By
Tolu Ajiboye
February 9th, 2024
The global markets remain jittery as the total COVID-19 death count crosses the half-a-million mark. The WHO has warned of the latest acceleration in global access and called for new measures to combat this pandemic through public-private partnerships.
The coronavirus cases continue to surge in the U.S. and worldwide leaving global markets jittery. After facing some earlier drag down today, the U.S. stock futures are hovering around the flatline. All three major indices – the Dow Futures (INDEXDJX: .DJI), the S&P 500 futures (INDEXSP: .INX), and the Nasdaq-100 futures (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) showed mild movements. Meanwhile, Asian indices are in red.
Last week, the Johns Hopkins University released the latest data showing the total COVID-19 cases crossing 2.5 million in the U.S. alone. Besides, last Friday, the U.S. saw the biggest single-day jump of 45,500+ cases. The markets had quickly responded to this with the Dow Jones falling over 700 odd points. The S&P 500 also closed below the 200-day moving average causing investors to put a break after the early month market rally.
Particularly, the states of Florida and Texas have witnessed massive spikes over the last weekend. Julian Emanuel, chief equity and derivatives strategist at BTIG, told CNBC:
“Reopening plans stumbled – this not only in new virus hotspots like TX and FL, but also impacting international travel – as daily U.S. virus cases surpassed what all had hoped would be their peak in April”.
Asian Indices Under Pressure
Stock markets from the Asia Pacific seemed under pressure on Monday morning. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.3% going below 22,000 levels. Japan’s one of the biggest conglomerate SoftBank saw its stock price dropping 2%.
The Topix index was down by 1.78% whereas South Korea’s Kospi also dropped by 1.93%. Even stock indices of Mainland China saw a decrease. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.61% whereas Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.24% in the final trading hours. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.51% going below 6000 levels.
In addition, the oil market was under pressure during the afternoon session of the Asian trading hours. The Brent Crude Futures dropped 1.37% with oil price slipping at $40.46 per barrel.
The investors are closely watching the developments as the world still remains dripped in the Coronavirus fears. The total cases worldwide have crossed 10 million with over half-a-million deaths reported. The United States remains the worst affected of all with over 2.6 million cases. The World Health Organization has already warned that the pandemic is accelerating at a global level. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on June 19, said:
“Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies. But the virus is still spreading fast. It is still deadly and most people are still susceptible”.
The WHO has stressed for a public-private partnership to fight against COVID-19. Last Friday, the WHO said that it plans to offer additional funding of $27.6 billion over the next 12 months. In the note to investors, the analysts at Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote:
“A double‑dip US recession is possible if widespread restrictions are reimposed, leading to a surge in the (U.S. dollar)”.
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