Kroger to begin offering COVID-19 vaccine

Kroger will soon begin offering the COVID-19 vaccine through its network of pharmacies and clinics, the national grocery chain announced Tuesday.

Kroger Health is teaming up with the federal government and state health departments to administer the much-awaited vaccine “in accordance with the rollout plan,” according to a company news release.

Doses of the vaccine will be made available at more than 2,200 Kroger-owned pharmacies and 220 clinics in 35 states, the company said.

That includes all Kroger Co. brands and subsidiaries including Ralph’s, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter and others, a spokeswoman for Kroger told McClatchy News.

Dr. Marc Watkins, chief medical officer for Kroger Health, said the company is “ready to play an active role” in getting people vaccinated.

Kroger said it is set to begin administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week, starting in Anchorage and Juneau, Alaska.

Long-term mortgage rates hit record low at 2.66%

WASHINGTON – U.S. long-term mortgage rates dropped this week to a record low for the 16th time in 2020, reflecting an economy hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate home loan slipped to a record-low 2.66% from 2.67% last week.

A year ago, it stood at 3.74%

The average rate on 15-year fixed-rate loans, popular among homeowners seeking to refinance their mortgages, dipped to 2.19% from 2.21%. A year ago, it was 3.19%.

The 5-year adjustable rate mortgage was unchanged this week at 2.79%. A year ago, it was at 3.45%.

Helped by rock-bottom rates, the housing market has been a source of strength in an economy pounded by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Federal Reserve has pushed the interest rate it controls to zero in an effort to help the economy rebound from a springtime shutdown.

China announces antitrust investigation of Alibaba

TAIPEI, Taiwan – It was the ultimate success story of China Inc 2.0: a private-sector technology startup became an internet juggernaut that conquered the Chinese market and set its sights on the world.

But like in the folk tale, Alibaba first struck gold – and then met trouble.

Chinese regulators announced a multipronged antitrust investigation Thursday into its most successful internet company, making moves that could potentially break up Alibaba’s sprawling e-commerce business or splinter its highly lucrative financial services affiliate.

While it has grown into the dominant player in Chinese online shopping – now raking in $50 billion a year in revenues – Alibaba in the last decade has steadily encroached on China’s tightly controlled financial sector through its Ant Group spin-off.

Ant Group, a $16 billion-a-year business, has been chipping away at powerful state banks’ market share and unnerving regulators with investment and lending products that have become so popular that Ant sometimes acts as a lender to government banks – not the other way around.

The companies have amounted to a vast, loosely linked conglomerate under the control of the billionaire Jack Ma, China’s richest man, that could challenge the state itself..

On Thursday, the state fought back. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said it would look into complaints from online merchants about Alibaba’s demands for exclusivity deals.

In a simultaneous announcement, banking regulators said they were summoning Ant Group executives for discussions about the financial platform’s competitive and consumer protection practices.

From wire reports