Diamonds and Dogs

2/24/20

Gilead Sciences (GILD) is up 3% on promising news for their new drug to fight the coronavirus. A top World Health Organization official said the company's experimental drug may be the best bet to find a treatment for the new coronavirus that's spreading around the globe. Gilead's compound, remdesivir, has been rushed into a clinical trial in China, where the illness has infected tens of thousands of people. WHO officials have said results could be available within weeks. Chinese officials also accepted the application for Gilead Sciences' cancer drug Yescarta.

A bad day to report earnings. With the markets down 3%, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) is down 2.5% following earnings. Earnings fell 22% in the fourth quarter and down 3% for the full year with weakness in railroads, utilities and the energy investments. Berkshire bought back $5 billion worth of stock last year. A good number of Berkshire businesses were and are impacted by the coronavirus in the short term, but long-term the outlook for business hasn't changed due to coronavirus and Warren Buffett believes something other than the coronavirus will be "front and center" six months from now.