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- The U.S. dollar is the strongest major currency in the Forex market, while the euro and silver are relatively the weakest. The EUR/USD currency pair hit a new 4-month last Thursday, which suggests further downwards movement is likely to happen over the coming days due to the long-term bearish momentum. Thus, the USD/JPY currency pair hit a 9-month high last Friday, which suggests still higher prices are likely to be seen shortly there.
- The euro and the Japanese yen look likely to be the weakest major currencies today.
- It is likely to be a quiet day in the Forex market as there is no high-impact news scheduled today and it is a Monday, which is typically the quietest day of the week.
- The ship which has been blocking the Suez Canal has been refloated, meaning canal traffic can now get back to normal. The price of Crude Oil eased slightly in response but the price had already been consolidating so there is no major change there.
- New coronavirus cases are rising globally for the fifth consecutive week, and deaths also increased last week for the second week running after falling for months, signifying a rebound in the pandemic in areas where vaccinations are relatively absent. The increase is especially pronounced in Europe, which now accounts for 40% of global daily deaths.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 127.7 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.19%.
- Brazil is suffering from a strong wave of infections, and is currently accounting for approximately one quarter of the entire known global coronavirus daily death toll as fatalities there hit new record highs. The Brazilian health service is severely strained and intensive care units are running out of space.
- The fastest progression in terms of immunizing a population against the coronavirus in all but the smallest states has been in Israel, which has already administered a first shot of the Pfizer vaccine to 56% of its entire population and a second dose to 51% (which includes more than 90% of over-50s who have either received a shot or recovered from coronavirus). The U.A.E. ranks second, with 81 shots given per 100 people. For most of the world, a vaccine remains distant. Progress remains slow in the hard-hit European Union with only a single member state (Hungary) having yet given more than 20 shots per 100 of its population.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Uruguay.