We started the week with more positive news of Covid19 vaccine research advancement. The top 2 candidates hogged the limelight as more details come out.
Moderna (MRNA) and AstraZeneca (AZN) were the leading firms in the search for the vaccine and fast-tracking into the next phase of testing. They have also started to prepare the manufacturing of billions/millions of doses and nations like the USA are already paying them for advance orders.
While they may not be perfect vaccines without any side effects, it is still better than having nothing at the moment. Testing is good but the high probability of subsequent reinfection waves make continuous testing ineffective eventually. Anthony Fauci believes that any new vaccine should be implemented as soon as possible as it will prevent more deaths.
There seems to be at least 24 such companies who are racing to develop a vaccine around the world. Hopefully, we should get a breakthrough soon as the best minds in the medical world are laser-focused on this issue. China and S’pore also are in the midst of their development too.
I am hopeful that we should be able to see some positive results by early Sep. As an investment punt, I had also decided to place some small buy orders for MRNA and AZN stocks this week. The orders were filled as there was a pullback from their recent highs.
The tech stocks seemed to be taking a rest this week as America fired off another shot to further escalate the USA-China tension. They announced the closing of China’s consulate in Houston within 3 days for spying charges on vaccine research. China retaliated yesterday by closing America’s consulate in Chengdu.
Trump’s henchmen like Pompeo are now outright calling the Chinese Communist Party a threat to the free world and asking allies to team up to fight against them. This irony is not lost to many observers. While America is against others who are actively trying to interfere with its domestic politics, it sees no issue when it tries to interfere with the domestic politics of other countries. The hypocrisy and double standards are too apparent. They have been doing it for years to interfere in many countries for “greater good”. Now they want to stifle the advancement of its closest competitor in order to remain at number one in the world.
To be fair, China has done things which are not appropriate too. But there are avenues to address them. Targeting specific companies like Huawei and escalating trade tensions while in a pandemic is not a smart move. Political overtones into the Nov elections and getting a convenient scapegoat for all its shortfalls is really a pathetic Trump move.
On the personal front this week, I completed my first chiropractic session on Mon after receiving the X-ray results of my spine ($150). It was not as bad as I feared and trial session at $38 also included consultancy sessions and some alignment and cracking of my spine. I should continue to do more stretching exercises to maintain a correct spinal posture.
I also had a call with a fresh undergrad I met last Oct for the mentorship program who had reached out to me again for advice on her career. I gave her some pointers and shared my work experience with her, helping her to refocus on exactly what she wanted to do and if getting into the financial sector suits her. Her Linkedin profile was also not ideal and I suggested that she brush up on it.
I finally had the Zoom reunion call with my junior college classmates on Thurs night. It had been 36 years since we left campus. There were 8 of us and we had a good catch up on what each of us had been doing since leaving school, our families and what we are doing now. It was nostalgic to see that all of us have grown into uncles with less hair and rounder bodies. Most still look the same after all these years though. All 8 of us were male as we could not seem to invite any of the ladies to join us 🙁
How time flies and our lives have passed by from young adults of 18 to uncles of 54 now. We joked about the things we had done then in school. One mentioned past stories of himself which we had a good laugh over the situations he experienced then. 1.5 hours passed by quickly and it was soon time to call it a night after reminiscing of the times long ago where we were still young and innocent. We are all into the 2nd part of our halftimes now…
With Covid19, all vacation plans for this year had to be scrapped. The airlines and tourism industries have been hit extremely hard as business falls to near zero. No countries want overseas visitors to infect the population again, even though we know more about the virus now. Having 14 days of quarantine procedure is the norm the moment one lands in a foreign country.
I am in the midst of preparing for a UK trip in Sep now. My older son will be starting his university term in Oxford. We plan to reach the city by mid-Sep to start our separate 14 days quarantines in 2 locations – he will do his in Keble college campus quarters while I do mine in a rented apartment. I will then stay another 2 weeks there to make sure he has settled in, before coming back home for another 14 days quarantine in S’pore. Hopefully, things will change in the next 2 months but for now, that is the plan.
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