World Health Organization scientists tracing the pandemic’s origin in Wuhan, China, said the virus had probably spread through an animal host and was not created in a lab.
— NYT: Top Stories
Tag: #Pandemic
FILE – This Aug. 28, 2020, file photo shows the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind. Biden, the first sitting U.S. president to openly oppose the death penalty, has discussed the possibility of instructing the Department of Justice to stop scheduling new executions, officials said. Action to stop scheduling new executions could take immediate pressure off Biden from opponents of the death penalty. But they want him to go further, from bulldozing the federal death chamber in Terre Haute, Ind., to striking the death penalty from U.S. statutes. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
CHICAGO (AP) — Joe Biden, the first sitting U.S. president to openly oppose the death penalty, has discussed the possibility of instructing the Department of Justice to stop scheduling new executions, officials have told The Associated Press.
If he does, that would end an extraordinary run of executions by the federal government, all during a pandemic that raged inside prison walls and infected journalists, federal employees and even those put to death.
The officials had knowledge of the private discussions with Biden but were not authorized to speak publicly about them.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, when asked Friday about Biden’s plans on the death penalty, said she had nothing to preview on the issue.
Action to stop scheduling new executions could take immediate pressure off Biden from opponents of the death penalty. But they want him to go much further, from bulldozing the federal death chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana, to striking the death penalty from U.S. statutes entirely.
A look at the steps Biden could take and the challenges he would face:
Q: WHY THE PUSH FOR ACTION NOW?
A: While the coronavirus pandemic and election coverage dominated the news last year, many Americans who paid close attention to the resumption of federal executions under President Donald Trump were dismayed by their scale and the apparent haste to carry them out.
The executions, beginning July 14 and ending four days before Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, were the first federal executions in 17 years. More were held in the last six months under Trump than in the previous 56 years combined.
Executions went ahead for inmates whose lawyers claimed were too mentally ill or intellectually disabled to fully grasp why they were being put to death.
Lawyers for Lisa Montgomery, convicted of killing a pregnant Missouri woman and cutting out her baby, said her mental illness was partly triggered by years of horrific sexual abuse as a child. On Jan. 13, she became the first woman executed federally in nearly 70 years.
Q: WOULD A DECISION TO STOP SCHEDULING EXECUTIONS END THE PRACTICE?
A: Biden can guarantee no federal executions during his presidency by simply telling the Justice Department never to schedule any. But that would not prevent a future president who supports capital punishment from restarting them.
Barack Obama, for whom Biden served as vice president, did place an informal moratorium on carrying federal executions out when he was president, ordering a review of execution methods in 2014 after a botched state execution in Oklahoma.
But Obama never took any steps toward ending federal executions for good. That left the door open for Trump to resume them. Death penalty critics want Biden to slam shut that door.
Q: WHAT ARE BIDEN’S RANGE OF OPTIONS?
A: The surest way to prevent a future president from again restarting executions is to sign a bill abolishing the federal death penalty. That would require Congress to pass such a bill.
Thirty-seven members of Congress urged Biden in a Jan. 22 letter to support the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act, sponsored by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
But Biden would have to persuade Republicans. In the 22 states that have struck the death penalty from their statutes, none succeeded in passing the required laws without bipartisan support.
Biden could draw immediately on his presidential powers and do what Obama did not: commute the death sentences of 50-some inmates still on death row in Terre Haute to life in prison. None of the death sentences could ever be restored.
Commutations in themselves would not stop prosecutors from seeking death sentences in new cases. That would require an instruction to Biden’s Justice Department to never to authorize prosecutors to seek them.
Death Penalty Action has called on Biden to order the razing of the Terre Haute death-chamber building. Demolishing the bleak, windowless facility, argued Abe Bonowitz, director of the Ohio-based group, would symbolize Biden’s commitment to stopping federal executions for good.
Q: DID THE TRUMP EXECUTIONS REENERGIZE DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS?
A: The breakneck pace and the government’s relentless push in the courts to get them done did galvanize opponents — and also attracted new adherents to their cause, said Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
“Trump demonstrated more graphically than at any other time what the abuse of capital punishment would look like,” he said. “It has created a political opportunity, which is why death penalty opponents want the president to strike while the iron is hot.”
Death Penalty Action, which organized protests outside the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute during the executions, saw numbers of those donating, signing petitions or requesting information soar from 20,000 to 600,000 over the past six months.
Bonowitz said interest spiked after reality TV star Kim Kardashian pleaded on Twitter for Trump to commute Brandon Bernard’s death sentence to life. Bernard was executed anyway on Dec. 10.
Q: WILL BIDEN GET PUSHBACK IF HE SEEKS TO END THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY?
A: Yes, and not just from death penalty proponents in the Republican Party. It could also come from some members of his own party who will see bids to abolish capital punishment as a losing issue politically.
Clearing death row would also mean sparing the lives of killers such as Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who in 2015 shot dead nine Black members of a South Carolina church during a Bible study. Biden would be placed in the uncomfortable position of having to explain to victims’ families why Roof and others killers should not die.
While support for the death penalty overall has plummeted to just over 50% in recent years, many Americans may not want to preclude the possibility of a death sentence in terrorism cases such as the Boston Marathon bombing. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted in that attack, which killed three people and injured hundreds.
The Supreme Court is currently considering an appeal from the Trump administration that sought to reverse a ruling by a lower court tossing Tsarnaev’s death sentence. The Biden administration may have to decide soon whether to continue that appeal or tell the high court the government now accepts the lower court’s decision.
Q: ARE THERE CLUES ABOUT WHAT BIDEN MIGHT DO?
A: Biden hasn’t spoken at any length about the death penalty since becoming president. And he didn’t make the death penalty a prominent feature of his presidential campaign.
On a campaign webpage on criminal justice reform, Biden did pledge “to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.” He offered no specifics.
Biden may also feel an obligation to do something big on the death penalty, given his past support for it. He played a central role as a senator in the passage of a 1994 crime bill that greatly expanded the number of federal crimes for which someone can be put to death. Several inmates executed under Trump were convicted and sentenced under provisions in that bill.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mtarm
— Associated Press
Guy Warein, a 70-year-old retiree, works on model trains in his home in Richebourg, northern France, Wednesday, Jan 27, 2021. The old-school pastimes of making scale models and playing with miniature trains are making a comeback as a form of therapy against the pandemic blues. Sales are booming as locked-down families glue and paint models and dust off train sets. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
PARIS (AP) — He hunches at the dining room table, putting the finishing touches on his miniature World War II tank. Deep in concentration, he keeps his hand steady as he works to make the scaled-down plastic model look as realistic as possible.
