The new week in the financial markets is starting on an optimistic note. In particular, right now appears to be a great time to invest in commodities. Metals that are in high demand in various industries such as copper and palladium are shining bright at the moment, especially the former of the two.
In addition, agricultural commodities are also doing well, particularly because a new cold snap is threatening farmers at the moment, which is likely going to translate into smaller crops, thus leading to goods such as wheat and soybeans being in short supply in the future.
The one commodity that is not doing so well right now is oil. Crude oil has been under pressure since OPEC and its allies chose to start increasing their production quotas, despite the coronavirus pandemic not being over and demand not being back to its pre-pandemic levels.
There is an OPEC meeting today, albeit a non-binding one. The most pressing concern will be India, one of the largest importers of oil in the world, whose economy is currently being wrecked by the worst coronavirus outbreak that country has seen since the start of the pandemic and one of the worst ones in the world in general.
Covid-19 daily infections have continued to increase in India. Yesterday they were over 350,000, a number so great that even the United States has not experienced it. India has had a total of 17.3 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic started, second only to the US (32.8 million).
Brazil and Turkey, the other two major hotspots for Covid-19 at the moment, had fewer than 40,000 new cases confirmed yesterday each.
A positive development regarding Covid-19 today is that the European Union is preparing to lift its ban on non-essential travel for people coming from the United States, provided they can prove they have been fully vaccinated against the virus.
The restriction has been in place since the beginning of the pandemic in Europe and the United States. Both regions are doing better in terms of daily infection rates and vaccination programs, which is why they are ready to start easing their restrictions in preparation for the summer tourist season.
Meanwhile, today US stock markets are likely going to remain extremely mixed, with major indices trading more or less flat as the earnings season continues. Tesla is the biggest name to report today and a massive increase in revenue is expected for the electric vehicle maker.
