Covid-19 Daily Dashboard – 22 April 2020
Your daily market dashboard from our Commercial Research team
1 minute to read
Highlights today across key economic and financial indicators:
Oil
Following yesterday’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price fall due to storage issues, Brent Crude fell almost 25%. Earlier today it reached to 20 year lows at $15.98 a barrel, but has since pushed higher, currently sitting at $17.4.
Equities
European Equity markets have risen, despite the decline in oil prices. However, since the start of the week, some of the global equity indices have increased their year to date (YTD) losses. The S&P 500 is currently down -15% YTD, the STOXX 600 -22% down YTD and the FTSE 250 has seen a fall of -30% YTD.
VIX
Oil concerns are keeping the “investor fear gauge”, the VIX volatility index, elevated, currently at 41.0. This suggests continued near term equity market volatility.
Currency
Sterling has pared back slightly to $1.23, with hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK circa 0.12% per annum on a five-year basis. The currency hedging benefit of US dollar denominated investors into the Eurozone is now below 1% on a five-year basis
US stimulus
The US Senate has passed a $484 billion stimulus package, with $300 billion used to replenish the Paycheck Protection Programme (PPP), colloquially known as the small business fund. The bill also includes $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for the expansion of COVID-19 testing. Of the money allocated to PPP, $60 billion will be provided to small lenders and community-based financial institutions.
Download the key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19