• The U.S. had more than 50,000 confirmed new Covid-19 infections for a second consecutive day Friday and extended a two-week streak of more than 1,000 deaths per day. The U.S. now has 5.25 million confirmed infections, with 167,253 deaths from the virus. The global infection count has increased to nearly 21 million, with 760,761 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

• President Donald Trump said Friday that
McKesson
would partner with the U.S. government to distribute a coronavirus vaccine when one is approved. Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump said the joint effort was being taken under the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed, which aims to deliver Covid-19 vaccine doses to the American public. Shares of McKesson were up nearly 3% in recent trading action. Just prior to Trump’s mention of the company, the stock was up about 1.7%.

• A meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He to review the U.S.-China trade deal was delayed, according to an exclusive Reuters report. The meeting was supposed to take place by video conference on Aug. 15.

• Rent the Runway, a clothing subscription startup, has decided not to reopen its stores, the company’s president Anushka Salinas said during a CNBC interview.

•
Stein Mart
is closing all of its stores in the wake of the retailer’s bankruptcy. Here’s the full list of stores holding liquidation sales.

• Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating
Amazon.com
for its conduct in that country, saying “there is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time,” but also inviting input from the public.

• U.S. retail sales rose 1.2% in July from the June, which was below the consensus 2% estimate among analysts polled by FactSet. The modest gain followed sequential increases of 8.4% in June and 18% in May, following the 15% plunge in April.

• The U.K. government will purchase another 90 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including 60 million from
Novavax
and 30 million from Janssen Pharmaceutica, a unit of
Johnson & Johnson.
The U.K. has now made arrangements to purchase 340 million coronavirus vaccine doses. Here’s a roundup of the latest developments in antiviral medications and vaccines.

• The European Commission announced a deal to buy 300 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine from
AstraZeneca,
with an option to purchase 100 million more, once the vaccine is proven to be safe and effective.

• European stocks fell after the U.K. added France to its quarantine list and China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported mixed news for July, including a 4.8% increase in industrial production from a year earlier and a 1.1% decline in retail sales.

• Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, suggested schools hold as many classes outside as possible, that school buses keep their windows open, and that students wear face masks, during a
Facebook
Live conversation with Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo.

• Fauci also said herd immunity is not feasible for Covid-19, because trying to reach it instead of maintaining safety procedures while waiting for a vaccine would lead to an “enormous” death toll. During an interview with actor Matthew McConaughey on Instagram, Fauci also discussed contact tracing and the success of smaller island nations in quelling the coronavirus.

• A federal judge ruled that a lawsuit by a group of hair salon and restaurant owners in Kansas and Missouri to make an insurance company pay for income lost because of the pandemic can move forward. The plaintiffs alleged their claims should be covered by “all risks” policies that don’t exclude losses caused by a virus. In other cases, judges have dismissed business-disruption insurance claims because those only cover losses resulting from “direct physical loss or damage.”

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Email: editors@barrons.com