By Martin Baccardax, The Street–

The Monday Market Minute

  • Global stocks slip lower as coronavirus infections rise at a record pace over the weekend, taking the worldwide total past 14.4 million, with more than 600,000 deaths.
  • U.S. infections continue to rise at at faster rate than the testing, with hot spots in Florida and California triggering fresh lockdown discussions.
  • European leaders extend talks on a €1.85 trillion budget and rescue package after weekend negotiations fail to achieve a breakthrough.
  • Commodity prices fall, with oil trading in the red, as investors calibrate slower near-term growth in the face of a second global coronavirus wave.
  • Vaccine hopes keep losses in check, however, as market await key data from an early stage trial on human participants conducted by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
  • U.S. equity futures suggest a modestly weaker open on Wall Street ahead of earnings from Haliburton before the bell and IBM after the close of trading.

U.S. equity futures kicked-off the week in the red Monday, as investors tracked a recorded weekend for global coronavirus infections, lead by the United States, amid increasing concern that a resurgence of the disease could upend the hard-won progress in major economies around the world.

The World Health Organization said global infections hit a record high for two consecutive days over the weekend, taking the worldwide total past 14.4 million, with more than 600,000 fatalities. In the united States, where infections are rising at a rate that is three times faster than the increase in national testing, confirmed cases have surpassed 3.7 million, with 140,000 deaths.

The impact of this domestic resurgence is already being felt in ‘hot spots’ around the country, such as Los Angeles and Miami, where local officials are mulling new business closures and social restrictions while announcing or planning changes for the coming school year.

Economic data is also beginning to feel the impact, with last week’s jobless claims data showing no improvement from the previous seven-day period, and housing starts and building permits figures still south of last year’s levels for the month of June.

Meanwhile, with around 47 of the S&P 500 reporting so far this earnings seasons — and 88 to come later this week — collective profits are forecast to fall 43.7% from last year, with a near 11% slump in overall revenues, as companies factor-in the worst of the pandemic’s closures earlier this year.

Heavyweights such as Amazon , Microsoft , AT&T , Intel , Lockheed Martin and Coca-Cola will report quarterly earnings this week, with a key report also expected from Tesla on Wednesday that could cement the electronic carmaker’s inclusion into the S&P 500.

Some market optimism was observed Monday, however, in the form of potential coronavirus vaccine promise from Britain’s AstraZeneca , which is set to publish details of its recent trials with Oxford University later today in The Lancet medical journal, as well as modest progress in marathon talks among European Union leaders over a €1.85 trillion budget and regional rescue package.

Still, Wall Street is likely to maintain a cautious tone for much of the session Monday, with contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average priced for a 55 point opening bell decline and those linked to the S&P 500 suggesting a 5 point pullback for the broader benchmark.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.13% lower at 95.81 in early European trading as the euro climbed to a four-month high of 1.1452 on hopes of an EU-wide budget and rescue deal. Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields slipped to 0.618%.

Oil prices drifted lower, as well, amid concern that business and factory sentiment survey data later this week will show muted appetite for key commodities as economies hunker down for a second wave of the virus.

WTI contracts for August delivery, the U.S. benchmark, traded 36 cents lower from their Friday close in New York and were changing hands at $40.23 per barrel in early European dealing while Brent contracts for September, the global benchmark, were seen 26 cents lower at $42.88 per barrel.

In Europe, the euro’s gains, as well as reports of new infection spikes in Asia, South America and the United States, crowded out the bulls Monday as investors kept a keen eye on developments in Brussels, where EU leaders are meeting for a fourth day to hammer out details of their regional spending package.

The Stoxx 600 Europe benchmark was seen 0.5% lower in the opening hours of trading, lead to the downside by a 1% decline for the FTSE 100 in London and a 0.75% slide for the CAC-40 in Paris.

Overnight in Asia, a move by Chinese authorities to gin-up local markets added heft to both the Shanghai Composite and the tech-focused CSI300, as regulators lifted a cap on equity ownership for insurance companies and pushed for more merger activity in the financial services sector.

China stocks rose 3.1% as a result, but weaker markets around the region kept the MSCI ex-Japan benchmark at +0.18% heading into the final hours of trading, while renewed concerns for Japan’s export-focused economy, as well as a resurgence in coronavirus infections in Tokyo, pushed the Nikkei 225 to a 0.1% session decline, pegging the benchmark at 22,717.48 points at the close of trading.

This article was originally published by TheStreet.