Coronavirus (COVID-19) jumps back to haunt the market confidence of late. In addition to the fears of rising cases and the death toll in the Asia-Pacific region, variants also become a major threat to the sentiment amid chatters over resistance to vaccines and faster spread of them.
That said, Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) registers 44 new community cases while West Australia (WA) and Queensland report zero cases. Even so, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian rejected the odds of unlocking by next Friday while saying, “NSW is facing the biggest challenge we have faced since the pandemic started.”
Considering the covid risk at the biggest trading partner, New Zealand Minister said, per Reuters, “Flights carrying New Zealanders returning home from Australia's New South Wales region that was scheduled to start on Saturday have been called off after the COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney worsened.”
On the other hand, South Korea reports 1,316 cases, the highest daily jump since the pandemic erupted, pushing the policymakers to call for an emergency meeting and raising alert levels to the highest in the capital. Further, Thailand reports 9,276 cases and 72 deaths whereas Nikkei reports record daily infections and the death toll for Indonesia saying, “The archipelago reported 38,391 new cases on Thursday, a record. Its daily deaths of 1,040 on Wednesday was also a record, and the first time the number rose above 1,000.”
Earlier, the UK refreshed the seven-month high of covid infections as Reuters said, “Britain reported on Thursday 32,551 new COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, official government data showed. That compared to 32,548 cases and 33 deaths reported a day earlier.”
It’s worth noting that an anonymous study in the US found over 50% of the last two weeks’ covid infections being the strains and pose threats to the economic recovery.
Market implications….
Given the covid woes back to the table, the market’s rush for risk-safety triggered a bounce of the US Treasury yields from a multi-day low.
Read: US Treasury yields bounce off February lows as coronavirus concerns mount
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