United States of America eSeries: Market déjà vu 🔻

Market déjà vu 🔻

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Dow's down. Let's get into it.

By Allison Morrow

🔻 DÉJÀ VU

Today felt eerily reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic. Investors, anxious about the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, retreated from stocks and fled to the safety of government bonds.

The Dow ended Monday down 725 points, or 2.1% — its worst day since a 943-point drop in late October.

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Primarily, investors are scared of the Delta variant and its implications for the global economy.

And they're right to be concerned: One expert says that most Americans who have not previously been infected or received vaccinations will likely contract the Delta variant, the most transmissible Covid-19 strain yet. In other words: get the vaccine, or get Covid – your choice. A stubbornly high number of people are opting for the latter.

Nearly all US states are seeing new case numbers surge at least 10% higher than the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Delta's threat is raising the prospect of further lockdowns or restrictions on travel, which is why we saw airline and cruise operator stocks bear the brunt of the financial pain Monday. Energy stocks also plummeted.

Let's be very clear, however: Stocks have had a rough couple of days but are still in spitting distance of their record highs. And even on Monday, some standouts bucked the trend. For example, a company called Five9 rose nearly 6%on the news that video Zoom was buying it for nearly $15 billion. Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna, which is set to be added to the S&P 500 later this week, surged more than 9%.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Big Fear underpinning the anxiety on Wall Street right now is a phenomenon called stagflation. That's when economic growth slows (for example, because of a virus and its related lockdowns) and consumer prices rise. Stagnant growth + inflation = stagflation — a cutesy portmanteau for a miserable state of affairs.

RELATED: The pandemic-sparked recession ended in April 2020 after just two months, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. That makes the most recent US economic downturn the shortest on record.

📲 NUMBER OF THE DAY

$35 billion

Robinhood plans to list its shares between $38 and $42 apiece when it debuts on the Nasdaq later this year. At the upper end of that range, the app — which made its name on "democratizing" investing but is also under intense regulatory scrutiny — would be valued at $35 billion.

💰 LET'S FIND A DEAL

Pet supplies are a bargain. Hank is thrilled.

We've talked a lot about all the things getting more expensive in the pandemic era — especially cars, houses, gas and airfare. That's all certainly still true, but my colleague Moira Ritter did some digging and managed to find five things that are actually cheaper now than when the pandemic started last year.

👗 Workwear

Great news for those of us warily eyeing our pre-pandemic work wardrobe. (I'm sure I wore more than two outfits before March 2020, but I swear they've all mysteriously vanished...)

Apparel is broadly less expensive now than it was pre-pandemic. Men's apparel has dropped 7.2%, while women's apparel has decreased 5.9% since February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The price of dresses — remember those? — has fallen 12% during the pandemic. Suits and sport coats are a steal, 21.5% cheaper than they were in February 2020.

🚇 Transit

Your dinner and drinks at a restaurant are almost certainly more expensive, but getting there via mass transit is about 2.9% cheaper now than it was last February.

⚾ Sports

Sporting event admissions are 1.8% cheaper than before the pandemic. Look, it's not a huge decrease but we'll take our wins where we can, eh?

🐶 Pets

Your pandemic puppy was obviously worth every penny. And their supplies are still a bargain — the costs of pet supplies and accessories are down are down nearly 4% since the start of the pandemic.

🩺 Health care

We stopped going to the doctor last year for anything less than an emergency — preventative care and "what's this weird bump on my leg" type of visits could wait. That's dragged down the cost of medical care commodities, which include drugs and other medical supplies, down 2.3%.

👑 QUOTE OF THE DAY

I'm writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become.

Prince Harry (aka Mr. Meghan Markle, aka the Duke of Sussex), is writing a memoir to be published next year by Penguin Random House. In the book, the publisher said, Harry will spill the tea on all the "experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him." Translation: Buckingham Palace insider gossip that you can put straight into my veins.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

🚀 Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, is about to launch himself on a supersonic joyride to the edge of space. Here's everything you need to know ahead of Tuesday morning's launch.

🍨 Ben & Jerry's will stop selling ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories, saying it's inconsistent with the brand's values.

⚖️ Leon Black, co-founder and former CEO of Apollo Global Management, responded Monday to a lawsuit accusing him of forcing a woman into an abusive relationship for years. He said the only thing he is guilty of is "extremely poor judgment in entering into an affair."

➕ CNN is hiring hundreds of people and developing dozens of programs for a subscription streaming service called CNN+ that will launch early next year.