Wall Street Close: Benchmarks drift lower despite US dollar pullback

• Wall Street benchmarks closed in red despite bouncing off lows in the later hours.
• Mixed news on virus vaccines, downbeat US data and fears of less liquidity in the market, due to higher rates,
• Hopes of US stimulus, jump in vaccinations offer extra support.
• Dow drops 0.38% from record top, S&P 500 and Nasdaq decline 0.44% and 0.72% respectively.

Sustained fears of fewer funds for equities seem to keep the Wall Street pressured off-late. The underlying cautious sentiment couldn’t allow the market players to cheer US dollar weakness while dragging the benchmarks down for one more day.

That said, the DJIA dropped 120 points, 0.38%, to close at 31,493 whereas the Nasdaq Composite Index came in last with 0.72% losses, down over 100 points to 13,865. Further, the S&P 500 Index also followed the suit by trimming 17 points, or 0.44%, to 3,914.

With the US Jobless Claims marking another disappointment for the American employment watchers, equities got another worry, in addition to the rising US Treasury yields, which weighed on the benchmarks. It’s worth mentioning that the upbeat Building Permits battled a drop in Housing Starts whereas the strong Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index couldn’t placate the greenback sellers amid no major positives.

Also on the line of USD-negative news could be the absence of any major headlines on US President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion covid relief package. The Democratic leader was last found cheering market forecasts of early stimulus in his meeting with the labor leaders.

It’s worth mentioning that the chatters surrounding covid strains’ resistance to vaccines as well as China’s retaliation to the UK and the US dislike for its policies seemed to have exerted additional downside pressure on the mood.

Against this backdrop, US 10-year treasury yields remained pressured near multi-month top whereas Walmart was the biggest loser of the day following downbeat earnings for the fourth quarter.

Moving on, the preliminary activity numbers for February will be the key to watch as global policymakers keep flashing signals that the economy needs extension stimulus.