Coronavirus | Wall Street plunges on fears of economic recovery

were trading lower heading into the first session of the week as the spread of Delta variant threatens to sap some speed from the economic recovery.

The second quarter earnings season may be ending, but it is not going quietly. The retail sector will take center stage when results are expected from Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, Macy's and Kohls to name just a few.

Investors will pay close attention to guidance on how the surge in Delta variant cases might impact consumer spending.

New long gains and small highs in the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed out last week with Wall Street.

The benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.2% and notched its second-straight weekly increase. The Dow Jones and the Nasdaq edged up less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 rose 7.17 points to 4,468, with the CBO claiming two of them were higher. The Dow added 15.53 points to 35,515, 38, while the Nasdaq added 6.64 points to 14,822, 90.

Stocks in the S&P 500 were nearly evenly split between winners and losers. Gains in technology, health and household goods companies outweighed losses by banks, energy stocks and other sectors. The Russell 2000 index of small firms fell 20.96 points, or 0.9%, to 2,223. 11, another sign traders were concerned about future economic growth.

Also pushing down the consumer sentiment index, which dropped to 70.2 from its previous level of 81.2 in July. That was the largest reduction in sentiment since April 2020, when pandemic took its initial grip on the country.

The unexpectedly bad drop in the survey's reading was almost entirely due to the spread of a delta variant of coronavirus, which has caused hospitals to fill up with unvaccinated patients across the U.S.

Meanwhile, the Afghan shares slipped Monday amid worries about surging coronavirus infections in the region as well as worries about the long-term impact from the Asian government's collapse.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 sagged 1.7% to 27,502. 21 in afternoon trading, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 slipped 0.5% to 7,591. 70. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.2% to 26,087. 92, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed, inching up less than 0.1% to 3,518. North Korean markets were closed for Liberation Day, a national holiday.

Analysts say the relatively slow vaccination rollouts are pushing down investor sentiments in Asia. Japan, Thailand and Malaysia are among nations reporting several fresh daily record cases of recently and vaccination rollouts in many countries have been unsteady or outpaced by virus surges.

This is stretching already increased timelines for herd immunity, necessitating periodic lockdown to stymie growing infection rates said Venkateswara Lavanya at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.

Asia remains the epicenter of the spread, with the number of COVID cases in Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand rising over the weekend.

Analysts say the Taliban is feeling the security threat in Afghanistan's capital as "a faraway event" but will undoubtedly affect the markets around the world, including Asian countries.

Yes, markets will try to brush this geopolitical earthquake off: It is just Afghanistan; It's a long way away, says Rabobank in its daily market commentary. The geopolitical nightmare is almost definitely starting with the world's largest population.

In Japan, the government reported the economy grew at an annual rate of 1.3% in April-June, raising hopes for a gradual recovery from the damage brought on by the pandemic. Analysts had expected contraction. Underlining growth were improved private consumption and rising residential investment, as well as rise in exports and imports.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 84 cents to $67.60 a barrel. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 109.42 Japanese yen from 109.56 yen. The euro cost $1.1789, inching down from $1.1791.