Shares on the Australian market had a third consecutive loss after investors were troubled by a coronavirus variant and underwhelmed by a US economic stimulus deal.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index closed lower by 70.3 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 6599.6 on Tuesday, after Wall Street closed lower.
The decline sets the index back to levels recorded at the start of the month.
The All Ordinaries lost 74.5 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 6845.5.
The energy sector was hardest hit, down 2.75 per cent, as oil prices tumbled almost three per cent.
Materials dropped 2.07 per cent after metals prices sagged.
Metals prices fell after the UK detected a variant of the coronavirus that is up to 70 per cent more infectious.
A $US900 billion ($1.2 trillion) pandemic relief package passed US Congress, but there was little response from investors.
The Aussie dollar was buying 75.59 US cents at 1625 AEDT, lower from 75.62 US cents at Monday’s close.
Source: The Bull
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The S&P 500 was essentially unchanged on Tuesday as worries over a new variant of COVID-19 and downbeat economic data dampened enthusiasm over the passage of a long-awaited pandemic relief bill in Washington.
The Dow was lower, while Apple Inc helped fuel the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s advance.
“The market trades in anticipation of an event,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut. “And once you reach that point as we did yesterday with the passing of the stimulus bill, the market is looking for the next catalyst to drive it forward.”
Apple was an outlier amid a broad sell-off, gaining 3.6% and providing the biggest lift to all three major U.S. stock indexes on news of the company’s plans to roll out an electric passenger vehicle by 2024.
Overnight, Congress passed a pandemic relief package worth $892 billion after months of a partisan tug-of-war, aimed at propping up an economic recovery faltering under the weight of restrictions aimed at containing a coronavirus resurgence.
That resurgence continues to swell, infecting 214,000 Americans every day, prompting mandatory shutdowns and pushing hospitals to capacity.
A fast-spreading new variant of the virus discovered in Britain has brought movement in and out of the UK to a halt and sent vaccine makers Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc scrambling to ensure their drugs were effective against it.
Fears of the coronavirus and optimism about an eventual economic recovery made for extreme volatility on Wall Street in 2020, with the S&P 500 logging daily gains or losses of 2% or more over 40 times in the year so far, the most in over a decade.
“The changes that have occurred in the world, I don’t think anyone who’s working today has seen anything like this,” Pavlik added. “Nobody was prepared to deal with this situation where nearly the whole world was shut down.”
On the economic front, consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped while sales of pre-owned U.S. homes posted their first decline in six months.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 105.17 points, or 0.35%, to 30,111.28, the S&P 500 gained 1.18 points, or 0.03%, to 3,696.1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 57.69 points, or 0.45%, to 12,800.21. (as at time of writing)
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, only tech and real estate were green.
Tesla Inc fell 2.4%, extending its slide on its second day as a S&P 500 constituent.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.19-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.17-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 294 new highs and eight new lows.
Source: Reuters
Looking for that Santa Claus Rally but doubtful that it will appear today.
Let's go back to The Smug Fig for breakfast sustenance.
Join me for Potato and onion cakes topped with smoked salmon, chives, creme fraiche and lemon oil. A couple of poached eggs on the side.
Coffee for those who partake. Successful trading to everyone out there. May all your stocks run free in the right direction.
