Weekly News Summary for September 25 to October 1, 2020

Friday, Sept. 25, 2020: US Dollar Hits New Two-Month Highs

The US dollar climbed to new two-month highs against its major peers on Friday, as the greenback became the market’s preferred safe-haven currency amid weaker-than-expected data on durable goods orders and ongoing concerns over a potential economic fallout due to the lack of more stimulus.

The US dollar index gained 0.05% to $96.60, while the dollar also gained on the weakness in the euro and the pound, as the second wave of coronavirus cases threatened further lockdowns in the European Union and the UK.

Monday, Sept. 28, 2020: Gold Climbs as US Dollar Eases

Gold prices were up nearly 1% on Monday to mark its first decent rise after losing almost 5% last week, as the US dollar retreated from two-month highs.

Spot gold hit a session high at $1,883.02, but later eased and was last up by 0.9% to $1,879.37, while US gold futures for December contract added 0.9% to $1,882.30 per troy ounce.

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020: Global COVID-19 Death Toll Hits 1 Million

The global death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic has now officially reached over 1 million, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.

The number of people who have died from the virus has also grown by 40% in England and Wales to their highest in five weeks, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that she might enforce stricter restrictions on public gatherings to prevent infections from increasing further.

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020: Walt Disney, Shell Announces Big Job Cuts

Walt Disney and energy giant Royal Dutch Shell announced plans to cut 28,000 and 9,000 jobs respectively, as the coronavirus pandemic hits the theme park business as well as the demand and price of oil.

Walt Disney’s decision sent its shares down by 2.4% in pre-market trading, while Shell’s shares managed an increase of 0.3% to slightly outperform the broader market in Europe.

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020: TSE Experiences Worst Outage Since 1999

The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) halted share trading for the entire day on Thursday as a glitch in its system led to the worst outage it ever experienced since it went fully electronic in 1999.

The shutdown spoiled many investors’ plans to buy back shares after the first US presidential debate and may weaken the exchange’s reliability just as new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga makes digitalization chief priority.