Financial Markets Daily Report

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Investors continued to trade cautiously in yesterday's session as COVID-19 cases continued rising in Europe and in the US. In this context, demand for safe assets (such as the Japanese Yen or the Swiss Franc) increased on a day in which US markets were closed due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

In yesterday's session, investors traded cautiously amid signs of a slow economic recovery. In the US, initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 30k in the previous week and minutes from the Fed's November meeting showed how its members discussed how to provide more guidance on QE.

Investors traded with a risk-on mood in yesterday's session amid the formal start of Joe Biden's transition into the White House.

Economic sentiment data and new advances in a vaccine treatment for COVID-19 were the main drivers of a mixed session in financial markets. On the one hand, the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca Plc said that their vaccine prevented 70% of the participants from falling ill. This effectiveness rises to 90% with an alternative treatment.

Financial markets were mixed in the last session of the week amid hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine, the advance of the second wave and growing tensions between the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve.

Investors turned more cautious in yesterday's session. Stocks declined across Europe (at yesterday's EU leaders' videoconference there was no progress on the veto that is paralyzing the EU budget and the NGEU package), while U.S. stocks closed moderately higher amid reports that Congress will resume negotiations on a fiscal stimulus.

Investors exhibited a mixed mood in yesterday's session as they pondered on increasing infections and tighter restrictions. Volatility edged up and stocks advanced moderately across Europe and EM, while U.S. equities declined in spite of Pfizer's announcement that it will apply for the FDA emergency authorization of its vaccine within days.  

As investors weighed positive vaccine developments against rising COVID-19 infections, yesterday markets took a pause after having rallied in the last few days.

Positive news on another COVID-19 vaccine sparked a rally in financial markets at the start of the week. As Moderna reported that its vaccine was 94.5% effective (data from a preliminary analysis of a large late-stage clinical trial), stocks surged across the world, led by sectors sensitive to mobility restrictions, while at-home tech equities declined. 

Last Friday, markets ended one of their best weeks since summer as economically-sensitive assets regained momentum on the back of positive COVID-19 vaccine developments.

This past week's stock market vaccine rally went into reverse on Thursday as Covid-19 cases and deaths climbed across the world.

European sovereign yields edged lower in yesterday's trading session following a speech by ECB chief Christine Lagarde in which she signalled further monetary easing. In her speech, Lagarde emphasised the importance of the duration, and not only the size, of monetary accomodation, and identified PEPP and TLTROs as the main crisis tools.