Stocks ended Monday's session mixed as weighed the roll out of the Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)-BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) vaccine against prolonged Congressional stimulus talks and renewed coronavirus pandemic shutdown fears. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell lower on Monday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed.
Recovery sentiment was harmed on Monday after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stated that the city may need to return to a "full shutdown" due to rising daily infection rates that threaten the city's healthcare system. The United Kingdom also declared that London and surround areas will lockdown on Wednesday amid a new outbreak of a COVID variant in the city.
Yet, there is some near-term hope that is expected to boost recovery outlooks. A bipartisan group of Congressional lawmakers are set to unveil the details of a $908 billion stimulus package as soon as Monday. The new coronavirus relief proposal is set to be two seperate bills, with the smaller one including provisions for state and local government aid. However, lawmakers from both political parties still disagree on many key relief issues.
Here's how the market settled to open the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.44% or -16.05 points to 3,647.41
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.62% or -186.13 points to 29,860.24
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.50% or +62.17 points to 12,440.04
For Stocks, Megacap tech shares led the Nasdaq to outperform the broader market, with Tesla (NASDAQ: TLSA) gaining the most ahead of its S&P 500 inclusion next week. Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) shares fell on Monday after Google experienced an outage ahead of the day's trading session. Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE) shares declined after the company aborted its planned spaceflight test on Saturday due to an engine issue. The aerospace company expects to repeat to test from its base in Spaceport America in New Mexico soon. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) launched its anticipated fitness subscription service, Fitness+, which faces direct competition from other fitness companies like Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ: PTON).
For Sector Performance, only two sectors on the S&P settled in positive territory on Monday, those being Information Technology (NYSE: XLK) followed close behind by Consumer Discretionary (NYSE: XLY). On the negative side, Energy (NYSE: XLE) was the biggest loser, falling over 3%, while Materials (NYSE: XLB), Industrials (NYSE: XLI) and Financials (NYSE: XLF) declined over 1% to round out the bottom four.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) fell on Monday as traders weighed renewed positive outlooks for a Brexit deal alongside near-term U.S. coronavirus stimulus and coronavirus vaccine roll outs, all factors lifting risk sentiment. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against other global currencies, dropped 0.24% to 90.544. Gold (NYSE: GLD) prices also declined despite the weakening dollar and stimulus bets due to the U.S. vaccine rollout lifting outlooks for a wider economic recovery post-pandemic. Spot gold slipped 0.6% lower to $1,827.55 per ounce, while gold futures settled 0.6% lower at $1,832.10 per ounce. Crude oil futures contracts gained on Monday has the persistent vaccine rally ushered in positive global fuel demand outlooks for the months ahead. International benchmark Brent Crude's (NYSE: BNO) February contracts rose 0.6% to $50.29 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate's (NYSE: USO) January futures increased 0.9% to $46.99, its highest level since its March lows.
For Tuesday, investors will focus on additional fiscal stimulus headlines as well as progress for Moderna's (NASDAQ: MRNA) coronavirus vaccine candidate's emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.