Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
The dollar continued its move and weakened to its lowest level in 2 1/2 years. S&P 500 index futures have risen, while most Asian stocks rose on the last day of 2020 in limited trading.
Shares rose in Hong Kong and China. They fell in Australia. Markets in Japan and South Korea were closed. S&P 500 futures rose higher after U.S. stocks climbed earlier, with small-cap stocks outperforming. Volumes were low during the holiday week, with S&P 500 shares trading about 25% below the 30-day average. Bitcoin surpassed its record high to $ 29,000 before retiring.
Investors have driven risk assets, including equities, to a high valuation this year due to the expectation that the widespread vaccine spread in 2021 will ignite economic growth and increase corporate profits, and amid unprecedented stimulus. The MSCI Global World Equities Index will reach or close to a record high this year, rising by about 14% in 2020 after rising nearly 68% since its March low.
“Investors are still weighing stimulus hope against negative pandemic developments,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded the newsletter “The Sevens Report,” wrote to clients. “The markets cost 2021 a very positive solution to these events (and more).”
On the coronavirus front, the new strain of Covid-19, first identified in the United Kingdom, occurs in other parts of the world. The highly transmissible variant was found in California and a second possible case is being investigated in Colorado. Two people in Singapore can have it too. Covid cases in New York City are approaching an average seven-day positivity rate of 8%, the highest in more than seven months. California on Tuesday reported 432 deaths due to the virus, which is a daily record. The AstraZeneca Plc University of Oxford vaccine has been cleared for use in the UK and has added a homemade weapon to delay the pandemic.
Elsewhere, Bloomberg’s dollar meter has been downgrading to its lowest level since April 2018, while traders amid thin liquidity currency positions before the end of the year. The pound rose higher after the British parliament approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s trade deal after Brexit.
A year after the first signs of a deadly virus surfaced in Wuhan, China, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an annual speech that there was ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.
Here are some key events:
- U.S. initial figures on jobless claims will be published Thursday.
- Most global stock markets closed on New Year’s Day on Friday.
These are the main movements in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 index futures have risen 0.1% in Sydney since 12:48. The S&P 500 index rose 0.1%.
- Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 index fell 0.6%.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6%.
- The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1%.
Currencies
- The yen was at 103.15 per dollar.
- The foreign yuan is trading at 6.5041 per dollar.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%.
- The euro was at $ 1.2303.
- The British pound was $ 1.3643, up 0.1%.
Effects
- The yield on 10-year treasury fell one basis point to 0.92% on Wednesday. They will not trade until London opens due to the holidays in Tokyo.
- Australia’s 10-year bond yield fell to 0.97%.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $ 48.26 a barrel.
- Gold was steady at $ 1,895.89 per ounce.