Asian stocks fell after a lackluster day on Wall Street

Asian stocks sank on Tuesday after a dull day on Wall Street as investors waited to see whether Congress could break the deadlock over providing more aid to individuals, businesses and local governments hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Nikkei 225 index fell in Japan after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced the suspension of a travel promotion program that has helped businesses but is also believed to have helped the resurgence of the Coronavirus outbreak.

The program was suspended from December 28 to January. 11, Basically the peak period of the entire New Year, when most families go on holidays or return to their hometowns. Go To Travel and another program called Go To Eat essentially introduced big discounts on hotel rooms and meals and helped cushion the blow from losing nearly all foreign inbound tourism due to pandemic controls and concerns.

On Tuesday, the Chinese government also released a batch of monthly statistics showing retail sales, industrial production and investments in factory equipment and other fixed assets rose as expected in November. However, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.4% to 3356.11.

Other regional benchmarks also tracked Wall Street’s decline. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong is down 0.5% to 26252.50 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo is down 0.3% to 26648.83. South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 0.5% to 2750.85 while the S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.4% to 6635.00.

Extending its retreat from recent months’ gains, the S&P 500 index fell 0.4% to 3,647.49 on Monday, after rising 0.9% earlier in the session. It was the fourth consecutive decline, the first since September. Losses in the financial, industrial and healthcare sectors eased, outpacing gains in technology companies and companies dependent on consumer spending.

Treasury yields were mostly higher, indicating optimism in the economy. However, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell on Tuesday to 0.89% from 0.90% late Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 29,861.55. The Nasdaq rose 0.5 percent to 12440.04. Small companies held up better than their larger competitors, with the Russell 2000 index up 2.16 points, or 0.1%, to 1913.86.

Americans began receiving the country’s first vaccinations against COVID-19 on Monday, a process that is expected to take months.

Healthcare workers and nursing home residents rank first in the shots, and we hope a wider startup next year will help curb the epidemic and return the economy to normal after this year’s devastation.

The soaring coronavirus numbers slowed the economy’s momentum, which was seen last week in a worse-than-expected report on unemployment. The high death rate has prompted governments to reinstate various restrictions on companies. They also scare potential customers away from business.

Efforts to provide another round of financial support to the US economy were stalled due to bitter partisanship. Top negotiators in Washington continued to reach a long-awaited deal on coronavirus relief (Covid-19) on Monday, but ordinary Democrats appear to be increasingly resigned to the need to abandon, for now, a reduced demand for state and local subsidies. Governments whose budgets have lost balance due to the pandemic.

“Once again, it looks like we’re stuck in a negative feedback loop,” Axi’s Stephen Innes said in a commentary. “Unless policymakers overestimate market expectations, especially at this time of year when our risk-taking penchant for profit, it appears that the economic constraints associated with viruses will never stop as the market continues (continues) to cross this fence between hope and reality.” .

Even without another round of stimulus, investors are facing a strong environment heading into the next year that includes low inflation and very low interest rates.

Meanwhile, hopes for progress were raised on a possible deal on the terms of the UK’s exit from the European Union.

The European Union chief negotiator, Michel Barnier He said Monday that he believes a trade deal is possible after nine months of negotiations, and now that the remaining disputes have been reduced to just two. However, both sides still teeter on the brink of a departure without a deal. They have committed to the last batch before January 1, when the post-Brexit transition ends on January 31 from the bloc.

In other trading, the price of record US crude oil fell 23 cents to $ 46.76 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 42 cents to $ 46.99 a barrel on Monday.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 16 cents to $ 50.13 a barrel.

The US dollar rose to 104.07 Japanese yen from 104.06 yen late Monday. The euro strengthened to $ 1.2162 from $ 1.2145.

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This was contributed by AP Business business writers, Stan Choi, Alex Vega, and Damian J.

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