Daily Economics Dashboard - 18 March 2021
An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
2 minutes to read
Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics on 18 March 2021.
Equities: Globally, stocks are mostly higher. In Europe, gains have been recorded by the DAX (+0.9%), STOXX 600 (+0.3%), FTSE 250 and CAC 40 (both +0.2%). In Asia, the Hang Seng (+1.3%), TOPIX (+1.2%), CSI 300 (+0.8%) and KOSPI (+0.6%) all closed higher. The S&P / ASX 200 was the exception, down -0.7% on close. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are down -0.7%.
VIX: After decreasing -3% over Wednesday, the CBOE market volatility index has since recouped its losses, up +3.1% this morning to 19.8, remaining just below its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. Meanwhile, the Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index is lower, down -4.8% to 16.7, its lowest level since January 2020 and below its LTA of 23.9.
Bonds: The US 10-year treasury yield has softened +8bps to 1.72%, while the UK 10-year gilt yield is up +4bps to 0.87% and the German 10-year bund yield is +3bps higher at -0.27%. The US treasury yield and German bund yield are both at their highest levels since December 2019, while the UK gilt yield is at its highest level since June 2019. According to Japan’s ministry of finance, Japanese investors have purchased £5 billion of UK gilts on a net basis in January, the highest monthly figure since Bloomberg record began in 2005.
Currency: Sterling has appreciated to $1.40, while the euro is currently $1.19. Hedging benefits into the UK and the Eurozone are 0.54% and 1.69% on a five-year basis.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) have both decreased -0.4% this morning to $67.76 and $64.32 per barrel, respectively.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, up +4.4% to 2105, its largest daily increase in over a month and its highest level since September 2019. Due to a lack of supply, prices have been pushed higher by panamax rates which increased +8.9% yesterday to a more than 10-year high. Capesize rates are also higher, up +3.8%, to their highest level since 26th January 2021.
US Economy: The Federal Reserve has updated its forecasts for 2021, with US GDP now expected to increase +6.5%, compared to 4.2% last forecast in December. The central bank forecast inflation to increase later this year, reaching 2.4%, above the banks 2% target. However, this is expected to be ‘transient’.