- Stock markets have been mostly continuing to rise. The risk-on year-end rally has been boosted by the passage of a new economic stimulus bill in the U.S., although the U.S. Senate seems certain to keep individual payouts capped at $600 instead of the $2K that the President and House want which has slightly dampened the bullishness.
- Most major currencies are in strong, long-term bullish trends against the U.S. dollar, with the euro, the British pound, and the Australian dollar hitting multi-year high prices. These trends are now reasserting themselves, with the dollar clearly the weakest major currency while the Australian dollar looks particularly strong.
- Bitcoin rose firmly yesterday to hit another new all-time record high against the U.S. dollar, trading above $29,000 per coin.
- The British Parliament approved the Brexit trade deal agreed last week with the E.U. yesterday. The pound rose firmly with the GBP/USD currency pair hitting new long-term highs above 1.3600.
- The U.K. has become the first country to approve the use of its new Oxford/Astra-Zeneca vaccine, which will be rolled out on 4th January 2021.
- Yesterday saw a record high number of confirmed coronavirus deaths globally at 14,748, boosted by a similar record number in the U.S.A. of over 3,900. The U.K. saw almost 1,000 deaths and over 50,000 while South Africa reported a record high daily number of new cases. The U.K. has imposed new restrictions on a majority of its population to try to curb the spread, as many analysts are estimating more than 2% of its entire population is currently infected.
- Global coronavirus deaths have increased dramatically since early October to reach a level approximately 70% higher than the peak last April.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 82.7 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.18%.
- The coronavirus vaccine drive has been criticized in the U.S. and E.U. for its relatively slow pace so far. It has been progressing fastest in Israel, which has already administered a first shot to 30% of its population over the age of 60.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Andorra, Argentina, Bahrain, Bolivia, Canada, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, El Salvador, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Norway, Panama, Russia, San Marino, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, Tunisia, the U.S.A., and the U.K.