Stocks ended mixed Tuesday as renewed coronavirus concerns outweighed the passage of long-awaited coronavirus fiscal stimulus. Fresh U.S. economic data as produced mixed results, which damaged risk sentiment heading into the year's end. The Nasdaq rose to a record closing high as investors piled back into tech stocks, which the Dow and the S&P 500 fell lower.
Congressional lawmakers late Monday evening passed an additional coronavirus stimulus package that offers funds to help support small businesses and individuals hurt most by the pandemic. The bill totals about $900 billion and it designed to be attached to a $1.4 trillion spending measure that funds the government through Sept. 30. President Donald Trump is set to sign both bills into law in the coming days.
Meanwhile, multiple economic reports were released due to the shortened trading week. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said that the U.S. economy grew at a faster than previously reported rate in the third quarter, grewing at a record 33.4%, versus the 33.1% annualized rate posted in earlier assessments.
Next, the National Association of Realtors' monthly report for November revealed that existing home sales fell at a more-than-expected rate for the month, slipping 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million. In October, existing home sales rose 4.4% to an annual rate of 6.86 million.
Finally, the Commerce Department reported that consumer confidence declined in December amid increasing coronavirus cases, with the headline confidence index falling to 88.6 from November's downwardly revised print of 92.9. Consensus economists had expects the index to rise to 97.0 for the month.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Stocks, Apple
For Sector Performance, only two sectors on the S&P rose on Tuesday as the broader market mostly fell during the session. Those sectors were Information Technology
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar
For Wednesday, market participants will focus on a slew of fresh economic data ahead of the end of the shortened holiday week. Data on unemployment claims, personal income, consumer spending and consumer sentiment are scheduled to be released.