- The US Dollar continues to decline after reaching long-term highs just a few weeks ago. Most major currencies are gaining against it, especially the Japanese Yen, although the Euro is also relatively weak. The Australian Dollar is the weakest major currency right now, and the New Zealand Dollar is also declining against the greenback.
- The Reserve Bank of Australia earlier today hiked rates by 0.50% to a new rate of 1.85%, a 6-year high. The hike had been widely expected and is the fourth consecutive monthly rise. The RBA is trying to supress inflation, in common with most other central banks. The Australian Dollar fell after the hike as the RBA increased its inflation forecast to a peak of 7.75% expected later this year.
- BTC/USD continues its slow decline from last week’s high price.
- The price of WTI Crude Oil remains in a slow downtrend, with the price trading below $100 per barrel
- There will be a release of US JOLTS job data later today, that may provide some clues about whether the technical recession in the US is beginning to seriously affect the job market.
- Daily new coronavirus cases globally dropped last week for the second consecutive week, reversing the short-term trend of an increasing number of confirmed cases.
- It is estimated that 67% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination, while approximately 7.4% 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 583.2 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.10%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be most significantly increasing in Costa Rica, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia.