Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 7 October 2020
An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
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Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 7 October 2020.
Equities: In Europe, stocks are mostly lower with declines recorded by the DAX (-0.2%), CAC 40 and the STOXX 600 (both -0.1%). However, the FTSE 250 is +0.1% higher this morning. In Asia, stocks were mostly up on close, with the S&P / ASX 200 (+1.2%), Hang Seng (+1.1%) and the Kospi (+0.9%) recording gains, however the Topix closed flat. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are up +0.5%
VIX: After increasing +5.4% yesterday, the CBOE market volatility index has increased a further +0.2% over the morning to 29.5. The Euro Stoxx 50 vix has also increased, up +0.9% to 25.4. Both indices remain elevated.
Bonds: The Italian 10-year bond yield has compressed -2bps to 0.77%, while the UK 10-year gilt yield has compressed -1bp to 0.28%. The US 10-year bond yield has softened +2bps to 0.76%, while the German 10-year bund yield is steady at -0.51%.
Currency: Sterling has depreciated to $1.29, while the euro is currently $1.18. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are at 0.36% and 1.19% per annum on a five-year basis.
Oil: The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has declined below $40 per barrel this morning after decreasing -1.7% to $39.97. Brent Crude is also down this morning, contracting -1.4% to $42.07. The latest Baker Hughes rig count found there were 266 active oil rigs in the US as at 2nd October 2020, compared to 855 one year ago. Internationally, the number of active oil rigs in September stood at 702, compared to 747 one month ago.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased +1.3% yesterday to 2,097, its highest level since September 2019. The index is +92% higher than it was at the start of January and + 7% above this year’s previous peak in July.
Gold: The price of gold decreased +1% yesterday to $1,893 per troy ounce. Gold reached a record of $2,063 on 6th August and has since declined -8%, however it remains +24% higher than it was at the start of January.
Tesco: The UK grocery and general merchandise retailer reported group sales of £26.7 billion in the half year to August 29th, an increase of +6.6% compared to the same period last year. Higher demand for online shopping driven by the pandemic, saw Tesco more than double delivery capacity to 1.5 million slots a week during this period.