The selloff in U.S. stocks gained steam on Monday, with negative sentiment sweeping across the global markets. Notably, Japan’s Nikkei Index plummeted more than 12% on Monday, marking its worst day since the infamous 1987 crash. On our shores, investors were triggered by last week’s weaker-than-expected jobs report, which raised concerns that the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to start cutting rates, and thus renewing recessionary fears. Mega-cap tech stocks were particularly hard hit, with losses for Alphabet (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), NVIDIA (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA) ranging between 4% and 6%. The downturn saw investors piling into the safety of Treasurys, with the yield on 10-year notes plunging to 3.78%, the lowest in more than a year. (Yields move lower as bond prices increase, and vice versa.)
Stocks appeared to be gearing up for a rebound this morning, with the futures pointing to a sharply higher open for the major indexes, albeit not on the scale of yesterday’s declines. In overnight trading, most markets in Asia regained some lost ground, with the Nikkei bouncing back by more than 10%. Meanwhile, stocks in Europe are showing small losses. Oil prices have also moved lower, with West Texas Intermediate down about 0.7%, to around $72.40 a barrel.
Meanwhile, earnings season continues to move along at a brisk pace. Among the larger-cap companies due to announce in the days ahead we have Walt Disney (DIS) reporting tomorrow, followed by pharmas Eli Lilly (LLY) and Gilead (GILD) on Thursday.
In terms of the economic calendar, this week is on the light side. Investors did get some favorable news yesterday, with the Institute for Supply Management releasing its Non-Manufacturing (services) Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). The reading for July came in at 51.4, on target with forecasts and above the 48.8 it recorded in June. (Levels above 50 denote expanding activity, while those below 50 indicate contraction.) The Index has been positive in 10 of the last 12 months. The other major news item this week will be the Department of Labor’s latest report on initial jobless claims, which is due out Thursday. Wall Street’s estimates are calling for a dip to 245,000, versus the 249,000 recorded the week before.
Summing up Monday’s moves for the major U.S. indexes, the Dow Jones Industrials plunged 1,033 points, or 2.6%, the S&P 500 lost 160 points (3.0%), and the tech-heavy NASDAQ fared the worst of the lot, sliding 576 points (3.4%). – Mario Ferro
At the time of this article’s writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.
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