The sunny trading skies seen at the open have turned grey as the major indices have given back a huge chunk of their early gains in a slow bleed throughout the morning.
The tempered enthusiasm is connected to the following influences:
- A somber recovery view from Boston Fed President Rosengren, who said he thinks the second half rebound is likely to be less than what was hoped for at the onset of the pandemic.
- A dour acknowledgment from the WHO that “the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly & most people are still susceptible.”
- Headlines pointing to rising coronavirus case counts still in Florida and Arizona.
- An announcement from Fed Vice Chair Quarles that a new stress capital buffer framework has been added, along with three economic recovery scenarios, to a sensitivity analysis for banks related to their stress testing and the COVID event.
- Reports that Apple (AAPL 349.15, -2.58, -0.7%) has said it will close some U.S. stores again due to the recent spike in COVID cases.
In brief, the reopening/recovery optimism that was underpinning the opening trade has been rolled back. Before, all 11 sectors were trading higher, but now, only one — health care (+0.1%)– is.
The Russell 2000 is up 0.3%; the Nasdaq Composite is down 0.3%; the S&P 500 is down 0.5%, and the Dow is down 0.6%.