• Stock markets recovered strongly Friday from the hard dip made earlier in the week, and continue to be bid as this week opens. Asian stock markets have already seen strong rises today, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 Index up by more than 1.82%.

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• In the Forex market, the USD (UUP) and JPY (FXY) are in strong long-term bullish trends, but the short-term price movement is counter to that, with risk currencies currently bid against the USD, JPY and CHF (FXF). The currencies showing the greatest long-term weakness are the CAD (FXC), the AUD (FXA) and the EUR (FXE), so if the bullish USD trend resumes, these will likely be the currencies to focus on as short counterparties for that trade. Both AUD/USD and EUR/USD hit long term, multi-month lows last week, which is technically significant.
• Bitcoin has risen strongly in recent days and is now trading at a 3-month high above $50k.
• Today will see the release of PMI services and manufacturing data for Germany, France, and the USA.
• Last week saw a ninth consecutive weekly rise in global new confirmed coronavirus cases, although the pace of the increase has slowed significantly. Some countries have begun giving booster vaccinations to individuals who were already vaccinated some months ago, which seems to be providing increased protection. New Zealand has entered another lockdown as countries with low rates of vaccinations are finding themselves economically vulnerable to disruption from the virus and associated restrictions imposed by governments, notably Japan, New Zealand, and Australia.
• It is estimated that 24.4% of the world’s population has been fully inoculated against the novel coronavirus.
• Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 212.5 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.09%.
• The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Australia, Belarus, Belize, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kosovo, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the U.S., the U.K. and Vietnam.