The COVID-19 pandemic shows an upward trend after the 9-day holiday. The number of daily coronavirus cases jumped to 14,230 from some 5,000 in the beginning of July while the death toll saw 55 in the last 24 hours. In the meantime, over 66.1 million people have been inoculated in total while 22.8 million people received the second dose and 3.8 million people received the third dose in the country.
On the other hand, negotiations on the Collective Labor Agreement Framework Protocol for 2021 concerning over 700,000 employees working at public institutions and organizations continue. The government is expected to submit a new proposal on salary increase to the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Turk-Is) and Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-Is) this week. The trade unions, which is acting together for the first time, demand the minimum gross salary to increase to TRY 4,800.
Looking at the money market, USD/TRY, which hovered around 8.55 last week when the markets were closed, is traded at 8.59 while EUR/TRY sees 10.12.
Oil prices decrease due to the spread of the COVID-19 variants and concerns that floods in China may reduce fuel demand. Brent crude dropped by 1.08% to USD 73.30 per barrel.
Gold prices are on the rise by the support of decline in yields of the U.S. Treasury bonds and concerns over increasing COVID-19 delta variant. Spot gold surged by 0.50% to USD 1,811 per ounce.
DAILY AGENDA
The seasonally adjusted confidence index rose by 5.8% in the services sector, 3.7% in the retail trade sector and 4.7% in the construction sector in July, compared to the previous month, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
The Real Sector Confidence Index surged by 1.8 points to 114.8 points in July, compared to the previous month, according to the Central Bank.
The Capacity Utilization Rate of the Manufacturing Industry (CUR) increased by 0.1 points to 76.7% in July, compared to the previous month, according to the Central Bank.
Ministry of Treasury will hold four auctions this week two of which will be held alone today. The Treasury will reissue the 6-year (2,303 days) maturity semiannually floating rate note and the 9-year (3,395 days) maturity semiannually fixed coupon bond.
