Global Stocks Struggle to Bounce Back

European stocks and U.S. stock futures wavered at the start of the week, as investors worried that any new wave of coronavirus infections could hold back a global economic recovery.

The pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.3%, with stocks in the region led higher by Germany’s Dax index.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell about 1.2%, while the Shanghai Composite pulled back 0.6%. South Korea’s Kospi Composite declined around 2%.

U.S. stock futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.8% Friday on concerns about the rapidly growing number of new cases of coronavirus in the U.S., notably among young people.

Over the weekend, coronavirus cases world-wide passed 10 million, with more than 500,000 deaths. Authorities in Florida, Texas, California and Arizona, which have accounted for much of the recent rise in U.S. cases, have imposed new restrictions and retreated on reopening plans.

Eli Lee, head of investment strategy at Bank of Singapore, said rising infections in such states served “as a wild card for markets, which needs to be monitored carefully.”

“A persistent rise in infection cases would form a major impediment to easing of containment measures and the momentum of the economic recovery, ” he said.

In China, industrial profits in May were up 6% from a year earlier, the first increase in 2020, official statistics released over the weekend showed.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, seen as a haven, rose to 0.645%, according to Tradeweb, from 0.636% Friday. Yields move in the opposite direction of prices.
Source: Dow Jonews