Asia Markets Slip As Virus Outbreaks Mute Hope For A Rebound
Government stimulus and hopes for an economic turnaround have kept investor sentiment upbeat,
“Investors continue to look past the sustained pickup in new infections in the southern part of the
The fallout from the pandemic has sent financial earnings plunging at many Asian companies, including giant Japanese exporters like
Daily confirmed infection cases have not fallen in
Profit-taking set in quickly on Tuesday, erasing much of an initial rise for regional benchmarks that tracked
Overnight, the S&P 500 rose 1.6%, following up on similar gains in
Stocks of the biggest companies once again led the way, and strength for Apple, Amazon and other tech-oriented titans helped lift the Nasdaq composite 2.2%, to a record high of 10,433.65.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.8% to 26,287.03. The S&P 500 rose 49.71 points to 3,179.72 for its third gain of at least 1.5% in the last five days.
They’re the latest buoyant moves for markets, where investors are focusing more on recent improvements in the economy and all the stimulus that central banks and governments are supplying than on how much pain still remains. Investors are also continuing to sidestep the mounting number of known coronavirus infections, at least for now.
The worry is that if the pandemic keeps worsening, with hotspots stretching across the
The worst-case scenario for markets is that governments resume lockdowns implemented during the spring and choke off the budding economic recovery. Either way, many economists expect it will take years for the global economy to return to the level of output it was at before the pandemic.
A report released Monday morning showed that
Big tech-oriented companies also continued their dominance amid expectations their growth can roll on almost regardless of the economy’s performance. Apple gained 2.7%, Microsoft rose 2.2% and Amazon climbed 5.8% to top
The immense size of these companies also gives their stocks’ movements much larger sway over market indexes. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks was up a more modest 0.8%.
Some deal making also helped to lift markets.
Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B shares rose 2.2%.
Benchmark
The dollar rose to
AP Business Writers
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