Wednesday, December 22 brings only a few important economic reports with it.
First off, the United Kingdom published its final GDP growth rate data for the third quarter of 2021. The QoQ number was disappointing at 1.1%, but YoY the report was better than expected at 6.8%.
Later today the United States will also publish GDP growth rate data for the third quarter, but amid all of the monetary policy, inflation, and employment talk, GDP stats don’t have much of a sway on the US dollar, at least not compared to these other metrics.
As for the coronavirus pandemic, the total number of cases worldwide since the start of it has now surpassed 276.7 million. Daily infections appear to still be on the rise.
Yesterday was the day with the most new Covid-19 cases since the emergence of the Omicron variant - 751,350. This is slightly higher than the summer peak, but not higher than the Delta numbers this spring when India and Brazil experienced the heaviest outbreaks.
Nevertheless, considering that Omicron is still relatively new and hasn’t even reached all the countries it can affect, health experts anticipate that we are far from the highest point in the current wave of the pandemic. Things are expected to be much worse come late January-February 2022.
Somewhat encouragingly, though, the worldwide number of lethalities each day is not increasing, even as infections multiply. In fact, the death rate from Covid-19 is going down slowly but surely.
Aside from South Africa, which first identified the Omicron variant, the United Kingdom has also come forward with data that the new strain is less deadly than its predecessors. Still, due to how contagious it is, it’s still expected to affect the global economy negatively, as many people will be forced to quarantine and miss work if they test positive, even if their symptoms are mild.
US stock indices are bound to experience a lull today as the Christmas holidays, a traditionally quiet time for the markets, are almost here.
In Europe, the energy crisis will stay on everyone’s mind during the holidays. There is no hope that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will get emergency approval, so the supply of gas from Russia will remain limited. In addition, both France and Germany will produce less energy at their nuclear power plants, as part of a strategy to switch to renewable energy sources.
At the same time, crude oil prices are growing due to consistent demand and a drop of supply from Libya. The North African country is experiencing political tremors as its upcoming elections were just cancelled. The El Sharara oil field is closed down while different factions are playing their political tug-of-war.
