Covid-19 Daily Dashboard – 7 August 2020
An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
2 minutes to read
Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 7 August 2020.
Equities: In Europe, the FTSE 250 is +0.1% over the morning, the STOXX 600 -0.1% and the DAX remains flat. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are down -0.4%. In Asia, the Hang Seng (-1.6%), CSI 300 (-1.2%), S&P / ASX 200 (-0.6%) and the Topix (-0.2%) all closed lower, while the Kospi added +0.4%.
VIX: The CBOE market volatility index and the Euro Stoxx 50 volatility price index have increased +2.2% and +0.6% over the morning, to 25.4 and 25.1. Both indices are now above their long term averages, indicating further expectation of near-term volatility.
Bonds: The US 10-year treasury yield has compressed -2bps to 0.52%, while both the UK 10-year gilt yield and the Italian 10-year government bond yield have nudged up +1bp to 0.11% and 1.00%. The German 10-year bund yield is flat at -0.54%.
Currency: Sterling is currently $1.31 and the euro remains steady at $1.18. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.22% and 1.04% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry index gained a further +1.7% yesterday, lifting the index to 1,500. This brings the cumulative gains over the last five trading sessions to +19%.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are down -0.3% and -0.4% over the morning, to $44.94 per barrel and $41.77 per barrel, respectively. The latest Baker Hughes rig count found there were 251 active oil rigs in the US as at 31st July 2020, compared to 942 one year ago. Internationally, the number of active oil rigs in July stood at 743, compared to 781 one month ago.
Gold: The price of gold appreciated by a further +1% yesterday to a new high of $2,061 per troy ounce. This price is +35% higher than it was in January.
US Unemployment: There were 1.2 million new unemployment applications in the week to 1st August, below expectations of 1.4 million and the lowest number of new weekly applications since the pandemic started.