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The S&P 500 held steady on Tuesday after Congress approved a long-delayed coronavirus relief package.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its lows of the morning, but still trailed Monday’s close by 79.24 points to 30,137.21,
The S&P 500 dropped 1.21 points to 3,693.61
The NASDAQ gained 41.24 points to 12,783.76, supported by a 4% jump in Apple shares.
Congressional leaders attached $900 billion in pandemic aid to a $1.4 trillion measure to fund the government through Sept. 30. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law in the coming days, weeks before he will leave office. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the media on Monday that Americans could receive their stimulus checks in a matter of days.
The market started the holiday week on a sour note as fears about a new variant of COVID-19 in the U.K. emerged. Many European countries implemented travel restrictions on visitors from the U.K., and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for the United States to take similar steps.
Travel-related stocks came under pressure once again amid lingering concerns about the new virus strain. American Airlines and United fell more than 1% each, while Carnival and Royal Caribbean both dropped more than 2%. Norwegian Cruise Line traded 3% lower.
However, many experts, including those from the World Health Organization, said that the coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna would likely be effective against the new variant and that COVID was mutating at a slower pace than the seasonal flu.
On the data front, the final reading on third-quarter gross domestic product came to a growth of 33.4% on an annualized basis, compared to 33.1% expected.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury dropped bit, raising yields back to Monday’s 0.93%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 60 cents to $47.37 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $17.40 to $1,877.20.
