Dow jumps, Nasdaq falls as Trump acts in absence of aid deal

NEW YORK: Wall Street was mixed early Monday, with Nasdaq retreating further as investors digested President Donald Trump's efforts to take unilateral action in the absence of a deal with Congress on emergency pandemic spending.

About an hour into the first trading session of the week, the tech-rich Nasdaq was down 0.4 percent to 10,963.75, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.95 percent to 27,686.07 and the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to 3,357.96.

Trump signed four executive orders over the weekend to defer payroll taxes, impose a moratorium on evictions, and provide $400 in weekly unemployment benefits, to be partially paid by states, to replace the $600 weekly payments that expired at the end of July.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met several times last week with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to try to reach a compromise deal on a new aid package.

However, Mnuchin called the Democratic proposal for aid to state and local governments "absurd," although he said Monday on CNBC that "there's a deal to do if the Democrats are reasonable and want to compromise."