- The NASDAQ 100 technology index traded down last Friday by more than 10% from its recent peak, putting it in correction territory.
- The major U.S. stock index, the S&P 500, also fell by almost 7%. The falls seems to be driven by sharp declines in major tech stocks which have advanced strongly during the coronavirus period
- The U.S. Dollar remains in a long-term bearish trend established over recent weeks following June’s “death cross” in the USD Index
- Friday’s non-farm payrolls data showed strong jobs and earnings growth in the U.S. with the unemployment rate relatively low at just over 10%.
- The British Pound appears to be the weakest major currency so far in this week’s trading.
- Markets are likely to be relatively slow and thin today as the U.S. celebrates the public holiday of Labor Day
- Coronavirus global death tolls are showing signs of beginning to rise again, with deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean at 43% of the global daily total, well exceeding those in both the U.S.A. (16%) and Europe (approx. 6%) which shows that the epicenter of the pandemic is well established in Latin America
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases stand at over 27.1 million with an average case fatality rate of 3.26%. Last Friday saw the highest number of daily new confirmed cases ever recorded worldwide, totaled at more than 300,000. Global mortality over recent weeks is lower than it was during the first peak in April
- The number of new cases is rising strongly in the European Union
- The country with the highest coronavirus death is India which saw more than 1,000 deaths yesterday from the coronavirus
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Paraguay, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, U.A.E., the Ukraine, the U.K., Uruguay, and Venezuela.