Daily Market Commentary 10th February 2021

The surge in global equities settled overnight, after posting historical record highs in the last week, with little in the way of statistical support. Inconsequential data announcement provided little for markets to focus on and the attention turned to macro issues. The European roll-out of the virus has been slow and lacking any sense of urgency, which has resulted in unrest, as the people suffer strict lock-down restrictions. The AstraZeneca vaccine has shown little protection from the South African variant of the virus, throwing much unease into markets. The virus continues to mutate and if the new virus vaccines cannot combat the variants, then the world economy is in big trouble.

The US Dollar continued to decline, as markets await the passage of the Biden administrations $1.9 Trillion bail-out bill. Expectations are high for the fiscal stimulus, although only a small portion of the money goes to cash support for the citizens. NFIB Small Business Optimism was surprisingly flat, considering many small business have suffered, especially in the service industries. Australian Business Confidence surged, allowing the AUD to push up to 0.7725, while the NZD rallied to 0.7725. Chinese Vehicle sales surged 30%, while markets keenly await the Chinese and German CPI numbers, to be released later today.