The mutant coronavirus strain in the United Kingdom is “out of control” and panic in global capital markets spreads.
On Monday, the spread of the British epidemic caused by mutant virus strains put pressure on many countries around the world.
Following the announcement of the suspension of flights and trains from the United Kingdom by the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, more than 40 countries around the world, including France and Germany, have also taken action to try to stop the spread of super-strong strains.
A chill swept global capital markets, and the Panic Index (VIX) soared by nearly 30%, the highest level since December 14.
The three major U.S. stock indexes fell across the board at the opening, and tourism and leisure stocks were hit hard.
In the United States, affected by the intensification of the epidemic, the three major stock indexes fell more than 1% at the opening, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 400 points in intraday trading. After noon, it was boosted by component stocks to rise.
At the close, it tended to ease, with the Dow rising slightly at 30216.45 points; the Nast and the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and 0.39 percent respectively.
Sector: Aviation stocks and chip stocks collectively suffered heavy setbacks, and tourism and leisure stocks that are sensitive to the epidemic have the bottom performance. Among them, American Airlines fell by more than 4%; Intel, Micron and Western Data Disk all fell by 2%.
On the other hand, most of the large bank stocks were bullish, and the shares of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase climbed 4% because the Federal Reserve had previously allowed banks to buy back shares after stress tests. Among the component stocks, Nike and Microsoft rose by more than 1%.
Tesla was officially included in the S&P 500 Index. Share prices fell by more than 6% on that day.
Several stocks have attracted attention. Airbnb fell more than 7% while Tesla fell 6.49%.
Tesla stock was officially included in the S&P 500 index on Monday, closing at $649.86. Apple’s shares fell 2% after Apple closed its stores in California, USA.
After noon, it bottomed out and rebounded, closing at $128.23 per share.
Investors flock to safe haven assets. International gold prices surged higher and fell back.
Analysts asked by Reuters believe that risk sentiment is pushing investors to safe haven assets such as gold, which once surged to a six-week high ($1,890 per ounce) in the session.
Gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed down on the 21st, or 0.32%, at $1,882.8 per ounce.
Europe’s three major stock indexes suffered a heavy fall
Due to the sharp decline of the epidemic situation in the United Kingdom, the three major stock markets opened low and went low. At the close, the German DAX index fell nearly 3% to 13,246.30 points, down more than 380 points.
The British and French stock markets fell 1.73% and 2.43% respectively, almost retracting their nearly a month’s gains. Banking stocks led the market, closing the Stoxx600 index in Europe down 2.3%.
In addition, the exchange rate of the pound fluctuated against the dollar on Monday, falling between 1.2% and currently trading at 1.34-1.35.
Russia may support reducing the scale of production. International oil prices plummeted.
Also affected by the epidemic are international oil prices, which fell below the key level in the intraday session.
At the close of the day, New York WTI light crude oil, which was delivered in January next year, closed down more than 2% to $47.74 per barrel.
Brent crude oil futures fell 2.58% to $50.91 per barrel.
The latest news shows that although the epidemic response has worried the market about the decline in oil market demand, Russia said it may support further reduction of production in February, and is expected to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day.
It is not clear whether OPEC and Saudi Arabia, the major oil producer, support Russia’s position, and oil prices are expected to fluctuate slightly in the short term.
