U.S. stock index times in overnight trading remained largely unchanged as the market struggled to recover from high levels.
Contracts tied to the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 12 points. S&P 500 futures declined 0.07%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.04%.
The move came after major averages closed lower Tuesday, providing early gains that pushed stocks to record highs at the opening bell. The Dow and S&P broke 500 three-day winning climbs, each falling 0.22%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.38%.
The Russell 2000 closed 1.85% lower, for its third straight negative session.
In Washington, lawyers continued to agree on direct payments to Americans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thwarted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s effort to quickly pass the bill, passed by the House late Monday, that would increase scrutiny to $ 2,000 from $ 600. Incentive payments could go out as early as Tuesday afternoon, Finance Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
President Donald Trump has backed higher payments, and on Tuesday said in a tweet that the motion should be agreed “ASAP. $ 600 IS NOT ACCEPTED!”
With just two trading days left in the year, the big averages on the way to the end of 2020 are higher. The Dow is up 6.3% for the year, while the S&P 500 is up 15.36%. Despite some recent sales pressure, the Russell 2000 is still up 17.4% for the year.
But the clear winner so far is the Nasdaq Composite, which has gained 43%.
“We expect strong economic growth to reverse in 2021 following headaches from the pandemic in 2020 and the U.S.-China trade war in 2019,” said Brian Demain, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors. “While leadership to date has been narrow – largely confined to the digital economy – we expect a wider recovery as vaccines are widely applied and it is possible to for consumers to go back with the physical economy, “he said.
The number of Covid cases is still struggling higher. The U.S. now records at least 180,905 new cases and at least 2,210 virus-related deaths per day, based on a seven-day average measured by CNBC using Johns Hopkins University data. On Tuesday, the US confirmed its first case of the faster-spreading coronavirus strain first detected in the UK
Some investors say it could be another potential headline for forward-looking stocks running in some of the hottest stocks in the year.
Chairman of Interactive Brokers, Thomas Peterffy, said on Tuesday on “Squawk Alley” that something “extraordinary” has happened in the last few days: his customers are clean on the market for the for the first time ever.
“Our customers tend to be on the sales side of options, and there is such a huge demand for these out of the money options that our customers tend to be sellers,” he said. So the Robinhood people long for those options, and Brokers Interactive customers are short on those options, “he said. In other words, while this is certainly not a downside bet, customers are taking advantage of such a high demand on the other hand.
Charles Bobrinskoy, vice chairman of Ariel Investments, stressed the risks of a movement-driven market.
“It can’t be true that the way to win in investing is just to buy what has gone up in the last year or two,” he said Tuesday on “Closing Bell. ” “That works in momentum markets. Momentum markets are fantastic until they turn. But when they turn, it’s ugly,” he said.
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