This week the political crisis in Belarus continues to weigh down European markets. Despite massive protests in Belarus against the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko, the latter has refused to step down and has employed increasingly more aggressive rhetoric against the protesters.
Belarus now finds itself the center of another divisive issue. The European Union has collectively deemed the results from the elections to be invalid and does not recognize Lukashenko’s mandate, while Russia has done the opposite. The EU will meet again on Wednesday to discuss the situation further; sanctions against Belarus are likely.
Meanwhile, the People’s Bank of China has decided on more stimulus to support the economy, after recent fundamental reports revealed that the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is losing steam. The news bolstered both Asian stocks and oil prices, as stimulus bodes well for the demand for oil from Chinese factories.
Nevertheless, Chinese stock indices are still exposed to risk if there are new negative actions against China from the United States. Though last weekend’s Sino-US summit was canceled and the two sides were unable to look at the phase-1 agreement as scheduled, Donald Trump has spoken about more measures against China in the near future.
Still, the current lack of escalation in the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies has had a beneficial effect on US stock indices, who have breathed a sigh of relief and are growing at the moment.
Lastly, we need to take another look at the coronavirus situation globally. The total number of cases worldwide today has surpassed 21.8 million. Things appear to be stabilizing in the United States, where only 36,000 new cases were found yesterday, nearly half of what used to be reported a week or two ago. Brazil also reported a much lower increase of 22,000 yesterday. The situation remains much more dangerous in India and Latin America, however.
