Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 7 December 2020

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

Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 7 December 2020.

COVID-19: The total number of cases recorded globally has surpassed 67 million, with circa 1.5 million reported deaths according to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
Equities: Globally, stocks are mostly lower. In Europe, the CAC 40 is down -0.9%, while the FTSE 250, DAX and STOXX 600 are all -0.5% lower. In Asia, the Hang Seng (-1.2%), CSI 300 and Topix (both -0.9%) all closed down. However, the S&P / ASX 200 (+0.6%) and the Kospi (+0.5%) were both up on close. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are -0.5%.
VIX: Following a -2.3% decline over Friday, the CBOE market volatility index has now increased +7.3% this morning to 22.3, above its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index has also increased to 22.3 after gaining +7.9% this morning, albeit remaining below its LTA of 24.0.
Bonds: The UK 10-year gilt yield has compressed -5bps to 0.30%, while the US 10-year treasury yield and the German 10-year bund yield are both down -3bps this morning to 0.95% and -0.58%, respectively.
Currency: Sterling and the euro have depreciated to $1.33 and $1.21, respectively. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.46% and 1.35% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased for the first time in five sessions on Friday, up +0.7% to 1197, albeit the index weakened -2.7% over the week. Year to date gains in the index are currently at +10%, following cumulative declines of -43% since 6th October. When compared to the peak of 1956 seen on 6th July, the index is down -39%.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) have decreased -1.0% and -1.3% this morning to $48.75 and $45.64, respectively.
Gold: The price of gold decreased -0.1% over Friday to $1,838. The price of gold remains +20% above where it was at the start of the year, albeit -11% down compared to the record price achieved on 6th August of $2,063.