Indexes down

Stocks in America ended lower, the first trading day of 2021, amid worries about a rise in the number of coronavirus infections worldwide. Last Thursday, which was the last day of trading for 2020, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indicators renewed their record highs.

For 2020, the Dow Jones rose 7.3% and the S&P 500 rose 16.3%, despite the fact that the indicators had previously fallen by more than 30% amid a coronavirus outbreak, CNBC writes. The Nasdaq jumped 43.6% in 2020, the highest since 2009, thanks to growing investor and analyst interest in tech stocks amid the pandemic.

Unprecedented fiscal and monetary support for the economy, as well as the development and launch of several vaccines against COVID-19 have helped the market recover from the significant downturn, CNBC notes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index was down 382.59 points (1.25 per cent) at 30223.89 by the close of trading.

The Standard Poor's 500 fell 55.42 points (1.48%) to 3,700.65 points.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 189.84 points (1.47%) to 12698.45 points.

On Monday airline and hotel operator stocks also fell in price. American Airlines Group Inc. fell 4.1 percent and Delta Air Lines Inc. fell 3.7 percent. Shares of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. fell 3.4 percent and Marriott International Inc. fell 5.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Flir Systems Inc. shares jumped 19.2%. U.S. industrial conglomerate Teledyne Technologies Inc. agreed to acquire thermal imaging camera maker Flir in a deal worth about $8 billion.

Magellan Health Inc. gained 13% on news of its $2.2bn acquisition by insurer Centene Corp.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc. gained 3.4%. The electric car maker has almost reached its goal of delivering 500,000 cars in 2020.