Tag: WSJ

Covid-19 Cases Rise in Parts of U.S. Even as Vaccinations Pick Up

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-faces-critical-weeks-as-covid-19-cases-rise-again-in-some-places-11618845433

Excerpt:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday that the seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases is at more than 67,443, up 1% from the prior seven-day average of 66,702. Four weeks ago, the seven-day average was 53,000 cases a day, said Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, during a press briefing Monday.

The U.S. is in a “complicated stage” of the pandemic, Dr. Walensky said.

“The more people get vaccinated, the fewer infections there will be, which means fewer variants will emerge and fewer breakthrough infections will occur and the quicker we can get back to doing the things we love,” said Dr. Walensky.

More than a quarter of the U.S. population has now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to CDC data. The country administered an average of 3.2 million doses a day over the past week, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of CDC data.

As of Monday, all American adults are eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine, with every state meeting the April 19 deadline set by President Biden.

Author(s): Melanie Grayce West

Publication Date: 19 April 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

J&J Covid-19 Vaccine Pause Driven by Risk of Mistreating Blood Clots

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/j-j-covid-19-vaccine-was-paused-over-blood-clot-treatment-concerns-11618777554

Excerpt:

U.S. health authorities came close to simply warning about a blood-clotting risk from Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, but they decided to recommend pausing use out of concern doctors would improperly treat the condition, people familiar with the matter said.

Over the previous four weeks, U.S. health officials had become alarmed about similar blood-clotting conditions in Europe involving a Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca PLC, the people said. The officials dug into a U.S. vaccine safety database and identified the cases of great concern, but they debated what action to take.

By the night of April 12, the officials resolved that urgent action was needed, the people said. Four of six women in the U.S. who developed the clots days after vaccination had initially been given blood thinner heparin, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its use could have worsened the patients’ condition, the people said.

Author(s): Thomas M. Burton and Betsy McKay

Publication Date: 18 April 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Sorry, the Economic Crisis Is Over

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sorry-the-economic-crisis-is-over-11617662226?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Excerpt:

It’s getting harder for the Biden Administration to claim we’re in an economic crisis that demands more spending. It’s closer to the truth to say the economy is growing in a way that calls for spending and monetary restraint.

The latest evidence arrived Monday with the Institute for Supply Management’s news that its March survey for service businesses hit 63.7. That’s an all-time high, and it signifies rapid growth and optimism. The only problem is that many businesses say they can’t find enough workers or supplies to meet their order books.

That follows Friday’s blowout employment report for March, with a net total of 1.07 million new jobs including revisions from the previous two months. Wage gains were bigger than they looked at first glance, given that many returning workers were those in lower-wage services jobs hurt by the pandemic.

Author(s): Editorial Board

Publication Date: 6 April 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

A Better Corporate Tax for America

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-better-corporate-tax-for-america-11617813355

Excerpt:

If you’re a U.S. firm that does business abroad, the TCJA essentially gives you an easy — but perverse — choice: You can move your foreign profits and operations to America, where the corporate tax rate is 21%, or you can keep them anywhere else in the world, where the U.S. will charge you around half that. It’s not a hard call, especially because the minimum tax is calculated based on a firm’s total global profits rather than looking at what the company earns in each different country. With no one looking at individual jurisdictions, corporations can shift and book profits wherever they can get the lowest tax bill. The TCJA also makes the first 10% of returns earned by foreign assets tax exempt, a powerful incentive for companies to offshore factories and jobs. It isn’t an overstatement to say that today most firms would prefer to earn income anywhere but America.

The U.S. isn’t the only loser in this race to the bottom. So are our corporations. The global competition for low rates allows American firms to pay less taxes — or none at all — but they still pay a significant cost. Over the next 10 years, more than $2 trillion of the U.S. corporate tax base will flow out of the country because of the broken system I’ve described. Our tax revenues are already at their lowest level in generations, and as they continue to drop, the country will have less money to invest in airports, roads, bridges, broadband, job training, and research and development.

