Financial market sentiment and stock return during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Using 1,287,932 pieces of textual data from news media, we measure the financial market sentiment worldwide. We conduct the first international study of the effect of the financial market sentiment on stock return during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that the intensification of the epidemic adversely affects the stock market, but the increasing financial market sentiment increases the stock market return, even during the worst of the pandemic. Our results remain robust using alternative proxies. Additional analysis suggests that negative sentiment has a more significant impact on stock market returns than positive sentiment. Taken together, our findings confirm that negative financial market sentiment amplifies the impact of the crisis on the stock market, and positive financial market sentiment can help mitigate the losses caused by the shock.

International taxation sentiment and COVID-19 crisis.

Investigating public sentiment regarding tax policy during the COVID-19 pandemic could be useful for understanding the experiences across societies. Using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to investigate and quantitatively measure the pandemic's effect-from January 25 to April 9, 2020-on the sentiment regarding possible tax policies throughout the world, thereby determining that, overall, taxation sentiment is reduced as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases grows. Further investigation reveals that, as COVID-19 spreads, the sentiment for raising taxes decreases and that for reducing taxes increases, and this effect is mitigated by countries' democracy. We further find that news sentiment in unofficial media and in countries with low social trust is more significantly affected by COVID-19. Robustness tests performed using different subsamples of developed and developing countries and different pandemic circumstances validate our findings. This research has crucial implications for policy evaluation and development.

Interventions to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C among people who inject drugs: Latest evidence of effectiveness from a systematic review (2011 to 2020).

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV remain prevalent among people who inject drugs (PWID) and transmission is usually associated with injecting risk behaviour (IRB). We update a 2011 review of reviews (RoR) to assess the latest evidence on the effectiveness of harm reduction interventions - drug treatment (including opioid agonist therapy [OAT]), needle and syringe programmes (NSP) and other interventions - in the prevention of HCV and HIV transmission, and related measures of infection risk (IRB and injecting frequency [IF]), among PWID. METHODS: We undertook an initial search for systematic reviews (i.e. an Overview of Reviews [OoR]) and subsequent systematic searches for primary studies where required. Where there was sufficient evidence based on synthesis of multiple robust studies for an intervention effect in the 2011 RoR, new evidence was not sought. Medline, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched (2011-2020). Two reviewers screened papers, extracted data, and graded reviews/studies. We classified evidence as 'sufficient', 'tentative', 'insufficient', or 'no evidence'. RESULTS: We screened 8513 reviews and 7133 studies, with 27 and 61 identified as relevant, respectively. The level of evidence increased since the 2011 RoR and is now 'sufficient' for OAT (regarding all outcomes), NSP (for reducing HIV transmission and IRB), and combination OAT/NSP (for reducing HCV transmission). There is also now sufficient evidence for in-prison OAT, psychosocial interventions, pharmacy-based NSP and provision of sterile drug preparation equipment for reducing IRB. CONCLUSION: There is now a strong body of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of OAT and NSP, alone and in combination, in reducing IRB, and HCV and HIV transmission. However, there is still a relative lack of evidence for other interventions, including heroin-assisted treatment, pharmacological treatment for stimulant dependence, contingency management, technology-based interventions, low dead space syringes and drug consumption rooms on HCV or HIV risk.

Bank systemic risk around COVID-19: A cross-country analysis.

Using 1,584 listed banks from 64 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conduct the first broad-based international study of the effect of the pandemic on bank systemic risk. We find the pandemic has increased systemic risk across countries. The effect operates through government policy response and bank default risk channels. Additional analysis suggests that the adverse effect on systemic stability is more pronounced for large, highly leveraged, riskier, high loan-to-asset, undercapitalized, and low network centrality banks. However, this effect is moderated by formal bank regulation (e.g., deposit insurance), ownership structure (e.g., foreign and government ownership), and informal institutions (e.g., culture and trust).

COVID-19 Sentiment and the Chinese Stock Market: Evidence from the Official News Media and Sina Weibo.

This study quantitatively measures the Chinese stock market's reaction to sentiments regarding the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Using 6.3 million items of textual data extracted from the official news media and Sina Weibo blogsite, we develop two COVID-19 sentiment indices that capture the moods related to COVID-19. Our sentiment indices are real-time and forward-looking indices in the stock market. We discover that stock returns and turnover rates were positively predicted by the COVID-19 sentiments during the period from December 17, 2019 to March 13, 2020. Consistent with this prediction, margin trading and short selling activities intensified proactively with growth sentiment. Overall, these results illustrate how the effects of the pandemic crisis were amplified by the sentiments.

Design, synthesis and antibacterial activity of 3-methylenepyrrolidine formyl hydroxyamino derivatives as novel peptide deformylase inhibitors.

The synthesis and antibacterial activity of 3-methylenepyrrolidine formyl hydroxyamino derivatives are reported. The antibacterial activities of these derivatives were evaluated to discover SAR at P(1') and P(3') positions, and most of these derivatives exhibit better in vitro antibacterial activity than existing drugs against drug-resistant clinical isolates including MRSA, PRSP, and Haemophilus influenzae.

Design, synthesis, and antibacterial activity of 2,5-dihydropyrrole formyl hydroxyamino derivatives as novel peptide deformylase inhibitors.

The synthesis and antibacterial activity of 2,5-dihydropyrrole formyl hydroxyamino derivatives are reported. The antibacterial activities of these derivatives were evaluated, and some of these derivatives showed better in vitro antibacterial activity than existing drugs, including penicillin, ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, and linezolid.