Stocks Pull Back After S&P 500's Tuesday Record
December 02 2020 - 10:18AM
Dow Jones News
By Will Horner
U.S. stocks slipped Wednesday, pulling back from Tuesday's
record highs as rising coronavirus cases and a slowdown in private
sector job creation weighed on investor sentiment.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, a day after the benchmark set its
27th closing record of the year. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 0.8%
after also setting a record. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average
retreated about 125 points, or 0.4%.
The market has been propelled higher in recent weeks by optimism
that Covid-19 vaccines will help accelerate the economic rebound.
That has led to a jump in stocks that are sensitive to economic
growth, including energy and banks.
"We've obviously had a great run up since just before the
election results and yesterday we saw that record high, so that is
as much a reason as any for some consolidation," said Derek
Halpenny, head of research for global markets in the European
region at MUFG Bank.
Stocks are likely to continue rallying in coming weeks, despite
valuations that appear to be stretched, he added. "Why would you be
a seller of stocks when you know that policy support, both fiscal
and monetary, is there and probably will be there going
forward?"
Shortly after the opening bell, Pfizer rose 3.9% after the U.K.
government approved its Covid-19 vaccine for use, paving the way
for the shot to be distributed within days. Shares of Pfizer's
partner, BioNTech, rose 4.4%.
Meanwhile, Salesforce.com tumbled 9.9%. The cloud-computing
company on Tuesday confirmed that it had agreed to buy Slack
Technologies for $27.7 billion.
U.S. lawmakers this week reignited talks for coronavirus relief
packages, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin discussing measures by phone for the first time
since the election. But investors remain skeptical about the
prospects for fresh stimulus spending in the weeks before
President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.
"Both sides would like to be seen to be doing something with an
eye on the run off in Georgia on the fifth of January," Mr.
Halpenny said. But Republicans are unlikely to support a large
spending package, he added. "I can't see anything happening really
until Biden enters the White House."
The Federal Reserve's beige book report, due at 2 p.m. ET, will
offer the latest collection of business anecdotes across Fed
districts, offering insights into how companies view the economy's
prospects.
The ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday showed that job
creation in the private sector slowed last month. About 307,000 new
nonfarm jobs were created, marking a drop from October and less
than economists had been forecasting.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Mr. Mnuchin are set
to testify before a house committee. Lawmakers on Tuesday pressed
Mr. Mnuchin over his decision not to renew a suite of emergency
Federal Reserve lending programs. The Fed has said it would prefer
the lending programs remain in place until the risks posed to the
economy by the pandemic has subsided.
In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasurys ticked up to
0.940%, from 0.933% on Tuesday.
Overseas, the Stoxx Europe 600 edged down 0.3%. Conflicting
reports about the status of the talks between the European Union
and the U.K. on a post-Brexit trade deal led to choppy trading in
the region.
In Asia, the major stock indexes ended trading on a muted note.
Japan's Nikkei 225 closed almost flat, while the Shanghai Composite
Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid roughly 0.1%.
-- Caitlin McCabe contributed to this article.
Write to Will Horner at William.Horner@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 02, 2020 10:03 ET (15:03 GMT)
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