- The two major cryptocurrencies, BTC/USD and Ethereum avoided major bearish breakdowns which seemed imminent yesterday. Both cryptocurrencies have risen firmly, with Bitcoin currently trading above the big round number at $20k. However, if we later see Bitcoin get established below $18,500 and Ethereum below $997, further sharp falls will be likely to happen.
- Stocks and some risk currencies have risen on a minor risk-on market rally triggered by speculation that the US administration is close to abolishing some tariffs on Chinese imported goods introduced by the previous Trump administration.
- Today will see the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Cash Rate and Rate Statement. The RBA is expected to hike its Cash Rate by 0.5% to 1.35%.
- Swiss CPI (inflation) data released yesterday came in stronger than expected yesterday, showing a month on month increase of 0.5% compared to the 0.3% which had been widely anticipated.
- Daily new coronavirus cases globally rose again last week, against the long-term trend. It may be that the omicron subvariant BA5 will cause another significant wave.
- It is estimated that 66.5% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination, while approximately 6.9% of the global population is confirmed to have contracted the virus at some time, although the true number is highly likely to be much larger.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 551.8 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.15%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be significantly increasing in Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brunei, Croatia, Israel, Lebanon, Montenegro, Pakistan, Qatar, Switzerland, UK, Albania, Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Singapore, and the UAE.