BWIB Finance Newsletter

3 min readOct 6, 2021

Tuesday, Sept 28 to Monday, Oct 4, 2021

Inflation issues will be running through 2022

Source: CNBC

Although the current pressures of inflation will eventually ease, according to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, it will most likely persist into 2022.
Supply chain issues aren’t improving; in fact, margins are getting worse. Powell sees this continue until 2022.
The inflation surge is mostly attributed to supply constraints paired with high demand as the economy reopens.

Source: WSJ

The global chip shortage from this year is expected to continue next year and is estimated to take years to fully recover.
Adding to the shortage, there are bottlenecks in Asia where semiconductors are tested and packaged.
Automotive companies face challenges of finding compatible chips and ensuring a long-term supply.

Merck stopped its phase 3 clinical trials early to apply for authorization from the FDA after an interim analysis showed that its antiviral pill called molnupiravir cuts the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID in half.
Molnupiravir is a twice-daily pill prescribed for five days to patients who have been recently diagnosed with COVID.
Merck is partnering with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, a small Miami-based biotech company, and is in a race against Pfizer to develop a pill for COVID.

Blackstone will sell The Cosmopolitan resort to MGM Resorts International for $5.65 B. Blackstone acquired The Cosmopolitan back in 2014 for $1.7 B and spent half a billion on upgrades to the property. (Source: Fox Business)
Merck, a pharmaceutical company, will buy Acceleron Pharma for $11.5B to expand its rare-disease business with treatments for respiratory and blood diseases. (Source: WSJ)

Bed Bath & Beyond reports a sales decline due to reasons of higher costs, supply-chain issues, and marketing missteps. (Source: WSJ)
Carnival Cruise stated on their latest earnings call that passengers have been spending proportionally more on non-passenger revenue ticket items, such as alcohol, gambling, and more. (Source: BBG)

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space exploration company, has been suffering from a high attrition rate due to what employees call a toxic work culture and CEO Bob Smith’s aggressive push for employees to return to the office. (Source: CNBC)
Rivian Automotive, an electric vehicle company backed by Amazon and Ford, has officially filed for an initial public offering on the NASDAQ. The company will be heavily dependent on Amazon, as it mainly provides commercial delivery vans for the e-Commerce company. (Source: CNBC)
Zoom withdrew from the acquisition of Five9, a cloud contact center software company, for $14.7 billion after 5 Five9 shareholders refused the deal. The company has now lost a chance to expand its capabilities after recent poor stock performance. (Source: CNBC)

Venezuela’s government introduces its third version of its currency after 4 years of hyperinflation. Before this currency switch, a 1 million bolivar bill was worth a little less than $0.25. The new version of the bolivar bill eliminates 6 zeros such that 1 bolivar bill is worth a little less than $0.25 (it doesn’t affect the value of the currency) (Source: AP News)
The most popular border between the U.S. and Canada is closed after the police have found in an investigation a vehicle with possible explosives. The border service is working closely with emergency officials to monitor the border. (Source: ABC News)