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Weekly news summary for November 20 to 26, 2020

Friday, Nov. 20, 2020: Futures Mixed; Stimulus Spat Offsets Vaccine News

US stock futures traded mixed on Friday as the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country and disagreement between the Treasury and the Federal Reserve on a new stimulus package overshadowed optimism related to vaccine distribution.

The Dow Futures contract lost 27 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 Futures traded flat, and the Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 27 points or 0.2%.

Monday, Nov. 23, 2020: US Dollar Down on Positive Vaccine Developments

The US dollar weakened, while global risk assets strengthened on Monday, as markets welcomed positive developments on COVID-19 vaccines.

Emerging market currencies, including the South African rand, Russian ruble, and Mexican peso, were all up by 0.5% or more in early trade after AstraZeneca stated that its vaccine’s efficacy, developed with Oxford University, was at 90% in a large-scale trial.

Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020: Bitcoin Climbs Past $19,000

Bitcoin rose more than $19,000 for the first time since December 2017 on Tuesday, driven by expectations of a weak US dollar and a loose global monetary policy.

The world’s favorite alternative asset has gained over 240% from its low in March, and 67% in the past six weeks, due to steady growth in regulated products providing exposure to Bitcoin and PayPal Holdings Inc.’s decision to offer digital wallets denominated in cryptocurrency.

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020: France to Start Digital Services Tax Collection

France announced plans to start collecting digital services tax from online tech giants this year, as the country tries to take more out of companies, such as Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc., which regularly direct their profits made in larger EU countries to jurisdictions with lower tax rates.

The Trump administration had warned to employ import tariffs on French luxury items if France continued with the plan, although any retaliation may not affect the country’s sales in the near term since most retailers already imported their inventories for the holiday season.

Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020: Oil Prices Up on Unexpected Decline in US stocks

Oil prices were up for the fifth day on Thursday, after an unexpected decline of 754,000 in US crude supplies provided additional support for a rally backed by hopes that the COVID-19 vaccines will end the pandemic and boost fuel demand.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 0.5% to $48.78 per barrel, having gained 1.6% in the previous session, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 0.4% to $45.92 per barrel after adding 1.8% on Wednesday.



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