Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 26 October 2020
An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
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Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 26 October 2020.
COVID-19: The total number of cases recorded globally has surpassed 43 million, with circa 1.15 million reported deaths according to Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
Lockdown: Italy announced on Sunday that all bars and restaurants will have to close at 6pm, with gyms, swimming pools, theatres and cinemas to shut altogether for at least a month. In Spain, a nationwide curfew has been introduced from 11pm –6am, following the announcement of a ‘state of alert’, last invoked at the beginning of March.
Equities: Globally, stocks are lower. In Europe, declines were led by the DAX which has contracted -2.1% over the morning. The STOXX 600 (-0.6%), FTSE 250 and the CAC 40 (both -0.5%) are also down. In Asia, the Kospi (-0.7%), CSI 300 (-0.6%), Topix (-0.4%) and the S&P / ASX 200 (-0.2%) were all lower on close. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are down -0.9%.
VIX: The CBOE market volatility index and the Euro Stoxx50 volatility index have increased +8.9% and +8.6% this morning, to 30.0 and 30.6, respectively. This is the highest both indexes have been since early September, with both indices elevated compared to their long term averages of 19.9 and 23.9.
Bonds: The US 10-year treasury yield has compressed -3bps to 0.81%, while the UK 10-year gilt yield has decreased -2bps to 0.26% and the German 10-year bund yield has contracted -1bp to -0.58%.
Currency: Sterling has depreciated to $1.30, while the euro is currently $1.18. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are at 0.37% and 1.24% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased for the second time on Friday, following an 11-session rout on 11th October, up +1.0% to 1,414. Over the last 13 sessions, the index has seen cumulative declines of -33%, albeit the Baltic Dry remains +30% higher than it was at the beginning of the year.
Oil: The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has fallen below $40 per barrel after declining -2.6% over the morning to $38.81. Brent Crude is also down, contracting -1.6% to $41.09 per barrel.