Previous record was Tuesday at 53,275
The daily deaths are approaching the April peak of 1172.
I’m sympathetic to the argument that the new variant is more transmissible. Otherwise, it’s very difficult to explain this spike despite the December lockdown. Other countries where they don’t have this variant have seen a decline or slower growth.

GBP/USD trade to its highest levels since May 2018 but just be mindful that thin liquidity conditions are still prevailing this week
The push higher in the past few sessions owes more to do with the dollar slipping up rather than the pound surging, with cable now trading to its highest levels since May 2018 at

The winners and losers among the major currencies space in 2020
Everything that we knew about the year was completely eviscerated in the first three months and this was the year where humanity had to learn to adjust and live with a health crisis, which exacerbated the economic downtrends in recent years.

Kyodo News reports on the matter
Despite the Japanese government throwing massive amounts of stimulus at the problem, the health crisis is still the main problem that they have to tackle first and foremost. There is now a growing fear that Tokyo hospitals may be overwhelmed soon enough.

Victoria reports six new local cases following 61 days of no community transmissions in the state
Victoria has now chosen to close its border with the whole of New South Wales starting from 11:59pm local time on 1 January, with Western Australia also now just announcing that it will tighten border controls with the state of

Forex news for Asia trading
for Thursday
31
December 2020 

ICYMI

The US dollar once again lost
ground during the session in Asia, currencies generally higher across
the major FX board. Offshore yuan rose also, hitting highs it hasn’t
seen since June of 2018 (circa 6.49 for USD/CNH). As I post the picture is becoming more mixed though with much of the gain

GBP/USD moves back above 1.3600 in thin trading
The dollar is keeping weaker across the board as its struggles going into the year-end continues, with EUR/USD having neared 1.2300 earlier and GBP/USD now climbing back above the 1.3600 handle in European trading.

Latest data released by Credit Suisse and CFA Society Switzerland
Investor sentiment continues to show a marked improvement as vaccine optimism bolsters the economic outlook as we look towards next year. The headline is the highest since June. The reading measures analysts‘ expectations on the Swiss economy and other economic expectations over the next 6 months.

Latest data released by KOF – 30 December 2020
The data measures the future trends of overall economic activity in the Swiss economy.

Comments by UK health secretary, Matt Hancock
We’ll see about that. As the vaccines are being rolled out, it is easy for lawmakers to talk things up right now but delivering on those expectations will be another matter.