· S&P 500, Dow Jones close in the red
The S&P 500 on Friday ended lower after an up-and-down session as investors weighed spiking cases of COVID-19 and Apple Inc’s announcement of fresh store closures against anticipated stimulus and continued economic recovery.
The S&P 500 ultimately settled in the red, along with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ closed nominally higher.
The Dow fell 208.64 points, or 0.8 percent, to 25,871.46, the S&P 500 lost 17.6 points, or 0.56 percent, to 3,097.74 and the NASDAQ Composite added 3.07 points, or 0.03 percent, to 9,946.12.
Still, for the week, the S&P 500, the Dow and the NASDAQ posted solid percentage gains, with the Dow gaining 1.04 percent, the S&P rising 1.86 percent and the NASDAQ increasing 3.73 percent.
Apple Inc announced it is temporarily shutting some stores again in Florida, Arizona, South Carolina and North Carolina, which have seen a spike in novel coronavirus cases in the past few days.
New cases of COVID-19 set records across at least six US states, and mandated mask use is becoming more common as economies continue reopening. China, where the pandemic originated but had been contained, also reported an uptick in new cases of the disease.
· Dow futures drop more than 100 points as coronavirus cases continue to climb
U.S. stock futures fell on Sunday night following a solid weekly performance on Wall Street amid lingering concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 127 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures slid 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
News of the Federal Reserve buying corporate bonds along with a record spike in U.S. retail sales lifted sentiment on Wall Street last. Expectations of an economic recovery also pushed up stock prices.
However, the number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases continues to increase, raising questions about the recovery.
· European stocks close higher as investors monitor coronavirus developments; Wirecard down another 35%
European markets closed higher on Friday afternoon as investors remained focused on new coronavirus spikes, economic data and the European Union’s proposed fiscal stimulus.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally ended up around 0.6%, with most sectors in positive territory.
The 27 European Union governments kicked off negotiations Friday over a proposal for a 750 billion euro ($841 billion) recovery fund to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, but the stimulus plan has caused some division among EU member states.
Germany’s Wirecard saw its plummeting stock recover slightly after the resignation on Friday of CEO Markus Braun, but ended the session more than 35% lower. The payments company’s stock had plunged 60% on Thursday after auditor EY refused to sign off on its 2019 full-year accounts due to a missing $2.1 billion, and Wirecard said it may have fallen victim to “fraud of significant proportions.”
Borrowing in the U.K. surged to £103.7 billion ($128.9 billion) in the April-May period, figures revealed Friday. It means public sector debt surpassed GDP (gross domestic product) for the first time since 1963 as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic becomes starkly apparent.
On the data front, Germany’s statistics office on Friday reported a 2.2% annual fall in inflation for May and a 0.4% decline from the previous month, slightly below expectations.
U.K. retail sales for May were down 13.1% year on year, significantly outstripping expectations of a 17.1% decline in a Reuters poll of analysts. On a monthly basis, retail sales were up 12% as lockdown measures eased slightly, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Investor focus had been on a resurgence of coronavirus cases in some parts of the world, with four U.S. states reporting a spike in new cases and hospitalizations amid attempts to reopen their economies. Meanwhile, a Chinese Center for Disease Control expert said Thursday that a recent outbreak in Beijing is now under control.
· Asia stocks edge lower as virus cases stateside surge again; China’s loan prime rate ahead
Stocks in Asia traded lower Monday morning as the number of coronavirus cases stateside soared again.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.6% as shares of robot maker Fanuc dropped more than 2%. The Topix index traded 0.36% lower. South Korea’s Kospi also dipped 0.6%.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.43%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.29% lower.
Investors watched for market reaction to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the U.S., with more than 30,000 new infections reported on Friday and Saturday — the highest daily totals since May 1 — according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Meanwhile, an official said Sunday that the Chinese capital of Beijing is capable of screening almost 1 million people a day for the coronavirus, according to Reuters. That development came on the back of a recent cluster of infections that was found in the city.
China is also set to announce the June fixing of its benchmark lending rate at around 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Monday. 74% of participants in a recent snap survey conducted by Reuters expected no change to the one-year loan prime rate.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters, Taipeitimes
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