By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow slipped Tuesday, led by a slump industrial heavyweights like Caterpillar and 3M following quarterly results and renewed concerns about the impact of a surge in Covid-19 infections on the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.80%, or 222 points. The S&P 500 was down 0.30%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.64%.
Covid-19 infections in the U.S. surged above 8.7 million on Tuesday, with more than 20 states reporting record numbers of new cases.
The U.S. has averaged at least 71,000 new cases of the coronavirus over the last seven days, according to The New York Times, the highest seven-day number since the start of the outbreak.
The surge comes as Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) said its coronavirus antibody drug showed no improvement in hospitalized patients who had an advanced stage of the disease, sending its shares down 7%. The drug maker added, however, it would continue to explore the efficacy of its antibody drug in patients at an early stage of disease progression.
Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), another drug maker in the race to find a vaccine, fell 1% as weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales and news that results from its Covid-19 vaccine trial is unlikely to be released before the U.S. election weighed on sentiment.
Fears over the pace of the economic recovery were exacerbated by signs the strength of the consumer is beginning to wane at a time when hopes of pre-election stimulus suffered a blow.
The Conference Board said the index of consumer confidence slipped to a reading of 100.9 this month from 101.3 in September, missing economists forecast for a reading of 102.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday adjourned the Senate until Nov. 9, all but ending hopes for a deal on stimulus before the U.S. election on Nov. 3.
Financials pressured the broader market as banks continued to slip amid concerns parts of the U.S. may see reopening measures rolled back.
As well as weakness in airlines, a fall in major Dow components like 3M (NYSE:MMM) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), pushed industrials further into the red. Both industrial stalwarts fail to provide guidance, though 3M did forecast sales to be flat to up low single digits in October.
Tech, however, held up firm, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) up more 1% ahead of its quarterly results after the closing bell. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are also expected to report later this week.
Gains in tech, however, were stifled by a fall in chip stocks, led by a 4% slip in Advanced Micro Devices.
AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) reported better-than-expected third-quarter results thanks to higher demand for its PC, gaming and data center products. The company also confirmed its $31 billion acquisition of Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX).
Energy, meanwhile, shrugged off a rise in oil prices, paced by declines in National Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV), Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL).