Raphael Stevens

About half of the nearly 2,000 workers at the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine got Covid-19 during the latest wave, director Liu Qingquan said.
All were treated with traditional Chinese medicine, and only one person developed pneumonia, he said.
While the latest Covid outbreak has eased, “from the perspective of the hospital, our pressure is still very great,” Wang Guiqiang, director of the infectious diseases department at Peking University First Hospital, said.

Locals line up for medical treatment at the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine on June 1, 2022.
CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images

BEIJING — About half of the nearly 2,000 workers at the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine got Covid-19 during the latest wave, director Liu Qingquan said Wednesday.
Liu told reporters the workers all recovered by taking traditional Chinese medicine. He said out of the 1,000 staff infected, only one, who already had high blood pressure, developed pneumonia.

China has encouraged the use of traditional Chinese medicine alongside Western treatment for Covid. Rather than pharmaceutical drugs, traditional Chinese medicine relies on herb-based remedies and natural methods to help the body heal itself.
The omicron variant swept China in December as authorities abruptly ended most Covid controls. Local businesses reported the majority of their staff fell sick within a week, before recovering. Tens of thousands of people rushed to fever clinics in a single day in the city of Beijing alone, local authorities said.
Due to the surge in patients, doctors and nurses couldn’t return home for several days, Liu said. He said the health workers sometimes had to work while they themselves were sick and taking medication.

In the last two weeks, officials in Beijing city and other Chinese urban centers have said they’ve passed the worst of the Covid outbreak.
While the situation has eased, “from the perspective of the hospital, our pressure is still very great,” Wang Guiqiang, director of the infectious diseases department at Peking University First Hospital, said Wednesday. That’s according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.

The hospital turned additional wards into areas for intensive care, and trained doctors to become ICU nurses, Wang said.

Pfizer’s Covid-19 drug

In the wake of China’s latest Covid wave, locals also rushed to stock up on medicine, resulting in shortages and long lines outside pharmacies last month.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid drug for treating Covid remains in short supply domestically, Wang said. But he said the drug will soon be produced in China by a local company.
Pfizer has signed an agreement with a local partner to manufacture Paxlovid in China, CEO Albert Bourla said Monday at the JPMorgan Health Care Conference, according to a transcript. He said local production could begin in as soon as three or four months.

Read more about China from CNBC Pro

Paxlovid will only be covered by China’s basic national health insurance until March 31, China’s Healthcare Security Administration said Sunday. The drug failed to make an annual list of insurance-covered medicines because Pfizer asked for too high a price, the administration said.
CEO Bourla said what China wanted to pay was “lower than the lowest of the middle” price bracket — a range that’s 60% to 70% below what high-income countries pay.
“We didn’t agree,” Bourla said. “They are the second highest economy in the world. And I don’t think that they should pay less than [El] Salvador.”
If negotiations don’t change the situation by April, Bourla said, “we will continue with the private market in China, which is significant.”
Demand for Paxlovid from China has exploded from a few thousands to the millions, he said, without elaborating.
Merck and Chinese companies are also selling Covid drugs to the local market.

Focus on treatment

Since mandatory testing for Covid ended in early December, official numbers on the local outbreak have dropped off sharply.
When asked about Covid deaths, Wang said calculating excess deaths was the best way, such as comparing figures to December 2021.
It’s not clear how soon those numbers would be available. China has said only a handful of deaths meet its criteria for being tied to Covid. Anecdotes indicate overall deaths in the country have increased since December.
“At this time I don’t think it’s necessary to look into every single case. The priority should be treating patients,” said Liang Wannian, executive vice-dean of the Vanke School of Public Health at Tsinghua University. That’s according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin-language remarks Wednesday.
Liang said the country would watch for new Covid variants and report them in a timely fashion. He did not go into much detail on the procedures for doing so.
A change in the hospitalization or death rate associated with Covid would be the earliest indication of a new variant, Dr. Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said in late December. He said the likelihood of a new Covid variant emerging in China is low.
The World Health Organization said this week that China is providing more information on the Covid-19 outbreak, but the country is still heavily underreporting deaths, according to Reuters.
On Wednesday, Liang said that especially in rural areas, the most difficult phase of China’s Covid wave has passed.
But he said according to China’s latest Covid policy, local authorities facing a large outbreak could still move classes online and limit large gatherings.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

The retail market in particular will reap the “best benefit,” Hannah Jeong, Colliers’ head of valuation and advisory services, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.
In the office sector, Grade A office rents will bounce back by 3% this year, said Colliers — thanks to “pent-up demand from Chinese and overseas companies.” 

