- Stock markets are generally strong. The U.S. market indices remain firm and bullish, with the S&P 500 Index having recovered more than 80% of its 2020 losses.
- Last Friday the U.S. announced a surprise monthly increase of over 2 million new jobs, which has boosted economic optimism.
- The GBP/USD, AUD/USD, and USD/JPY currency pairs closed at new 50-day highs last Friday. Higher prices in the GBP/USD pair look likely today and over the coming week.
- The British Pound is the strongest major currency today while the U.S. Dollar is the weakest.
- WTI Crude Oil has continued to advance and near the London open today was trading above $40 per barrel.
- Coronavirus deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean are now 44% of the global daily total, which is again increasing exponentially, well exceeding those in both the U.S.A. (20%) and Europe (approx. 18%) which shows that the epicenter of the pandemic is now in South America.
- Protests over policing in the U.S. continue, with less violence.
- Daily reported coronavirus deaths hit an all-time high last Friday. Daily deaths globally peaked on April 18th and daily new confirmed cases peaked on 5th June. Total confirmed new cases stand at over 7 million with an average case fatality rate of 5.95%. Both the total number of new cases and deaths continues to fall daily in the U.S.A. and almost everywhere in Europe outside Russia.
- Brazil is seeing more daily deaths from coronavirus than any other country in the world.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to be increasing most quickly in Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Pakistan, Iran, South Africa, and Egypt. Brazil has the second highest number of confirmed cases of any country, followed by Russia and then the U.K. More restrictions are being loosened in Europe, and despite India and Mexico’s strong growth in new cases, lockdown has been relaxed in these countries also.