Futures are flat this morning as markets try to hold onto gains from the past few days. With only two trading sessions left in the month, all three indexes are on track for their first monthly declines since March.
Europe is already feeling the pain of a second coronavirus wave. The U.K. recorded 6,634 new cases, its highest daily total. France and Spain have also seen record breaking surges in new daily cases this month. Tighter government restrictions and a plea for citizens to work from home again resulted from the spike in European cases.
With cases rising in 22 U.S. states, experts warn that the U.S. is not out of the woods yet and that the pandemic could worsen in the fall. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine epidemiologist Eili Klein told the Washington Post earlier this month, “My feeling is that there is a second wave coming, and it’s not so much whether it’s coming but how big it’s going to be.”
A second wave would almost certainly spur an increase in demand for Abbott Laboratories (ABT) COVID-19 diagnostic tests. Abbott markets six COVID-19 tests under the FDA’s emergency use authorization program.
Even if the pandemic doesn’t worsen, ABT could be a great stock to own. The company claims multiple growth drivers other than its COVID-19 test. What’s more, Abbott is a Dividend Aristocrat with 48 consecutive years of dividend increases.
