Markets mixed, “litany of reasons to stay constructive”

Markets were mixed on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to a record high, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.8 percent and the Nikkei 225 was flat.

With the S&P 500 rising 2 percent in June, its fifth positive month in a row, Tom Lee, managing partner and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said that investors have “a litany of reasons to stay constructive”.

Jeff Kilburg, the chief investment officer at Sanctuary Wealth, cited the Federal Reserve's continued commitment to the economic recovery as reason for optimism.

Meanwhile, the rise in the COVID-19 delta variant across the world has not dampened sentiment in most developed nations.

Dr Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, told CNBC on Wednesday that the overall impact of the variant will “be substantially reduced because so many people have become vaccinated”.