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Stocks rise as vaccine hopes boosts market confidence
Stocks rose on Monday as reports surfaced that a host of potential COVID-19 vaccines were showing positive results, from recent rounds of human testing.
AstraZeneca and Pfizer so far seem to be leading the race to market.
The news came as the weekend saw an unfavourable stat, suggesting COVID-19 cases are rising faster than we saw during the “peak”. However many believe this is due to more testing, than a second wave.
The big gainers today were Amazon which rose by 4%, as well as Microsoft who gained by 2%, 2 days before its earnings report.
Optimism grows on EU recovery deal
After a weekend of elbow bumps and negotiations, it was reported that EU leaders are edging closer to finalising a deal on a COVID-19 stimulus package.
The deal is focused on helping EU member states most impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
DAX futures rose close to 1% on the news. The EUR fell to 0.90338 against GBP.
UK / China continue hostilities over Hong Kong
Today, British foreign minister Dominic Raab announced that the UK will be suspending its extradition treaty with China, after a recent bill was passed in Beijing over Hong Kong.
The bill is said to enable the Chinese government to impose stringent jail sentences to parties seen to be in collusion with foreign nations.
Since the passing of the bill, the UK has also offered up to 3 million visas to citizens of Hong Kong.
The FTSE fell to a 1 week low of 6,216 on the news.
Quote of the day: . “You can be free. You can live and work anywhere in the world. You can be independent from routine and not answer to anybody.”
Alexander Elder
Biggest Bull
NDX (futures): The NASDAQ rallied on Monday, led by optimism of a possible coronavirus vaccine. The move sees the index back to the periphery of 11,000 points.
Biggest Bear
EURGBP: EURGBP held the resistance of 0.91246 on Monday, as the momentum of the 10 and 25 day moving averages seemed to have shifted downwards. The pair reached an intraday low of 0.90293.