Author(s): Janet Yellen

Publication Date: 7 April 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

New York Taxes Go Skyscraper High

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-taxes-go-skyscraper-high-11617834769

Excerpt:

The budget deal Gov. Andrew Cuomo cut this week with the Legislature lifts the top marginal rate on the state’s income tax to 10.9%, from today’s 8.82%. Add New York City’s top local tax of 3.88%, and the total is 14.78%. Take a knee, California (top marginal rate of 13.3%), and recognize America’s new tax king. Wall Street types already are migrating to Florida, which has an income tax of 0%.

Mr. Cuomo’s budget deal also raises the business franchise tax to 7.25%, from 6.5%. This affects many independent proprietors and will be another incentive to escape from Manhattan. Both of these tax increases are sold as temporary “surcharges,” running through 2027 for the income tax and 2023 for the corporate tax. But politicians in Albany used the same line when they passed the “millionaires tax” in 2009. Does Mr. Cuomo think two decades is temporary?

The reason for the tax increase isn’t the pandemic or a revenue shortfall. Mr. Cuomo last year pointed a gun at New York’s head and threatened to shoot unless Congress sent more money. He received the ransom he demanded, and more. The state is getting $12.6 billion in direct budget relief from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid bill.

Author(s): Editorial Board

Publication Date: 7 April 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Biden Softens Tax Plan Aimed at Profitable Companies That Pay Little

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-softens-tax-proposal-aimed-at-profitable-companies-that-pay-little-11617809422?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

A 15% minimum tax on large, profitable corporations that is part of President Biden’s infrastructure proposal would affect far fewer companies than the version he campaigned on, according to details the Treasury Department released Wednesday.

The tax — aimed at companies that report large profits to investors but low tax payments — would apply only to companies with income exceeding $2 billion, up from the $100 million threshold that Mr. Biden pushed during the campaign.

The Biden plan would now also let companies subject to the tax get the benefit of tax credits for research, renewable energy and low-income housing, a recognition that the campaign-trail version could have undercut the president’s preference to encourage companies to invest in those areas.

The result is that just 180 companies would meet the income threshold and just 45 would pay the tax, according to administration estimates that assume the rest of the administration’s plan gets implemented. Nearly 1,100 U.S.-listed companies would meet the $100 million threshold, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Many of them would still face sharply higher tax bills from the rest of the Biden proposals, which raise rates on domestic and foreign income.

Author(s): Richard Rubin, Kate Davidson

Publication Date: 7 April 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Oxford Pauses Dosing in Trial of AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine in Children, Teenagers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/oxford-pauses-dosing-in-trial-of-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-in-children-teenagers-11617729303

Excerpt:

The University of Oxford said it has paused administering doses of the Covid-19 vaccine it developed with AstraZeneca PLC in a small U.K. study to test the shot in children and teenagers, pending further information about rare blood-clotting issues in adults who have received it.

The Oxford-led pediatric trial started in mid-February and is aimed at testing the vaccine in more than 200 young people aged 6 to 17 years. An Oxford spokesman said Tuesday that no safety issues have arisen in the trial itself, but broader concerns about rare clotting problems in adults have triggered further regulatory reviews in the U.K. and Europe to investigate any potential link with the vaccine.

Oxford is waiting for more information from the U.K.’s drugs watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, before giving any further vaccinations to children or teenagers in the pediatric trial, the spokesman said.

The pause is the latest setback for the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, which has faced questions about its efficacy and potential side effects even as tens of millions of doses have been administered following safety signoffs in more than 70 countries.

Author(s): Jenny Strasburg, Eric Sylvers

Publication Date: 6 April 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Goldman, Morgan Stanley Limit Losses With Fast Sale of Archegos Assets

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/goldman-morgan-limit-losses-with-fast-sale-of-archegos-assets-11617062028?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

The steep losses at Archegos come as a council of top U.S. regulators known as the Financial Stability Oversight Council is already scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss hedge-fund activity during the pandemic-triggered crisis. The meeting is the first for the risk council during the Biden administration, which has pledged to scrutinize financial weaknesses revealed by the pandemic-triggered market tumult from March 2020. The council is made up of the heads of the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and other agencies.

