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Andy Slavitt, Biden's coronavirus adviser, appeared to offer a less optimistic prediction about when everyone will be able to get a vaccine than the president gave the day before, underlining the somewhat unclear goals set out by the new administration.
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 The U.S. counted another 4,000 COVID-19 deaths in a single day on Tuesday, as President Joe Biden pledged to speed up the delivery and administration of vaccines, in a plan that aims to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of summer or earlier in the fall.
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 The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday booked its worst daily decline since late October, ringing up the fifth straight decline and its longest losing streak since February in the process. The drop for the Dow and the broader market comes as investors appeared increasingly concerned about COVID-19 vaccine distribution and fixated on the surge in prices in heavily shorted companies movie chain AMC Entertainment Holdings and videogame retailer GameStop Corp. , which have been propped up by a band of retail investors on social-media platforms. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve kept its policy measures steady, as expected, but Chairman Jerome Powell offered a sober outlook for the ecoomy and market against the backdrop of the raging pandemic. The Dow [: DJIA] closed down 634 points, or 2.1%, to end at 30,302, on a preliminary basis, representing its sharpest one-day slide since Oct. 28. The fifth straight decline also was the most since a seven-session slide ended Feb. 28. The S&P 500 index retreated 2.6% to close around 3,750, also marking its worst day since late October. The Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 2.6% to 13,270. Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that the economy remained far from a recovery, but also underscored that recent asset gains have been driven largely by optimism about the rollout of vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic, as well as by fiscal policy, and not necessarily by accommodative monetary policy. Meanwhile, shares of GameStop ended 135% higher, putting it up 435% on the week. Those for AMC climbed over 300% and are up 467% thus far in the week.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Here are some side effects that you may have when you get the currently available Covid-19 vaccines.
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