Hi Quartz readers,
Executives are celebrating booming sales as the US stock market sets record high after record high: The words “great quarter” and their synonyms were mentioned during earnings calls a record 327 times in August, according to call transcript data compiled by Sentieo.
Executives and analysts aren’t wrong. A record percentage of companies in the S&P 500 Index of large US stocks saw revenue came in higher than estimates during the second quarter. And profits smoked expectations: 87% of enterprises in that index reported a positive surprise in earnings-per-share. Investment banks think profits will grow more than 20% in the second half of the year.
Several factors are underpinning the buoyant results. Lawmakers in Washington have spent trillions of dollars to propel the economy, and the Federal Reserve is balancing inflation worries with robust economic expansion. Fed chair Jerome Powell has been gradually signaling policy changes for months to avoid unnerving investors, and short-term interest rates are unlikely to increase for another year.
But there are signs Covid-19 could take more bites out of the economy. The average number of new daily cases in the US has climbed to about 150,000, and the country added far fewer jobs last month than economists expected, just as expanded unemployment benefits come to an end. For now, the stock market is taking those risks in stride, perhaps because investors think policymakers would step in with more support if needed.
In the meantime, the best performing company in the S&P 500 was bereft of “great quarter” mentions in its latest call with analysts. Moderna’s revenue shot up to $6.3 billion in the first half of 2021, compared with $75 million during the same period a year ago. The pharmaceutical firm’s stock has rocketed nearly 300% in 2021.
Corinne Le Goff, Moderna’s chief commercial officer, merely called it a “productive quarter.” —John Detrixhe
Speaking of companies…
This month marks the one-year anniversary of The Company—a weekly email on businesses we can’t stop thinking about—so we went ahead and highlighted 40 of our favorites. Some of these are top of mind because they recently went public (Coursera, Casper, Coinbase), while some are having a great year (AstraZeneca, Twitch), and others are, well, figuring things out (WeWork, Boeing, AMC).
✦ Quartz members receive The Company directly in their inbox. Make sure to get this week’s—and access to our top 40—by signing up today. Take 40% off with the code QZEMAIL40.
Talking points
💉 South Africa will keep its vaccines, thank you. Millions of doses once headed for Europe will instead remain in the country, as less than 1% of Africans are fully vaccinated.
⚕️ Drug-resistant infections are increasing in US hospitals. That’s in part because drug-resistant bacteria have thrived on reused PPE, intravenous lines, and ventilators.
🎒 India’s school children lost a year. In the absence of physical classrooms, nearly 40% of students in underprivileged households have not been studying at all.
👋 Quitting your job is a political act. The popular discourse suggests that quitting one’s 9-to-5 is not only an individual decision, but a call to revolution.
🚴♀️ Fifteen-minute groceries are hurting India’s workers. Backlash is brewing over the impact of ever-intensifying demands on the country’s delivery personnel.
🤨 Is it too late to fight Covid skepticism in Tanzania? One of the reasons behind citizens’ vaccine hesitancy is misinformation popularized by the late president.
You asked
What’s the penalty for using a fake vaccine card?
Unlike Australia and the European Union, which have secure digital proof of vaccination, the US has not created a systematic way to track vaccinations around the nation. Most places instead rely on paper cards with handwritten notes, which can be easily forged.
This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon: For many years, it has been a federal crime to make or use “any materially false writing in any matter involving a healthcare benefit program.” But while the guilt of people caught buying, selling, or using false cards might be clear, the appropriate punishment is murkier.
Some of the relevant laws, such as wire and mail fraud, have penalties of up to $250,000 and 20 years’ imprisonment. In practice, though, judges typically weigh the degree of harm caused.
All work and some play
“Cut your meetings short and leave time for play.” So says Esther Perel, the celebrated psychotherapist and relationship expert who has been untangling the travails of professionals in her podcast, How’s Work.
Perel notes that a “game” can be as simple as a question-and-answer session during a video call. Here are some work-appropriate prompts to get you started:
- When I was young, I’d spend hours daydreaming about…
- An important object I lost…
- The most unexpected compliment I’ve ever received…
- Few people know I could talk for hours about…
- I’m particularly stubborn about…
- I wish I would have spoken up when…
“These types of questions serve as a bridge,” Perel says, “between what you do and who you are doing it with.”
Elsewhere on Quartz
- Wolf Warriorism: Why are China’s diplomats so undiplomatic?
- It’s elementary: Japan is defending its rare earth industry.
- Think local: Beijing wants to keep IPOs closer.
- It’s the climb: Why are bitcoin and ethereum prices going higher?
- Migration goals: What part of the US is safest from climate change?
- Battle stations: CEOs are silent on Texas’s new abortion law.
Our best wishes for a healthy day. Get in touch with us at needtoknow@qz.com, and live your best Quartz life by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s newsletter was brought to you by John Detrixhe, Alex Ossola, Christopher Robertson, Wesley Oliver, Anne Quito, and Kira Bindrim.