Stocks close slightly lower as investors await details of Biden stimulus plan
Stocks fell slightly on Thursday, with tech shares declining, as traders awaited the unveiling of a potentially big economic stimulus package.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 68.95 points, or 0.2%, at 30,991.52. Earlier in the day, the 30-stock average rose more than 150 points. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.1% to 13,112.64 after hitting an all-time high earlier in the session. The S&P 500 closed 0.4% lower at 3,795.54.
Shares of Facebook dropped 2.4%. Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft and Apple all declined by more than 1%. Alphabet dipped 0.9%.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected on Thursday evening to unveil a stimulus plan that will include a boost to the recent $600 direct payments, an extension of increased unemployment insurance and support for state and local governments. The stimulus could be as big as $2 trillion, CNN reported. The New York Times, meanwhile, said Biden is expected to outline a $1.9 trillion spending plan.
Sentiment got a boost earlier in the session as trial data published late Wednesday showed that Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine is safe and generates a promising immune response. Shares of Johnson & Johnson climbed 1.8%.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said the stock market hasn’t accounted for the rosy scenario where the vaccines bring the pandemic under control sometime this year.
However, investors also digested worse-than-expected jobless claims data. First-time claims for unemployment insurance jumped to 965,000 last week, higher than an estimate of 800,000 new claims, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
Reference: CNBC
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