Tag: pandemic

EU forecasts ‘recession of historic proportions’ this year

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The European Union predicted Wednesday “a recession of historic proportions this year” due to the impact of the coronavirus as it released its first official estimates of the damage the pandemic is inflicting on the bloc’s economy.

The 27-nation EU economy is predicted to contract by 7.5 percent this year, before growing by about 6 percent in 2021. The group of 19 nations using the euro as their currency will see a record decline of 7.75 percent this year, and grow by 6.25 percent in 2021, the European Commission said in its Spring economic forecast.

“It is now quite clear that the EU has entered the deepest economic recession in its history,” EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told reporters in Brussels. As the virus hit, “economic activity in the EU dropped by around one third practically overnight,” he said.

More than 1.1 million people have contracted the virus across Europe and over 137,000 have died, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Unclear outbreak data, low testing rates and the strain on health care systems mean the true scale of the pandemic is much greater.

With the spread slowing in most European countries, people are cautiously venturing out from confinement and gradually returning to work, but strict health measures remain in place amid concern of a second wave of outbreaks and any return to something like normal life is at least months away.

The pandemic has hurt consumer spending, industrial output, investment, trade, capital flows and supply chains. It has also hit jobs. The unemployment rate across the 27-nation EU is forecast to rise from 6.7 percent in 2019 to 9 percent in 2020 but then fall to around 8 percent in 2021, the commission said. Beyond that, Gentiloni said, “we will have a massive drop in hours worked.”

Inflation is also set to be significantly weaker as consumer prices fall amid a sharp weakening of demand and drop in oil prices. Investment too is likely to contract, with firms expected to postpone or cancel their investment plans amid the uncertainty. Exporters will not be spared, with continued disruption to movements of people, goods and services likely.

Italy and Spain – two of the countries hardest hit by the virus – and to a lesser extent France are among the economies that will suffer most. Greece, which largely escaped the disease but whose economy was ravaged previously by its debt crisis and which relies heavily on tourism, is also high on the economic hit list.

France’s economy is expected to shrink by about 8.2 percent, while Germany will endure a more moderate contraction than most and recover better. Still, it is set to experience this year its worst recession since World War II, with exports notably hit, with a drop in output of 6.5 percent.

While the virus hit every member country, the extent of the damage it ultimately inflicts will depend on the evolution of the disease in each of them, the resilience of their economies and what policies they put in place to respond.

Gentiloni said that the depth of the recession and the strength of recovery will be uneven across the world’s biggest trading bloc.

Much will depend, he said, on “the speed at which lockdowns can be lifted, the importance of services like tourism in each economy and by each country’s financial resources. Such divergence poses a threat to the single market and the euro area – yet it can be mitigated through decisive, joint European action.”

How quickly things can change. On Feb. 13, the commission had predicted “a path of steady, moderate growth” this year and next of 1.2 percent. At that time, uncertainty over US trade policy and a Brexit trade deal plus tensions in Latin America and the Middle East were the main threats.

The coronavirus outbreak in China was noted at the time as “a new downside risk” but the commission’s assumption less than three months ago was “that the outbreak peaks in the first quarter, with relatively limited global spillovers.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Piglets aborted, chickens gassed as pandemic slams meat sector

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With the pandemic hobbling the meat-packing industry, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek had nowhere to ship his full-grown pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he expected from his breeding operation. The crisis forced a decision that still troubles him: He ordered his employees to give injections to the pregnant sows, one by one, that would cause them to abort their baby pigs.

Van Beek and other farmers say they have no choice but to cull livestock as they run short on space to house their animals or money to feed them, or both. The world’s biggest meat companies – including Smithfield Foods Inc, Cargill Inc, JBS USA and Tyson Foods Inc – have halted operations at about 20 slaughterhouses and processing plants in North America since April as workers fall ill, stoking global fears of a meat shortage.

Van Beek’s piglets are victims of a sprawling food-industry crisis that began with the mass closure of restaurants – upending that sector’s supply chain, overwhelming storage and forcing farmers and processors to destroy everything from milk to salad greens to animals. Processors geared up to serve the food-service industry can’t immediately switch to supplying grocery stores.

Millions of pigs, chickens and cattle will be euthanized because of slaughterhouse closures, limiting supplies at grocers, said John Tyson, chairman of top U.S. meat supplier Tyson Foods.

