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Fb chief Mark Zuckerberg odd Fourth of July Instagram put up

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg odd Fourth of July Instagram post

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rides an electric surfboard holding the American flag. July 4, 2021.

Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram

Make America Weird Again.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday posted a wacky American-flag waving, surfboard-riding video on Instagram to celebrate Independence Day.

“Happy July 4th!” Zuckerberg wrote on the post of the video.

It features him deftly skimming along atop an electric foil surfboard on an idyllic-looking lake, toting the Stars and Stripes as John Denver’s anthem to West Virginia, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” plays as a soundtrack.

Facebook, which the 37-year-old mega-billionaire co-founded, owns Instagram.

“This is some meme materials,” one follower of “Zuck” wrote in response to the post.

“Fantastic!” another follower wrote.

A third wrote, “When you get your antitrust lawsuit thrown about by a judge. Let’s GOOOOO Zuck!

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Health

Why U.S. will not hit Fourth of July objectives

United States President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the South Court Auditorium of the White House on June 2, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Biden’s government says it will miss its July 4th vaccination target

All that free beer, donuts, and baseball tickets won’t be enough to keep up with the pace of vaccinations.

President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one shot in the arms of 70% of US adults before the July 4th holidays is missed.

According to a CNBC analysis of CDC data, by then about 67% of adults will be at least partially vaccinated at the current vaccination rate.

Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards

The president said he hoped Independence Day would mark a turning point in the pandemic.

Yet vaccination efforts have come up against a wall in some states, despite the fact that the Delta variant of the disease is rapidly spreading across the country.

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From Krispy Kreme to cold money, there is now no shortage of incentives to entice Americans into the Covid vaccine. But vaccination rates stay below 70% and are likely to stay there, according to Iwan Barrankay, professor of business and public policy at Wharton.

“These incentives are a great idea and they are very engaging, but there is simply no evidence that these incentives address the barriers,” Barankay said.

“We get into a population of people who are vehemently against it or who have a life situation that is too complicated,” he said. This group will not be swayed by vaccine sweeteners like cash gifts, sports tickets and free food, he added.

For some, socio-economic barriers remain, such as childcare or time off work to get vaccinated.

Barrankay has spent years researching what works to encourage patients to take their medication. Financial incentives are not compelling for patients with complicated lives, he said. Low income, inadequate housing, lack of transportation, and caring for others in the household are all factors that can get in the way.

In some cases, there is no incentive that you can offer people.

Ivan Barankay

Wharton professor

For others, there are also behavioral barriers, including skepticism about the vaccine, that can be even more difficult to overcome.

“In some cases, there is no incentive you can give people,” Barankay said.

Some Americans, especially those in black, Hispanic, and rural communities, are more reluctant to get Covid vaccinations.

“People are influenced by others around them,” said Barrankay. “If you can change someone’s behavior in a community, it has a multiplier effect, but it is much more difficult work.”

Still, as vaccination rates plateau, public and private groups continue to increase the stakes – from million dollar payouts and even marijuana or a lap around a NASCAR track – to encourage more vaccinations.

In May, Maryland hosted the first of its $ 40,000 lottery draws for people who were vaccinated. Forty consecutive days of the drawing for a prize of $ 40,000 will end on July 4th with a final drawing for a payout of $ 400,000.

Ohio also hosts a series of cash prize draws with its own “Vax-a-Million” contest.

In the private sector, Krispy Kreme was one of the first in March to introduce a nationwide Covid vaccine incentive, offering a free glazed donut to every adult with a vaccination card. The company said it has already given away more than 1.5 million donuts. (The offer is still valid for the rest of the year.)

And Anheuser-Busch recently said it would buy “a round of beer” to anyone over the age of 21 once Biden’s 70% target is reached on July 4th.

A handful of states have reported that vaccination incentive programs have increased local vaccination rates in some populations following recent declines.

For its part, Ohio said its vaccination rates doubled in some counties after the state vaccine lottery was announced.

Recent data shows that the Gambit could be effective with certain groups and have few overall drawbacks, according to a Morning Consult report.

The survey of 2,200 adults, including nearly 1,600 unvaccinated people, found that men are more likely than women to say that these offers would get them to sign up for a vaccination.

Democrats, more than Republicans, also said they were more likely to get vaccinated if they could get free goods or services, and when broken down by generations, millennials were the most likely to say that certain freebies would encourage them to get vaccinated.

