As of today, there have been over 18.7 million coronavirus cases worldwide and over 700,000 deaths. The United States continues to lead the count by a large margin, with more than 4.9 million confirmed Covid-19 cases, though the number of daily infections has dropped below 60,000 for now. Things in Brazil (2.8 million) and India (1.9 million) are still quite serious as the infection rates are still very high.
The United States is currently in the process of securing new legislation for continued stimulus during the crisis. The last package expired last week, leaving millions of unemployed people in the US without the extra $600 per week in direct payments on top of the standard welfare benefits. Thus, the government is under immense pressure to come up with a new solution.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnel has reportedly stepped down from the negotiations, after his $1 trillion proposal failed to gather enough support. Now the White House is negotiating with the Democrats, who have put forward their own stimulus plan.
If more stimulus is agreed upon, it will be good for the stock market and risk sentiment. It will also drive investors further away from safe havens and weaken the dollar more.
Meanwhile, the US and China have agreed to hold a high-level summit in the middle of this month. The premise of the gathering is to discuss the phase-1 agreement, but the recent issues between the two countries are likely to come up.
China has technically failed to fulfill the promises made in the phase-1 deal, most notably when it comes to increasing its US imports, but the agreement did not account for the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has repeatedly stated that the deal is irrelevant to him now, so there is some possibility the pact might be dissolved.
In other news, gold’s rally continues. The precious metal has hit an all-time high above $2,000, in part due to the weakening of the dollar and the perspective of low interest rates in the foreseeable future. Gold can continue increasing in price if the market situation remains the same.
