Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 30 October 2020

An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
Written By:
Victoria Ormond, Knight Frank
2 minutes to read

Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 30 October 2020.


Equities: In Europe, the FTSE 250 (-0.3%) and the DAX (-0.2%) are lower over the morning, while the CAC 40 has added +0.2% and the STOXX 600 is flat. In Asia, stocks were down, with the Kospi (-2.6%), Topix (-2.0%), Hang Seng (-1.9%), CSI 300 (-1.6%) and the S&P / ASX 200 (-0.5%) all lower on close. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are down -0.4%.
VIX: Following a -6.7% decline over yesterday, the CBOE market volatility index has increased +4.0% this morning to 39.1. Meanwhile, the Euro Stoxx50 volatility index is down this morning, decreasing -0.6% to 37.3. Both indexes remain elevated compared to their long term averages of 19.9 and 24.0.
Bonds: The UK 10-year gilt yield has softened +2bps to 0.23%, while the US 10-year treasury yield has compressed -1bp to 0.82% and the German 10-year bund yield has remained steady at -0.63%.
Currency: Sterling has depreciated to $1.29, while the euro is currently $1.17. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are at 0.38% and 1.25% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry decreased -6.1% yesterday to 1,297, which is the largest daily decrease since July and the lowest the index has been in a month. Over the last 18 sessions, the Baltic Dry has seen cumulative declines of -38%, albeit the index is +19% higher than it was at the beginning of the year.
Oil: Both Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) remain below $40 per barrel this morning, despite increasing +0.6% and +0.4% to $38.40 and $36.32, respectively.
Gold: Gold was priced at $1,869 per troy ounce on Thursday, a -0.4% decline on the day prior and +22.3% up on the price at the start of the year.
US Unemployment: There were 751k new unemployment applications in the week to 24thOctober, below market expectations of 775k and lower than the previous week’s reading of 791k.