Advanced Share Registry : Market News 11 Jan 2021

Market News 11 Jan 2021

With the American GOP's obeisance to Trump evaporated after the Capitol Hill Riots, markets are rubbing their hands together for some good old-fashioned boredom, driving most indices to new records. Oil prices pinged 11-month highs and Bitcoin found new records in the ether.

The Democratic sweep of power will deliver substantial and quick stimulus, sans the drama, now that the legislative process has been untethered from untethered opposites. The prospect of familiar Governance styles in line with OECD peers may have also helped markets touch new highs despite deteriorating jobs data. The dramatic drop in US jobs as 140 000 jobs vanished in December compared to Novembers 245 000 gained, was expected though, with the pandemic's ferocity and impact plain for all to see. Directly correlated to lockdowns, Hospitality and leisure shed 372,000 jobs, terminating seven months of jobs growth on Trumps last month as president. The outsized impact in those sectors offset gains in other areas.

Americas 6.7% unemployment rate is still double Februarys pre-Covid-19 days and three points higher than the 4.5% rate Trump inherited four years ago but beats Australia's 6.8% result in November. The US now has four million technical long term unemployed who have been 27 weeks+ out of work. However, after the modest 900-billion-dollar stimulus package wrangled in December, new Biden spending may only deliver a muted economic response. If Democrats adopt more muscular pandemic response standards as is expected, then robust recovery could emerge further into the future. Markets will no doubt adjust their "looking-through" glasses accordingly.

As it stands, that market optimism looked through a record 4000 US death too. The deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic yet, data from Johns Hopkins University reveals 4279 new deaths last Thursday with 265,000 new virus cases to boot. All the while, supplies of essentials, like oxygen, are running low in the hardest-hit region of Los Angeles. One hundred and thirty-two thousand people are now hospitalised nationwide with Covid.

Dow Jones	31097.97	+56.84	+0.2%
US S&P500	3824.68	+20.89	+0.6%
US Nasdaq	13201.98	+134.495	+1.0%
UK FTSE	6873.26	+16.3	+0.2%
German Dax	14049.53	+81.29	+0.6%
Gold Futures ($US/oz)	1835.4	-78.20	-4.1%
Spot Iron Ore ($US/t)	171.75	+1.15	+0.7%

Europe's STOXX 600 index gained 3% by Friday as The EU made a deal with US drug maker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech for an extra 300m vaccine doses to double its current target. Germany's crucial industrial production data attracted the most positive attention, which helped subdue the unemployment rate across the eurozone to 8.3% in November from 8.4. An EU monthly survey revealed economic sentiment also improved, rising in December, though inflation remains deflated in negative territory. Our record-high markets look set for a flat open despite iron ore futures rising for a sixth straight session on Friday.

Disclaimer:

Produced by Advanced Share registry based on information available at the time of publishing. We believe that the information in this report is correct and any opinions, conclusions or recommendations are reasonably held or made as at the time of its compilation, but no warranty is made as to accuracy, reliability or completeness. To the extent permitted by law, neither Advanced Share registry (ABN 14 127 175 946) nor any of its subsidiaries accept liability to any person for loss or damage arising from the use of this report. The report has been prepared without taking account of the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular individual. For this reason, any individual should, before acting on the information in this report, consider the appropriateness of the information, having regard to the individual's objectives, financial situation and needs and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice. This report does not purport to be a complete statement or summary.