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GBPUSD falls to 1-year low on lockdown fears
GBPUSD fell to its lowest level of the year, as traders reacted to the news of a potential lockdown due to the Omicron variant.
Cable fell to an intraday low of 1.3164 on Wednesday, as markets reacted to the news that the UK government might be set to announce new lockdown restrictions.
| 💡 WHO Comments So far the WHO has commented on the preliminary studies of Omicron, transmission maybe faster that other variants, yet disease may not be as big a threat. While some suggest that the early detection ‘bought the world time‘. Others are saying that as Omicron is already circulating the globe we must act quickly |
Reports circulated that the government was scheduled to consider implementing a “plan b” in order to help curb the spread of Omicron.
Wednesday’s low in GBPUSD was the lowest level the pair has traded since December last year when the nation was in lockdown.
London’s FTSE 100 closed marginally lower on the speculation.
Apple closes in on $3 trillion market cap
Shares in Apple were trading higher during today’s session, as the iPhone maker edged closer to reaching a market cap of over $3 trillion.
The tech giant saw its share price reach an intraday high of $175.96, putting the company $7 per share away from reaching that milestone.
| 💡 Apple, the record-breaker Apple was the first company to reach a $1 trillion and $2 trillion market cap. It became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company when it surpassed state oil giant Saudi Aramco in market cap last year. So it comes to as no surprise that it’ll be the first company to pass the 3 trillion dollar market cap |
Overall, Apple stock has risen by close to 30% in 2021, after climbing by almost 80% last year, during the height of the pandemic.
This rise is almost four times higher than the increase of the S&P 500 during that same period and came as retail investors flocked to tech companies last year.
Many believe that Apple could hit this new milestone before the end of the year.
JP Morgan forecasts 2022 global recovery
On Wednesday, a senior member of the Investment Bank J.P. Morgan, stated that they believe that the COVID-19 economic recovery will be fully complete in 2021.
The company’s Chief Market Strategist Marko Kolanovic stated that, “Our view is that 2022 will be the year of a full global recovery, an end of the pandemic, and a return to normal economic and market conditions we had prior to the COVID-19 outbreak”. Markets were somewhat muted to the comments, with the blue-chip Dow Jones trading flat on Wednesday, after a strong start to the week.
Many believe that the recent market rally could be put in question, depending on the governmental response to Omicron, with some nations looking to tighten their borders.
Shares in $JPM were 0.67% lower in afternoon trading.
“Dangers of watching every tick are twofold: overtrading and increased chances of prematurely liquidating good positions.”
– Jack Schwager
