Covid-19 Daily Dashboard – 21 May 2020
An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
1 minute to read
Equities
Global equities moderated this morning, with investors cautious over the global economy and US-China tensions. Frankfurt’s DAX was down -1.4% this morning, with both the FTSE 100 and STOXX 600 declining by -0.9%.
VIX
The “investor fear gauge”, the VIX volatility index remains highly volatile. Having decreased by -8.3% yesterday, today, the index has so far increased by 8.9% to 30.6. Near term equity market volatility is expected to continue.
Currency
Sterling and the euro are at $1.22 and $1.10, respectively, with the euro appreciating slightly against the dollar.
Bonds
Yesterday, the UK sold £3.8 billion of three-year gilts at a negative yield of -0.003%. This is the first time UK longer-dated gilts have been sold at a yield below zero and means that investors holding the bond until maturity will receive back less than they paid. Despite this, the issue was 2.15 x over-subscribed. The UK 10-year government bond is currently 0.20% this morning, the German 10-year bund yield is at -0.48% and the US 10-year treasury bond yield 0.67%.
Flash PMIs
The composite PMI increased from the record low of 13.8 in April, to 28.9 in May. Despite the increase, May’s reading is far below any other point in the survey’s history, and still indicates that a large majority of businesses reported declining output, as figures below 50 are contractionary.
Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 21 May 2020.