Raphael Stevens

A man with his bicycle on a street in the old quarters of New Delhi on April 19, 2021, as India’s capital will impose a week-long lockdown from tonight, officials said, while the megacity struggles to contain a huge surge in Covid-19 cases with hospitals running out of beds and oxygen supplies low.Sajjad Hussain | AFP | Getty ImagesIndia crossed 20 million reported cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday.There were 357,229 new cases reported over a span of 24 hours, bringing the total to 20.28 million, according to health ministry data.India’s first cases were detected in late January last year and the country’s total did not cross 10 million infections until December, according to Johns Hopkins University data. But the next 10 million cases were reported in the span of just under five months, mostly in April.So far, at least 222,408 people have died from the disease, but that number is likely lower than the actual death toll. Media reports suggest crematoriums and burial grounds are overwhelmed with bodies of those who died from Covid-19.”The pandemic has now entered the small towns and the villages, and we are now quite worried about how much of a devastation it will cause in those areas where the health systems are not well developed enough to provide support, when even some of the big metros are struggling with the case load on hospitals,” K. Srinath Reddy, president at the Public Health Foundation of India told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Monday.Some states are going into lockdownsDuring the first wave last year, India imposed a strict national lockdown between late-March and May, which derailed the country’s growth trajectory and left millions without a source of income.While the central government appears reluctant to impose a second nationwide lockdown, several states have stepped up restrictions in recent weeks, including local lockdowns and curfews. That includes Maharashtra, which is India’s worst-hit state, Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and others.Some health experts have suggested that India needs a national stay-at-home order and a medical emergency declaration to address current health-care needs.India’s Covid crisisRead CNBC’s latest coverage of India’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic:India accounts for 1 in 3 new Covid cases being recorded. Here is its second wave in 5 chartsIndia’s economy will likely contract this quarter as Covid cases soar, economists warnIndia could soon have another locally developed vaccine as the deadly Covid crisis shows no signs of slowingPhotos show the deadly toll of Covid in India as coronavirus cases top 17 millionIndia’s health-care system has been overwhelmed by the sharp rise in cases as it faces a shortage of hospital beds, oxygen supply and medicines to treat patients.Public Health Foundation’s Reddy told CNBC that India needs a two-pronged approach to fight the second wave. First, efforts to vaccinate more than 1.3 billion people must continue.India faces at least near-term vaccine shortages and just over 2% of the population has received both doses. Starting in May, India is opening vaccinations to anyone age 18 and older.Second, India needs a “very strong” containment strategy to reduce the spread.We had turned our back on the virus, but the virus did not turn its back on us. And now we are paying the price.K. Srinath Reddypresident, Public Health Foundation of India”What we need to do immediately is to cut down the transmission from person to person, by ensuring that there are no large crowds,” Reddy said, adding that India should not allow more than four people to gather in public places and areas with high positivity rates should be put into full containment mode.He added that India needs to ensure adequate social support for people who are recovering at home from milder symptoms.How did India get here?India’s second wave began some time in February when cases started rising again. Before that the country reported about 10,000 infections a day, on average. April saw a steep spike in the curve, with nearly 7 million reported cases.The Indian government is facing criticism for letting large crowds gather for religious festivals and election rallies earlier this year. Those mass gatherings likely turned into super spreader events.Scientists say the spike in cases is also partially due to variants of the coronavirus circulating in India at the moment. That includes a local variant called B.1.617 that has multiple sub-lineages with slightly different characteristic mutations.Reddy explained that in its desire to put the economy back on track, India ignored the looming threat of a second wave.”I think by early January when the daily case counts, the daily death counts and the test positivity rates plummeted, widespread impression gathered ground that we had ended the pandemic forever,” he said, adding, “We had turned our back on the virus, but the virus did not turn its back on us. And now we are paying the price.” More