A separate survey by Blackhawk Network found that money is the most popular motivator over a sweepstakes, paid time off, free food or drink, or other commodity.

About 66% of unvaccinated adults said they would accept a monetary incentive, and 44% said they would even get vaccinated for $ 100 or less. Blackhawk Network surveyed more than 3,000 adults in June.

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Health

Covid danger low for many People to assemble over Fourth of July weekend, Gottlieb says

Covid risk low for most Americans to gather over Fourth of July weekend, Gottlieb says

Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Friday that most Americans should be comfortable gathering together safely on Independence Day weekend, citing high Covid vaccination rates and low virus infection rates in many parts of the country.

However, the former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration said there are certain places where people should be more careful.

“There is a very low prevalence across the country. You have to be based on where you are, ”said Gottlieb in“ Squawk Box ”. He noted that in his home state of Connecticut, new daily cases are small, “so it’s a pretty safe environment to get together right now.”

“In some parts of the country where prevalence is increasing – Missouri, parts of Nevada, Arkansas, Oklahoma – I think people should exercise more caution,” added Gottlieb, who sits on the board of directors at Covid vaccine maker Pfizer.

Gottlieb’s comments come before the July 4th weekend as U.S. health officials closely monitor the Covid Delta variant, which is believed to be significantly more transmissible than dominant strains earlier in the pandemic.

Coronavirus cases in the country are dramatically lower than their peak in January when the country recorded over 300,000 new infections in a single day, but has been trending upward in recent days, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.

The US recorded an average of about 12,700 new Covid cases per day in the past week, the analysis showed. That’s 9% more than a week ago.

“We don’t want to worry people, but we’re following these numbers very, very carefully,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky NBC News after a White House briefing Thursday.

The number of deaths continues to decline. The seven-day average of new Covid deaths is 249, according to CNBC analysis, a 19% decrease from a week earlier.

“There are kind of isolated parts of the country where the number of infections is increasing. The rest of the country looks very good,” said Gottlieb. “I think what you are seeing is a decoupling between places with high vaccination rates and places with low vaccination rates. You also see, frankly, a decoupling between the cases and extreme death and the disease that caused this virus.”

In countries with high vaccination rates, but also increasing cases due to the Delta variant, such as Great Britain and Israel, “hospitals and deaths are no longer increasing” as they did earlier in the global health crisis, said Gottlieb.

“For a while, we thought it was just the delayed effect where hospital admissions weren’t seen until three or four weeks after the number of cases rose, just like deaths,” said Gottlieb, who headed the FDA from 2017 to 2017 2019 in the Trump administration.

“But at this point we have enough trending to suggest that now you will only see decoupling and not see the extreme results of the virus in parts of the world where vaccination rates are high. and that includes the United States. “

Because of this, Gottlieb said, it’s important to make sure more Americans get a coronavirus vaccine, which will reduce both the spread of the virus and the risk of getting seriously ill or dying from the disease.

Nearly 156 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Just over 181 million people have received at least one dose; Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two vaccines while Johnson & Johnson’s are a single dose.

However, there are geographical gaps in vaccination coverage. CDC’s Walensky said Thursday that fewer than 30% of residents are vaccinated in about 1,000 U.S. counties, most of which are in the Southeast and Midwest.

Overall, 47% of the US population is fully vaccinated.

“Preliminary data for the past six months suggests that 99.5% of deaths from Covid-19 in the US have occurred in unvaccinated people … the suffering and loss we see now are almost entirely preventable,” Walensky said .

Gottlieb said despite being fully vaccinated, he is still looking for ways to be cautious as the pandemic is not completely lagging behind the country.

“For example, if I am going to a restaurant and there is an opportunity to sit outside, I will eat outside. I think where you can be a kind of nervous Bayesian and lower your statistical probability of coming into contact with the virus, why not? ”Said Gottlieb. “But I wouldn’t hold back from meeting friends and family on this holiday because the virus is spreading in very small numbers in certain parts of the country.”

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Health

Biden administration says it will not hit Fourth of July objectives

Biden administration says it won't hit Fourth of July goals

The Biden administration said Tuesday that it is unlikely to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of getting 70% of American adults to receive one or more vaccinations by July 4th.

White House Covid Tsar Jeff Zients said the government has reached its 70 percent target for people 30 and older and is well on its way to achieving it by July 4th for those 27 and older.

“We believe it will take a few more weeks to reach 70% of adults with at least one vaccination, including those aged 18-26,” he said.

