NEW YORK: The S&P 500 and the Dow slipped on Thursday as US coronavirus infections surged and investors weighed the timeline of the mass roll-out of an effective vaccine.
New York became the latest state to introduce social distancing restrictions on Wednesday, as new infections in the country surged above 100,000 for an eighth consecutive day.
The blue-chip Dow dropped 0.5% as industrial and financial companies sensitive to economic growth fell, with Boeing Co and Goldman Sachs down about 2% each.
Airlines and cruise operators, among the hardest hit by the outbreak, also fell. The S&P 1500 airlines index declined 0.5%, while Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd dropped 1% and Carnival Corp tumbled 3.7%.
Wall Street’s three main indexes have climbed between 8% and 10% in less than two weeks on prospects of measured industry regulation from a potentially divided Congress, as well as an encouraging update from a late-stage coronavirus vaccine trial.
At 11:23 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 134.81 points, or 0.46%, to 29,262.82 and the S&P 500 lost 10.87 points, or 0.30%, to 3,561.79. The Nasdaq Composite gained 16.52 points, or 0.14%, to 11,802.93.
Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc and Microsoft Corp edged higher, adding to gains from the previous session.—Reuters
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