Today the United States announced it will be imposing more sanctions on China on account of the Hong Kong security law. Congress came forward with a bill that would prevent US banks from working with Chinese officials. This is the second piece of legislation the United States has passed regarding Hong Kong in the past year.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom announced that people who hold a British Overseas National passports in Hong Kong (about 3 million) can permanently relocate to the UK and eventually apply for British citizenship. The measure comes after China’s crackdown on Hong Kong with a new security law, which the UK sees as a violation of the agreement it signed with China when “returning” the colony of Hong Kong to it at the end of the 20th century.
China also received criticism from Canada, Australia, and the European Union, though countries such as Cuba supported China’s right to impose laws in its own territories, no matter how controversial they may seem to outsiders.
In other news, the number of coronavirus cases globally has reached 10.8 million. Yesterday the United States reported a record increase of 51,000 new infections. Anthony Fauci’s warning that over the July 4 weekend the country might see daily increases of 100,000 cases no longer seems outlandish, considering the exponential rate at which the virus spreads.
In addition, today is Thursday, which means jobless claims reports (both initial and continuing) from the United States, which are expected to show a mild recovery on the labor market. Moreover, today we will also get the June unemployment rate. Note that these reports will not take into account any job losses that were caused by the new coronavirus outbreak - this data will be in next week’s reports.
Despite the pandemic and the tensions between China and the United States, today stock markets are doing well, with indices making gains all around.
