Austria went into a nationwide lockdown due to a spike in cases
Resurgent worries about another spike in coronavirus cases pushed Wall Street stocks lower on Friday amid the reports that Austria went into a nationwide lockdown while Germany announced new restrictions for unvaccinated people. As such, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones shed 0.14% and 0.75%, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite bucked the trend to gain 0.40% ahead of the weekend.
Asian stocks were mixed-to-lower to start a new trading week, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shedding 0.23%. Apart from the resurgence of coronavirus cases, weak crude oil prices weighed on market sentiment. Brent crude came off early-October lows on Monday, but downside risks persist after Japan said it was weighing releasing oil reserves.
In Europe, equities opened marginally higher today despite worries about the pandemic in the region. The pan-European Stoxx 600 added 0.3% in early trade. Dynamics in European stocks mirrors the sentiment in US stock index futures, suggesting the indexes could see some gains during the upcoming session. As a reminder, US markets will be closed on Thursday on Thanksgiving Day and the stock market closes early on Friday.
In currencies, the dollar remains on the offensive on Monday, holding steady around fresh 2021 highs after outperforming its rivals last week despite the risk mood seems to be improving. Late last week, the greenback received a boost from the Fed as Richard Clarida said that it may be appropriate in December to discuss accelerating the pace of asset purchase reductions. As such, EURUSD stays below the 1.1300 figure, holding marginally above fresh mid-2020 lows seen around 1.1250 on Friday.
