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Why are some people with coronavirus asymptomatic — and what makes them so contagious?

8Aug

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Stock News

Why are some people with coronavirus asymptomatic — and what makes them so contagious?

How contagious is someone who has contracted COVID-19 — yet displays no symptoms? And what makes them asymptomatic while other people suffer so terribly with the disease? This study, published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine this week, provides one theory for the first question. It isolated 303 patients with COVID-19 in a treatment center in South Korea. Of those, 110 (36%) were asymptomatic and 21 (19%) developed symptoms during isolation. “The potential for transmission from asymptomatic people has been cited as an important factor in controlling the spread of COVID-19, but there is limited information about the clinical course and viral loads of asymptomatic people with SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the researchers wrote. What they found: “Many individuals with SARS-CoV-2 inf...

Bitcoin is Almost as Big as Bank of America

8Aug

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Crypto News

Bitcoin is Almost as Big as Bank of America

All the speculative capital invested in Bitcoin (BTC) at the moment totals just a few billion dollars shy of Bank of America's market valuation. Bitcoin's current market cap sits just over $217 billion, according to Cointelegraph data at press time, while Yahoo Finance shows Bank of America's market cap holding slightly over $226 billion — a comparison introduced in a recent article from The Next Web. Bitcoin's market cap climbing in comparison Although it has endured its fair share of dramatic price fluctuations, Bitcoin's price has grown substantially in 2020, rising past several different wealth comparisons along the way. Back in March, just before COVID-19 measures turned the world on its head, the United States Central Bank pumped the economy with $168 billion in capital. ...

DCB Bank Q1 results: Profit down 2.5% to Rs 79 cr

8Aug

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Stock News

DCB Bank Q1 results: Profit down 2.5% to Rs 79 cr

NEW DELHI: DCB Bank on Saturday posted a marginal decline of 2.5 per cent in net profit at Rs 79 crore for the first quarter of the current financialyear.The private sector lender registered a net profit of Rs 81 crore in April-June, 2019-20. During the quarter under review, the bank made an overall provision of Rs 85 crore, it said in a release. Of this, Rs 32 crore was additional COVID-19 provision while Rs 13 crore was regular NPA provision. "The bank already holds a provision of Rs 63 crore for COVID-19 as on March 31, 2020 taking the total to Rs 95 crore as on June 30, 2020. This is considered adequate and above minimum regulatory requirements," it added. As on June 30, 2020, the bank had a floating provision of Rs 99 crore and standard assets provision of Rs 121 crore. Total inc...

Explained: Why are forex reserves shooting up when Indian economy is hit? – The Indian Express

8Aug

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Forex News

Explained: Why are forex reserves shooting up when Indian economy is hit? - The Indian Express

Written by George Mathew , Sandeep Singh , Edited by Explained Desk | Mumbai, New Delhi | Updated: August 8, 2020 7:47:48 pm In ten months, India has added 25 per cent of the reserves it had till September 20, 2019. (Getty Images/File) Covid-hit India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped by a record $11.9 billion in the week ending July 31 to hit a fresh high of $534.5 billion, making it the fifth largest holder of reserves in the world. During the 10-month period between September 27, 2019 and July 31, 2020, the foreign exchange reserves have swelled by $100 billion. At a time when the economy is under stress and the growth is expected to contract in 2020-21, the rising forex reserves have come as a breather as it can cover India’s import bill of more than one year. India’s foreign exc...

Retirement: The Social Security Time Bomb

8Aug

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Stock News

Retirement: The Social Security Time Bomb

Co-produced with Treading Softly Here at High Dividend Opportunities, we aim to keep our eye on the horizon, much like a Minesweeper vessel must always be aware of the risks that lay just below the waters. Source: Navylive As such we need to alert retirees and those planning their retirements to a major risk ahead. Before COVID-19 hit everyone's radar, the Social Security Administration released their near-term and long-term reports. In 2010, they raised a red flag: Currently, the Social Security Board of Trustees projects program cost to rise by 2035 so that taxes will be enough to pay for only 75 percent of scheduled benefits. This increase in cost results from population aging, not because we are living longer, but because birth rates dropped from three to two children per woman...