In light of China’s reopening and easing of Covid rules, Hong Kong’s property market will be on a path to recovery in 2023, according to property consultancy Colliers Hong Kong.  
The retail market in particular will reap the “best benefit,” Hannah Jeong, Colliers’ head of valuation and advisory services, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.

However, there are still some potential headwinds this year that may undercut Hong Kong’s recovery, Colliers said in its latest report. Those include continued geopolitical tension and a potential global recession.
“We are looking at a more cautiously optimistic view for 2023,” Jeong added.
“There will be different uncertainties from external factors but borders opening is surely the one of the booster[s] for many other sectors within the property market.” 

Retail to be ‘first runner’

According to Colliers, the retail sector — especially the high street shop segment — will be the “first runner” in the post-Covid recovery in 2023 with both rents and prices. 
“We are looking at about an 8% increase year-on-year, in terms of the retail rental performance,” Jeong added. 

She said, however, this is still about 25% to 30% lower than pre-Covid levels.
Collier added in its report that despite China’s reopening, local consumption will remain “an important driver” for Hong Kong’s retail market in the next 12 months.

“The shifted shopping pattern of the Mainlanders over the last three years may paint a new picture to the new retail market sentiment,” it added. 
In the office sector, Grade A office rents will bounce back by 3% this year, said Colliers — thanks to “pent-up demand from Chinese and overseas companies.” 
Even so, Jeong said that Hong Kong’s office market still has a high vacancy rate, at 14.7%.
“But it’s not it’s not the end of the world because … compared with other peer cities, 8% to 10% is a generally reasonable number,” she added. 

Residential market demand to dampen 

Hong Kong’s home prices plunged to a five-year low in October as interest rates hikes pushed up borrowing costs. 
This resulted in a “softening of investment demand,” said Jeong, but the demand from homebuyers still exists. 
“Homebuyers … [have been] utilizing this time when market is softening, they can snatch the cheaper flats,” she added. 

“But in 2023, I think the interest rate … will continue to go up. We are looking at stabilization at least in the second half of this year.”
Just last month, Hong Kong raised interest rates by 50 basis points to 4.75%, following the U.S. Federal Reserve.
High costs of borrowing will dampen residential market demand and a “negative 5% to 10% downward adjustment” should hence be expected this year, Jeong said. 

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

The world is moving into “a new age of clean technology manufacturing” that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars per year, the International Energy Agency says.
China is dominating both the production and trade of “most clean energy technologies,” according to the IEA.
The energy agency notes there are potential headwinds related to supply chains, a long-standing issue that’s been thrown into sharp relief in recent years.

Wind turbine blades photographed at a facility in China’s Hebei Province on July 15, 2022. The world’s second largest economy is a major force in technologies crucial to the planned energy transition.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

The world is moving into “a new age of clean technology manufacturing” that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars per year by the end of the decade, generating millions of jobs in the process, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.
Published Thursday morning, the IEA’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2023 report — which referred to “the dawn of a new industrial age” — looked at the manufacturing of technologies including wind turbines, heat pumps, batteries for electric vehicles, solar panels and electrolyzers for hydrogen.

In a statement accompanying its report, the IEA said its analysis showed that “the global market for key mass-manufactured clean energy technologies” would be worth roughly $650 billion per year by 2030, a more than three-fold increase from today’s levels.
There is a caveat to the Paris-based organization’s forecast, in that it’s based on countries around the world implementing, in full, pledges related to energy and the climate — a significant task that will require both political will and financial muscle.

Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

“The related clean energy manufacturing jobs would more than double from 6 million today to nearly 14 million by 2030,” the IEA said, “and further rapid industrial and employment growth is expected in the following decades as transitions progress.”
Despite the above, the IEA noted there were potential headwinds related to supply chains, a long-standing issue that heightened geopolitical tensions and the coronavirus pandemic have thrown into sharp relief in recent years.
Its report highlighted “potentially risky levels of concentration in clean energy supply chains — both for the manufacturing of technologies and the materials on which they rely.”

China, it said, was dominating both the production and trade of “most clean energy technologies.”
When it came to mass-manufactured technologies such as batteries, solar panels, wind, heat pumps and electrolyzers, the IEA said the three biggest producer countries represented “at least 70% of manufacturing capacity for each technology — with China dominant in all of them.”
“Meanwhile, a great deal of the mining for critical minerals is concentrated in a small number of countries,” it added.
“For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo produces over 70% of the world’s cobalt, and just three countries — Australia, Chile and China — account for more than 90% of global lithium production.”

