(Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. stocks are set for a soft open around all-time highs, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures pointing to a slight slip from fresh records posted on Monday, as Covid-19 worries weighed on Asian markets.
In Asia, Tokyo’s
fell 0.8%, while Hong Kong’s
declined 0.9%. The
dipped 0.9%. The
in London lifted 0.2% as the pan-European
was 0.3% higher. The
in Paris climbed 0.4% and Frankfurt’s
rose 0.9%. Dow industrials futures pointed up around 47 points after the index fell 150 points to close at 34,283 on Monday.
U.S. stock markets notched new records on Monday while worries continued to mount over the contagious Delta variant of Covid-19. Spain, Portugal, and Malta were among the countries that on Monday added new travel restrictions on travelers from the U.K., where the variant is prevalent.
“The renewed focus on coronavirus has continued during today’s Asia-Pacific session, especially with Hong Kong having yesterday announced a ban on U.K. visitors and direct flights from the U.K.,” analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets noted, as Asian stocks materially underperformed across Tuesday trading.
In Europe, the reflation trade surged back, with shares in mining, industrial, and financial companies adding buoyancy to major indexes. Meanwhile, the European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator reflected a notable acceleration in economic activity at the end of the second quarter of 2021, rising in June to the highest level in 21 years.
Mortgage lender Nationwide said that British house prices rose 13.4% in June compared with the same period last year—the largest annual rise since 2004. U.K. housebuilder stocks rallied on the news, with shares in
and
at the top of the list of the FTSE 100’s risers.
Shares in French electric company
rose 6% after the group raised its sales forecast for 2021.
now expects same-day sales growth of between 12% and 15%, up from a prior forecast of between 5% and 7%.
stock slipped more than 11%, before paring losses to settle 1.2% lower. The oil services group said it expects to post a modest loss in the first half of the year, driven by market conditions as well as the disruption to oilfields in Texas in February during a severe winter weather event.
Shares in
one of the few publicly-listed crypto asset miners, fell near 2% as the British group said it had taken out a £14 million short-term loan to meet operating cash flow requirements and build out a data centre in Texas. The loan, agreed with digital asset investor Galaxy Digital, uses a portion of Argo’s bitcoin holding as collateral. The price of bitcoin has fallen more than 40% since highs above $60,000 earlier this year.
On the U.S. economic front, investors can expect the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index for April and the consumer confidence index for June. Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin will also speak in the morning.
It’s a light day for U.S. corporate earnings, with financial data and software group
reporting results.