Still, Zients insisted that the White House “exceeded our highest expectations” in its vaccination program and achieved a vision for Biden in March of gathering friends and family safely to celebrate the holiday.

Biden set two goals in early May: to have 70% of adults in the United States given at least one vaccination, and to fully vaccinate 160 million American adults by Independence Day.

About 65% of American adults will have had one or more injections by Monday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CNBC analysis of the CDC data shows that with the current vaccination schedule, about 67% of adults are at least partially vaccinated by the fourth.

According to CDC data, around 144 million people aged 18 and over are fully vaccinated, on the way to reaching around 151 million if the current pace of daily vaccinations reported remains constant.

United States President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the South Court Auditorium of the White House on June 2, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

When Biden first announced his two goals on May 4th, the US was well on its way to scoring both. However, according to CDC data, the vaccination rate has fallen in the weeks since the seven-day average from 2.2 million vaccinations per day in all age groups to 1.1 million on June 21.

The government has easily met its previous vaccination goals in the first 100 days of the president’s tenure. Biden initially targeted 100 million vaccinations in 100 days, which was criticized as being too easy, and achieved it on day 58. The White House raised the target to 200 million vaccinations, which it surpassed on the 92nd day of the presidency.

Amid the vaccination campaign, nationwide case numbers have dropped to levels not seen since the early days of the pandemic, although the risk of disease remains for the unvaccinated.

Zients said many younger Americans are less eager to get a vaccination and stressed the importance of vaccinations for this age group due to the spread of the Delta variant.

Biden warned on Friday that the highly contagious variant, first identified in India, appears to be “particularly dangerous” for young people.

“The data is clear: if you are not vaccinated, there is a risk that you will become seriously ill, or die, or spread,” Biden said during a White House press conference.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have already reached Biden’s goal, led by Vermont, Hawaii and Massachusetts, where more than 80% of adults are at least partially vaccinated.

Other states are lagging behind, 17 of which are below the 60% mark. These include Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, and Alabama, each of which less than 50% of its adult residents hit one or more shots.

“Our work doesn’t stop on July 4th or at 70%,” said Zients, calling Biden’s goals a “goal worth striving for in order to make progress in a short period of time.”

“We want every American in every community to be protected and free from fear of the virus,” Zients said.

– CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.

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Health

Biden is on observe to fall in need of vaccinating 70% of American adults by the Fourth of July

Biden is on track to fall short of vaccinating 70% of American adults by the Fourth of July

President Joe Biden speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, June 2, 2021.

Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images

With less than three weeks to go until Independence Day, President Joe Biden’s latest vaccination goals are in jeopardy.

The country is not on pace to hit his two main targets outlined in early May: fully vaccinating 160 million adult Americans and administering at least one shot to 70% of adults across the U.S. by July 4, according to a CNBC analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

About 65% of adults are at least partially vaccinated as of Wednesday, CDC data shows. Roughly 13.6 million would have to receive their first shot over the next 18 days to get that figure to 70%, an average of about 756,000 new vaccinations each day. The U.S., however, is averaging 336,000 newly vaccinated adults per day over the past week.

If the U.S. maintains that latest seven-day average, 67% of adults will be at least partially vaccinated by that day.

When asked about the consequences of missing the 70% target at a news briefing last week, the White House’s chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the Fourth of July would not be the end of the country’s vaccination efforts as the risk of infection and illness remains for those who haven’t gotten a shot.

“If you don’t meet the precise goal and you fall short by a few percent, that doesn’t mean you stop in your effort to get people vaccinated,” Fauci said. “We want to reach 70% of the adult population by the Fourth of July. I believe we can, I hope we will, and if we don’t we’re going to continue to keep pushing.”

Fauci emphasized that people who don’t get vaccinated, are still at risk. “If you get vaccinated, you dramatically, dramatically diminish the risk of getting infected and almost eliminate the risk of serious disease,” he said.

Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also stressed the importance of vaccination in preventing the delta variant, which was first identified in India and is rapidly emerging as the dominant strain in the U.K, from taking hold in the United States.

White House Covid czar Jeff Zients told reporters Thursday that the U.S. would cross the 70% mark and “continue across the summer months to push beyond 70%,” but did not specify whether he expects the country to reach that mark by the goal deadline.

Biden’s goal of 160 million fully vaccinated adults is also on track to fall short if the pace of shots does not pick up in the next few weeks. Nearly 142 million adults have completed a vaccination program, on pace to land at around 152 million on the Fourth of July assuming the current pace of daily reported vaccinations holds steady.