Read more about China from CNBC Pro

Commenting on the report, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the planet “would benefit from more diversified clean technology supply chains.”
“As we have seen with Europe’s reliance on Russian gas, when you depend too much on one company, one country or one trade route — you risk paying a heavy price if there is disruption,” he added.
This is not the first time Birol has spoken about the geopolitical dimension of the world’s shift to a future centered around lower-carbon technologies.
In October, Birol told CNBC that the main driver of clean energy investment was energy security rather than climate change.
Namechecking the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. and other packages in Europe, Japan and China, Birol said a “major increase in clean energy investment, about [a] 50% increase,” was being seen.
“Today it’s about 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars and it will go up to about 2 trillion U.S. dollars,” Birol told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum.
“And as a result, we are going to see clean energy, electric cars, solar, hydrogen, nuclear power, slowly but surely, replacing fossil fuels.”
“And why do governments do that? Because of climate change, because of the greenness of the issues? Not at all. The main reason here is energy security.”
Birol went on to describe energy security as being “the biggest driver of renewable energies.” He also acknowledged the importance of other factors, including those related to the climate. 
“Energy security concerns, climate commitments … industrial policies — the three of them coming together is a very powerful combination,” he said.

How wind power is leading America’s energy transition More

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

Loading chart…

Loading chart…

Loading chart…

Kura Oncology Inc: “That’s it, one of these personalized oncology companies. Here’s what I say about those. Some of them are going to work, and some are not.”

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

Click here to download Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest smarter.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday offered investors a list of stocks that he believes could be great additions to portfolios.
“We only want … stocks if they’re reasonably valued because this market has very little patience for anything expensive,” he said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday offered investors a list of stocks that he believes could be great additions to portfolios.
“We only want … stocks if they’re reasonably valued because this market has very little patience for anything expensive,” he said.

Here is his list:

Earnings season kicks into high gear Friday with reports from major banks and airlines, and Cramer said he’s worried that analysts’ earnings estimates for 2023 seem too high given the state of the economy. 
“I’m betting many companies will give conservative forecasts, and the analysts will have to slash their full-year estimates if they’re worried about a Fed-induced recession caused by multiple rate hikes,” he said.
As a result, he decided to focus on stocks’ price-to-earnings-to-growth ratio when compiling his picks. “That tells you whether a stock is cheap or expensive relative to its own growth, which is what really matters,” he said.

Cramer’s stock screen methodology

To come up with his list, Cramer first took all the stocks in the S&P 500 and eliminated those that don’t have meaningful analyst coverage. Then, he took out the companies that are expected to lose money or have negative earnings growth in 2023.

From this consolidated list, he eliminated companies expected to have less than 5% earnings growth. Stocks with “nosebleed” price-to-earnings multiples were also axed. 
“This market hates anything with a high price-to-earnings multiple, so anything trading at more than 30 times earnings — out,” Cramer said. He also cut out stocks trading below 10 times earnings, since “a low multiple is a signal that Wall Street simply doesn’t believe the earnings estimates.”
After he then got rid of all the stocks with a dividend yield of less than 2%, he was left with 77 names. Finally, he ran a PEG ratio screen on the stocks, crossing off stocks where the price-to-earnings multiple was more than twice the earnings growth rate. Left with 40 names, he picked his top five.
Disclaimer: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of Morgan Stanley.

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

Click here to download Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest smarter.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday said that the markets’ recent gains could become a sustained rally.
Stocks rose on Wednesday, continuing the year’s strong start as investors grew confident that the Federal Reserve is winning its battle against inflation.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday said that the markets’ recent gains could become a sustained rally.
“The charts, as interpreted by Larry Williams … suggest that the market could have a very nice run over the next couple of months,” he said.

related investing news

2 days ago

Stocks rose on Wednesday, continuing the year’s strong start as investors grew confident that the Federal Reserve is winning its battle against inflation. All three major indexes closed up, with the Nasdaq Composite notching its fourth day of gains.
To explain Williams’ analysis, Cramer examined the daily chart of the S&P 500 from late 2021 to early 2022.

Arrows pointing outwards

Cramer said that every major rally during this period lasted for 24 days, according to Williams. He added that this pattern continued during the second half of 2022, with 24-day rallies in July, August and from mid-October to mid-November.
This week marked a new rally and should continue until February 3 if the pattern holds — or even past that date, Cramer said.
“Williams thinks we’re in the early, choppy phases of a bull market. To him, most of the bad news already got baked in last year, which sets us up for a better time in 2023,” he said.

For more analysis, watch Cramer’s full explanation below.

Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

Click here to download Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest smarter.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Starbucks corporate employees will be returning to the office at least three days a week by the end of the month.
CEO Howard Schultz wrote in a memo to employees that badging data showed employees weren’t adhering to a loose requirement to work from the office one to two days a week.
Disney, Twitter and Apple are among the employers that have mandated stricter return-to-office policies.

