Stocks were weaker to kick off the new week as the risk rally seen last week has taken a pause with the averages at or near all-time highs. On the political front, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is looking to impeach President Donald Trump again if VP Mike Pence doesn't attempt to remove him, while shares of Twitter finished the day lower after the social media company said on Friday that it is banning Trump permanently.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no economic data of note was reported.
Data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 90.4M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 22.4M in the U.S., and 1.94M deaths due to the disease, including 374,000 in the U.S.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Twitter (TWTR) fell 6.4% after the company shut down President Trump's account on its service late on Friday night citing "the risk of further incitement of violence."
In other major tech news, Axios reported that Facebook (FB) and Microsoft (MSFT) are both pausing political spending in the wake of last week's attack on the Capitol. A Google (GOOG, GOOGL) spokesperson told Reuters that the tech giant will also be halting all campaign contributions for the time being, and Airbnb (ABNB) said in a statement that its political action committee "will update its framework and withhold support from those who voted against the certification of the presidential election results."
Additionally, shares of Amazon (AMZN) were more than 2% lower after The Hill reported that Parler is suing the e-commerce giant for antitrust violation, breach of contract and unlawful business interference. Amazon over the weekend told the social media app that's become popular among conservatives and far-right extremists that it would be cut off from its Amazon Web Services hosting.
Boeing (BA) shares were down 1.5% after it was reported over the weekend that a Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plane carrying 62 people crashed into the Java Sea on Saturday. The jet lost contact after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. Boeing has told media outlets that it is monitoring the situation and gathering more information.
Shares of Eli Lilly (LLY) jumped 11.7% after the company announced earlier this morning that donanemab, an investigational antibody that targets a modified form of beta amyloid called N3pG, met the primary endpoint in the company's Phase 2 TRAILBLAZER-ALZ study. Some peers researching Alzheimer's treatments also rose, as Biogen (BIIB) was 6% higher and AC Immune (ACIU) was up almost 11%.
Meanwhile, Ford (F) shares rose over 3% after the company said it would stop manufacturing in Brazil, adding that it expects to record pre-tax special item charges of about $4.1B, including about $2.5B in 2020 and about $1.6B in 2021, related to the restructuring actions.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Mesoblast (MESO), which rose almost 32% after announcing a single dose of rexlemestrocel-L resulted in substantial and durable reductions in heart attacks, strokes and cardiac death in the Phase 3 DREAM-HF trial . Also higher was ODP Corp. (ODP), which gained more than 19% after the parent company of Office Depot announced that USR Parent, which owns the Staples U.S. Retail Business, sent a letter to the board of directors outlining a proposal to acquire ODP for $40.00 per share in cash.
Among the notable losers was Bit Digital (BTBT), which dropped 25% amid a decline in bitcoin prices and after Wolfpack Research and J Capital discussed the stock as a short idea. Also lower were several other bitcoin levered stocks, including Marathon Patent Group (MARA) and Riot Blockchain (RIOT). In addition, Editas Medicine (EDIT) fell 15% after the company announced that its Chief Scientific Officer, Charles Albright, Ph.D., is stepping down from the company on January 15 to pursue another opportunity.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 89.28, or 0.29%, to 31,008.69, the Nasdaq lost 165.55, or 1.25%, to 13,036.43, and the S&P 500 declined 25.07, or 0.66%, to 3,799.61.
-3.33 (-6.47%)
Ticker changed to META
-10.67 (-3.99%)
Microsoft
-1.92 (-0.87%)
Alphabet
-40.9 (-2.26%)
Alphabet
-40.19 (-2.24%)
Airbnb
-1.33 (-0.89%)
Amazon.com
-69.24 (-2.18%)
Boeing
-3.06 (-1.46%)
Eli Lilly
+19.62 (+11.80%)
AC Immune
+0.69 (+11.98%)
Ford
+0.29 (+3.22%)
Biogen
+15.17 (+6.01%)
Mesoblast
+2.75 (+31.90%)
ODP Corporation
+7.06 (+19.05%)
Bit Digital
-6.35 (-25.30%)
Marathon Digital
-3.02 (-11.43%)
Riot Platforms
-3.99 (-14.96%)
Editas Medicine
-13.75 (-15.15%)