Stimulus, Germany’s Failure, the McAfee and Musk Case

As expected, optimism reigned in the financial markets after the Senate voted on Biden’s stimulus package over the weekend. Even the reluctance of US Treasury yields to decline yesterday did not scare the markets.

Hopes for a quick recovery in the US economy again flooded the thoughts of investors. Expectations are that the size of the stimulus package is large enough for US GDP to return to its pre-pandemic trend by mid-year, closing the pandemic gap entirely.

Data from Germany tried to bring the markets to their senses at least a little: according to the Federal Statistical Agency Destatis, industrial production amounted to -2.5% m / m against the expected growth of 0.2%. But as a result, only the euro suffered.

And although the decline in the single European currency seems logical against this background, it was clearly delayed in tandem with the pound.

Moreover, although Britain is gradually lifting restrictions, it will still be unraveling the economic consequences of the pandemic and Brexit for quite a long time. For example, UK merchandise exports fell by £ 54bn in 2020, according to the latest data. In this light, the medium-term purchases of the EURGBP pair seem to us an increasingly interesting trading idea.

Tesla’s crown, meanwhile, is dimming more and more. The latest data from Europe showed that Musk's company is failing in this market a little more than completely: in January, 1,619 Tesla electric vehicles were delivered to 18 key European markets, which is only 3.5% of the total number of electric vehicles. Given that the share of Volkswagen there reaches 30%.

On this, Musk’s troubles can potentially only begin. The US Department of Justice has indicted the creator of the first commercial antivirus McAfee, 75-year-old John McAfee, on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. McAfee and its accomplices pre-bought various cryptocurrencies, then on Twitter McAfee (more than a million subscribers) published messages urging users to buy these altcoins ‘to artificially inflate their market prices’, and after the increase in value they sold. Doesn’t it look like something we’ve already heard of? If not, check out Musk’s Twitter account.