Howard Schultz
David Ryder | Reuters

Starbucks corporate employees will be returning to the office at least three days a week by the end of the month.
Starting Jan. 30, employees within commuting distance will be required to report to the coffee giant’s Seattle headquarters on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and a third day decided on by their teams. The memo didn’t specify what qualified as commuting distance.

Workers closer to regional offices will also be required to come in three days a week, although the specific days aren’t mandated.
The coffee giant’s corporate workforce has been working remotely since the start of the pandemic. In September, Starbucks asked those workers to work from the office one to two days a week. But CEO Howard Schultz wrote in a memo to employees on Wednesday that badging data showed employees weren’t adhering to that directive.
The new policy is meant to “rebuild our connection to each other and synchronize teams and efforts,” said the memo from Schultz, who is departing the company this spring. He also compared corporate workers’ continued remote work to baristas, who have never had that option.
Schultz stepped in as interim chief executive in April after former CEO Kevin Johnson retired. In his third stint at the company, he has announced a $450 million plan to reinvent Starbucks and fix what he called “self-induced mistakes.”
Starbucks isn’t the only company that has recently mandated a stricter return-to-office policy. CEO Bob Iger, who has returned for his second leadership stint at Disney, told employees on Monday that they must return to the office.
Elon Musk set even higher expectations for in-office attendance at Twitter after he acquired the social media company. And Apple mandated employees return to work three days a week back in September.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Disney is opposing activist investor Nelson Peltz’s attempt to join the board as the two sides prepare for a proxy battle.
The company also named Mark Parker, the executive chairman of Nike, its new chairman of the board.
Peltz, who leads Trian Fund Management, said Disney had “lost its way.”

The Walt Disney Company on Wednesday afternoon said it opposes activist investor Nelson Peltz’s attempt to join its board. Disney also named Mark Parker, the executive chairman of Nike, its next chairman.
Peltz’s Trian Fund Management confirmed later it had nominated Peltz to Disney’s board. Disney, Peltz said, had “lost its way resulting in a rapid deterioration in its financial performance.” Shares of the company closed Wednesday at $96.33. A year ago, Disney was trading at around $160 a share.

The announcements signal a big and messy fight. Nearly two months ago, Trian took an approximately $800 million stake in the company and began seeking a board seat. Trian wants to make operational improvements and reduce costs, according to the firm’s announcement Wednesday. The firm said it plans to file a proxy statement with federal regulators Thursday.
Trian also said it doesn’t want to replace Bob Iger as chief executive. Instead, Trian said, it wants to work with Iger to ensure a successful CEO transition within the next two years.
“Trian’s objective is to create sustainable, long-term value at Disney by working WITH Bob Iger and the Disney Board,” the firm said. “We recognize that Disney is undergoing a period of significant change and we are NOT trying to create additional instability.”
Disney preempted Trian’s announcement, saying earlier Wednesday that it had rebuffed Peltz’s advances.
“While senior leadership of The Walt Disney Company and its Board of Directors have engaged with Mr. Peltz numerous times over the last few months, the Board does not endorse the Trian Group nominee, and recommends that shareholders not support its nominee, and instead vote for all the company’s nominees,” Disney said.

A new chairman

The new drama at Disney comes after a rough year for the entertainment giant’s stock as soaring streaming costs and a slim slate of theatrical releases ate into profits.
Parker, who remain Nike’s executive chairman, will succeed Susan Arnold. Her 15-year term limit at Disney will to an end after the company’s next annual meeting of shareholders. The date for the meeting has yet to be announced. Disney’s board will be reduced to 11 members following Arnold’s departure.

Mark Parker
Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images

“During his four decades at Nike, Mark has led one of the world’s most recognized consumer brands through various market evolutions and a successful CEO transition, and he is uniquely positioned to chair the Disney Board during this period of transformation,” Arnold said in a statement Wednesday. Parker has been a member of Disney’s board for seven years.
Iger’s stunning return in November came with a promise of a two-year stint that would spark renewed growth. The CEO also plans to help find his next successor, after the tenure of his previous handpicked replacement, Bob Chapek, fell apart. Trian on Wednesday criticized Disney for “failed succession planning.”
Disney previously announced companywide cost-cutting measures in November, including a ban on all but essential work travel and a freeze on new hires for all but a few critical positions. Iger upheld that hiring freeze when he returned to the helm of the company later that month.
“Mr. Iger’s mandate is to use his two-year term and depth of experience in the industry to adapt the business model for the shifting media landscape, rebalancing investment with revenue opportunity while bringing a renewed focus on the creative talent that has made The Walt Disney Company the envy of the industry,” the company said.
–CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More