A man wearing a protective face mask talks on his cellphone in front of a screen showing the Nikkei index outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan. Picture: REUTERS/ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA
British authorities, who worry it could resist vaccines and think it is the most significant variant to date, are moving to impose travel restrictions. The rand dropped more than 1% to a one-year low on Friday and the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars fell to three-month trough.“Markets are anticipating the risk here of another global wave of infections if vaccines are ineffective,” said Moh Siong Sim, a currency analyst at the Bank of Singapore. “Reopening hopes could be dashed.”
Though that leaves yields inside recent ranges, heat has come out of wagers on the pace of rate hikes and the December 2022 Fed funds futures contract was last up nine bps.