Risk sentiment improved yesterday, boosting stock markets, while the US Dollar continued its strong recent advance, with European currencies notably weaker.
- The US Dollar continued its long-term advance yesterday, hitting new long-term highs against the Euro (2 years), and the British Pound and Swiss Franc (1.5 years). The EUR/USD currency pair found some initial support later at $1.0710 but still looks likely to trade lower than that over the coming days.
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- Stock markets bounced back yesterday from a recent succession of falling sessions, but the recovery has some way to go before it becomes technically significant.
- Japan’s former Ministry of Finance FX Chief stated he does not think USD/JPY at ¥130 or even ¥135 will be damaging to the Japanese economy, and he does not expect intervention from the Bank of Japan to halt further weakening of the Yen to those levels. If true, this increases the bullish case for USD/JPY, suggesting we will see advances to higher prices after the current consolidation pattern in this currency pair ends. Currently, USD/JPY is close to its 20-year high price.
- Bitcoin seems to have found support again at $38,961.
- Australian CPI (inflation) data will be released later today.
- There are reports both the Swedish and Finnish governments have decided to submit applications for NATO membership in the near future.
- Elon Musk has agreed to a deal with Twitter to buy the company for $44 billion.
- Daily new coronavirus cases globally fell last week for the fifth consecutive week.
- It is estimated that 65.1% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination, while approximately 6.5% of the global population is known to have contracted the virus at some stage.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 510 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.22%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing only in China, Barbados, Finland, Taiwan, and Trinidad.
- A spate of new coronavirus cases in Beijing, China is being met with mass testing and panic buying there, following the ongoing hard lockdown in Shanghai, which is still underway, with public disquiet observed over late delivery of food supplies to the quarantined population. The lockdown is causing some supply chain disruption globally, although certain vital factories are beginning to reopen.
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