US stocks slide from records as wait continues for Congress

U.S. stock indexes are pulling back from their record levels Friday as the wait drags on to see if Congress can reach a deal to send more cash to struggling workers and businesses

NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes are pulling back from their record levels Friday as the wait drags on to see if Congress can reach a deal to send more cash to struggling workers and businesses.

The S&P 500 was 0.8% lower in afternoon trading, a day after it and other major indexes returned to record heights. Hope that Congress may be nearing a deal to offer more financial support for the economy has helped put the S&P 500 on track for a 0.8% gain this week, which would make up for most of the prior week’s loss. So has enthusiasm about vaccines for COVID-19, which investors hope will get the economy back on the road to normalcy next year.

Technology, health care and financial stocks were taking the brunt of the decline, with materials companies barely holding on to a gain. Small company stocks bucked the trend, continuing a rally that has the pushed the Russell 2000 small-caps index about 9% higher so far this month.

The selling came on a particularly busy day on Wall Street. Index funds were expected to snap up more than $80 billion worth of shares in Tesla as they moved to rebalance their holdings for the quarter ahead of the electric car maker’s entry into the S&P 500 on Monday. In addition, Friday was also quadruple witching day, Wall Street-speak for the quarterly expiration of stock options and futures contracts, which forces traders to tie up loose ends in contracts they hold, leading to particularly heavy trading volume.

“This is an unusual day because we have Tesla entering the S&P and it’s quadruple witching day,” said Andrew Slimmon, portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 211 points, or 0.7%, at 30,091, as of 2:53 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower after giving up modest gains from earlier in the morning. The Russell 2000 was up 0.4%

Much of the market’s focus recently has been on Capitol Hill, where momentum has kicked back up for on-and-off-again talks for financial aid for the economy. Negotiations on nearly $1 trillion in relief had seemed to be on the brink of success, but a final agreement has yet to be sealed. The package could include benefits for laid-off workers and cash payments sent to most Americans.

Economists and investors say the need for such action is urgent, as the worsening pandemic tightens its chokehold on the economy. Reports this week showed that more workers are applying for jobless benefits and that sales for retailers slumped by more last month than economists expected.

The rising coronavirus counts and deaths are pushing governments around the world to bring back varying degrees of restrictions on businesses, and fear is keeping people and companies away from normal economic activity.

Wall Street’s hope is that Congress can approve big stimulus for the economy, which could carry it through what’s expected to be a dismal winter, before the widespread rollout of COVID-19 vaccines can help it begin to stand on its own next year.

The nation’s first coronavirus vaccine just began being administered this past week, and Vice President Mike Pence got a shot on live television Friday in hopes of assuring Americans that it’s safe. That vaccine was developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. A second vaccine from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health may also be on the brink of regulatory approval after a government advisory panel endorsed it on Thursday.

Of course, it will be months before most people will be able to get access to a vaccine, and the pandemic is likely to do even more damage in the interim.

Within the S&P 500, FedEx dropped 5.3% for the sharpest loss in the index, even though it reported stronger revenue and profit for its latest quarter than Wall Street expected. Analysts said some of the weakness may have been due to expectations simply building too high for the company, which has been a winner of the suddenly shop-from-home economy. FedEx also reported higher costs, including expenses for keeping workers safe from the coronavirus.

Shares of Tesla were up 3%. Roughly $4.6 trillion in investments directly mimics the index, and those funds will collectively be adding tens of billions of dollars of Tesla shares, which is set to become one of the 10 biggest stocks in the S&P 500.

Stock markets overseas made mostly modestly moves.

In Asia, some of the sharpest swings came from Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index fell 0.7% and shares of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. lost 5.2%. The U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it will restrict exports to China’s top chipmaker, alleging it has ties to the military. The company has previously said it has no ties to the Chinese government

It’s the latest escalation in trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Other Asian markets were mixed. European markets ended mostly lower.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 0.95% from 0.91% late Thursday.

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AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed.