The leading event on January 20 is without a doubt the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President of the United States, respectively.
The event will be different from previous years. First off, due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will not be crowds gathered to greet the new President of the United States. Secondly, because of the armed assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters a few weeks ago, Washington is on high alert, with troops deployed to protect the peace and ensure the safety of the new President and his VP.
Speaking of the coronavirus, although the number of new daily infections in the United States is going down, the lethality rate remains unchanged. The country officially surpassed 400,000 deaths yesterday. Over the coming days Covid-19 will have claimed even more victims from the United States than World War 2.
Red flags are being raised in Europe, where France and Spain are once again seeing a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases. The lockdowns and curfews managed to lower the cases recently but it seems that the wave of infections is getting worse again.
The virus is also picking up speed in Brazil and Colombia. In Asia, Japan is struggling with its worst Covid-19 outbreak to date.
The world total is at 96.7 million and will likely surpass 100 million before a substantial portion of the global population is vaccinated. In addition, preliminary research suggests that the new highly contagious variant found in the United Kingdom may be less susceptible to the vaccines developed in 2020.
As for the stock markets, today we expect to see all US indices extend their rally due to Biden’s inauguration. Netflix is the most interesting company at the moment, due to a stellar report released yesterday that confirmed 2020 was a successful year for the company. Today Procter & Gamble’s earnings report will be released.
In Asian markets, Alibaba’s stock is once again performing well after founder Jack Ma appeared at a charity event. It was Ma’s first appearance in weeks, and the first since China announced measures to limit the billionaire’s operations.
