Stock markets continued their strong recovery from last week’s dip, especially in the U.S. where major indices reached record highs. This was partly caused by the U.S. finally issuing regulatory approval to the coronavirus vaccine, which may now allow employers to require vaccination – the U.S. military has announced it is imposing a vaccine mandate, boosting hopes that a larger slice of the population will get vaccinated.
In the Forex market, the USD and JPY are in strong long-term bullish trends, but the short-term price movement has been counter to that, with risk currencies currently bid against the USD, JPY, and CHF. The currencies showing the greatest long-term weakness are the CAD, the AUD, and the EUR, so if the bullish USD trend resumes, these will likely be the currencies to focus on as short counterparties for that trade. Both AUD/USD and EUR/USD hit long term, multi-month lows last week, which is technically significant. However, both currency pairs rose strongly yesterday, although there are initial signs that the EUR/USD resistance level at 1.1750 will hold.
Bitcoin has risen strongly in recent days but was unable to hold up above $50k yesterday.
Last week saw a ninth consecutive weekly rise in global new confirmed coronavirus cases, although the pace of the increase has slowed significantly. Some countries have begun giving booster vaccinations to individuals who were already vaccinated some months ago, which seems to be providing increased protection. New Zealand has entered another lockdown as countries with low rates of vaccinations are finding themselves economically vulnerable to disruption from the virus and associated restrictions imposed by governments, notably Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.
It is estimated that 24.5% of the world’s population has been fully innoculated against the novel coronavirus.
Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 213.3 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.09%.
The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Albania, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belize, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Philippines, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the U.S., the U.K. and Vietnam.