And as he does so, Maxime Fannoy — locked-down husband and father riding out the coronavirus with his family in Belgium — feels the outside world’s unremitting pandemic nightmare slip thankfully out of focus.
“It’s an escape. When you are building a kit or a scene, you really plunge into it,” Fannoy says. “Everything else loses its importance, and in the current context, that is a real help.”
Rejuvenated by quarantines and lockdowns, the old-school pastime of creating miniature worlds by assembling and decorating scaled-down models or running mini trains on mini tracks is enjoying a revival — plastic therapy against the pandemic blues.
Sales are booming as families shorn of their social lives keep idle hands and minds busy by making models and dusting off train sets. British brand Airfix saw a run on plastic kits for Spitfires, the iconic World War II fighter plane. Hornby, which owns Airfix and also makes an array of model trains and cars under other brands, has become profitable again with sales soaring.
The analog pleasures of gluing and painting, fixing and fiddling, are also peeling some members of the digital generation away from their screens. Teens are catching the modeling bug from parents and grandparents who suddenly find themselves with time again to indulge in hobbies many had been too busy to pursue since childhood.
In France, 70-year-old retiree Guy Warein says his lockdown-time renovations on a model train set that had been gathering dust in his attic have helped him connect with his video-gaming grandkids, pulling them “from the virtual world to reality.”
On a visit when school was out, the eldest, aged 16, said: “‘Come on Grandpa, let’s go and see the trains and make them work.’ So we put them together and did things together,” Warein says. “It’s a coming together of generations, and that can only be beneficial.”
So he repaired the HO-scale locomotives and rolling stock inherited from his father-in-law and fixed up the room where he intends to run them on a U-shaped track layout that he’s designing. The activity helped Warein, a former educator and municipal councilor, tune out the pandemic and its anxieties.
“You fill your time and forget what’s happening around you,” he says. “Turning on the radio or the television is like being hit with a truncheon, because they systematically talk about the virus and the misfortunes it has brought. … Having a hobby allows me to think of other things.”
Manufacturers have struggled to meet the global surge in interest. Hornby’s CEO, Lyndon Davies, says he had to airfreight 10,000 Spitfire kits from a factory in India when Airfix’s stocks ran dry for the first time in the company’s 71-year history.
“What you don’t want of your kids, your grandchildren, is them sitting watching the TV or staring at phones all the time. This pandemic has really brought families together at home,” he says. “They have used the types of products we make to try and forget what was going on in the outside world.”
Another British manufacturer, Peco, has hired extra staff to satisfy surging orders — up by 50% in some markets — for its miniature trains, tracks and modeling accessories.
“This is happening everywhere: Our markets in the UK, across Europe, in Australia, North America, in China,” says Steve Haynes, the sales manager. “People are making far greater use of their spare time, their free time, their enforced time stuck at home to tackle the boredom, to tackle the isolation and do something creative.”
In Belgium, Fannoy calls himself a “model-maker made from lockdown.” He had long bought plastic kits, because they reminded him of childhood, but had never had time to build them. Instead, he hoarded them away in a wardrobe.
When the pandemic shut down his busy life and forced him to do his job as a business developer from home, he set to work on his stash, stocking up on brushes and paints in the final days before lockdown.
He first completed a series of 1/24th-scale rally cars. A WWII Tiger tank, painted to look weathered and mounted in a wintry scene with troops and a jeep, followed at the end of 2020. He posted photos of the diorama, the fruit of 50 hours of handiwork, on Facebook.
“I generally start in the evenings at around 8 p.m. and stop around 11 p.m. to midnight,” Fannoy says. “I can no longer do the things I would normally do. So what do I do? I open a kit and work on it. In fact, it’s my wife who comes and pulls me out of this mini-world I live in.”
“The hours fly by. It’s a form of meditation,” he says. “It has helped enormously in getting me through the past year.”
___
Follow AP coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
— Associated Press
- Fourth quarter 2020 net income attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. of $819 million or $2.03 per Common share versus $1.128 billion or $2.76 per share for the year-ago quarter.
- Fourth quarter 2020 after-tax adjusted operating income of $1.183 billion or $2.93 per Common share versus $915 million or $2.24 per share for the year-ago quarter.
- Net loss attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. of $374 million or $1.00 per Common share for 2020 versus net income of $4.186 billion or $10.11 per share for 2019.
- After-tax adjusted operating income of $4.111 billion or $10.21 per Common share for 2020 versus $4.656 billion or $11.24 per share for 2019.
- Book value per Common share of $167.81 versus $155.88 per share for the year-ago; adjusted book value per Common share of $94.79 versus $101.04 per share for the year-ago.
- Parent company highly liquid assets of $5.6 billion versus $4.1 billion for the year-ago.
- Assets under management amounted to $1.721 trillion versus $1.551 trillion for the year-ago.
- The Company’s Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $1.5 billion of its outstanding Common Stock during the period from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. In addition, the Company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share of Common stock, payable on March 11, 2021, to shareholders of record as of February 16, 2021, representing an increase of 4.5% over the prior year dividend level and a 4.9% annualized yield on adjusted book value.
Charles Lowrey, Chairman and CEO, commented on results:
“As we reflect on the extraordinary events of 2020 and the ongoing global pandemic, we thank our employees for their continued dedication to fulfilling our company’s purpose of making lives better by solving the financial challenges of our changing world.
During the fourth quarter, we continued to successfully execute against our 2020 priorities, paving the path for the acceleration of our strategy in 2021 and beyond.
Looking ahead, we will continue our transformation by executing on our $750 million cost savings plan and by taking additional steps to increase our growth potential and reduce our market sensitivity. Over the next three years we plan to reallocate between $5 billion and $10 billion of capital with the intention of doubling the earnings contribution of our higher growth businesses and halving Individual Annuities.
Backed by the strength of our rock solid balance sheet, we also plan to return approximately $10 billion of capital to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases during this time period. This includes the resumption of share repurchases in the first quarter of 2021, as part of our $1.5 billion authorization for the year.
These changes will position Prudential to make a more meaningful difference in the financial lives of more people around the world, and to deliver attractive returns to our shareholders.”
NEWARK, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) today reported fourth quarter and year-end 2020 results. Net income attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. was $819 million ($2.03 per Common share) for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to net income of $1.128 billion ($2.76 per Common share) for the fourth quarter of 2019. After-tax adjusted operating income was $1.183 billion ($2.93 per Common share) for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $915 million ($2.24 per Common share) for the fourth quarter of 2019.
Net loss attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. was $374 million ($1.00 per Common share) for 2020, compared to net income of $4.186 billion ($10.11 per Common Share) for 2019. After-tax adjusted operating income was $4.111 billion ($10.21 per Common share) for 2020, compared to $4.656 billion ($11.24 per Common share) for 2019.
Consolidated adjusted operating income and adjusted book value are non-GAAP measures. These measures are discussed later in this press release under “Forward-Looking Statements and Non-GAAP Measures” and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are provided in the tables that accompany this release.
RESULTS OF ONGOING OPERATIONS
The Company’s ongoing operations include PGIM, U.S. Businesses (consisting of U.S. Workplace Solutions, U.S. Individual Solutions, and Assurance IQ), International Businesses, and Corporate & Other. In the following business-level discussion, adjusted operating income refers to pre-tax results.
PGIM
PGIM, the Company’s global investment management business, reported record high adjusted operating income of $404 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $288 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase reflects higher asset management fees, driven by an increase in average account values, and higher Other Related Revenue, driven by record high agency revenue and the impact of investment performance on incentive fees and co- and seed investment earnings, partially offset by higher expenses, primarily driven by business growth.
PGIM assets under management of $1.499 trillion, a record high, were up 13% from the year-ago quarter, reflecting market appreciation and public fixed income inflows. Third-party net inflows of $6.3 billion in the current quarter reflect retail inflows of $3.8 billion and institutional inflows of $2.5 billion.
U.S. Businesses
U.S. Businesses reported adjusted operating income of $807 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $841 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease reflects less favorable underwriting results, driven by COVID-19 related net mortality experience, and a change in business practice in our Individual Life business, and lower fee income, net of distribution expenses and other associated costs, in our Individual Annuities business, partially offset by higher net investment spread results, driven by higher variable investment income, and lower expenses.
U.S. Workplace Solutions, consisting of Retirement and Group Insurance, reported adjusted operating income of $451 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $342 million in the year-ago quarter.
Retirement:
- Reported record high adjusted operating income of $538 million in the current quarter, compared to $281 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase reflects higher net investment spread results, driven by higher variable investment income, higher reserve gains, including favorable impacts due to COVID-19, and lower expenses.
- Account values of $559 billion, a record high, were up 12% from the year-ago quarter, driven by market appreciation and net inflows. Net inflows in the current quarter totaled $5.5 billion with $3.2 billion from Institutional Investment Products, primarily from pension risk transfer transactions, and $2.3 billion from Full Service.
Group Insurance:
- Reported a loss, on an adjusted operating income basis, of $87 million in the current quarter, compared to adjusted operating income of $61 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease primarily reflects less favorable underwriting results in our group life and group disability businesses due to COVID-19 and related impacts.
- Reported earned premiums, policy charges, and fees of $1.3 billion in the current quarter were consistent with the year-ago quarter.
U.S. Individual Solutions, consisting of Individual Annuities and Individual Life, reported adjusted operating income of $375 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $508 million in the year-ago quarter.
Individual Annuities:
- Reported adjusted operating income of $440 million in the current quarter, compared to $450 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease reflects lower fee income, net of distribution expenses and other associated costs, partially offset by higher net investment spread results.
- Account values of $176 billion, a record high, were up 4% from the year-ago quarter, reflecting equity market appreciation, partially offset by net outflows. Gross sales of $2.0 billion in the current quarter reflect our continued product repricing and pivot strategy.
Individual Life:
- Reported a loss, on an adjusted operating income basis, of $65 million in the current quarter, compared to adjusted operating income of $58 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease reflects less favorable underwriting results, driven by COVID-19 mortality experience, and a change in business practice, which resulted in a refinement to reserves and related balances, partially offset by higher net investment spread results and lower expenses.
- Sales of $239 million in the current quarter were up 14% from the year-ago quarter, as higher Variable sales were partially offset by lower Universal Life and Term sales, reflecting our product repricing and pivot strategy.
Assurance IQ reported a loss, on an adjusted operating income basis, of $19 million in the current quarter, compared to a loss of $9 million in the year-ago quarter. This reflects a 94% increase in sales, driven by higher Medicare sales during the annual enrollment period, that were more than offset by increased expenses to support business growth, including higher marketing, distribution, and infrastructure costs.
International Businesses
International Businesses, consisting of Life Planner and Gibraltar Life & Other, reported adjusted operating income of $790 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $748 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase reflects lower expenses, business growth, and more favorable underwriting results, partially offset by lower net investment spread results.
Life Planner:
- Reported adjusted operating income of $426 million in the current quarter, compared to $345 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase reflects lower expenses, business growth, higher net investment spread results, and more favorable underwriting results.
- Constant dollar basis sales of $216 million in the current quarter decreased 19% from the year-ago quarter, primarily reflecting lower sales in Japan following product repricing in August of 2020.
Gibraltar Life & Other:
- Reported adjusted operating income of $364 million in the current quarter, compared to $403 million in the year-ago quarter. The decrease primarily reflects lower net investment spread results.
- Constant dollar basis sales of $238 million in the current quarter decreased 16% from the year-ago quarter, reflecting lower sales in Japan following product repricing in August of 2020.
Corporate & Other
Corporate & Other reported a loss, on an adjusted operating income basis, of $486 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to a loss of $738 million in the year-ago quarter. The lower loss reflects lower expenses, driven by the absence of costs related to the Company’s Voluntary Separation Program in the year-ago quarter, partially offset by lower net investment income.
NET INCOME
Net income in the current quarter included $1.2 billion of pre-tax net realized investment losses and related charges and adjustments, driven by losses on derivatives, and also includes $12 million from impairment and credit-related losses. These losses were partially offset by $376 million of pre-tax gains related to market experience updates and $87 million of pre-tax net gains from divested and run-off businesses.
