Spreadex Market Update

Vaccine spat between UK, EU and AstraZeneca causes crisis of confidence to continue



In what could the first major post-Brexit row between the UK and EU, both sides are at odds over the distribution of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.

A shortage of preparations in the European bloc has led to a public spat with Astra, including Brussels dismissing the company’s claim that the UK has first dibs on locally-produced doses. As for the UK government, it appears to have no interest in a compromise, with reports suggesting that only after 100 million doses have been manufactured for the British population will plants in Oxford and Staffordshire be open to supply other nations.

The argument appears to have undermined confidence in not only the vaccine rollout itself, but the market optimism that came alongside its development.

The FTSE shed another 0.8%, leaving it lurking at 6,520 – around 25 points above where it opened the year, and close to 400 points off the highs seen in 2021’s first week of trading.

A 1.1% slide from the DAX trapped the German index at a 5-week nadir of 13,500, while a 0.7% drop from the CAC left the French bourse at 5,425.

Currently the Dow Jones is set to avoid losses of that size, with the futures indicating a 0.1% decline. Where the Dow actually opens, however, will be in part determined by the advance Q4 GDP reading – analysts are expecting growth of 4.2% at the annualised rate, not much more than a tenth of the 33.4% seen in the third quarter.

They may also be a fragility to the markets this Thursday, as the Gamestop/Reddit conundrum spreads to other heavily-shorted stops. There is a sense that professional investors are unhappy another group has come along and forcibly joined in with a game they see as theirs and theirs alone, none too pleased that certain elements of the whole enterprise have been shown up as farcical.

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