The number of total coronavirus cases in 192 states exceeded 165.5 million and the death toll reached over 3.4 million, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center of John Hopkins. Meanwhile, Turkey saw fewer than 10,000 new COVID-19 daily cases for the first time since March 1 after 17-day lockdown. Yet, the country still ranks 5th among these 192 states with the highest number of cases. More than 5.1 million people have been infected and 45,626 people have lost their lives so far in the country.
In the meantime, the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board held the first meeting after full lock down ended at the beginning of this week. BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, a Turk living in Germany, also attended the meeting via video conference confirming that 120 million doses of vaccines will be delivered in total by the end of September. He said he will also come to Turkey to discuss further collaborations like producing, R&D and, clinical tests in Turkey. For the time being, Pfizer-BioNTech will deliver 30 million doses by the end of June, 12.3 million of which will arrive in the first weeks of the month.
As we end the week with this outlook, let’s take a look at money market. USD/TRY starts the last trading day of the week around 8.37-8.38, while EUR/TRY is traded at 10.24.
After seeing all-time highs, gold prices slightly declined due to investors’ tendency to risky assets stemmed from rapid recovery expectations in the global economy. Spot gold fluctuates between USD 1,870-1,878 per ounce this morning.
Oil prices, meanwhile, signals recovery following the 3-day decrease. Declined from USD 70 to below USD 65 in this period, brent crude exceeded USD 65 per barrel again this morning.
DAILY AGENDA
The Consumer Confidence Index decreased by 3.6% to 77.3 in May, compared to the previous month, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
The Agricultural Input Price Index increased by 21.03% in March, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to TurkStat. The index also surged 1.33% on monthly basis.
The Employment Index rose by 6% in Q1, compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to TurkStat.
The number of newly established companies increased by 204.5%, while the number of liquidated companies rose by 130.1% in April, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).
The Central Bank will release the Residential Property Index for March (2.30 pm). The index increased by 30.8% in February, compared to the same month of the previous year and rose by 2.6% on monthly basis.
The Central Bank will release money and banking statistics of the previous week, due to the Ramadan Holiday and the May 19 Commemoration of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day (2.30 pm).
