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© Reuters.
By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com – Rising Covid-19 cases trigger wave of risk sentiment across the world, plunging England’s ‘Freedom Day’ into chaos and pushing prices below $ 70 The President Joe Biden accuses Facebook (NASDAQ 🙂 of killing people with a disinformation vaccine, and Zoom Video buys Five9 (NASDAQ 🙂 for $ 15 billion in stock. IBM (NYSE :), Prologis (NYSE 🙂 and JB Hunt (NASDAQ 🙂 report profits. Here’s what you need to know about the financial markets on Monday, July 19.
1. The dollar inflated by the wave of risk
The dollar hit its highest level against its major peers in more than three months as evidence of a growing wave of Covid-19 cases around the world continued to mount, casting doubt on the sustainability of the recovery global.
The, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six advanced economy currencies, broke through the 93 level for the first time since early April, hitting an intraday high of 93.047 before pulling back a bit to 92.980. at 6:15 am ET (10:15 GMT), up 0.3% on the day.
The dollar also generally appreciated against emerging market currencies, with gains of over 0.5% against the dollar and the pesos, continuing a trend of risk aversion that had already started in response to recent signs of a slowdown in the Chinese economy.
The risk aversion movement was also evident in bond markets, with the return to the five-month low of 1.25% it hit last week.
2. The chaos of “Freedom Day” in England
Nowhere is the Delta variant spreading faster than in the UK, where it has completely messed up Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans for a welfare.
Almost all remaining official restrictions on business and social life in England are lifted today, but the number of cases is skyrocketing and public confidence is rapidly deteriorating. The UK reported more than 50,000 new cases on Saturday, tied with Indonesia, which has been the global hotspot for the pandemic in recent weeks (although UK testing rates are also much higher than in many countries).
Johnson himself is being forced to do so after coming into contact with new Health Minister Sajid Javid, who tested positive last week. Meanwhile, the UK’s track and trace app is issuing so many instructions to self-isolate that public transport, supermarkets and truckers are all warning of a crippling staff shortage. The pound sterling fell to its lowest in three months.
3. Stocks should open lower; Zoom in to buy Five9; IBM, Prologis results are due
U.S. equity markets are expected to open sharply lower later as the wave of risk aversion sentiment pushes them further away from the record highs they hit last week.
At 6:15 a.m., they were down 351 points, or 1.0%, while they were down 0.7% and outperforming, down just 0.3%, a trend familiar on days when the “Reopening of transactions” is reversed.
Stocks likely to be finalized later include Zoom Video, which said over the weekend that it was a $ 15 billion all-stock deal, its largest acquisition never made.
Also note the profits of Prologis, PPG Industries (NYSE 🙂 and JB Hunt, while IBM will report after the closing bell.
4. Biden slams Facebook
Facebook will also start the week back after President Joe Biden by allowing anti-vaccines to spread misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines on its platforms. A YouGov survey over the weekend showed that half of people refusing to get vaccinated believed the government was using them to chip people.
“The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people, ”Biden said.
His comments were echoed by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Sunday, who repeatedly criticized “tech companies” for not doing enough to remove or report inaccurate content.
Facebook, which marked a new low in its relations with the Democratic Party. Senator Ted Cruz has led a series of retaliations against the administration, accusing it of trying to stifle free speech.
5 OPEC peace deal cannot save oil prices
prices fell below $ 70 a barrel for the first time in more than a month, a day after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ production policies and paved the way for a series of increases progressive production of OPEC and its allies.
As part of the peace agreement, the so-called OPEC + group will increase its production by 400,000 barrels per day each month between August and the end of 2022. By then, it will have restored all the production it cut in response. to a collapse in demand at the start of the pandemic.
The UAE, for its part, obtained more weight in the calculation of market shares among OPEC members.
The deal was seen by many analysts as broadly favorable to prices and OPEC’s credibility, but those factors were offset on Monday by the wave of risk aversion sentiment that hit most classes of active. futures fell 2.7% to $ 71.63 a barrel.
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