Weekly Economic and Market Focus - 30 October 2020

Global financial markets weakened as hopes of the US stimulus package faded, while the surge in coronavirus cases persists, forcing countries to re-implement lockdown restrictions

The World Health Organization has warned that countries may need to impose stricter lockdown measures to get the virus under control as Covid-19 cases surge across the globe.
The US economy grew by 33.1% in the third quarter of 2020, beating the consensus estimate of a 31.0% expansion, marking it the biggest expansion on record.
As expected, the European Central Bank left its bank rate unchanged at 0%, insinuating that more stimulus could be made available in December 2020 as new coronavirus lockdowns are imposed.
On 28 October 2020, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivered the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, downwardly revising 2020 growth forecasts to -7.8% compared to the previous estimate of -7.2%.
Global financial markets weakened as hopes of the US stimulus package faded while coronavirus cases surge, forcing countries to re-implement lockdown restrictions.

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