeats vow to support economy
The dollar fell on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and repeated a vow to do what it takes to shore up the economy that has been battered by business shutdowns due to the novel coronavirus.
The dollar index against a basket of currencies fell 0.32% to 99.544, but held above a two-week low of 99.44 reached on Tuesday.
The dollar has weakened more than 3% after scaling a more than three-year peak of 102.99 in late March as global central banks launched massive stimulus measures to protect economies from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Fed’s statement came after data earlier on Wednesday showed that the U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter.
The Commerce Department said gross domestic product fell at a 4.8% annualized rate in the January-to-March period after expanding at a 2.1% rate in the final three months of 2019.
The dollar reaction to the data was not “huge,” but “I think it’s going to pour cold water over hopes of a V-shape recovery. And I think it also validates fears that second-quarter growth could be in line with some of the more dire forecasts of a 40% contraction,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.
The greenback also weakened on improving risk sentiment after Gilead Sciences said its experimental antiviral drug remdesivir helped improve symptoms in COVID-19 patients who were given the drug early.
That added to optimism that businesses across the globe are closer to reopening.
The euro gained 0.51% to $1.0873 before a European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.
· Fed pledges to keep rates near zero until full employment, inflation come back
The Federal Reserve painted a dour picture of current conditions and pledged Wednesday to continue its historically aggressive policy stance until it is comfortable that the U.S. economy is back on its feet.
Following this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, the central bank said it would maintain its current interest rate target between 0% and 0.25%.
“The ongoing public health crisis will weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term,” the committee said in its post-meeting statement. “The Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals.”
The commitment represents a pledge to hold rates near zero and keep them there until full employment returns and inflation gets back to around the Fed’s long-stated 2% goal.
“We’re going to not be in any hurry to withdraw these measures or to lift off. We’re going to wait until we’re quite confident that the economy is well on the road to recovery,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in a post-meeting news conference.
There was no expression in the statement that the Fed feels confident about what its moves will lead to in terms of economic growth. Instead, the committee said it will continue to monitor conditions “including information related to public health, as well as global developments and muted inflation pressures, and will use its tools and act as appropriate to support the economy.”
There also was no mention of the pace of bond purchases in the future, with Powell only saying they will continue “as needed.” The Fed is engaged in an open-ended program of purchasing Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. Nor did the statement discuss any of the specific programs the Fed has implemented during the current crisis.
· U.S. economy faces hard slog back from pandemic, Fed chief says
The head of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday dashed lingering hopes for a fast rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, saying the U.S. economy could feel the weight of consumer fear and social distancing for a year or more in a prolonged climb from a deepening hole.
After a two-day policy meeting in which the U.S. central bank kept interest rates near zero and promised to expand emergency programs as needed to help the battered economy, Fed Chair Jerome Powell offered no sanguine words about how fast the country might return - if ever - to the near-record low unemployment and solid growth of just a few weeks ago.
· Fed lending programs may get more funds, but not airlines: Treasury's Mnuchin
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday he is ready to invest more capital in new or expanded Federal Reserve coronavirus rescue lending programs but is not considering more aid to struggling airlines at the moment.
Mnuchin told reporters during a video news briefing that he was deliberately holding in reserve some $259 billion from the $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue legislation passed in late March.
The Treasury will not use the unallocated money for direct loans to companies, nor to provide aid to specific industries, such as oil and gas producers, Mnuchin said. Instead, it would provide capital that would be leveraged through broad-based Fed lending programs.
· U.S. could store another 'several hundred million' barrels of oil: Mnuchin
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his administration will soon release a plan to help U.S. oil companies, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said could include adding millions of barrels of oil to already-teeming national reserves.
Mnuchin did not provide details on where the government might find the storage capacity as the global coronavirus pandemic crushes demand for gas.
“We’re also exploring potentially having the ability to store another several hundred million barrels, so we’re looking at lots of different options,” Mnuchin said during a White House briefing on the coronavirus’ effects on industry.
A team made up of people from the Treasury and Energy Departments was working on the options, Mnuchin said.
· Oil jumps 22% on smaller-than-expected inventory build, optimism around reopening economies
Oil prices jumped more than 20% on Wednesday after data showed a smaller-than-expected build in U.S. inventories, as well as on the hope that economies will reopen sooner than expected.
West Texas Intermediate for June delivery surged 22.04%, or $2.72, to settle at $15.06 per barrel, after earlier trading as high as $16.78. International benchmark Brent crude gained $2.08, or 10.17%, to settle at $22.54 per barrel.
Optimism that economies will be able to re-open ahead of schedule rose after Gilead said early results of its coronavirus drug trial showed that at least 50% of patients treated with a five-day dosage of antiviral drug remdesivir improved and more than half were discharged from the hospital within two weeks.
Stocks rose following the news, despite a 4.8% contraction for U.S. GDP in the first quarter — the largest contraction since the financial crisis.
Oil prices also got a boost on a smaller-than-expected build in U.S. inventories. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, crude stockpiles rose by 9 million barrels for the week ending April 24. This was lower than the 11.7 million barrel build analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting.
The data also showed that U.S. production fell by 100,000 barrels per day last week to 12.1 million bpd. This is 1 million bpd below the record 13.1 million bpd production set during the week ending March 13.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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