Net income for the year-ago quarter included $145 million of pre-tax net gains from divested and run-off businesses, $73 million of pre-tax net realized investment gains and related charges and adjustments, net of $58 million from impairment and credit-related losses, and $66 million of pre-tax gains related to market experience updates.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND NON-GAAP MEASURES(1)
Certain of the statements included in this release, including those regarding our plans to reallocate capital, dividends, share repurchases, priorities, cost savings goals, and other business strategies constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are made based on management’s current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon Prudential Financial, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Prudential Financial, Inc.’s actual results may differ, possibly materially, from expectations or estimates reflected in such forward-looking statements. Certain important factors that could cause actual results to differ, possibly materially, from expectations or estimates reflected in such forward-looking statements can be found in the “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements” sections included in Prudential Financial, Inc.’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Statements regarding our plans to reallocate capital, dividends, share repurchases, priorities, cost savings goals, and other business strategies are subject to the risk that we will be unable to execute our strategy because of market or competitive conditions or other factors, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prudential Financial, Inc. does not undertake to update any particular forward-looking statement included in this document.
Consolidated adjusted operating income and adjusted book value are non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in this release.
We believe that our use of these non-GAAP measures helps investors understand and evaluate the Company’s performance and financial position. The presentation of adjusted operating income as we measure it for management purposes enhances the understanding of the results of operations by highlighting the results from ongoing operations and the underlying profitability of our businesses. Trends in the underlying profitability of our businesses can be more clearly identified without the fluctuating effects of the items described below. Adjusted book value augments the understanding of our financial position by providing a measure of net worth that is primarily attributable to our business operations separate from the portion that is affected by capital and currency market conditions, and by isolating the accounting impact associated with insurance liabilities that are generally not marked to market and the supporting investments that are marked to market through accumulated other comprehensive income under GAAP. However, these non-GAAP measures are not substitutes for income and equity determined in accordance with GAAP, and the adjustments made to derive these measures are important to an understanding of our overall results of operations and financial position. The schedules accompanying this release provide reconciliations of non-GAAP measures with the corresponding measures calculated using GAAP. Additional historic information relating to our financial performance is located on our website at www.investor.prudential.com.
EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL
Members of Prudential’s senior management will host a conference call on Friday, February 5, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss with the investment community the Company’s fourth quarter results. The conference call will be broadcast live over the Company’s Investor Relations website at investor.prudential.com. Please log on 15 minutes early in the event necessary software needs to be downloaded. Institutional investors, analysts, and other members of the professional financial community are invited to listen to the call and participate in the Q&A by dialing one of the following numbers: (877) 336-4437 (domestic) or (234) 720-6985 (international) and using access code 2805600. All others may join the conference call in listen-only mode by dialing one of the above numbers. A replay will remain on the Investor Relations website through February 19. To access a replay via phone starting at 4:00 p.m. ET on February 5 through February 19 dial (866) 207-1041 (domestic) or (402) 970-0847 (international) and use replay code 4902339.
(1) Description of Non-GAAP Measures:
Adjusted operating income is the measure used by the Company to evaluate segment performance and to allocate resources. Adjusted operating income excludes “Realized investment gains (losses), net,” as adjusted, and related charges and adjustments. A significant element of realized investment gains and losses are impairments and credit-related and interest rate-related gains and losses. Impairments and losses from sales of credit-impaired securities, the timing of which depends largely on market credit cycles, can vary considerably across periods. The timing of other sales that would result in gains or losses, such as interest rate-related gains or losses, is largely subject to our discretion and influenced by market opportunities as well as our tax and capital profile.
Realized investment gains (losses) within certain of our businesses for which such gains (losses) are a principal source of earnings, and those associated with terminating hedges of foreign currency earnings and current period yield adjustments are included in adjusted operating income. Adjusted operating income generally excludes realized investment gains and losses from products that contain embedded derivatives, and from associated derivative portfolios that are part of an asset-liability management program related to the risk of those products. Adjusted operating income also excludes gains and losses from changes in value of certain assets and liabilities relating to foreign currency exchange movements that have been economically hedged or considered part of our capital funding strategies for our international subsidiaries, as well as gains and losses on certain investments that are designated as trading. Additionally, adjusted operating income excludes the changes in fair value of equity securities that are recorded in net income. Additionally, market experience updates, reflecting the immediate impacts in current period results from changes in current market conditions on estimates of profitability, are excluded from adjusted operating income beginning with the second quarter of 2019, which we believe enhances the understanding of underlying performance trends.
Adjusted operating income excludes the results of Divested and Run-off Businesses, which are not relevant to our ongoing operations. Discontinued operations and earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests, each of which is presented as a separate component of net income under GAAP, are also excluded from adjusted operating income. Adjusted operating income also excludes other items, such as certain components of the consideration for the Assurance IQ acquisition, which are recognized as compensation expense over the requisite service periods, as well as changes in the fair value of contingent consideration. The tax effect associated with pre-tax adjusted operating income is based on applicable IRS and foreign tax regulations inclusive of pertinent adjustments.
Adjusted book value is calculated as total equity (GAAP book value) excluding accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and the cumulative effect of foreign currency exchange rate remeasurements and currency translation adjustments corresponding to realized investment gains and losses. These items are excluded in order to highlight the book value attributable to our core business operations separate from the portion attributable to external and potentially volatile capital and currency market conditions.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial wellness leader and premier active global investment manager with more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2020, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees help to make lives better by creating financial opportunity for more people. Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit news.prudential.com.
