Daily Economics Dashboard - 17 March 2021

Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics on 17 March 2021.

Equities: In Europe, stocks are mostly lower. Declines have been recorded by the FTSE 250 (-0.7%), STOXX 600 (-0.3%) and CAC 40 (-0.1%), while the DAX is flat over the morning. In Asia, the KOSPI (-0.6%) and S&P / ASX 200 (-0.5%) both closed lower, while the CSI 300 (+0.4%) and Topix (+0.1%) closed higher and the Hang Seng was flat on close. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 are down -0.3%.
VIX: After decreasing -1% over Tuesday, the CBOE market volatility index has since increased +1.9% this morning to 20.2, just above its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index is also lower, down -0.3% to 17.5, its lowest level since January 2020 and below its LTA of 23.9.
Bonds: Greece has issued its longest-maturity bonds since 2008, with €17 billion of orders recorded for its sale of 30-year bonds. This morning, the UK 10-year gilt yield has softened +4bps to 0.82%, while the US 10-year treasury yield, German 10-year bund yield and Italian 10-year bond yield are all +2bps higher at 1.64%, -0.32% and 0.64%, respectively. Both the UK gilt yield and US treasury yield are at their highest levels since December 2019.
Currency: Sterling has appreciated to $1.39, while the euro is currently $1.19. Hedging benefits into the UK and the Eurozone are 0.57% and 1.71% on a five-year basis.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) have decreased -0.4% and -0.2% to $68.13 and $64.66 per barrel, respectively.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased for the second consecutive session on Tuesday, up +1.7% to 2017, its highest level since early October. Prices were pushed higher by panamax rates which increased +4.4% yesterday to their strongest level since 18th February, as well as capesize rates which increased +1.3%.
Gold: The price of gold is currently $1,732 per troy ounce, -11% below where it was at the start of the year and down -16% compared to the record $2,063 achieved in August 2020.
UK tech sector: According to research released today, UK tech venture capital investment is the third highest in the world, hitting a record of $15bn in 2020. 63% of investment came from overseas in 2020, up from 50% in 2016.