The number of coronavirus cases globally sits at 20.5 million today. The United States declared another 55,000 new cases yesterday, which is an increase from the day before, where onl 49,000 new cases were registered. This is worrisome, as experts had hoped the recent decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases discovered daily is a sign that the pandemic is coming under control in the United States, but yesterday’s results disprove that.
Brazil and India are also still major epicenters of the disease which does not appear to be slowing down in those countries yet. In Europe, Spain, Germany, and France have been declaring bigger increases than in June and July. If the numbers continue to rise, they will pose a problem for the markets.
Meanwhile, the US Presidential race is gradually entering a more intense phase. Joe Biden, who is set to formally accept the Democrat nomination soon, announced Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate (i.e. Vice President candidate). Harris was seeking the presidential nomination herself but dropped out in the early stages due to a lack of enough support, despite being well-liked and stable in her campaign overall.
There are now 11 weeks until the elections, which will cause increasingly more volatility on the financial markets, especially where the US dollar is concerned.
Speaking of the dollar, today it is on rise, together with 10-year Treasury yields due to an upcoming major sale of notes in the US. Moreover, today we expect a key inflation report from the United States that will have a further impact on the dollar.
Today there was also a GDP report from the United Kingdom which showed that the UK economy shrank by more than 20% in the second quarter of 2020, likely due to the country’s dependence on services as a major contributor to its GDP, and the slower response to the coronavirus pandemic (compared to the rest of Europe).
