Wall Street rally evaporates, S&P 500 closes lower after briefly turning positive for 2020; European markets close higher on coronavirus vaccine hopes; BELEX15 down additional 1.55%; The next year will be economically challenging, Serbian Construction Minister says
Stocks reversed course on Monday, closing lower as a rally in major tech names — which briefly pushed the S&P 500 into positive territory for the year — fizzled out. The S&P 500 closed 0.9% lower at 3,155.22. Earlier in the day, the broader market index rallied more than 1% and was briefly up about 0.1% for 2020. Monday marked the first time since early June that the S&P 500 traded positive year to date. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite pulled back 2.1% to 10,390.84 after being up as much as 1.95%. The Nasdaq-100 — which is made up of the 100-largest nonfinancial companies in the composite — briefly broke above 11,000 for the first time before falling 2.2%.
Pfizer and German biotech BioNTech SE were granted fast track designation by the FDA for two of the companies’ four vaccine candidates against the coronavirus. BioNTech jumped 11%. Pfizer gained 4.1%.
Earnings season kicked off on Monday with PepsiCo reporting better-than-expected results. The stock climbed 0.3%. JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are scheduled to report on Tuesday. JPMorgan shares rose 1.4%.
Corporate profits are expected to fall by 44% in the second quarter, which would be the biggest drop in quarterly earnings since the fourth quarter of 2008, according to Refinitiv data. However, the market could shrug off the sharp profit decline as long as companies signal a recovery on the horizon.

European stocks closed higher Monday as optimism over a potential coronavirus vaccine outweighed concerns over surging coronavirus cases around the world. The pan-European Stoxx 600 provisionally closed up by 1%, with basic resources adding 2% to lead gains as all sectors and major bourses entered positive territory.
G4S jumped over 9% after the British security firm said its first-half earnings report will be “significantly” better than consensus expectations. Norwegian bank DNB also gained almost 10% after reporting better-than-expected earnings.
At the other end of the European blue chip index, Atlantia shares fell 13.6% after Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte labelled the infrastructure group’s proposals for a key motorway project “unsatisfactory.”

Serbian BELEX15 was down 1.55%, which is pretty material daily drop. This was triggered by 6.7% loss at Belgrade Airport and 2.7% fall at Impol Seval. NIS was also down – 0.37%, while Fitofarmacija ended 1.9% lower. Trade volume was miserable again – around 6 ths EUR, out of which Philip Morris (DINPPB) and Belgrade Airport generated over 50%.
The next year will be economically challenging as well and this is why it's important for everyone who can work to do so, Serbian Construction Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said. According to the estimates of the World Bank and the IMF, Serbia, as a small country with an elastic economy, will have the lowest GDP drop. To us, it's important that no creditor has given up and that we are launching new infrastructural projects, such as the construction of the Nis-Merdare-Pristina highway, for which we are opening a tender this year – she said, as announced on the ministry's website.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika