Stocks fell sharply throughout Monday's session as new data showed a surge in new coronavirus infections in both the United States and Europe. As a renewal of pandemic-related restrictions are sweeping over Europe, Wall Street investors are concerned that business operations scale down again which may harm recovery progress made so far this year. Meanwhile, near-term U.S. stimulus hopes are fading fast, as negotiations continue without any substantial progress being made.
The market itself has transitioned its focus away from stable outlook forecasts like corporate quarterly earnings towards volatile coronavirus and stimulus headlines. Many analysts are fearing that no true economic recovery, and thus stock market recovery, will happen until the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control.
Here's how the market settled to start the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -1.86% or -64.45 points to 3,400.94
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -2.29% or -649.86 points to 27,685.71
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -1.64% or -189.34 points to 11,358.94
For Major Stock News, shares of major U.S. airlines and cruises sold off as coronavirus cases increased and ongoing fiscal stimulus hopes fizzled out: American (NASDAQ: AAL), Carnival (NYSE: CCL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), Norwegian (NYSE: NLCH), Royal Caribbean (NYSE: RCL), Southwest (NYSE: LUV) and United (NASDAQ: UAL). Shares of Boeing (NYSE: BA), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) were pressured on Monday after China announced that it would impose sanctions on the defense companies in retaliation for the U.S.'s approval of a $1.8 billion arms sale to Taiwan last week. Dunkin' Brands (NASDAQ: DNKN) shares soared on Monday after the coffee chain disclosed that it held preliminary talks for the potential acquisition by Inspire Brands. Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ: RIDEW) shares jumped nearly 20% in the electric carmaker's debut via direct listing.
For Sector Performance, every industry ended Monday's session in negative territory amid the broader market sell off. The worst sector performance was Energy (NYSE: XLE), while plunged over 3% as demand and oversupply concerns swept over futures trading. The best performer was Utilities (NYSE: XLU), which only declined 0.05%. Every other sector fell over 1%.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) gained on Monday as a worrying spike in coronavirus cases as well as dwindling hopes for a near-term stimulus package uplifted the greenback as a safe-haven. The dollar index rose 0.2% to 93.024 during the session. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices stayed relatively stable on Monday as the rising dollar pressured investment by coronavirus infection spikes made the yellow metal more appealing. Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,904.60 per ounce, while gold futures settled mostly unchanged at $1,905.70 per ounce. Crude oil futures fell on Monday, deepening last week's nearly 2.5% loss as coronavirus cases in the U.S. and Europe maintained demand fears while Libya's rebound in crude production ushered in oversupply concerns. International benchmark Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) fell 3.1% to $40.46 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) dropped 3.2% to $38.56 per barrel.
This week marks the last week of October and the final trading week before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 3; market volatility is set to continue as investors search for direction outside of the usual corporate earnings season and analyst forecasts.