Stocks ended lower Monday as Wall Street’s optimism about launching coronavirus vaccines was shattered by rising infections and fears of tougher restrictions and blockages.
Wall Street also focused on Tuesday’s preliminary election in Georgia, which will balance the Senate and the legislative agenda of President-elect Joe Biden.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 382 points, or 1.25%, to 30,223, the S&P 500 fell 1.48% and the Nasdaq fell 1.47%. The Dow and S&P 500 set intraday records shortly after markets opened on Monday.
At one point in Monday’s trading, the Dow 30 fell by up to 2.4%. Nasdaq Composite fell by up to 2.7%.
The Dow decline on Monday was driven by Boeing (nay) – Get the report, which fell 5.25% after an analyst downgraded.
Shares closed on Thursday, the last trading session of 2020, with Dow and S&P 500 records as a volatile year, abruptly interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, ended.
The Dow blue chip rose 7.3% in 2020, the S&P 500 gained 16.3% – the lowest pandemic level in March, the index fell more than 30% – and the strong Nasdaq technologically it increased by 43.6%, the best annual performance since 2009.
Traders are “probably a little exaggerated,” but say the vaccines will “provide a supreme economic start, providing a massive increase in corporate profits,” said Stephen Innes of Axi.
US deaths from coronavirus have reached 352,645, and infections in the country have risen to about 20.74 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Globally, more than 85.5 million people have contracted the virus.
The passage of a $ 2.3 trillion spending bill at the end of 2020, which included nearly $ 1 trillion for the coronavirus exemption, backed domestic stocks ahead of Georgia’s two key elections.
The importance of this vote, which attracted nearly $ 500 million in advertising spending and a record 3 million postal votes, was underscored on Sunday by a phone call. In this call, President Donald Trump tried to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find the votes needed to overturn the results of the November presidential election.
adze (TSLA) – Get the report rose 3.4% Monday after the electric vehicle company said over the weekend that it had met its 2020 target of producing at least half a million cars, but easily missed its aggressive delivery target after a record year fueled by China’s demand for its Model 3 sedan.
Magellan’s health (MGLN) – Get the report ended up with 13% after agreeing to be acquired by Centene (CNC) – Get the report for $ 95 per share cash. The business value of the transaction is $ 2.2 billion.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell as much as 20% on Monday, topping $ 34,000 on Sunday. Bitcoin reached $ 30,000 for the first time in its history the day before.