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The University of Oxford has said it will continue its COVID-19 vaccine trial in Brazil, following the death of a volunteer.
The Brazilian health authority said on Wednesday a volunteer in the clinical trial of the potential vaccine – which has been licenced to pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca – had died.

But the university said an independent review had revealed no safety concerns.
“Following careful assessment of this case in Brazil, there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial and the independent review in addition to the Brazilian regulator have recommended that the trial should continue,” a spokesperson said.

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Widespread vaccine ‘unlikely’ before spring

The volunteer, who is Brazilian, didn’t receive the coronavirus vaccine, it is understood.

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Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that the volunteer had been given a placebo and not the trial vaccine, although this hasn’t been officially confirmed.

Shares in AstraZeneca turned negative and were down 1.7% after the news broke on Wednesday evening.

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A spokesperson from the company said: “We cannot comment on individual cases in an ongoing trial of the Oxford vaccine as we adhere strictly to medical confidentiality and clinical trial regulations, but we can confirm that all required review processes have been followed.
“All significant medical events are carefully assessed by trial investigators, an independent safety monitoring committee and the regulatory authorities.
“These assessments have not led to any concerns about the continuation of the ongoing study.”

The race for a vaccine

AstraZeneca and Oxford are thought to be among the front-runners in a global race to produce a coronavirus jab. The UK government has signed a deal for 100 million doses.
The vaccine is in Phase 3 trials – the last stage before a treatment is declared safe – in multiple countries, including the US and India.
In September, the UK trial was paused over possible dangerous side effects, but it was later restarted when the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority declared it safe to continue.
Early results from the trial showed the vaccine was safe and produced strong immune responses in volunteers, but it is not known how effective it will be.
Brazil has the second deadliest outbreak of COVID-19 after the US, with more than 154,000 deaths. It is the third-worst outbreak in terms of cases, with more than 5.2 million infected, after the US and India.

For casual observers, it must seem strange that the DAX 30, Germany’s leading stock index, is down by only 5% since the beginning of the year while the FTSE-100, its UK equivalent, is off by a thumping 23%.
Both, after all, are indices dominated by big multinational companies exposed not to their local economies but to the global economy.

The DAX admittedly has a greater proportion of tech stocks, the key area of outperformance this year, than the Footsie.
Companies in the German blue-chip index also do proportionately more business than their UK counterparts with China – the only leading economy in the world likely to grow this year.
By and large, though, the pair are pretty similar in their exposure to global GDP.

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One major difference, though, is that British-listed companies, before the COVID-19 crisis, tended to pay out a higher proportion of their earnings in dividends.

The extent to which those dividends have been slashed recently is spelled out in the latest quarterly UK Dividend Monitor published by the investor services provider Link Group.

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It reports that, during the three months to the end of September, dividends paid by UK listed companies fell by 49.1%, to £18bn, the lowest third-quarter total for a decade.
Even on an underlying basis, which strips out special dividends, pay-outs fell by 45.1% to £17.7bn.
Bad as that sounds, though, it was less brutal than the second quarter of the year, during which, dividends fell by 57% to £16.1bn.
Of the £14.5bn cuts during the third quarter, almost two-fifths came from the banks, which were ordered by the Bank of England in the spring to dispense with dividends for the time being.

Image: Oil companies cut their dividend in response to the crash in oil prices
A further fifth came from the oil companies. Both BP and Royal Dutch Shell have cut their dividend in response to the crash in oil prices with the move from the latter, in particular, coming as a particular earthquake. It was Shell’s first dividend cut since the war.
The oil and gas sector previously accounted for around £1 in every £9 paid out in dividends by British companies.
Mining companies accounted for a further eighth of the overall reduction. That partly reflected the decision of the mining and commodity trading combine Glencore to pass its dividend entirely, but there was also damage done by cuts from BHP and Anglo American, whose earnings have been hit by falls in the value of commodities like copper.

In all, Link notes, just under half of companies cancelled their dividends altogether during the third quarter, while a further fifth cut them, meaning that almost two thirds of companies cut or cancelled their pay-outs altogether.
These are more than just numbers on a page.
Millions of private investors, especially pensioners, depend on dividend income. Worse still, the dividend reductions will have exacerbated deficits at a number of pension schemes, which were already widening because of the way ultra-low interest rates magnify their liabilities.
So these cuts will have led to real world pain, not only now but in the future, as their impact will also result in lasting damage to the retirement incomes of millions of people still in work.

