Stocks close lower, pausing recent rally

Stocks are closing mostly lower on Wall Street Monday, taking a pause from their recent rally. The S&P 500 lost 0.2%. Companies that would benefit most from a reopening economy, like banks and indsutrial stocks, took some of the sharper losses. Technology stocks, meanwhile, bucked the downward trend and rose, pushing the Nasdaq to another record high. It’s a flip of the market’s recent momentum and a callback to how it was trading earlier this year, before enthusiasm burst higher that one or more COVID-19 vaccines will get the global economy closer to normal next year. Treasury yields fell.

U. S. stocks are taking a pause from their big recent rally, and most stocks on Wall Street are edging lower Monday.

The S&P 500 was 0.5% lower in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 221 points, or 0.7%, at 29,995, as of 2:13 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.

Stocks that would benefit most from a reopening, healthier economy were taking some of the sharper losses, giving back some of their big recent gains. Energy stocks in the S&P 500 were down 2.6% after their 16.8% surge in November, for example. Bank stocks were also weaker than the rest of the market, and roughly two-thirds of the stocks in the S&P 500 were lower.

Technology companies, whose profits have proven more resistant to the pandemic’s effect on the economy, were holding steadier. Apple was up 1.4%.

It’s a flip of the market’s recent momentum and a callback to how it was trading earlier this year, before enthusiasm burst higher in November that one or more COVID-19 vaccines will get the global economy closer to normal next year.

“It gave us all some hope and hope is a pretty good ingredient for the markets,” said Frank Panayotou, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management.

And while the markets are likely in good shape for the medium or long-term, he said, investors can expect some choppiness as the virus’ impact continues ahead of vaccines reaching people next year.

In Europe, stock indexes closed mostly lower, and the value of the British pound fell as negotiators in the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union seemed to remain stuck on the same issues that have prevented a deal for months.

Such political concerns are helping to slow momentum for financial markets around the world, as is the troubling rise in coronavirus counts and deaths across much of the United States and Europe. The worsening pandemic is pushing governments around the world to bring back varying degrees restrictions on businesses, keeping customers away from businesses and threatening to drag down the economy through what’s expected to be a bleak winter. Job growth in the United States slowed sharply last month, a report on Friday showed, and the numbers may get only worse.