- The global stock market rally continued yesterday and during today’s Asian session. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 indices in North America reached all-time high prices, while the Nikkei 225 Index was up by more than 0.38% after hitting a record high. Historical precedent suggests that these markets are likely to continue to rise over the coming days.
- Bitcoin rose by over 11% in only an hour yesterday, before going on to make yet higher record prices over the course of the day, after Tesla revealed it had made a corporate purchase of $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin, and would work towards accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment by customers. The price peaked a few hours ago above $47,500 and shows signs of being likely to rise higher to at least $50K today.
- In the Forex market, the U.S. dollar has weakened, with even other safe haven assets such as the Japanese yen gaining against it. This is a change of the market’s dominant theme. Precious metals and the Australian dollar look to be the strongest currencies today.
- WTI Crude Oil continues to advance firmly to reach new long-term high prices above $58. It is near a 1-year high.
- The U.S. Senate appears poised to conduct a speedy impeachment trial of President Trump, with a vote on conviction likely as early as next Monday. It seems very unlikely that President Trump will be convicted by the necessary two-thirds vote of Senators.
- South Africa has suspended its delivery of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccination after a new study appears to show it does not seem to protect against mild and moderate illness from the South African coronavirus mutation.
- Global coronavirus deaths have increased dramatically since early October to reach a level 107% higher than the peak last April.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 107 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.18%. The numbers of confirmed new cases and deaths globally have been falling over the past two weeks, so there are signs the current heavy global wave may have peaked.
- The fastest progression in terms of immunizing a population against the coronavirus has been in Israel, which has already administered a first shot of the Pfizer vaccine to 38% of its entire population and a second dose to 23% (which includes approximately 80% of over-60s). The U.A.E. ranks second, having now given 44 vaccines per 100 of its population. For most of the world, a vaccine remains distant: only 25 countries have vaccinated more than 5% of their population so far. Progress remains slow in the hard-hit European Union.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Albania, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Peru, Qatar, Senegal, Slovakia, and Thailand.