The Close: Markets Falter at the End of the Week. NYC Indoor Dining Suspended.

As the week comes to a close, the markets squandered gains this week. The major indexes posted a losing week this week, first in 6 weeks for certain indexes. The Dow gained 47.11 points at the close, but an overall losing week snapped it’s winning streak. The Dow closes the week out at 30,046.37 points, up +0.16%. The S&P 500 closed the week at 3,663.46, barely negative though. Down -4.64 points, or -0.13%. The NASDAQ, which hit record highs this week, closed the week lower. Closing at 12,377.87 points, down -27.94, or -0.23%.

Why was the market lower today? Same news as recent days. Congress has not necessarily offered much news regarding their stimulus plan. Next week will be a solid week for the market, in my opinion. If we look at the scope of next week, Tesla will be getting added to the S&P 500 due to their stock’s performance. Pfizer shares closed lower, as investors await news whether their vaccination will be cleared by the FDA for emergency use. That could move the market in after hours/futures trading.

This next section does not necessarily have implications towards the market, but this news affects the larger economy. Governor Andrew Cuomo, of New York, suspends indoor dining in New York City. While we all understand there are major concerns regarding the spread of this virus, shutting down an entire industry that has fought tooth and nail in order to just break even is disheartening, and crushing to the economy. Many restaurants will not be able to survive this winter without some sort of aid. When they were shut down initially, at least the weather was getting warmer, thus they could open up their outdoor seating. There is now no possible way they would be able to open up outdoor seating during the cold of the winter, unless they implemented various measures in order to ensure the warmth of their patrons. What can they do? There should be some aid package, unlike the previous small business aid we saw in the beginning of the virus as that one lacked many things. Don’t force these small businesses to pay their employees with these loans, then not have enough to pay their own rent. I’d say the most imperative aspect of this next aid bill should be preserving the small business, and shift the focus from the employees. While we don’t want to see individuals jobless, it's an immense amount easier to find a job rather than restart a business.