The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 15 million today. The United States now has over 4 million confirmed infections, Brazil has 2.1 million, and India is close to 2 million. The number of new cases discovered every day in the most affected countries is refusing to go down, indicating that they have still not reached the peak of their respective outbreaks.
For traders interested in the stock markets, Tesla will be the major news today as the company publishes its earnings information for the second quarter of 2020. So far Tesla has been able to deliver better than expected numbers in terms of sales, but many believe that its current stock price does not accurately reflect what the company is worth and whether it is worthy to join the S&P 500, as speculated earlier this year.
Several companies other than Tesla will also be reporting today, including Microsoft and Chipotle. The Nasdaq index is doing well, but the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are on the downside today.
Meanwhile, precious metals continue to shine as some of the best performing trading instruments right now. Gold has soared to $1,857 and silver has climbed to $22.40. Thanks to dovish monetary policies making a comeback all over the globe, metals like gold and silver have once again become all the rage among investors.
The fight for a new stimulus package continues in the United States. The country is set to run out of its currently allotted funds next week. There are two different proposals being discussed - a $1 trillion one championed by Republicans and a $3 trillion one proposed by Democrats. A decision in this regard needs to be made this week, otherwise millions of Americans could be left hanging next week.
In other news, the US and China are still at each other’s necks. The latest escalation comes after the United States ordered the closure of a Chinese consulate in Houston. China has criticized the move and has suggested that it will close the US consulate in Wuhan in retaliation.