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway grew profits by 86% last quarter as its stock portfolio soared in value – Business Insider

8Aug

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Stock News

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway grew profits by 86% last quarter as its stock portfolio soared in value - Business Insider

Mario Anzuoni/Reuters Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway suffered an 11% drop in revenue in the second quarter, but almost $30 billion in year-on-year investment gains meant its net income surged 86% to $26.3 billion. The famed investor's conglomerate reported about $13 billion in net stock sales last quarter, including its disposal of the "big four" airline stocks in April. Berkshire also repurchased more than $5 billion of its stock as expected. However, its cash pile still ballooned by about $10 billion to $147 billion. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported a surge in profits in the second quarter as the soaring value of its stock portfolio offset weakness across much of its business due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fa...

Berkshire bought back record $5bn of stock last quarter

8Aug

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Stock News

Berkshire bought back record $5bn of stock last quarter

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. spent a record $5 billion buying back Berkshire’s own stock in the second quarter. Berkshire’s Class A shares, which fell in line with the S&P 500 in the first three months of the year as the pandemic spread in the U.S., fell another 1.7% last quarter while the broader index rallied 20%. Buffett said in May that repurchases weren’t more compelling, but the buybacks in the quarter suggest his thinking shifted. Key insights Even with buybacks that more than doubled the previous quarterly record, Berkshire’s cash pile kept growing and hit $146.6 billion. Buffett has struggled to find ways to deploy large chunks of funds into higher-returning assets. Berkshire ended up taking a more cautious approach to the broader stock market in the quarter...

Buffett buys back record $5.1 billion in Berkshire stock as coronavirus hits operating earnings – CNBC

8Aug

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Stock News

Buffett buys back record $5.1 billion in Berkshire stock as coronavirus hits operating earnings - CNBC

Warren Buffett Gerard Miller | CNBC Berkshire Hathaway announced on Saturday it bought back a record amount of its own stock during the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic dented operations for Warren Buffett's conglomerate. The company said it repurchased $5.1 billion worth in stock in May and June. Berkshire repurchased more than $4.6 billion of its Class B stock and about $486.6 million in Class A shares. The share repurchase is the most ever in a single period for Buffett, nearly double the $2.2 billion the conglomerate bought back in the final quarter of 2019. In fact, the amount is slightly more than what Buffett spent buying back Berkshire stock in all of 2019. Despite the company's record buybacks last quarter, the Berkshire's cash hoard grew...

CBI pledges to restore balance in forex market in coming weeks – Tehran Times

8Aug

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Forex News

CBI pledges to restore balance in forex market in coming weeks - Tehran Times

TEHRAN – The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) is taking necessary measures for restoring balance in the domestic foreign currency market, Tasnim reported on Saturday. In late-July, Iran’s national currency, rial, fell into a record low of 240,000 against the U.S. dollar. “We are trying to control the market and we have started taking serious measures in this regard, which will have tangible results in the coming weeks,” CBI Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said. The current turbulence in the country’s forex market has not been created solely by economic factors, he said, adding that political and security issues have been also involved. “Measures are being taken so that the foreign currency rates won’t depend on non-economic factors. To this end, we have already curbed a series of illegal ...

Bargain-hunters look to U.S. real estate stocks as S&P nears records

8Aug

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Stock News

Bargain-hunters look to U.S. real estate stocks as S&P nears records

As the S&P 500 approaches fresh highs, some investors hope to pick up bargains in the battered U.S. real estate sector, where values of some major stocks have been cut in half this year.Coronavirus-fueled lockdowns and a major shift toward working from home have weighed on residential and retail U.S. real estate investment trusts. The sector has slid 7% this year compared with a 3% gain on the S&P 500. Yet investors say stocks in the sector could jump if a coronavirus vaccine loosens the pandemic’s hold on the U.S. economy. “You’re going to find more attractive spots in the REIT space than you will in some areas of the market like technology, that have the growth but are getting expensive,” said Mark Freeman, chief investment officer at Socorro Asset Management. Among his larg...