Provided by
Dow Jones
By Will Horner
U.S. stocks fell amid concerns about Covid-19 vaccine distribution and a investors parsed a bumper day of earnings reports.
The broad S&P 500 index lost 1.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 340 points, or 1.1%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.4%.
Delays in the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, coupled with lingering lockdown measures, marked a "double whammy" of bad news for investors, said Hani Redha, a portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments.
"I think the market expected that by now we would be talking about loosening, not tightening restrictions," he said. "On the vaccine rollout, this is very problematic for the near term. It is very critical for shaping the growth bounce back, and these issues are just adding more delay to that."