The week commencing 6th and ending Thursday 9 April was shortened as major markets observed the Easter festivities for instance markets in the United States, Europe, Hong Kong, and Australia.
Global stocks made gains in the week on new optimism that coronavirus was almost at its peak and that governments would roll out more stimulus. The coronavirus has spread rapidly across the globe, infecting more than 1.4 million people and causing more than 87,500 deaths by Thursday, according to a Reuters tally.
The United States unemployment claims soared to record high for the second-week matching last week’s 6.6 million bringing total claims in the past three weeks to more than 16 million. The Department of Labor statistics says that American firms are forced to cut jobs or reduce the working hours during this pandemic.
OPEC and Russia have agreed to cut oil production by up to 10 million barrels per day effective May 1, 2020. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia will cut output by about 22-23% from a level of 11 million BPD to about 8.5 million BPD in May and June. OPEC+ further revealed that production cuts would ease to 8 million BPD between July and December and relaxed further to 6 million BPD between January 2021 and April 2022. The OPEC+ alliance and Mexico made some progress in their discussion on oil cuts on Saturday although Mexico is holding on as it seeks fewer reductions than the proposal would require.
Meanwhile, the price of gold hit a seven-year high on Thursday’s trading session with an ounce of the precious metal soaring by 2.08% to sell for $1,680.16.
The World Trade Organisation said in a statement on Wednesday that global trade would fall by between 13 and 32 percent in the year. However, WTO projects the global trade will rebound in 2021 calling the numbers ‘UGLY’. The Geneva-based agency says North America and Asia will be hardest hit by the decline in trade. Furthermore, sectors such as automotive parts and electronics may see sharp declines due to complex value chains.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on Sunday discharged from the hospital after a successful for COVID-19. A statement from Downing Street noted that the PM will not be immediately returning to work.
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