Markets fall as COVID-19 cases rise

Markets fell on Thursday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 plunged 1.7 percent.

“Increased Covid cases, particularly delta variants, have caused concerns that the economic acceleration will slow,” said Timothy Lesko of Granite Investment Advisors. “With markets at all-time highs and some valuations stretched there is little room for economic slowdown in this market.”

Indeed, with the highly transmissible delta variant now the dominant COVID-19 strain in the US, scientists and other health experts have warned that indoor mask mandates and other public health measures will likely make a return in the country this fall.

“We are heading for a very dangerous fall, with large swaths of the country still unvaccinated, a surging delta variant and people taking off their masks,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law.