QUB has risen strongly in early trade on Tuesday 10 November...

QUB has risen strongly in early trade on Tuesday 10 November 2020 to reach $3.10 (up 5.8 per cent) on news that drug company Pfizer suggests that its vaccine is performing well.

However a little caution is called for.

We still have State Premiers in Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, and especially Victoria, using 'the virus' as a political tool and no longer responding on 'health' grounds.

Internationally, Pfizer still has more work ahead including widespread trials to prove any vaccines' efficacy, and regulatory approval, though likely to be faster than usual, still must occur. I have no knowledge of medicine but one assumes no one wants a repeat of the decades old sad thalidomide story.

QUB will in time benefit from more open borders and hopefully an uptick in world trade that will benefit 50 per cent owned Patrick's Ports.

Locally Australia's population won't be rising by the rate it was, and the Ponzi-like scheme especially apparent in Melbourne has come to a halt. A majority of the community don't want high population growth.

While media today in 'The Australian' suggests that a smaller JobKeeper supplement will be retained beyond 31 December 2020 (not really news as many assumed this would be so), it won't be as high because not only can the Federal Government not afford it, but Australians have to be encouraged to try to find a new job, difficult as that is for some. So un/underemployment may somewhat act as a brake on consumer spending, irrespective of euphoria elsewhere if in say nine months or a year a vaccine is widely available.