Stocks moved higher in the morning today on optimism that the first coronavirus vaccinations meant a “return to normal” was just around the corner. As of 10:00 a.m. Nw York time the Standard & Poor’ 500 had climbed to 3697.
And then in the afternoon markets started to worry about news that New York City and California might be headed to a renewed economic lockdowns. As of 2:36 p.m. the S&P 500 was back down to 3658.
The S&P 500 closed Friday at 3663.
The first doses of the Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) Â vaccine were administered to Americans on today. About 2.9 million doses of the two-dose vaccine will be delivered in the initial batch. Â The schedule calls for a total of 100 million doses to be delivered by March.
Moderna’s (MRNA) vaccine, also a two-dose vaccine, is likely to get Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration this week.
But on the negative side of the news, today New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and New York governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers to prepare for a possible return to the shutdown rules in place at the worst of the spring outbreak of the coronavirus in an effort to control the current surge in infections. As of today New York City restaurants have again been ordered to shutdown all indoor dining. Most of California is under a stay-at-home order that requires shutdowns when a county’s remaining intensive care unit capacity falls below 15%.
That, plus a continued lack of progress in Congress on passing a new coronavirus stimulus/relief package, sent stocks into reverse,
The S&P 500 closed down 0.44% today. The Dow Jones Industrial Avege fell 0.62%. The NASDAQ Composite picked up 0.50% and the NASDAQ 100 climbed 0.73% by the finish. The small cap Russell 2000 was up 0.11%. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF lost 0.52% by the close.
