October 08, 2020
In this update, the Media Hype Index hits an almost 3-month high as news about COVID increases, Panic levels rise on the day Trump returns to the White House, and how talk of celebrities being infected becomes a dominant theme in the news.
Go To Coronavirus News Monitor
After being pushed steadily lower down the news agenda, COVID-19 is back on top, after the share of the total news globally talking about the Coronavirus recently pushed back above 40% again.
This compares with the 27% 6-month trough low hit on September 19, representing a steady decline from the 79% all-time high reached in March, when the media hype around COVID was at its peak.
The latest surge is probably due to increased media attention after President Trump and the first lady contracted the Coronavirus.
The re-hyping of COVID-19 also could be because of the arrival of the second wave in many countries, and the widespread reintroduction of substantial lockdown measures.
The Worldwide Panic Index which measures the level of news about panic or hysteria linked to Coronavirus suddenly rallied to a 1-month peak reaching 4.17% of all news on October 5.
This seems strange since October 5 was the day President Trump returned to the White House after his convalescence.
On the same day, Trump famously appeared on the balcony without a mask, saying “Don’t be afraid of COVID” - quite the opposite from a message that would be expected to invoke panic or hysteria.
“Tests Positive” is the topic that is the most talked-about according to the Trending Topics chart on the COVID monitor, after hitting a 3-month high on October 4th.
The table ranks topics by the percentage of all Coronavirus news about them. In the case of ‘Tests Positive’, it accounts for 17.70% of all news about the Coronavirus.
The surge in stories comes as more and more of President Trump’s inner circle test positive for the virus as well as leading personalities from the worlds of sport, politics, and entertainment.
Below is a list of some of the better known international celebrities who have tested positive, or for a fuller list, click here to the source article.
The level of media exposure of certain sensitive stock sectors to COVID-19 can be a predictor of future price changes for stocks within those sectors, according to research conducted by our Data Science department.
The table below shows the top-ranking stocks by media exposure from all 12 industry groups featured on the monitor.
It includes the percentage share of the news about the company that is coronavirus-related, the percentage daily change, the RavenPack event sentiment score (ESS) - a measure of news sentiment - as well as a column for whether the sentiment is rising, flat, or falling at the time of writing.
Some of the stories driving the media hype around the companies in the table are featured below.
Pharma giant Pfizer Inc (PFE) is at the top of the list of pharmaceutical companies after the news that the European Medicines Agency agreed a new approval process to fast-track its COVID-19 vaccine.
American Airlines Group Inc (AAL) is in the news due to fears it will be hit hard now that the government has decided to withdraw its stimulus package . On a positive note , it has now introduced COVID-19 testing on certain routes.
Abbot Laboratories Inc (ABT) has seen a high level of media attention after it sold 21 billion of its Panbio COVID-19 tests to the Canadian government. The advantage of the tests is that they are portable and provide results in 20 minutes.
Caesar’s Entertainment (CZR) (now a part of Eldorado Resorts) has seen its stock rise by 22% in September. The company’s stock price fell at the start of the year but then rebounded after it reopened its Casinos and began to return operations to normal.
Finally, Twitter Inc (TWTR) featured in COVID-19 related headlines mainly off the back of the news that Donald Trump was furiously tweeting again, after making a recovery after contracting Coronavirus.
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Have a great day, and we’ll be back soon with more updates
Best Regards - Team RavenPack
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