The
Dow fell more than 750 points shortly Monday morning, a drop of 2.2%. The
S&P 500 fell 1.7% and the
Nasdaq was 1.2% lower.
This is shaping up to be the worst day for the Dow since a 943-point drop in late October.
Investors feared that the Delta coronavirus variant could threaten the US economic recovery. Shares of companies in sectors that were widely thought to benefit most from the reopening of the economy are getting hit the hardest.
Airlines
American (AAL),
United (UAL) and
Delta (DAL) were all down more than 4%. Cruise operators
Carnival (CCL),
Royal Caribbean (RCL) and
Norwegian (NCLH) each fell about 5%.
Energy stocks plummeted as well following a more than 3% drop in
oil prices.
Chevron (CVX) and
Exxon Mobil (XOM) were down nearly 3%.The OPEC+ group of nations also agreed over the weekend on a deal to
produce more oil, a move that could boost supply and reduce crude prices.
Long-term bond rates continued to slide as well, a sign that fixed income investors are now far more worried about a Delta variant-induced economic slowdown than they are about rising inflation fears.
The
yield on the 10-year US Treasury sank below 1.2% for the first time since February.
And small American companies were also getting hit particularly hard. The
Russell 2000 (RUT) was down more than 1%. That index primarily holds shares of small cap firms that generate more of their revenue from the United States than international markets.
The still-high number of
unvaccinated Americans means vaccination rates have not met the threshold needed to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Most Americans who have not previously been infected or received vaccinations will
likely contract the rapidly spreading Delta variant, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration during the Trump administration, told CBS”https://www.cnn.com/”Face the Nation” Sunday.
Forty-eight states are now seeing new case numbers surge at least 10% higher than the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Stocks fell Friday as well due to conflicting reports about the health of the US consumer. Retail sales grew surprisingly in June, but a measure of consumer sentiment for July showed that Americans are growing less confident about the economy.
The
CNN Business Fear & Greed Index, which looks at seven measures of market sentiment, is now showing signs of Extreme Fear.
But cloud-based call center software company
Five9 (FIVN) was spared from the market sell-off Monday. Shares rose 4% on the news that video conferencing giant
Zoom (ZM) was
buying it for nearly $15 billion. Zoom’s stock fell.
Despite the recent volatility, stocks are not far from record highs and are having a solid year.
The Dow is still up more than 10% in 2021 and is just 3% below its all-time peak. The S&P 500 has surged 13% this year and is also only 3% off its record high.
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