When Biden first announced the two goals on May 4, the country was on pace to hit both. But the vaccination rate has fallen in the weeks since, from a seven-day average of 2.2 million shots per day across all age groups on the day of the announcement to 1.2 million per day as of June 16, according to the CDC.

The White House has doubled down on recent efforts to boost the vaccination rate. Biden announced June as a “national month of action” in which his administration would mobilize national organizations, community- and faith-based partners, celebrities, athletes, and other influential groups to be part of the vaccination campaign. The White House also asked pharmacies to extend hours for the month of June and partnered with Uber and Lyft to offer free rides to vaccination sites.

States are also offering incentives ranging from free beer to $1 million lotteries to try to convince Americans to get jabbed. 

Though the nationwide rate is still about 5 percentage points away, 14 states and the District of Columbia have already crossed the 70% milestone. New York is the latest to get there, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the state would lift most of its Covid restrictions as a result. 

Other states lag, with 22 of them below the 60% mark. That includes Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Wyoming, which have each reached less than 50% of adult residents with one or more shots.

The U.S. has undoubtedly made progress in fighting Covid, and nationwide case counts are down to levels not seen since the start of the pandemic, which U.S. officials attribute to the country’s vaccination campaign. American life is closer to its pre-pandemic normal than at any point since last March now that the CDC’s lifted most of its mask recommendations and started to ease travel restrictions.

Even so, pockets of the U.S. with low vaccination rates are a risk for the country’s ability to control the pandemic, said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University. 

“Once you have an unvaccinated population, that’s a vulnerable population likely to see surges in cases,” she said. Ongoing spread means the potential for new variants to emerge, with the possibility that one will be able to evade the protection offered by vaccines.

“It is valuable to have aspirations and very ambitious targets ahead of us and I think we should do our best to reach those targets,” El-Sadr said of Biden’s July 4 goals. “If we don’t reach them, it doesn’t mean that we accept it as a failure and stop doing what we’re doing. It means we redouble our efforts.”

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Health

Biden doubles down on U.S. efforts to get extra People vaccinated by the Fourth of July

Biden doubles down on U.S. efforts to get more Americans vaccinated by the Fourth of July

President Joe Biden speaks on Covid-19 response and vaccinations in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House, in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2021.

Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Wednesday doubled down on his administration’s efforts to get more Americans vaccinated against Covid-19 by July 4, a date the president has said he hopes will mark a turning point in the pandemic in the U.S.

In early May, Biden announced his administration’s new goals in the fight against the coronavirus: getting 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one dose of a Covid vaccine and having 160 million adults fully vaccinated by Independence Day.

Speaking from the White House on Wednesday, Biden announced June as the “national month of action” to get more Americans vaccinated by July 4. He urged unvaccinated Americans to get the shots, saying they are still at risk of becoming seriously ill, dying and spreading the disease to others, especially once the U.S. approaches the fall.

“Getting a vaccine is not a partisan act,” Biden said, noting that the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines were authorized under former Republican President Donald Trump.

“I don’t want to see the country that is already divided be divided in a new way: between places where people live free from fear of Covid and places, when the fall arrives, deaths and severe illnesses return,” he said. “The vaccine is free, safe and effective.”

The president outlined his administration’s approach to its nationwide vaccine campaign, which he said would mobilize national organizations, community- and faith-based partners, celebrities, athletes and other influential groups.

In details released ahead of Biden’s speech, the White House also said the administration has asked pharmacies to extend their hours for the month of June and disclosed it is partnering with child-care providers to offer free services to all parents getting vaccinated or recovering from the shots.

KinderCare and Learning Care Group as well as more than 500 YMCAs will offer the child services, Biden said later Wednesday.

The administration is also organizing efforts to call and text people in areas with low vaccination rates and is challenging mayors to compete with each other to see which city can increase shot rates the quickest, according to an email from the White House.

Other administration efforts include “Shots at the Shop,” an initiative that will engage Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons across the country to support local vaccine education and outreach efforts.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will also lead a tour – called the “We Can Do This” National Vaccination Tour – which will highlight “the ease of getting vaccinated, encourage vaccinations, and energize and mobilize grassroots vaccine education and outreach efforts,” according to the White House.

On Wednesday, Biden also touted the White House’s partnership with Uber and Lyft to offer free rides to vaccination sites until July 4.

“America is heading into a summer dramatically different from last summer,” he said. “Safely vaccinated people are shedding their masks and greeting one another with a smile.”

