US open: Stocks lower as 2021 trading kicks off
Wall Street stocks opened lower on Monday as major indices looked set to take a bite out of last year's record-setting gains on the first day of trading for 2021.
As of 1540 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.03% at 30,291.48, while the S&P 500 was 0.65% weaker at 3,731.80 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.25% softer at 12,855.57.
The Dow opened 315.0 points lower on Monday, cutting into gains recorded on the final day of trading for 2020.
Traders were focussed on the US state of Georgia as the final two runoffs which will decide exactly who runs the Senate take place.
Although Democrats appear unlikely to be able to claim both remaining seats, the polls have turned in their favour of late as the president continues to search for a way to overturn November's election result.
Also in focus was news that the rollout of multiple Covid-19 vaccines across the US had been slowed down due to supply constraints amid an ever-increasing number of new cases, with the US having now recorded more than 21.11m cases of Covid-19, claiming the lives of more than 360,078 Americans in the process.
Pharmaceutical giant Moderna raised the lower end of its 2021 forecasts for vaccine production by 100.0m doses to 600.0m.
SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said: "Bucking Europe’s vaccine-led optimism, the Dow Jones dropped half a percent, retreating from what would have been a fresh all-time peak.
"It is understandably nervy – tomorrow sees the runoff Senate races in Georgia, a pair of votes just as important as the nationwide election due to the impact the results will have on who runs Congress' upper chamber.'
On the macro front, US manufacturing activity accelerated at the fastest pace seen in six years during December amid the strongest pricing environment for goods producers since 2011 despite the Covid-19 pandemic. IHS Markit said its manufacturing PMI climbed to 57.1 in December, up from 56.7 in November and ahead of its flash reading of 56.5.
Elsewhere, US construction spending rose 0.9% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.46trn in November, according to the Census Bureau, following an upwardly revised 1.6% growth in October. However, this figure was still slightly below market expectations of a 1.0% increase.
In the corporate space, Tesla shares were higher in early trading after delivering 180,570 electric vehicles last quarter, topping expectations.