Wall Street closes in the red as stimulus talks grind on
Wall Street closed lower this evening as deadlock over a new stimulus package raised concerns that time was running out to agree a deal before the election on 3 November.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4 per cent, to 28,207, the S&P 500 lost 1.6 per cent to hit 3,427.37 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed the same margin to stand at 11,481.07.
Yesterday, Democrat speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi said that a deal would have to be agreed by tomorrow in order to push it through before the election.
The two sides have been in negotiations over new economic measures for over a month but continue to be at loggerheads.
Last week, the White House proposed a $1.8 trillion stimulus package that Pelosi rejected because it fell short of Democrat demands for $2.2 trillion in aid.
With an additional 900,000 Americans making new claims for unemployment benefits last week, the US’ economic recovery seems to have stagnated.
Investors were also anxious on account of the continued rise in coronavirus cases, which have now topped 393,000.
According to analysis from Reuters, the number of new daily infections is now approaching the summer’s record highs.
“The lack of news on stimulus is worrisome compounded by worsening virus trends and uncertainty ahead of the elections,” said Mona Mahajan, an investment strategist at Allianz Global Investors.
With just 15 days until the US goes to the polls, almost 30m citizens have already cast their ballots.
The record figure is five times the number that had voted by this stage in the previous election.