MPs will vote on the stimulus package, the mutant Covid strain isolates Britain and is a risky day in the markets.
Today!
The House and Senate will vote on an approximate vote today $ 900 billion pandemic relief package, with the White House saying President Donald Trump will sign it. The agreement includes aid for small businesses, and the unemployed direct payments to most Americans. The bill for which parliamentarians will vote will be attached to a Measure $ 1.4 trillion to fund government operations by the end of the fiscal year. As part of the compromise needed to reach an agreement, Democrats allowed the introduction of a provision that would prohibits the Federal Reserve from restarting a program to support corporate bonds and small businesses, which expires on December 31.
Isolation
Britain was plunged into chaos after the government revealed that a new strain of coronavirus is “without control. “Authorities have effectively blocked the south-east of the country, including London, by restricting travel in and out of the region. Most European countries have banned flights and ships to the UK. Given the prohibitions on freight, there is a risk of delays essential food in the days before Christmas. A WHO official said it could take more than a week to find out how the new strain develops responds to vaccines.
And this…
If being removed from the rest of the world was not a sufficient headache for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he is also facing ongoing Brexit negotiations. shoot without a deal. There are only a few days left until the United Kingdom leaves the European Union’s single market, discussions remain blocked on the issue of fishing rights. The European Parliament, which has a veto on the entire agreement, has warned that it will not be able to ratify any agreement in time for the end of the transition period on 31 December. The bad weekend for the UK can be seen most clearly in foreign exchange markets in which the pound fell by more than 2.2% against the dollar.
Risk
Investors are looking for safety as concerns about the Covid mutant strain in the UK and more travel restrictions increase. Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific index fell 0.7% and the Japanese Topix closed 0.2% lower. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index fell 3.3% to 5:50 a.m. Eastern time, with each industrial sector firmly in the red. The S&P 500 futures were decreased by over 2.5%, and the 10-year Treasury yield was 0.888%. Oil it sank and the gold fell.
Coming …
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for November is at 8:30 a.m. Tesla Inc. shares. start trading on the S&P 500 index, and early signs are for a difficult start with corporate stocks 6% lower in premarket trading. Since this is the week of Christmas, Wednesday is a busy one for economic data with jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal income, all published then.
What I read
That caught our attention over the weekend.
And finally, here’s what Sid is interested in this morning
People are rushing to close ties with the UK, including air travel, ferry and rail. The British are once again afraid of the threat of food shortages. Overseas logistics companies cancel their business plans, given the risk of stocks and equipment being blocked on the island.
Welcome to the home of a new coronavirus mutation that puts an end to the free movement of people, goods and services – with or without a harsh Brexit. All this means that the negotiators have just missed yet another deadline for concluding a new European trade agreement, which is of little importance in the real world right now. However, it is worth noting that the European Parliament does not have time to ratify any agreement before the transition period ends this year. And the bloc’s 27 national governments will still have to have a say in any 11-hour deal that seems less and less likely.
An opinion will naturally argue that the United Kingdom has an additional incentive to adopt a more accommodative attitude, given its already broken supply chains and intensifying economic problems. Even before the news of this new strain of virus appeared, households were increasing their savings in a quick clip.
But at the same time, with the British so gloomy, the economy down, the supply chains already disappointed and Brexit expectations so low, a heavy departure from the European trading bloc could not feel like a material blow – increasing the incentive to go it alone
Follow Sid Verma on Bloomberg on Twitter at @_SidVerma
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