Wall Street is stalling on Friday, as a whirlwind of worries about rising U.S.-China tensions and whether Congress can deliver more aid for the economy threaten to halt its big run.
The S&P 500 was edging 0.1% lower in early trading, after a five-day winning streak had brought it back within 1.1% of its record for the first time since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 73 points, or 0.3%, at 27,317, as of 9:40 a.M. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite pulled 0.1% back from its record.
Markets around the world got a small boost before trading began on U.S. Stock markets when a report showed that the U.S. Job market strengthened more last month than economists expected. But the bump for U.S. Treasury yields and European stocks proved short-lived.
It's a busy day for markets, with investors also focused on Capitol Hill, where Congress and White House officials have been negotiating on a hoped-for deal on more aid for the economy. A marathon meeting Thursday left both sides still far apart on key issues, and they both said the future of talks is uncertain.
Investors say it's crucial that Washington pump more money into the economy, which has shown signs of improvements since the spring but is still hobbling amid worries about a resurgence in coronavirus counts.
Even though Friday's jobs report was healthier than the market expected, it also showed that hiring is already slowing following two months of acceleration and remains far below where it was before the pandemic.
Trump is considering executive orders to address some of the issues if Congress doesn't reach a deal, such as evictions and unemployment insurance, but they appear unlikely to have much impact.