Yesterday’s positive mood among investors appears to have carried over to today. All major US stock indices are on the rise amid hopes that within a few months, most of the world will have access to at least one of the three working coronavirus vaccines currently in development.
In addition, the markets rejoiced at the news that the General Services Administration has finally given President-elect Joe Biden access to office space and funds to get his staff ready to take over the White House in January. Due to Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the election results, this procedure took three weeks, way longer than average.
With Biden moving ahead and most of Trump’s cases regarding potential voter fraud thrown out of court, now there is much more confidence that the transition of power will occur in a more or less orderly manner.
Investors are also happy that Joe Biden has selected Janet Yellen as his Treasury Secretary. Yellen served as Chief of the Federal Reserve before Jerome Powell and the two are known to get along and agree in terms of monetary policy. Thus, Biden’s administration is likely going to have a positive relationship with the Federal Reserve and ensure coordinated action when it comes to the economy, unlike what we’ve seen under Trump.
Due to the prospects of an administration that devotes more funds to stimulus in 2021, the long-term prospects of the US dollar have become somewhat bearish (also helped by hopes that next year, with the mass use of vaccines, Covid-19 will no longer be a problem). This in turn has helped boost the value of Bitcoin, which now sits at around $19,000.
In a sign of acceptance of the cryptocurrency, PayPal decided to allow its clients to use Bitcoin to make payments. This is a huge step for Bitcoin and can lay the groundwork for the gradual adaptation of the financial markets to cryptocurrencies as real, valid payment methods.
In other positive news, the United Kingdom followed in France’s footsteps and announced that the national lockdown will end from the beginning of December. However, measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus will likely remain around even after the lockdown has ended.
