- Global stock markets are somewhat higher since the weekly open, possibly due to the increasing belief that President Trump seems to be somewhat out of danger after receiving aggressive, high-quality treatment for his coronavirus infection since Friday in hospital.
- It is becoming clear that President Trump, who is in a high-risk category due to his age and weight, was more seriously affected by the infection at first than had been realized. He has been given remdesivir and regeneron which are typically only used when the disease has become relatively serious. It has also been admitted that the President’s blood oxygen level has dipped twice to concerning readings.
- Stock markets were not badly affected when the news that the President may be seriously ill first broke on Friday, suggesting that markets have come to terms with the seriousness of the situation and are relaxed about any succession to the Trump Presidency. The general election for the Presidency takes place on 3rd November.
- The President briefly left the hospital earlier to drive by and greet his supporters outside the hospital from within his Presidential motorcade, in a move widely and strongly criticized by medical professionals.
- New opinion polling is showing Joe Biden widening his lead over President Trump in the race for the U.S. Presidency.
- We continue to see some recovery in risk sentiment. The Australian Dollar is the strongest major currency right now, while the Japanese Yen is the strongest.
- There will be an important release today of U.S. ISM Non-Manufacturing data.
- Today is a public holiday in China.
- Coronavirus daily global death tolls have been rising slightly over the past 2 weeks, with deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean falling to 37% of the global daily total, well exceeding those in both India (approx. 19%), the U.S.A. (13%), and Europe (approx. 13%). The number of confirmed new cases has been rising quite strongly in the European Union and the U.K. The European Union is now averaging more new cases than the U.S.A. or Brazil.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases stand at over 35.1 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.95%. Global mortality over recent weeks has been lower than it was during the first peak in April.
- India has more than 6.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases, more than any other nation except the U.S.A. India is now seeing more new deaths daily than any other country with almost 900 deaths reported yesterday. The past few weeks are seeing confirmed new cases hit new highs globally.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Burma, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, U.A.E., and the U.K.