- Stock markets globally are lower, as reports nix recent hopes of a stimulus deal agreement between the Trump administration and the U.S. Congress before the U.S. election on 3rd November. Analysts and central bankers tend to see this step as vital for the U.S. and global economy.
- Forex markets are seeing a deterioration in risk sentiment, with the U.S. Dollar clearly the strongest major currency, while the Australian Dollar and precious metals have weakened.
- Today will see the release of U.S. Unemployment Claims and New Zealand inflation data. These releases may impact the U.S. and New Zealand Dollars.
- Opinion polling suggests that President Trump needs an approximately 2.5% swing from current polls in a few battleground states to win the U. S. presidential election on 3rd November, despite Biden’s considerably stronger polling lead nationwide. President Trump has seen polls tighten in his favor over the past week.
- Yesterday saw 437,441 new confirmed cases of coronavirus reported worldwide. The disease continues to spread exponentially around the world.
- Despite the increasing spread of the disease, coronavirus daily global death tolls have been falling slightly since a recent peak in early August, with deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean falling to 30% of the global daily total, well exceeding those in both India (approx. 18%), the U.S.A. (13%), and Europe (approx. 20%).
- The European Union is now seeing more new coronavirus cases than any other area, with an average of about 100,000 new cases daily, while deaths are rising and are close to being the highest total globally. New restrictions are being imposed in several European nations. New cases and deaths are also rising strongly in the U.K.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases stand at over 41.1 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.75%. Global mortality over recent weeks has been lower than it was during the first peak in April. However, the rate of new confirmed cases is increasing exponentially worldwide.
- India has more than 7.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases, more than any other nation except the U.S.A. which has confirmed more than 8.3 million cases. The U.S.A. is the country with the highest daily death toll, reporting more than 1,300 deaths yesterday.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, U.S.A., Ukraine, Uruguay, and the U.K.