Dow Plunges 600 Points Amid Threat Of Delta Variant ‘Ravaging’ Unvaccinated Populations

Dow Plunges 600 Points Amid Threat Of Delta Variant ‘Ravaging’ Unvaccinated Populations

Share to Linkedin Stocks fell sharply Monday morning amid mounting concerns over the pandemic's resurgence in the United States"”hitting travel and leisure businesses the hardest"”as experts worried the highly contagious delta variant of Covid-19 could prompt renewed restriction measures that curtail the economic recovery. Travel and leisure companies were among the morning's hardest-hit stocks. As of 11 a. m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had tumbled 785 points, or 2. 3%, while the S&P 500 shed 1. 7%, putting each index about 3% below their closing highs on July 12. Reflecting uncertainty over the economic recovery, travel stocks and leisure headed up much of the market's losses, with Carnival Corp., American Airlines, United Air and Norwegian Cruise Lines tanking about 5% apiece. Oil stocks, which tend to underperform when the market struggles, were also hit hard: Marathon Oil and Occidental fell nearly 6% each, pushed down lower by a weekend deal among international oil producers to help curb recently spiking oil prices. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, meanwhile, fell a softer 1. 3%, buoyed slightly by a swath of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies faring better than the rest of the market, including drug-makers Moderna, Cytokinetics and Applied Therapeutics. However, many big-tech