Covid-19 Daily Dashboard – 17 August 2020
An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
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Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 17 August 2020.
COVID-19: The total number of recorded cases globally is circa 21.7 million, with 776k reported deaths according to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. The US, Brazil and India account for 53% of total confirmed cases.
Lockdown: In South Korea, 315 people linked to a church have tested positive for COVID-19, marking the country’s largest outbreak in five months. In response, the government have urged residents of Seoul to avoid travelling outside of the city for two weeks, as well as closing some public spaces and reducing school class sizes and religious gatherings. Meanwhile, Italy has announced the closure of all nightclubs for a minimum of three weeks. In Germany, arrivals from Spain will have to take a COVID-19 test or quarantine for two weeks. In New Zealand, the general election has been delayed from 19th September to 17th October, due to a rise in cases.
Equities: In Europe, the STOXX 600 and the FTSE 250 are both up +0.1% over the morning, while the DAX and CAC 40 remain unchanged. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are up +0.3% this morning. In Asia, following the Chinese Central Bank injecting 700bn renminbi ($101 billion) worth of stimulus via its medium term lending facility, the CSI 300 added +2.4% on close and the Hang Seng was +0.7% higher. The Topix and the S&P / ASX 200 were both -0.8% lower on close.
VIX: The CBOE market volatility index has increased +14% over the morning to 26.5, above its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. While the Euro Stoxx 50 volatility price index is up +1.1% to 24.1, just above its LTA of 23.9.
Bonds: The UK 10-year gilt yield, US 10-year treasury yield and the German 10-year bund yield have all compressed -1bp to 0.24%, 0.70% and -0.43%.
Currency: Sterling remains steady at $1.31, while the euro has appreciated to $1.19. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.28% and 1.11% per annum on a five-year basis.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are currently $44.59 and $41.88 per barrel.
Gold: The price of gold declined -0.5% on Friday to $1,944 per troy ounce, albeit this is still +27% above where it was at the beginning of the year.