Investing.com - Financial Markets Worldwide
Get 40% Off
Get 40% Off
👀 👁 🧿 All eyes on Biogen, up +4,56% after posting earnings. Our AI picked it in March 2024.
Which stocks will surge next?
Unlock AI-picked Stocks

Wall Street ends down as Delta variant drives fears

Published 07/16/2021, 07:08 AM
Updated 07/16/2021, 06:11 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The New York Stock Exchange is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 16, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

By Noel Randewich and Devik Jain

(Reuters) - Wall Street ended lower on Friday, weighed down by declines in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other heavyweight technology stocks, while investors worried about a rise in coronavirus cases tied to the highly contagious Delta variant.

On Thursday, Los Angeles County said it would reimpose its mask mandate this weekend. On Friday, public health officials said U.S. coronavirus cases were up 70% over the previous week, with deaths up 26%.

Cruise lines Carnival (NYSE:CUK) Corp and Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) both fell about 5%.

"COVID is starting to affect the market, ironically, for the first time since last summer, when the reopening trade began," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Amazon and Apple fell more than 1%. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) lost 4.2%, and the three companies contributed more than any others to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq's declines. The S&P 500 technology sector index lost almost 1%, dipping for a second session after hitting a record on Wednesday.

The utilities index rallied 1%, while the real estate index edged up 0.1% and touched an intraday record high.

This week, investors have balanced worries about a recent inflation spike with reassurances from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that the surge in prices is temporary.

Second-quarter earnings season picks up next week, with reports from companies including Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).

Analysts on average expect 72% growth in earnings per share for S&P 500 companies, according to IBES estimate data from Refinitiv.

3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads .

With the S&P 500 up about 15% so far this year, investors will look for strong company forecasts to justify sky-high valuations.

"It's been hard for the market to gain here from these already elevated prices," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.

The S&P 500 energy sector index sank nearly 3% and ended the week 8% lower, with investors worried about expectations for more supply and a rise in coronavirus cases that raised demand concerns.

Weekly performance July 16: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/rlgpdrdzypo/MicrosoftTeams-image%20(18).png

Data from the Commerce Department showed retail sales rebounded 0.6% last month as spending is shifting back to services, bolstering expectations that economic growth accelerated in the second quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.86% to end at 34,687.85 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.75% to 4,327.16.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8% to 14,427.24.

For the week, the S&P 500 fell about 1%, the Dow lost 0.5% and the Nasdaq shed 1.9%, their fist weekly declines in four weeks.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Inc jumped 10.3% to a record high after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the drugmaker will join the S&P 500 index as of the start of trading on July 21, replacing Alexion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALXN).

Cintas Corp (NASDAQ:CTAS) surged 4.6% after brokerages raised price targets on the business service provider's stock following its fourth-quarter results.

Didi Global Inc fell 3.2% after China sent state officials from at least seven departments to the ride-hailing giant for a cybersecurity review.

3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads .

Energy weekly decline: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/oakpedbbjvr/energy%20weekly%203.png

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.42-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.21-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 48 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 46 new highs and 124 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.3 billion shares, compared with the 10.3 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Latest comments

Operators pull up or pull up the market first and then state a reason for that. The movement is completely technical and not because of any events.
down*
Usually on option expiration date, market swings
It is not Delta variant worries everyone.  It is uncontrollable printing of money that drags everything down. Everyone realized Biden and Co is a huge failure.
after nearby 2 years pandemic, Reuters still wrote same article 😑
From the other article about this today "She said people should get the second dose of vaccine even if they have passed the recommended window of time for receiving it.".... how can people believe any of the garbage coming out of these people?" The vaccines are not even FDA approved and they do not even adhere to their own guidance. "Get these super duper safe and effective vaccines and you can go back to normal!" *few months later* "Okay these vaccines have just produced a more deadly variant that is preferentially spread over the original strain by vaccinated people since the vaccine puts selective pressure against the original strain...also, we known masks and lockdowns did nothing the first time around, but you better put those back on and we may lock things down again...also, the FDA has still not approved the vaccines, but has told us to put warnings about heart inflammation and auto-immune diseases on the bottles....and lets just forget about the whole deadly clots thing..."
haw can you be so sure. how is different natural immune response to natural inducted by vaccine. please clarify
natural immunity is far superior to feined immunity which is what vaccines do. These vaccines would never have been approved if done under normal process, but in working with government they got emergency use protection. That includes limited civil liability.
Another article about COVID deaths and they do not even report the number of deaths. There is a reason why, this is pure propaganda and the number of deaths is so small even with their misleading testing - which counts cases differently among vaccinated vs un-vaccinated people - that they are embarrassed to report it. The CDC changed the way they count cases in vaccinated versus unvaccinated people to produce these misleading numbers, for instance limiting PCR cycles in vaccinated people to reduce false positives and not counting asymptomatic/mild cases among vaccinated people. They are required to test all unvaccinated people entering hospitals for any reason, which produces a falsely high number of deaths among unvaccinated attributed to COVID. If they counted vaccinated and unvaccinated in same way, there would be no differential.
Last week in CA, they reported 9 cases of COVID among Capitol employees, 4 out of the 9 were vaccinated. Misinformation? Look it up yourself...while looking up all the warnings that the FDA is requiring on the bottle such as heart inflammation and auto-immune disorders while not FDA-approving the vaccines...
Vaccines protects you from death not from getting sick so more cases of covid infections is completly logic but the number of deaths will be notably lower
There are also risks with the vaccines, which are not being reported on. The VAERS system, which stands for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, has reported more adverse events and deaths related to COVID-19 vaccines than every other vaccines in the history of the reporting program combined. The issue people have is that they are intentionally not reporting the risks of the vaccine for low risk individuals who have virtually no risk with COVID-19, they are under reporting risks of the vaccine, and they are not being truthful that vaccines promote spread of the variant virus since they are more effective against the original strain. This is why historically they have not done mass vaccination programs including to low risk individuals, since it increases the likelihood of resistance and less efficacy of the vaccine for high risk individuals.
We see this with antibiotics also, there is a reason they cannot just give everybody in the population antibiotics and wipe out certain bacteria...bacteria form resistance. Highly mutagenic viruses do to. The vaccines are not even FDA-approved, and the only thing the FDA has done so far is require they print warnings on the bottle for heart inflammation and auto-immune disorders that have been noted to form after vaccination, particularly among chil.dr.en.....who are at lowest risk of dying from covid and lowest likelihood of spreading the virus. They give you free donuts, but obesity is the biggest comorbidity with COVID, with 80%+ of people being hospitalized with COVID being obese.
i think u better see a doctor.
Everyone just stop watching / reading the news. Then WE win
Especially the mainstream finance news.
Total housing market and stock market crash coming. Look at lumber futures… even gold is down today. This is going to be BAD
It’s all good when you trade in both directions.
Chadwick your completely wrong ! Housing market will not crash ?? What are you talijg about. Do you even have a clue or are you making things up
Lumber is down because supply is up.
Nice floor under the losses of the laughingstock of the investing world.
Install Our App
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.