- This week has seen markets open quietly, with the U.S. enjoying a public holiday today in which markets will be closed.
- The U.S. Dollar has gained very slightly during the Asian session but is in a clear downwards trend on higher time frames. The strongest currencies appear to be the Japanese Yen, the British Pound, and the Euro.
- The offshore Chinese Yuan has weakened after China’s central bank makes it easier to short in the market.
- Opinion polling suggests that President Trump only needs an approximately 3% swing from current polls in the battleground states to win the U. S. presidential election on 3rd November, despite Biden’s much stronger seeming lead nationwide.
- Last Saturday saw 359,270 new confirmed coronavirus cases reported globally, the highest daily total yet.
- Coronavirus daily global death tolls have been falling since a recent peak in early August, with deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean falling to 36% of the global daily total, well exceeding those in both India (approx. 19%), the U.S.A. (13%), and Europe (approx. 14%). 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 37.4 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.88%. Global mortality over recent weeks has been lower than it was during the first peak in April.
- India has more than 7 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 more than 800 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, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Burma, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Tunisia, U.S.A., Ukraine, U.A.E., and the U.K.