The good news, according to Link, is that the dividend cuts may be past the worst, with some companies starting to pay dividends again or reinstating pay-outs that were suspended earlier this year.
In the latter camp are the defence contractor BAE Systems and the precision engineering and components maker IMI.
Tesco recently increased its dividend at the half year stage while Unilever, the food and household goods giant and now the largest company in the Footsie, has also just raised its pay-out.
Link goes on to observe: “The fourth quarter should look a little better than the third. This is partly because those companies that want to cut have already done so, limiting the downside to our figures.
“But it also reflects the likely restarting of dividends by companies like Bunzl and Land Securities; those like Ferguson, Softcat, and Bodycote which intend to catch up on payments missed earlier this year too; and positive signs from firms as diverse as Diageo, Hargreaves Lansdown and Biffa, all of which we had marked as vulnerable to Q4 cuts.”
The latest figures also, however, confirm the dominance of a few big companies in terms of pay-outs.
More than two-thirds of dividends from Footsie constituents during the third quarter were paid by just 15 companies, with a third being accounted for by just five – Rio Tinto, British American Tobacco, National Grid, Vodafone and Glaxosmithkline.
Link expects that, for the year as a whole, BAT is likely to be the biggest single dividend payer although, should the Bank allow banks to resume dividend payments, suggests that HSBC will reclaim the crown in 2021.
While this year’s dividend cuts will have filled many savers with despair, there is one good thing about them, which is that it means that the Footsie’s distributions are now more sustainable.
Too many blue-chips were paying dividends that were barely covered by earnings going into the crisis. The pandemic has provided cover to reduce their pay-outs to a more sensible level.
It is also worth noting that, taking into account Link’s forecasts for the next year, the Footsie will be yielding 3.6% in a best-case scenario and 3.3% in a worst case scenario (the yield is the dividend expressed as a percentage of the share price).
That still compares exceptionally favourably with the nugatory rates of interest paid by most cash savings accounts.

The investors who bought shirt-maker TM Lewin in a controversial deal earlier this year are in talks to acquire Jaeger, the fashion label owned by the ailing businessman Philip Day.
Sky News has learnt that Torque Brands, a vehicle headed by the former Simba mattress chief James Cox, is one of a small number of parties plotting to buy Jaeger.

The clothing brand’s current owner is Mr Day’s EWM Group, which is teetering on the brink of collapse.
More than 20,000 jobs are at risk if EWM, which also owns the Peacocks and Edinburgh Woollen Mill chains, falls into administration.
A notice of intention to appoint FRP Advisory as administrator was filed earlier this month and is due to expire on Thursday, although people close to Mr Day say there is a “reasonable likelihood” that it will apply for an extension.

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The tycoon, who has built one of Britain’s largest high street empires by snapping up struggling brands such as Austin Reed and Jane Norman, is trying to retain control of Peacocks, aided by a capital injection from the US hedge fund Davidson Kempner.

The fate of the EWM chain looks more precarious, given its reliance on elderly customers.

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Torque would be a logical buyer for Jaeger.
It was established to acquire a portfolio of retail businesses, buying TM Lewin in a solvent deal during the summer but which led to it being put through an insolvency process – with the loss of its entire store network – just weeks later.
EWM and Torque Brands declined to comment.

Manchester United have revealed the extent of coronavirus disruption on their finances, reporting an annual loss and doubling of the club’s debt pile.
The Premier League club said their net loss came in at £23.2m in the year to 30 June compared to profits of almost £19m in the same period last year.

Disruption to last season from the COVID-19 lockdown knocked broadcast revenues in particular – falling more than 40% to £140.2m – while matchday revenue was down 19% reflecting the loss of supporters at Old Trafford.

Image: Sky News reported how United are involved in talks on the creation of a possible European Premier League
Only United’s commercial partnership earnings grew as total revenue fell 19% to £509m.
The club reported a net debt figure of £474.1m as of 30 June.

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The sum had stood at £203.6m a year earlier.

United released their results a day after Sky News revealed that the club was involved in talks that could create a European Premier League – a tempting proposition for any business with a sea of red running through its finances.

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Image: Manchester United and Liverpool saw their Project Big Picture proposals shot down
Only last week, Premier League clubs rejected “Project Big Picture” plans put forward by United and Liverpool for radical changes to the English game’s structures and finances that could have led to a smaller top flight division and aid for the clubs struggling with finances in the lower leagues.
Manchester United’s executive vice chairman Ed Woodward told investors on Wednesday: “Our top priority is to get fans back into the stadium safely and as soon as possible.
“We are also committed to playing a constructive role in helping the wider football pyramid through this period of adversity, while exploring options for making the English game stronger and more sustainable in the long-term.”

