Wall Street benchmarks join global share sell-off as coronavirus fears continue

12.10pm: US stocks firmly in red US stocks were on the floor at lunch as traders fled from shares amid rising coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and fears about the US economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Averga tanked over 798 points at 33,979, down 2.04%. The broader based S&P 500 lost over 61 points, or 1.43%, to 4,265. The tech-laden Nasdaq shed over 120 points at 14,306. "US markets have taken their cues from today’s declines in European markets, opening sharply lower as concerns about the economic prospects for the rest of this year become shrouded in uncertainty, with the S&P500 sinking below last week’s lows and below the 4,300 level, and to its lowest levels this month," noted Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.   "From concerns about the reflation trade, we’ve gone full reverse ferret in the face of what is becoming rising worries that spiralling Delta cases could undermine the global recovery story, and prompt new restrictions as we head into the autumn." Notably, US travel stocks tanked as concerns escalated about the return of transatlantic travel. United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) dropped 3.87%, while American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) flew 3.56% ower. 10am: Proactive North America headlines: Globex Mining Enterprises Inc (TSE:GMX) (OTCQX:GLBXF) (FRA:G1MN) options former Eagle gold mine in Quebec to Maple Gold Mines RedHill Biopharma (NASDAQ: RDHL) completes treatment and follow-up in the 475-patient global Phase 2/3 COVID-19 study with opaga Alpine 4 Holdings Inc (OTCQB:ALPP)  says 2Q sales anticipated to climb 54% and top $14 million Todos Medical Ltd (OTCQB:TOMDF) to launch cPass SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody detection kit Logiq Inc (NEO:LGIQ) (OTCQX:LGIQ) promotes Steven Hartman to chief operating officer Snowline Gold Corp (CSE:SGD) (OTCQB:SNWGF) says $999,999 private placement will fund Ursa project development The Parent Company (NEO:GRAM:U) (OTCQX:GRAMF) launches upgraded cannabis shopping app on Apple's App Store FPX Nickel Corp (CVE:FPX) (OTCMKTS:FPOCF) (FRA:FP5)  appoints industry veteran Randy MacGillivray as its manager of environment and government affairs Thor Explorations Ltd (CVE:THX) (LON:THX) expects first gold pour from Segilola mine before end of July CytoDyn Inc (OTCQB:CYDY) says it has strong preliminary results from 30 metastatic triple-negative breast cancer patients treated with leronlimab 9.37am: Wall Street starts on back foot  The main indices on Wall Street opened on the back foot on Monday, weighed down by jitters around the Delta variant of COVID-19. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1.33% to 34,226 while the S&P 500 slipped 1.25% to 4,273 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.34% to 14,234. Also on the slide were Brent crude prices, which dropped 3.4% to US$71.08 a barrel, its lowest level since early July, following a deal between the OPEC+ group of nations to increase production. 7:50am: Wall Street set for negative open Stocks on Wall Street are set to fall out of bed with a bump today, joining the general retreat of equity markets worldwide. Based on spread betting quotes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is set to plunge 377 points to 34,311; the S&P 500 is expected to tumble 34 points to 4,293 and the Nasdaq 100 is tipped to surrender 56 points at 14,625. Investors remain perturbed at the coronavirus pandemic and also the outlook for third-quarter earnings updates. “Last week’s earnings reports have by and large been positive, but attention is now shifting to what comes next in terms of the outlook, as Covid cases rise, and here the economic picture is less clear,” said CMC’s Michael Hewson. “There was a great deal of optimism over the summer reopening; however, as we look ahead to the rest of the year and look at how Delta variant infections are rising, some of that optimism is dissipating, prompting the question as to where we go next for Q3 earnings expectations. “One of the big drivers of inflation concerns over the past few months has been the steady rise in oil prices, as concerns about demand overshooting supply helped to drive prices to three-year highs. At the weekend OPEC+ appear to have put their difference to one side and agreed a deal to increase output by up to 400k barrels a day on a monthly basis starting in August, and continue until production has been restored to the level it was pre-pandemic,” Hewson added. As noted by Daiwa Capital Markets, this week’s US economic diary is relatively sparse. Today will see the release of the NAHB housing survey for July, which will set the tone for the housing-focus data released over the remainder of the week. “That data includes tomorrow’s housing starts and building permits report for June, in which Daiwa America’s Mike Moran expects to see a modest decline in starts amidst the recent moderation of new home sales and an associated rise in inventories; however, Mike expects Thursday’s existing home sales report to be more robust – albeit well shy of last year’s highs – and is picking a 3.4%M/M [month-on-month] rebound in sales in June on the back of the already-published rebound in pending home sales in May,” Daiwa said. Economists seem to be queuing up to say how dull it is going to be on the macroeconomic front. “We are now entering the Fed’s ‘quiet period’ where senior officials avoid talking about the monetary policy outlook, while the data calendar is relatively thin so we are not expecting major market moves to be driven from the US macro news flow over the coming week. Nonetheless, it still paints a positive picture of US economic prospects with housing activity picking up after a recent quiet patch with a lack of housing supply continuing to support house price growth,” according to ING. All that “very little happening” and yet the market is tanking. Three things to watch for on Monday: Companies in the earnings diary at the start of the week include computing giant IBM Corp (NYSE:IBM), real estate investor Prologis Inc (NYSE:PLD) and paint maker PPG Industries Inc (NYSE:PPG) Shares in video conferencing firm Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) could draw attention after it agreed to buy cloud contact centre software firm Five9 Inc (NASDAQ:FIVN) in an all-share deal worth nearly US$15bn Oil stocks and prices could also be in focus after the OPEC+ group of countries agreed a deal to boost production