U.S. stocks open lower amid stimulus proposal, weak retail sales

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, January 16, 2021
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NEW YORK, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street's major averages opened lower on Friday as investors pored through President-elect Joe Biden's proposed COVID-19 aid plan and the December U.S. retail sales data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 128.81 points, or 0.42 percent, to 30,862.71. The S&P 500 was down 9.16 points, or 0.24 percent, to 3,786.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 12.74 points, or 0.12 percent, to 13,112.64.

Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors pulled back, with energy down 2.9 percent, leading the laggards. Communication services rose 0.27 percent, the best-performing group.

Biden on Thursday unveiled a 1.9-trillion-U.S.-dollar COVID-19 relief bill, which includes another round of direct payments to individuals, aid for state and local governments, increased unemployment benefits, as well as more funding for testing and vaccine distribution.

"Just as we are in the midst of a dark winter of this pandemic as cases, hospitalizations, and deaths spike at record levels, there is real pain overwhelming the real economy," the president-elect said in a speech in Wilmington, Delaware on Thursday night.

Biden's proposal includes direct payments of 1,400 dollars per person for working families, which is on top of the 600-dollar checks approved in the 900-billion-dollar relief package, bringing the total relief to 2,000 dollars.

The United States has registered more than 23.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases with related deaths exceeding 388,000 as of Friday morning, showed a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

On the economic front, U.S. retail sales slipped 0.7 percent in December, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. The November data was revised down to show sales declining 1.4 percent instead of 1.1 percent as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales unchanged in December. Enditem

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