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By Belinda Luscombe, March 11, 2022 10:47 AM EST

Link: https://time.com/6155725/corporations-war-russia-ukraine/

Summary

Traditionally, businesses have become accustomed to "de-risking" or "over-complying" with international sanctions. However, the invasion of Russia to Ukraine has changed their stances. The NATO countries and related western nations have brought pressure to bear on Russia: financial and economic penalties, which had never been levelled against a country with such a large GDP before. 
What has surprised sanctions experts are as follows: the number of corporations exiting, and the speed they moved out. 
Leaving of credit card companies, media companies, management firms, tech giants, and banks are understandable. But the remarkable exits were made by energy companies -BP, Shell, Exxon-, whose major partner/market is Russia. It's a big deal. 
The net effect of them is that the Russian government sanctions have almost become a moot point, so-called "chicken and egg story"; if enough businesses abandon the Russian market on their own, the Russian market is also going to shrink. 
Plus, it's hard to expect help from China since major Chinese financial institutions such as UnionPay haven't made a welcoming action towards Russian institutions, Sberbank and Tinkoff. 
One concern with a written situation is the future moral considerations by companies who left Russia; whether making a stand on behalf of the Uighurs, the Rohingya, or other oppressed people.

By Alice Park, March 24, 2022 1:17 PM EDT

Link: https://time.com/6159366/covid-19-drug-pharmacies-test-to-treat/

Summary

On March 1, President Biden announced the launch of the "Test to Treat" program; people get tested at a pharmacy, and receive antiviral pills if they're positive. The support for supplies of medications has increased at pharmacies across the US. 

Due to the regulation of the US FDA that pharmacists cannot prescribe Paxlovid & Molnupiravir, only a fraction of pharmacy chains is available to provide a prescription for COVID-19 therapy. In other words, people in areas without a primary care physician should make an appointment or go to an urgent care centre. Its worst scenario is widespread of Covid, doing this whole process for the test and treatment. However, pharmacists argue that they were educated for evaluating patients for potential drug interactions and side effects, so they can prescribe.

Available medication for Covid-19: Remdesivir, Paxlovid, Molnupiravir, Monoclonal Antibodies

• Remdsivir: antiviral, disrupt making copies of SARS-CoV-2 virus, only available in IV form(hospital essential)
• Paxlovid: block SARS-CoV-2 from replicating; can derive kidney problems
• Molnupiravir: block SARS-CoV-2 from replicating, banned to pregnant women
• Monoclonal Antibodies: neutralize any virus floating around by soaking them up

SARS-CoV-2 can easily mutate, and any two of the aforementioned medications cannot be in use together. For Omicron, only Evusheld from AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline's Xevudy are effective.

Now, the access to the treatment is spotty and inequitable since the available clinics are focused around metro areas, not rural areas. 

Some public health experts suggest telehealth can prevent the spread of the virus by cutting out in-person visits entirely. In the best scenario, people get tested themselves at home, get verification for disease via telehealth, get an evaluation by sending their medical history and current statement, get a digital prescription and get delivery of the antiviral. 

Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60925016

Summary

Currently, Russia and the EU are in "a game of chicken" over who would back down first; Russia requires paying for has in roubles, but the EU continues paying in euros. 
The EU countries, especially Germany, brought an "early warning phase" to prepare for a potential supply shock. Its aim is to reduce the dependence on Russian energy. Consumers and industry in German are about to prepare for all scenarios. 
Plus, Russia started demanding payment in roubles for other commodities such as fertiliser, grain, metals and timber. 
In the long term, Mr Rusechas argued that at some point, this situation would force Germany to build more renewable energy production.

By Megan Mccluskey, March 29, 2022 11:56 AM EDT

Link: https://time.com/6159943/netflix-password-sharing/

Summary

Netflix announced new password-sharing policy: some subscribers need to pay an additional fee for sharing their account with users outside their household. It's derived from the slowed subscriber growth, but it must take a risk: decrease of subscribers. 

According to the streaming giant, Netflix have already applied this new policy in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru; the utility of two features for members would affect making a worldwide change. 

Mensah adds, "Netflix needs to tread carefully not to take advantage of its established customer base."

By Dori Zinn, September 27, 2021

Link: https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/what-causes-stock-prices-to-go-up-and-down/

Summary

Nobody can predict every element that goes into stock price fluctuations, though many try; that's what a hedge fund trader does. "NextAdvisor" recommends index funds including mutual funds and ETFs as they don't require lots of technical knowledge about the stock market. But you should know them in case of adding individual stocks to their portfolio. 

Here are the factors which move stock prices: Fundamental Factors, Technical Factors, News, Market Sentiment, Bottom Line.

1. Fundamental Factors: composed of profitability and the valuation ratio. Also, P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio is significant; it's useful in comparing the performances of similar companies against one company's records
2. Technical Factors: stock split, time/day of trading, and the stock price movement of another company that is in the same industry.
3. News: news of the unexpected change of the company in the ability to generate future cash flows (required return on investment in equity). Quarterly earnings reports also cause the fluctuation; share price fall in Apple on January 2021, and a few major drops due to COVID-19. 
4. Market Sentiment: The Behavioral Financial Theory, The Animal Spirit Theory. The BFT is the matter of biased investing decisions due to the overconfidence in a particular security or asset. In The AST, people follow the market; when the market is good(bad), investors will buy(sell). Use CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) or "fear index" to measure market sentiment; the higher(lower) the VIX goes, the higher(lower) the fear in the trader.
5. Bottom Line: Diversify your portfolio as much as possible. Invest in ETFs and index funds instead of individual stocks. 

Terms

• index funds: a portfolio of stocks or bonds designed to mimic the composition and performance of a financial market index - S&P Dow Jones Indices for their S&P 500 Index in US 
• mutual funds: a type of financial vehicle made up of a pool of money collected from many investors to invest in securities like stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other assets. Mutual funds are operated by professional money managers, who allocate the fund's assets and attempt to produce capital gains or income for the fund's investors. 
• Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs): a type of pooled investment security that operates much like a mutual fund. Unlike mutual funds, ETFs can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange the same way that a regular stock can.   - SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), tracking the S&P 500 Index 
• P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio: the ratio for valuing a company that measures its current share price relative to its earnings per share 

Useful Website

Investopedia: https://www.investopedia.com

By Alana Semuels, March 11, 2022 7:00 AM EST

link: https://time.com/6156751/remote-work-office-housing-market/

Summary

Last week, President Biden called on Americans to return to their offices; "get back to work and fill our great downtowns again" in the situation of 30% of home prices rise, 16% of renting prices rise, and 78% of gas price rise over the past two years. As follows, many companies have had their workers back in their offices. 
Nevertheless, a new working system has arrived in the US, especially Google and Apple: a hybrid work structure, in which employees come into the office 2-3 days a week. Within a hybrid working, housing prices in suburbs and exurbs of big cities have soared; expensive everywhere now. 
You need not worry about downtowns by permanent remote work as follows: third spaces, doughnut effect on cities, and easier commutes.
Plus, during the pandemic, the majority of employers switched to fully remote, and the family came to spend more time with each other; "Now, me and my wife are walking our kid to and from school, and that's incredible. I'm not going to trade that for anyone," said Ryan Pollard.
According to Bloom, a Stanford professor, remote work could help get more people from the sidelines into the labour market.