Remember the coronavirus budget? 
It was only on 11 March, but it belongs to a different universe, socially and fiscally.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced £30bn of measures to tackle the virus and, when he was done, colleagues packed thigh-to-thigh on the green benches leaned in to clap him on the shoulder in congratulation.
The virus was not as impressed.
Nine days later Mr Sunak was back with an even larger programme of support, headlined by the Job Retention Scheme – furlough – and government-backed loans for business.

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It did not end there. In July he presented his Plan For Jobs and the Eat Out To Help Out giveaway, all personalised in social media posts carrying his signature.

Last month came the Winter Economic Plan, setting out the Job Support Scheme, the less-generous successor to furlough. Within a fortnight that was updated with a version for businesses forced to close in local lockdowns.

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In just six months, the rookie chancellor has made five major interventions, a reflection of the extraordinary challenge presented by the virus and the devastating economic impact of efforts to control it.
Soon he will make another, a spending review truncated by COVID-19.
Instead of a three-year plan this will be a limited one-year version, with only the NHS, education and big infrastructure projects seeing multi-year commitments met.

Track the economy’s recovery from lockdown

The short-term scope reflects the underlying truth of the pandemic: economic policy and health policy are fundamentally entwined, and every attempt to get ahead of the virus has been reeled in by the pace of the outbreak.
In just six months the government has borrowed £208bn, taking the national debt to more than 103% of GDP.
In September alone, borrowing rose by £36bn, equivalent to almost half of all spending, £5.9bn of which went on the furlough scheme and self-employed support.
That’s about the same amount that tax receipts fell year-on-year as a consequence of the slowing economy and relief offered by HMRC.
In that context, the £5m gap that scuppered a deal between central government and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is a pittance. Yet it also explains why the chancellor is apparently so keen to rein in the level of support he is offering.

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‘Why does this govt hate Greater Manchester’?

The divisive row cuts to the heart of the debate apparently dividing Mr Sunak and the prime minister: how much deeper should they dig to support the economy with no end to the pandemic in sight?
At the start they established a fundamental principle, that businesses and jobs closed down by COVID should be supported, primarily via the furlough scheme that comes to an end on Saturday.
Just as the level of support is due to fall however, the virus has come roaring back.
Unlike Germany and France, where furlough has been extended, the UK is cutting support, with the replacement Job Support Scheme, and the version for businesses under lockdown, both judged insufficient by businesses trying to make ends meet.

Where jobs have been lost in the UK

In the last 10 days Mr Sunak has stayed away from local negotiations and stuck tightly to his script that the new measures are good enough for “businesses that remain viable”.
But if the last six months tell us anything, it is that his position may not hold.
Soon the government is likely to have to impose Tier 3 measures on the West Midlands, a region led by Conservative mayor Andy Street, who will doubtless want the best deal for his constituents too.
By Christmas a wave of unemployment held back by furlough will have begun to break.

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‘Now is not the time to balance the books’ – IMF boss

And before the spring, and what everyone hopes will be seasonal relief from coronavirus, the definition of viability may have changed again.
The bottom line is that nobody knows what is going to happen next, but few expect anything to get better.
Just how bad may depend on whether the chancellor cuts support on principle, or looks at the practical reality of a devastated economy and thinks again.

Sky, the owner of Sky News, has announced plans to open its first retail stores in a boost for the beleaguered high street.
The company said it was to start off in Liverpool next week and slowly expand the operation in the coming years “across the UK”.

It was unable to put a figure on the number of stores it was targeting or say how many jobs might be created in the process, given the continuing disruption to retail from the COVID-19 crisis.

Image: The company says the stores will have a focus on the customer experience
The media and entertainment firm said the shops would offer its pay TV, mobile and broadband products under one roof but also prove a “departure” from traditional stores.
Sky said they would place the customer experience at their heart, including interactive experiences, and be a new social hub for shoppers.

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Image: Sky plans to open its first store in Liverpool next week
In addition to its own advisers, the company said a tie-up with technology repair chain iSmash would offer professional repair and support services for smart devices.

An expansion to bricks and mortar stores is rare for the high street landscape as participants have been prioritising investment in online services for many years – a move exacerbated by more recent disruption to trading from coronavirus restrictions.

