Rising Covid cases, the ‘pingdemic’ and concerns over consumer caution are creating tension in stocks
The FTSE 100 index had risen by 25% in a straight line, more or less, since the arrival of vaccines last November, so a wobble, you could speculate, was overdue. The fact that a 2.3% fall arrived on so-called “freedom day” was accidental because the UK stock market was reflecting international worries about the spread of the Delta variant. But the co-incidence also highlighted what should already have been clear: escape from an unfree, restricted economy is likely to be a messy affair.
First, nobody can be 100% confident that the lifting of most coronavirus restrictions really will be “irreversible”. If cases could climb to 100,000 a day, as health secretary Sajid Javid has warned, it would be silly to take any political promise as solid. Second, the “pingdemic” problem is real and is being felt by businesses as far apart as pubs and car factories; exception from self-isolation rules, as outlined by the prime minister on Monday, won’t help all.
