- Friday saw major indices such as the benchmark S&P 500 index in the U.S. and the DAX in the Eurozone close at all-time record high closing prices. Sentiment on the Eurozone and U.S. economies is very bullish boosted by analysts adjusting major earnings estimates upwards. It is likely that we will see yet higher prices in these stock indices over the coming days.
- Bitcoin is looking likely to make a major bullish thrust soon as it continues to trade above $60K, not far from its all-time high price.
- The Forex market is seeing minor strength in the U.S. dollar and the British pound looking like the weakest major currency.
- New coronavirus cases are rising globally for the seventh consecutive week, and deaths also increased last week for the fourth week running after falling for months, signifying a rebound in the pandemic in areas where vaccinations are relatively absent. The increase is especially pronounced in Latin America (accounting for 36% of deaths) and Europe (accounting for 29% of deaths). The situation is particularly bad in Brazil which saw a record number of daily coronavirus deaths at the end of last week – more than 4,000.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 136.6 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 Israel, which has given at least one shot to 61% of its entire population followed by the U.K. at 47%. For most of the world, a vaccine remains distant. Progress remains slow in the hard-hit European Union with only one member state (Hungary) having yet immunized more than 20%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Lithuania, Mali, Mongolia, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Sweden, Trinidad, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela.