Archives for March 2021

Japan extends virus emergency for 2 weeks for Tokyo area

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that his government is extending a state of emergency in the Tokyo region for another two weeks because its medical systems are still strained by COVID-19 patients.

At a government coronavirus taskforce meeting Friday night, Suga said the emergency will be extended through March 21 for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures, where the measure was to end Sunday.

He said medical systems in the region were still burdened with COVID-19 patients and more hospital beds have to be freed.

Suga declared a monthlong emergency on Jan. 7 for Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba that was later extended through March 7. An emergency that applied to other urban prefectures was lifted last week, underscoring the government’s eagerness to allow businesses to return to normal as soon as possible.

The state of emergency, which is a non-binding request, centers around asking restaurants, bars and other businesses to voluntarily close at 8 p.m. Japan has never had a mandatory lockdown but has managed to keep infections relatively low with social distancing and other voluntary measures.

Controlling the spread of the virus, along with progress in vaccinations, are considered key for Tokyo’s hosting of the Summer Olympics, already delayed by one year because of the virus and due to start July 23.

Suga sought understanding for a two-week extension of the emergency he said will be the last.

“I will do everything we can to prevent a rebound of the infections and another state of emergency,” he said at a parliament session.

Experts were divided over whether two weeks would be enough to get infections under control, as concerns are running high about the upcoming spring cherry blossom season, when many people come out and party.

Suga asked people to avoid big graduation parties and farewell and welcome events that peak in the coming weeks, with Japan’s business and school year ending in March.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and the heads of neighboring prefectures had raised concerns that a lifting of the emergency could trigger a quick rebound in infections.

Dr. Shigeru Omi, a former World Health Organization regional director and head of the government COVID-19 taskforce, said Friday that the Tokyo region is prone to a resurgence and urged authorities to set up “a strong system” to prevent one.

Daily new cases in Tokyo have decreased significantly after peaking at about 2,000 in early January, but the decline has slowed recently. Tokyo on Friday reported 301 new cases, up from 278 the day before, raising its total to 112,925. Nationwide, Japan reported more than 436,000 cases and about 8,000 deaths as of Thursday.

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Shares slip in Asia after bond yield spike hits Wall St

Asian shares slipped Friday after surging U.S. bond yields renewed pressure on high-flying technology companies.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dropped as much as 2% and shares fell in most other markets.

Investors were disappointed with remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday when he said inflation will likely pick up in the coming months, though he cautioned that the increase would be temporary and would not be enough for the Fed to alter low-interest rate policies set to help the economy recover from the pandemic.

Powell did not indicate the Fed might seek to rein in rising bond yields, which tend to draw money out of stocks into less risky bonds.

Investors were hoping for “a little more hand holding” from Powell, Stephen Innes of Axi said in a commentary. “Powell is doing the bare minimum here while simultaneously hinting at a lift-off level that could be a lot nearer on the horizon than suspected only a few weeks ago.”

That angst has spilled into world markets that have thrived on massive monetary stimulus from the world’s central banks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% to 28,692.08 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gave up 0.4% to 29,133.40. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.6% to 3,024.40 while the S&P ASX 200 sank 0.9% to 6,699.00.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3% to 3,491.69 as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced an annual growth target of “over 6%” at the opening of the annual session of the ceremonial national legislature. Investors are watching for any changes in policy direction from the National People’s Congress, in particular moves to rein in government spending or tighten monetary policy that might affect markets.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1.3% to 3,768.47, its third straight loss. It briefly dipped into the red for the year and is on track for its third consecutive weekly loss.

Just four days ago the benchmark notched its biggest gain since June during a brief pause in the recent, swift rise in bond yields, which in turn pushes up interest rates on loans for consumers and businesses.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1% to 30,924.14. The Nasdaq composite dropped 2.1%, to 12,723.47 in a pullback that knocked the tech-heavy index into the red for the year.

Small-company stocks fell even more. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gave up 2.8%, to 2,146.92.

As the economy reopens this spring and summer, and vaccines are distributed and the coronavirus retreats, many economists expect a spending boom that will stretch available supplies of goods and services and likely push up prices, Powell said Thursday.

Even so, Powell gave no hint that the Fed would take steps to keep longer-term interest rates in check, such as by shifting some of its $80 billion in monthly Treasury purchases to longer-term securities.

“We think our current policy stance is appropriate,” he said.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped to 1.54% during Powell’s remarks, from 1.47% just before, a significant move. At the beginning of the year the yield was trading at 0.93%. Early Friday it was at 1.57%.

Investors tend to reassess their holdings when yields rise quickly. Technology stocks are most vulnerable after having soared during the pandemic, making them look pricier than the rest of the market. Bank stocks, in contrast, tend to do better when bond yields are rising because higher yields mean banks can charge higher rates on mortgages and other loans.

In energy trading, the price of U.S. crude oil rose 52 cents to $64.35 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped 4.2% on Thursday after OPEC members agreed to leave most of their existing oil production cuts in place.