In this articleGPSAEORLSWKVFCPVHWHRLOWCOSTWMTBRK.ACNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday rejected Warren Buffett’s assertion that Wall Street’s new retail investors stay away from individual stock picking in favor of investing in index funds.”I respect Warren Buffett, but I’ll always be a Peter Lynch guy,” Cramer said on “Mad Money,” reacting to the comments from the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO. Cramer favors the investment philosophy of Lynch, the legendary investor known for his management of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund and his book on investing, “One Up on Wall Street.”Lynch’s philosophy is based on an investor taking advantage of his or her ability to observe, study and take action on a stock, Cramer said.”That’s why I believe in a hybrid model. I don’t share Buffett’s contempt for homegamers who try to pick stocks, nor do I want you to go all-in on individual stocks,” he said.Cramer provided a list of retail stock ideas for investors to test Lynch’s principles.WalmartCostcoLowe’sWhirlpoolPVHVF CorpStanley Black & DeckerRalph LaurenAmerican Eagle OutfittersGap”I don’t mean to make it sound simple. If you want to invest like Peter Lynch you need to actually visit these places or try things on, whatever sparks your curiosity,” said Cramer, suggesting that viewers read Lynch’s book. “But I think one or two of these reopening plays go well with an index fund in your retirement account.”A spokesperson for Berkshire Hathaway did not immediately return a request for comment.Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Walmart and Costco.DisclaimerQuestions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More

The Covid outbreak in India is putting the rest of the world at risk and is leaving a “humanitarian catastrophe” in its wake, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health warned Monday.”India is a big country, and if there are large outbreaks there, of course we’re going to worry about more variants, which will be bad for Indians, and … it will spread around the world,” said Dr. Ashish Jha. “So part of keeping America safe is vaccinating the whole world.”The White House pledged to send more than $100 million worth of medical supplies to India as the country breaks global infection records on a near-daily basis. The country recorded more than 300,000 new cases for 12 straight days, but experts fear the real numbers could be much higher. Data shows that only about 2% of India’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid. Jha told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that because the U.S. is now at a point where it has a greater supply of vaccines than demand, that the U.S. should distribute them globally. “I think we should be sharing them more widely with the world, helping them get vaccinated, that’s how we’ll end the pandemic globally,” Jha said. More

Alan Patricof, a longtime tech investor and Democratic donor, told CNBC on Monday he is not concerned about the prospect of higher capital gains taxes for wealthy Americans.In an interview on “Closing Bell,” the co-founder of venture capital firm Greycroft did not throw his support behind a specific rate for the capital gains tax. He also suggested the proposal recently put out by President Joe Biden will likely “be modified in some way” after negotiations in Congress, where Republicans have expressed opposition.However, Patricof said behavior is unlikely to be swayed by a capital gains tax increase, particularly as it relates to investing in young companies. Some venture capitalists, such as Tim Draper, have contended that Biden’s proposal could negatively impact Silicon Valley.”I believe that the amount of money that will be put into start-ups will be just as strong as it is now,”  Patricof said. “Entrepreneurs are not going to stop and say, ‘Gee whiz, the capital gains rate is going up. I better not start my company.'””Venture capitalists like me are not all of a sudden going to turn their money back into their funds and say, ‘Gee whiz, the rate is going up, so we can’t justify making investments anymore,” added Patricof, an early investor in Apple and AOL.Biden’s recent proposal calls for raising the tax rate on long-term capital gains to 39.6% from 20% for Americans who have an annual income of more than $1 million. The 3.8% net investment income tax that’s already law would effectively lift the top rate to 43.4%.Biden’s American Families Plan also calls for raising the top income tax rate to 39.6% from 37%.Additionally, a White House fact sheet for the plan says that Biden “is also calling on Congress to close the carried interest loophole,” which benefits managers of hedge funds, venture capital funds and private equity funds.Patricof, whose venture-capital career has stretched over 40 years, has long advocated for the elimination of the carried-interest loophole, including in a 2016 opinion article for The New York Times.Patricof told CNBC he believes narrowing the differential in tax rates on wages and capital gains was “constructive,” without specifically saying whether he thought they should be placed at the same level.”I think that investors in general are going to invest their money the way they have before, and I think that new companies will be started. I think that funds will be formed. Private equity will prosper,” Patricof said.”I think you’ve seen it in the market,” he added. “I mean, the market is not collapsing because of his announced [proposed] change in rate. Everyone is expecting that the capital gains rate is going to go up. I don’t think it’s going to change behavior.”Patricof donated thousands of dollars to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, as well as to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee, according to Federal Election Commission records. More

