Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 15 October 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 15 October 2020.
Lockdown: From Saturday, in England, London and Essex will move to Tier 2 ‘high’ restrictions, with limitations to mixing indoors, and a ‘Rule of 6’ outdoors. Meanwhile in France, a state of Emergency has been declared, with Ile-de-France, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Aix-Marseille, Saint Etienne and Toulouse restricted to a 9pm – 6am curfew from Saturday for four weeks.
Equities: Globally, stocks are mostly down this morning. In Europe, declines were led by the DAX (-3.0%), followed by the STOXX 600 and CAC 40 (both -2.3%) and the FTSE 250 (-1.6%). In Asia, the Hang Seng (-2.1%), Kospi (-0.8%), Topix (-0.7%) and the CSI 300 (-0.2%) were all lower on close. The S&P / ASX 200 (+0.5%) was the only index to close higher. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are down -1.1%.
VIX: After increasing +1.3% yesterday, the CBOE market volatility index is up a further +5.0% this morning to 27.7. The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index has also increased, up +13.6% to 26.4. Both indices are elevated compared to their long term averages of 19.9 and 23.9.
Bonds: The German 10-year bund yield has compressed -5bps to -0.62%, the lowest it has been since March. Meanwhile, the UK 10-year gilt yield is down -4bps to 0.18% and the US 10-year treasury yield has contracted -2bps to 0.70%.
Currency: Sterling and the euro are currently $1.29 and $1.17, respectively. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are at 0.35% and 1.20% per annum on a five-year basis.
Oil: Both Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are down -1.2% and -1.3% to $42.81 and $40.52.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry decreased for the sixth consecutive session yesterday, down -5.5% to 1,637. The index is now -16% lower than the peak seen in July, due to a -22% cumulative decline over the last seven sessions. However, the index remains +50% higher than it was at the start of January.
Gold: The price of gold increased +1% yesterday to $1,904 per troy ounce. Gold remains -8% lower than its record high in August, but is +25% higher than it was at the start of the year.