- The USD is firm and gaining everywhere, and seems to be moving more decisively back in the direction of a bullish long-term trend. The Japanese yen is the weakest.
- Stock markets are mixed.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Rate Statement was released earlier, but had little effect on the value of the AUD. There has been a slight tweak to the policy regarding monitoring the yield curve but no other changes.
- Commodities are generally strong, with gold and silver rising strongly yesterday, and lumber futures going limit up again.
- Ethereum rose strongly yesterday to hit another record high close to $3,500, leading the pack of cryptocurrencies while Bitcoin remains well shy of its record high above $60k.
- We will get New Zealand employment data releases later today. Tomorrow is a public holiday in Japan and China.
- Thursday saw an all-time record high number of confirmed daily new coronavirus cases globally, due mainly to increasing rates of infection in India and Latin America. The situation is especially bad in India which a few days ago became the first country to register more than 400,000 new cases in a day. India has also just seen its highest number of daily coronavirus deaths yet at almost 4,000. The situation putting a severe strain on the Indian health care system due to a shortage of oxygen. Many analysts believe the death toll in India is significantly underestimated.
- Global coronavirus deaths increased last week for the seventh week running after falling for months, signifying a rebound in the pandemic in areas where vaccinations are relatively absent. Daily deaths are approaching the peak made last January.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 154.2 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.09%.
- The fastest progression in terms of immunizing a population against the coronavirus in all but the smallest states has been in Israel, which has given at least one shot to 62% of its entire population followed by the U.A.E. and the U.K. at 51%. For most of the world, a vaccine remains distant. However, the pace of vaccination has finally begun to significantly speed up in the European Union, which now has immunized 25% of its population.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Algeria, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Georgia, India, Japan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, and Uzbekistan.
Forex Today: USD Bid, Stocks Mixed
Adam Lemon
The USD maintains its position as the strongest major currency.