Risk aversion continued to dominate in yesterday's session, with the key themes remaining the COVID situation in China and hawkish comments by central bank officials. In the euro area, both Christine Lagarde and Joachim Nagel said that inflation will remain elevated and might not have peaked yet, justifying a tighter monetary policy stance.
Search at CaixaBank Research
Search results
454 results found for covid
Investors continued to err on the side of caution at the start of the week, with the focus turning to the risk of a global recession amid expectations of further monetary policy tightening from major central banks and the ongoing deterioration in the COVID pandemic in China.
Over the past few years, Spain's manufacturing industry has managed to avoid the worst scenarios of a slump in activity (COVID, bottlenecks, energy crisis). However, in 2023 it faces new challenges: the impact of higher interest rates, the effects of supply problems with certain inputs and rising production costs.
After the sharp downturn in the sector caused by the pandemic, the recovery of international tourism in Spain can now be considered almost complete. Among the world’s top 10 tourism destinations, Spain was the second to exceed its number of pre-COVID international tourists, behind only Türkiye.
In yesterday's session, volatility rose as data on new COVID-19 cases rose in the U.S. and investors digested the Federal Reserve adverse description of the economic outlook.
Investors traded more cautiously as new covid-19 infections and containment measures in China weighed on sentiment.
In the first session of the week, investors traded in a lower volatility environment and weighed, on the one hand, the increase in covid-19 cases around the globe and, on the other, the possibility of additional government stimulus.
In yesterday's session, financial markets experienced risk-off flows as investors were concerned about the spread of new covid-19 cases in the US and media reports suggesting that the White House might be willing to impose new tariffs on $3.1 billion of exports from Europe.
Yesterday's session opened with the negative tone seen in the previous days driven by the increase in covid-19 cases around the globe.
In the last session of the week, investors traded cautiously amid fears of new covid-19 cases and doubts on a united ECB response in case further stimulus is required. European stock indices edged lower while EM equities surged, led by Chinese equities. US financial markets were closed because of the Independence Day.
Investors started the week with optimism and a risk-on mood. Despite the increase in COVID-19 cases around the globe, optimism surged on the back of better-than-expected business sentiment indicators.
In yesterday's session, investors traded with a risk-off mood due to increased concerns over the speed of the economic recovery as covid-19 cases continue to surge.
Investor sentiment ended the week on the up amid positive reports over a potential antiviral drug to treat COVID-19. As risk appetite rose, stocks increased across Europe and the U.S., the USD weakened and commodity prices advanced (in oil markets, the barrel of Brent closed moderately above $43).
The COVID-19 pandemic is severely impacting economic activity and the real estate sector is also feeling the effects, albeit not as much as other sectors. Specifically, at CaixaBank Research we expect GDP to fall by between 13% and 15% in 2020 and not to return to pre-crisis levels until the end of 2023. However, despite the seriousness of the situation and the high uncertainty regarding how the pandemic will develop, it is important to note that the sector is supported by a much stronger foundation than in the previous crisis of 2008.
Markets continued to exhibit a mixed performance as investors weighed data releases and increasing COVID-19 infections. European stocks and sovereign yields declined after euro area industrial production had posted a lower-than-expected rebound in May (+12.4% mom and -20.9% yoy). Yet, in FX markets the euro rose towards $1.14.
Positive developments around a potential COVID-19 vaccine fueled a risk-on mood in yesterday's session. Stocks rose across advanced and emerging economies and, in the U.S., shares of Moderna - a company working on a vaccine - surged close to 7% after a small-scale study showed its experimental vaccine produced high levels of antibodies.
In the first session of the week, investor sentiment improved as promising trial results from a potential COVID-19 vaccine renewed investor's hopes.
Financial markets started the week with a mixed session. In Europe, investors traded with a risk-off mood while in the US riskier assets benefited from progress in the negotiations for a new fiscal stimulus package and hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine.
2020 was a tough year for the tourism industry. All the data that became available at year-end show that the impact of the pandemic on the sector has been devastating. After a total standstill during the months of March, April and May 2020, tourism demand failed to pick up appreciably during the rest of the year, even during the summer months when the infection rate seemed to be under control. Moreover, the waves of COVID-19 occurring at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, together with the various measures to restrict movement and businesses, have kept tourist numbers at a minimum, aggravating the losses suffered by the sector.
COVID-19 is having a huge impact on economic activity in Spain and, in particular, on the tourism industry. At CaixaBank Research we expect GDP to fall by between 13% and 15% in 2020, not returning to its pre-crisis levels until 2023. The outlook in 2020 is even grimmer for Spain's tourism industry as it is one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic.