With Canada’s long weekend over, we start with a brief news roundup that you may have missed over the break.
In comments made over the weekend, Jay Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman is looking at a 2021 recovery for the US economy. This is at odds with the White House, which has been broadcasting a recovery in 2020. His comments were overall positive about the strength and ability of the US economy to bounce back. Investors were also feeling more positive yesterday as drug maker Moderna sparked new hope of a potential Vaccine and there were signs that the German economic recession may not be as severe as first thought.
Brazil also remained in focus as the death toll in the country surpassed Italy and Spain (now third highest amount of cases worldwide). The Amazon region, which is impoverished, Is being hit particularly hard. It did not help that the country’s health minister resigned after being in office for less than a month. The previous health minister was sacked by the president.
Travel experiments are also underway to assess how we all might travel internationally in the future. This is particularly important for our export customers. Taiwan is facilitating an experiment with the US whereby passengers would need to be quarantined and tested prior to travel. A small group of passengers are in the experiment.