- Global stock markets are mixed but mostly higher. The S&P 500 Index closed Friday at a new record high and has traded higher still in off-hours sessions since this week opened. This suggests that the index will go higher over the coming days.
- The Forex market is risk-on, with sentiment holding against the U.S. dollar after last Friday’s much poorer-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls data. The Canadian dollar is the strongest major currency, while the Japanese yen appears to be the weakest.
- The cryptocurrency Ethereum has continued to rise strongly to hit a new all-time high price above $4,100 after bouncing at the support level of $3202.50.
- The cryptocurrency Dogecoin has fallen from a record high over the weekend above 70 cents to fall back to and bounce gently at its key support level at 45 cents after Elon Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live.
- Last week saw the first weekly fall in global new confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths in nine weeks, suggesting that the current wave of the pandemic may be beginning to retreat. The worst hit country at present is India, which is seeing more than 4,000 deaths and 400,000 new cases per day over recent days, although many consider these figures to be strongly underestimated. The Indian health care system is struggling to cope.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 159 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.08%.
- 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 63% of its entire population followed by the U.K. at 52%. For most of the world, a vaccine remains distant. However, the pace of vaccination in the European Union, which now has immunized 28% of its population, has picked up significantly.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan.