- Global stock markets are mostly higher since the week opened, with the benchmark US S&P 500 index closing at an all-time high last Friday above 4365. This suggests that yet higher prices are likely in the index over the coming days.
- In the Forex market, the USD and JPY are relatively strong. The Australian dollar looks likely to be the weakest major today.
- Today will see the US 10-Year Bond Auction.
- Last week saw a third consecutive weekly rise in global new confirmed coronavirus cases, suggesting that the pandemic is advancing again due to the spread of the more highly infectious Delta (Indian) variant.
- It is estimated that 25.2% of the world’s population has received at least one vaccination against the novel coronavirus.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 187.6 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.16%.
- The fastest progression in terms of immunizing a population against the coronavirus in all but the smallest states has been in Singapore, Iceland, Malta, Bermuda, Bahrain, Denmark, Mongolia, Kuwait, Bhutan, Israel, Chile, Uruguay and Canada, which have given at least one shot to between 84% and 63% of their respective populations. Malta is an especially interesting case as it has vaccinated more than 80% of its population and should therefore have full herd immunity by most expert estimations, although it is still registering new cases daily. For most of the world, a vaccine still remains distant. However, the pace of vaccination in the European Union, which now has immunized 54% of its population, has picked up significantly. In the U.S., 55% of the population has been vaccinated.
- New data suggests that coronavirus vaccines are only about 65% in effective in preventing infection by the delta (Indian) variant, although still more than 90% effective in preventing serious illness. This may change as more data is analyzed from countries with high rates of vaccination.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Cyprus, Fiji, Greece, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Portugal, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom.