- We have seen a quiet Asian session with both Japan and China on public holiday.
- S&P 500 Index futures are trading off-hours with some modest recovery gains following the dip at the end of last week.
- In the Forex market, the U.S. dollar looks likely to be the strongest major currency, while the Japanese yen is the weakest.
- Today will bring a release of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Rate Statement.
- It is a public holiday today in the U.K., so liquidity in the British pound is likely to be very low before the New York open.
- Thursday saw an all-time record high number of confirmed daily new coronavirus cases globally, due mainly to increasing rates of infection in India and Latin America. The situation is especially bad in India which yesterday became the first country to register more than 400,000 new cases in a day. India has also just seen its highest number of daily coronavirus deaths yet at almost 4,000. The situation putting a severe strain on the Indian health care system due to a shortage of oxygen. Many analysts believe the death toll in India is significantly underestimated. There are fears of mutations arising in India which would be resistant to current vaccines.
- Global coronavirus deaths increased last week for the seventh week running after falling for months, signifying a rebound in the pandemic in areas where vaccinations are relatively absent. Daily deaths are approaching the peak made last January.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 153.5 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.10%.
- The fastest progression in terms of immunizing a population against the coronavirus in all but the smallest states has been in Israel, which has given at least one shot to 62% of its entire population followed by the U.A.E. and the U.K. at 51%. For most of the world, a vaccine remains distant. However, the pace of vaccination has finally begun to significantly speed up in the European Union, which now has immunized 24% of its population.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Afghanistan, Argentina, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Georgia, Honduras, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, and Uzbekistan.
Forex Today: USD Gains, Analysts See Inflation Fears
Adam Lemon
Markets are quiet due to public holidays but the U.S. dollar looks likely to continue as the strongest currency.