property – COOPER GENERAL NEWS

SINGAPORE – Mainland China stocks rose in early trading Wednesday as stocks in the most indebted real estate developer Evergrande and some of its units soared.

Meanwhile, oil stocks in the region rose on higher oil prices.

The Shanghai composite rose 0.27%, while the Shenzhen share rose 0.15%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.21%.

Shares of China’s most indebted developer Evergrande rose more than 8% after the company announced in a filing that it was in talks to sell shares in its units, which include Evergrande Property Services and Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group belong.

Evergrande Property Services’ shares rose more than 16%, while its new energy vehicles division rose more than 8%.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 rose 0.51% while the Topix rose 0.9%. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.65%.

The S & P / ASX 200 in Australia was up 0.32%.

CNBC Pro Stock Pick and Investment Trends:

Energy stocks benefit from higher oil prices

New records on Wall Street

Wall Street stocks hit new records, boosted by the passage of a $ 1 trillion infrastructure package by the Senate.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 162.82 points to 35,264.67 and closed on a record. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 4,436.75 and closed at a new all-time high.

The Senate’s infrastructure plan, which includes $ 550 billion in new spending on transport and broadband, is expected to help boost the economy as peak growth slows after reopening after the pandemic.

Currencies

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its competitors, rose above 92.9 yesterday to 93,090.

The Japanese yen was quoted at 110.67, weaker than the previous day at 110.4.

The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7338, slightly lower than it was above $ 0.734 yesterday.

– CNBC’s Yen Nee Lee, Maggie Fitzgerald and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.

Vials containing the Janssen Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson via Reuters

The White House is considering suspending intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments due to pressure from developing countries and subsequent support from progressive lawmakers, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

A temporary removal of intellectual property protection would apply to any medical technology used to treat or prevent Covid-19. South Africa and India have formally asked the World Trade Organization to waive protection until the pandemic is over, but the issue has been brought in with no resolution.

The White House convened a deputy policymakers’ meeting on March 22, a senior administration official said, but they did not make a final decision.

The White House review comes in response to a letter sent by House Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi in late March, urging the government to investigate the issue after several Democratic colleagues – including Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut and Jan Schakowsky from Illinois. pointed it out to her. The letter was not published. However, a senior adviser said Pelosi supports the position of its members in favor of such a waiver, even temporarily.

“The view is ‘we’re not safe until the world is safe,'” one of the sources said of support for progressives on Capitol Hill.

CNBC policy

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The move would allow other countries to replicate existing vaccines. The USA has so far approved three vaccine shots: one from the American company Pfizer and BioNTech in Germany, one from the US company Moderna and one from the American company Johnson & Johnson.

Concern has grown over the US and a handful of other wealthy countries who have rights to a disproportionate share of the world’s vaccine supply while other nations struggle to vaccinate their people.

The Hill initially reported support for the move from progressive lawmakers.

The US Trade Representative’s office, which is expected to deliver a final verdict to the World Trade Organization, said saving lives and ending the pandemic remained “America’s top priority”.

“As part of the rebuilding of our alliances, we are examining all possibilities to coordinate with our global partners and assess the effectiveness of this specific proposal based on its real potential to save lives,” USTR spokesman Adam Hodge told CNBC.

The pharmaceutical industry has decided against the waiver of patent protection. It fears that this will undermine innovation to fight future diseases.

CNBC contacted Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson for comment.

Clete Willems, former deputy director of the National Economic Council, said lifting the protection would set a dangerous precedent for technology sharing.

“The government must stay away from this trap, which would undermine decades of US policy against forced technology transfers to countries like China and not directly increase vaccine distribution,” Willems, now a partner at Akin Gump, told CNBC. “The model they are pursuing with their quad partners is more promising.”

Ahead of a March 12 meeting, the Quad – a group from the United States, India, Japan, and Australia looking to counter China’s influence – announced a complex financing deal to improve vaccine manufacturing in the Indo-Pacific. where there has been a shortage. The group aims to deliver up to 1 billion vaccines by 2022.

Nearly 19% of American adults and about 15% of the total US population are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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