|
Financial Highlights |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
(in millions, unaudited) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
Year Ended |
||||||||||||
|
|
December 31 |
|
December 31 |
||||||||||||
|
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
||||||||
|
Adjusted operating income (loss) before income taxes (1): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
PGIM |
$ |
404 |
|
|
$ |
288 |
|
|
$ |
1,262 |
|
|
$ |
998 |
|
|
U.S. Businesses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S. Workplace Solutions division |
451 |
|
|
342 |
|
|
1,420 |
|
|
1,586 |
|
||||
|
U.S. Individual Solutions division |
375 |
|
|
508 |
|
|
1,422 |
|
|
1,930 |
|
||||
|
Assurance IQ division (2) |
(19 |
) |
|
(9 |
) |
|
(88 |
) |
|
(9 |
) |
||||
|
Total U.S. Businesses |
807 |
|
|
841 |
|
|
2,754 |
|
|
3,507 |
|
||||
|
International Businesses |
790 |
|
|
748 |
|
|
2,952 |
|
|
3,112 |
|
||||
|
Corporate and Other |
(486 |
) |
|
(738 |
) |
|
(1,824 |
) |
|
(1,766 |
) |
||||
|
Total adjusted operating income before income taxes |
$ |
1,515 |
|
|
$ |
1,139 |
|
|
$ |
5,144 |
|
|
$ |
5,851 |
|
|
Reconciling Items: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Realized investment gains (losses), net, and related charges and adjustments |
$ |
(1,216 |
) |
|
$ |
73 |
|
|
$ |
(4,315 |
) |
|
$ |
(958 |
) |
|
Market experience updates |
376 |
|
|
66 |
|
|
(640 |
) |
|
(449 |
) |
||||
|
Divested and Run-off Businesses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Closed Block division |
(9 |
) |
|
31 |
|
|
(24 |
) |
|
36 |
|
||||
|
Other Divested and Run-off Businesses |
96 |
|
|
114 |
|
|
(629 |
) |
|
755 |
|
||||
|
Equity in earnings of operating joint ventures and earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests |
152 |
|
|
(32 |
) |
|
90 |
|
|
(103 |
) |
||||
|
Other adjustments (3) |
(14 |
) |
|
(47 |
) |
|
51 |
|
|
(47 |
) |
||||
|
Total reconciling items, before income taxes |
(615 |
) |
|
205 |
|
|
(5,467 |
) |
|
(766 |
) |
||||
|
Income (loss) before income taxes and equity in earnings of operating joint ventures |
$ |
900 |
|
|
$ |
1,344 |
|
|
$ |
(323 |
) |
|
$ |
5,085 |
|
|
Income Statement Data: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Net income (loss) attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. |
$ |
819 |
|
|
$ |
1,128 |
|
|
$ |
(374 |
) |
|
$ |
4,186 |
|
|
Income attributable to noncontrolling interests |
203 |
|
|
10 |
|
|
228 |
|
|
52 |
|
||||
|
Net income (loss) |
1,022 |
|
|
1,138 |
|
|
(146 |
) |
|
4,238 |
|
||||
|
Less: Earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests |
203 |
|
|
10 |
|
|
228 |
|
|
52 |
|
||||
|
Income (loss) attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. |
819 |
|
|
1,128 |
|
|
(374 |
) |
|
4,186 |
|
||||
|
Less: Equity in earnings of operating joint ventures, net of taxes and earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests |
(169 |
) |
|
5 |
|
|
(132 |
) |
|
48 |
|
||||
|
Income (loss) (after-tax) before equity in earnings of operating joint ventures |
988 |
|
|
1,123 |
|
|
(242 |
) |
|
4,138 |
|
||||
|
Less: Total reconciling items, before income taxes |
(615 |
) |
|
205 |
|
|
(5,467 |
) |
|
(766 |
) |
||||
|
Less: Income taxes, not applicable to adjusted operating income |
(420 |
) |
|
(3 |
) |
|
(1,114 |
) |
|
(248 |
) |
||||
|
Total reconciling items, after income taxes |
(195 |
) |
|
208 |
|
|
(4,353 |
) |
|
(518 |
) |
||||
|
After-tax adjusted operating income (1) |
1,183 |
|
|
915 |
|
|
4,111 |
|
|
4,656 |
|
||||
|
Income taxes, applicable to adjusted operating income |
332 |
|
|
224 |
|
|
1,033 |
|
|
1,195 |
|
||||
|
Adjusted operating income before income taxes (1) |
$ |
1,515 |
|
|
$ |
1,139 |
|
|
$ |
5,144 |
|
|
$ |
5,851 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
See footnotes on last page. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Financial Highlights |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
(in millions, except per share data, unaudited) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
Three Months Ended |
|
Year Ended |
||||||||||||
|
|
December 31 |
|
December 31 |
||||||||||||
|
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
|
2020 |
|
2019 |
||||||||
|
Earnings per share of Common Stock (diluted): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Net income (loss) attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. |
$ |
2.03 |
|
|
$ |
2.76 |
|
|
$ |
(1.00 |
) |
|
$ |
10.11 |
|
|
Less: Reconciling Items: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Realized investment gains (losses), net, and related charges and adjustments |
(3.05 |
) |
|
0.18 |
|
|
(10.85 |
) |
|
(2.33 |
) |
||||
|
Market experience updates |
0.94 |
|
|
0.16 |
|
|
(1.61 |
) |
|
(1.09 |
) |
||||
|
Divested and Run-off Businesses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Closed Block division |
(0.02 |
) |
|
0.08 |
|
|
(0.06 |
) |
|
0.09 |
|
||||
|
Other Divested and Run-off Businesses |
0.24 |
|
|
0.28 |
|
|
(1.58 |
) |
|
1.84 |
|
||||
|
Difference in earnings allocated to participating unvested share-based payment awards |
0.01 |
|
|
— |
|
|
0.07 |
|
|
0.01 |
|
||||
|
Other adjustments (3) |
(0.04 |
) |
|
(0.12 |
) |
|
0.13 |
|
|
(0.11 |
) |
||||
|
Total reconciling items, before income taxes |
(1.92 |
) |
|
0.58 |
|
|
(13.90 |
) |
|
(1.59 |
) |
||||
|
Less: Income taxes, not applicable to adjusted operating income |
(1.02 |
) |
|
0.06 |
|
|
(2.69 |
) |
|
(0.46 |
) |
||||
|
Total reconciling items, after income taxes |
(0.90 |
) |
|
0.52 |
|
|
(11.21 |
) |
|
(1.13 |
) |
||||
|
After-tax adjusted operating income |
$ |
2.93 |
|
|
$ |
2.24 |
|
|
$ |
10.21 |
|
|
$ |
11.24 |
|
|
Weighted average number of outstanding common shares (basic) |
396.2 |
|
|
400.7 |
|
|
395.8 |
|
|
404.8 |
|
||||
|
Weighted average number of outstanding common shares (diluted) |
398.3 |
|
|
403.7 |
|
|
397.8 |
|
|
410.9 |
|
||||
|
For earnings per share of Common Stock calculation: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Net income (loss) attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. |
$ |
819 |
|
|
$ |
1,128 |
|
|
$ |
(374 |
) |
|
$ |
4,186 |
|
|
Earnings related to interest, net of tax, on exchangeable surplus notes |
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
12 |
|
||||
|
Less: Earnings allocated to participating unvested share-based payment awards |
10 |
|
|
12 |
|
|
21 |
|
|
45 |
|
||||
|
Net income (loss) attributable to Prudential Financial, Inc. for earnings per share of Common Stock calculation |
$ |
809 |
|
|
$ |
1,116 |
|
|
$ |
(395 |
) |
|
$ |
4,153 |
|
|
After-tax adjusted operating income (1) |
$ |
1,183 |
|
|
$ |
915 |
|
|
$ |
4,111 |
|
|
$ |
4,656 |
|
|
Earnings related to interest, net of tax, on exchangeable surplus notes |
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
12 |
|
||||
|
Less: Earnings allocated to participating unvested share-based payment awards |
14 |
|
|
11 |
|
|
50 |
|
|
53 |
|
||||
|
After-tax adjusted operating income for earnings per share of Common Stock calculation (1) |
$ |
1,169 |
|
|
$ |
904 |
|
|
$ |
4,061 |
|
|
$ |
4,615 |
|
|
Prudential Financial, Inc. Equity (as of end of period): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
GAAP book value (total PFI equity) at end of period |
$ |
67,425 |
|
|
$ |
63,115 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Less: Accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) |
30,738 |
|
|
24,039 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
GAAP book value excluding AOCI |
36,687 |
|
|
39,076 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Less: Cumulative effect of foreign exchange rate remeasurement and currency |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
translation adjustments corresponding to realized gains/losses |
(1,399 |
) |
|
(1,835 |
) |
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Adjusted book value |
38,086 |
|
|
40,911 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
End of period number of common shares (diluted) |
401.8 |
|
|
404.9 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
GAAP book value per common share – diluted |
167.81 |
|
|
155.88 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
GAAP book value excluding AOCI per share – diluted |
91.31 |
|
|
96.51 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Adjusted book value per common share – diluted |
94.79 |
|
|
101.04 |
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
See footnotes on last page. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
Contacts
MEDIA CONTACT: Bill Launder, (973) 802-8760, bill.launder@prudential.com
It features images of Baldwin from the couple’s road trip together during the pandemic.
