Coming to an end

In an irony that coincides with Labor Day, enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits will be coming to an end this weekend. The assistance, which helped out-of-work Americans during the pandemic, were distributed under several programs created by the CARES Act. Among them: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

Historic safety net: States issued $794B in combined state and federal unemployment benefits from March 2020 through July 2021, according to the Labor Department. That included weekly bonus payments, which were raised by $600/week and then lowered to $300/week, as well as unemployment insurance and assistance for gig workers. The long-term unemployed also collected federally financed weeks of benefits when state aid was depleted.

A year into the pandemic, up to 46.2M people had received at least one week of benefits, amounting to about a quarter of the U.S. workforce, per an estimate from The Century Foundation. About half of U.S. states also ended their involvement in some or all federal unemployment programs in June or July, before their official expiration this weekend.

Go deeper: While it's hard to make direct comparisons, the $794B pandemic figure weighs up against the $128B in unemployment benefits distributed in 2009, the year which unemployment peaked during the Great Recession. Back in 2009, only 14.5M Americans collected at least one benefit payment, which was less than a third of the pandemic annual total. The latest figures are even likely to be understated because some states haven't filed regular data for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

er abortion in America is spilling into the corporate sphere after Texas' SB8 law was allowed to go into effect this week by the Supreme Court. The 5-4 ruling saw a conservative bloc of justices hold sway over dissenting views from Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's liberal minority. Also known as the heart-beat bill, the law will ban abortion after six weeks, making exceptions for medical emergencies but not cases involving rape or incest.

Bigger picture: The legislation allows private individuals to sue anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion after six weeks, with the ability to collect at least $10,000 in damages for a successful lawsuit. Over the past decade, many similar state laws were struck down by federal courts on grounds that they conflicted with Roe v. Wade. The next flashpoint will shift to Mississippi, where Supreme Court justices have agreed to consider a law that bars most abortions at 15 weeks.

It'll also be interesting to see the reaction of the business community to SB8, but many are choosing to stay on the sidelines given the backlash it could have on their companies. Notable provocateur Elon Musk, who recently moved to Texas, is sitting this one out, saying he'd "prefer to stay out of politics." But some of the largest dating apps in the country are responding with a pledge to create funds for employees and dependents that need to travel outside of Texas to seek abortions.

Quote: "As I have said before, the company generally does not take political stands unless it is relevant to our business. But in this instance, I personally, as a woman in Texas, could not keep silent," Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) CEO Shar Dubey said in a memo. The firm, which is based in Dallas, owns a number of dating companies, including its namesake app Match along with Hinge, Tinder and OkCupid. "Bumble (NASDAQ:BMBL) is women-founded and women-led, and from day one we've stood up for the most vulnerable. We'll keep fighting against regressive laws like #SB8," added the company, which is located in Austin, and went public earlier this year. (4 comments)

Vaccine hat trick

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci would not be surprised if the recommended full regimen of COVID vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE, BNTX) and Moderna (MRNA) becomes three doses instead of two. According to Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), giving an additional dose or perhaps a final dose for fully vaccinated people a few months after their initial vaccine regimen will help the immune system to mature. The remarks come before the U.S. is set to roll out COVID-19 booster shots for all Americans in a few weeks.

Cue the debate: For complete immunization, people get three or more doses of polio and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines. Vaccinations for hepatitis B and HPV also require third doses, with several months between the second and third shot.

Fauci also presented data from Israel that showed waning coronavirus immunity after about eights months. In Israel, being fully vaccinated now means three jabs (and eligible for its green passport system), with more than 2M of the country's 9.3M people having received a third shot, including 70% over the age of 60 and nearly half those over 50. Israel struck a vaccines-for-data deal with Pfizer back in January that promised to share vast troves of information from its highly digitized healthcare system in exchange for the continued flow of COVID-19 shots.

Back in the U.S.: The White House is planning to invest $3B in the coming weeks to ensure the country can continue to produce COVID-19 vaccines. The funding will be earmarked to companies making ingredients and inputs that go into vaccine production, as well as facilities that fill and finish vaccine vials. Other areas of focus will include lipids, bioreactor bags, tubing, needles, syringes, and personal protective equipment, before a booster campaign kicks off on September 20. (209 comments)

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan +2.1%. Hong Kong -0.7%. China -0.4%. India +0.6%.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.1%. Paris -0.4%. Frankfurt +0.1%.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.2%. S&P +0.2%. Nasdaq +0.2%. Crude +0.2% at $70.13. Gold +0.2% at $1815.10. Bitcoin +0.5% at $50083.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +1 bps to 1.3%

Today's Economic Calendar

8:30 Non-farm payrolls
9:45 PMI Composite Final
10:00 ISM Service Index
1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count

Companies reporting earnings today »

What else is happening...

Manchin throws a wrench into Biden's $3.5T economic agenda.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) hikes hourly pay by $1 ahead of the holidays.

FAA grounds Virgin Galactic's (NYSE:SPCE) spacecraft pending investigation.

Renaissance execs paying $7B in historic tax settlement with IRS.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), PGA Tour ink deal on episodic golf docuseries.

Nikkei gains with Japan's Suga to step down as prime minister.

Reddit reportedly looking to hire advisers for IPO at $15B+ valuation.

GM (NYSE:GM), Ford (NYSE:F) halt more production as chip shortage worsens.

Exxon (NYSE:XOM) taps U.S. Strategic Reserve to restart Baton Rouge refinery.

Beijing government looking to take DiDi (DIDI) under state control - Bloomberg.