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Where jobs have been lost in the UK

A Sky News jobs tracker shows the retail sector among the hardest hit to date.
Stephen van Rooyen, Sky’s chief executive for the UK and Europe, said: “Our new Sky shops are a great way for us to showcase the amazing benefits and customer service we have to offer new and existing customers.
“We’re proud to see our shops opening at a challenging time for the UK high street, and alongside our partners at iSmash, we’ll bring service, innovation and convenience all in one place, under one roof, at a time when keeping people connected has never been more important.”

The triple lock rule means the state pension will rise by 2.5% next year but benefit recipients are in line for a much weaker increase.
The pension payout was confirmed on Wednesday when the latest inflation figures were published – showing the core Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure at an annual rate of 0.5% in September.

That was up from 0.2% the previous month when the government’s Eat Out To Help Out dining discounts distorted the picture for prices in the economy as it battled back from COVID-19 lockdown damage.

Where jobs are being lost in the UK economy

The state pension increase is determined by three factors – hence the triple lock terminology – as it guarantees to rise by the highest figure out of CPI, earnings growth for the year to July, or 2.5%.
Weakness for pay rises and inflation means the 2.5% figure is locked in.

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The government has committed to the triple lock – a manifesto pledge – despite the enormous strain placed on the public finances from the coronavirus crisis which has resulted in record levels of peacetime borrowing.

Analysis by the think tank Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) released on Wednesday suggested the funding guarantee was living on borrowed time because of the pressure to cut costs and raise taxes further down the line.

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The IFS said the latest inflation-busting uplift would result in the full basic state pension rising to £137.60 per week, with recipients of the full new state pension netting £179.60.
The CPI figure, however, does mean that state benefit increases will be limited to 0.5% rise following the 1.7% seen at the start of the current financial year.
The September inflation number is also used to decide the annual increase in business rates though the chancellor could extend the one year holiday for hard-hit retail and hospitality firms to exempt them from the increase next April.

Track the economy’s recovery from lockdown

Commenting on the rise in inflation, Office for National Statistics (ONS) deputy national statistician, Jonathan Athow, said: “The official end to the Eat Out To Help Out scheme meant prices for dining out rose during September, partially offsetting the sharp fall in inflation for August.
“Air fares would normally fall substantially at this time due to the end of the school holidays, but with prices subdued this year, as fewer people have been travelling abroad, the price drop has been less significant.
“Meanwhile, as some consumers look for alternatives to using public transport, there was an increased demand for used cars, which saw their prices rise.”

A one-year spending review has been announced by the Treasury to “focus entirely” on tackling the coronavirus crisis – as official figures show borrowing records continue to be smashed.
The government said it would have liked to outline spending plans for the rest of the current parliament, as it had originally intended.

But a statement on the U-turn said the chancellor and prime minister had decided on a more targeted approach given the renewed threat from the pandemic, which has forced tougher restrictions on large swathes of the country and sparked bitter rows with local leaders over levels of government support.

Image: Rishi Sunak has hinted again that taxes will have to rise but not in the immediate future
The Treasury pledged to “continue to show flexibility and creativity in our response”, saying the review was expected to conclude at the end of next month.
The review, it added, would set departments’ resource and capital budgets for 2021-22 and the block grants for the devolved administrations over the same period as the pandemic places unprecedented peacetime demands on the public finances.

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Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed national debt had hit a new record of £2.06trn in September as the government continued to borrow big to fund its COVID-19 response.

The ONS said the sum represented the highest debt to GDP ratio – that is debt verses the size of the economy – since 1960.

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Where jobs have been lost in the UK

It is climbing because government tax receipts are falling at a time when its spending is through the roof.
The ONS said £36.1bn was borrowed in September – £28.4bn more than in the same month last year.
It took total borrowing over the first six months of the financial year to £208.5bn.

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IMF boss warns against austerity

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has faced accusations from critics of being too cautious in his virus support packages as the furlough scheme ends.
They argue the Job Support Scheme that replaces it next month will fail to prevent a surge in unemployment.
The Bank of England expects the jobless rate to hit 7.5% by the year’s end. It is currently at 4.5%.
Mr Sunak said the spending review would include a focus on protecting jobs and provide “certainty” on budgets for the financial year ahead.
He said of the latest borrowing figures: “Whilst it’s clear that the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on our public finances, things would have been far worse had we not acted in the way we did to protect millions of livelihoods.
“I’ve been clear that our enduring priority is to protect as many jobs and businesses as possible through this pandemic, which is the fiscally responsible thing to do.

Track the economy’s recovery from lockdown

“Through our comprehensive Plan for Jobs we’re protecting, supporting and creating millions of jobs across the country.
“Over time and as the economy recovers, the government will take the necessary steps to ensure the long-term health of the public finances.”

