NEW YORK (AP) — Major stock indexes are wobbling between small gains and losses in the early going on Wall Street after Congress finally passed a long-overdue coronavirus relief bill and sent it to President Donald Trump. The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% in the first few minutes of trading Tuesday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed a 0.2% gain. Trading has been subdued this week ahead of the Christmas holiday on Friday. High-tech exercise bike maker Peloton jumped 10% after announcing it would buy Precor, a maker of fitness equipment, for $420 million. European markets were broadly higher, Asian markets closed lower and crude oil prices fell.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
European shares and U.S. futures advanced Tuesday after American lawmakers approved a $900 billion package of measures to help the economy get through the pandemic.
Stocks rose in Paris, London and Frankfurt but fell in Tokyo and other Asian markets. The Shanghai Composite index dropped nearly 2%.
The long awaited economic package approved late Monday in Washington helped offset worries over the discovery in Britain of a new, potentially more infectious strain of the virus that has countries around the world restricting travel from the United Kingdom.
It has added to fears of even worse economic hardship if the new strain spreads to other countries or proves resistant to vaccines now being distributed.
Germany’s DAX climbed 1.2% to 13,408.31 and the CAC 40 in Paris jumped 1.3% to 5,461.81. In Britain, the FTSE 100 gained 0.4% to 6,441.09.
The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.2% while the contract for the Dow industrials edged 0.1% higher.
Shares retreated in Asia on Tuesday after the U.S. Commerce Department announced it was including 103 entities on a new “Military End User” list, including 58 Chinese and 45 Russian companies.
Such a designation requires special licensing for exports and other sales of designated products to the listed companies to prevent certain technologies from being used by foreign militaries in China, Russia or Venezuela, it said.
Many of the companies are related to aviation and shipbuilding. The list adds to strains between Washington and Beijing at a time when relations are at their worst level in decades amid feuds over technology, security and other issues.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 26,436.39. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng sank 0.7% to 26,119.25. South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.6% to 2,733.68. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1.1% to 6,599.60. The Shanghai Composite index shed nearly 64 points to 3,356.78.
Shares rose in Thailand and India.
Economists and investors have been clamoring for a new bundle of aid for U.S. businesses and families for months.
The $900 billion relief effort for the U.S. economy includes $600 in cash payments for most Americans, extra benefits for laid-off workers and other financial support. It was awaiting approval by President Donald Trump.
Congressional approval came after the closure of U.S. markets, where the S&P 500 fell 1.4% to 3,694.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 30,216.45. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% to 12,742.52. The Russell 2000 small-cap index gained 0.1% to 1,970.33.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 0.93%.
In other trading Tuesday:
Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 79 cents to $47.18 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up $1.27 on Monday to $47.97 per barrel.
Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 73 cents to $50.18 per barrel.
The dollar rose to 103.40 Japanese yen from 103.31 yen on Monday. The euro fell to $1.2222 from $1.2243.
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