Good afternoon,
It’s Friday and yes, you guessed it, an update from Brenda Miller Wealth Management. Reflecting on the market conditions over the past week, we have seen the S&P 500 double its value from its low of March 2020. Further to this, it has also been a good week for Canadian banks with many reporting quarterly results. This has provided us with an opportunity to rebalance the portfolios.
With the major success of their COVID-19 vaccine, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna Inc. is looking to start new vaccination programs. These new programs address the seasonal flu, the Nipah virus and HIV. Moderna has been working on these vaccines with their mRNA technology. The mRNA technology consists of a single-stranded molecule which teaches our bodies how to generate a protein, resulting in an immune system response. Human trials are being prepared to start this month for the HIV vaccine and could start as early as next week.
Headlines are being made again with the current situation in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, Canadian Special Forces were told that they may be involved in a rescue mission for the Canadians and Afghans still in Kabul. Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan and is also the location where thousands of people are attempting to flee. The Taliban have announced that they will be blocking citizens from accessing the Kabul airport. Yesterday, numerous explosions were reported just outside of the Kabul airport by the Pentagon and other government officials including French President Emmanuel Macron. These explosions have caused numerous casualties and an extremist group known as ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for these attacks.
This week's Current Account discusses the topics of terror in Kabul, the chip crunch and renaming Ryerson University. You can also find the Global Weekly insight by clicking here. Please note that you can also find this on our website at www.brendamiller.ca
Taylor’s word of the week this week is conundrum, which means a confusing and difficult problem or question.
It will be a conundrum trying to replace Jacob. [as told by Jacob :)]
Have a great weekend!
Brenda, Taylor, Joel, and Jacob