Pork has been hit especially hard, with daily production cut by about a third. Unlike cattle, which can be housed outside on pasture, U.S. hogs are fattened up for slaughter inside temperature-controlled buildings. If they are housed too long, they can get too big and injure themselves. The barns need to be emptied out by sending adult hogs to slaughter before the arrival of new piglets from sows that were impregnated just before the pandemic.

“We have nowhere to go with the pigs,” said Van Beek, who lamented the waste of so much meat. “What are we going to do?”

In Minnesota, farmers Kerry and Barb Mergen felt their hearts pound when a crew from Daybreak Foods Inc arrived with carts and tanks of carbon dioxide to euthanize their 61,000 egg-laying hens earlier this month.

Daybreak Foods, based in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, supplies liquid eggs to restaurants and food-service companies. The company, which owns the birds, pays contract farmers like the Mergens to feed and care for them. Drivers normally load the eggs onto trucks and haul them to a plant in Big Lake, Minnesota, which uses them to make liquid eggs for restaurants and ready-to-serve dishes for food-service companies. But the plant’s operator, Cargill Inc, said it idled the facility because the pandemic reduced demand.

Daybreak Foods, which has about 14.5 million hens with contractor-run or company-owned farms in the Midwest, is trying to switch gears and ship eggs to grocery stores, said Chief Executive Officer William Rehm. But egg cartons are in shortage nationwide and the company now must grade each egg for size, he said.

Rehm declined to say how much of the company’s flock has been euthanized.

“We’re trying to balance our supply with our customers’ needs, and still keep everyone safe – including all of our people and all our hens,” Rehm said.

DUMPING HOGS IN A LANDFILL

In Iowa, farmer Dean Meyer said he is part of a group of about nine producers who are euthanizing the smallest 5% of their newly born pigs, or about 125 piglets a week. They will continue euthanizing animals until disruptions ease, and could increase the number of pigs killed each week, he said. The small bodies are composted and will become fertilizer. Meyer’s group is also killing mother hogs, or sows, to reduce their numbers, he said.

“Packers are backed up every day, more and more,” said Meyer.

As the United States faces a possible food shortage, and supermarkets and food banks are struggling to meet demand, the forced slaughters are becoming more widespread across the country, according to agricultural economists, farm trade groups and federal lawmakers who are hearing from farmer constituents.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, along with both U.S. senators from a state that provides a third of the nation’s pork, sent a letter to the Trump administration pleading for financial help and assistance with culling animals and properly disposing of their carcasses.

“There are 700,000 pigs across the nation that cannot be processed each week and must be humanely euthanized,” said the April 27 letter.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said late Friday it is establishing a National Incident Coordination Center to help farmers find markets for their livestock, or euthanize and dispose of animals if necessary.

Some producers who breed livestock and sell baby pigs to farmers are now giving them away for free, farmers said, translating to a loss about $38 on each piglet, according to commodity firm Kerns & Associates.

Farmers in neighbouring Canada are also killing animals they can’t sell or afford to feed. The value of Canadian isoweans – baby pigs – has fallen to zero because of U.S. processing plant disruptions, said Rick Bergmann, a Manitoba hog farmer and chair of the Canadian Pork Council. In Quebec alone, a backlog of 92,000 pigs waits for slaughter, said Quebec hog producer Rene Roy, an executive with the pork council.

A hog farm on Prince Edward Island in Canada euthanized 270-pound hogs that were ready for slaughter because there was no place to process them, Bergmann said. The animals were dumped in a landfill.

DEATH THREATS

The latest economic disaster to befall the farm sector comes after years of extreme weather, sagging commodity prices and the Trump administration’s trade war with China and other key export markets. But it’s more than lost income. The pandemic barreling through farm towns has mired rural communities in despair, a potent mix of shame and grief.

Farmers take pride in the fact that their crops and animals are meant to feed people, especially in a crisis that has idled millions of workers and forced many to rely on food banks. Now, they’re destroying crops and killing animals for no purpose.

Farmers flinch when talking about killing off animals early or plowing crops into the ground, for fear of public wrath. Two Wisconsin dairy farmers, forced to dump milk by their buyers, told Reuters they recently received anonymous death threats.

“They say, ‘How dare you throw away food when so many people are hungry?’,” said one farmer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They don’t know how farming works. This makes me sick, too.”

Even as livestock and crop prices plummet, prices for meat and eggs at grocery stores are up. The average retail price of eggs was up nearly 40% for the week ended April 18, compared to a year earlier, according to Nielsen data. Average retail fresh chicken prices were up 5.4%, while beef was up 5.8% and pork up 6.6%.