The Senate is moving forward with President Joe Biden’s stimulus bill, with most of the negotiations now happening between the more moderate Democrats in the Senate and the White House.

Investors are awaiting the February jobs report on Friday. Economists surveyed by FactSet expect employers created 225,000 jobs last month. The report also includes numbers for how much wages are rising across the economy, a key component of inflation.

The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged at 107.97 Japanese yen. The euro fell to $1.1961 from $1.1969.

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AP Business writers Alex Veiga and Damian J. Troise, and Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed.

Ellington, backups help Pistons beat depleted Raptors

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Wayne Ellington scored 25 points and the Detroit Pistons beat the virus-depleted Toronto Raptors 129-105 on Wednesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

Ellington was 8 of 11 from 3-point range and the Pistons were 20 for 41 overall from long range. Detroit’s backup had 56 points, with Rodney McGruder and Saben Lee each finishing with 20.

Norman Powell had 36 points for Toronto, and Kyle Lowry added 21 points.

The Raptors played without Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby, three of their top four scorers, and reserves Malachi Flynn and Patrick McCaw because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Coach Nick Nurse and most of his staff also were held out.

Lee and fellow rookie Isaiah Stewart had two field goals each on a 15-0 run that lifted the Pistons to a 14-point lead early in the second quarter. Lee added six more points on a 15-5 spurt to put Detroit up 101-80 with 11:54 left.

The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday night, but postponed because of the Raptors’ COVID outbreak. Toronto’s scheduled Sunday night game against Chicago Bulls also was postponed.

TIP-INS

Pistons: F Jerami Grant, who scored more points in his first 33 games as a Pistons than any other player, sat out the game with a quad injury. . . F Josh Jackson (illness) also did not play. . . . The Pistons came into the game with an NBA-leading 41.9 bench points per game.

Raptors: F Yuta Watanabe got his first NBA start, but did not score. . . . G Jalen Harris and F Donta Hall, members of Toronto’s G-League team, were added to the roster for the game. . . Powell fell a points short of his career high.

UP NEXT

Pistons: At New York on Wednesday night

Raptors: At Boston on Thursday night.

EU, Italy stop AstraZeneca vaccine exports to Australia

BRUSSELS (AP) — A shipment of more than a quarter million AstraZeneca vaccines destined for Australia has been blocked from leaving the European Union, in the first use of an export control system instituted by the bloc to make sure big pharma companies would respect their contracts.

The move, affecting only a small number of vaccines, underscores a growing frustration within the 27-nation bloc about the slow rollout of its vaccine drive and the shortfall of promised vaccine deliveries, especially by Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca.

The ban came at the behest of Italy, and the EU did not raise objections to the tougher line Rome has adopted in dealing with vaccine shortages in the bloc since a new government led by Mario Draghi came into power Feb 13.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Friday it had anticipated veto problems could arise in shipments from Europe, adding that Australia’s inoculation schedule would continue as planned.

“They are in an unbridled crisis situation. That is not the situation in Australia,” Morrison said. “But, nevertheless, we have been able to secure our supplies, and additional supplies for importation, both with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which means we can continue the rollout of our program.”

He said most significantly, Australia was also producing vaccines domestically, giving it sovereignty over its vaccination program.

Italy’s objections centered both on the general shortage of supplies in the EU and on “the delays in the supply of vaccines by AstraZeneca to the EU and Italy,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

It said it also intervened because of the size of the shipment, more than 250,700 doses, that would go to Australia, which it did not consider a vulnerable nation.

Italy said it had informed the company on Tuesday. AstraZeneca refused to comment. The Financial Times first reported on the issue late Thursday.

Faced with shortages of doses during the early stages of the vaccine campaign that started in late December, the EU issued an export control system for COVID-19 vaccines in late January, forcing companies to respect their contractual obligations to the bloc before commercial exports can be approved.

The EU has been specifically angry with AstraZeneca because it is delivering far fewer doses to the bloc than it had promised. Of the initial order for 80 million doses to the EU in the first quarter, the company will be struggling to deliver just half that quantity.

There were rumors that the company was siphoning off from EU production plants to other nations, but CEO Pascal Soriot insisted that any shortfall was to be blamed on technical production issues only.

The EU has vaccinated only 8% percent of its population compared to over 30%, for example, in the United Kingdom. Australia is still very much at the start of its vaccination drive.

With such an action, the EU is caught in a bind. On the one hand, it is under intense pressure to ramp up the production of vaccines in the bloc while on the other hand it wants to remain an attractive hub for pharmaceutical giants and a fair trading partner to third countries.

The EU thought it had made perfect preparations for the rollout of vaccinations, heavily funding research and production capacity over the past year. With its 450 million people, the EU has signed deals for six different vaccines. In total, it has ordered up to 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and sealed agreements with other companies for more than 2 billion shots.

It says that despite the current difficulties it is still convinced it can vaccinate 70% of the adult population by the end of summer.

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Danica Kirka contributed from London, Colleen Barry from Milan, and Nick Perry from Wellington, New Zealand.