Nasdaq ends at a record but Dow books worst loss in December as tightened COVID travel curbs sink broader market
The Nasdaq Composite logged a record closing high Tuesday but the Dow industrials rang up the worst loss in December as a mutation of the virus that causes COVID-19 strain continued to fuel fresh lockdown measures in parts of Europe, resulting in an apparent pause in bullish sentiment on Wall Street. The Nasdaq closed up 0.5%, enough to log a record finish at around 12,807. The S&P 500 index closed off 0.2% at 3,687, marking a third straight loss for the broad-market index in the second day of trading as a member of the index for Tesla Inc. . The Dow closed down over 200 points, or 0.7%, at 30,015, which represents its steepest daily slide since a 271-point, or 0.9%, decline in the blue-chip benchmark on Nov. 30. The fall for the Dow came even as component Apple Inc. shares surged over 2% after a report that the iPhone maker was targeting 2024 as the year it produces a passenger vehicle that could compete against Tesla. On the flipside of the ledger, the small-capitalization Russell 2000 index closed a record as well as the Nasdaq, reflecting a jockeying by investment managers between a hunt for value-oriented stocks and those perceived to be growthy.
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