Stocks ended lower on Monday as Wall Street’s optimism about coronavirus vaccine rollout was dashed by a rise in infections and fears of tighter restrictions and lockdowns.
Wall Street’s attention was also drawn to Tuesday’s second election in Georgia, which will strike the balance between the senate and President-elect Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.
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 had set intraday records shortly after the markets opened on Monday.
At one point during Monday’s trading, the Dow 30 was down a whopping 2.4%. The Nasdaq Composite fell a whopping 2.7%.
The decline of the Dow Monday was led by Boeing (BA) – Request report, which declined 5.25% after a downward revision from analysts.
Shares closed higher on Thursday, the last trading session of 2020, with the Dow and S&P 500 setting records as a volatile year brutally disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic ended.
The blue-chip Dow was up 7.3% in 2020, the S&P 500 gained 16.3% – at its pandemic low in March, the index was down more than 30% – and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 43.6%, its best annual performance since 2009.
Traders are “perhaps a bit too eager,” but say vaccines “will provide the ultimate economic kick-start and a massive boost to corporate earnings,” said Axi’s Stephen Innes.
According to Johns Hopkins University, US deaths from the coronavirus reached 352,645, and the number of infections in the country rose to about 20.74 million. Worldwide, more than 85.5 million people have contracted the virus.
The passage in late 2020 of a $ 2.3 trillion spending bill, including nearly $ 1 trillion for coronavirus control, has bolstered domestic stocks ahead of Georgia’s two most important second elections.
The importance of that vote, which generated nearly $ 500 million in ad spend and a record 3 million mail-in ballots, was underscored by the publication of a phone call on Sunday. In that call, outgoing President Donald Trump sought to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find the necessary votes to reverse the November presidential election results.
Tesla (TSLA) – Request report Up 3.4% Monday after the electric vehicle company over the weekend said it met its 2020 target of producing at least half a million cars, but just missed its aggressive delivery target after a record year fueled by Chinese demand to its Model 3 sedan.
Magellan Health (MGLN) – Request report ended 13% after agreeing to be acquired by Centene (CNC) – Request report for $ 95 a share in cash. The deal’s enterprise value is $ 2.2 billion.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell a whopping 20% on Monday after hitting $ 34,000 on Sunday. Bitcoin had hit $ 30,000 for the first time in its history the day before.