Stocks End Lower: Dow Falls 100 Points
4:09 pm Monday, August 09th, 2021
US markets fell on Monday as sharp falls in gold and oil prices, and concerns over the spread of the coronavirus Delta variant dented sentiment.
There are signs of lingering growth concerns, as oil and copper prices continue to weaken amid reports continuing to discuss the spread of the Delta variant and preventative efforts taken by governments and businesses.
The S&P 500 energy sector (-1.1%) is following oil prices lower with a 1.1% decline. No other sector is down or up more than 1.0%, though, representing the lack of trading conviction.
Interestingly, the Treasury market isn’t showing any increase in growth concerns since the 10-yr yield is up three basis points to 1.32% after touching 1.27% earlier this morning. The turnaround in yields has helped lead the S&P 500 financials sector (+0.6%) to the top of the leaderboard today.
Other pockets of relative strength include the health care (+0.2%) and consumer staples (+0.1%) sectors, which feature big gains in Moderna (MRNA) and Tyson Foods (TSN), respectively.
MRNA is powering higher on positive momentum while TSN provided better-than-expected earnings results and upbeat revenue guidance for fiscal 2021. Elsewhere in the foods space, Sanderson Farms (SAFM) agreed to be acquired by Cargill and Continental Grain Company for $4.5 billion, or $203/share, in cash.
In other developments, Tesla (TSLA) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies, the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill is expected to pass the Senate early this week, and job openings increased to a record-high of 10.073 million in June from a revised 9.483 million (from 9.209 million) in May.
