Daily Economics Dashboard - 23 March 2021

Download an overview of key economic and financial metrics on 23 March 2021.

Equities: Globally, stocks are lower. In Europe, declines have been recorded by the CAC 40 (-0.6%), STOXX 600 (-0.6%), DAX (-0.4%) and FTSE 250 (-0.3%). In Asia, the Hang Seng (-1.3%), KOSPI (-1.0%), CSI 300 (-0.9%), TOPIX (-0.9%) and S&P / ASX 200 (-0.1%) were all down on close. In the US, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are -0.4% and -0.5%.
VIX: After declining -10% over Monday, the CBOE market volatility index has since increased +4.9% this morning to 19.8, albeit remaining just below its long term average (LTA) of 19.9. Meanwhile, the Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index is lower, down -1.3% to 17.5, remaining below its LTA of 23.9. The Euro Stoxx VIX is currently at its lowest level since January 2020.
Bonds: The US 10-year treasury yield has compressed -6bps this morning to 1.64%, while both the UK 10-year gilt yield and German 10-year bund yield are -3bps lower at 0.78% and -0.34%.
European Bond Buying: The European Central Bank (ECB) bought €21.1bn of bonds under its pandemic emergency purchase programme (Pepp) over the week to March 17th, higher than the €14bn purchased in the week prior and above the €18bn weekly average since the programme started in 2020.
Currency: Sterling has depreciated to $1.38, while the euro is currently $1.19. Hedging benefits into the UK and Eurozone are currently 0.55% and 1.74%, respectively on a five year basis.
Oil: Brent Crude and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are both -3.5% lower this morning, at $62.34 and $59.39, respectively. This is both Brent Crude and the WTI’s lowest level in over a month.
Baltic Dry: The Baltic Dry increased for the sixth consecutive session on Monday, up +1.7% to 2319, a more than one year high. Panamax rates pushed prices higher, increasing +2.8% to their strongest level in a decade.
UK Unemployment: In the three months to January 2021, unemployment was 5.0%, compared to 5.1% in the three months to December and expectations of 5.2%. However, this level is +0.1% higher than the previous quarter and +1.1% above the unemployment rate in the year prior.