“Investment success doesn’t come from “buying good things,” but rather from “buying things well.” – Howard Marks

1. Moderna Covonavirus Caccine Shows Early Signs of Viral Immune Response — the results are just a sample from the small, first study designed to look at the safety of the shot in human volunteers, and should be viewed with caution. But they showed no major safety worries, a key first hurdle since a vaccine would be given to millions of otherwise healthy people. A vaccine is considered a crucial step toward lifting social-distancing measures and safely reopening economies, schools and events around the globe. The new coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, has infected more than 4.7 million people and killed over 300,000, spurring a global race by drugmakers, academic institutions and governments to find a vaccine. The company is moving ahead with plans for a larger test to pick a dose of the vaccine and further study its effectiveness, as well as a phase 3 test with many thousands of patients.
2. U.S. Raises Ante in Vaccine Race With $1.2 Billion for Astra — the U.S. pledges as much as $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca Plc to help make the University of Oxford’s Covid vaccine. The U.S. has backed projects underway at Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Inc. and France’s Sanofi, fueling concerns that other parts of the world could fall behind. Some doubts have been raised about the potential effectiveness of the Oxford vaccine after early results in monkeys were released. While the shot may have protected animals against severe infections, the results were weak compared with those of a test of a vaccine under development by Sinovac Biotech in Beijing.
3. Millions More American Filed for Unemployment Benefits — jobless claims for regular state programs totaled 2.44 million in the week ended May 16, Labor Department reported. The prior week’s figure was revised down by 294,000 to 2.69 million after a clerical error by Connecticut labor officials inflated the overall nationwide figure. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 2.4 million claims in the latest week. That means nationwide claims under the program — which expands unemployment benefits to those not traditionally eligible, such the self-employed and gig workers — were actually about half of the reported 2.23 million figure.
4. Argentina Braces for Ninth Default — after five months in office grappling with recession, 50% inflation and a crash in the unofficial peso rate, Fernandez is trying to strike a deal with bondholders over the coming weeks to prevent even worse chaos. Although there’s no 2001-style panic, Argentines have been quietly preparing for the worst. Savers have withdrawn $1.2 billion in dollar deposits over the past 20 business days. Demand for dollars is so high that the illegal exchange rate has widened to nearly twice the official rate, which is anchored by currency controls.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: