• Last Friday saw the main US stock index, the S&P 500, close at an all-time high above 4600. In early futures trading today, the price has continued to advance higher. It is likely that the price will continue to rise over the coming days (SPX, SPY).

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• The ruling Japanese government handily won re-election yesterday by a greater margin than expected. The Japanese stock market was boosted but the yen fell, as analysts now see Japan’s central bank as having the most dovish monetary policy of all major currencies, and no real sign of this being set to end soon as the Japanese economy continues to show weakness. The USD/JPY currency pair has advanced firmly and is now set to test key resistance at 114.46.

• The Forex market is active, with the USD/JPY currency pair in focus today. The EUR/USD currency pair dropped very strongly Friday on news of higher than expected Eurozone inflation running at an annualized 4.1%. Such strong daily movements in the EUR/USD usually follow through so we are likely to see lower prices there today.

• Later today there will be a release of ISM Manufacturing PMI data in the US, and the Reserve Bank of Australia will be making its monthly policy release in which it announces its new cash rate and releases its rate statement.

• Last week saw the second consecutive global weekly rise in new confirmed coronavirus cases after two months in which cases fell steadily.

• It is estimated that 49.4% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination.

• Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 247.4 million with an average case fatality rate of 2.03%.

• The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing most quickly in Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine.