Washington Post (March 8)
The war in Iran “is hitting the economies of Europe and Asia harder and faster than it is striking the United States.” The conflict’s impact extends far beyond oil and natural gas prices. For example, “the closure of several international airports in the conflict zone, including the world’s busiest in Dubai, idled nearly one-fifth of global airfreight capacity, interrupting shipments of consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals and precious metals.” At present, “the cost of shipping goods by air from Asia to Europe is up 45 percent since the war began,” double the increase “for sending items from Asia to the United States.”
Tags: Airfreight, Airports, Asia, Conflict, Dubai, Economies, Electronics, Europe, Impact, Interrupting, Iran, Natural gas, Oil, Pharmaceuticals, Shipments, U.S., War
Economist (January 11)
“The industries that will suffer most from new regulatory barriers to frictionless trade are those like aerospace, cars, chemicals, food and drink, and pharmaceuticals that rely on uninterrupted supply chains across Europe. They are concentrated in the midlands and north—exactly where Mr Johnson won his new Tory majority. If his weakness in the negotiations causes him to lose favour in those areas, his new domestic strength will be at risk.”
Tags: Aerospace, Brexit, Cars, Chemicals, Drink, Europe, Food, Frictionless trade, Johnson, Pharmaceuticals, Regulatory barriers, Supply chains, Tory, Weakness
Financial Times (August 1)
Wall Street is enthusiastic about all things pet. “The growth of pet versions of everything from health food to personal service and new drugs is luring investors.” For example, “Zoetis, the animal pharmaceuticals company, has strongly outperformed its former owner Pfizer since being spun off in 2013; shares in Chewy, the online pet supplies retailer rose by 50 per cent on its first day of trading in June.” Consistency makes the pet industry stand out. The sum Americans spend on pets “has risen steadily at around 5 per cent annually for two decades, even following the 2008 financial crisis, when people bought less for themselves.”
Tags: Chewy, Drugs, Enthusiastic, Health food, Investors, Personal service, Pfizer, Pharmaceuticals, Wall Street, Zoetis
Financial Times (December 21)
“A surge of deals in the pharmaceuticals, energy and consumer sectors has pushed merger and acquisition activity to an all-time high, surpassing 2007’s peak — but dealmakers have admitted that bond market turmoil and geopolitical instability are their biggest worries for 2016.”
Tags: 2016, Bond market, Consumer sectors, Deals, Energy, Geopolitical instability, M&A, Pharmaceuticals, Turmoil
The Economist (January 3)
“In pharmaceuticals, the 20th century was the era of the small molecule.” The 21st may be the age of giant molecules as drugmakers seek new solutions. “Steady progress is being made in creating ‘biologics’, drugs that consist of giant molecules, hundreds of times the size of a conventional drug molecule, which are manufactured inside animal cells or micro-organisms such as bacteria. In the coming year a fresh wave of biologics is expected to be approved for use by general practitioners.”
Tags: Biologics, Drugmakers, Pharmaceuticals, Progress, Small molecule
