Wall Street Stumbles On China Covid Concerns

Wall Street's main indexes ended Monday roughly down on fears that China could resume stricter measures to fight Covid-19 after Beijing said it faced its most severe test of the pandemic.

Beijing said on Monday it would shut businesses and schools in hard-hit districts and tighten rules for entering the city, as infections ticked higher.

US casino operators with businesses in Macau including Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts International and Melco Resorts & Entertainment all fell at least 2 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.13 percent, to 33,700, the S&P 500 lost 0.39 percent, to 3,950 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.09 percent, to 11,025.

Trading volume was low on Monday, and likely to lessen towards the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, leaving markets more prone to volatility.

"If you want to blame a little bit of profit taking on some concerns on spikes in Covid cases, that's fine," said Jack Janasiewicz, lead portfolio strategist and portfolio manager at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions. "It gets really tricky because of volume."

Stocks trimmed losses in early afternoon after the San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly commented that officials need to be careful to avoid a "painful downturn."

Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester echoed Daly, saying she supports a smaller rate hike in December.

Walt Disney jumped 6.30 percent after Bob Iger's return as chief executive to the entertainment giant.

Among other stocks, Tesla plummeted 6.84 percent after the electric-car maker said it will recall vehicles in the United States over an issue that may cause tail lights to intermittently fail to illuminate.

Gay dating app Grindr tumbled 46 percent, after skyrocketing in its debut in the previous session. (Reuters)