- FOMC member Bullard yesterday stated that it is too early to say whether US inflation, running at a historically high rate, has peaked. He also said that the Fed must deliver rate hikes to maintain credibility, seeing rates rising at high as 3.5%. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stated that the world is facing an economic “hurricane” caused by the war in Ukraine, rising inflationary pressures, and interest rate hikes. These statements caused the market mood to sour, sending stocks and commodities lower, and strengthening USD yields.
- In the Forex market, the US Dollar is continuing its advance following yesterday’s rise. The Japanese Yen is currently the weakest major currency.
- The Bank of Canada raised its interest rate by 0.50% yesterday, as had been widely expected, and signaled that further hikes are coming. The rate hike had little effect on the Canadian Dollar.
- Major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin/USD, fell strongly in recent hours. This was probably caused by increasing fears over the viability of minor cryptocurrencies caused by recent failures. Yesterday saw the Solana blockchain halt for four and a half hours due to a bug, sending its price sharply lower.
- Two US data releases yesterday came in above expectations: ISM Manufacturing PMI and JOLTS Job Openings. This would normally be taken as good economic news, but the data were overshadowed by Bullard and Dimon’s remarks.
- Today will see the release of the ADP NFP forecast concerning Friday’s forthcoming non-farm payrolls data.
- It is a public holiday today in the UK and Italy.
- Daily new coronavirus cases globally fell last week, continuing a long-term trend.
- It is estimated that 65.8% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination, while approximately 6.7% of the global population is confirmed to have contracted the virus at some time, although the true number is highly likely to be much larger.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 533.5 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.18%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be significantly increasing only in Chile, Panama, and Taiwan.