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Oil prices – in particular of the WTI – which pierce the threshold of $ 70 per barrel, with a loss of over -3.5%. Ten-year rates of US Treasuries that capitulate even below 1.22%, at a minimum in five months. Actions stunned by heavy sell offs.
The fear of the Covid-19 variant cripples the riskiest assets, fueling purchases on those considered less risky, such as US government bonds.
The Dow Jones lost a few minutes after the start of the session on Wall Street up to -650 points; the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.2%.
In the United States, infections started to rise again this month, due to the spread of the Delta variant among the unvaccinated.
According to data from the CDC, in the seven days that ended last Friday, the US faced an average of nearly 30,000 new cases per day, up sharply from last month’s average of 11,000 new cases.
In this way, above all reopening stocks sell to Wall Street, i.e. those that have benefited from the reopening of economies such as airline shares: United Airlines loses almost 4%, a loss of more than 3% and about 4% Delta and American Airlines.
With the Delta variant that is spreading all over the world, the stocks of multinationals such as Caterpillar, Boeing (which sells almost 4%) and General Motors (-3.3%) are losing.
Among the worst stocks, also those in the oil and energy sector, such as ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil, down by about 3%. The shares pay, in addition to the fear of a new slowdown in demand, which would certainly occur if the whole world resorted to new lockdown measures, the decision on the production of the coming months finally announced by Opec +, after a series of smokes black.
“The overall production – reads the statement issued yesterday by OPEC + – will be revised upwards on a monthly basis, and starting from August 2021, by 400,000 barrels per day, to free up 5.8 million barrels per day. In December 2021 we will evaluate the market developments and the performance of the participating countries (in OPEC +) ”.
The association has also decided that, starting from 1 May 2022, the new basic thresholds will become effective from which to start making subsequent adjustments in production. In this regard, the stumbling block represented by the tensions between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia has been overcome precisely with the setting of these new basic thresholds.
It opens yet another busy week of this season of US quarterly earnings, with nine Dow Jones members disclosing their balance sheets, as well as 76 companies listed on the S&P 500.
In calendario, tra i tanti, i bilanci di United Airlines e American Airlines, Snap e Twitter, CSX, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Honeywell, IBM, Intel e Netflix.
Last week the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 lost 0.52% and 0.97% respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite did worse, reporting a decline of 1.87%, ending the worst week since. May.
Also last week, on the balance sheet front, the securities of the most important banks in the USA were protagonists.
Overall, analysts at BMO noted that, prior to the start of the earnings season, 66 companies listed on the S&P 500 released positive earnings guidance for the quarter, at a record high since at least 2006.
“The second quarter earnings season has arrived and for US equities we expect another period of stellar growth, with the S&P 500 s year-on-year eps growth rate currently at 65.5%, which is a record high since. fourth quarter of 2009.