Covid-19 Daily Dashboard - 4 December 2020

Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics relating to Covid-19 on 4 December 2020.

Equities: Globally, stocks are higher. In Europe, gains have been recorded by the FTSE 250 (+0.5%), CAC 40 (+0.4%), STOXX 600 (+0.3%) and the DAX (+0.1%). In Asia, the Kospi closed +1.3% higher, lifting its year to date gains to +24%. The Hang Seng (+0.4%), S&P / ASX 200 (+0.3%) and the CSI 300 (+0.2%) also closed higher, while the Topix was flat on close. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are up +0.3%.
VIX: Following a +0.5% increase over yesterday, the CBOE market volatility has declined -1.1% this morning to 21.0, which is just above its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index is also lower, down -3.1% to 20.7, below its LTA of 24.0.
Bonds: The US 10-year treasury yield and the German 10-year bund yield have both softened +1bp this morning to 0.92% and -0.55%. Meanwhile, the UK 10-year gilt yield has held steady at 0.33%.
Currency: Sterling and the euro have appreciated to $1.35 and $1.22, respectively. Hedging benefits for US dollar denominated investors into the UK and the eurozone are 0.43% and 1.33% per annum on a five-year basis.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry decreased for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday, down -1.0% to 1189, the lowest it has been in 7 sessions. Year to date gains in the index are currently at +9%, following cumulative declines of -43% since 6th October. When compared to the peak of 1956 seen on 6th July, the index is down -39%.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) have both increased +1.5% this morning to $49.45 and $46.30, respectively. This is the highest price Brent Crude has achieved since February and the most the WTI has achieved since 5th March. This follows an agreement by Opec+ to gradually increase production.
Gold: The price of gold increased +0.5% over Thursday to $1,839. The price of gold remains +20% above where it was at the start of the year, albeit -11% down compared to the record price achieved on 6th August of $2,063.
US Unemployment: There were 712k new unemployment applications in the week to 28th November, below market expectations of 775k and lower than the previous week’s reading of 787k.