Markets were mixed on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 was flat and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent.
US stocks were weighed down by a report showing that the consumer price index increased 5.4 percent in June from a year earlier, the largest jump since August 2008.
“What this really shows is inflation pressures remain more acute than appreciated and are going to be with us for a longer period,” said Sarah House, senior economist for Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment bank.
In contrast, Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth, said: “Moving forward we expect these inflation numbers to begin to cool.”
In Europe, concerns over the fast-spreading Delta variant of COVID-19 weighed on sentiment after France, the Netherlands, Greece and Spain announced new restrictions on Monday.
In the meantime, infections in the US are once again on the rise as the Delta variant takes hold as the dominant strain, with the seven-day average of newly confirmed cases having climbed to about 23,300 a day, almost double the average from a week ago.
“Unfortunately that’s also been accompanied by some increases in the number hospitalized, as well as emergency department evaluations, for people who are ultimately confirmed to have Covid-19,” said Dr Jay Butler, deputy director for infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No comments:
Post a Comment