Good morning. Encouraging vaccine news, a busy time for oil markets and Bitcoin's backers get a little bearish. Here's what's moving markets. Curbing TransmissionThe Covid-19 vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech appears to stop the vast majority of people becoming infected, according to an Israeli study, providing the first indication that immunization will curb the spread of the virus. Vaccinations are getting underway in Australia and Italy's new government is said to be taking inspiration from the rapid rollout in the U.K. as it seeks to ramp up its own program. In the U.K. itself, the government is still urging a "cautious" approach to easing lockdown restrictions as it said all adults will be offered a shot by the end of July. It is also planning for a future when mass testing will become part of normal life and is expected to announce schools will return from March 8. Oil TurmoilAnother busy week is ahead for oil markets. Saudi Arabia and Russia remain on opposite sides of the debate about crude output ahead of an OPEC+ meeting in March, with Riyadh said to prefer keeping output steady while Russia wants to proceed with a supply increase. Iran is also set to take part in the meeting amid ongoing wrangling about talks with the U.S. on its nuclear program. Attention will also remain on Texas as the state tries to recover from the extreme weather which has hit it in recent weeks, with concerns about the emissions restarting plants will produce and questions to be addressed on the resilience of grids as the world pushes towards electrification. Bitcoin HighsBitcoin prices touched another record over the weekend after the cryptocurrency hit $1 trillion in market value. That's prompted a hint of bearishness from one of Bitcoin's biggest backers, Tesla's Elon Musk, who said in a tweet that prices of both Bitcoin and Ether "seem high." The success of North America's first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund last week highlighted the attention the crypto market is garnering and put Canada in a position to lead this new part of the market. The crypto fervor also drew comparison to the retail-trading frenzy exemplified by GameStop and, neatly enough, Tesla. Yields and InflationObstacles standing in the way of higher U.S. Treasury yields appear to be slowly melting away and could continue to move in that direction with the vaccination program rolling out, the prospect of this allowing businesses to reopen and additional fiscal stimulus plans. That's creating a headache which is sharpening the focus of emerging-market investors. Nervousness about inflation is also percolating for both bond and stock investors. It's likely to be among the key topics when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gives his first congressional testimony of the Biden era. For stocks, this is not always a bad thing and could spark investors into parsing the market for the sectors that will benefit from price pressures perking up. Coming Up…Bond yields are higher and stocks are trending marginally lower heading into the week. Watch too for the further effects of rising commodity prices, with copper headed for an unprecedented 11th monthly gain and oil advancing again as markets assessed the fallout of extreme weather in Texas. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are both set to speak at conferences on Monday. The economic calendar in Europe is relatively thin, as is the earnings agenda, which is topped by Italian drugmaker Recordati and Portuguese oil firm Galp Energia. What We've Been ReadingThis is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours. And finally, here's what Cormac Mullen is interested in this morningInvestors in so-called commodity currencies are not getting much bang for their buck from the rise in the price of so many raw materials. An equal-weighted basket of 10 currencies, including the Australian dollar, Russian ruble and Chilean peso, is little changed over the last year, despite the near 30% rise in the Bloomberg Commodity Spot Index. While the currencies have multiple drivers and differing exposures to various raw materials, the lagging performance suggests there's room for them to appreciate should the rally in commodities continue. Both iron ore and copper futures are up over 10% in 2021 yet the Aussie has barely appreciated and the Chilean peso is flat. And petrocurrencies such as the ruble have shown little reaction to the more than 20% rise in Brent crude. If we are at the beginning of a commodities supercycle, the upward pressure will mount and eventually overcome other factors. And that would be another bit of good news for the global market's legion of dollar bears. Cormac Mullen is a cross-asset reporter and editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo. Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. |
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