Investors flee stocks, pile into bonds as Covid-19 surges; oil plunges

 Stocks on Wall Street fell as much as 2% on Monday, as a rise in worldwide coronavirus cases and increasing US deaths drove investors out of risky assets, crushing bond yields and share prices

By Jessica DiNapoli

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Stocks on Wall Street fell as much as 2% on Monday, with the Dow posting its worst day in nine months, as a rise in worldwide coronavirus cases and increasing U.S. deaths drove investors out of risky assets, crushing bond yields and share prices.

Oil prices plunged more than 6%, driven down both by worries about future demand and by an OPEC+ agreement to increase supply.

U.S. Treasury bond yields tumbled to five-month lows, with the yield on benchmark 10-year notes sinking 12.2 basis points to 1.177%, close to the session's low of 1.176%, a level last seen in February.

All three major U.S. stock indexes ended trading sharply lower, with the S&P and the Nasdaq suffering their largest one-day percentage falls since mid-May.

Rising COVID-19 cases, spurred by the Delta variant, fueled fears of a resurgence, with the average number of infections per day tripling in the past 30 days in the United States, according to an analysis of Reuters data.

Deaths, which can lag weeks behind a rise in cases, rose 25% last week from the previous seven days with an average of 250 people dying a day.

"The markets suffered a summer swoon today with COVID fears again at the forefront of investors' minds," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.