On Van Beek’s farm in Rock Valley, Iowa, one hog broke a leg because it grew too heavy while waiting to be slaughtered. He has delivered pigs to facilities that are still operating, but they are too full to take all of his animals.

Van Beek paid $2,000 to truck pigs about seven hours to a Smithfield plant in Illinois, more than quadruple the usual cost to haul them to a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, slaughterhouse that the company has closed indefinitely. He said Smithfield is supposed to pay the extra transportation costs under his contract. But the company is refusing to do so, claiming “force majeure” – that an extraordinary and unforeseeable event prevents it from fulfilling its agreement.

Smithfield, the world’s largest pork processor, declined to comment on whether it has refused to make contracted payments. It said the company is working with suppliers “to navigate these challenging and unprecedented times.”

Hog farmers nationwide will lose an estimated $5 billion, or $37 per head, for the rest of the year due to pandemic disruptions, according to the industry group National Pork Producers Council.

A recently announced $19 billion U.S. government coronavirus aid package for farmers will not pay for livestock that are culled, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation’s largest farmer trade group. The USDA said in a statement the payment program is still being developed and the agency has received more requests for assistance than it has money to handle.

Minnesota farmer Mike Patterson started feeding his pigs more soybean hulls – which fill animals’ stomachs but offer negligible nutritional value – to keep them from getting too large for their barns. He’s considering euthanizing them because he cannot find enough buyers after Smithfield indefinitely shut its massive Sioux Falls plant.

“They have to be housed humanely,” Patterson said. “If there’s not enough room, we have to have less hogs somehow. One way or another, we’ve got to have less hogs.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US economy making fast comeback in 4th quarter; next year to be phenomenal: Trump

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Expressing confidence over an economic rebound, US President Donald Trump has said that the fourth quarter of this year and the next year would be “phenomenal” in terms of growth as several American states have started taking steps to reopen businesses, which were abruptly shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The US economy, the world’s largest, is in a recession, according to the recent reports of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

A top White House official has said that the US is likely to experience a 20-30 per cent decline in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the second quarter, the worst since the Great Depression.

President Trump, speaking to reporters on Monday, slammed “one country” for the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus, which originated in China in mid-November and swirled through the world, killing at least two lakh people, mostly in the US.

Nobody except one country can be held accountable for what happened. Nobody is letting anybody here. We’re looking at a group of people that should have stopped it at the source.

Now we’re making a comeback… I can tell you the third and fourth quarter, in particular, are going to be I think spectacular. We were talking about with the executives. I think we’re going to have a phenomenal third quarter, Trump told reporters.

On lifting the travel restrictions, the President said it will depend on how long Europe takes “to heal”.

It is tragic but we will be looking at what is happening in Europe and certainly we want to do that and they want to do it too. They want to do it very badly,” he said.

The US imposed travel restrictions on Europe on March 13 as a preventive measure to stop the spread of the coronavirus inside the country.

Trump said the US economy would not do well in the second quarter, but will pick up in the third.

What we are doing is I think you’re going to see a big rise in the third, but you’re going to see an incredible fourth quarter and you’re going to have an incredible next year. I think you’re going to have a recovery, he said.

The President exuded confidence as several states started talking step to open up their economy and there were signs in decline in the death rates and new cases of the coronavirus.

We continue to see encouraging signs of progress; cases in New York area, New Orleans, Detroit, Boston, and Houston are declining. Denver, Seattle, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Nashville, Indianapolis, and St. Louis are all stable and declining, he said.

All parts of the country are either in good shape, in all cases getting better and we are seeing very little that we are going to look at as a superseding hotspot. Things are moving along. Really a horrible situation that we have been confronted with, but they are moving along.

As we express our gratitude for these hard-fought gains, however, we continue to mourn with thousands of families across the country is loved ones have been stolen from us by the invisible enemy. We grieve by their side as one family. This great American family and we do grieve, he said.

By Monday, more that 56,000 Americans had died due to the virus and over 10 lakh people have tested positive. The United States tops in the list of deaths and cases in the world.

We also stand in solidarity with the thousands of Americans who are ill and waging a brave fight against the virus.

“We are doing everything in our power to heal the sick and to gradually reopen our nation and to safely get our people back to work. They want to get back to work, and they want to get back to work soon. There is a hunger for getting our country back, and it is happening, and it is happening faster than people would think, Trump said.