As of Tuesday, more than 162 million U.S. adults, or 62.8% of people 18 and over, have received at least one Covid vaccine, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 133 million U.S. adults are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

There was an average of 1.2 million Covid shots administered every day over the last week in the U.S. But some of the data over the long holiday weekend is incomplete, so vaccination rates may be higher.

Public health experts say Biden’s vaccination goal may pose a challenge for his administration as the U.S. has already inoculated those most enthusiastic about getting a vaccine.

Kevin Hensley is given the J&J COVID vaccine in coordination with the Cook County Health Dept. and the Chicago White Sox. Recipients were given a $25 card for discounts on concessions before Game One of a doubleheader at Guaranteed Rate Field on May 29, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.

David Banks | Getty Images

In order to administer millions of more inoculations in the next four weeks, the White House has said the president will take additional steps to encourage more people to get vaccinated and make it easier for them to do so.

In addition to the steps announced Wednedsay, the Biden administration has worked to make getting a vaccine “as easy as ever” with many vaccination sites across the U.S. offering walk-ins.

The administration in April launched a massive campaign to persuade more Americans to take the vaccines, which is using social media and virtual events where celebrities and athletes answer people’s lingering questions about the vaccines.

The CDC has updated its public health guidance to say that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or stay 6 feet away from others in most settings, whether outdoors or indoors. Many public health experts say the change was designed to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

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World News

Nasdaq trails Dow for fourth straight week, longest streak since 2016

Nasdaq trails Dow for fourth straight week, longest streak since 2016

Chris Hondros | Newsmaker | Getty Images

After a decade of outperformance, investors are finally switching out of technology stocks.

For the fourth straight week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It is the longest such streak since April to May 2016, which was also the only year since 2011 in which the Dow defeated the Nasdaq.

Market experts have been forecasting a technical downturn for years and have consistently been wrong due to the increasing dominance of mega-cap companies such as Apple and Amazon, the frenzy over Tesla and the massive shift in spending to cloud computing.

“It has been frustrating for years to fix this trade,” said Jack Ablin, who oversees $ 12.5 billion as chief investment officer at Cresset.

Ablin said it felt different this time. Beginning in the fourth quarter, his company introduced a new “quality dividend strategy” that moved technology customers to industrial, finance, materials and energy companies. He bet on a democratic course in November, followed by a major stimulus package that would pump money into the economy and lead to inflation and higher interest rates.

President Joe Biden speaks with Vice President Kamala Harris (R) in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on March 12, 2021, about America’s bailout plan.

Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images

The 10-year Treasury rose to its highest level in over a year on Friday, hitting 1.642%. Rising interest rates give investors an incentive to shift money towards fixed income securities, while inflation tends to have an overwhelming impact on growth companies as it dampens expectations for future earnings.

Meanwhile, the $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package signed by President Joe Biden Thursday will send $ 1,400 in direct payments to most Americans, expanding child tax credits, and providing rental and utility services .

‘Backlog’

Add to this Biden’s declaration that all adults are eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine by May 1, and the economy is on the brink of a major recovery in 2021.

“There’s a pent-up demand for going out and doing things, going on vacation, going to bars and restaurants,” Ablin said. People will “take all the money on the sidelines and spend it,” he said.

Although Biden and the Democratic Congress are focused on expanding alternatives to green energy, the current prospects for travel and getting back to work benefit traditional oil and gas companies. Within the S&P 500, energy values ​​performed best as a group this year with a plus of 40%. The top performing groups this week were Consumer Discretionary, Real Estate, and Utilities.

The Dow Industrials rose 4.1% over the course of the week to close at a record high of 32,778.64. After three straight weeks of decline, the Nasdaq rose 3.1% to 13,319.87. For the year, the Dow is up 7.1% while the Nasdaq is up 3.4%.

Dow versus Nasdaq in 2021

CNBC

Ablin knows it’s too early for a winning lap. While technology by and large underperforms, there is still a lot of money flowing into even more speculative assets. Bitcoin’s value nearly doubled this year, and a non-fungible token (NFT) by artist Beeple sold for more than $ 69 million in auction through Christie’s on Wednesday.

Ablin said he was just asked about NFTs by a customer Thursday. While he admits he doesn’t have a strong stance on them, he said the market could look very different in the coming months if stimulus recipients choose risky investments instead of traveling and buying consumer goods.

“If it really isn’t spent but plowed into the market, that would pull the rug out of our thesis,” Ablin said. For example, he said, “If they don’t go on vacation, they buy Tesla stock.”