— FOX News
FILE – In this photo Nov.30, 2020 file photo the logo of French drug maker Sanofi is picture at the company’s headquarters, in Paris. French drug maker Sanofi said Wednesday it will help manufacture 125 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by rivals Pfizer and BioNTech, while its own vaccine candidate faces delays. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
PARIS — French drug maker Sanofi says it will help manufacture 125 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by rivals Pfizer and BioNTech, while its own vaccine candidate faces delays.
Germany-based BioNTech will initially produce the vaccines at Sanofi facilities in Frankfurt, starting in the summer, according to a Sanofi statement Wednesday. The company did not reveal financial details of the agreement.
The French government has been pressing Sanofi to use its facilities to help make rival vaccines, given high demand and problems with supplies of the few vaccines that are already available.
Sanofi and British partner GlaxoSmithKline will start a new phase-2 trial of their COVID-19 vaccine next month, Sanofi said. The two companies said last month that their vaccine won’t be ready until late 2021 because the shot’s effectiveness in older people needed to be improved.
___
THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— U.S. boosting vaccine deliveries amid complaints of shortages
— U.K. becomes first country in Europe to pass 100,000 coronavirus deaths
— U.S president says he’s ‘bringing back the pros’ for virus briefings
— IOC, Tokyo Olympics to unveil rule book for beating pandemic
— Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
___
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
BEIJING — China has given more than 22 million coronavirus vaccine shots to date as it carries out a drive ahead of next month’s Lunar New Year holiday, health authorities said Wednesday.
The effort, which began six weeks ago, targets key groups such as medical and transport workers and has accelerated vaccinations in China. About 1.6 million doses had been given over several months before the campaign began.
“The carrying out of vaccination has been ongoing in a steady and orderly manner,” Zeng Yixin, vice chairman of the National Health Commission Said at a news conference.
He said that 22.76 million doses had been administered as of Tuesday. It’s not clear how many people that represents since the vaccine is given in two doses, and some may have received their second shot.
China, which largely stopped the spread of the virus last spring, has seen fresh outbreaks this winter in four northern provinces. About 1,800 new cases have been reported since mid-December, including two deaths.
Authorities are strongly discouraging people from traveling during the Lunar New Year holiday, a time when Chinese traditionally return to their hometowns for family gatherings.
___
NEW DELHI — India has vaccinated 2 million health workers in less than two weeks and recorded 12,689 new coronavirus positive cases in the past 24 hours, a sharp decline from a peak level of nearly 100,000 in mid-September.
The health Ministry said the daily new cases had fallen below 10,000 on Tuesday with 9,102 cases. The daily new positive cases were 9,304 on June 4 last year.
India’s fatalities dropped to 137 in the past 24 hours from a peak level of 1,089 daily deaths in September. India’s total positive cases since the start of the epidemic have reached 10.6 million, the second highest after the United States with 25.43 million cases.
India started inoculating health workers on Jan. 16 in what is likely the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
India is home to the world’s largest vaccine makers. Authorities hope to give shots to 300 million people. The recipients include 30 million doctors, nurses and other front-line workers.
___
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has reported new 559 cases of the coronavirus, its highest daily increase in 10 days, as health workers scrambled to slow transmissions at religious facilities, which have been a major source of infections throughout the pandemic.
The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Wednesday brought the national caseload to 76,429, including 1,378 deaths.
The agency said 112 of the new cases came from the southwestern city of Gwangju where more than 100 infections have so far been linked to a missionary training school. An affiliated facility in the central city of Daejeon has been linked to more 170 infections.
Nearly 300 of the new cases came from the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 51 million people, where infections have been tied to various places, including churches, restaurants, schools and offices.
—-
JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska has detected the state’s first known case of the coronavirus variant identified last year in the United Kingdom, officials said Tuesday.
The infected person is an Anchorage resident who had traveled to a state where the variant had already been detected, the Alaska health department said. The person first experienced symptoms on Dec. 17, was tested three days later and received a positive result on Dec. 22.
The resident lived with another person in Anchorage, who also became ill. Both isolated and have since recovered, officials said.
It was not yet clear if the second person also was infected with the variant.
Dr. Joe McLaughlin, the state epidemiologist, said in a news release that the discovery of the variant is not surprising because viruses “constantly change through mutation.”
He said this is one of several “variants that has been carefully tracked because it appears to spread more easily and quickly than other strains of the virus.”
Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, said it is likely the variant will be detected again soon.
___
BOSTON — In his annual State of the Commonwealth address, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker defended his vaccine distribution plan, which some have criticized for being confusing and too narrowly focused at first.
Baker said the state is prepared to distribute and administer all the vaccine shots delivered by the federal government and is rapidly expanding the number of vaccination sites.
