US close: Stocks register first four-day losing streak in seven months
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Monday 21 Sep 2020
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks closed lower on Monday as Chinese trade relations, a potential second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and stimulus negotiations were all in focus.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.84% at 27,147.70, while the S&P 500 was 1.16% weaker at 3,281.06 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.13% softer at 10,778.80.
The Dow Jones closed 509.72 points lower on Monday, extending last week's losses.
Talks surrounding a second US stimulus bill were in focus on Monday as the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the nomination process for her successor ahead of the election, was seen as potentially throwing a spanner in the works and delaying the bill until sometime after 3 November. Donald Trump said he announce his nomination for Bader Ginsberg's vacant seat by Saturday.
Also on investors' minds, news that the UK was considering yet another national lockdown to curb an increase in new cases of Covid-19 across the country led to sharp declines in stocks of Carnival, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing were also in focus, with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce releasing long-awaited provisions on its so-called "unreliable entity list", a day after the US instituted its ban on WeChat and TikTok.
On the macro front, the Chicago Federal Reserve's national activity index fell to 0.79 in August from a revised 2.54 in the prior month. The three-month moving average slipped to 3.05 from 4.23 in July.
The July index was revised from an initial estimate of 1.18 and the June index was revised to a record high 5.84 from 5.33.
In corporate news, Nikola shares tumbled after revealing that founder and chairman Trevor Milton would be stepping down from the company amid accusations of fraud from short-selling firm Hindenburg Research. Milton's outing also sent shares in General Motors, where he was executive chairman, lower on the session.
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Monday.
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