Tesla stock is up 16% this week. But that was after a 30% drop from the previous month.

SEE: NFTs see record prices as artists and Silicon Valley buy in

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Business

Dr. Kavita Patel predicts July Fourth will mark a Covid ‘turning level’

Dr. Kavita Patel predicts July Fourth will mark a Covid ‘turning point’

Dr. Kavita Patel predicted that July 4th will mark “a turning point or turning point” in the fight against Covid for the United States.

“If we can achieve this herd immunity … we will be able to suppress the activity of this virus to the levels we see in the influenza virus,” Patel told CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith on Thursday evening. “We can wholeheartedly expect to move from a pandemic and some sort of global emergency to an endemic where this is only a regular part of our dealings,” added the former Obama administration adviser.

While her prediction was in line with President Joe Biden’s goal of bringing the nation to a semblance of normalcy by Independence Day, she noted that regular boosters or Covid vaccines will likely be necessary in the future, especially if communicable variants become common spread.

Pfizer released new data from Israel indicating its two-shot vaccine is 97% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid cases and 94% effective against asymptomatic cases. The analysis also showed a high level of protection against the highly transferable variant B.1.1.7 from Great Britain, which has also spread in the USA

By Friday morning, 1 in 10 Americans had been fully vaccinated – and in total, more than 98 million doses had been administered nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency also reported that 62% of Americans 65 and older received at least one dose, and nearly a third of them were fully vaccinated.

Patel believes the Food and Drug Administration will “soon” fully approve Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines, especially as more data accumulates. All there were released in the US for emergencies.

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Business

launch of fourth quarter, full-year 2020 GDP

release of fourth quarter, full-year 2020 GDP

Employees working on a dry-type transformer production line at a power generation factory in Haian, east China’s Jiangsu Province, Jan. 4, 2021.

Stringer | AFP | Getty Images

BEIJING – China reported GDP rose 2.3% over the past year as the world battled to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Chinese consumers continued to be reluctant to spend as retail sales fell 3.9% over the year. Retail sales increased 4.6% year over year in the fourth quarter.

The gross domestic product grew by 6.5% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year.

Economists expected China to be the only major economy to have grown over the past year and forecast GDP growth of just over 2%.

Covid-19 first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019. To control the virus, Chinese authorities closed more than half the country and the economy contracted 6.8% in the first three months of 2020.

However, China returned to growth in the second quarter. Economists polled by Reuters forecast GDP to grow 6.1% in the fourth quarter, faster than the 4.9% pace in the previous quarter.

China’s GDP growth this year is expected to come from a lower base.

In late December, the National Bureau of Statistics cut China’s official growth rate for 2019 to 6.0% from the 6.1% previously reported. The cut came mostly in manufacturing as factories dealt with new US tariffs on Chinese goods valued at billions of dollars.

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World News

revenue possible rose in fourth quarter

profit likely rose in fourth quarter

The Samsung logo can be seen on an Android phone.

Omar Marques / SOPA Pictures | LightRocket | Getty Images

SINGAPORE – Samsung Electronics announced Friday that operating income for the quarter ended December was expected to increase 26% year over year to Korean won 9 trillion (US $ 8.22 billion).

According to Refinitiv SmartEstimate, this was largely in line with analysts’ estimate of 9.1 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics’ shares in South Korea rose 7.12% on Friday.

The company announced that consolidated sales were expected to reach 61 trillion won in the fourth quarter, an increase of nearly 2% year over year. Samsung has not broken down the performance of each business unit, including the main profitable semiconductor business.

Full results for the December quarter are expected later this month.

Korean won and smartphone sales

According to Daniel Kim, senior research analyst at Macquarie Equities Research, Samsung’s forecast fell short of analysts’ expectations for two reasons.

“A strong Korean won against (a) some major currencies like the US dollar and the euro,” he said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Friday. The other reason is “disappointing” smartphone sales, which have been quite unpredictable over the past few quarters, Kim said.

But the analyst is bullish about the stock. He pointed out that memory chip prices are expected to change this quarter, and average sales prices are expected to rise – this would benefit the semiconductor business.

“The memory surge is likely to last much longer than many people think. So I’m very pleased with my outperformance rating of the stock,” said Kim, adding that Samsung “remains one of the cheapest semiconductor stocks in the world.” “”

Both operating income and consolidated sales were down from the previous quarter, based on Friday’s guidance.