Responding to questions, Trump said his administration is recommending states to reopen their economies as quickly as possible but safely.

We want everyone to be safe and I think you are seeing that. You’re seeing a lot of governors get out and they want to open it up. Many are thinking about their school system not a long way to go in the school system right now for this season, for this year but I think you will see a lot of schools open up even if it’s for a very short period of time.

It would be a good thing because as you see in terms of what this vicious virus goes after young people seem to do very well. Young people seem to do very well. So I know that there are some governors that aren’t necessarily ready to open up their states but they may be ready to open up their school systems. We will see but that is their choice. But the word is safety. Rapid but safety, said the President.

I built the greatest economy in the history of the world. And one day, because of something that should have never been allowed to happen, we had to close our country. We had to close our economy, Trump added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trying to get hired amid the pandemic? Here are some tips

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Whether you were looking for a new job before the coronavirus pandemic hit or have lost your job because of it, one thing is clear: Getting hired now isn’t going to be so easy.

“We’re seeing a lot of interviews rescheduled or canceled,” said Emily Slocum, global head of client services at GQR, an employment agency. “A lot of our candidates are frustrated.”

Yet there are still new positions opening up every day, Slocum said.

CNBC spoke with hiring experts about how to land a job even as the global health crisis shuts down businesses and forces employees to stay home.

Take advantage of downtime
Most of us have a little more downtime these days: Use some of it to update your resume and LinkedIn profile, said Vinay Nayak, vice president of strategic sales and operations at recruiting agency Aerotek.

While you’re at it, clean up your social media pages, said Debra Thorpe, senior vice president at Kelly Services, a staffing agency. “Scrub any content you don’t want a potential employer to see — or, if that’s too much work, make your profiles private,” Thorpe said.

You also want to gather references, Slocum said. “The best reference would be someone who is personally connected to the firm you are applying to, either works there themselves or knows the hiring manager directly,” Slocum said.

Research any company you apply to, Nayak said. Become familiar with its work, priorities and style.

Your first interaction with the company should be a personalized message to its hiring manager, said Lee Hills, head of cyber-security recruiting at GQR.

“Many hiring managers are working from home and will be more likely to respond to a direct reach out,” Hills said.

Focus on industries that are hiring
Some industries haven’t been hit as hard by the pandemic as others. Customer service and warehouse workers, package handlers, accountants and health care-workers, for example, are still in demand, Nayak said.

“We are also seeing an uptick in government-related positions to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

Search the internet for companies in these sectors and look for open positions that fit with your experience, said Josh Fitzgerald, head of technology recruiting at GQR.

“A role as a marketing associate at an airline probably won’t be available at present, but the same role at a pharmaceutical company might be,” Fitzgerald said.

If you land an interview
“Physical distancing guidelines shouldn’t slow down the interview process,” Nayak said, adding that, “a well-executed video interview presents an excellent alternative to meeting the employer in person.”

Before the interview, practice your responses to anticipated questions.

At the same time, think about the questions you have for the potential employer, as well as what you want to express about your experience and yourself.

Most jobs are currently remote, Nayak said, so be prepared to discuss your best work from home practices.

Keep in mind that we’re all living in trying times right now, said Risa M. Mish, a professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

“Open by asking how they are doing before jumping into what you want,” Mish said.

Make sure to dress appropriately and find a quiet setting to conduct the conversation, Nayak said.

Follow up, but not too much
Amid the pandemic, human resources staff at a prospective employer may either be swamped with tasks other than hiring or simply not have many answers to provide right now, Fitzgerald said.

Normally, you don’t want to follow up after an interview more than once or twice a week.

“If they have specifically cited a pause or delay in the recruitment process, I would check in once every two weeks,” Fitzgerald said.

Think outside the box
“Business as usual isn’t anymore,” said Jana Seijts, a lecturer in management communication at the Ivey Business School. “Those who can adapt and seek out possibilities will thrive.”

Consider learning new skills or even enrolling in an online certificate or degree program. “Invest in yourself,” Nayak said.

Maybe you haven’t considered a temporary job but, “contingent labor is essential in uncertain economic times because it allows companies to take a paced approach to their recovery,” Nayak said.

To find such work, you might think about what issues your community is facing because of the pandemic, said Marc-David L. Seidel, a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

“Do you have the necessary technical skills to help people setup video conferencing to stay both professionally and socially connected?” Seidel said. “Do you have the ability to help people stay healthy with new forms of diet or exercise?

