An expected bond default by real estate company China Evergrande Group led to a tumble for U.S. stocks Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA fell 1.8%, while the S&P 500 Index SPX was down 1.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP fared worse, with a 2.2% decline for the session.
Evergrande alone accounts for about 40% of high-yield debt issued by Chinese real estate developers — that is, debt that is rated below investment-grade or unrated, according to Sean Darby, a global equity strategist at Jefferies Hong Kong Ltd.
S&P Global Ratings said Monday that missed bond payments by the developer “could broadly rattle investors’ confidence in China’s property sector and for speculative-grade markets.”
Analysts at BCA Research wrote in their Strategy Report for clients on Sept. 20: “While the U.S. is not immune to disruptions in the rest of the world, it is a comparatively closed economy that is generally less susceptible to external troubles and has minimal financial links with the Middle Kingdom.”
But the action on Monday showed that day-to-day events, even on the other side of the world, can unnerve investors, with energy, commodity and industrial stocks hit especially hard.
The BCA analysts went on to say that a review of filings for the largest U.S. banks showed that “only Citigroup, which operates a meaningful commercial banking franchise in Hong Kong, has direct cross-border exposures that amount to as much as 1% of assets.” Shares of Citigroup Inc. C declined 3.8% on Monday.
Read: Evergrande fears sink stock market — Here’s what investors need to know about what happens next
Dow Jones Industrial Average
All but one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down Monday:
| Company | Price change – Sept. 20 | Price change – 2021 | Decline from 52-week high | Date of 52-week high |
| Caterpillar Inc. CAT | -4.5% | 4.8% | -22.6% | 06/04/2021 |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS | -3.4% | 43.4% | -10.1% | 08/30/2021 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM | -3.0% | 20.4% | -8.6% | 06/02/2021 |
| Dow Inc. DOW | -2.7% | 1.2% | -21.3% | 05/18/2021 |
| Walt Disney Co. DIS | -2.7% | -1.5% | -12.1% | 03/08/2021 |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA | -2.5% | 21.4% | -15.2% | 04/06/2021 |
| Intel Corp. INTC | -2.4% | 6.3% | -22.6% | 04/12/2021 |
| Travelers Cos. Inc. TRV | -2.3% | 8.8% | -6.5% | 08/25/2021 |
| Apple Inc. AAPL | -2.1% | 7.7% | -9.1% | 09/07/2021 |
| American Express Co. AXP | -2.0% | 32.8% | -10.6% | 07/23/2021 |
| Chevron Corp. CVX | -2.0% | 12.3% | -16.2% | 05/10/2021 |
| Amgen Inc. AMGN | -1.9% | -6.4% | -22.3% | 01/28/2021 |
| Microsoft Corp. MSFT | -1.9% | 32.3% | -3.8% | 08/20/2021 |
| Boeing Co. BA | -1.8% | -2.1% | -24.8% | 03/15/2021 |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH | -1.8% | 17.7% | -4.3% | 08/20/2021 |
| Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO | -1.7% | 24.9% | -7.3% | 08/25/2021 |
| McDonald’s Corp. MCD | -1.4% | 11.4% | -3.2% | 07/27/2021 |
| Nike Inc. Class B NKE | -1.4% | 9.0% | -11.5% | 08/06/2021 |
| Walmart Inc. WMT | -1.4% | -1.0% | -7.1% | 12/01/2020 |
| Home Depot Inc. HD | -1.3% | 24.7% | -4.2% | 05/10/2021 |
| Honeywell International Inc. HON | -1.3% | 1.4% | -8.9% | 08/02/2021 |
