Wall Street Close: To ease or not to ease social distancing measures?

• Dow Jones Industrial Average shed around 33 points, or 0.1%, to close near 24,101.
• The S&P 500 lost 15 points, 0.5%, to end the session near 2,864.
• The Nasdaq Composite Index finished about 122 points, 1.4%, lower, near 8,608. 

US benchmarks were ending mostly lower on Tuesday while investors pondered over a slew of corporate earnings and the prospects of easing social distancing measures to help normalise economic activity in the US, which, however, could reignite the spread of the virus. As for corporate news, 3M Co. was in the spotlight. 

Consequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed around 33 points, or 0.1%, to close near 24,101, while the S&P 500 lost 15 points, 0.5%, to end the session near 2,864. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished about 122 points, 1.4%, lower, near 8,608. 3M Co. shares rallied around 3% after it announced earnings and sales that beat expectations. (The Nasdaq will have a number of tech names reporting its earnings over the rest of this week). 

Markets are cheering what appears to be a peak in COVID-19

As for the news on the easing of the coronavirus outbreak in global hot spots, markets are cheering what appears to be a peak. In New York state, the daily death toll was 335 as of the latest data Tuesday, slightly below the prior day’s toll, and hospitalizations were virtually flat. Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo started to propose restarting construction and manufacturing in areas of the state less hard-hit by the pandemic after May 15. However, it’s very difficult to know when the worst of this pandemic is behind us and there are concerns that the next wave of the epidemic could blow up as easing measures are relaxed. 

Dow levels