- Despite having agreed that yesterday would be a “final” deadline for an agreement on a Brexit deal, the E.U. and U.K. have agreed to extend talks, with 31st December now the remaining legal deadline. The British pound jumped on the news, gapping up at the weekly open by approximately 100 pips. If a deal is not agreed before the end of 2020, the U.K. will trade with the E.U. on World Trade Organization rules, meaning there will be new tariffs on imports from both sides, which will negatively impact the GBP and, to a lesser extent, the EUR.
- Global stock markets are a little higher from Friday’s close, with almost all “risk” assets higher against the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, especially the British pound, Australian dollar, and the euro.
- Globally, new coronavirus cases are continuing to rise exponentially, with a new daily record all-time high of 704,572 confirmed cases made last Friday.
- Last Thursday saw a record high number of 12,918 coronavirus deaths reported globally.
- In the U.S.A., the Pfizer vaccine has begun to be distributed, with the first doses imminent. The U.K. begun last week its national coronavirus vaccination program, starting with health workers. Two subjects had a short-term allergic reaction to the Pfizer vaccine, leading the U.K. regulator to advise that anyone with a history of allergic reactions not take the vaccine.
- Global coronavirus deaths have increased dramatically since early October to reach a level approximately 90% higher than the peak last April. Coronavirus new cases and deaths have begun to fall in the European Union, but both are currently increasing sharply in the U.S.A. A new “hard” lockdown has just been imposed in Germany which is seeing new cases soar. The U.S.A. is currently confirming more than 180,000 new cases daily and is now seeing more than 1,400 deaths per day.
- Total confirmed new coronavirus cases stand at over 72.2 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.23%.
- The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the U.K., Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela.