Please see below update received from Blackfinch this morning. The bulletin provides world-wide commentary on market performance in response to events such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the upcoming US election.
| UK COMMENTARY The IHS Markit UK Household Finance Index for October was at 40.8. A value below 50 indicates that respondents believe their financial well-being is deteriorating. UK consumer price inflation rose to 0.5% year on year in September, up from 0.2% in August. While the downward impact of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme was removed, the temporary VAT cut in the hospitality sector continued to help keep inflation low. The Government borrowed £36.1bn last month, above consensus forecasts and bringing the total borrowing for the first half of the financial year to a record £208.5bn Lancashire, Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire all joined Merseyside in tier 3 COVID-19 lockdown The Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey showed that 71% of businesses said they were at no or low risk of insolvency Rishi Sunak announced the latest COVID-19 support package, including grants for businesses affected by tier-2 restrictions, a tweak in the job support scheme and extra support for the self-employed UK retail sales rose by 1.5% in September from August’s level, the fifth consecutive monthly increase The IHS Markit/CIPS Flash UK Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for October fell to a four-month low of 52.9 US COMMENTARY Democrats and Republicans continued to debate the introduction of a further stimulus package ahead of the presidential election First-time jobless claims fell to 787,000 Another presidential debate did little to clear up which candidate is likely to emerge victorious from next month’s election Markit’s latest PMI survey showed that business activity rose at its fastest rate for 20 months in October ASIA COMMENTARY China’s third-quarter gross domestic product grew by 4.9% as compared to a year ago, falling just short of economists’ expectations Retail sales of consumer goods in China rose by 3.3% in September The International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecast for the Asia-Pacific region to -2.2% in 2020. COVID-19 COMMENTARY Pfizer said that it is ready to file for regulatory sign-off of its COVID-19 vaccine and has already manufactured ‘several hundred thousand doses’ to sell. This is if current clinical trials involving 44,000 people are successful. Gilead Sciences’ COVID-19 treatment Remdesivir has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The drug has now been renamed Veklury. We will continue to source information from the research teams of reputable providers in order to publish the most relevant market data. Please check in with us again soon. Stay safe. Chloe 26/10/2020 |