Markets are Subdued Despite Impeachment and Record Chinese Trade Surplus

Council’s previous monetary policy meeting on 28-29 October 2020. Developments in global financial markets had been driven by a strong improvement in risk sentiment. The main catalyst had been the news on the effectiveness and imminent roll-out of multiple coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines. Two additional factors had reinforced and amplified the improvement in risk sentiment. First, there were growing signs of a forthcoming bipartisan fiscal stimulus programme in the United States in the wake of the formal commencement of the presidential transition process. Second, the communication by the ECB’s Governing Council that it would recalibrate its instruments at its December meeting had strengthened confidence in the ECB’s commitment to monetary policy remaining a reliable source of support. This commitment had supported a broad-based easing of financial conditions. In stock markets, those sectors and countries that had been hit hardest by the pandemic had benefited the most from hopes that a vaccine would restore economic and social activity more rapidly. This group included many large euro area countries. However, despite the recent strong rally, stock valuations of firms in many crisis-hit sectors in the euro area remained well below their pre-pandemic le tweet at 7:31am: ECB ACCOUNTS: CONCERNS WERE VOICED OVER RISKS RELATED TO DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EXCHANGE RATE THAT MIGHT HAVE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE INFLATION OUTLOOK #News #Forex #INFLATION #ECB tweet at 7:31am: $EUR - ECB MONETARY POLICY MEETING ACCOUNTS: IT WAS CAUTIONED, HOWEVER, THAT UNCERTAINTY REMAINED HIGH AND POSITIVE SENTIMENT COULD ERODE QUICKLY. tweet at 7:31am: ECB Minutes: All Members Agreed Additional Support Was Needed tweet at 7:31am: #ECB minutes - Ready to increase the PEPP envelope if needed. $EUR https://t.co/02A8BiHROm

In the week ending January 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 965,000, an increase of 181,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous ...