Global coronavirus cases crossed the 10 million mark over the weekend, with around 1 million new cases per week according to the WHO and deaths now at half a million. In reality, these figures will be much higher, due to reporting discrepancies from nation to nation.
The US accounts for around a quarter of both totals, the country regularly hitting record one-day case increases en route to 2.5 million known infections and over 125,000 deaths. States like Texas and Florida – the latter which from the beginning has had some of the laxest lockdown measures imaginable – have been especially badly hit, causing both to reverse their recently announced reopening plans.
Yet, the market’s mood was more uneasy than sombre or panicked – and in some places, it actually erred on the perkier side of things.
This isn’t necessarily surprising. Investors have been inconsistent in how they’ve approached the likelihood of a potential second wave, veering between outright distress, nervous calm and fingers-in-ears positivity, sort of on a whim.
The FTSE was the one of the indices slower out of the gate, dipping around 10 points as it fell to 6165. The CAC, meanwhile, settled for a directionless flatness, but with the DAX switching things up with a half a percent increase, taking the German bourse back to 12150.
That air of aimlessness could be replicated by the Dow Jones later on – currently the futures have the index rising 0.4%, though given the early trading atmosphere, it really could go either way come the opening bell.
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