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Investing.com – Major U.S. indices edged lower during trading on the last day of 2021. At 10:45 am ET, the S&P 500 traded down .12%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 63 points or .17%, and the NASDAQ Composite traded down 31 points, or .2%. The small-cap Russell 2000 was right around flat.
This comes after a traditional “Santa rally” sort of week, where indices rose nearly a percent through the course of the week on lower volume trading and limited news.
While no major news is anticipated today, investors eyes might fall to any developments on the airline cancellation or Covid fronts. Airline cancellations continued at a high pace today, with over 1,000 flights canceled. Covid cases continue to set all-time highs, and with New Year celebrations in the offing, many officials are bracing for another jump from here. At the same time, the U.K. approved the use of Pavloxid, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)’s antiviral pill for Covid-19 treatment, for adults, and South Africa took off their curfew requirements.
Pfizer was among the leaders on the S&P 500, up 1.6% in early trading. Ford also traded higher, up 1.4%, a strong finish to a year that saw the automaker among the top stocks on the S&P 500. On the downside, Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) were down 2% and 2.2%, as the CDC advised people not to take cruises due to Covid risk, regardless of vaccination status.
Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON) dropped 3.4% after another analyst downgrade warning of a slow December quarter for the exercise equipment maker. Fellow 2020 winner and 2021 laggard Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) was also down 1.6%.
Among smaller stocks, Nutriband Inc (NASDAQ:NTRB) soared 160%+ after receiving a patent from Korea for its lead technology, AVERSA.
(Originally published at 9:16am ET, will be updated throughout the day).
