By Joanne Chiu
International markets started the week under pressure, as investors worried about the risk a new wave of coronavirus infections will hold back a global economic recovery.
As of Monday afternoon Hong Kong time, Japan's Nikkei 225, South Korea's Kospi Composite and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 all declined around 2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell about 1.6%, while the Shanghai Composite pulled back 0.7%.
E-mini S&P 500 futures were little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.8% Friday on concerns about the rapidly growing number of new cases of coronavirus in the U.S., notably among young people.
Over the weekend, coronavirus cases world-wide passed 10 million, with more than 500,000 deaths. Authorities in Florida, Texas, California and Arizona, which have accounted for much of the recent rise in U.S. cases, have imposed new restrictions and retreated on reopening plans.
Eli Lee, head of investment strategy at Bank of Singapore, said rising infections in such states served "as a wild card for markets, which needs to be monitored carefully."
"A persistent rise in infection cases would form a major impediment to easing of containment measures and the momentum of the economic recovery, " he said.
In China, industrial profits in May were up 6% from a year earlier, the first increase in 2020, official statistics released over the weekend showed.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, seen as a haven, rose to 0.645%, according to Tradeweb, from 0.636% on Friday. Yields move in the opposite direction of prices.
Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com