| Procter & Gamble Co. PG | -1.0% | 2.7% | -2.9% | 09/13/2021 |
| Salesforce.com Inc. CRM | -0.9% | 16.0% | -6.2% | 08/26/2021 |
| Visa Inc. Class A V | -0.8% | 0.6% | -12.9% | 07/27/2021 |
| Coca-Cola Co. KO | -0.7% | -1.4% | -6.1% | 07/21/2021 |
| International Business Machines Corp. IBM | -0.7% | 6.7% | -12.1% | 06/10/2021 |
| Johnson & Johnson JNJ | -0.6% | 4.1% | -9.0% | 08/20/2021 |
| 3M Co. MMM | -0.5% | 3.3% | -13.6% | 05/10/2021 |
| Verizon Communications Inc. VZ | 0.0% | -7.6% | -12.4% | 12/02/2020 |
| Merck & Co. Inc. MRK | 0.3% | -7.8% | -12.6% | 09/18/2020 |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
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S&P 500
Among the S&P 500, 89% of stocks were down Monday. Here are the 20 that pulled back the most for the session:
| Company | Price change – Sept. 20 | Price change – 2021 | Decline from 52-week high | Date of 52-week high |
| Invesco Ltd. IVZ | -8.7% | 37.5% | -19.3% | 06/07/2021 |
| Nucor Corp. NUE | -7.6% | 82.1% | -24.8% | 08/13/2021 |
| APA Corp. APA | -6.1% | 33.3% | -22.2% | 06/07/2021 |
| Tapestry Inc. TPR | -5.9% | 22.3% | -23.5% | 05/07/2021 |
| Freeport-McMoRan Inc. FCX | -5.7% | 19.8% | -32.4% | 05/10/2021 |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. OXY | -5.4% | 47.2% | -23.9% | 07/01/2021 |
| Devon Energy Corp. DVN | -5.4% | 78.2% | -11.9% | 06/07/2021 |
| Ford Motor Co. F | -5.4% | 45.8% | -22.1% | 06/04/2021 |
| Enphase Energy Inc. ENPH | -5.3% | -13.1% | -33.4% | 02/10/2021 |
| Hess Corp. HES | -5.2% | 28.1% | -25.8% | 06/23/2021 |
| Albemarle Corp. ALB | -5.0% | 46.1% | -14.9% | 09/10/2021 |
| Franklin Resources Inc. BEN | -5.0% | 19.1% | -17.2% | 06/07/2021 |
| Ameriprise Financial Inc. AMP | -4.9% | 31.9% | -7.8% | 08/30/2021 |
| Pioneer Natural Resources Co. PXD | -4.9% | 31.1% | -14.8% | 05/10/2021 |
| Principal Financial Group Inc. PFG | -4.9% | 24.9% | -9.4% | 08/25/2021 |
| Lincoln National Corp. LNC | -4.8% | 27.8% | -10.3% | 06/07/2021 |
| Caterpillar Inc. CAT | -4.5% | 4.8% | -22.6% | 06/04/2021 |
| Baker Hughes Co. Class A BKR | -4.4% | 9.7% | -13.9% | 05/18/2021 |
| Mosaic Co. MOS | -4.4% | 39.6% | -16.0% | 05/18/2021 |
| Marathon Oil Corp. MRO | -4.3% | 72.1% | -19.9% | 07/01/2021 |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
Nasdaq-100
Here are the 10 weakest performers among the components of the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX on Monday:
| Company | Price change – Sept. 20 | Price change – 2021 | Decline from 52-week high | Date of 52-week high |
| Pinduoduo Inc. ADR Class A PDD | -6.5% | -47.0% | -55.7% | 02/16/2021 |
| Baidu Inc ADR Class A BIDU | -4.8% | -28.6% | -56.5% | 02/22/2021 |
| JD.com Inc. ADR Class A JD | -4.6% | -15.6% | -31.5% | 02/17/2021 |
| Activision Blizzard Inc. ATVI | -4.2% | -18.0% | -27.1% | 02/16/2021 |
| KLA Corp. KLAC | -4.0% | 37.2% | -5.2% | 09/17/2021 |
| Tesla Inc. TSLA | -3.9% | 3.5% | -18.9% | 01/25/2021 |
| Applied Materials Inc. AMAT | -3.7% | 57.0% | -7.2% | 04/05/2021 |
| Match Group Inc. MTCH | -3.6% | 0.2% | -13.3% | 02/11/2021 |
| Nvidia Corp. NVDA | -3.6% | 61.7% | -8.4% | 08/30/2021 |
| NetEase Inc. ADR NTES | -3.4% | -16.4% | -40.4% | 02/11/2021 |
| Source: FactSet | ||||
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