Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 15 December 2020

Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 15 December 2020.

Equities: In Europe, stocks are higher. The DAX (+0.8%), CAC 40 (+0.5%), STOXX 600 and FTSE 250 (both +0.2%) are all up over the morning. In Asia, stocks were mostly lower, with the Hang Seng (-0.7%), Topix (-0.5%), S&P / ASX 200 (-0.4%) and Kospi (-0.2%) all closing down, while the CSI 300 (+0.2%) was the only index to close higher. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are up +0.4% and +0.3%, respectively.
VIX: Following a +2.7% increase over yesterday, the CBOE market volatility has decreased -5.5% this morning to 23.4, which remains above its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index has also decreased, down -3.2% to 21.8, remaining below its LTA of 24.0.
Bonds: The UK 10-year gilt yield has compressed -1bp to 0.21%, while both the US 10-year treasury yield and the German 10-year bund yield have held steady at 0.90% and -0.62%.
Currency: Sterling has depreciated this morning to $1.33, while the euro is currently $1.22. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.46% and 1.32% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased +2.0% on Monday to 1235, the highest the index has been since the beginning of November. Year to date gains in the index are currently at +13%, following cumulative declines of -41% since 6th October. When compared to the peak of 1956 seen on 6th July, the index is down -37%.
Oil: Both Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased +0.1% this morning to $50.33 and $47.03.
Brexit: There is currently a 71% likelihood of a trade deal between the UK and the European Union being signed in 2020, according to Oddschecker. This compares to 59% yesterday and 64% one week ago.
UK Unemployment: The UK’s unemployment rate was 4.9% in the three months to October, lower than market expectations of 5.1%, albeit +1.2% higher than a year earlier and +0.7% greater than the previous quarter. The number of redundancies reached a record high of 370,000 in the quarter to October 2020, an increase of a record 217,000 over the three months, however, the number of redundancies fell slightly in October itself.