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Markets Live 7 May: Travel companies report, reaction to vaccine patent threat continues and more

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May 7, 2021

Good morning and welcome to the IC’s live blog, where our writers round up the biggest business stories of the day and overnight news from the US.

Travel companies post Q1s

As the week draws to a close, would-be travellers in the UK continue to wait with bated breath for Westminster to publish a ‘green list’ of countries deemed safe to visit. A traffic-light system ranging from green to red is expected to be released imminently, offering some reprieve – and clarity – to those wishing to go on holiday, visit friends and family or plan business trips.

Back in April, transport secretary Grant Shapps had suggested that the country classification would be laid out by early May. The government’s lockdown exit strategy assumes that international travel should resume from 17 May at the earliest, all being (relatively) well.

It was fitting, perhaps, that British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) should post its quarterly numbers on Friday, alongside InterContinental Hotels (IHG).

With flights grounded and vacations on hold, the former reported a statutory operating loss of €1.1bn (albeit narrower than losses of €1.9bn revealed this time last year). The latter said trading had continued to improved during the three months to March with a “notable pick-up” in the US and China.

Patent reaction

Meanwhile, the pharma world continued to reel yesterday after the announcement late on Wednesday that the Biden-Harris administration would support a waiver on intellectual property rights linked to coronavirus vaccines. But the chief executive of Moderna (US:MRNA) – one of the companies with a widely-used approved Covid-19 jab – said he “didn’t lose a minute of sleep” on the news.

On UK shores, vaccine advisers in the UK are reportedly preparing to recommend that people under 40 be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca (AZN) virus shot amid concerns about a rare side-effect of blood clotting.

And in non-healthcare news, shares in St Modwen Properties (SMP) shot up a fifth at the open after it emerged that the group has received an indicative takeover offer from Blackstone.

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