Wall Street ends lower

Shares on Wall Street closed sharply lower on Monday, sliding from all-time peaks on the first trading day of the year, as risk appetite ebbed amid upcoming runoff elections in Georgia and the persistent surge in coronavirus cases.

The Dow, which touched a record high earlier in the session along with the S&P 500, was also dragged down by a more than 4% fall in Boeing Co’s shares after Bernstein cut its rating to “underperform,” citing concerns about cash flow.

All three main indexes hit two-week lows, with record highs in the Dow and S&P 500 extending a 2020 rally fueled by monetary stimulus and the start of vaccine rollouts.

The fate of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda, meanwhile, including rewriting the tax code, boosting stimulus and infrastructure spending hinges firmly on Tuesday’s twin Senate races in the battleground state of Georgia that will determine control of the chamber.

Wall Street’s fear gauge touched a two-week high on Monday.