OctaFX, a Forex broker that provides online trading services worldwide has come up with an exclusive list of top events that affected the market in 2020.
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Forex 2020 – OctaFX
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Rising of coronavirus cases
Investors were watching the spread of the then-unknown disease in China closely earlier this year. How a leading East Asian country is handling this problem was of crucial importance. It turned out later that the newly titled coronavirus would not only affect China but soon the entire world. The rising numbers of people in the United States and Europe being infected with and dying from this horrific virus led investors to panic, which impacted the currency, stock, and commodities markets.
OPEC and OPEC+ agree on the largest output cut in history
One of the first assets that experienced the impact of the pandemic was crude oil. On 8 January 2020, the price of ‘black gold’ already fell from the level of 70.75 dollars per barrel of Brent down to 64.38 dollars per barrel, which is almost 9% in a single day. However, the most severe collapse in the entire history of the oil market occurred transitioning from March to April.
Approval of a stimulus package for the U.S. economy
After the oil, the stock market followed suit spiralling down soon after. Hence, in the period from 20 February to 23 March this year, one of the most popular stock indices in the world, the SPX500, fell to the level of 2,172 USD. This amounts to an almost 36.5% decrease. As a reminder, SPX500 includes 505 selected public companies traded on American stock exchanges with the largest capitalisation.
Gold reaches all-time highs
The gold market struggled immensely at the beginning of the year. Although, since the second half of March, the precious metal has shown steady growth, starting from the level of 1,450 to 2,080 dollars per ounce by the beginning of August, which amounts to almost 43% in gains.
Second coronavirus wave enters the stage
At the end of August, disturbing reports flooded the headlines with an ongoing epidemic that followed what seemed to be a calm summer. The total daily increase of infected people in September throughout October exceeded the peak in May by two or three times. In November, several European countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Greece, again announced regional lockdowns and began applying strict sanitary measures.
All this significantly affected bitcoin, which has risen from the levels of 9,700-10,500 USD to a historic record high of 19,920 USD since the beginning of September, before going even further in December by reaching 24,000 USD.
Coronavirus vaccine discovery
In August, mass media reported that authorities in Russia registered the first coronavirus vaccine. Positive news like this led to a sharp decline in the prices of gold, which previously reached the earlier mentioned unheard-of high of 2,080 dollars per ounce. This would make sense since gold is usually purchased when critical situations occur in the world, such as an uncontrolled pandemic, large-scale war, or political uncertainty.
In merely two days, from 11 August to 12 August, the yellow metal lost almost 8.3% in value, sinking its price to 1,862 dollars per ounce. Subsequently, in November, the three largest companies in Pfizer (together with BioNTech), Moderna and AstraZeneca announced the successful final phases of testing their coronavirus vaccines.
United States presidential election
The 2020 U.S. presidential election, held on 3 November, is recognised as the most controversial in history. As usual, two candidates emerged in the final race. Donald Trump again represented the U.S. Republican party in hopes for a second term in office. His Democratic counterpart, former vice president and U.S. Senator Joe Biden, was challenging Trump’s re-election.