The day before, the Beijing authorities suspended face-to-face classes in schools and nurseries after registering two deaths on Sunday and almost a thousand new infections, while various Chinese cities register outbreaks and some such as Shijiazhuang (north) revert recent adjustments to the policy of ‘ zero covid’.
“The irony is that the China reopening story has been a huge positive driver of China-related risk and broader markets over the past few weeks, so we’re moving between feast and famine on this story.” said Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid, quoted by the specialized website Market Watch.
Best Buy Co. Inc. soared as the best-performing stock in the S&P 500, after the retailer forecast a smaller drop in annual sales than previously announced and expressed confidence that an increase in sales and discounts will attract more customers. The firm’s earnings helped boost the retail sector of the S&P 500.
Also, the energy sector provided more support to Wall Street, after Saudi Arabia said OPEC+ would stick to its production cuts.
According to Reid, investors are assessing that although in the short term there may be many more restrictions, there will be reopenings that last longer after spring, so “the markets are making an effort to value this.”
By sector, the greatest gains were for el energy (1.4%), raw materials (0.94%) and public services (0.88%)while the communications (-0.34%) and technology (-0.06) sectors
Source: Ambito
