Coronavirus vaccine, Donald Trump — Image Source : FILE PHOTO
US President Donald Trump has said America will have coronavirus vaccine in a matter of weeks.

United States President Donald Trump, while speaking on the availability of the coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, said that US will have Covid vaccine in a matter of weeks, a Fox News report said. The United States is conducting final stage clinical trials Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine and also of vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer. All these vaccines are under critical stage human trials and are expected to be launched by the end of 2020 or early next. However, making a statement, according to Fox News, the President said America will have coronavirus vaccine in a matter of weeks.

President Trump made the statement in an interview with Judge Jeanine of Fox Channel saying, "You are going to be pretty close to a cure, the vaccine in itself, I mean it could come out in October, but whether it's October, November or December, it's going to come out very soon."

President Trump was discussing the Woodward tapes, the highly-anticipated coronavirus vaccine and national unrest on Justice with Judge Jeanine.

Meanwhile, China may also launch 3 of the 4 coronavirus vaccines on which developmet work is underway by November, December this year.

Earlier on Monday, Donald Trump claimed that PM Modi praised him for coronavirus testing in America, which is currently the worst-hit country in the world. Trump made the remarks at a campaign rally on Saturday night in Nevada.

The President said, "We've tested more people than India than many many big countries put together. India's second. We are 44 million tests ahead of India. They have 1.5 billion people... And Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi calls me. He says what a job you've done with testing. I said explain that to these dishonest people back."

Trump then goes on to slam his Democratic rival Joe Biden, saying that if he was in charge when the "China virus" arrived, "hundred of thousands of more Americans would have died".

As of Monday, the US accounts for the world's highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths at 6,520,234 and 194,081 respectively, according to the Johns Hopkins University. India is currently in the second place in terms of cases at 4,846,427, while the country's death toll stood at 79,722.

At the rally, Trump warned that he was prepared to "be really vicious" in the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

Nevada is among the locations his campaign is targeting as they work to rebuild enthusiasm around his handling of the US economy and solidify his support with Hispanic voters, said a Politico news report.

Along with Arizona, where the President is traveling on Monday, Nevada is also a state where campaign aides believe Trump's expanded Latino support could make a difference in the November 3 election.

(With inputs from IANS)

ALSO READ | Coronavirus lockdown was effective, India did not witnessed huge peak at all: ICMR

ALSO READ | China coronavirus vaccines may be ready for general use by November or December 2020

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America will have coronavirus vaccine in a matter of weeks: Donald Trump

MFs pile on private banks; oil & gas weightage slips to 3-month low in August

Home >Money >Personal Finance >MFs pile on private banks; oil & gas weightage slips to 3-month low in August

MFs pile on private banks; oil & gas weightage slips to 3-month low in August

3 min read . Updated: 15 Sep 2020, 08:19 PM IST Nasrin Sultana

The increase in exposure to private banks by mutual funds also likely contributed to the rally in the sector in August
However, due to a lack of clarity around non-performing loan cycle and growth outlook, large private banks have been underperforming the benchmark in the last few months post March

Mumbai: Mutual funds piled on to private bank stocks in August even as net outflow from equity schemes surged to 10-year in the month. Despite fears of defaults and end of moratorium in August, private banks were strong favourites among fund managers in the month after hitting a 22-month low in July, data for India’s top 20 mutual fund houses showed.

In August, mutual fund schemes increased their weightage to private banks to 17.3%, up 110 basis points (bps) from 16.2% in previous month. However, the weightage is still 280 bps lower compared to 20.1% in year-ago period, according to data sourced from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) and NAV India analyzed by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Besides private banks, the other top sector holding for mutual funds in August was technology (10.2%), oil & gas (9.1%) and consumer (8.8%). However, after rising for two consecutive months, oil and gas’ weightage slipped to a 3-month low of 9.1% down 60 bps month-on-month. Consumer sector’s weight has declined for the third consecutive month to 8.8%, down 40 bps on monthly basis.

The increase in exposure to private banks by mutual funds also likely contributed to the rally in the sector in August. In August, Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank rallied nearly 10% each while Nifty PSU Bank jumped 8.06% outpacing benchmark Nifty which was up around 3%. Private banks were on a fundraising spree with ICICI Bank Ltd, Axis Bank Ltd and HDFC Ltd raising a combined around ₹35000 crore in August.

However, due to a lack of clarity around non-performing loan (NPL) cycle and growth outlook, large private banks have been underperforming the benchmark in the last few months post March.

“Delay in NPL recognition is a key investor concern. We agree that visibility on potential NPL additions is low now, but clarity should emerge in second half of FY21 given that moratorium has ended and restructuring time lines are limited. Further, large private banks have fortified balance sheets after recent capital raisings – capital ratios are now some of the best amongst global banks," said Morgan Stanley in a report on 10 September. As factors around weak competition, improving funding franchises and strong digital capabilities are expected to help, analysts at the global firm have built in 10-15% loan CAGRs at large private banks over the next three years.

Others concur. “Capital raising has led to stronger bank balance sheets. Liquidity and solvency risk for banks have eased, although concerns around growth and asset quality persist," said Edelweiss Securities Ltd.

In terms of month-on-month value increase, seven of the top-10 stocks bought by MFs in August were from Financials: ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, HDFC, Bandhan Bank and Bajaj Finance.

Among Nifty stocks, MFs were net buyers in 38% of stocks, data showed. Stocks that saw maximum decline in value month-on-month were Bharti Airtel, HUL, Infosys, Aurobindo Pharma, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, HDFC Life Insurance, SBI Life Insurance, HCL Tech and IOCL.

Net outflows from equity MFs rose to ₹4,028.83 crore in August from ₹3,845.41 crore in July, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). The previous highest monthly outflow was ₹7,281 crore in September 2010.

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America will have coronavirus vaccine in a matter of weeks: Donald Trump

United States President Donald Trump, while speaking on the availability of the coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, said that US will have Covid vaccine in a matter of weeks, a Fox TV report said.