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MARKETS-WORLD
Wall Street stocks end tumultuous 2020 at records
NEW YORK, Jan 1, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Wall Street indices finished 2020 at all-
time highs on Thursday, a surprising conclusion to a year in which the United
States endured a recession caused by the deadly Covid-19 pandemic that
continues to plague the country.
The Dow and S&P 500 finished at fresh records, capping a year in which
they, along with the Nasdaq, scored significant gains even amid elevated
joblessness, rising hunger and acute pain in sectors such as hospitality,
airlines, oil and gas and the performing arts.
“For Main Street, it was a terrible year,” said Briefing.com analyst
Patrick O’Hare. “For Wall Street, it was a fantastic year.”
The broad-based S&P 500, which swooned below the 2,200-point level at its
nadir in March, finished the year at 3,756.07, up 16.3 percent for the year.
European equity markets had a mixed year, with Frankfurt higher, but Paris
declined and London suffered its worst year since the global financial
crisis.
The gains in US indices seemed impossible in March, when exchanges were
forced to suspend trading as stocks went into free-fall as much of the US
economy was shut down to combat the coronavirus.
The US didn’t fully manage to get the virus under control, and concludes
2020 with its highest-ever single-day death toll of more than 3,900 people.
Yet, markets pivoted quickly from the fear of a depression-like collapse
after the Federal Reserve stepped in with extraordinary stimulus and Congress
mobilized to enact its biggest-ever fiscal package, the $2.2 trillion CARES
Act.
Stocks began regaining ground in late March and rose for much of the
summer. Volatility picked up again in the fall ahead of the November
presidential election and as the infections spiked.
But Wall Street engineered a strong late-year rally as Covid-19 vaccines
were approved and began to be rolled out, fueling hope for an economic
recovery in the new year.
However, analysts see risks ahead in the first part of 2021.
“We’ve priced in a lot of the good news and not the bad news,” said Art
Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities.
He expects the market in the upcoming period to fixate both on weakening
economic data and on the virus’s worrying spread.
“In large part, the market has done so well in 2020 because it is pricing
in 2021,” O’Hare said.
– Sterling gains, FTSE falls –
Back in Europe, Paris suffered a 7.1-percent drop but Frankfurt gained 3.6
percent in volatile record-breaking deals over the course of 2020.
London’s FTSE 100 suffered a 14-percent drop for the year, its worst since
2008, but the British pound zoomed to a 2.5-year dollar peak before Britain’s
long-awaited exit from the European single market, with a trade deal in the
bag on markets’ final day of a coronavirus-ravaged 2020.
Britain’s departure from the European Union takes full effect at 11:00 pm
(2300 GMT), just hours after much of the country was moved into the top tier-
four coronavirus restrictions.
The nation left the bloc on January 31 but has been in a standstill
transition while it sought a free-trade agreement — which was finally
clinched on Christmas Eve and was approved by lawmakers on Wednesday.
That dispelled long-running fears of a chaotic no-deal departure that could
have sparked a double-dip downturn, after Britain tanked into a recession
earlier this year on coronavirus fallout.
“A Brexit deal may have come extremely late in the day but there will be a
massive sense of relief that the UK won’t be battling no-deal on top of
everything else in the coming months — and that relief can be seen in the
pound,” OANDA analyst Craig Erlam told AFP.
“It’s ending the year on a high… It’s all about the recovery now for the
UK as it faces another devastating (virus) surge and most of the country
moves into tier four.”
– Key figures around 2150 GMT –
New York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 30,606.48 (close)
New York – S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 3,756.07 (close)
New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.1 percent at 12,888.28 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.5 percent at 6,460.52 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.9 percent at 5,551.41 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX 30: Closed for a holiday
Hong Kong – Hang Seng: UP 0.3 percent at 27,231.13 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.7 percent at 3,473.07 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3662 from $1.3625 at 2200 GMT
Euro/pound: DOWN at 89.41 pence from 90.26 pence
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.2217 from $1.2298
Dollar/yen: UP at 103.28 yen from 103.19 yen
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $48.52 per barrel
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.3 percent at $51.80 per barrel
BSS/AFP/GMR/1005 hrs