US: Stocks retreat from record highs

The US stocks declined from record high on Monday, 11 January 2021, with major indices- S&P 500 index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite all settling lower, as investors elected to book some profit amid concerns about stocks valuations after record-setting runs. Rising coronavirus cases across the world and concerns about developments in Washington also weighed on stocks.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index declined 89.28 points, or 0.29%, to 31,008.69. The S&P 500 index was down 25.07 points, or 0.66%, to 3,799.61. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index lost 165.54 points, or 1.25%, to 13,036.43.

Political uncertainty continues to hang over markets. House Democrats are preparing to impeach Donald Trump even though the president has less than two weeks left in his term. After the siege of the U.S. Capitol building by Trump supporters last week, Democrats are concerned about additional incitement by the president in his final days in office.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump Monday. The move came after a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence and cabinet members to remove Trump using the 25th Amendment was blocked by Republicans. Vice President Mike Pence, the target of Trump's ire, is reportedly not interested in doing so.

The backdrop of the spreading coronavirus also is contributing to the weakness. U.S. hospitalizations from the virus were 129,229 on Sunday, according to The Covid Tracking Project.

Tech heavyweights underperformed the broader market as they slashed access to some of President Trump's favorite megaphones after the storming of the Capitol by his supporters. Facebook has indefinitely suspended President Trump, while Apple, Amazon.com, and Alphabet's Google retracted support for the social-media app Parler. Shares of Twitter fell 6.4% to $48.17 on concern that the social-media company may face a backlash from regulators or users after it banned Mr. Trump's personal account, citing the risk of further incitement of violence. Facebook shares lost 4% to $256.84. Apple dropped 2.3% to $128.98.

Among Indian ADR, Wipro added 1.27% to $6.38, Dr Reddys Labs grew 1.85% to $73.08, Tata Motors added 16.31% to $15.90, HDFC Bank rose 0.43% to $73.22, Azure Power Global grew 0.7% to $48.73, and INFOSYS added 0.91% to $18.76. ICICI Bank dropped 0.73% to $14.87, WNS Holdings fell 0.98% to $69.99, and Vedanta sank 0.6% to $9.96.

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