Tuesday’s session on Wall Street ended with moderate drops of the main indices. Concerns returned to the markets about the impact of the worsening pandemic on the outlook for global GDP growth in the short term. The leader of the discounts was the industrial concern Caterpillar.
Dow Jones Industrial closed 308 points or 0.94 percent at the close to 32,423.15 points.
The S&P 500 fell 0.76 percent at the end of the day to 3,910.52 points.
Nasdaq Composite lost 1.12 percent. and closed the session at 13,227.70 points.
Tuesday is the anniversary of the bull market in the US. The coronavirus pandemic caused the S&P 500 index to drop 30 percent. in just 22 days last year, which was the fastest stock sell-off in history.
From the March 23 low, both the S&P 500 and the Dow rose by more than 75%, marking the best start of a new boom in history. The Nasdaq Composite grew by over 90%, while the Russell 2000, grouping smaller companies, grew by 126%.
“Shares have posted + furious + growth and new highs have been taking place all over the world. The boom starts amazing, but it is still young. While an increase in volatility would be normal at this stage, we believe traders may consider buying on a downside. Vaccine distribution, fiscal and monetary stimulus and economic recovery give us confidence, ”commented Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at LPL Financial.
During Tuesday’s Congressional hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell assessed that asset prices appeared to be high in certain market segments. However, they unanimously emphasized that this does not cause them any concerns about the stability of the financial sector.
The leader of the discounts on Wall Street on Tuesday was the industrial concern Caterpillar, which lost 4 percent.
ViacomCBS was losing 7 percent. after it was announced that it would offer more shares for sale. The company’s shares increased by over 700 percent. since last March, and the ViacomCBS media conglomerate has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the pandemic in the S&P 500 index.
The quotations of companies offering tourist services, as well as retail chains, were falling. The reason is the most recent government restrictions in various parts of the world. After about 8 percent. have decreased, among others Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines. American Airlines and United Airlines fell more than 7 percent. The shares of the clothing chain Gap fell almost 8%.
The World Health Organization said most regions of the world are now seeing an increase in new cases of Covid-19 as the reach of the more contagious variants of the coronavirus expands. For example, Germany has just extended the lockdown to April 18, since Saturday almost 1/3 of France is back in lockdown. Oil prices fell more than 6 percent on the wave of fears about the growing third wave of infections in the world.
“Despite the huge improvement (thanks to the vaccine – PAP Biznes), the third wave of the pandemic hits a large part of the population that is medically and economically defenseless. It will take a long time to heal such wounds. Vaccinations can help control the virus, but it will take some time” – he said. Brad McMillan, Chief Investment Strategist of the Commonwealth Financial Network.
About 2.5 million people get vaccinated daily in the United States. Nevertheless, the number of new cases is increasing in 21 states, as restrictions have recently been lifted there.
According to Johns Hopkins University, a total of 123.77 million Covid-19 infections have been confirmed worldwide. The number of deaths for this reason reached 2,725 million.
In the US, 650 deaths from Covid-19 have been registered in the last 24 hours. The presence of the coronavirus was confirmed in 55,621 consecutive people. The Baltimore research facility reported that there have been nearly 30 million cases of the virus infected in America since the outbreak of the epidemic, and the death toll has reached 543,000.
Sales of new homes in the US in February amounted to 775 thousand. in annual terms against expected 875 thou. A month earlier, sales of 948 thousand were recorded, after an adjustment from 923 thousand. (PAP Biznes)
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