Oil prices fell Monday, along with European and Asian markets, on concerns over a spreading Covid-19 outbreak in China, but US stocks ended a choppy session higher as Elon Musk announced a plan to buy Twitter.
Crude prices fell more than 3% as concerns about Chinese lockdowns in reaction to the latest Covid-19 wave grew. The stronger dollar has put pressure on oil that is denominated in dollars.
Despite weeks of stringent containment measures, Shanghai officials reported 51 deaths Monday, the greatest daily toll ever, while Beijing warned of a “grim” situation as infections spread.
Shanghai topped the losses among the world’s major stock markets, closing down more than 5%.
“Selling is widespread across global markets and asset classes, indicating that we could be on the cusp of a much bigger leg lower,” said market analyst Chris Beauchamp at online trading platform IG.
In Europe, Paris shed 2.0 percent after French President Emmanuel Macron won re-election Sunday in a battle against rival Marine Le Pen.
Macron now confronts the task of bringing a bitterly divided country together, with parliamentary elections looming in which he could lose control of parliament.
Wall Street equities were also in the negative for much of the day, but eventually rose, with gains increasing when the Twitter acquisition was disclosed.
The bounce, according to Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare, was fueled by bargain hunters after the S&P 500 fell below 4,200, triggering buy orders.
Investors are wary of forthcoming earnings from IT behemoths such as Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft, which are big components of major indices and often outperform.
“Everyone’s on heightened alert after the disappointment over Netflix,” which last week suffered grievous losses after reporting disappointing earnings, O’Hare said.
Twitter’s stock soared 5.7 percent after Musk revealed a $44 billion offer to buy the social media platform.
After Musk unveiled a funding plan that included $21 billion from his personal money, Twitter changed its mind and agreed to the deal.
– Key figures at 2140 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 34,049.46 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 4,296.12 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.3 percent at 13,004.85 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.9 percent at 7,380.54 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 2.0 percent at 6,449.38 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 1.5 percent at 13,924.17 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 2.2 percent at 3,757.59 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.9 percent at 26,590.78 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 3.7 percent at 19,869.34 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 5.1 percent at 2,928.51 (close)
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 4.1 percent at $102.32 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.5 percent at $98.54 per barrel
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0716 from $1.0790 late on Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2744 from $1.2839
Euro/pound: UP at 84.05 pence from 84.04 pence
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 128.15 yen from 128.50 yen
