The worst one we’ve seen so far. More transmissible than the Delta strain. Vaccines we currently have may be less effective. Alarmist or genuine warnings against the new Covid strain – B.1.1.529 – found in South Africa? The world certainly sees it as a real enemy, with the UK temporarily halting all passenger flights from South Africa and its neighbours, Israel barring entry of non-Israelis traveling from several African nations, investors fleeing to safe havens, and the World Health Organisation calling for a special meeting to discuss the new variant with ‘a large number of mutations’. At least two cases of the new Covid strain have been found in travelers to Hong Kong.
Local experts raised the alarm at a briefing yesterday of the variant – which “has a big jump on evolution” – potentially “spreading very fast” and putting pressure on the healthcare system “in the next few days and weeks”. The market reaction was quick and brutal. The Dow futures plunge 400 points, the rand tanked, Asian markets and oil prices sank and safe havens rallied.
“A lot happened in a short amount of time, with the rand and EMs getting taken to the cleaners overnight,” comments TreasuryONE.
“We have seen the rand popping to R16.20 overnight as EMs ran into a perfect storm of events. First, we had the news yesterday that there is a new Covid strain in South Africa that looks more dangerous than the Delta variant. The UK and Singapore have placed SA back on the red list and restricted travel. The Mexican peso slipped as much as 2% to 21.60 per dollar after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pulled his nomination for Arturo Herrera to head the central bank next year. He would propose senior finance ministry official Victoria Rodriguez for the post. While the bias of the new nominee has to be seen, the suddenness of the replacement has added to further volatility. This move has added on EM pressures, and with the market currently treading lightly on risk assets, this only adds fuel to the fire,” the forex trading house said in its morning note to clients.
The unit was last trading at R16.21 against the greenback.
The fears over the new coronavirus variant come as Covid cases numbers spiked globally, most notably in Europe, with Austria back in lockdown. Locally Covid-19 cases have been rising over the past few days, with most of the cases of the new variant detected in Gauteng.
With Black Friday a potential spreader event, we may soon know whether we’ll be subjected to tighter lockdown regulations as we head into the December holidays.
Meanwhile, as Covid-19 takes a growing toll on South Africa’s children, the EU has cleared the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged five to 11.
One thing the new strain is showing us is that there is no time for complacency. As we head into the holidays it is everyone’s duty to act responsibly – for our own safety and the sake of others!
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
Ramaphosa backs just transition — insists SA’s sovereignty not for sale in R131bn COP26 financing offer – Daily Maverick
Gupta Inc strikes again with high court victory in ongoing Tegeta battle – Daily Maverick
South Africa tells 200 000 Zimbabweans to go home – News24
Global Business
One chart shows the dramatic drop-off in ship tracking data from China. This could be a sign of a worsening global supply chain crisis. – Business Insider
Rescue team in Russia mining accident goes missing, search called of due to risk of explosion – News24
Pokemon Go also joins the trend: create metaverse for the real world – Entrepreneur
Markets
Fears over new Covid variant hit Asian markets, oil prices – AFP
A 10,000% jump makes Indonesian data firm world’s top IPO – Bloomberg
China asks Didi to delist from US on security fears – Bloomberg
Opinion/In-depth
Behind EFF’s anti-ANC vote: Julius Malema’s big plan to topple Ramaphosa – Daily Maverick
Should we really worry about inflation? – AFP
South African asset managers flex sustainability muscles in private – Daily Maverick
Video
What we know about the new COVID-19 variant in SA – EWN
US shoppers keep spending despite hot inflation – Reuters
What rising oil prices and inflation mean for Crypto, Binance rebuilding Doge wallet – Coindesk
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