Mr. Dweck, the consultant, pointed to a case that many on Wall Street are hearing echoes of this week: Long-Term Capital Management, a massive hedge fund that blew up in 1998. Firms learned the full extent of the hedge fund’s problems only when government officials summoned them to Long-Term’s offices to pore over its records, he said.

“The upshot is, you’re going to have stuff like this happen,” Mr. Dweck said.

Author(s): Maureen Farrell, Margot Patrick, Juliet Chung

Publication Date: 30 March 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Senate Democrats Push for Capital-Gains Tax at Death With $1 Million Exemption

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-democrats-push-for-capital-gains-tax-at-death-with-1-million-exemption-11617046200?mod=djemwhatsnews

Excerpt:

Progressive Senate Democrats suggested that their new plan to tax unrealized capital gains at death should come with a $1 million per-person exemption, setting that line 10 times higher than an earlier Obama administration proposal and shielding a larger swath of upper income households.

A discussion draft released Monday by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) and others marks a first attempt to put details on an idea that President Biden endorsed during last year’s campaign. Capital-gains taxation is likely to spur significant debate in coming months as Democrats look to raise money from high-income households to pay for Mr. Biden’s proposed spending on infrastructure and social programs.

Under current law, someone who dies with appreciated assets—including homes, businesses and stocks in taxable accounts—doesn’t have to pay capital-gains taxes on that increase. Instead, the heirs have to pay capital-gains taxes only after they sell and only on gains after the original owner’s death. That “stepped-up basis” is a longstanding feature of the tax code, but it has come under increasing attacks from Democrats who see wealthy people’s profits escaping the income tax.

Author(s): Richard Rubin, Andrew Duehren

Publication Date: 29 March 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Coronavirus Was Supposed to Drive Bankruptcies Higher. The Opposite Happened.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-was-supposed-to-drive-bankruptcies-higher-the-opposite-happened-11617010201?mod=djemwhatsnews

Graphic:

Excerpt:

The number of people seeking bankruptcy fell sharply during the pandemic as government aid propped up income and staved off housing and student-loan obligations.

Bankruptcy filings by consumers under chapter 7 were down 22% last year compared with 2019, while individual filings under chapter 13 fell 46%, according to Epiq data. After holding above 50,000 filings a month in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020, bankruptcy filings have remained below 40,000 a month since last March when the pandemic hit.

By contrast, commercial bankruptcy filings rose 29%, with more than 7,100 businesses seeking chapter 11 protection last year, according to Epiq.

Author(s): Soma Biswas, Harriet Torry

Publication Date: 29 March 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

Pandemic Accelerates Retirements, Threatening Economic Growth

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/pandemic-accelerates-retirements-threatening-economic-growth-11616940000

Excerpt:

The labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population working or seeking work—for Americans age 55 and older has fallen from 40.3% in February of 2020 to 38.3% this February—representing a loss of 1.45 million people from the labor force.

The participation rate initially fell much more for prime-age workers, those between ages 25 and 54, from 82.9% in February last year to 79.8% in April, but has since jumped 1.3 points, to 81.1% in February of this year. By contrast, participation for older workers has shown no rebound from last spring.

Lydia Boussour, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said the unique health risk to older people during the pandemic has likely deterred them from rejoining the workforce in greater numbers. Public-health officials have warned that the risk of severe illness from Covid-19 increases with age. Among those who contract the virus, the death rate for those age 50-64 is nearly nine times that of those age 30-39, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Author(s): Amara Omeokwe

Publication Date: 28 March 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal

States Reopened, but Covid-19 Fears Threaten to Keep Consumers Away

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/states-reopened-but-covid-19-fears-threaten-to-keep-consumers-away-11616146203

Excerpt:

Texas, Iowa and Mississippi were among the first states to fully reopen businesses this year, ending shutdown orders intended to curb the spread of Covid-19.

But research suggests the dormant economies won’t immediately blossom—unless consumers also lose their fear of the coronavirus.

So far, about 40 million Americans, or 12% of the population, have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 73 million, or about 22% have received at least one shot.

Author(s): Jo Craven McGinty

Publication Date: 19 March 2021

Publication Site: Wall Street Journal