“These are just some broad examples, but the key underlying aspect is identifying needs and matching your hidden skill set with them creatively,” he added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Xi tells Trump China and US must ‘unite to fight virus’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China and the United States should “unite to fight” the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the globe, said President Xi Jinping in a call with his US counterpart on Friday, according to state media.

The two countries have clashed in recent weeks over the virus, but Xi told President Donald Trump that China “wishes to continue sharing all information and experience with the US,” said state broadcaster CCTV.

The two leaders appeared to strike a conciliatory tone after Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo angered Beijing this month by repeatedly referring to “the Chinese virus” when discussing the COVID-19 outbreak first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Earlier this month a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing also suggested in a tweet that the US military brought the virus to Wuhan.

Friday’s call also took place as the US overtook China as the country with the most coronavirus cases — the pathogen has now infected more than 82,400 people in the world’s largest economy.

Xi said Sino-US relations were at a “critical juncture”, CCTV said, adding that cooperation was mutually beneficial and “the only right choice.” “I hope that the US will take substantive actions to improve Sino-US relations, and both sides can work together to strengthen cooperation in fighting the epidemic,” he said.

Some provinces, cities and companies in China have provided medical supplies and support to the US as well, Xi added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Coronavirus: ADB announces USD 6.5 bn package for developing member countries

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday announced a USD 6.5 billion package for its developing member countries to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The initial package has been announced to address the immediate needs of developing member countries (DMCs) as they respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, ADB said in a statement.

Manila-headquartered ADB works towards sustainable development and poverty eradication in Asia and the Pacific region.

“This pandemic has become a major global crisis. It requires forceful action at national, regional and global levels,” ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said.

“With our developing member countries, we are formulating an aggressive set of actions to combat the pandemic; to protect the poor, the vulnerable, and wider populations across the region; and to ensure economies will rebound as swiftly as possible.

“Based on close dialogue with our members and peer institutions, we are deploying this USD 6.5 billion rescue package to meet the immediate needs of our members,” he added.

Asawaka said ADB stands ready to provide further financial assistance and policy advice down the road whenever the situation warrants.

The multilateral funding agency said the pandemic demands a coordinated response and strong collaboration among countries and organisations.

ADB will further strengthen its close collaboration with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, regional development banks, the World Health Organization and major bilateral funding agencies, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

It will also include the US Centers for Disease Control and private sector organisations, to ensure effective implementation of its COVID-19 response.

ADB said it will seek adjustment in its financing instruments and business processes to provide the support package for its developing member countries (DMCs) as quickly and flexibly as possible.

“Subject to approval by ADB’s board of directors, this will include faster access to emergency budget support for economies facing severe fiscal constraints, streamlined procedures for policy-based lending, and universal procurement with flexible and faster processes,” the release said.

This initial package of USD 6.5 billion includes around USD 3.6 billion in sovereign operations for a range of responses to the health and economic consequences of the pandemic and USD 1.6 billion in non-sovereign operations for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, domestic and regional trade, and firms that are directly impacted.

ADB said it will also mobilise about USD 1 billion in concessional resources through reallocations from ongoing projects and assessing possible needs for contingencies.

“ADB will make available USD 40 million in technical assistance and quick-disbursing grants.” it added.

Since its first response to the COVID-19 situation on February 7, ADB already provided more than USD 225 million to meet urgent needs of both governments and businesses in DMCs.

The funding agency will publish estimates of the economic impact of the pandemic in its Asian Development Outlook 2020 on April 1, 2020.

Earlier on March 6, it had published an initial economic analysis for the region, and said the global economy may suffer losses of USD 77-347 billion due to the virus outbreak and Asia may be impacted significantly.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Not in bear market; maybe going through a correction phase, says Old Bridge Capital Mgmt

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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There is a sell-off across asset classes globally, so risk is off the table, said Kenneth Andrade, founder & CEO of Old Bridge Capital Management. “The existing pandemic has created challenges as far as trade and commerce is concerned and no one knows how it will pan out over couple of years. These are near-term challenges that we are seeing but nothing remains perpetual. So, it’s a matter of time before things settle down,” he added.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, when asked about Indian equity markets, he said, “I don’t think we are sitting in a bear market but we are seeing a correction in the cycle and we probably move on from here.”

When asked how they would approach the whole banking space in India post the Yes Bank debacle, Andrade said, “In the last decade, the first to die down was the asset part of the market, which were the companies that expanded their balance sheets and the contagion was left at the end of it for the financials to pick it up. So it’s the entire economic cycle that is playing out and the guy with largest amount of stress is feeling the heat.”

