Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 11 December 2020

An overview of key economic and financial metrics.
Written By:
William Matthews, Knight Frank
2 minutes to read

Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 11 December 2020.


Equities: In Europe, stocks were negative this morning, driven down by an increased risk of a no-deal Brexit and by disappointing interim results of the Sanofi / GSK Covid-19 vaccine, the rollout of which has been postponed from mid-2021 to Q4 2021. The DAX (-1.5%) and CAC 40 (-1.2%) were the worst performing indexes, followed by the STOXX 600 (-1.1%) and FTSE 250 (-0.4%). In the US, S&P 500 and the DJIA are also down by -0.7% and -0.5% respectively. In Asia, stocks were mixed, with the CSI 300 (-1.0%) and the S&P / ASX 200 (-0.6%) closing lower, while the Kospi (+0.9%), Hang Seng (+0.4%) and Topix (+0.3%) closing higher.
VIX: the CBOE market volatility has increased +8.6% this morning to 24.4, which is above its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. Meanwhile, the Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index increased by +3.2% to 20.7, remaining below its LTA of 24.0.
Bonds: The UK 10-year gilt yield has compressed -4bps to 0.16%, while the US 10-year treasury yield has declined -2bps to 0.89% and the German 10-year bund yield remained stable at -0.63%.
Currency: Sterling has depreciated to $1.32, the lowest point in nearly a month, while the euro is currently $1.21. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.52% and 1.33% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased +3.5% yesterday to 1161. Year to date gains in the index are currently at just +6.5%, following cumulative declines of -44% since 6th October. When compared to the peak of 1956 seen on 6th July, the index is down -41%.
Brexit: There is currently a 57% likelihood of a trade deal between the UK and the European Union being signed in 2020, according to Oddschecker. This compares to 86% one week ago and 71% last month.
US Unemployment: There were 853k new unemployment applications in the week to 5th December, above market expectations of 725k and higher than the previous week’s reading of 716k. This is the largest number of new unemployment applications in eleven weeks.