Dow down deeper and down, another bad day for US markets
01:44, 20 July 2021
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US markets extended Friday’s losses to fall sharply on Monday with the blue-chip Dow seeing its worst day in 2021 as fears about the global surge in coronavirus infections and subsequent implications of a slow economic recovery spurred investor anxiety.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index dropped 2.1% to 33,962.01 points, the broader S&P 500 Index slipped 1.6% to 4,258.63 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.1% to 14,275.0 points.
The Dow saw its biggest intra-day percentage loss in nearly nine months on Monday, the S&P 500 fell most since mid-May and the Nasdaq closed lower for the fifth session in a row.
Broad-based losses
The losses were distributed across all sectors with the energy sector losing more than the rest after the OPEC+ nations agreed to increase oil supply from August.
Oil futures slumped over 6% on Monday as both benchmark Brent Crude futures and West Texas Intermediate futures saw the sharpest decline since March.
The S&P 500 Energy Index dived 3.6% with oil and gas explorer Occidental Petroleum declining 4.3% to $24.82, while energy firms Exxon Mobil and Chevron fell 3.4% and 2.7%, respectively.
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Travel and hospitality stocks battered
Travel-related sectors were spooked by the resurgent Delta variant infections as the S&P 500 Airlines Industry Index ended the day as the biggest percentage losing sector, closing 3.8% lower.
US-listed shares of budget airlines Ryanair Holdings and legacy carrier Delta Air Lines slumped over 3.7% each.
Cruise company Carnival Corp dived 5.7% to $19.72 and hotel chain Marriott International fell 3.1% to $130.85.
Earnings front
On the earnings front, IBM reported a 13% jump in its second-quarter total cloud revenue on Monday. Shares of the technology firm ended 0.7% lower at $137.92.
Metal can manufacturing company Crown Holdings fell 2.4% to $101.34 despite reporting a year-on-year rise in quarterly net sales.
Shares of Five9 gained 5.9% after Zoom Video Communications announced the acquisition of the cloud-based call centre operator in a $14.7bn deal. Zoom shares closed 2.2% lower at $354.2.
Volatility Index shows fear among investors
AMC Entertainment Holdings closed 1% lower at $34.62 after the company reported a 22% week-on-week decline in its weekend domestic box office receipts.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the level of fear in the market, rose 4.05 points to 22.50 points to close at its highest level in over two months.
Due later this week, streaming giant Netflix, microblogging platform Twitter, chipmaker Intel, motorcycle company Harley-Davidson, technologies manufacturing firm Honeywell International and a host of other companies are scheduled to announce quarterly earnings. Results of Johnson & Johnson will be closely watched following a difficult quarter for the pharmaceuticals and consumer products company marred with product recalls and issues related to its COVID-19 vaccine.
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Read more: Key indices, travel shares fall hard Monday
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