Covid-19 Daily Dashboard – 27 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 27 August 2020.
Equities: Global equity markets are currently trading lower. In Europe, the STOXX 600 is currently -0.3%, driven down by the CAC 40 (-0.6%), the DAX (-0.3%), while the FTSE 250 is -0.1%. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 opened marginally lower (-0.2%) after the index reached an all-time high the day prior. The markets performance in Asia was mixed, with the Kospi, the Hang Seng and the TOPIX declining 50-100bps, while CSI 300 and the S&P / ASX 200 increased by +0.5% and +0.2% respectively.
VIX: The CBOE market volatility index, also known as the ‘investor fear gauge’, gained +5.5% over the course of yesterday ending at 23.3. In Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 volatility price index is currently at 23.2, up from 22.0 yesterday and remains just below the long term average.
Bonds: 10-year bond yields have compressed across the board so far this morning. The US 10-year treasury yield has declined -1bp to 0.68%, while the UK 10-year gilt yield and the German 10-year bund yield both declined -3bps to 0.27% and -0.45% respectively.
Currency: Both sterling and the euro remain stable at $1.32 and $1.18. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.25% and 1.11% per annum on a five-year basis.
Oil: Brent Crude is trading above $46 per barrel for the third consecutive day, the highest level since early March. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is down -0.3% to $43.24 per barrel.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry lost -0.6% yesterday, declining to 1,509, albeit +38% above where it was in January.
Gold: The price of gold is down -0.2% to $1,948 per troy ounce, -5.1% below the record high reached earlier this month.
US Durable Goods Orders: Durable goods orders, a forward looking economic indicator of manufacturing activity, increased +11.2% in July, beating market expectations and recovering further from the sharp fall seen over April-March. The growth was largely driven by strong demand for transport equipment (+35.6%).