ECONOMICS

Daily Economics Dashboard - 1 April 2021

An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
Written By:
Victoria Ormond, Knight Frank
2 minutes to read
Categories: Property Sector Offices service Consultancy Topic Covid-19 Economics World Regions UK London


Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics on 1 April 2021.

  • Equities: Globally, stocks are positive this morning as the announcement of a $2.3tn spending plan made by the US president Joe Biden lifted optimism. In Europe, the FTSE 250 (+0.7%), the DAX (+0.6%), the Stoxx 600 (+0.5%) and the CAC 40 (+0.3%) are all positive. In Asia the Hang Seng (+1.9%) was the best performing index, followed by the CSI 300 (+1.2%), the KOSPI (+0.8%), the S&P / ASX 200 (+0.6%) and TOPIX (+0.2%). In the US, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up +0.4% and +0.1% so far this morning.
  • VIX: The CBOE market volatility index and the Euro Stoxx 50 volatility both decreased by circa -4% today, down to 18.6 and 17.3 respectively, below their long term averages of 19.9 and 23.9.
  • Bonds: The UK 10-year gilt yield and the German 10-year bund yield both compressed -1bp to 0.84% and -0.30%. The US 10-year treasury yield compressed -3bps to 1.71%, following the 14-month high of 1.78% reached earlier this week.
  • Currency: Sterling and the euro are currently $1.38 and $1.17. Currency hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and Eurozone are 0.66% and 1.79% on a five year basis.
  • Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are up +0.5% and +1.99% this morning at $63.9 and $60.3.
  • Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry declined for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, down by -2.7% to 2,046. While this level is -12% below the March peak of 2,319, it remains +50% higher than the start of the year.
  • Gold: Gold increased by +0.3% this morning to $1,720 per troy ounce, a level which is -11% below where it was three months ago, marking its largest quarterly decline since late 2016.
  • Eurozone PMI: The eurozone manufacturing PMI was revised higher from 62.4 to 62.5 in March, the highest reading since the survey began in June 1997. Above 50 is considered expansionary. This has been led by output and new orders increasing at record rates, driven by exports.
  • International Trade: the World Trade Organization (WTO) raised its trade growth projection for 2021 from 7.2% to 8.0%. This is the largest increase since 2010 and more than offsets the -5.3% contraction recorded in 2020.