U.S. Stocks Climb as Bond Markets Calm – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2021

• S. stocks surged Monday as a weekslong advance in government bond yields stalled, easing investors’ jitters over rising interest rates.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 645 points, or 2.1%, after the opening bell.
• The S&P 500 gained 2%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.9%.
• Monday’s broad advance came as the yield on 10-year Treasury notes, the benchmark borrowing cost in global debt markets, slipped to 1.42% from 1.459% Friday. Yields fall when bond prices rise.
• Shares of Johnson & Johnson rose 1.6%.
• The company’s Covid-19 vaccine received a green light from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention Sunday.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized use of the single-dose shot on Saturday.
• New data showed robust growth in activity at U.S. factories last month.
• The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) February manufacturing index came in at 60.8 in February, up from 58.7 in January and beating economists’ expectations of 58.9. Any level above 50 indicates an expansion of activity.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Newly Reported U.S. Cases, Deaths and Hospitalizations Fall – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2021

• Newly reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S. fell from a day earlier, as did deaths and hospitalizations, a day after the U.S. approved a single-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for use against the disease.
• The nation reported more than 51,000 new cases for Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and published early Monday morning Eastern time.
• Sunday’s number was down from 64,286 on Saturday and 56,495 a week earlier.
• There were more than 1,200 deaths recorded across the country for Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins data, down from 1,536 a day earlier.
• Hospitalizations in the U.S. continued their steady decline, with 47,352 logged for Sunday, the second day in a row the number was less than 50,000 after crossing that threshold on Nov. 3.

J&J Covid-19 Vaccine to Start Arriving as Soon as Tuesday, U.S. Administration Says – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2021

• Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine is expected to reach states and vaccination sites as early as Tuesday, the Biden administration said.
• The Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of the vaccine would lead to an initial supply of nearly 4 million doses delivered as early as Tuesday morning, administration officials said Sunday.
• The administration said it expects about 20 million doses to be delivered by the end of March.
• J&J has said it expects output will quickly increase, enabling it to deliver a total of 100 million doses for use in the U.S. by the end of June.
• The company said it has begun shipping the vaccine to the federal government, which is managing allocation and distribution.
• As of Saturday afternoon, 48.4 million Americans—14.6% of the population—had received one or more doses of the two previously approved Covid-19 vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Buffett upbeat on U.S. and Berkshire, buys back stock even as pandemic hits results – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2021

• Warren Buffett’s enthusiasm for the future of America and his company Berkshire Hathaway has not been dimmed by the coronavirus pandemic.
• Buffett used his annual letter to investors to assure he and his successors would be careful stewards of their money at Berkshire, where “the passage of time” and “an inner calm” would help serve them well.
• The letter breaks an uncharacteristic silence for the 90-year-old Buffett, who has been almost completely invisible to the public since Berkshire’s annual meeting last May.
• Berkshire on Saturday also reported net income of $35.84 billion in the fourth quarter, and $42.52 billion for the year, both reflecting large gains from its stocks.
• Operating income, which Buffett considers a more accurate measure of performance, fell 9% for the year to $21.92 billion.
• However, Buffett bemoaned fixed income as an investment, saying that “bonds are not the place to be these days.”
• “Fixed-income investors worldwide – whether pension funds, insurance companies or retirees – face a bleak future,” the letter said.

United orders another 25 Boeing 737 MAX jets to prepare for recovery – Reuters, 3/1/2021

• United Airlines Holdings has ordered 25 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to receive in 2023 and moved up the delivery of others as it prepares to replace aging jets and meet expected post-pandemic growth in demand, the company said on Monday.
• S. airlines have parked and retired aircraft as the coronavirus pandemic sapped demand but are beginning to position their business for a recovery as more vaccines are distributed across the country and globally.
• In addition to the new Boeing order, United said it has moved up delivery of 40 previously ordered MAX aircraft to 2022 and 5 to 2023, meaning it will have 94 new aircraft in its fleet over those two years.

