Will US stocks be dragged down by Delta? Massive financial report will give clues this week

Since the US holiday at the beginning of this month, the new crown virus in the United States has been on the rise, and now, people have to admit that the Delta virus has appeared on the "summer party". Although the number of confirmed cases is still low compared to when the epidemic just broke last year, the number of confirmed cases has increased by more than 180% compared to two weeks ago. The number of new cases in the week of July 19 soared by 51% from the previous week. According to media data, with the exception of a few states, the number of cases in most states in the United States has at least doubled.

As of press time, the three major U.S. stock index futures have all fallen, with the Dow Jones 30 index futures falling the most, reaching about 0.76%.

With the advent of a new wave of epidemics, the prospects for the near-term economic recovery are also in danger. It coincides with the intensive release of a series of well-known companies’ financial reports this week. The market is expected to gain more information in the company’s management’s outlook for the rest of 2021. Many clues.

Whether the Delta virus will drag down the economic recovery remains to be seen?

The first thing that needs to be clear is that people’s expectations that the “U.S. epidemic has become a thing of the past” that people had hoped at the beginning of the summer have come to nothing. The more infectious Delta mutant strain is bound to push up a new round of outbreaks. However, it is still too early to judge whether people will be forced to lock down their homes as before, which will slow down the pace of economic recovery and even affect the trend of U.S. stocks. .

Less than a month ago, US President Biden also announced on the South Lawn of the White House that the United States "has the upper hand" in fighting the Delta virus. People can live their own lives, children can return to school, and the economy is returning to prosperity.

Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said, “The problem is, how big this wave will be, we don’t know. In this wave of vaccination, the mortality rate should be reduced because of old age. The human vaccination rate is very high. However, a large number of young patients still put pressure on the medical system."

However, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned at a White House press conference that hospitals in some areas of the United States are already fully loaded. The Delta virus is "one of the most contagious respiratory diseases we know of, and the most dangerous virus I have seen in my 20-year career."

Although Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economic research at Bank of America, believes that “we still need to observe how people’s behavior changes”, the analyst’s forecast for the economic outlook has not changed, but he also acknowledged that “risk factors are increasing.” She said in an interview, “What we have seen this year is that there has been an amazing increase in outdoor activities and leisure. The Delta strain may indeed disrupt this trend and cause problems for the economy.”