Today we awoke to 13.7 million coronavirus cases worldwide. The US leads the charge by a wide margin, followed by Brazil (which is to reach 2 million Covid-19 cases tomorrow, by all estimates) and India.
The coronavirus remains the central topic in the United States today. The country now has over 3.6 million Covid-19 cases. Yesterday the US broke its own grim record again by registering 71,000 new cases of the virus. President Trump’s approval ratings continue to fall as he has failed to endorse the safety measures recommended by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Trump has repeatedly violated the rules himself, appearing without a mask and not respecting the recommended social distance when meeting with others. He also urged states to end their lockdowns before it was completely safe to do so, which led to the current escalation. Considering 2020 is an election year, the President’s response to the coronavirus crisis will likely have serious implications for the future of the United States.
In Europe today Facebook lost a case regarding users’ privacy. The so-called Privacy Shield is an instrument used to protect user data when it is taken from the European Union and transferred to the United States, where privacy laws differ. The European Union Court of Justice determined this tool is not sufficiently safe. This news has implications for Facebook stocks.
Twitter also had its fair share of trouble, after a hack on multiple high-profile accounts took place yesterday. The tech company’s stock prices are dropping today in light of the security breach.
European leaders are also preparing for a two-day summit that begins tomorrow in Brussels to decide whether to accept the 750 billion euro recovery fund proposed by the European Commission. Because the plan includes both loans and grants, the EU stands divided; the countries who contribute more and use less of the funds are unwilling to give grants to those who use more than they contribute to the budget. However, the latter happen to also be the worst-affected by the coronavirus (France, Spain, Italy) and all the more in need of stimulus at the moment.
Meanwhile, China officially became the first country whose GDP returned to growth after the coronavirus pandemic. Though this is reassuring in many ways, the worsening of China’s relationship with the US remains a possible risk factor.
Lastly, since today is Thursday, we expect this week’s jobless claims (both initial and continuing) from the United States. The labor market is expected to be stabilizing, despite the recent surge in coronavirus cases. Any results pointing to the opposite will cause volatility.
