We haven’t yet turned the page on all the difficulties of the past year, so it seems like we are stuck in 2020, wrote Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategists at Invesco, in her blog.
Recent economic data has shown signs of the damage being wrought by the rise in COVID-19 infections. The December jobs reports for both the United States and Canada were disappointing, as was last week’s U.S. initial jobless claims. And the weakness in U.S. retail sales for December.
As for the euro zone economy, it also came under pressure in December. As Chris Williamson of IHS Markit explained, “The euro zone economy contracted for a second successive month in December, deteriorating at a slightly faster rate than previously thought at the end of the year due to intensifying COVID-19 infections.”
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