Notes Today:

• Three FDA advisory panel members have quit in protest over the approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer drug, with one saying it was “probably the worst drug approval decision in recent U.S. history.” (Monthly chart)

• Economist: More evidence is emerging of India’s true death toll from covid-19. The official number of covid-19 fatalities is currently just over 355,000 but various analyses of excess mortality from different parts of India suggest a true toll of between 1.8m and 2.4m since the start of the pandemic.

• Drewry’s composite World Container index increased 4.1% or $263 to $6,726.87 per 40ft container.
  
  
  

• China's Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) is also moving right along.

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• Bloomberg: This week brought some more news that no one thought would be possible during a pandemic, which is that U.S. household net worth ballooned by $25.6 trillion in the 12 months ended March 31, bringing the total to $136.9 trillion. To put the rise in perspective, consider that the average annual increase in the 10 years through 2019 was a measly $5.35 trillion.

• Reuters: Switzerland could become the first European country to ban artificial pesticides in a June 13 referendum which backers of the initiative hope will trigger similar prohibitions elsewhere.