Morning Commentary: Bamlanivimab – An Important Word You Probably Don’t Know

A daily summary and commentary of events and factors that affect the global markets, with a particular emphasis on the foreign exchange markets.

Bamlanivimab – An Important Word You Probably Don’t Know Share this story: David Atkinson Foreign Exchange Sales Manager

You may not know the word, but you like what it is. Bamlanivimab is the official name of Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody drug that got Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval yesterday for COVID-19 treatment. Not only was it approved, but Eli Lilly shipped out 88,000 treatments last night. It is not the “shot in the arm” for the economy that is the usual vaccine joke in the media. This is an IV treatment for use early after a COVID-19 diagnosis. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said this morning that Eli Lilly’s related cocktail treatment is the closest thing we have to a cure. Still, it is one of many medical tools coming on board to help fight the pandemic, which continues to rage across the country with 142,000 new cases reported yesterday. Equity markets are mixed around the world this morning, with none way up or way down. The euphoria around the Pfizer news yesterday gave way to old-fashioned trading around earnings and economic growth. Of greater concern might be what we are seeing in bond markets. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield shot up 13 basis points yesterday and is up by 3 points this morning. At 0.96%, it is certainly near that 1% level we have not seen since March 19 — yes, right as the pandemic was hitting the reality of life in America. Hard to believe that we started this year at 1.91%, and as recent as two years ago, we were comfortably above 3% before we had that equity meltdown going into the end of 2018. There is starting to be a bit more chatter in markets about oil prices, which are in the low $40s for both West Texas Intermediate and Brent Crude. That has more or less been the range for most of these months, but even as we face a dark winter with COVID-19, markets are seemingly starting to price a better 2021 than this very weird year. The U.S. dollar is fairly steady today, but some emerging market currencies are taking it on the chin. The Turkish lira is down a little over 1%, giving back some of its nearly 5% gain from yesterday. Of note in the majors, British pounds are up over 0.5%, as the U.K. government had preordered a good stock of that Pfizer vaccine.

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