- For the first time in over ten years, the European Central Bank is expected to raise its interest rate today, by 0.25% after coming under pressure due to the tightening of monetary policy everywhere except Japan in the G20. If the hike is higher or lower, and depending upon the accompanying statement and remarks by the ECB President, we will likely see high volatility in the Euro.
- British inflation data came in slightly higher than had been expected, continuing to rise. Canadian inflation rose to reach a new record, the month-on-month data showed an encouraging fall.
- The Bank of Japan stated that there would likely be an increase in inflation towards the end of 2022, and that it intends to stick to its very dovish monetary policy, as had been expected.
- Markets saw the risk rally falter but continue, with major currencies (especially the Euro) gaining against the weaker USD, and BTC/USD and ETH/USD rose to their highest levels seen since mid-June. The S&P 500 Index and the NASDAQ 100 Index are also rising.
- The price of Gold hit its lowest level since March 2021 by trading as low as $1690 per ounce.
- Daily new coronavirus cases globally dropped last week for the first week since early June, reversing the short-term trend of an increasing number of confirmed cases.
- It is estimated that 66.8% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination, while approximately 7.2% 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 571.7 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.12%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be most significantly increasing in Australia, Austria, Barbados, Brunei, Cyprus, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Paraguay, Qatar, and Singapore.