Today the total number of people affected by the novel coronavirus surpassed 5 million, with 1.57 million of those in the United States alone. Right now the virus is spreading at the fastest pace in Russia (308,000 cases) and Brazil (272,000 cases). The South American country is on its way to overtake Spain and become the third most affected region in the world. Iran and Mexico also remain active Covid-19 hotspots.
The biotechnology company Moderna recently sparked a controversy with claims that it is close to developing a drug to treat Covid-19. Though this initially boosted the company’s stock, now the share price is going down again after a third-party investigation showed that Moderna is farther from developing the cure than it claims. This news has dampened the hopes for yet another possible cure for the coronavirus.
Though the news about Moderna sapped the stock markets yesterday, today we are seeing a slight recovery across stock indices.
Meanwhile, there is increasing talk of negative interest rates in the United Kingdom. There will be a press conference later today by the Bank of England, where BoE Governor Andrew Bailey is expected to announce the central bank’s plans to lower interest rates further and bring them into negative territory in the near future. The rates have already turned negative for UK Treasury bonds as the country prepares for a recession.
In other news, the crude oil market is recovering. Prices are stabilizing on the expectation that production in the United States dropped, something that will be confirmed later today with the weekly report on oil reserves. Today the price of the WTI reached $32.38, while the Brent crude is trading near $35.38 per barrel.
