Markets fall even as COVID-19 worries recede

Markets fell on Monday.

The S&P 500 fell 1.3 percent, STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.5 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 1.1 percent.

Trading in shares of China Evergrande was halted. The company said it requested the trading halt ahead of an announcement about a “major transaction”.

Meanwhile, John Stoltzfus, Oppenheimer Asset Management’s chief investment strategist, noted on Monday that “investor worries about COVID-19 and its variant seem to have begun to play a lesser day-to-day ‘worry role’ in the markets of late”.

“The on-again, off-again nervousness about Federal monetary policy, the disruption among supply chains and the potential for higher taxes (along with other concerns such as inflation risk and higher taxes) have kept market enthusiasm in check,” wrote Stoltzfus.

Leuthold Group chief investment strategist Jim Paulsen said that with the economy reopening from COVID-19-related restrictions, “commodities are rising, bond yields are rising, cyclical sectors and small cap stocks are outpacing, and technology and growth stocks in general are underperforming”.