Wall Street set for lower open as China data sours mood By Reuters

By Devik Jain

(Reuters) -The Dow and the were set to slip from record highs on Monday as glum data from China sparked fears of slowing global growth and hurt shares of sectors that are closely linked to the health of the U.S. economy.

The data showed that retail sales, industrial production and urban investment in China all missed forecasts, pointing to the impact of the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus and knocking down prices of oil and other commodities.

Shares of energy firms Conocophillips (NYSE:), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:), Chevron Corp (NYSE:) and Schlumberger NV (NYSE:) fell nearly 1%. Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:), the world’s largest publicly traded producer, lost 2.6%.

Interest rate-sensitive lenders Bank of America Corp (NYSE:), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:), Wells Fargo (NYSE:) & Co and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:) fell between 0.6% and 0.8%. [US/]

“The expectation is that Delta could be slowing things down… the concern is how much more, not only in China but also around the globe, could be affected by the Delta variant and that is still yet to be decided,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.

The rapid spread of the Delta variant has clouded market sentiment recently, with a survey last week showing U.S. consumer sentiment dropped sharply in early August to its lowest level in a decade.

Coronavirus cases in the United States rose by at least 37,024 on Sunday to a total of 36.85 million, according to a Reuters tally.

Cruise operators Royal Caribbean (NYSE:) Group, Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:) Holdings and Carnival (NYSE:) Corp slipped between 1.9% and 2.7%. Delta Air lines Inc, United Airlines and American Airlines (NASDAQ:) Group were down between 1.3% and 1.5% after gaining earlier this year on hopes of a rebound in travel.

At 8:33 a.m. ET, were down 141 points, or 0.4%, were down 16.25 points, or 0.36%, and were down 50.75 points, or 0.34%.

U.S. stocks managed to grind to new highs over the past few sessions as investor confidence in a recovery was bolstered by a strong earnings season, the passage of a large infrastructure bill and data showing inflation was rising at a slower pace than feared.

The S&P 500 value index, which houses stocks that stand to benefit the most from an economic rebound, and its tech-heavy growth counterpart has gained 1.9% and 1.4% respectively, so far in August.

“Right now, the market is sort of spinning its wheels as it tries to figure out what the intermediate to longer term direction is likely to be,” Stovall said.

Earnings reports from companies including Target Corp (NYSE:), Walmart (NYSE:) Inc, Home Depot Inc (NYSE:), Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:), Nvidia (NASDAQ:) Corp and Macy’s Inc (NYSE:) are due later this week.