At the end of the week, the coronavirus pandemic remains one of the two biggest concerns of investors. The number of total infections declared each day continues to rise and has now reached levels last observed in January when the second wave of the pandemic was raging and many countries had not begun their vaccination campaigns.
Europe is in the midst of the third wave at the moment, and one that may be even more dangerous than everything observed in 2020, due to the highly contagious nature of the new variants of Covid-19 currently plaguing the continent. France confirmed over 45,000 new coronavirus cases yesterday, the highest number since early November. Italy and Germany both had over 20,000 new cases each. The rest of the continent is doing similarly.
Brazil and India are also currently experiencing heavy coronavirus breakouts. India has stated that it might have to pause the export of some vaccines to cater to its own needs at the moment. Recall that India is the largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the United States, which has had one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the world. In his press conference last night, President Biden said that his initial target of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office has already been met, and set a new goal of 200 million. That is a goal for the end of April, very much in line with Biden’s previous comment that he would like all adult Americans to get at least one jab by May.
Aside from the pandemic, the second issue that is affecting the markets right now is the ongoing blockage of the Suez Canal, which has interrupted supply lines for many kinds of goods, and most importantly crude oil. It is highly unlikely that the canal will be unblocked this week.
In terms of the economic calendar, there are a couple of highlights today. Germany’s Ifo business climate index for March rose more than expected to 96.6. In Italy, both business and consumer confidence were better than expected.
Meanwhile, the United States disappointed with its own PCE price index data, which indicated that the inflationary processes in the country are still quite slow. Investors are looking forward to the Michigan consumer sentiment survey for March, which will be published later today.
