- The Forex market continues to see a lot of action, with the US Dollar continuing its long-term advance to new highs since this week’s open. The Dollar has made gains today most notably against the Kiwi, which is trading at a 10-month low, but also against the Aussie and Yen, with the Euro also looking weak. Attention is focused on the greenback partly due to Wednesday’s FOMC meeting coming into focus, with markets now expecting a 0.50% rate hike and an announcement of the “commencement of the balance sheet runoff”, which will be another hawkish tilt.
- Stock and commodity markets closed last week mostly lower, although Corn and Cotton continued to advance to reach new long-term high prices. Several stock markets are in sight of their 1-year lows. Risk-off sentiment is being boosted by an expectation of a more hawkish approach from the Fed and also fears that China’s “zero covid” policy will continue to trigger lockdowns in China that are damaging to global supply chains. However, some stock indices, notably in the US, have risen during today’s Asian session.
- For the sixth week, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general look depressed, although the falls are not dramatic. Volatility in the crypto sector has declined considerably over recent weeks.
- There will be releases of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Cash Rate and Rate Statement later today, as well as US ISM Manufacturing PMI data.
- It is a public holiday in the UK, China, and Japan today.
- Daily new coronavirus cases globally fell last week for the sixth consecutive week.
- It is estimated that 65.4% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination, while approximately 6.5% of the global population is confirmed to have contracted the virus at some time.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 513.6 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.22%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing only in South Africa, Cyprus, the Solomon Islands, Taiwan, and Trinidad.
- Coronavirus restrictions have been tightened in Beijing, China, following the lockdown in Shanghai, which is beginning to ease, with public disquiet observed over late delivery of food supplies to the quarantined population. The lockdown has caused some disruption to global supply chains.