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| EDITOR'S NOTE
It was a noncommittal week on Wall Street, with the three major indexes posting slight weekly losses as negotiations in Congress over new stimulus dragged on.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% for the week, and the S&P 500 dipped nearly 1%. It marked the first weekly drop for the market benchmarks in three weeks. The Nasdaq Composite snapped a three-week winning streak, falling 0.7% over that time period.
Lawmakers seek to pass a rescue bill before the end of 2020, but disagreements over state and local stimulus, unemployment assistance and stimulus checks still exist. Democrats have also pushed back against the White House's latest $916 billion aid offer, noting it doesn't include any additional federal unemployment insurance money. The bill, however, was blessed by GOP congressional leaders.
"If a deal is to be reached this year, Democrats will likely have to accept a package without state and local aid, which would be worth roughly $750 billion," wrote Aneta Markowska, chief economist at Jefferies. President-elect Joe Biden "will almost certainly push for it, having described this bill as a down payment on future relief."
"What the economy needs right now is a short-term bridge to the other side of the pandemic, which is probably just months away. Only fiscal policy can provide such a quick injection," Markowska added.
Looking ahead to next week, Wall Street will brace for the final Federal Reserve meeting on monetary policy of 2020. Investors will look for clues on whether the Fed will tweak its bond-buying program. Market volatility could also pick up toward the end of the week amid an options expiration on Friday.
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