US: Stocks tumble amid partisan fight on stimulus

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks tumbled on Tuesday following mixed earnings, and as legislators in Washington appeared far apart on another round of fiscal support for the coronavirus-battered economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8 per cent to 27,379.28.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.7 per cent to 3,218.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.3 per cent to 10,402.09.

Republican congressional leaders on Monday released details of their long-awaited spending plan to boost the economy.

However, the proposal contains many differences from the one backed by congressional Democrats.

Supplemental unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire this week, putting pressure on Washington to come up with a replacement for funds that have helped blunt the economic carnage from the shutdowns so far.

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"The spread between the Democratic and Republican proposals hasn't closed any," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities.

"The market is frustrated at how we have to watch Washington grind things out."

The stimulus is only one of the market-moving items hovering over markets this week.

Investors are also looking ahead to a high-profile hearing Wednesday with the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook, as well as a Federal Reserve meeting and the first estimate of second-quarter US growth.

Tuesday's batch of reports was mixed, with Pfizer jumping 4.0 per cent, McDonald's shedding 2.7 per cent and 3M losing 4.9 per cent.

AFP