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Buried in the fine print of Signature Bank’s third-quarter earnings was a hint of the financial storm that could be about to break over the U.S. economy, The Washington Post reported. The Manhattan bank last month set aside nearly $53 million to cover potential loan losses largely due to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the U.S. economy. Lending money to shopkeepers, landlords and hoteliers used to be considered almost a sure thing. But that was before the contagion emptied New York City’s skyscrapers, hotels, apartment buildings and stores, leading the president of the U.S. to call it “a ghost town” and forcing some borrowers to stop making loan payments. Now Signature, which has nearly 60 percent of its portfolio tied up in commercial real estate, is bracing for the fallout. The bank’s bad-loan write-offs, though still modest, are creeping higher. Despite years of steady profits, investors have punished the stock, which even after a recent rebound has lost 27 percent of its value this year. If U.S. banks absorb big losses on their $2 trillion in commercial real estate loans, the entire economy will suffer. Just the fear of looming bankruptcies and defaults has prompted banks in recent months to restrict new lending, at a time when the virus-ravaged economy needs all the help it can get.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla sold $5.6 million of company stock as shares soared 15 percent on the news that a late-stage trial found the company’s COVID-19 vaccine to be 90 percent effective, Fox Business reported. Bourla sold 132,508 Pfizer shares at a price of $41.94 apiece through a scheduled Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted on Aug. 19, one day after the company announced positive results from a Phase 1 study. He owned 81,812 Pfizer shares following the planned sale. "The sale of these shares is part of Dr. Bourla's personal financial planning and a pre-established (10b5-1) plan, which allows, under SEC rules, major shareholders and insiders of exchange-listed corporations to trade a predetermined number of shares at a predetermined time," a Pfizer spokesperson said. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech on Aug. 19 said the experimental vaccine could receive regulatory review as soon as October. In an open letter, Bourla wrote Pfizer could potentially apply for emergency authorization use in the third week of November.  Bourla wasn’t the only Pfizer executive to sell stock. Executive Vice President Sally Susman, through her own Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, cashed out 43,662 shares at a price of $41.94 apiece, netting her $1.8 million. Susman still owns 108,804 shares. Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine, which is on track to be the first for COVID-19 to receive regulatory approval, could be administered to most Americans by the middle of 2021. The companies could produce 50 million doses by the end of this year and as many as 1.3 billion doses next year.

Global oil demand is going to fall more sharply than previously expected and a vaccine is unlikely to significantly boost consumption until well into next year, the International Energy Agency said and Business Insider reported. U.S. drugmaker Pfizer said on Monday that trials of its COVID-19 vaccine had yielded promising results. This triggered a surge in global financial markets, in particular, in the price of oil, which has gained 11 percent this week to trade around its highest since August. But the IEA, which advises Western governments on energy policy, said this development meant little for near-term expectations for crude oil demand. This is particularly true given the surge in cases of COVID-19 across the U.S. and Europe. The Paris-based IEA cut its demand growth forecast by 400,000 barrels per day to a decline of 8.8 million barrels per day this year, compared with its forecast in last month's market report. Consumption will pick up more quickly than the IEA believed a month ago, but only at a modest pace. The IEA expects oil demand to rise by 5.8 million barrels per day in 2021, compared with a predicted increase of 5.5 million barrels per day in its report last month.

When COVID-19 shut down economies around the world last spring, it also stopped all those trips business executives make to customers, suppliers, conventions, trade shows, and their company offices, according to commentary published by Forbes. Almost overnight, millions of people globally began working from home and using video-conferencing technology to transport themselves to meetings and negotiate deals. Eight months later, the situation hasn’t changed dramatically when it comes to business travel. And, there’s mounting evidence that the category — the most profitable for airlines and other hospitality companies — may never fully reconstitute itself. At the very least, business travel is anticipated to remain depressed through 2023. The biggest disruption is expected in the internal travel category that makes up 40 percent of business travel. This includes trips between offices within a company or to conventions and trade shows. Long-term contraction may amount to as much as 10% in business travel overall as employers and employees become increasingly comfortable with doing business over video-conferencing apps. Another factor holding down business travel is the reluctance to fly internationally and recent lockdowns in major cities in Europe. In Oliver Wyman’s second Traveler Sentiment Survey, 43 percent of the more than 2,500 business travelers questioned said they expected to travel less for business even after COVID subsides. That response was 16 percentage points higher than the 27 percent who told the survey in May they expected to travel less — a clearly troubling increase from the point of view of anyone who depends on that revenue. Respondents cited two reasons for the anticipated change in behavior: 34 percent had safety and health concerns, and 31 percent said teleconferencing and remote working arrangements were as effective as being in the office and traveling. While health anxieties over travel would presumably dissipate with the development and dissemination of a vaccine, the respondents’ desire to work from home and use video conferencing suggest that a downturn in business travel may persist long after COVID is conquered.