Saudia plans to order 70 Airbus, Boeing jets: report – Reuters, 3/1/2021

• State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) plans to order 70 airliners from Airbus and Boeing, Saudi news outlet Maaal reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources.
• Saudia is in talks with local banks to raise 11.5 billion riyals ($3.07 billion) to partly finance an order for Airbus A321 narrow-bodied jets and Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner wide-bodies, Maaal said.
• The report did not breakdown how many aircraft of each type Saudia was planning to purchase.
• Company documents reviewed by Reuters showed that the airline received at least $7 billion in direct payments and other financial support in 2019 and 2020 from the government, as the carrier struggles with losses and the impact of the pandemic.

China moving ‘step by step’ in recertifying Boeing 737 MAX – Reuters, 3/1/2021

• China’s aviation regulator said on Monday its major safety concerns with the Boeing 737 MAX had to be “properly addressed” before conducting flight tests but it was studying a plan with U.S. planemaker for clearing aircraft to fly.
• The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) conducted comprehensive and in-depth technical scrutiny of the Boeing 737 MAX, the agency’s vice head Dong Zhiyi said, giving the regulator’s stance on the plane which China grounded in early 2019.
• China was the first country to ground the 737 MAX in March 2019 following two fatal crashes. At the time, more of the planes had been operating in China than anywhere else in the world.
• China makes up about a quarter of MAX sales.

CAE to Buy L3Harris’s Military-Training Business – Wall Street Journal, 3/1/2021

• CAE agreed to buy L3Harris Technologies’ military-training division for $1.05 billion, the companies said Monday, in a move that would expand the Canadian aerospace company’s defense business.
• The unit includes three main businesses: Link, which provides military training in the U.S.; Doss Aviation, which provides flight training to the U.S. Air Force; and AMI, which designs and makes simulator hardware.
• Saint-Laurent, Quebec-based CAE expects the deal to be accretive to earnings per share and forecasts cost savings of roughly 35 million to 45 million Canadian dollars a year in the second year post-close.
• It is to be funded by a private placement of roughly C$700 million, equivalent to about $549.4 million.

Twilio nears deal to invest up to $750 million in Syniverse: WSJ – Reuters, 3/1/2021

• Cloud-communications firm Twilio is in talks to invest as much as $750 million in Syniverse Technologies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
• The investment will be announced on Monday, which could be followed by a merger between telecommunications services company Syniverse and a special-purpose acquisition company to take it public, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
• There is no guarantee that Syniverse, backed by private-equity firm Carlyle Group will go public, either through a SPAC deal or an IPO, the Journal added.

U.S. investigates nearly 1.9 million Toyota RAV4s over fire risks – Reuters, 3/1/2021

• S. auto safety regulators on Monday said they have opened an investigation into nearly 1.9 million Toyota RAV4 sport-utility vehicles over potential fire risks.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said the preliminary evaluation looking at 2013-2018 RAV4 vehicles comes after 11 reports of fires.
• One report said that a RAV4 caught fire in Lyons, Colorado, after the owner of a 2017 Toyota RAV4 hybrid was driving 50 miles per hour when the check-engine light came on and then white smoke emerged from beneath the hood.

Indian mobile retailers call for Amazon probe, cap on online smartphone sales – Reuters, 3/1/2021

• An Indian trade group representing 150,000 mobile phone stores on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to investigate Amazon’s business practices in the country and impose a daily cap on a single seller’s online smartphone sales.
• In a letter sent to Modi, the group cited a Reuters special report published last month that revealed Amazon has for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its Indian platform, using them to circumvent the country’s strict foreign investment regulations.
• “We were already aware of Amazon’s thought process and strategy,” the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) wrote in the letter.
• The documents, the letter said, “have revealed that Amazon is doing business in India with the strategy of deftly dodging the regulators and politicians”.
• Indian retailers, a crucial part of Modi’s support base, have long alleged that Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart flout federal regulations and that their business practices hurt small traders.