NYSE tumbles as Trump tests positive for COVID-19
NEW YORK — US stocks closed lower on Friday as news that US President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) put investors in a riskoff mood and added to mounting uncertainties surrounding the looming election.
Tech shares weighed heaviest on the indexes, but the blue-chip Dow’s losses were mitigated by gains in economically sensitive cyclical stocks.
Despite Friday’s sell-off, the S&P and the Nasdaq both gained 1.5% on the week, while the Dow ended the session 1.9% higher than last Friday’s close.
Trump tweeted late Thursday that he had contracted the coronavirus and would be placed under quarantine, compounding the unknowns for an already volatile market.
But stocks pared losses after the White House provided assurances that Trump, while experiencing mild symptoms, is not incapacitated.
Equities also got a brief boost after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement that an agreement to provide another $25 billion in government assistance to the airline industry was “imminent.”
House Democrats passed a $ 2.2 trillion fiscal aid package on Thursday, but the bill is unlikely to be approved in the Republicancontrolled Senate.
Partisan wrangling over the size and details of a new round of stimulus have stalled, over two months after emergency unemployment benefits expired for millions of Americans.
Data released on Friday showed the recovery of the labor market could be losing steam. The US economy added 661,000 jobs in September, fewer than expected and the slowest increase since the recovery began in May.
Payrolls remain a long way from regaining the 22 million jobs lost since the initial shutdown, and the ranks of the permanently unemployed are swelling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 134.09 points or 0.48% to 27,682.81, the S&P 500 lost 32.36 points or 0.96% to 3,348.44 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 251.49 points, or 2.22%, to 11,075.02. Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, tech suffered the biggest loss, while real estate and utilities enjoyed the largest percentage gains.
In a reversal from recent sessions, market leaders Apple, Inc. Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp. were the heaviest drags on the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Commercial air carriers rose on news off a possible new round of government aid, with the S&P 1500 Airline index rising 2.3%. Tesla, Inc. shares plunged 7.4% after the electric car maker’s third quarter vehicle deliveries, while reaching a new record, underwhelmed investors. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) by a 1.45-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.13to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 56 new highs and 34 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 9.30 billion shares, compared with the 9.93 billion average over the last 20 trading days. —