The latest round of hype on Covid-19 drugs began when Stat News reported on a leaked video discussion about Gilead Sciences Inc’s remdesivir. A Chicago doctor who had tested it on severely ill patients suggested it was working — that most of those who were given the medicine recovered and were discharged. The market is reacting as if the drug ...

A New York Times article published earlier this month proclaimed that, according to scientists, “never before have so many of the world’s researchers focussed so urgently on a single topic.” It went on to describe the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine and drugs for treating it, involving global collaborations of medical researchers. Epidemiologists are also labouring tirelessly to save ...

President Trump’s decision to include his signature on stimulus checks has struck many as unseemly, even unconstitutional. From the perspective of US history, it could have been worse. If not for a colourful little episode during the Civil War, Trump may have had the leeway to go bigger, putting himself on actual money. But he can’t — thanks to a ...

Now that Bernie Sanders has dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed presumptive candidate Joe Biden, it’s worth considering just how profoundly Sanders seems to have shifted the policy landscape. Despite the rise of inequality and other long-term economic problems, a majority of Democrats probably felt too comfortable with the current system to embrace revolutionary change. Although the Sanders ...

The US government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) provides forgivable loans to small businesses, mainly to pay their employees during the current sudden stop. News that it has run out of money is more than a big setback to the well-being of the economy. It’s also a serious health obstruction and, unlike many related concerns, one that can and should be ...

A series of dispatches from America in the age of Covid-19. The hunt for a roll of toilet paper: It’s now one of those shared experiences in American life we will all one day tell our grandchildren about, just before they infect us with some new virus. None of the delivery services here in Berkeley, California, even pretend that they ...

Bloomberg Bankers are increasingly reluctant to give commodity traders in Asia the credit they need to survive as the lenders grow ever more fearful about the risk of a catastrophic default. Their anxiety has reached new heights in recent days as fabled Singapore oil trader Hin Leong Trading (Pte.) Ltd. struggles to repay debts said to amount to almost $4 ...

Bloomberg Middle Eastern stocks rose on Sunday following a rally in emerging-market assets at the end of last week as the US outlined steps to reopen its coronavirus-shuttered economy. Dubai’s DFM General Index climbed 2.6% as of 10:07 am local time, while gauges in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait advanced as much as 1.5%. MSCI Inc.’s index of developing-nation stocks strengthened ...

Bloomberg TripAdvisor Holdings Inc.’s crazy week left analysts scratching their heads about what might have caused the stock to surge as much as 2,700% in one session. The series B shares soared on unusually high volume, and the move was so inexplicable that the company issued a statement indicating it was “not aware of the reasons for the recent volatility ...

Bloomberg European banks are seeking to avoid setting aside billions of euros to cover bad loans after the coronavirus outbreak, in a departure from US competitors collectively taking a $25 billion hit. European lenders are set to report comparatively small increases in loan loss reserves in the first quarter and plan a similar approach during the rest of the year, ...