Stocks drifted to a mostly lower close on Wall Street Tuesday, even as more gains for technology companies pushed the Nasdaq to another all-time high. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2%, pulled down by losses in banks and communications companies including Facebook, the AP reports. The weak showing came despite the long-awaited passage in Congress of a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. Indexes crossed between small gains and losses several times through the day, and trading was relatively thin ahead of the Christmas holiday later in the week. The S&P 500 fell 7.66 points to 3,687.26. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 200.94 points, or 0.67%, to 30,015.51, and the Nasdaq rose 65.40 points, or 0.51%, to 12,807.92.
Worries about a new coronavirus strain and falling consumer confidence have caused momentum to slow for the stock market, which set record highs last week, after earlier surging on hopes that COVID-19 vaccines will trigger a return to normal for the economy next year and that Washington would approve big stimulus to tide the economy over until then. More stocks were falling in the S&P 500 than rising on Tuesday, but healthy gains for some of the index's most influential stocks helped offset them. Apple rose 3.5%, for example. Travel-related companies were among those taking the hardest hits, again, amid worries about more restrictions on movement. Norwegian Cruise Line lost 5.9%, and American Airlines Group slid 2.9%
(More
stock market stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
