US Stock Market Overview – Stock Fall Ahead of Senate Runoff

US stocks whipsawed, initially moving higher, hitting fresh all-time highs before moving lower and closing down on the session. Stocks closed off their lows. Most sectors in the S&P 500 index were lower, led down by Real-estate and Industrials. Energy shares bucked the trend. Gold and silver prices moved higher on Monday, while the dollar was down along with crude oil. Bitcoin prices dropped nearly 7%, after rallying over the weekend. The VIX volatility index surged nearly 17%, closing above 26 for the first time since the November elections.

Senate Runoff is Key to Markets

On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate Runoff races take place. The fear in the market is that the democratic candidates win both seats and control the US Senate. This will allow Chuck Schumer to control the senate agendy allowing President-elect Biden to push through several new legislation pieces. Riskier assets were also sold off following news that the UK Prime Minister was calling for another large lockdown.  In the US, approximately 4.6-million people have received a vaccine. Over the weekend, news came out that President Trump pressured the George Secretary of State to come up with enough votes to overturn the George Electoral College vote. The call was on tape and made available via the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Trump Pressured Raffensperger

In a Saturday telephone call, President Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the November election results. At one point in the call, Mr. Trump told Mr. Raffensperger that he could face legal action and said he wanted him to find nearly 12,000 votes so he could reverse Mr. Biden’s victory.