The celebrated “rainbow nation” of South Africa was recently rocked by the worst violence since the nation achieved democracy and ended apartheid in 1994. Many lost their lives, the economy was hit at a time when it was already reeling under the effects of the pandemic, and its capital markets grew nervous.

Australia has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of China’s growth in the past several decades. China’s infrastructure spending after the last two crises—the great financial crisis and the more recent COVID-19 pandemic—created a demand for resources that was largely fulfilled by Australia. Indeed, this demand helped alleviate some of the pain for the Australian economy.

As with the rest of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on the European economy, not to mention the continued uncertainty regarding Brexit. The U.S. and China were among the first countries on the path to economic recovery, while Europe struggled to emerge from the lockdowns and had a rough start to its vaccination program.

Last week, the FDA approved Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug candidate, aducanumab (marketed as Aduhelm). This approval looks likely to be a watershed moment for the biotech industry. The shares of Biogen were halted for the announcement. And as anticipated, they popped once trading resumed.

Last week, I went back into the office after what felt like an eternity. I must admit, I had never realized how much I would miss the hallway greetings, the coffee machine chitchat, and the ladies’ room gossip! My kids are back in school full-time and took the MCAS (the state assessment for Massachusetts public students) last week. Fenway Park returned to full capacity, and vaccinated fans were allowed to go without masks for the Red Sox game on May 29. It is finally beginning to feel like life is returning to normal, to what it should have been if the past 14 months had not occurred. Elsewhere in the world, progress has not been as even, but there is reason to believe that glimmers of light are beginning to appear everywhere.

Banks have been deeply out of favor for a long time. In fact, you can see in the chart below just how poorly the S&P 500 Financials Index has performed compared with the rest of the index in this century. Bank stocks had barely started showing signs of life after a lost decade since the great financial crisis when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The Fed quickly sprang into action and brought the federal funds rate back to the floor after barely taking it halfway up to the pre-2008 level. Economic activity shut down and millions lost their jobs. Banks paid a price yet again, as their stocks were one of the worst hit when the pandemic brought the world to a grinding halt in 2020.

India is in the midst of a brutal second wave of COVID-19, with the situation continuing to deteriorate by the day. While the human toll is massive, the economic impact is also not insignificant. At the start of 2021, India was expected to be one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. Now, it is expected to succumb to a massive economic shock.

Infrastructure is the backbone of any healthy economy, and America’s is in desperate need of refurbishment and investment. Indeed, President Biden campaigned on a promise to revitalize our aging infrastructure and to invest heavily in clean energy. Biden recently took the first step in that direction by introducing the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan. Let’s talk about this plan’s winners and losers, as well as what it could mean for your investment portfolio.

“The number one problem in today’s generation and economy is the lack of financial literacy.” —Alan Greenspan

Today's post is from Anu Gaggar, senior investment research analyst.