- Global stock markets are mostly lower as analysts focus on concerns that the pace of global economic growth may not be as high as had been expected. In the U.S. markets, the dip was relatively minor.
- WTI Crude Oil also fell from a long-term high price as a “risky” asset.
- In the Forex market, the USD and JPY made firm gains, but they look to be giving some of it up today. The euro looks likely to be the weakest major currency as it closed yesterday at a new 50-day low, suggesting we will see still lower prices over the coming days.
- There will be a release of US FOMC Meeting Minutes later today, which often has an important impact upon financial markets especially the Forex market. Any language on tapering of QE will be closely examined.
- U.S. 10 and 30 year yields are at multi-month lows.
- Last week saw a second consecutive weekly rise in global new confirmed coronavirus cases, suggesting that the pandemic is advancing again due to the spread of the more highly infectious Delta (Indian) variant. There is increasing concern over this in some countries, notably Australia which has begun a partial lockdown as local transmission seems to be beginning. The UK seems set to abolish almost all remaining restrictions on 19th July despite the increasing rise in new coronavirus cases there day by day. Three sporting events are being held in London this week with crowds of 60,000 – the final games of the Euro 2020 football tournament.
- It is estimated that 24.4% of the world’s population has received at least one vaccination against the novel coronavirus.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 185.3 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.16%.
- The fastest progression in terms of immunizing a population against the coronavirus in all but the smallest states has been in Iceland, Malta, Bermuda, Bahrain, Mongolia, Kuwait, Bhutan, Israel, Chile, Uruguay, and Canada, which have given at least one shot to between 82% and 63% of their respective populations. Malta is an especially interesting case as it has vaccinated more than 80% of its population and should therefore have full herd immunity by most expert estimations, although it is still registering a handful of new cases daily. For most of the world, a vaccine still remains distant. However, the pace of vaccination in the European Union, which now has immunized 52% of its population, has picked up significantly. In the U.S., 55% of the population has been vaccinated.
- New data suggests that coronavirus vaccines are only about 65% in effective in preventing infection by the delta (Indian) variant, although still more than 90% effective in preventing serious illness. This may change as more data is analyzed from countries with high rates of vaccination.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Algeria, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Cuba, Cyprus, Fiji, Finland (despite its high level of vaccination), Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom (despite its high level of vaccination).