Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index dropped 0.7% on Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and congressional leaders were "far apart" on new aid for the struggling U.S. economy. Consumer spending, the main U.S. economic engine, weakened after earlier additional unemployment benefits expired.Mnuchin "added another nail to the coffin on pre-election stimulus," said Jingyi Pan of IG in a report.
In Sydney, the S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 6,218.00 while India's Sensex opened down 0.4% at 40,642.27. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets declined. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell to 3,488.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6% to 28,514. The Nasdaq composite slid 0.8% to 11,768.73. Investors are swinging between optimism about a possible coronavirus vaccine that helped to propel an earlier market rally and unease about lacklustre U.S. economic activity.Bank of America sank 5.3% after its revenue fell short of analysts' forecast. Wells Fargo dropped 6% after its earnings were lower than Wall Street expected.