© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Raindrops hang on a sign for Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., October 26, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo/File Photo
By Ankika Biswas and Shreyashi Sanyal
(Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes fell on Monday amid worries about protests in major Chinese cities against strict COVID-19 policies, although gains in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) helped limit losses as Cyber Monday sales were set for a record.
Shares of the e-commerce giant rose 2% following an industry report that spending on Cyber Monday, the biggest U.S. online shopping day, might go as high as $11.6 billion, encouraged by some of the biggest discounts and deals to attract inflation-wary consumers.
The biggest drag on the benchmark S&P 500 index, however, were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares, which fell 1.5% after a report that the company would see a further shortfall in production due to unrest at the world's biggest iPhone factory in China.
Rare protests in major Chinese cities over the weekend against the country's strict zero-COVID curbs have hit growth expectations in the world's second-largest economy.
"If these protests continue, it could disrupt supply chains and the reopenings, a glimpse of which we saw earlier this year," said Brian Klimke, director of investment research at Cetera Financial Group. "It will continue to weigh on investors' minds going forward."
The S&P 500 energy index fell 2.5% and led declines among main sectors, as oil prices dropped close to their lowest this year after news of China protests. [O/R]
Trading in other growth stocks, including Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corp, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc, were mixed.
At 10:01 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 160.29 points, or 0.47%, at 34,186.74, the S&P 500 was down 24.31 points, or 0.60%, at 4,001.81, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 39.21 points, or 0.35%, at 11,187.15.
All three indexes ended the Thanksgiving week with gains, led by the Dow, which rose 1.78%.
Among other stocks, Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) fell 2.3% following a report of death in its experimental Alzheimer's drug trial.
Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Inc jumped 6.4% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted the company's marketing application for experimental gene therapy.
For the week, investors will keep a close watch on nonfarm payrolls for November, the second estimate for third-quarter gross domestic product and consumer confidence this month.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.86-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.66-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 51 new lows.
We read at: Investing.com