US markets end lower as surge in coronavirus cases

19 Nov 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday, extending their previous session’s losses, amid renewed concerns about new restrictions and lockdowns as a result of the recent surge in coronavirus cases. A number of states are imposing new restrictions due to the spike in cases, with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announcing that public schools in the city will be closed as of tomorrow.  The tighter restrictions come as data from John Hopkins University showed there were nearly 162,000 new coronavirus cases and 1,707 deaths on Tuesday. The daily death toll represents a six-month high.

On the economic data front, new residential construction in the US spiked by more than expected in the month of October, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The report said housing starts surged up by 4.9 percent to an annual rate of 1.530 million in October after soaring by 6.3 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 1.459 million in September. Street had expected housing starts to jump by 3.2 percent to a rate of 1.460 million from the 1.415 million originally reported for the previous month. With the bigger than expected increase, housing starts reached their highest annual rate since coming in at 1.567 million in February.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 344.93 points or 1.16 percent to 29,438.42, Nasdaq dropped 97.74 points or 0.82 percent to 11,801.6 and S&P 500 was down by 41.74 points or 1.16 percent 3,567.79.

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