In this articleLDLA filtration materials company that watched its stock rise amid the need for protective gear to guard against Covid-19 is testing ways to make breathing possible on another planet.Lydall, which the federal government contracted to help replenish the U.S. stockpile of personal protection equipment, supplied the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with HEPA-grade filtration media that’s being used to produce oxygen on Mars, according to CEO Sara Greenstein.”We’re not only protecting people and the environment on Earth, we’re starting to do it on Mars as well,” Greenstein told CNBC’s Jim Cramer Monday.In February, NASA grabbed national headlines after landing the six-wheel rover Perseverance on Mars. The rover is equipped with filtration media made by Lydall, which is studying ways to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen that can be useful for human travel to the red planet.Greenstein said on “Mad Money” that Lydall’s HEPA-grade filtration media, called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) module, is installed on the rover and is showing some signs of success.”What the MOXIE module is doing … [is] walking around the Mars surface filtering all of the CO2 out of the Martian air and trying to turn it into oxygen so that for future manned landings we wouldn’t have to bring stored oxygen up. And it’s working,” she said. “They’ve been able to capture enough oxygen for an astronaut to be up there for 10 minutes already.”NASA announced last month that it ran the first of several tests using MOXIE, which was designed to generate about 20 minutes of breathable oxygen per hour for astronauts, according to the press release.Shares of the company rose in Monday trading to $37.11, putting the stock up more than 23% so far this year.Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More

In this articleFBBCLCIICNBC’s Jim Cramer said Monday investors should look at stocks exposed to outdoor activities such as camping and boating as the economy reopens. “As the pandemic winds down, I think the great outdoors theme has more legs than you realize,” the “Mad Money” host said. “It could be a huge summer, even bigger than last summer, which means that any of these stocks could have legs, especially because so many of the big institutional investors have moved away from them.”Below are the takeaways from Cramer’s recommendations:Brunswick: “While the stock made a new all-time high today, it simply doesn’t reflect the incredible numbers we saw last week,” Cramer said. “This high-quality outdoor activity stock sells for less than 13-times next year’s numbers. I find that ridiculously cheap”LCI Industries: “Lippert sells … for just 15 times next year’s earnings estimates, solid 2% yield, so if the stock sells off tomorrow, you might want to dig deeper into the quarter and use that weakness as a buying opportunity if you like what you see,” he said.Thor Industries and Winnebago Industries: “They moved so much merchandise last spring and summer that supplies are incredibly tight and that’s allowing them to make a fortune in this environment,” he said. “Thor is [selling] at 14-times earnings, Winnebago at 11-times earnings. Thor gets that higher multiple because it’s best of breed, but they both work here.”Camping World: “I think this one’s a terrific regional-to-national growth story, and only sells at 9-times earnings,” the host said. “If you can get it at a discount after the quarter, I think you pounce.”Airbnb: “This is a fabulous way to play the coming travel boom, and that includes people renting homes in remote areas so they can enjoy nature,” Cramer said. “I’m waiting for the looming expiration of the lockup on insider sales, something that could hammer the stock and maybe could give you a terrific buying opportunity.”Other picks include Newell Brands, Yeti, Vista Outdoor, Callaway Golf, Acushnet and Pool Corp.DisclaimerQuestions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More