Stocks edge up but gains tied to increasing Covid-19 cases
21 November, 2020
World stocks edged higher on Friday as hopes of a great economic restoration helped offset the blow dealt by news that the US Treasury was ending crisis loan programmes.
But benefits were modest as flare-ups in virus instances all over the world continued to dampen the sentiment.
California announced fresh curfews to attempt to attack surging coronavirus infections, while Japan is facing a good third wave of the virus and parts of Europe already are under recently-renewed social constraints.
Europe's STOXX 600 edged 0.3 % bigger in early trading, while the global stocks index was also 0.1 % firmer and on course for its third weekly gain in a row.
S&P 500 futures slipped 0.4 per cent while Dow futures fell 0.4 %, cancelling out a firmer business lead from a strong Wall Street session overnight.
The dollar edged up and the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to the lowest in 10 times at 0.818 %, before marginally recovering in after trading.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stumbled 0.4 %, weighed straight down by a growth in new household coronavirus attacks to record highs. Chinese shares had been 0.3 per cent stronger.
In a letter to US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated the $455 billion assigned to Treasury under the CARES Act ought to be instead available for Congress to reallocate.
Mr Mnuchin's decision put into market anxiety about broader economical growth as data displays the early restoration from a historic plunge in the US market is fading, with more than 10 million who had jobs in January still unemployed.
Investor sentiment was first also hit by info that showed Covid-19 hospitalisations across the US jumped by nearly 50 per cent in the last fourteen days, threatening the restoration of the world's greatest economy, as towns and states started out to impose lockdowns.
Meanwhile, oil prices were little changed on Friday, and on track for a third consecutive every week rise. However, demand considerations stemming from surging coronavirus conditions and renewed lockdowns in several countries capped gains.
Prospects of an effective Covid-19 vaccine, and expectations that Opec and its own allies will keep production in balance, have bolstered oil marketplaces this week.
Brent crude futures were up 0.05 per cent at $44.22 a barrel.
The oil markets have got trimmed their weekly gains as the virus surge “throws a wet blanket over vaccine optimism”, said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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