Impeachment
Impeachment Trials continue against former President Trump
On Wednesday, House of Representatives Impeachment Managers continued their proceedings against former president Donald J Trump. Many of the accusations are based on the events of January sixth, 2021, wherein rioters attacked the United States Capitol Building. House Impeachment managers claim that Trump himself purposefully incited the insurrection by holding a rally at the exact same time which the confirmation of electoral college votes was to take place. During the proceedings, members of the house played multiple videos as well as heard audio clips from those who were at the Capitol Building or at the rally, in an effort to prove the former President guilty and prevent him from running for office again.
Healthcare
AstraZeneca develops a possible treatment for COVID-19 alongside their vaccine
AstraZeneca’s drug Pulmicort, which was originally designed to help treat asthma, has shown promising effects on COVID-19 patients. A 28-day study was conducted on the efficacy of the drug when combating COVID-19, and the drug appeared to reduce the need for urgent care as well as hospitalization in patients by nearly 90 percent. Although this study was conducted on a smaller scale, it could indicate a possible short term treatment for those who are not vaccinated and possibly contract COVID-19. On top of this treatment, AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 variant vaccine is on track to be ready by the fall according to top executives within the organization. The current vaccine shows strong effectiveness when combatting ‘normal’ COVID-19, but was relatively less effective when combatting variants.
Stimulus package
As reported last week, House of Representatives Democrats have started to begin the voting process to pass President Biden’s relief plan.
Though many in the house and the general public have advocated for a $2,000 stimulus package per person, it does not seem that the $2k figure is attainable at this point, but the Biden administration is arguing for a $1,400 per individuals who earn up to $75k and couples filing for $150k. There has been slow to moderate job growth so far in the calendar year 2021, but the need for another stimulus package is there for many Americans.
Technology
Oracle and Walmart’s joint plan to purchase popular cell phone app TikTok has been put on hold
Months after former President Donald Trump aimed to have the popular app TikTok banned from the United States, Walmart and Oracle struck a partnership deal with TikTok which would allow them to buy a stake in the app and prevent the app from being banned in the United States. TikTok’s ownership group Bytedance would still maintain a controlling share in TikTok, but talks to complete the deal stalled during the later months of Trump’s Presidency, and now the Biden administration will have to take a look into the deal. Since Biden did not agree to the original deal in principle, it is likely to be altered before going forward with approval.
LYFt
Lyft saw shares climb on Wednesday despite a sharp decline in Revenue
On Wednesday, Lyft saw their price per share figure jump up during the day, Lyft had previously reported a decline in revenues of over 40%, but at the same time, their revenue rose 14% sequentially. Although their revenue had declined a good amount, they outperformed Wall Street’s expectations by nearly $10 million. With the company outperforming expectations during COVID-19, many have high hopes for the ride-sharing app as vaccines start to become more widely available and life returns to normal at some point. Lyft also incorporated some cost-cutting measures such as layoffs and payroll processing, which was crucial for them to post a lower than expected quarterly loss of $150 million this past quarter. Wall Street is riding high on the hope that Lyft will improve in the quarters to come as the pandemic slows down.
Works Cited
Investorplace. “What Did the Stock Market Do Yesterday? Feb. 10, 2021.” InvestorPlace, 11 Feb. 2021, investorplace.com/stock-market-live-updates-wednesday-stock-market-today-news-02102021/.
Manskar, Noah. “Lyft Shares Surge on Hopes It Will Turn a Profit This Year.” New York Post, New York Post, 10 Feb. 2021, nypost.com/2021/02/10/lyft-shares-surge-on-hopes-it-will-turn-a-profit-this-year/.
melissa_repko. “Walmart's Use of TikTok Will Likely Continue, Even If Deal with Oracle Falls Apart.” CNBC, CNBC, 10 Feb. 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/02/10/walmarts-use-of-tiktok-will-likely-continue-even-if-oracle-deal-unravels.html.
“Stock Market News for Feb 10, 2021.” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-feb-10-145102171.html.