NEW YORK – Concerns about spiking Covid-19 cases sent US stocks to a negative finish yesterday, overshadowing the optimism from news early in the week about a potential vaccine.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1% to end the session at 29,080.17.
The broader S&P 500 fell 1% to 3,537.01, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq dropped 0.7% to 11,709.59, erasing much of the gains posted on Wednesday.
Investors were upbeat after Pfizer and BioNTech on Monday announced promising results from a vaccine that trials showed is 90% effective.
But, worrying news that Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations are nearing levels seen in the worst days of the pandemic has investors on edge once again.
Wells Fargo analysts said “vaccine optimism is being overshadowed by concerns that renewed restrictions could hinder ongoing economic recovery”.
There is little news to counter the jittery sentiment.
New applications for US jobless benefits plunged by 48,000 last week, a far bigger drop than analysts were expecting, taking the level down to 709,000, reported the Labour Department.
Walt Disney, which after the close reported a loss of US$710 million (RM2.93 billion) in the latest quarter, ended down 1.7%.
But, the shares jumped 5.5% in after-hours trading on news that its recently launched streaming television service, Disney+, has hit 73 million subscribers.
Pfizer lost 2.5% amid the sell-off. – AFP, November 13, 2020
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