Capital

Glonghui, April 15 | US hedge fund Shah Capital has recommended that Covid-19 vaccine maker Novavax appoint two new independent directors, Suresh Katta and Venkat Peri, to its board. Shah Capital, which owns about 6.7% of Novavax’s outstanding common stock, said the low share price reflected the board and management’s failure to capitalize on many important competitive advantages and seize opportunities in the overall market. “We welcome the views of our shareholders and value their input on our strategy,” Novavax said in a statement. Novavax is one of the most shorted stocks on the Nasdaq (16175.0941, 0.00, 0.00%) and is currently trading near all-time lows. As of last trading day’s close, the stock had fallen more than 53% in the past 12 months. The stock rose about 3.5% premarket.

Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend represents the possibility of a wider conflict in the Middle East and has made global markets more worried about uncontrollable risks. Capital Economics said that heightened tensions in the Middle East after Iran attacked Israel may give the Federal Reserve more reason to slow down the pace of raising interest rates, as soaring oil prices will disrupt the Fed’s battle with central banks. Neil Shearing, chief economist at Capital Economics, said in a report on Sunday that the main risk facing the world is whether Iran and Israel will escalate their conflict into a broader regional conflict, and how the energy market will react. He said that rising oil prices will make inflation targets in advanced economies more complex, but only when energy prices become a key driver of core inflation rates will they likely have a substantial impact on central bank decision-making. According to the White House, it is working hard to prevent the situation from expanding further. Biden is said to have communicated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the…