He further said that many financial stocks are trading at 1x price to book and provide an entry opportunity. Also many metals and utility stocks trading at sub 1x price to book, he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

“We will continue to remain positive on select private sector banks and that’s because of the opportunity that they can consolidate the market. So the top 3 or 4 names currently account for about 20 percent of the entire banking book and they are the only ones with access to capital and growth capital. If they execute well, they have a long horizon of growth,” Andrade further added.

Speaking about broader themes to buy in the market, he said, “When you get the corporate sector starts investing there is a biggest bump up in GDP and that was close to 8.5 percent growth in 10 year GDP cycle. This decade has been closer to about 7 percent and the first cycle that we saw in the Indian economy was about 5.5 percent. So, necessarily you need the government and the corporate India to come back into the entire cycle because that is chunky flows that creates the entire economic cycle to come through.

“We have held up through a consumer cycle. I cannot imagine that if you do not have corporate investment cycle, you will be able to do a consumer cycle in perpetuity,” added Andrade.

“If I go back historically, smaller companies become large. All the companies that did extremely well into a bubble cycle never existed 20 years back. So, all the newcomers that were there last 10-15 years actually created that cycle,” Andrade added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Coronavirus scare: India’s Dr Gagandeep Kang on key facts that you should know

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, also known as the COVID-19, has now infected more than 92,000 people across 70 countries. However, it is important to note that more than half of those infected have recovered, that is over 47,000 people and over 3,000 have died.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already declared the outbreak as a ”global emergency” but has not declared it as pandemic yet and has warned that we are entering into “unchartered territory”.

Data shows that daily new cases outside China are three times more than the case inside mainland China.

In India, over the last 24 hours, 3 people have tested positive in Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur. A school in Noida has been shut for 3 days and 40 students are in isolation. Six people in Agra are suspected to have come into contact with the Delhi patient, they are also in isolation.

The Indian government has expanded universal screening to cover all passengers coming in from 12 countries. Italy and Iran are the latest additions to the list. The government has also suspended all visas and e-visas granted to nationals from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan. Visas from China have already been suspended.

Amidst, all these developments, Dr Gagandeep Kang answered all the queries related to the coronavirus outbreak in an interview with CNBC-TV18. Dr Kang is the director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute. She is also the vice chair at ‘the coalition for epidemic preparedness innovations’.

Dr Kang is a leading researcher with a major research focus on viral infections in children, and the testing of rotaviral vaccines. She has been awarded the prestigious Infosys prize in life sciences in 2016. In 2019, she became the first Indian woman to be elected as a royal society fellow.

When asked about how one could distinguishing the symptoms of COVID-19 from that of flu, she said, “You cannot distinguish the symptoms of flu from the symptoms that you have with COVID-19 disease. They are very similar. It is fever predominantly with coughs and colds. You can develop additional symptoms including diarrhoea and liver and kidney failure. Anytime you start feeling sick or you have a high fever, it is a good idea to go to a doctor and get yourself tested. This is particularly important if you have underlying conditions such as diabetes or hypertension or cardio-vascular disease or are an older individual. The treatment is almost identical, it is a supportive therapy.”

“Right now, it appears that children are less susceptible to COVID-19 disease. At least the data that we have seen coming out of China so far – it is the older adults that get the more severe infections and younger adults see less severe disease. Children seem to be spared and the few studies that are available on very young children don’t seem to show a lot of signs of disease. So, I think in terms of children, there does appear to be a better ability to handle infection if they are being exposed,” said Dr Kang.

In terms of number of government centers doing the testing, she added, “If you think about stratification, I did mention that you should go to doctors if you are feeling ill and that really is to get the right kind of medicine and the supportive therapy. It is not possible for everybody who has a cold, cough and fever to get tested with the limited amount of testing that is available in India and in fact, available around the world. So, in terms of testing to determine the burden of disease, we need a different strategy.”

“In terms of individuals, currently the strategy that we are following is risk based testing. So, if you have a prior exposure or you have come from a region where there is known disease, people are being tested. I think the government is doing the right thing in expanding testing. The US has also allowed for every laboratory that is accredited to institute testing, not just the labs that the CDC were supporting previously.’

“This might be something that we will need to think about in the coming days if cases and contacts of cases go up significantly,” she further mentioned.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow