In the oil sector, in the expectation of an economic rebound in 2021 thanks to anti-Covid-19 vaccinations, optimism has continued to increase costs. In the January Nymex contract, U.S. light crude oil (WTI) rose 0.9 percent to $46.99 a barrel. In February, the Brent contract for delivery gained 0.6 percent to $50.29 per barrel.
Gold, on the other hand, for the February Comex futures contract, dropped 0.6 percent to $1,832.10. The yellow metal resumed its rise last week (-0.2 percent) after falling to about $1,780 at the end of October, the lowest in five months.
3 Tiny Stocks Primed to Explode
The world's greatest investor — Warren Buffett — has a simple formula for making big money in the markets. He buys up valuable assets when they are very cheap. For stock market investors that means buying up cheap small cap stocks like these with huge upside potential.
We've set up an alert service to help smart investors take full advantage of the small cap stocks primed for big returns.
Click here for full details and to join for free
Sponsored
The United States launched its Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Monday, a week after the United Kingdom, with the aim of vaccinating 100 million citizens by the end of the first quarter of 2021 and beyond to vaccinate 80% of the population by the end of June. On Monday, Canada also started its immunization program, while the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was given the go-ahead by Singapore authorities.
The FDA approved the vaccine for emergency use on Friday and is expected to vote this week at the request of the Moderna, while other vaccine candidates currently in the testing process are expected to reach the market in the coming months, including AstraZeneca, CureVac, Novavax and Johnson and Johnson. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is due to vote on applications from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna prior to the end of December.
However, in many countries, immunization programs can take several months to ramp up and hopefully allow a return to normal life. In the meantime with its related human and economic disruption, the pandemic continues to advance in the wake of the winter in the United States and Europe.
Also, it was this Monday that Joe Biden must be voted formally as the 46th President of the United States by the Electoral College.