Netflix delivered fewer subscribers than expected in its third financial quarter, as the return of live sport and an increase in competition stunted global growth.
The streaming giant added 2.2 million new subscribers in the three months to 30 September – significantly lower than the 3.4 million predicted by analysts.

Revenue growth also fell short of expectations as a result but net profits rose to $790m (£610m) from $665.2m (£514m) the same period last year.
Shares in the company fell nearly 6% to $494 (£382) in after-hours trading on Wall Street.
Netflix had admitted to investors that the boost in subscribers earlier in the year would slow down, as COVID-19 restrictions were eased.

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Major releases by Netflix over the quarter included Emily In Paris, Enola Holmes and The Devil All The Time, as it tried to fend off competition from elsewhere in the industry.

Competition to the firm is growing, particularly from the Walt Disney Company and WarnerMedia, which have restructured their businesses to prioritise streaming.

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Major sporting competitions have also got under way again in recent months, and new services such as HBO Max and Peacock – owned by Sky’s parent company Comcast – offered fresh variety to consumers.
Netflix said: “We continue to view quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in paid net adds as not that meaningful in the context of the long run adoption of internet entertainment, which we believe is still early and should provide us with many years of strong future growth as we continue to improve our service.”

“Oh f*** off.”
That was the reaction from ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher to news that discussions about a new European Premier League were cantering along – and that his former club was involved.

Carragher isn’t alone in his outrage.
There is a disconnect between the desires of fans and of the billionaires who run certain football clubs, including American John W Henry in the case of Liverpool and the Glazer family for Manchester United.
This detachment is more obvious with every plot where the aim is to further boost the size and wealth of the biggest and richest clubs.

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Echoing his Sky Sports punditry colleague Carragher, former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville slammed the idea as “another wound for football”.

“The big issue that I have with it, is that at this moment in time, in the middle of a pandemic and when football is on its knees at so many different levels, the idea that a $6bn package is being put together to set up a new league when lower clubs are scrambling around to pay wages and stay in existence,” he told Sky Sports News.

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“If they can pull $6bn together for a European league, then they can pull together £150-200m to save the rest of football in this country. It’s obscene.”

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Neville: European Premier League talks ‘obscene’

Last week, Project Big Picture – a blueprint also marshalled along by Liverpool and Manchester United – caused outrage among the Premier League clubs before falling at the first hurdle.
The revelation that Europe’s biggest clubs are discussing a new competition will divide once more.
Why?
We are in the throes of one of the most exciting Premier League seasons in history – albeit played in almost empty stadiums – with unexpected results, shed loads of goals and no obvious title favourite.
Most fans don’t want a closed shop which means eternal predictability and no possibility of fairy tales like Leicester City’s title win in 2015-16.
Similarly, there is little to no clamour for more European club games and certainly not hundreds of games a season, many of them meaningless and the same old teams on a merry-go-round with no jeopardy.

Image: There’s a disconnect between what clubs and fans want
But the super owners of these clubs care not a jot about increasing competitiveness domestically or across Europe; they would rather dominance, power and yet more money. A European Premier League would solidify this.
A statement from the Football Supporters Association summed up the distaste fans felt.
“Football in all its forms in the UK, from grassroots to the top tier, occupies far too important a place in our society, our culture and our communities to be jeopardised by an even greater concentration of wealth in the hands of half a dozen big clubs. Decisive action is now needed to protect the game we love,” it said.

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Players fear pandemic could drive them out of business

The idea of a so-called European Super League has been discussed several times over the past two decades.
In recent years, the man at the centre of these talks has been Real Madrid’s president Florentine Perez. He still is that man.
No legally binding documents have been signed and there is still time for this plan to fail as previous iterations have.
But it does not mean that it will. The landscape has changed with the pandemic, talks are at an advanced stage and £4.6billion of financial backing has been promised by JP Morgan.
In 2018, when talks were ongoing about a European Super League, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said he would ban any players involved from featuring in the World Cup.

Image: Premier League champions Liverpool are front and centre of the proposals
Crucially, this so-called European Premier League has apparent backing from world football’s governing body.
It could, of course, be posturing by some clubs to increase their negotiating power ahead of talks about revamping the Champions League format from 2024, scheduled for early next year
But the fact remains that there is increasing noise about new leagues, possible breakaways and secret plots involving some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
That is no mistake – these owners are seemingly so divorced from the communities which are home to their football clubs that greed has become the driving force.