Join our community of smart investors

Today's markets: Travel rebound hopes, chip shortage, variant concerns & more

Follow our Markets Live blog for the latest news that affects your investments
May 14, 2021

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

 

Travel rebound expected

AirBnB (US:ABNB) emerged from 2020 “as a stronger and more efficient company”, the accommodation booking platform said yesterday as it posted quarterly numbers.

Such strength means the group is primed for a “travel rebound […] unlike anything we’ve seen before”, its California-based management said in a call with investors.

Business “significantly improved” during the first quarter, AirBnB said, thanks to the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines and the easing of some travel restrictions. Revenues edged up 5 per cent to $887m, beating 2019 Q1 levels, as nights and experiences booked rose 13 per cent to 64.4m.

However, the group’s losses widened considerably to $1.2bn, reflecting debt repayments and office space impairments among other factors.

Internationally, the travel story has been mixed in recent weeks as new pandemic-induced rules and the UK’s minimal ‘green list’ limit the places people can go. Still, for companies such as ticketing site Trainline (TRN), a rise in ‘staycations’ could mean good news.

Chip shortage could last 'years'

Meanwhile, the head of long-standing US tech giant IBM (US:IBM) told the BBC last night that it might be “a few years” before we see the end of the ongoing computer chip shortage.

Investors’ Chronicle asked last month whether Apple (US:AAPL) and Intel (US:INTC) had found their way around the said global shortage.

How the BBC can take on the giants

 

And on the subject of the BBC, Megan Boxall’s cover feature out today looks at how Britain’s national broadcaster can make itself relevant in today’s intensely competitive media landscape.  

 

Variant concerns growing

A surge in Covid infections linked to an Indian variant, albeit from an almost standing start, is beginning to cause concern in the UK. We may still be talking about small figures - just over 1,300 cases - but the fact that infections linked to the variant have more than doubled in a week and are clustered in areas previously ravaged by the virus such as Blackburn, Bolton and Liverpool is raising concerns. Potential actions include the option to accelerate vaccinations in targeted areas while Boris Johnson yesterday refused to rule out the use of local lockdown measures in the future to curb the spread of new variants. 

As yet there is not enough data to confirm suspicions that the Indian variant my be more transmissable than previous variants, or whether it can evade antibodies provided by the vaccines already in use. 

Read more: 

Big pharma: patent battles ahead?

Glaxo vaccine deal: why has the company done an AstraZeneca?

Is AstraZeneca a victim of vaccine nationalism?

 

Follow our live blog below: