Are we geared for the upcoming challenges by nCoV-19 or is it still grim news…?

The novel Corona Virus (nCoV-2019), clouded the entire world during the year 2020; with its emergence in December 2019 from Wuhan, China. The nCoV-19 is a novel variant of the Coronavirus family, with its predecessors been implicated for the pandemics of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV); that caused flu-like condition and respiratory distress symptoms [1-6]. The viral strain also intrudes on extra-pulmonary relevance; being involved with deranging immunity as evidenced by lymphopenia and a prolonged prothrombin time; it impacts cardiomyocytes and pancreatic tissue directly [7-11]. These implications of nCoV-19 does suggest a long-term relevance of the disease profile. The emergenceof nCoV-2019 was quick to gain a pandemic status worldwide. An immense shift in the influx of the type of patients was observed, that imparted a false impression of a reduction in cardiovascular and metabolic patient presentation; formerly that had been the majority engaging the worlds’ healthcare facility. But as the world prepares itself for a possible second wave of the n-CoV-19, a prudent approach would be to remind us of the history lessons from the previous corona-led pandemic, such as MERS and SARS. This editorial will emphasize on channeling our focus to nCoV-19 implications on cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. The pandemics of SARS-CoV during 2002-2003 and MERS-CoV in 2012 highlight the long term relevance of coronavirus to cardiac and metabolic disease pathologies, both during and in the aftermath of these pandemics [3]. The SARS-CoV had demonstrated an increase of cardiovascular problems by 44%, hyperlipidemia by 68% and diabetes mellitus by 60%, in people who had recovered from the viral attack [12, 13]. Likewise, MERS-CoV had also embarked an increase of cardiac disorders by 30% and hypertension by 50% and diabetes mellitus by 50% [3, 8, 9]. Published research on nCoV-19 has hinted for a similar rising trend of cardiovascular and metabolic complexities. An increase in cardiac troponin level is observed with increased cases of myocarditis and heart failure [14]. A 20% increase in the incidence of diabetes and a 40 % rise in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is observed with nCoV-19 [8, 9]. Little do we comprehend that the involvement of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors could play havoc on endothelium, kidney, intestine, liver and any other organ [15]. The nCoV-19 has thrown a curveball to the realm of the worldwide health and financial setting. Even with the current economic predicament it does seems prudent to be prepared in advance for the long term consequences of this pandemic. The bigger question would be to, not just direct our efforts at countering the possible second wave of nCoV-19 but also for the possible chaos of cardiovascular and metabolic disease outfall, impacting the world health system.

Exploiting the Market Inefficiencies: the Case of Single Stock Futures Arbitrage at Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited

This study examines the pricing efficiency of the derivatives segment of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), particularly the Single Stock Futures (SSF), to look for the arbitrage opportunities. Futures provide profit-making opportunities to the arbitragers if these contracts are being traded above or below their theoretical fair price. A positive mispricing helps to get a riskless profit by selling the futures and buying the underlying stock and negative mispricing yields through buying the futures and selling the underlying stock. These contracts are available for more than forty individual stocks listed on PSX that are selected biannually through uniform selection criteria. The analysis is piloted on one-year data collected from twenty-two firms, engaged in stock futures trading on PSX. Summary statistics confirmed numerous instances of deviation of these future contracts from their fair prices calculated by the cost of carry formula. Though negative deviations were greater in magnitude, positive deviations were relatively more in frequency, leading to the conclusion that SSFs are generally sold on premium in our stock market and arbitrage trading is easier in this market. Results of random effect Tobit model indicated that behavior of price deviations in SSFs can be determined by different factors. It is observed that absolute mispricing increases with the increasing time to maturity of these contracts. Increasing price bands are also associated with increasing volatility of underlying stock. Absolute mispricing behaves differently for liquidity, as measured by trading volume, of futures and their underlying stock. Lower liquidity of underlying stock and higher liquidity of SSFs increases the mispricing spreads. Open interest cannot significantly explain the behavior of mispricing.