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In our weekly Market Monday insights, Prosperity Investment Management examines the latest developments across the globe's biggest financial markets - providing you with all the latest information you need to know.
In another blow to the UK’s travel industry, some European nations may scrap quarantine-free entry for UK travellers to prevent spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the UK rose to more than 16,000, the highest since February, driven by the more transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus. The UK expanded the number of countries on its travel green list after pressure from the travel and aviation industries but reports from The Times claim the European Union is planning to scrap quarantine-free visits by UK nationals, although there is speculation that Spain and Greece may not follow suit.
Elsewhere, the United States inflation rate has risen at its fastest pace (3.4%) since 2008. The headline rate now stands at 5%, which is also the highest it has reached since August 2008. However, with the S&P 500 touching a new high, traders anticipate that the inflationary surge would be temporary, allowing the Federal Reserve to put off tapering a bond-buying policy that has pumped money into global markets.
In Asia, Japan has reached its target of administering one million coronavirus injections per day early, with the original target set for the end of June. The government aims to finish vaccinating all eligible people in Japan who wish to be inoculated by November. With the start of the Tokyo Olympics less than a month away, the figures still lag other developed nations, however.
In Latin America, a surprise move from Mexico’s central bank has seen them raise its key lending rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.25%. It was the bank’s first interest rate hike since 2018 and caught markets off guard, with the rate hike coming just three weeks after Banxico released its quarterly inflation report where it had highlighted upward risks to inflation.
