Latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending 16 October 2020
–  -0.7%
– Market index 794.2 vs 798.9 prior
– Purchase index 304.6 vs 311.1 prior
here

UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, comments in PMQs
With the daily case count being this high, it’ll take a few weeks to gauge whether or not the latest set of measures will help to curb the spread of the virus across the UK.

UK chief scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, weighs in with his latest thoughts about a vaccine and how the world may look like in the future
He argues that while there are positive developments in the vaccine space, none are likely to eradicate the coronavirus:

Forex news from the European trading session – 20 October 2020
Headlines:
Markets:
– EUR leads, NZD lags on the day
– European equities mixed; E-minis up 0.6%

The EU confirms what we already know from yesterday
Well, instead of the usual posturing, the situation is a bit delicate now so they are largely reiterating similar remarks from Gove yesterday . But we’ll see how things go in the coming days/weeks. It wouldn’t be surprising if we end up in a big loop again.

A survey overseen by the Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP) shows that 71.5% of participants would be very or somewhat likely to take a vaccine
The VCP is a global surveillance programme on vaccine trust funded by the European Commission and some pharmaceutical companies, and the survey here was conducted back in June with more than 13,000

Further comments by BOE policymaker, Gertjan Vlieghe
The headline comment continues to make a case for negative rates to be introduced by the BOE in the future. A bit of a clarification to one of his earlier remarks :

Bloomberg reports, citing an EU official on the matter
Adding that Barnier and Frost are going to discuss next steps in Brexit talks, after following yesterday’s meeting. And so the dance continues…

Forex news from the European trading session – 19 October 2020
Headlines:
Markets:
– GBP leads, USD lags on the day
– European equities mixed; E-minis up 0.8%

Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the matter
For some context, so the headline pertains to that. I wouldn’t doubt that they would leave the door open to extend cuts into next year, but any firm decision will only be made at next month’s meeting.