Daily Economics Dashboard - 5 January 2021
An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
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Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics on 5 January 2021 2020.
Lockdown: England has entered into its third national lockdown with schools, hospitality, leisure and non-essential retail businesses across the country shut and a national stay at home order in place.
Equities: In Europe, stocks are mostly lower this morning, with losses recorded by the DAX (-0.3%), CAC 40 (-0.2%) and STOXX 600 (-0.1%), however, the FTSE 250 has added +1.0%. In Asia, stocks closed higher, with the CSI 300 (+1.9%), Kospi (+1.6%) and Hang Seng (+0.6%) all up on close. Meanwhile, the S&P / ASX 200 closed flat and the Topix closed -0.2% lower. In the US, following Wall Street’s worst sell off since October, S&P 500 futures are +0.2%.
VIX: Following a +19.8% increase yesterday, the CBOE market volatility index has increased a further +0.1% this morning to 27.0, the highest it has been since early November. The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index has also increased this morning, up +2.0% to 25.3. Both the CBOE vix and the Euro Stoxx 50 vix remain elevated compared to their long term averages of 19.5 and 23.9, respectively.
Bonds: The German 10-year bund yield has softened +3bps to -0.6%, while the UK 10-year gilt yield and the US 10-year treasury yield have both increased +1bp to 0.19% and 0.93%, respectively.
Currency: Sterling has depreciated to $1.36, while the euro is currently $1.23. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.53% and 1.29% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased +0.6% on Monday to 1374, its highest reading in over two months. The growth in the index has been supported by capesize rates, which are currently at their highest level since the end of October 2020.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are currently priced at $51.80 and $48.30 per barrel. Over the year to 31st December, Brent Crude and the WTI declined -22% and -21%, respectively.
Gold: The price of gold increased +2.4% on Monday to $1,942, the highest it has been since the beginning of November, and the largest daily increase since March 2020.