By Andre Botha, Senior Dealer, TreasuryONE
South Africa’s historic first day of national lockdown sees very quiet streets and highways but largely unchanged local and global markets. Asian stocks are trading in positive territory this morning following a positive close on Wall Street. The Dow has seen its biggest 3 day advance in 90 years and closed 6.38% up yesterday. The S&P and the Nasdaq were 6.24% and 5.60% higher as well despite the record surge in US jobless claims. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the number of jobless claims rise to 3.28 million. US futures have opened down this morning.
The Dollar slipped in the wake of the jobs number and is trading at 1.1060 against the Euro, 1.2247 against the Pound and 108.52 against the Yen. The Rand is at 17.3750 this morning and appears to be settling into a 17.2500/17.5500 range for now. Volatility has lessened over the last 3 days as panic selling in markets has eased off after the Fed’s opened ended QE and the agreement on the $2 trillion stimulus package.
Gold is holding steady at $1 630.50 while Platinum and Palladium are a touch higher this morning.