“Vaccinating 4 million adults in Massachusetts as the doses are allocated by the federal government is not going to be easy. But be assured that we will make every effort to get this done as quickly and efficiently as possible,” he said. “We can only move as fast as the federal government delivers the vaccines.”
___
SEATTLE – Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday touted big improvements in distributing the COVID-19 vaccines, but he also urged residents to remain vigilant as new, more contagious variants of the disease spread in the state.
Inslee said more than 36,000 doses were administered in Washington on Sunday and 39,000 on Monday — a big jump from about 16,000 a week earlier, and on the way toward the state’s goal of 45,000 per day.
The number of vaccines actually administered could be even higher, given lags in reporting, but as of Monday more than 500,000 doses had been administered statewide, with four mass vaccination sites due to open this week.
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the federal government is boosting vaccine supplies to the states by 16% over the next three weeks, giving states more certainty about upcoming deliveries than the one-week notice the Trump administration had been providing.
— Associated Press
The sites are key conduits for communication and information. Here’s how they plan to handle the challenges facing them before, on and after Tuesday.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were misused by Russians to inflame American voters with divisive messages before the 2016 presidential election. The companies have spent the past four years trying to ensure that this November isn’t a repeat.
They have spent billions of dollars improving their sites’ security, policies and processes. In recent months, with fears rising that violence may break out after the election, the companies have taken numerous steps to clamp down on falsehoods and highlight accurate and verified information.
We asked Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to walk us through what they were, are and will be doing before, on and after Tuesday.
Before the election
Since 2016, Facebook has poured billions of dollars into beefing up its security operations to fight misinformation and other harmful content. It now has more than 35,000 people working on this, the company said.
One team, led by a former National Security Council operative, has searched for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” by accounts that work in concert to spread false information. That team, which delivers regular reports, will be on high alert on Tuesday. Facebook has also worked with government agencies and other tech companies to spot foreign interference.
To demystify its political advertising, Facebook created an ad library so people can see what political ads are being bought and by whom, as well as how much those entities are spending. The company also introduced more steps for people who buy those ads, including a requirement that they live in the United States. To prevent candidates from spreading bad information, Facebook stopped accepting new political ads on Oct. 20.
At the same time, it has tried highlighting accurate information. In June, it rolled out a voter information hub with data on when, how and where to register to vote, and it is promoting the feature atop News Feeds through Tuesday. It also said it would act swiftly against posts that tried to dissuade people from voting, had limited forwarding of messages on its WhatsApp messaging service and had begun working with Reuters on how to handle verified election results.
Facebook has made changes up till the last minute. Last week, it said it had turned off political and social group recommendations and temporarily removed a feature in Instagram’s hashtag pages to slow the spread of misinformation.
On Tuesday, an operations center with dozens of employees — what Facebook calls a “war room” — will work to identify efforts to destabilize the election. The team, which will work virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic, has already been in action and is operating smoothly, Facebook said.
Facebook’s app will also look different on Tuesday. To prevent candidates from prematurely and inaccurately declaring victory, the company plans to add a notification at the top of News Feeds letting people know that no winner has been chosen until election results are verified by news outlets like Reuters and The Associated Press.
Facebook also plans to deploy, if needed, special tools that it has used in “at-risk countries” like Myanmar, where election-related violence was a possibility. The tools, which Facebook has not described publicly, are designed to slow the spread of inflammatory posts.
After the election
After the polls close, Facebook plans to suspend all political ads from circulating on the social network and its photo-sharing site, Instagram, to reduce misinformation about the election’s outcome. Facebook has told advertisers that they can expect the ban to last for a week, though the timeline isn’t set in stone and the company has publicly been noncommittal about the duration.
“We’ve spent years working to make elections safer and more secure on our platform,” said Kevin McAlister, a Facebook spokesman. “We’ve applied lessons from previous elections, built new teams with experience across different areas and created new products and policies to prepare for various scenarios before, during and after Election Day.”
Before the election
Twitter has also worked to combat misinformation since 2016, in some cases going far further than Facebook. Last year, for instance, it banned political advertising entirely, saying the reach of political messages “should be earned, not bought.”
At the same time, Twitter started labeling tweets by politicians if they spread inaccurate information or glorify violence. In May, it added several fact-checking labels to President Trump’s tweets about Black Lives Matter protests and mail-in voting, and restricted people’s ability to share those posts.
In October, Twitter began experimenting with additional techniques to slow the spread of misinformation. The company added context to trending topics and limited users’ ability to quickly retweet content. The changes are temporary, though Twitter has not said when they will end.
The company also used push notifications and banners in its app to warn people about common misinformation themes, including falsehoods about the reliability of mail-in ballots. And it expanded its partnerships with law enforcement agencies and secretaries of state so they can report misinformation directly to Twitter.
In September, Twitter added an Election Hub that users can use to look for curated information about polling, voting and candidates. The company has said it will remove tweets that call for interference with voters and polling places or intimidate people to dissuade them from voting.
“The whole company has really been mobilized to help us prepare for and respond to the types of threats that potentially come up in an election,” said Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity.
Election Day
On Tuesday, Twitter’s strategy is twofold: Root out false claims and networks of bots that spread such information by using both algorithms and human analysts, while another team highlights reliable information in the Explore and Trends sections of its service.
Twitter plans to add labels to tweets from candidates who claim victory before the election is called by authoritative sources. At least two news outlets will need to independently project the results before a candidate can use Twitter to celebrate his or her win, the company said.
People looking for updates on Tuesday will be able find them in the Election Hub, Twitter said.
After the election
Twitter will eventually allow people to retweet again without prompting them to add their own context. But many of the changes for the election — like the ban on political ads and the fact-checking labels — are permanent.
YouTube
Before the election
For Google’s YouTube, it wasn’t the 2016 election that sounded a wake-up call about the toxic content spreading across its website. That moment came in 2017 when a group of men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge after being inspired by YouTube videos of inflammatory sermons from an Islamic cleric.
Since then, YouTube has engaged in an often confusing journey to police its site. It has overhauled its policies to target misinformation, while tweaking its algorithms to slow the spread of what it deems borderline content — videos that do not blatantly violate its rules but butt up against them.
It has brought in thousands of human reviewers to examine videos to help improve the performance of its algorithms. It has also created a so-called intelligence desk of former analysts from government intelligence agencies to monitor the actions of foreign state actors and trends on the internet.
Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer, said that he held several meetings a week with staff to discuss the election, but that there was no last-minute effort to rewrite policies or come up with new approaches.
“Of course, we’re taking the elections incredibly seriously,” he said in an interview. “The foundational work that will play a really major role for all of this began three years ago when we really began the work in earnest in terms of our responsibility as a global platform.”
Before Tuesday, YouTube’s home page will also feature links to information about how and where to vote.
Election Day
On Tuesday, Mr. Mohan plans to check in regularly with his teams to keep an eye on anything unusual, he said. There will be no “war room,” and he expects that most decisions to keep or remove videos will be clear and that the usual processes for making those decisions will be sufficient.
If a more nuanced decision is required around the election, Mr. Mohan said, it will escalate to senior people at YouTube, and the call will be made as a group.
YouTube said it would be especially sensitive about videos that aimed to challenge the election’s integrity. YouTube does not allow videos that mislead voters about how to vote or the eligibility of a candidate, or that incite people to interfere with the voting process. The company said it would take down such videos quickly, even if one of the speakers was a presidential candidate.
As the polls close, YouTube will feature a playlist of live election results coverage from what it deems authoritative news sources. While YouTube would not provide a full list of the sources, the company said it expected the coverage to include news videos from the major broadcast networks, as well as CNN and Fox News.
After the election
Starting on Tuesday and continuing as needed, YouTube will display a fact-check information panel above election-related search results and below videos discussing the results, the company said. The information panel will feature a warning that results may not be final and provide a link to real-time results on Google with data from The A.P.
Google has said it will halt election advertising after the polls officially close. The policy, which extends to YouTube, will temporarily block any ads that refer to the 2020 election, its candidates or its outcome. It is not clear how long the ban will last.
— New York Times: Top Stories
— Mike Isaac, Kate Conger and
Two U.S. energy giants reported losses in an industry punished by pandemic lockdowns.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the country’s two energy giants, on Friday reported quarterly losses as the oil and gas industry continued to reel from the pandemic.
Demand for oil and gas tumbled this spring as governments and businesses shut down the economy and told millions of people to stay home, sending prices sharply lower. Although it has recovered a bit since then, demand remains lower than it was before the pandemic, and a recent rise in cases in Europe and the United States could send it even lower.
Exxon Mobil said that it lost $680 million in the third quarter, its third consecutive quarterly loss. Chevron reported a loss of $207 million for the quarter, compared with a gain of $2.6 billion for the same quarter in 2019.
Exxon’s results were better than analysts had expected. The company’s loss for the three months that ended in September was about $400 million smaller than its loss in the second quarter as oil and natural gas prices recovered somewhat from a deep slump in the spring.
Exxon reported that its production of oil and gas were up 1 percent from the second quarter. But revenue fell 29 percent, to $46.2 billion from same period in 2019 because demand for oil and gas continued to be weak.
“We remain confident in our long-term strategy and the fundamentals of our business, and are taking necessary actions to preserve value while protecting the balance sheet and dividend,” Darren W. Woods, Exxon’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Chevron had quarterly revenue of $24 billion, down from $35 billion in the same period a year earlier. Oil and gas production was down 7 percent from a year ago, while refining and other downstream earnings plummeted to $141 million in the quarter from $389 million a year earlier.
“The world’s economy continues to operate below prepandemic levels, impacting demand for our products which are closely linked to economic activity,” Michael K. Wirth, Chevron’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
—
— NYT: Top Stories
CHATHAM, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Retail investing hit several new highs for account openings, number of trades, and volume traded in Q3 amid the ongoing global economic uncertainty due to the pandemic, according to new data released today by DriveWealth, a leader in global digital trading technology.
Some of the key Q3 findings from DriveWealth’s proprietary data, which monitors investment activity by individual investors from across its network of global partners including Hatch, MoneyLion, State, Revolut, and Unifimoney into the U.S. equities market, include:
- 33% quarterly increase in account openings was largely driven by investors under the age of 30.
- 46% increase in trading volume in the quarter, despite increased market volatility and lower total market returns in the quarter.
- Investors placed fewer trades on average in 3Q, however the average trade size was much larger.
One notable trading trend shows that it’s not the proverbial “day trader” that’s driving activity on DriveWealth’s platform. Retail investors are not timing the market but rather are investing when they have time and extra cash. DriveWealth is seeing spikes in trades and volume on Mondays as many retail investors place orders over the weekend.
“Embedded finance continues to change market dynamics, with over 32% of our orders being placed outside of market hours,” said DriveWealth Founder and CEO Bob Cortright. “This illustrates how many retail investors are not day trading or trying to time the market. These consumers are genuinely interested in making investment decisions that positively affect their long-term financial health.”
Most traded tickers
As was the case in Q2, the report found that the most frequently traded symbols in Q3 continued to be large, recognizable global brands and technology companies.
Some of the most frequently traded stock symbols were those companies that continued to be impacted in some way by pandemic, including Amazon, Disney, GE, Microsoft, Netflix, Nike, and Walmart.
Investors also traded heavily in Apple and Tesla as the stock splits from those companies drove unprecedented trading activity in those two symbols.
The top 10 traded symbols on DriveWealth in Q3 for self-directed investors were:
|
US investors |
Non-US investors |
|
Tesla |
Tesla |
|
Apple |
Apple |
|
Amazon |
Amazon |
|
Walmart |
Nio |
|
Zoom |
Microsoft |
|
GE |
|
|
Microsoft |
AMD |
|
Nike |
Virgin Atlantic |
|
Nio |
Nvidia |
|
Disney |
Disney |
The full report can be accessed on DriveWealth’s website.
About DriveWealth
DriveWealth Holdings, Inc., wholly owns DriveWealth, LLC, a member of FINRA and SIPC. DriveWealth, LLC is a licensed carrying and self-clearing broker offering digital brokerage solutions to broker-dealers, advisors and online partners worldwide through its proprietary investment platform. DriveWealth, LLC delivers access to the U.S. securities markets along with an array of digital products that power both emerging and established financial companies. For more information, please visit DriveWealth.com.
Contacts
DriveWealth
Will Hernandez
What next for President Trump, his campaign and the U.S government, now that he himself has contracted the virus after downplaying the risk for months?
The president tweeted he and the first lady tested positive.
The president’s positive test result came after he spent months playing down the severity of the outbreak that has killed more than 207,000 in the United States and hours after insisting that “the end of the pandemic is in sight.”
— NYT: Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman &
— ABC News: Top Stories