:watermark(cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ipmgroup/EF665FJJCNGHFFHRRMWR57UKMI.png,0,0,0)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ipmgroup/FUGSRPYLEFDT3JHXODXK7IOL2M.jpg "New York Stock Exchange opens in red after retail sales")
The New York Stock Exchange opened sharply lower, showing itself in a gloomy mood after weak US retail sales in July, reflecting fears that the Delta variant is having an impact on economic activity.
At around 1.50pm GMT, the Dow Jones index was down 0.76% at 35,358.83 points. The high-tech Nasdaq was down 0.75% at 14,703.24 points. The S&P 500 extended index was down 0.69% at 4,448.62 points.
The day before, after having started badly, the Dow Jones index (+ 0.31%) and the S&P 500 (+ 0.26%) had reached new highs, accumulating five consecutive sessions of increases. The Nasdaq was still in the red (-0.20%).
The effects of the Delta variant
Wall Street was already in negative territory before the publication of the retail sales index which turned out worse than expected with a decline of 1.1% against -0.2% expected by analysts. “On the surface it’s disappointing, but in detail it’s better”, assured Ian Shepherdson, economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics pointing the revision of the increase in June sales to + 0.7%.
In July, it was the plunge in auto sales (-3.9%), which particularly weighed on the index. The analyst emphasized that he was “Impossible to separate the repercussions of the drop in stimulus checks from the possible one of the Delta variant, which began to hit restaurants and air transport at the end of July”.
“The Delta variant is going to hit harder in August, so we’re going to have to drastically lower our Q3 consumer spending forecast.”, a encore averti Ian Shepherdson.
Consumer spending in the United States represents three quarters of GDP and is the engine of growth for the world’s largest economy.
Walmart in the green
Among the good news, industrial production increased more sharply than expected (+ 0.9%) in July.
The title of number one distribution Walmart, which announced Tuesday a net profit per share a little below forecasts for a better turnover, grappled + 0.24% to 151 dollars. The discount giant has raised its forecasts for the whole year.
DIY chain Home Depot lost 4.63% to $ 319, despite better-than-expected results but lower footfall in Q2.
While Beijing made public the broad outlines of its new regulation of the tech sector, the securities of major Chinese internet groups listed in New York plunged such as Alibaba (-3.13%), Tencent (-9%) , Baidu (-3.86%).
Ten-year bond yields, which had fallen to 1.22% before the opening, rose to 1.25% from 1.26% the day before.
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