Wednesday 20th May 2020

Markets have controlled their excitement after yesterday’s burst of optimism over a potential COVID-129 vaccine. As NAB’s Ray Attrill points out, equities have nonetheless held on to most of the gains. The Aussie and Kiwi dollars saw two of the biggest gains today, despite threats from China to extend the hefty tariffs on Australian imports. Perhaps New Zealand sees this as an opportunity. There’s also discussion about Jerome Powell’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, the findings from yesterday’s Australian job numbers and the UK chancellors remarks on their unemployment numbers. And a better than expected ZEW survey reading from Germany.